Beneath the Tamarind Tree audiobook

Beneath The Tamarind Tree #bookrecommendation•Isha Sesay is an award winning journalist who constantly worked on the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping incident. Having worked for the CNN for over a decade, Isha has been covering this case since the very beginning. Isha was born in Seirra Leone to well educated parents who pushed her towards knowledge. Her mother who later became her pillar of support always encouraged her to stand by her Chibok sisters. This book is the real take on what actually happened to the girls during the period of two years when they were abducted.•Boko Haram, a religious Jihadi terrorist group who condemned Western ideologies were against women education and believed in spreading Islam as the one true religion. The group was formed around 2002 and has caused terror ever since. Thousands were killed in the name of religion and many were converted or taken as captive. When members of Boko Haram abducted around 300 schoolgirls from their hostel in Chibok, they wanted to send a message across to the government and people of Nigeria. The girls were asked to covert and accept Islam as their new religion and were hidden away in a forest for close to two years. Isha Sessay interviews the girls and puts across their experience of being a captive. The lives of few girls were taken as example. The lives of Dorcas, Priscilla and Saa during those days are explained vividly in this book.•Nigerian government's part in this abduction case has been exposed severely by the brave author. She writes about the indifference of the government as they were quick to treat this abduction as a hoax to save face. She is bold and her voice has brought about a complete set of revelations to the public. Few girls managed to escape from the Boko Haram's clutches, while others were released as part of an exchange organised by the government. More than 100 hundred girls are still missing. The unfairness of it all shocks me even now. It's saddening to see how the parents struggled to get their girls back while few of them still wait for a sign from the missing ones. Beneath the tamarind tree is a beautiful and powerful read. It's informative and moving.•Rating- 5/5.

A harrowing account by brave journalist Isha Sesay of her dangerous experiences tracking the young women abducted by the hardcore jihadist Boko Haram members in Nigeria. The interviews with the schoolgirls, fraught with terrifying remembrances of the brutality and psychological punishment they endured, will open the readers’ eyes to the frightening reality women suffer daily throughout places where terrorists operate. Ms. Sesay’s indefatigable work on behalf of these Boko Haram girls, as they became known around the world, and her innate courage helped to make what might have been a sadly neglected injustice into a cause championed by many around the globe.

"Go under that tree!. . .They'd arrived at a Boko Haram Camp . . . The hundreds of girls moved en-masse for protection and stood weeping at the foot of the [tamarind] tree . . . Do you know why you are here? . . . It is in your best interests to choose our religion . . . Even if you refuse to accept our religion, you must wear the hijab."April 14, 2014 dawned like any other in the Local Government Area of Borno State, Nigeria known as Chibok. The Area is located in northern Nigeria and has its headquarters in the town with the same name of Chibok; a microdot agrarian village comprised of many Christian families. Militant Islamic groups have killed and maimed innocent residents as well as destroyed towns in the region.The marauders endeavor to eliminate any Western influences and to force native peoples to their extreme Islamic views. The most notable of the violent Islamic terror groups is known as Boko Haram; whose name loosely means "Western education is a sin."Their heavy-handed tactics have resulted in the closure of all Nigerian Government Schools - except one. The tiny school in the poverty laced Area of Chibok.On the morning of April 14, 2014, Boko Haram descended on the town of Chibok and "serendipitously" discovered the Government School and the 276 girls receiving Western education. The Jihadists assumed all schools had been closed and couldn't believe their luck to find one still open. Recognizing the opportunity and exposure they would receive by kidnapping these terrified young girls, the militants forcefully spirited them into the desolate Sambisa forest; the group's largest home base.Their actions did bring international attention at first, but soon the plight of these innocent children remained a horrible nightmare to only their bereft parents and a small cadre of activists. Nearly 50+ girls managed to evade capture or escaped in route to the Sambisa forest but the fates of over 200 remained a painful mystery.Nearly two years to the day from their capture and in the heart of the divisive United States 2016 election season, Boko Haram revived attention to their insidious kidnapping by releasing 21 girls. Once again, and for a brief time only, the world renewed its interest in the fate of these innocents.Author, Isha Sesay, born in Sierra Leone and serving as a CNN Africa reporter has now dedicated her life to discovering the fate of the Chibok girls, to keep their memory alive, and to further efforts to discover those still missing. The failure of her network to air an exclusive interview with the newly released girls in lieu of wall-to-wall coverage of Donald Trump and the 2016 Presidential election outraged her and has led to this incredible book, Beneath the Tamarind Tree.This soon to be released book in 2019, is a must read for lazy Americans who probably couldn't point to Nigeria on a globe much less locate Chibok. Count me in on that point. I knew all the buzz words in the news- Boko Haram, the Chibok girls, the kidnapping, the release of a few of the girls. . . But aside for a momentary sense of compassion for the girls, their parents, and their community I became distracted by news at home.I applaud Isha Sesay for educating me on the history of Nigeria in a way that was easy to read and showed how it's history is tied to the US. Her unique access to the released Chibok girls and their parents has brought the story down to the individual level while at the same time offering the reader an overview of life in the area as a whole. I was so amazed how desperately the parents wanted their girls to be educated; to be valued as a person and to reach their highest potential. The efforts of these destitute families, living without running water or electricity and the dedication of the girls themselves to honor their parents sacrifices for education is remarkable.Much of the strength and courage of these families resides in their deep belief in a Christian God and his mercy and wisdom. I honestly had tears in my eyes as I read the interviews from the released girls and their willingness to stand true to their faith and not be forced to convert to Islam. I, also understood, the need for self-preservation and did not judge those girls who "converted" in an effort for survival.It is a story of heartbreak and cruelty cast in a light that doesn't offend the reader but offers insight into the daily lives of peoples constantly under crushing terror and emotional distress. In my heart of hearts, I believe everyone should read this book. It is now five years since the abduction and more than 112 girls are still missing. These innocent girls are representative of thousands more girls and boys that have been murdered or turned into slaves for a virulent cause all around the world. The world for those unfortunates that have survived has been irrevocably altered.We should all be aware that, "there but for the grace of God, go I", when one religious group forcibly dictates the rules and denies the rights of individuals to their own vision of a supreme being or the right to not believe in one at all.I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my opinion and honest review.

