Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree

In a truck with Sarah, Aisha, and dozens of other girls, Ya Ta realizes that her four older brothers, her father, her teacher, and principal are all dead. Jacob is in another truck, and Ya Ta has no idea where they are going. Ya Ta thanks God for the fact that her brother and mother are still alive despite most of her family being gone. She hopes Success is alive as well. She realizes that although girls and women live more arduous lives than men at times, it was the men who were killed. Ya Ta is grateful just to be alive.

When the truck arrives in the Sambisa forest, the girls are instructed to get out. With a voice “as calm as glass” (111), the leader tells the girls they are slaves and the property of Boko Haram now. He threatens them with his gun and warns that there are land mines everywhere. The Sambisa forest, which was once home to all sorts of wildlife, now belongs to Boko Haram.

The Boko Haram leader tells the girls they won’t be harmed as long as they convert to Islam. The girls who are already Muslim are taken away while the rest are asked if they are prepared to convert.