What You Can Do Right This Second To Help #BringBackOurGirls
Three weeks ago, nearly 300 Nigerian school girls were called to their classrooms in the middle of the night to sit for exams. Armed Islamic terrorists then shuttled them onto trucks and drove off into the night. No one has seen the girls since.
The Nigerian government has been slow to act to help find these girls. The #BringBackOurGirls campaign is counting on news outlets and social media pressure to help expedite finding the girls, who several sources claim may have been sold into slavery. A video message made by the leader of the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls nearly three weeks ago, “called them slaves and threatened to ‘sell them in the market, by Allah.”
From The New York Times:
”Western education should end,” Mr. Shekau said in the 57-minute video, speaking in Hausa and Arabic. ”Girls, you should go and get married.” The Islamist leader also warned that he would ”give their hands in marriage because they are our slaves. We would marry them out at the age of 9. We would marry them out at the age of 12.”
The failure of their country to act for three weeks is deplorable. The barely existent media coverage for the first two weeks of their capture is also unsettling. Their are few things that you can do, right now, that may help put pressure on the Nigerian government to help distraught families find their daughters.
1. Support the Twitter campaign, #BringBackOurGirls
Here is the #BringBackOurGirls Twitter feed, filled with samples of tweets you can either RT or use as inspiration for your own message.
2. Share the ”Call to Action” Google Hangout on Facebook.
Join the Google hangout and share it with your friends.
3. Sign the Change.org petition to #BringBackOurGirls
“I am a young educated Nigerian who believes every young child regardless of their sex, should not be denied access to education. I believe that more can be contributed to the efforts of the Nigerian government to ensure the safe return of thesis girls.
By signing this petition we declare our solidarity with the kidnapped girls and call upon the world not to forget them , support all efforts to ensure their safe return, and a that efforts are made to ensure all schools are safe places to learn, protected from attack.”
4. Change your social media Avatar to bring awareness to the movement.
5. Donate to the cause.
From Girl Rising:
As activists and global leaders work together to rescue the kidnapped girls, Girl Rising has joined forces with Catapult.org to direct donations to organizations that educate and empower school girls in the region. 100% of all donations to the ”Bring Back Our Girls” emergency project on Catapult will go to organizations focused on girls’ education programming and advocacy in Nigeria.
Text BRINGBACK to 50555 to give $10 or you can donate online.
(photo: Twitter)
