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The names of Nigeria's stolen schoolgirls have been released.

 

The world took far too long to start caring about the 276 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls.

Although the facts are heartbreaking — the girls were stolen from their school house in the middle of the night and are reportedly being sold as “slaves” by their Boko Haram Islamist abductors — it seems many of us found it difficult to truly feel the depth of that tragedy while the kidnapped girls remained faceless and nameless.

But seeing this newly released list of the girls’ names really drives home that each of these girls is an individual and that for her family, her absence is a cause for unthinkable grief every day.

So here, via the Christian Association of Nigeria, are the names of 177 of those still missing:

1. Deborah ​
2. Awa ​
3. Hauwa ​
4. Asabe ​
5. Mwa ​
6. Patiant ​
7. Saraya ​
8. Mary ​
9. Gloria ​
10. Hanatu ​
11. Gloria ​
12. Tabitha ​
13. Maifa ​
14. Ruth ​
15. Esther ​
16. Awa ​
17. Anthonia
18. Kume ​
19. Aisha ​
20. Nguba ​
21. Kwanta ​
22. Kummai ​
23. Esther ​
24. Hana ​
25. Rifkatu ​
26 Rebecca ​
27. Blessing ​
28. Ladi ​
29. Tabitha ​
30 Ruth ​
31. Safiya ​
32. Na’omi ​
33. Solomi ​
34. Rhoda ​
35. Rebecca ​
36. Christy ​
37. Rebecca ​
38. Laraba ​
39 Saratu ​
40. Mary ​
41. Debora ​
42. Naomi ​
43 Hanatu ​
44. Hauwa ​
45. Juliana ​
46. Suzana ​
47.Saraya ​
48. Jummai ​
49. Mary ​
50. Jummai ​
51. Yanke ​
52. Muli ​
53. Fatima ​
54. Eli ​
55. Saratu ​
56. Deborah
57. Rahila ​
58. Luggwa ​
59. Kauna ​
60. Lydia ​
61. Laraba ​
62. Hauwa ​
63. Confort ​
64. Hauwa ​
65. Hauwa ​
66. Yana ​
67. Laraba ​
68. Saraya ​
69. Glory ​
70. Na’omi ​
71. Godiya ​
72. Awa ​
73. Na’omi ​
74. Maryamu
75. Tabitha ​
76. Mary ​
77. Ladi ​
78. Rejoice ​
79. Luggwa ​
80. Comfort ​
81. Saraya ​
82. Sicker ​
83.Talata ​
84. Rejoice ​
85. Deborah ​
86. Salomi ​
87. Mary ​
88. Ruth ​
89. Esther ​
90. Esther ​
91. Maryamu
91. Zara ​
93. Maryamu
94. Lydia ​
95. Laraba ​
96. Na’omi ​
97. Rahila ​
98. Ruth ​
99. Ladi ​
100 Mary ​
101. Esther ​
102. Helen ​
103. Margret
104. Deborah
105. Filo ​
106. Febi ​
107. Ruth ​
108. Racheal
109. Rifkatu
110. Mairama
111. Saratu ​
112. Jinkai ​
113. Margret
114. Yana ​
115. Grace ​
116. Amina ​
117. Palmata
118. Awagana
119. Pindar ​
120. Yana ​
121. Saraya ​
122. Hauwa ​
123. Hauwa ​
125. Hauwa ​
126. Maryamu
127. Maimuna
128. Rebeca
129. Liyatu ​
130. Rifkatu
131. Naomi ​
132. Deborah
133. Ladi ​
134. Asabe ​
135. Maryamu
136. Ruth ​
137. Mary ​
138. Abigail
139. Deborah
140. Saraya ​
141. Kauna ​
142. Christiana
143. Yana ​
144. Hauwa ​
145. Hadiza ​
146. Lydia ​
147. Ruth ​
148. Mary ​
149. Lugwa ​
150. Muwa ​
151. Hanatu ​
152. Monica
153. Margret
154. Docas ​
155. Rhoda ​
156. Rifkatu
157. Saratu ​
158. Naomi ​
159. Hauwa ​
160. Rahap ​
162. Deborah
163. Hauwa ​
164. Hauwa ​
165. Serah ​
166. Aishatu
167. Aishatu
168. Hauwa ​
169. Hamsatu
170. Mairama
171. Hauwa ​
172. Ihyi ​
173. Hasana
174. Rakiya ​
175. Halima ​
176. Aisha ​
177. Kabu ​
178. Yayi ​
179. Falta ​
180. Kwadugu

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Editor’s note: After reading Jina Moore’s piece ‘Stop Naming Nigeria’s Kidnapped Girls‘, Mamamia has decided not to publish the surnames of the missing school girls.

Moore writes:

In the political fray of finger-pointing and the international frenzy of “raising awareness”, no one seemed to have noticed perhaps the most important part of the plea from the spokesman of the governor whose state the girls were kidnapped from:

“Our fear,” Gusau said in his April 30 statement, is that “to reveal names that would reveal religion and family backgrounds… could at the end, compromise the safety of these girls.” He also pointed out that publicizing the girls’ names could make it easier for Boko Haram to identify their parents and demand ransom and he feared listing the names could undermine the rescue operation or simply become sensational.

 

 

Here’s what the #BringBackOurGirls campaign has looked like so far:

You can help Bring Back our Girls. Sign the Amnesty petition here and the Change.org petition here to show your support for the search effort. You can also support the Twitter campaign using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, or donate to Girl Rising’s emergency appeal here.