Dapchi: Five books in support of all stakeholders

I was heartbroken when I heard several weeks ago of the abduction of 110 girls from a boarding school by a terrorist organization in Yobe State. I was beside myself with shock, sorrow and trepidation. I was saddened by the fact that although we are not at war, we are in fact in a bizarre […]

I was heartbroken when I heard several weeks ago of the abduction of 110 girls from a boarding school by a terrorist organization in Yobe State. I was beside myself with shock, sorrow and trepidation. I was saddened by the fact that although we are not at war, we are in fact in a bizarre relationship with uninvited strangers in our midst. Our children, who have adopted an ideology that targets God’s special gifts to the world, the gift of girls, mothers, sisters, aunties. The world is incomplete without them, their care, their love, their support in all the ways in which they protect us.

To watch as a group of misdirected persons attack the very soul of a society and tries to destroy the socialization fabric by abducting women and girls is unthinkable. As a caregiver, I know how damaging this perpetration is and how it can come back to haunt this society in future.  Working consistently at damaging our future wives and daughters is not something we should sit idly by and do nothing about. It is beyond reason. It is both a psychological, emotional and physical attack and our work in helping to fix this nightmare has just started.

The chief executives of the states concerned, the federal government, international organizations, the armed forces and civil societies cannot do this alone. We all have to commit to intelligence, information, support and re-socialization of our youths, from schools to homes, to playgrounds, football fields etcetera. The internet stories of other terrorist groups are not helping. Our core is being destroyed. It is the business of everybody, every citizen, every parent, every friend. As news of the return of the Dapchi girls’ filters in, we are glad but must re-arm ourselves with how this must never happen again.

Time for all stakeholders to reflect, to walk back in time and see how we could have done better to prevent what happened and how to ensure this never happens again. The blame game will help no one. This is not the time for buck-passing. It is time to focus, help the girls’ re-unite with their families and reintegrate them back into society and provide psychological and emotional support to save them from falling apart while calming their anxieties and giving physical support. Their families and communities need healing and counselling. This is the time to tell them, they are not alone. Let us get to work in restoring confidence back in the Dapchi community. Here are five books to walk us through the maze.

1)Building terrorism resistant communities, Together against Terrorism, edited by Ekici Ekici, A, Mcentire, D.A ward, Arkikalti, S.S. This book, a publication of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation NATO, is a collection of the proceedings from a workshop organized by NATO to find a veritable way to include communities in the fight against terrorism. In protecting communities and organizations, it is hoped that there will be a network between participants for future collaborations in the face of what is considered a measure of failure in the total militarization of counter terrorism. Adding community voice, help and intelligence can be a real breakthrough in the exercise. These collection of insightful papers will be useful to all counter terrorism stakeholders in Nigeria going forward. NATO expertise will be useful here as well as they have done considerable work in the field and held several workshops on the matter.

2)9/11 Mental Health in the face of terrorist attacks. Edited by Yuval Neria, Ezra Gross, Randal Marshall. This book dwells on the psychological response to 9/11 in New York and what best to do following traumatic events. The repeated attacks in the North East of Nigeria and abduction of our precious girls require as many learning curves as we can find to help us all cope. A multi-pronged approach is useful. This book gives an overview of community response to 9/11 and effective leadership following the events of the day. It suggests training and support for local service providers and specific interventions and prolonged exposure treatment for post-traumatic stress disorders especially for direct victims of a terror attack but also secondary victims like parents and the community at larger. A must read for all stakeholders from government to non-government agents in the Dapchi scenario.

3)Because the media form an unlikely alliance for providing unwitting publicity to terrorist activities and sometimes glamorize their infliction of pain on citizens and victims, it is crucial that some form of training and education is provided for those in the frontlines and for those Editors in the newsrooms on how to cover terrorism. It is important that they are also cautious not to jeopardize security by going all out to publish security information that will be counterproductive in arresting terrorists. UNESCO has produced an amazing handbook for journalists on the frontline titled Terrorism and the media, a handbook for journalists written by Jean-Paul Marthoz. This book provides excellent guidelines for managing terrorist activities. It is recommended alongside Terrorism and the Media by Alexander Spencer. Both books deal with the framing of terror in the media, the role of metaphors and representation of terrorism in the media and best practices towards effective coverage without the media becoming the fuel for glamorizing terrorism.

5) How are the Dapchi girls faring? What have they been through? So young, such sudden trauma in their lives. It is time to debrief them and call in the psychologists and psychiatrists as well as social workers, and sociologists. This is time for a love fest, to handle them gently and seek to know the extent of the damage. Experts are in agreement that psychological sufferings are more prevalent than physical injuries. To unpeel the psychological impact requires the intervention of the experts. The integration and management of traumatized people after terrorist attacks edited by Begec.S, is a book which has compiled papers by experts and academics at another NATO workshop to develop a concept on the treatment of traumas and depression caused by terrorist attacks and integration of victims into society. It looks at how to overcome the harmful effect of trauma and sustain the integrity of traumatized people. A worthy book for caregivers and those going to try and help the Dapchi girls make sense of their situation.