A 24-year old Nigerian, Ghumdia Kambu Daniel who watched haplessly; as Boko Haram terrorists slaughterred his father and two brothers has commenced a trauma healing journey.
Ghumdia, alongside 29 other trauma patients went through the six core trauma healing lessons during a four-day intensive workshop in Yola, Adamawa State.
In 2014, at about 7:30pm, the dreaded Boko Haram terrorists, armed with rifles and machetes, stormed the family residence of Ghumdia in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, and hacked his father and two adult siblings down.
The then 14-year old little Ghumdia, his mother and other female family members went through a sleepless night anguishing the horrible murder of the family’s breadwinner.
Ghumdia, gave the tormenting story at the “Trauma Healing Adamawa”, in Yola, the state capital, convened by the Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria (CSWN).
He narrated, “at about 7:30pm on the ill-fated day in Maiduguri, every family member was back home. All were in the living room, except dad, who was relaxing outside in veranda area, when armed terrorists barged into our compound, forced everybody out and handcuffed every male.
“They took time to cart away everything valuable in the house, including one of the two cars. Thereafter, they machetteed my two elder brothers and our father in the neck, resulting in his death but my brothers survived miraculously with medical intervention.
“Dad was gone! Yes on the spot! But it was difficult to accept the reality. Though traumatized, we were forced to relocate to a semi-urban centre, having being compelled to accept the inevitable.
“The breadwinner was no more, our health, education, future; just everything around the family’s interest seem to be in jeopardy. The future looked really bleak, because mother’s income could barely put food on the table. Our older brother had to defer his university education to take up a job to help argument mother’s lean income.
“Sadly, three years later, that was in 2017 my mother was among ten police officers kidnapped by the same terror group, Boko Haram. At this point it felt like everyone, everything, including providence was against my family. However, after seven months mother was released back to us,” Ghumdia narrated.
Like him, virtually all participants shared heartrending horrific story.
For Yohanna Waziri, he was traumatized after he lost a dear friend and was kidnapped a night before the burial. “I also lost N4 million to rubbers around the same period which led me into trauma; at a point it felt as if there was no God any more. Somehow by the grace of God I was able to pull through,” Waziri said.
He added, “I was traumatized indeed! At a point I contemplated taking to kidnapping too, but for the grace of God.”
On her part, Rose Uriah, tearfully gave graphic details of how her father was gruesomely murdered by Fulani herders in 2018; leaving the family in bitter agony. According to her, “father’s body was decapitated and packed into a wheelbarrow. We were denied the honor of giving his remains a befitting burial.”
Samuel Edward, another trauma patient, said, “I got traumatized when after spending my entire investment to cultivate one hectre of maize farm, only for Fulani herders to set fire to everything harvested. It was destroyed and I lost the whole investment. I was deeply traumatized and acutely so.”
Superintending the workshop, the Chief Executive Officer of CSWN, Rev. Yunusa Nmadu and his team, painstakingly took the participants through the six core lessons of trauma healing.
At the end of the four-day workshop, which attracted no fewer than 30 participants; tangible trauma healing process was seen to have started. This was adjudged to be so, following testimonies and bright countenances.
More so that participants had learnt that trauma healing requires forgiveness and could take time to be achieved.
Certificates of attendance were presented to all participants.
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