Reeling from the kidnapping of more than 250 children and teachers from a Catholic school in central Nigeria, Kontagora Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna said trauma, helplessness and confusion had gripped Papiri, in the state of Niger. Source: OSV News.
As of Wednesday, 265 people – including 253 children and 12 teachers – were still in captivity after the November 21 kidnapping, as the diocese continued to gather more information regarding the missing persons.
Earlier reports indicated that over 300 children were in the hands of the captors, but 50 of them managed to escape and, on November 22-23, they were reunited with their families.
“The people in the area are traumatised, they feel helpless and confused,” Bishop Yohanna said on Tuesday. “But they are hopeful. They are even encouraging us,” he said as the government mounted a military-led search and rescue operation.
“Our attention is still on how to rescue those in captivity for now,” the bishop said.
The gunmen, on motorcycles and vehicles, descended on St Mary’s School in Papiri in the early morning hours, abducting the children who were between the ages of 10 and 18. The children had retired into a normal night, but were woken up by the commotion as the attack unfolded.
The Kontagora Diocese owns the school, but the Ireland-linked Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles manages the institution. The Catholic boarding school is the largest in the Papiri locality, according to local sources, and most people in the north prefer sending their children to mission schools because they offer the best education.
By the time of the attack, the school had a total population of 430 primary school children, of which 377 were boarders and 53 were day pupils. The secondary school wing had 185 boarders and 14 day students.
Sr Mary Barron, the superior general of the order, said in a BBC interview that the situation was horrific and that, for some families, all their children had been taken away.
“Families will send all their children to the school because they don’t have an option,” she said.
Sr Mary appealed to the international community for “prayers and spiritual solidarity from Religious Congregations, Catholic institutions, faith communities, and people of goodwill around the world.”
She said that while the situation is grave, collective prayer carries strength, hope, and presence at a time when the community feels most vulnerable.
FULL STORY
Community recounts unspeakable tragedy of parents awaiting news of their kidnapped children in Nigeria (By Fredrick Nzwili, OSV News)
Abduction at St Mary’s Schools, Papiri – A Call to Prayer and Solidarity (Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles)
