The first escaped Chibok schoolgirls to
successfully attend and complete an
American High School graduated
Thursday night in the United States Capital.
The two girls known simply by their first
names Debbie and Grace graduated after
completing junior year (11th grade) and
senior year (12 grade) at a prestigious
private international school in the
Washington metro area in America.
Debbie and Grace were part of the first 57
girls who escaped from Boko Haram
terrorists after the mass abduction of
almost 300 Chibok schoolgirls in April 2014.
Unlike most of their colleagues who
jumped out of trucks en route, the two
were taken all the way to the terrorists
camp in Sambisa before they escaped and
made it back home in a terrifying journey
that took about a week with their captors
in hot pursuit. They were the last to escape
Boko Haram until last year’s escape of
Amina Ali after two years in captivity.
The two schoolgirls were among a dozen
Nigerian girls sponsored to school abroad
by a Nigerian NGO Education Must Continue
Initiative with the help of US based
international human rights lawyer
Emmanuel Ogebe. EMC is run by victims
helping victims overcome the impact of the
insurgency by the world’s deadliest terror
group Boko Haram which has destroyed
hundreds of schools and killed thousands.
By this graduation, Debbie and Grace
became the first escaped Chibok girls to
graduate from an American high school
with diplomas after completing and
meeting academic standards. This comes
three years after terrorists interrupted their
education during their final year in school
in northeast Nigeria. Several other girls had
dropped out of EMC’s school abroad project
after managing to graduate from middle
school (8th grade) last year and are now
attempting to take the GED exam (external
GCE equivalent).
On hand to witness the historic graduation
of the two Chibok girls in the class of 2017
were a delegation from Nigeria which
included the founders and directors of
Education Must Continue Initiative Mr and
Mrs Paul Gadzama and the parent of one of
the girls who traveled all the way from
Chibok in northeast Nigeria. The only
Chibok girl currently pursuing a degree
program in an American university, cut
short her summer vacation in Nigeria to
return for the graduation of her colleagues.
The girls’ American host families and
Barrister Emmanuel Ogebe and his family
were among the audience who witnessed
the historic graduation.
The class of 2017 was the 50th graduation
of the school which was the first high
school in America to win a prestigious
President’s award last year. The Chibok girls
were among only 21 students who
graduated as a few international students
were unable to graduate.
In remarks during a celebratory reception,
the Chibok girls thanked their host families,
the NGO volunteers from EMC for
supporting them to achieve their dreams.
They particularly appreciated them for
driving the girls daily to and fro from
school for two years.
Also speaking, the parent visiting from
Nigeria stated that he had personally seen
that the team had done more for his
daughter in America than he could have
done for them in Nigeria and thanked them
for their love.
Recounting the story of how he conceived
the project by divine favor, human rights
lawyer Emmanuel Ogebe described how he
first brought the orphan of a pastor
murdered by Boko Haram to school in the
US in 2013. The following year, Boko Haram
attacked her village and abducted 276 girls.
Consequently because he had helped an
orphan from Chibok before he was able to
help these ones as well. He concluded that
“unless God builds a house, the laborers
labor in vain.”
He appreciated the sacrifice of EMC
founders Mr and Mrs Gadzama who flew at
their own expense to witness the girls’
graduation after missing their own
daughter’s graduation with a masters in
Public Health (MPH) in Michigan just a few
weeks earlier.
He also thanked EMC’s American volunteer
Education Adviser Deanna who helped
obtain admission and scholarships to the
exclusive $35,000 per year school for her
role after their former school tried to take
advantage of them. The girls had to repeat
11th grade after their initial school failed to
meet up to its obligations.
A church Thanksgiving is planned for the
girls who are exploring their future
endeavors following graduation. Among
several awards won by them was an award
for “Most hard working student in English
as Second Language 3”. “This is an
outstanding feat for Chibok girls especially
given the fact that in Nigeria, most continue
to speak in Hausa to the consternation of
many Nigerians.
