TORONTO -- 鈥淚 hunt them down.鈥
These are the words of Aisha, a hunter whose prey is plaguing Nigeria: the Islamist terror group Boko Haram.
Aisha leads groups of men into the forests to find and free women who have experienced being abducted, tortured and raped by Boko Haram鈥檚 members.
Her story is featured in the new TVO documentary 鈥淐aptive,鈥 helmed by Canadian journalist Mellissa Fung.
Fung, herself a survivor of a kidnapping while working for the CBC in Afghanistan in 2008, spoke to CTV News鈥 Chief Anchor and Senior Editor Lisa LaFlamme about 鈥淐aptive,鈥 and the women fighting back against Boko Haram鈥檚 atrocities.
鈥淚 think we all remember where we were in April 2014 when we woke up to the news in that 276 had been kidnapped by Boko Haram and disappeared into the Sambisa forest,鈥 Fung said, speaking from London, U.K.
Fung said she remembered waking up, and was horrified -- for her, the very word 鈥渒idnapping鈥 is a trigger.
鈥淚 was horrified like everybody else that, overnight, all these girls could be vanished and disappeared鈥 did some more reading and discovered that Boko Haram is very much like the Taliban in their ways of not wanting girls to go to school,鈥 she said. 鈥淚n fact, Boko Haram means 鈥榳estern education is forbidden鈥 in Hausa, and that horrified me even more.鈥
Finding out that the 276 girls taken in April were only a 鈥渇raction of the thousands of girls鈥 the militants had taken into the forest over the years made Fung realize 鈥渢his was a story we needed to hear about.鈥
One of the voices in the documentary is Aisha. The youngest of 10 children and the only girl 鈥 she followed in her father鈥檚 footsteps and became a hunter, but her prey is human.
鈥淪he is an amazing character,鈥 Fung said. 鈥淎 few years back the Nigerian government decided to ask local hunting groups for their help in the fight against Boko Haram. Going into the forest, rooting out militants and rescuing people鈥isha is the female leader of this hunting group.鈥
鈥淪he really feels like there is some justice because she鈥檚 rescuing these girls and she鈥檚 a woman leading a band of men into the forest to fight back.鈥
As to whether she spoke of her own journey of kidnapping with the documentary subjects, Fung said yes 鈥 through sharing, the girls opened up to her.
鈥淭hey knew. I made sure that they knew what my background was and I told them, 鈥榊ou can ask me anything you want,鈥欌 Fung said.
鈥淭hey were very curious, they wanted to know what Afghanistan was like, they wanted to know where my kidnappers kept me, how big the hole was where I was being held, what they fed me. So I had these real honest conversations and I think they came to see that they could trust me,鈥 she said.
鈥淚 think they were able to open up to me in a way that only people with shared experiences sadly can.鈥
But Fung admitted that she was hesitant at first, saying she felt her story had been 鈥渢old and told and told,鈥 but that another member of the documentary team encouraged her.
鈥淚 could be the bridge from the audience to these girls. And you know, it was a risk, because journalists don鈥檛 want to be the story 鈥 I never wanted to be the story,鈥 she said. 鈥淏ut if what I went through can help these girls tell their stories then it was worth it.鈥
Referencing two girls interviewed in a refugee camp who had recently been returned from Boko Haram, Fung said they told her 鈥渢hey don鈥檛 think about it, they鈥檙e perfectly fine, they don鈥檛 dream about it, they don鈥檛 have nightmares, they don鈥檛 think about the forest鈥nd I could just tell by looking at them, they鈥檙e haunted.鈥
鈥淒id I look like that? Was that me when I first came back from my captivity?鈥 Fung said, adding that it is still hard for her to go back to that 鈥渄ark place.鈥
鈥淭he hole where I was held, that鈥檚 a part of who I am now鈥 but if going back there can help us talk about things we don鈥檛 talk about enough -- you know sexual violence, women and girls being disproportionately affected in conflict 鈥 then it鈥檚 OK.鈥
Part of the documentary covers the efforts of various NGOs on the ground trying to help survivors of Boko Haram鈥檚 violence integrate back into their communities.
鈥淵ou know I had the best trauma counselling in Canada when I came back from Afghanistan,鈥 Fung said. 鈥淢ental health in that part of the world is a luxury鈥o I think we need to support the great NGOs on the ground who are bringing that support and psychotherapy to these girls and these women who so badly need it because they have been so traumatised.鈥
One of those programs is run Dr. Fatima Akilu, who Fung said pioneered the program 鈥渃ounsellors on wheels.鈥
鈥淪he sends counsellors and therapists on tuk-tuks to remote villages to talk to women and girls who have escaped Boko Haram to help them through their trauma,鈥 Fung explained. 鈥淪he鈥檚 got a school and rehabilitation centre where she can only take 100 girls at a time to give them art therapy, music therapy and computer skills to prepare them to integrate them back into the community.鈥
But not all the characters in the documentary have such celebrated accomplishments.
Fung spoke of a woman called 鈥淢ama Boko Haram鈥 who claimed to know members of the militant group when they were children, and that she was able to reach out to them directly as a sort of medium.
鈥淪he claims she knew them [as children] and she still knows them and she can send emissaries to the forest to convince them to return kidnapped girls, to come out of the forest, to surrender their weapons. Whether or not the government condones that she does this is something that we were never able to figure out,鈥 Fung said, adding that 鈥淢ama鈥 has since been arrested for fraud.
鈥淭here is good and there is evil and she really straddles that line for me in the film.鈥
Fung said she is still in touch with the girls she interviewed for the documentary, and with the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down schools, she has been co-ordinating with a local Nigerian journalist to get the girls tutors so they can raise their grades enough to re-enter classes.
鈥淐aptive鈥 is available to watch on starting Tuesday, Feb. 23, after 9:30 p.m. EST.
