The first escaped Chibok school girls to successfully attend and complete an American High School graduated Thursday night in the United States Capital. The two girls known simply by their first names Debbie and Grace graduated after completing junior year (11th grade) and senior year (12 grade) at a prestigious private international school in the Washington metro area in America.
Debbie and Grace were part of the first 57 girls who escaped from Boko Haram terrorists after the mass abduction of almost 300 Chibok schoolgirls in April 2014. Unlike most of their colleagues who jumped out of trucks en route, the two were taken all the way to the terrorists camp in Sambisa before they escaped and made it back home in a terrifying journey that took about a week with their captors in hot pursuit. They were the last to escape Boko Haram until last year’s escape of Amina Ali after two years in captivity.
With this graduation, EMC has no more students in high school in the US. All are now post-secondary level and exceed all the Chibok girls in the Nigerian programs run by the Federal Government and Borno State government. EMC and AUN’s programs are the two most advanced programs for Chibok girls. “The fact that these girls could succeed inspite of the worst of terrorism and the opposition of their own government no less is proof that the gates of hell cannot prevail against the March of a girl committed to achieving her dreams or any band of individuals united to support them. They are truly a testament to the indomitable human spirit under guidance of a great God. Not one iota of support has come from any government anywhere. Rather we have paid the Nigerian and US governments numerous times for various needs for the girls. At the end of the day, our labor of love has been crowned with success in spite of all the naysayers and saboteurs. To God alone by the glory. We thank all our friends and supporters,” Ogebe says.
Out off the five girls placed in this same school, one of them is now in college earning a degree, two graduated with diplomas on Thursday while two who were taken by the Nigerian government last year still don’t have a diploma.
