Salamatu woke at 2am every night remembering her trauma, but now she sleeps soundly

Nigeria is number seven on the World Watch List. It’s a place of extreme persecution for many believers. Salamatu knows this all too well, but your support is bringing hope amidst despair.

For a while every night, Salamatu woke up at 2am – the time when Boko Haram swept through her village and devasted her life.

In an earlier attack, Boko Haram attacked the peaceful village and killed nine people. Salamatu and her family fled to a forest, but like others in rural northern Nigeria, they returned home because of their cultural, social and economic ties to the area.

A tearful night

When Boko Haram returned early last year, they attacked the church and shot dead the pastor. “My husband told me we should pray,” recalls Salamatu. “We said a short prayer and then ‘Amen’. As soon as we said ‘Amen’, we heard people pulling at the handles of our gate.”

Her husband instructed her to go upstairs with their children and grandchildren. He told them to remain there, not to cry and stay quiet – even if they heard gunshots. Whilst there, her husband went to the courtyard outside. Having given up on trying to open the gate, the militants climbed the fence and saw Salamatu’s husband.

“As soon as they jumped from the fence and landed on the ground, they shot my husband,” says Salamatu. The attackers set fire to Salamatu’s son’s car, a pharmacy and the shop next door. One of her sons tried to call soldiers he knew, but nobody answered.

At 4am, the sounds died down and the family emerged from hiding. Remembering her husband’s words not to cry, Salamatu didn’t shed any tears when she saw his body. “But the grandchildren, they cried as if they were dying,” she says.

When daybreak came, the village found that six people had been killed that night. The church and many homes were burned down. It’s just one of the vast number of attacks on Christians last year – at least 3,100 believers in Nigeria were killed for their faith which, according to Open Doors research, is more than everywhere else in the world combined.

Midnight prayers

Salamatu wanted to bury her husband in their village but, the year before, Boko Haram had ambushed a group of mourners returning from a burial. So instead, Salamatu’s family took her husband and the pastor who had been killed and drove to another town to bury them.

Nigerian organisations came to offer help and support – only for Christians to be discriminated against. “Everyone received coupons to collect food,” says Salamatu, “But when they discovered we were Christians, we didn’t receive the coupon.

“There was a Muslim lady whose name appeared on the list three times. She received three coupons and gave one to me, so at least I could collect some food. When I do, I bring her some of the food I have received and then share the rest with my own family.”

• Why is Nigeria number 7 on the World Watch List?

After this second attack, Salamatu, her children and grandchildren had no choice but to leave home – putting them among the 16.2 million Christians displaced in sub-Saharan Africa by violence and conflict. Most villagers have not returned, except for those with government jobs, otherwise they’ll lose them.

“The Christians among them still have church services in the same place, even though there’s no building anymore,” continues Salamatu. “They find a nearby tree and sit down there in groups of twos and threes. They pray together and then return home. But most of us don’t want to go back. Boko Haram let us know that we will be murdered if we come back.”

For Salamatu, getting through each day is the biggest challenge. “Some days I can only sit and do nothing,” she says. “On Sunday, we go to church and, after the service, people join us for lunch. God provides food for us and we share what we have.”

Every night, between 10pm and midnight, Salamatu prays. “That was my habit with my husband and I continue with it,” she says.

Sleeping peacefully

“We have to realise that time doesn’t heal, but that healing takes time,” explains an Open Doors partner in Nigeria who specialises in trauma care work. “This is why we invited Salamatu to come to a training. Here we help people work through what they have been through and show them the biblical perspective. We offer counselling and pastoral care, too.”

“At first, I didn’t want to come,” shares Salamatu. “I’ve never been this far away from the area where I was born. How would I even go there? Thankfully, I didn’t have to come alone and now I thank God. He brought me to the training.

“It has given me peace. Before, I woke up every night at 2am. My heart would stop beating for a second. Then it started to race. But after my time with you, I can sleep soundly. My heart has been at peace. Thank you.”

The trauma care that’s blessed Salamatu is one of the many ways your support is helping believers from countries in the top 10 of the World Watch List, which also includes North Korea, Iran and Sudan. Thank you, and please continue to remember our brothers and sisters in these places where the persecution facing many of them is extreme.