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Activists appeal to US Embassy to give Chibok Escapee a Student Visa
A group of activists are appealing to the US Embassy to grant a student visa to Hauwa John, a Chibok escapee. Hauwa was one of the girls kidnapped from a secondary school in Chibok. She miraculously escaped the clutches of Boko Haram. Sadly, many of your friends and schoolmates are still missing.
Hauwa featured in a CNN interview at the height of the media attention surrounding the #BringBackOurGirls movement – Watch Here.
Hauwa’s relocation to the US has been facilitated by the Nigerian NGO – Education Must Continue Initiative.
We received this message from a member of the group regarding Hauwa;
Please help raise awareness on the plight of Hauwa John, the first Chibok girl to jump and escape from Boko Haram on the night of April 14, 2014 after abduction from Government Secondary School, Chibok.
She and several other girls obtained scholarships to school in the US and applied for student visas. Hauwa is the only one who was denied a visa by the US embassy in Abuja three times.
Hauwa has been denied a student visa 3 times for some inexplicable reason even though the embassy is aware she is a Chibok abduction escapee. As such she has been unable to join some of the other Chibok escapee girls currently schooling in the US. She was also recently denied a US visa to attend a side event on education at the UN General Assembly in New York in September.
The other escapee girls in the US have made a plea to the US ambassador to Nigeria to give Hauwa a visa. Here is the link
There is also an online petition which is petitioning the Obama administration to give Hauwa John a visa. We need 100,000 signatures before November 14, 2015 .
We are sure the US Embassy has their reasons, however, the trauma these girls have gone through is immense. If going to the US will give them access to therapy and educational opportunities, it is worth pursuing.
Education Must Continue Initiative is working with some of the escaped girls to ensure they return back to school either in Nigeria or, for a few, in the US. Education Must Continue Initiative is also working to ensure thousands of students caught up in the insurgency and who have been out of school for three years can continue schooling in IDP camps.
Several Chibok girls are in schools on scholarships. The group is currently looking for scholarships for 2 girls who have received admission to two US universities. A crowd-funding appeal has been launched at https://www.gofundme.com/
Here is a list of Chibok girls. It is so heartbreaking that many are still not back home.
