GRUNDY, Va. — The sole survivor of a 2011 Boko Haram attack at her home in Nigeria said Friday that she’s praying for the nearly 300 girls who were kidnapped in April by the Islamic extremist group.
Two-and-a-half years ago, on Dec. 22, 2011, Deborah Peter and her brother, Caleb, were at home in Chibok when they heard gunshots.
She said her brother called her father, a Christian pastor, and told him not to come home because of the fighting. But her father told them to forget the fighting, that he’d been able to come home at other times when shots were being fired. Follow us
“So my father came back home,” she said.
Around 7:30 p.m., while her dad was taking a shower, Boko Haram members showed up at the door, asking for him. The men dragged her father out of the bathroom, Deborah said.
“They told him to deny his faith,” she said. “He told them he couldn’t deny his faith, that if he denied his faith then God would deny him, too. Then, he started telling them the [scripture] verses. Then they told him they were going to give him another chance, and he told them that he can’t deny his faith; that he’d rather die than go to hell fire. So then they shot him in his chest three times.”
She and her brother went into shock, Deborah said. The men started to leave, but then shot her brother, too, saying that when he grew up he would also likely become a Christian pastor.
The men ordered Deborah to lie between the bodies and left. The next morning, soldiers with the Nigerian military came and took her to the hospital and the bodies of her kin to the morgue, she said.
Boko Haram members terrorized her family for years because they were Christians, according to the teenager.
Boko Haram is an insurgent group that has grown in the past few years in Nigeria. Many of its members believe Western influences have corrupted Nigerian society and led to poverty in the country. In the past few weeks, according to news reports the organization has bombed bus stations and marketplaces in cities throughout Nigeria in its effort to create an Islamic state in the region.
And although Boko Haram’s activity had been ongoing in Chibok, where several Christians live, the attack on her family made it personal to Deborah.
Today, she is a student at Mountain Mission School in Grundy, a Christian boarding school that is home to international students, homeless students and others who need a helping hand. She is in America because of the work of a Nigerian pastor friend and several non-profit groups, including Jubilee Campaign.
Last week, Deborah testified before Congress and the United Nations about her experiences to bring attention to the plight of the kidnapped girls, who were from the same town and went to the same school as Deborah.
She said she decided to tell her story because people need to know that Boko Haram members kill innocent people. She spoke with several media outlets while in Washington, D.C.
“The purpose was, the [Obama] administration wasn’t acting,” said school President Chris Slone about the reason for the hearing. “And the Republicans and the Democrats were trying to get something done. And we don’t get into the politics, but here’s almost 300 girls that we want to see helped. Our hearts ache for them. And Deborah’s does.”
Two hours after her testimony, Sloane said he saw a news alert that Obama sent a letter to Congress saying he was sending 80 troops to Chad to search for the girls.
“Wow, one person really can make a difference,” he said. “What a phenomenal thing.”
He said the school has been working with agencies to try to help some of the girls who were kidnapped, adding that the generosity of others is what helps students attend Mountain Mission School.
Deborah’s mom is still in Nigeria and she hopes to find a way to reconnect with her.
During the congressional hearing, she said she knows at least one of the girls who was kidnapped, and that Chibok is a small town where many people are related.
“I want them to know that God loves them, and that God is with them,” Deborah said of the missing girls.
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