Liatu was just eight years old when Boko Haram stormed into her village, firing machine guns. As bullets flew terrifyingly close to her, she fled with her fellow Sunday school students into the wilderness.
“We started running without our shoes,” Liatu said. “All we could hear were the machine guns.”
Liatu kept running, moving with a small group of children from her village and sleeping in the bush as they went. From that terrifying day onward, she survived four agonizing years of survival alone, separated from her family.
As a Christian persecuted in Nigeria, Liatu’s story epitomizes the religious persecution many Christians experience in northern Nigeria at the hands of Boko Haram. This Islamic extremist group has waged attacks on villages, churches and schools in a brutal campaign against Westernization. Boko Haram, whose name translates to “Western education is forbidden,” is merciless towards Christians. Those who refuse to convert to Islam face violence or death. Over the past two decades, Boko Haram has terrorized Christian communities through bombings, abductions and mass slaughter.
After escaping to a refugee camp in Cameroon, Liatu endured extreme hunger, illness and exploitation. She survived by working grueling days in a rock quarry and bears scars on her arms and legs, testaments to the injuries she suffered.
“I was frequently denied food and water and I often slept outside,” she said.
Feeling abandoned by her family and stripped of hope, her will to live withered. At her darkest moments, Liatu considered ending her own life.
“I blamed God,” she said. “I told him to kill me.”
One day, Liatu, having given up hope of ever seeing her parents, experienced a miracle: she was recognized in a photo taken of her in a refugee camp. Liatu reunited with her mother and father after four heart-wrenching years apart.
The reunion awakened complex emotions in Liatu’s grieving heart. Confused, angry and doubtful after years of believing her family had forgotten her, she resisted reconciling.
“I told them I remember them, but I’m not going back to them again,” Liatu said. “I don’t want to have them in my life.”
Over time, Liatu’s heart softened, and she regained trust in her family as she learned of their desperate attempts to find her. Her Christian faith was also renewed through the support of GCR’s partners at her refugee camp who met with her, prayed alongside her and shared God’s Word.
The promises found in Scripture ignited hope within her. Through her times of despair, Liatu found encouragement in remembered Sunday school songs and Bible verses, such as Psalm 23: “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”
Now, at age 20, Liatu channels her hardship as a Christian persecuted in Nigeria into helping others heal. By sharing her testimony, leading youth programs at a refugee camp and praying for families facing trauma, she is able to spiritually empower her community.
As the Nigerian government battles the Boko Haram insurgency in the north, faith remains the unshakable stronghold for violence-marred Christians. Liatu and multitudes persecuted for their belief in Jesus turn to Scripture and prayer amid the chaos. Survivors like Liatu become beacons of hope through their unfailing devotion to Jesus. Amid uncertainty, violence and trauma, the faithful in Nigeria, like Liatu, sing out boldly, “It’s Jesus who gives me joy.”
Chandler Peterson is a staff writer and editor for Global Christian Relief where she shares stories of Christian persecution. Read the latest Christian persecution stories on our website and learn more at GlobalChristianRelief.org.
Vulnerable Christians like Liatu face increasing levels of persecution, not only in Nigeria but all around the globe. Become a Frontline Partner today and your monthly, recurring gift can provide emergency relief and long-term support—plus Bibles, safe shelter, trauma counseling, medical aid, food and more for those in dire need.
