Introduction

1.
This is what has
become of Maiduguri

2.
Not the society
we want

3.
Let me leave now
before they bring fight here

4.
The world was in
our hands

5.
My whole life was
their own

6.
Still hungry to
survive

7.
I didn’t know
what aikin Allah was but it sounded good

8.
Run and leave it
for the child

9.
Because of
climate change and because of conflict

10.
Freedom for me

11.
They prayed on me

12.
We take care of
each other

13.
At least I have
gotten my children

14.
If not, I would
have died

15.
I believed we
would change the world

16.
We decided, it’s
life or death for us

17.
There is so much
I do to avoid problems

18.
My life here does
not have any sense

19.
We came to hate the whole society except them

20.
It felt good to have this power

21.
I have no freedom

22.
Any country with
this level of insecurity is no longer a country

23.
Safely like before

24.
So different from the world we knew

25.
They were real elders - my future is with them

26.
Having a mind of my own

27.
We must stand up and fight for our rights

28.
To keep away the hopelessness

29.
Like the hameji of before

30.
I don’t think we are Nigerian

31.
I am like family
to them and they will not abandon me

32.
Determined to do
all I could to protect them

33.
The one who saved
her daughter’s life

34.
How lucky he is
to have me as a wife

35.
A job reserved
for women

36.
If they just
stopped stigmatising

37.
It was only for a
moment I felt sad

38.
It seems that
everyone is engaged in doing evil

39.
Nobody knows what
happened to me in the bush

40.
To focus instead
on the bright future ahead of me

41.
The bloodshed in
this land

42.
The last time I
saw my daughter

43.
What keeps women
there

44.
The Borno we knew

45.
The way to regain
peace

46.
I never expected
war to be like this

47.
At least here, I
have freedom

Acknowledgements