BWA in Action

in Christ than to live with you as a Muslim. I will never deny my faith.”

They dug a hole in the ground and buried her up to her neck, with only her head showing. They warned her, “If you don’t stop the singing, we will stone you to death.” She said Christians have been persecuted all over the world. She wants to die in Christ. She will never, ever deny her Lord Jesus. So they stoned her to death in front of all the Chibok girls. Amina said they kidnapped some boys. Two escaped but were

caught. They killed the boys in front of the girls as an example, and stoning the girl was another case of them setting an example. That scared them. No one else tried to escape because they feared the same thing will happen to them. I don’t blame the Nigerian army. It is not the fault of the

military. The guns they have were used to fight the Biafra. (Editor’s note: The Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafran War, was fought from July 1967 to January 1970). How could they use those guns to fight Boko Haram? The weapons Boko Haram have the Nigerian army doesn’t have. Boko Haram have the latest guns and equipment. We are praying for the Americans and others to help the

Nigerian army by giving them the necessary equipment. Not necessarily guns but there are new technical things that they can use to find where the girls are and that will help to bring them out without using guns. We hope they will help the Nigerian army and assist them in the rescue of our girls.

It is only by the grace of God and his blessings upon us that we are coping with the loss of our girls. We lost between 15 and 20 parents after this incident. Some were killed by Boko Haram. Some died of trauma and from the pain they went through. Some had high blood pressure and ulcer. Some have become paralyzed. They don’t eat any more. They were shocked. We have received help and prayers and counseling from the

Christian Brethren Church. The churches are the ones that have been trying their best since the abduction. Some even went to Chibok themselves, churches from different parts of the country and from different parts of the world. We did not receive much help from the state government. The governor of the state came one week after the abduction, went to the school, gave a speech and left. He did not enter the town of Chibok. The Chibok families did not see him face to face until last year, around September or October. He came saying the president sent him to the parents and said they were trying their best to rescue the girls. They gave 100,000 naira (US$500) to each parent. The government hasn’t done anything else. The president visited on January 14 and said they don’t know

where the girls are. Yet they had a video since December 25 [last year] showing 15 of the Chibok girls. On April 13 the video was released by the Minister of Information as “breaking news.” It’s not breaking news because they had the video since December. I want the United States to help us parents rescue our girls, to

assist the Nigerian army in rescuing the girls. I want this country and other countries that are able to help to please rescue our girls, those that are still alive. By rescuing these girls they are also helping the parents. I have that hope in God that my daughter will come back. Every parent wants to see her baby close to her. I want every parent to help to pray, serious prayers, so that the

Lord Almighty will do that battle and rescue our girls, so that we will be reunited with our girls and get our happiness, our joy and our hope back.

JULY/SEPTEMBER 2016 13 T BWA APPOINTS

New Chief Administrative Officer TO THE UN Alliance

he Baptist World has appointed Darrell

Armstrong, a Baptist pastor in the state of New Jersey in the United States, as its chief administrative officer at the United Nations (UN). He succeeds attorney Mark Wiggs. Armstrong, a BWA representative to the UN since 2013, will supervise the BWA team serving with the UN in New York, United States; Geneva, Switzerland; and Vienna, Austria. He will determine who, from the list of approved BWA representatives, will participate in the various events in which BWA desires to participate. An author and human rights advocate, he has had a longstanding commitment to ecumenical and interreligious dialogue and teaching religious tolerance. “I am delighted that Darrell has consented to take up

this new responsibility on a voluntary basis,” BWA General Secretary Neville Callam said. “I am confident that Darrell has the experience, giftedness and enthusiasm to serve as requested.” Armstrong is pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Trenton,

New Jersey. In 2010, he was elected the first non-Presbyterian to Princeton Theological Seminary’s Board of Trustees. He holds degrees from Stanford University in California in the US, Princeton Theological Seminary and The College of New Jersey.

Darrell Armstrong

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