Bring Back Our Girls!
Please watch our video that was made in conjunction with other Phoenix Schools (Head Girls' and Boys' Society in Johannesburg) entitled: "Bring Back our Girls"
On 19 May 2014 St Stithians Girls' College students braved the cold of a winter morning to participate in a mass protest in collaboration with other member schools of the Phoenix group. Phoenix is a group of top Johannesburg schools which organise inter school drives and community service initiatives. On this day Phoenix organized a mass protest in support of the ongoing Bring Back Our Girls campaign.
On the day girls from the St Stithians Girls' College brought posters and banners and collectively protested against the kidnapping of the Nigerian school girls by the militant Islamic group Boko Haram. Many girls felt personally affected by this event as they could identify with possibly losing fellow students and thus were motivated to take action.
The girls gathered on the side of the road at the main entrance of the school enthused and ready to protest with the support of some teachers. Girls stood on the side of the road with signs in hand and also managed to spell out "#BringBackOurGirls". The girls also encouraged passing motorists to take a stand against the situation in Nigeria by hooting their horns against the atrocities in Nigeria.
Pictures and videos from the protest from all schools were compiled into a YouTube video and sent to diferrent media outlets, the South African Department of International Relations and the Johannesburg Nigerian embassy. We were very grateful for the support that we received from all students and motorists.
During assembly on the same day, our Gr 11 and 12 girls were asked to stand with the poster ‘#Bring back our girls”. Their number of over 200 girls brought to mind visually to the rest of our school of over 525 girls, how many students were taken in Nigeria. Over a third of our school would be gone – a powerful depiction!
Through prayer, the abducted girls were placed in God’s hands.
Mabothe Maleka
