Fatima Danladi, feeling discriminated against is the cost of losing 10 close friends to the massacre. Since she saw the soldiers kill her friends, she has become hypersensitive to shocking sounds. She said every sound makes her remember gunshots and the colour ‘red’ reminds her of bloodstains.
As she tried to express her frustration to HumAngle, the words seemed stuck in her throat as her eyes welled up with tears. Minutes later, Fatima finally spoke out with heavy emotion.
“I lost my childhood friends to heartless soldiers. They tried to escape but were captured at their hideouts. I won’t count myself lucky for escaping death because life has no meaning to me since then. I have never felt discriminated against until soldiers killed my friends.”
Explaining how close they were before the killings, Fatima said, “We crawled together, walked together, ran together, cried together, and even laughed together. The only thing that separated us was sleep. We ate together and always assembled on the same line during salat [prayers].
“I miss Fatima Yakubu, Khadija Yakubu, Fatima Bahiru, Aisha and many others… I am lonely now because I work alone trying to cope. It has not been easy and I cry every day because it is terrible.”
She is also battling depression. Making new friends has been difficult for her as she claimed to be discriminated against by people who believe that “it is a crime to be part of Islamic movement.”
“The children are facing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) because of their early exposure to violence,” psychiatrist Akinwande Oguntuwase told HumAngle.
He explained that the children’s challenges came as a result of their near death experiences.
“They need to be helped so that they won’t remember what happened in the past. The current situation the children are faced with may lead to long-term disability and some may end up committing suicide.” The children need psychosocial care and proper medical attention, Oguntuwase recommended.
Copyright: HumanAngle.org
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Zaria Massacre