Think Creative - Issue 1

How to Heal

In Boko Haram’s wake, Social Emotional Learning helps displaced children

Natalie Lovenburg / Photos by Erick Gibson

Boko Haram stopped their offensive and re- treated as the Air Force had mobilized a count- er attack. Amassive explosion about 50 feet from Shettima’s home killed the insurgents. It was then that the educator and his family could leave their home. Educators and students in Borno state have been hit the hardest by Boko Haram’s ongoing offensive against the government and citizens. “As a result of the insurgency, the education sector—especially the basic education sector— has lost about 530 teachers and over 4,000 to 5,000 classrooms were destroyed,” says Ali Bukar Dogo, Director of School Services on the Borno State Basic Education Board. With vivid flashbacks of Boko Haram insur- gents dragging teachers and students out of a classroom to brutally kill them playing on

lhaji Bukar Shettima remembers clearly when in 2015 Boko Haram came into his neighborhood in the Borno state capital of Maiduguri. The violent insurgents first attacked a nearby Air Force base before turning their unwanted attention to his home and neighborhood located in front of the mili- tary installation. As a respected teacher and director of a school, he knew that Boko Haram—which roughly translates to “Western education is evil”— would kill him and his family. Standing outside of Shettima’s home, two young insurgents used their AK-47s to spray his house with bullets that tore through the walls and roof. He and his terrified family kept their heads down and prayed for a miracle. Suddenly, the two attackers and the rest of

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