Have we forgotten about #Our Girls?

When the story broke in Mid-April 2014, the world went crazy with social media campaigns trying to give a helping hand in trying to get the girls back safely. The hype on social media was incredibly amazing. The many campaigns we came across on social media sites on a daily basis was impressive, especially coming from international celebrities. For a while there was little hope that maybe Boko Haram would feel the pressure and maybe even release the girls.



One of the campaigns for
#Bring Back Our Girls
Source: www.google.co.za

Now after a month or so, the hype was dying down. Reports on the case were no longer as frequent. And today as we speak, one hardly hears about the girls on the news. Even newspapers it's the same. What does this mean? Have we given up on the girls or what? I mean even the Nigerian President's government ruled out a rescue operation because "they were not willing to risk the girls' lives." /articles/u-s-planes-searching-for-boko-haram-abductees .

With that being said, I think the Nigerian government is not doing everything in their power to ensure the safe return of the girls. Since they ruled out the rescue operation, nothing else has been done.

The parents of the girls.

Source: thehill.com/business

Now the PR department on the other hand has gone quiet. This is what I call poor PR. They should be keeping the campaigns alive like they were doing in April after the girls had just been abducted. But then again, what alternative does the PR department have? They have nothing solid to report on or simply put out there for people to know what is being done. I don't blame them for being quiet because really there is nothing for them to report on. The government is rarely giving them anything positive so they can't really report on false information.
Now what would you have done more , if you were working under such a government, to ensure that the campaigns are kept running and very much alive?http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/nigeria-committing-war-crimes-to-defeat-boko-haram-9674775.html



Protesters marching to the presidential
villa in Abuja.
Source: www.theguardian.com/world

Bring Back Our Girls - Edition 1

The parents in despair.
Source: nigeria-mothers-story-top.

So, it is pretty clear what a sick and twisted world we are living in. I mean the things that happen in this day in age never ceases to amaze me anymore.

We in South Africa hear and experience horrific things but then when I heard on the news that on the night of 14-15 April 2014, 276 female students were kidnapped in Nigeria, I was stunned. How does such a thing happen? Is it really that easy for a group of men to kidnap over 200 people? Now this was a shock, but the reason was even worse. The girls were kidnapped by a terrorist group, Boko Haram, an Islamic and terrorist organisation because “the Nigerian government was interfering with traditional Islamic education, ”www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/Nigeria
 

Michelle Obama
Source: Bring-Back-Our-Girls-Michelle-Obama

What I really do not get is why innocent school girls must suffer for this. They are in no way involved in the dispute. Now when this story was announced, the media was in a frenzy. Social media was in a buzz. Now when such a big story breaks, journalists get to have a field day. The story was reported internationally and so it managed to reach a lot of people, thanks to the media, especially social media.

Alicia Keys on Instagram
Source: Back-Our-Girls-Instagram-Alicia-Keys

In this day in age, social media is really taking over. Yes, journalists reported on the story but then, social media was the number one source for many people out there. I myself checked Twitter and Facebook for updates on the story and I saw a picture by Michelle Obama on Facebook with the hashtag “Bring Back Our Girls." Now a lot of other celebrities by the likes of Alicia Keys also joined in the campaign. They all went by it through social media which shows exactly what a strong and powerful impact social media can have.

Social media plays a major role in people’s lives today. Social media has the power to make or break you or your organisation. The PR department of the government had a lot on their hands, now I could not imagine the pressure they were under. Now just put yourself in their shoes, how would you deal with this? Where would you start?