Returning home is a mixed blessing for victims of Boko Haram
YOLA, Nigeria (AP) — "Bring Back Our Girls," say the placards in the park and the tweets read around the world. But for thousands of girls and women who've escaped Boko Haram's clutches, the message they've sometimes encountered at homecomings has been "Stay Away." As U.S.-backed African governments make military advances against the Islamic extremist group and rescue more and more of the kidnapped and enslaved, aid groups and activists say a new challenge is mounting: rehabilitation. Perhaps no group is as stigmatized as those abducted, raped, forcibly married or otherwise mistreated by the militants. Sometimes they are called "Boko Haram wives" or even "epidemics" in their native communities, and few organized services are available for their care. Sometimes even fewer people are willing to embrace them as survivors. "No one helped me, just one person who got me these clothes," said Maria Saidu, a 32-year-old wo