This Is What We Want Hauwa To Be Remembered For

Hauwa Liman, a Nigerian midwife with the International Community of the Red Cross, has passed. She was 24.

The 24-year-old was executed by a faction of the terrorist group, Boko Haram on Monday, October 15 after months in captivity.

Nigerians are outraged. They’ve criticised the government’s reaction to Boko Haram’s threats to kill her over a week ago.

In this time of mourning, we want her to be remembered not for the pain that followed her demise, but for her selflessness.

Hauwa became a midwife at an early age and was “truly dedicated to her work helping vulnerable women in her family’s home area” in Nigeria’s troubled North-East.

Her devotion to her work led Hauwa to Rann, a town in Kala/Balge LG in Borno State. It’s the easternmost LGA in Nigeria, on the edge of Sambisa forest.

The area has been a hotbed of the insurgency for years. The young aid worker was abducted there when Boko Haram attacked the town on March 1, 2018.

You could say Hauwa knew what she was signing up for but she cared enough to do it anyway.

Her selflessness endeared her to colleagues and friends. They knew and loved her as a sociable, dynamic and enthusiastic woman.

While she was in captivity, there were numerous calls for her release, from home and abroad.

Hauwa Liman made the ultimate sacrifice to bring hope to a land covered in despair.

That’s how we must remember her.