This is a remarkable story, told with a narrative style that struggles to be more relatable to Americans. Criticism is legitimate, but the choices made by the author are also legitimate, they highlight the challenges we face in understanding the very different situations faced by people in distant parts of the world. The story is very important as similar events play out more often than one might expect. The details are shooking.The role played by forgiveness turns out to be one of the more remarkable wrinkles in this story.

Beneath the Tamarind Tree is a riveting account of the abduction of the schoolgirls from the small town Chibok, Nigeria. Wonderfully written, suspenseful and an inspirational fight for women's equality for the right to education. There is so much we as Americans take for granted and I appreciated learning about these remote parts of the world. These girls are amazingly brave as they held onto their faith and hope that one day they would be free and reunited with their families. As of today, there are still some 100+ girls held captive by the Boko Haram terrorist group that initially abducted 276 girls.Find Beneath the Tamarind Tree: A Story of Courage, Family, and the Lost Schoolgirls of Boko Haram at Westminster Public Library today!And if you are in search of new books to read, try our services, What Do I Read Next. Our library staff are standing by to create a personalized recommendation list for you!

This was a very insightful but heartbreaking book. I hope that one day all the Chibok girls will be brought home. (I received this book free as an advance reader copy).

On April 14, 2014, terrorists from the Islamic group Boko Haram invaded the small town of Chibok in northeastern Nigeria. There, they found 276 girls in the dorms at the Government Girls Secondary School who were inadequately guarded. Boko Haram spoke out against Western education, education for girls, and democracy, and the Chibok school wasn’t the first they’d targeted, but the poor students there were determined to climb out of the poverty of the region not just for themselves but for their families. Their very dreams made them enemies of the Islamic group.During a multi-day trek, the militants led the girls, some on foot some on vehicles, through the Sambisa Forest. Some of the girls were able to escape by jumping out of the transport trucks while others bravely fled when they were supposed to be taking bathroom breaks. The rest were taken to a camp and left under a tamarind tree which would be their home for months.Back in Chibok, families were beside themselves with grief, but didn’t have the resources or political savvy to pressure the government to engage in a search for the missing girls. Instead, president Goodluck Jonathan claimed the kidnapping was a hoax designed to damage his reelection campaign.Ibrahim Abdullahi, a corporate lawyer, first used the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, and Obiageli Ezekwesili, a former vice president of the World Bank for the Africa region, was the first to publicly proclaim the four words. The theme became popular on social media, and, for a time, national and international media were focused on the story. Isha Sesay, a CNN anchor and native of Sierra Leone was one of the first journalists to cover the event, and even when other journalists and networks lost interest in the girls, her attention never waned. She was on site when the first group of thirty-one girls was released (two years after their abduction), and she developed relationships with them as well as with the families of the missing girls.In Beneath the Tamarind Tree, Sesay’s narrative centers on four of the kidnapped students, and she provides harrowing details from the confusion of the first moments Boko Haram stormed the compound to the fear of beatings and hunger, the bonds of friendship, and the solace of faith. She also recounts the Nigerian government’s sobering inaction, with President Jonathan and later administrations using the kidnapping as a political tool rather than trying to rescue the girls. Sesay also interjects her own experiences as a journalist covering the story and the pressures she was experiencing in her own life and from the network that made covering the story challenging.I had some technical quibbles with the book: I thought there was some unnecessary repetition and I was less interested in Sesay’s personal narrative than that of the girls’, but I think this is an important account to read. We should be witness to what these girls experienced and how they have been shamefully used as pawns in a war between the Boko Haram and legitimate governments. Their story also underscores the importance of educating girls and giving them opportunities to thrive outside of communities where they have only a single option for their future. Even more critical is the fact that 112 girls are still unaccounted for. It’s unlikely that a group of 112 wealthy or Western girls would have been abandoned as these have seemingly been.Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for providing an advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

