Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree

Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani and Viviana Mazza is a realistic fiction novel based on the true accounts of girls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram in Borno, Nigeria, in 2014. Hundreds of these girls have yet to be found. The novel is written by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, an acclaimed Nigerian novelist, with the help of research by Viviana Mazza, an Italian international journalist, and was originally published in 2018. Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree won the 2018 Raven Award for Excellence in Arts and Entertainment. Through the lens of one unnamed girl’s experiences both before and after being kidnapped and enslaved, the novel examines The Effects of Abuse and Subjugation on Women and Girls, as well as Oppression, Terrorism, and Religious Extremism. The story’s protagonist also believes in Gratitude in the Face of Adversity.

This guide utilizes the 2018 HarperCollins paperback edition of the novel.

Content Warning: This guide contains descriptions of sexual assault, gore, violence, war, and slavery that appear in the original text.

Plot Summary

The novel is broken into 255 named, unnumbered chapters, some of which are less than half a page long. Protagonist Ya Ta (“My Daughter”) narrates in the first-person present tense. She begins her story of being kidnapped and enslaved by the Boko Haram terrorist group in Borno, Nigeria by telling of her life before these events. Her culture and language are Hausa, her religion is Christianity, and her family runs a humble farm that earns enough money to send Ya Ta and her four older brothers to school. Ya Ta studies hard in the hopes of becoming a teacher and supporting her family one day. She spends most of her free time with her best friend, Sarah, or her family. Ya Ta’s village is covered in baobab trees, which are an important symbol and sacred source of food, medicine, and shade. Ya Ta’s Papa has a radio that plays news from around the world, and he carries it with him everywhere. He wants his only daughter to attend school, and Ya Ta’s mother always reminds her to be grateful despite hardship. Sarah and Ya Ta’s other friend, Aisha, is already married and pregnant. The girls visit Aisha and tell her what they learn in school, and they all watch DVDs together. Aisha’s husband seems to love and respect her, but Ya Ta worries about Aisha not attending school. Papa tells folk tales about the baobab tree at night, a treasured pastime for his children.

While Ya Ta awaits the results for an exam that will determine whether she receives a university scholarship, a woman visits her school and hands out free menstrual pads to the girls there. Ya Ta is embarrassed by the ordeal but finds the pads to be extremely helpful, as she is used to staying home on her period to avoid anyone seeing a leak. Papa’s radio, along with friends at school, bring news of attacks by Boko Haram, and Ya Ta prays that the boy she loves, Success (the pastor’s son), is safe amidst the danger. When Ya Ta has a chance to talk to Success when he visits from the city, they discuss The Pied Piper of Hamelin, one of the only books that Ya Ta has read. The attacks seem to be spreading, but Ya Ta continues to focus on her exam results and think about Success. When rumors spread that Boko Haram is stealing women and girls and bringing them to the Sambisa forest, Ya Ta begins hearing warnings from her Papa about having no mercy for Boko Haram, including their children. The Boko Haram men sound more like animals than humans to Ya Ta, and the president of Nigeria replaces his military to combat the terrorism. When Ya Ta’s own village is attacked, her father is shot in front of her, and her brothers flee. Her mother is in the city and safe, but both Ya Ta and her youngest brother, Jacob, are taken by Boko Haram into the forest.

Ya Ta is also with Sarah and Aisha, and nobody knows where they are going or why. The girls are taken into the middle of the forest and told they must convert to Islam or be killed; to demonstrate, an elderly man is murdered in front of them. Only one girl does not agree in the end, and she too is killed as she sings her love for Jesus. Ya Ta and the other girls are given an unprotected sleeping area and forced to wear full niqabs. They are threatened with murder if they try to escape, and Ya Ta’s sleep is plagued with nightmares. Amira, a wife of one Boko Haram commander, trains the girls in the Quran, attempting to convert them to Islam so they will submit to being brides to the other men. The food is slop and lacks nutrition, and Ya Ta begins to starve. She is given the name Salamatu, and Sarah is called Zainab; they are forbidden from using their former names, and Ya Ta is lashed when she forgets. Many of the girls are taken out at night and raped, and Ya Ta is grateful she is never chosen.

One night while looking for food, Ya Ta (now known as Salamatu) and Sarah (now known as Zainab) find a baobab tree with a mass grave dug out beneath it. Sarah starts to feel depressed and gives up on the idea of escaping, and Aisha is raped one night as she screams to be left alone. The next morning, Aisha gives birth to her son, and then dies as everyone watches. Aisha believes that Boko Haram has twisted Islam for their benefit, and Ya Ta agrees that it is not the peaceful Islam she witnessed in her life before. Sarah starts to wonder if she will forget her old life and education, and if Jacob will forget, too. The girls graduate from their Islamic schooling and are told they must marry a Boko Haram member or remain slaves. Ya Ta, Aisha, and Sarah are all married, and while both Sarah and Aisha seem to accept their new position, Ya Ta despises her new husband, who always wears a mask, speaks little, and spends his time watching terrorist videos.

Ya Ta’s new husband rapes her every night, and when the girls are in training with Fanne during the day, they are told to keep their husbands happy at all costs. Sarah starts to fall in love with her husband, and Ya Ta feels more and more alone. She stops thinking of the future but continues to remember her life before. Fanne starts training the girls to become soldiers and instructs them on wearing and using bomb vests. When the men leave for a jihad, Ya Ta is grateful for the time alone, but Sarah longs for her husband’s return.

Sarah begins to defend Boko Haram, their motivations, and their actions, including the training of child soldiers like Jacob. When the men return, Ya Ta’s husband is distraught after he found out his parents were killed, and Ya Ta comforts him. The next morning, he returns to his usual cold self. Ya Ta begins to fear leaving and what the unknown might hold for her, but when she loses her patience with Sarah one day and calls Boko Haram hypocrites and terrorists, Sarah dismisses her and informs her husband of what was said. Ya Ta is then beaten and raped by her husband as punishment.

The next night, the Nigerian army infiltrates the camp and the men scatter, taking some women with them and leaving others behind. Some of the women flee in the hopes of finally escaping. The ones who remain, including Ya Ta, are rescued and taken to a refugee camp. At the camp are all sorts of Nigerian and international charities and organizations there to help and provide aid. Ya Ta and the other girls are given food and blankets, as well as medical testing. Ya Ta finds out she is pregnant and worries about her son growing up to be like his father, but it occurs to her that she has power over that possibility. Ya Ta and many other girls are interviewed by the Bring Back Our Girls organization dedicated to finding and rescuing those captured by Boko Haram. Ya Ta goes through the difficult process of telling her experiences and what she witnessed happen to others. The story closes as Ya Ta is discovered by her pastor, who holds her and tells her that her mother is waiting for her.