"Join voices to seek justice: #BringBackOurGirls"

The abduction of Nigerian school girls is an atrocity, writes Lyn-Marie Blackman, 27, a Commonwealth Correspondent from Bridgetown, Barbados, as she calls for world-wide support to reunite the affected families.

In the country of Nigeria several young school girls were kidnapped in the month of April. The continent of Africa has had several traumatic, eventful occurrences in its history – slavery, malnourishment, lack of education and genocide just to name a few.

We have watched the many news features, seen the plethora of social media activism, heard many interviews from past victims and family members and have had an address from the First Lady where she vehemently called out to: BringBackOurGirls. The world has been up in arms and rightly so over this atrocity. I personally have never visited Nigeria but I have seen many positives coming from the youth there. As I watch the several YouTube clips and tune into BBC Radio, many hopes, aspirations and goals are echoed from these young Nigerian voices.

These young ladies are pawns in a very hurtful and painful situation where exposure to being bought and sold as property, pushed into slavery and prostitution is apparently very much their reality. Many have been denied their basic human right of freedom of thought, the desire to obtain an education, what career path they want to pursue and when to become mothers.

Family is and will always be important to the world’s survival because when families are unified love, warmth and happiness abound. This unification of the family unit causes the emergence of well rounded, disciplined and industrious youth who are equipped with the necessary communication tools they need in order to provoke thought, promote ideas and challenge conventional thinking on worldwide issues.

However, several of these Nigerian families have been broken. Only the heavens know what these individuals have been experiencing for the past month. Although many of us may live far from Nigeria we can still lend our love, voices and support in order for these families to be healed.

Many of us out here have daughters and we would never like to be placed in the position of not knowing; not knowing if she is being fed, not knowing what she is feeling at this moment, not knowing if she is coming back and not knowing if you will see her smile, walk or sleep again.

Many voices united can seek out the necessary justice that these families so desperately need. Let us join our voices with the Nigerians as we say: BringBackOurGirls.

photo credit: Michael Fleshman via photopin cc
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About me: I am a conservative and articulate individual with an innate desire to see love, peace and unity triumph. My interests lie in medical research. I enjoy researching medical news from around the world and reporting it in my monthly newsletter entitled L.I.F.E.

I love biomedical science and believe it holds the key to a healthier society. I aspire to become a medical researcher and writer. My focus now is obtaining more exposure for my newsletters: L.I.F.E. and The Believer.

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Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Commonwealth Youth Programme. Articles are published in a spirit of dialogue, respect and understanding. If you disagree, why not submit a response?
To learn more about becoming a Commonwealth Correspondent please visit: http://www.yourcommonwealth.org/submit-articles/commonwealthcorrespondents/
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