Although she has a compelling story of her own to tell, Deborah would not let it define her as she looks forward to a brighter future.
That bright future is what the 19-year old is going to tell the 275 women and children, who were held hostage by Boko Haram and rescued recently by the Nigerian military, to look forward to.
“We will pray together, then after praying together I will advise them to forgive the people who mistreated them because if you forgive people God also forgives you”, said Deborah, who is one of the 21 girls now schooling at the prestigious American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, the Adamawa State capital, said.
The Chibok indigene was among another group of 276 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram gunmen from her secondary school in the remote northeastern town of Chibok, Borno State on the night of April 14, 2014.
Deborah and 56 others, however, managed to escape in the hours that followed their abduction. The other 219 were not so lucky as their whereabouts remain unknown till this day.
“We will tell them that life is a journey. You meet many obstacles in life and life is just full of surprises and you never think it will happen to you”, she added.
“Now they have been released they should make up their minds to start a new life and live a happy life.
“We have already forgiven them (Boko Haram). It wasn’t difficult because that’s the lesson we’ve been taught since our Sunday School days, that you should forgive whoever hurts you”, Deborah added.