Think back several years ago and you will recall hearing and seeing in the news the horrific story of the Nigerian school girls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram. For a time the hashtag #Bringbackourgirls circulated on social media. As news stories do, this event eventually was replaced by other stories. The recently published book Beneath the Tamarind Tree: A Story of Courage, Family, and the Lost School Girls of Boko Haram by Isha Sesay returns to this heart-wrenching story.Isha Sesay is uniquely situated to tell this story for several reasons. To begin, while employed with CNN she reported this story from the ground and interacted with both the girls and their families. As such she had formed relationships with them and was able to tell their stories. Beyond her access via CNN, as a native of Sierra Leone, Sesay also approaches these events from the perspective of an African woman. As she indicates frequently throughout the book, this could have been her story if it not for her privileged upbringing.Sesay alternates between telling the story of the kidnapped girls, her own story, and providing background information related to the politics and military of Nigeria as needed. The stories of specific girls, their dreams, and families allows you to get to know them personally. As you read, your heart breaks for what they experienced. However, your faith is encouraged as Sesay emphasizes the strong Christian faith of these girls and how it sustained them throughout their imprisonment. Alas, many of the girls are still being held.Beneath the Tamarind Tree is highly recommended for many audiences. Individuals who enjoy reading about current events and other cultures will enjoy this. Mature high school students will benefit from reading this book.Disclosure of Material Connection: I received Beneath the Tamarind Tree via NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Powerful! I don't have any other words to describe this book. I was ignorant to both the regime of Boko Haram and to the experiences faced by the captured Chibok teenagers.I knew Boko Haram were a Black terrorist organization. I did not know they disapproved of Western education and of Christianity. This knowledge helps to understand their motives, though still cruel and violent.Being a Black American, my main reference point were those similar to my ancestors. I imagined these girls were taken to be raped and treated as slaves. There was no indication in this book that this occurred.Instead, it provided graphic details of the captivity these girls endured, the bravery of those that risked their lives to escape, the brainwashing of girls who opted to stay, convert and marry and lastly, the care the author Isha felt for her "sisters."I hope you enjoy this read as much as I have.

I appreciate Isha humanizing the Chibok girls by putting a face to them and telling their story. It’s so easy for even an indigene of Nigeria to see them as abstract. However, I could have done without the parts of Isha’s story as it began to look like an autobiography caught in the middle of the chibok story. Once again, the incompetence and sometimes heartless response of the Nigerian government was brought to light. One can only wonder what would have been of the girls without internal and external pressure from the #BringBackOurGirls campaign.

Isha Sesay does a wonderful job explaining how this happened and the history of the climate that created this situation, that was just so appalling and foregin to me as an American. Extremely insightful but at times repetitive. I would've also appreciated less of her emotions documented and more on the actual girls she spoke with documented. More information on the remaining missing girls and what is being done to locate them would have been appropriate, although I do realize it may not be available. Some misspelled words and missing punctuation found- which hopefully was corrected prior to print as, I was reading an ARC. Overall great information on an event completely dropped by the US media.

This review is glib, I know: men are dumb and women need to rule the world. That is all.