Ghumdia Kambu Daniel, a 24-year-old Nigerian who witnessed Boko Haram terrorists slaughter his father and nearly kill his two brothers, is presently undergoing a trauma healing process.

The traumatised Daniel, alongside 29 other trauma patients went through six core trauma healing lessons during a four-day workshop in Yola, Adamawa State.

In 2014, at about 7:30 pm, Boko Haram terrorists, armed with rifles and machetes, stormed the family residence of Ghumdia in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, and hacked his father and two adult siblings down.

Then-14-year-old Ghumdia, his mother and other female family members had sleepless nights following the gruesome murder of the family’s breadwinner.

Ghumdia narrated her story at the “Trauma Healing Adamawa”, in Yola, the state capital. The workshop was organised by the Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria (CSWN).

He narrated, “At about 7:30 pm on the ill-fated day in Maiduguri, every family member was back home. All were in the living room, except Dad, who was relaxing outside in the veranda area, when armed terrorists barged into our compound, forced everybody out and handcuffed every male.

“Sadly, three years later, that is in 2017, my mother was among 10 police officers kidnapped by the same terror group, Boko Haram. At this point, it felt like everyone, everything, including providence was against my family. However, after seven months, my mother was released back to us.”

Like him, virtually all participants shared heartrending stories.

For Yohanna Waziri, he was traumatised after he lost a dear friend and was kidnapped a night before the burial.

“I also lost N4 million to robbers around the same period which led me into trauma; at a point, it felt as if there was no God anymore. Somehow by the grace of God, I was able to pull through,” Waziri said.

He added, “I was traumatised indeed! At a point, I contemplated taking to kidnapping too, but for the grace of God.”

On her part, Rose Uriah tearfully gave graphic details of how her father was gruesomely murdered by herders in 2018; leaving the family in bitter agony.

She said her “father’s body was decapitated and packed into a wheelbarrow”.

“We were denied the honour of giving his remains a befitting burial,” she added.

Samuel Edward, another trauma patient, said, “I got traumatised when after spending my entire investment to cultivate one hectare of maize farm, only for Fulani herders to set fire to everything harvested. It was destroyed and I lost the whole investment. I was deeply traumatized and acutely so.”

Superintending the workshop, the Chief Executive Officer of CSWN, Rev. Yunusa Nmadu and his team took the participants through the six core lessons of trauma healing.

At the end of the four-day workshop, which attracted no fewer than 30 participants; accounts and testimonies suggested the trauma healing process had started.

The participants said they learnt that trauma healing requires forgiveness and could take time to be achieved.