It’s been 10 years since Boko Haram, an Islamic militant group, kidnapped more than 270 Christian schoolgirls from a secondary school in Chibok, Nigeria. Some have been returned, but some mothers of these missing daughters are still searching for justice, healing, and a better future through education for themselves and their kids.
In the new film “Mothers of Chibok,” Maryam Maiyanga, a survivor of the school kidnapping, fights to provide education for her son, who is born from her captivity, and a chance for a better future despite local stigma.
Ali, the son of the Maiyanga family, struggles to receive an education due to the local community rejecting him because of stigma, among other things. “It bothers me that he is not going to school,” Maiyanga says in the film when asking her family for support, adding, “If he doesn’t go to school at this young age, it will be very challenging for him when he grows older.”
Joel Kachi Benson, filmmaker and director of the film, said when Maiyanga was rescued, “You would expect a lot of support from her community, from her family — she didn’t get that, but in spite of that, she still chose to fight. I think she exemplifies, she illustrates, that courage and strength of motherhood that I felt has been missing in the entire narrative of these women.”
Kachi Benson also said he understands the harm to the community from the Islamic terrorist group, but stigmatizing a child remains inexcusable.
“Boko Haram did a lot of damage — mental, physical, emotionally — in the community, and so you have a lot of people who would never want to have anything to do with Boko Haram regardless, but that doesn’t justify the actions of these people against an innocent child,” Kachi Benson told the AmNews.
Although the local community turned its back on Ali, Maiyanga kept fighting for him to go to school with the goal that he would not follow in his father’s footsteps.
“In conversations with Maryam, for instance, one of the things she said to me was, ‘Look, the reason why I’m fighting for my son to get educated is because I don’t want him to be like his father,’” Kachi Benson said. “The father ended up as a terrorist — as a tool for Boko Haram because he wasn’t educated.”
Kachi Benson said what makes people like Maiyanga unique is the fact that these women had chosen to educate their daughters, which led to the daughters’ kidnapping. He said he believes one would expect that such consequences would result in their complete withdrawal; however, they have persevered.
The film shows that when Maiyanga attends university, she keeps advocating for her son to receive an education despite what she is up against. According to Kachi Benson, all the women in the film, especially Maiyanga, “keep pushing, they keep educating — and are strong, courageous women who are not letting go of their dreams and their aspirations.”
The film’s prominent themes are strength, hope, and perseverance, which, Kachi Benson reiterated, “has been missing in the entire narrative of these women …. so I hope that people can see these women through a different lens; not the lens of grief and pain, but as heroines and really strong, courageous women.”
The former Disney+ collaborator for the film “Madu” said he spent significant time with Maiyanga and other families, learning “how much education means to them.”
While the film spotlights Maiyanga’s drive to push for Ali’s education amid stigma and rejection, the overarching theme is one of heroism. It invites audiences to view the survivors of Chibok, according to the director, through the lens of hope.
In the end, Maiyanga’s advocacy paid off, and she got Ali, who was six years old at the time, enrolled in a boarding school.
“My hope for Ali, now that he’s in school, is to be well-educated and be a successful person in life and help others so that he can also pay forward the opportunities that he’s received,” Maiyanga told the AmNews. “I hope he becomes a doctor in the future so that he can help support the less privileged.”
The film “Mothers of Chibok” made its world premiere on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, at Village East by Angelika. A screening will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, at 1:45 p.m. at the same venue.