Poetry: Bring back our girls—and a normal country: Two years after

By

Sunil Sharma

Bring back our girls—and a normal country: Two years after

I

April 14, 2016: Waiting

They are still waiting for their girls, now for two years, forgotten by the rest of the news-hungry world—that includes their own country Nigeria.

It can happen anywhere…with other communities.

When hatred is turned into an industry and women, into meat, this is bound to happen.

Every war or battle, women are the first fatalities.

Let us bring back our girls! Chant the aggrieved families.

Where are the others in this fight for dignity?

Here is a bit of history:

II

Rewinding: April 14, 2014: Kidnappings most foul

Out of the depths of darkness came sinister forces

And took away innocence in the budding form

Of young girls from a government-run school

In Chibok, Nigeria, on April 14

The 276 girls brazenly abducted by the Boko Haram gunmen

In retaliation—they do not want them to be educated and independent,

all in the name of their version of Islam and this ambush, a warning for others—

The hapless girls are still missing…like many others in that lawless country,

And most likely to be sold as slaves on the market as per their leader Abubakar;

The world so far has not cared for these children, as strongly as it should have done, simply because they come from an impoverished nation, dark and distant,

In an unstable region known for endemic violence;

Why should the ruling elites care for the Other?

The disappeared ones, after all, are black, poor and girls, and not from a rich and mighty Western nation;

The outcry on social media forcing now a slow re-think among the international governments that regularly talk of human rights and their violations in various hot spots in despotic parts other than their own courtyards, the great democratic leaders that can make a difference have not yet talked in a single voice of anger and moral outrage; then, in such a bleak scenario of grim helplessness:

Let us rise, you and I, as We, the disenfranchised netizens,

The remaining 99 percent of the world against any kind of oppression and exploitation, we are the new army of the literate and hard-working professionals,

Let us raise our voice in anger, for our trapped young sisters and daughters, now in another jungle, the emerging solidarity should now grow into a global protest/chorus persistent, against this ruthless kidnapping and global human trafficking of girls and children.

Sunil Sharma

An English teacher with more than 23 years of degree-college teaching experience that includes administrative one (as vice-principal and now as full-fledged principal); freelance journalist with 15 years experience writing for the supplements of the Times of India, Mumbai, India and a widely-published bi-lingual writer, poet, novelist, interviewer, blogger, reviewer and literary editor.