A 17-year-old Zara, rescued from Boko Haram captivity by the Nigerian Army, is finding it difficult to live with the stigma of being a former  Boko Haram ‘bride.’

According to her, she finds herself sometimes wishing she was back in the forest rather than suffering the stigma of life as a Boko Haram ‘bride.’

She was not one of the missing Chibok schoolgirls, and until now didn’t have her own social media hashtag, but like thousands of others – free or still captive – is deeply traumatised.

In telling  #ZarasStory  it’s the first time she has spoken to outsiders about her terrible experience a year on, and the pain she still suffers to this day.

“They gave us a choice – to be married, or to be a slave. I decided to marry,” she said.

Zara, stigmatised as Boko Haram bride

There is little difference, but for the child she was soon bearing.

Life was tough and dangerous. The air force jets bombarded the vast Sambisa Forest where the militants have their camps and from where soldiers rescued her and eventually returned her to her relatives.

“The women in our family realised she was three months pregnant,” said her uncle Mohamed Umaru, who told us more of her story.

“In our family it happens that some of us are Christians and some are Muslims. She was a Christian before she was kidnapped, but the Boko Haram, who married her turned her into a Muslim.”

There was a split in the family over what to do and they took a vote as to whether she should abort or keep the child.

The majority prevailed and she gave birth to a boy.

“She said her husband’s father is called Usman, so that is how she named the child,” Mohammed said.

And then the insults began.

“People call me a Boko Haram wife and called me a criminal. They didn’t want me near. They didn’t like me,” Zara said as a tear slowly slipped down her cheek.

She now sits inside the small walled compound around her house, afraid to go outside because of the cruel insults of the neighbourhood children – messages of hate learned from their parents.

“They didn’t like my child. When he fell sick nobody would look after him,” she said.

Last weekend, as Zara slept outside with Usman because of the heat, a snake got into their compound and the boy was killed. He was just nine months old.

Half the family celebrated what they called God’s will.

“Some were happy that he died,” Zara said. “They were happy the blood of Boko Haram had gone from the family.”