Faces of Conflict: Kirkwood student pursues change for her Nigerian home

It's quiet in Iowa.

'I feel safe here,' said Hillary Omitogun, a 19-year-old liberal-arts student at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids.

That's a big deal to her, coming from Nigeria, where the threat of terrorism — through extremist groups such as Boko Haram — has spiked in recent years. Although Boko Haram is based in northeastern Nigeria, Omitogun worries the terrorist organization's tentacles will spread toward Lagos on the southern coast — where she grew up and where her mother and a sister still live.

That, in fact, is among the reasons Omitogun's mom backed her daughter's pursuit of an American education.

'She was scared it could come to Lagos any time,' Omitogun said. 'It's such a huge issue in Nigeria because they don't know how to control it …

. It's hard to stop them.'

Omitogun arrived in the United States in December 2013, becoming one of Kirkwood's about 330 international students — a number that has more than doubled in a decade and continues to climb. Four years earlier, back in Nigeria, Boko Haram had launched an armed rebellion against the Nigerian government that to date has killed more than 30,000, according to international authorities and media reports.

Just four months after Omitogun arrived at Kirkwood in January 2014, Boko Haram abducted more than 270 female students from a Nigerian college — outraging the international community and prompting widespread protests and the Twitter hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.

Violence around the Boko Haram insurgency spiked that year — Omitogun's first in the United States — resulting in about 10,850 deaths. And even though she's in Iowa, Omitogun feels re-traumatized by news of more killings and kidnappings. Because just weeks before getting on a plane to the United States in late 2013, she was abducted herself.

She was one of the lucky ones. Her kidnapping lasted less than a day.

'I found ways to alert people that I was kidnapped,' she said. 'And then people came to rescue me.'

But the scare was the final straw for Omitogun's mother.

'Because of that, she was really bent on me coming here,' Omitogun recalled.

The day of her abduction in October 2013, Omitogun was walking to the bank. Her mother had broken her leg and couldn't make the 15-minute trip. As she walked, Omitogun said a car of men seeking directions approached her. She couldn't help them and tried to continue on when another man on the sidewalk, who she now believes was involved, urged her to listen to one of the men in the car claiming to be a religious leader.

'I was just really tired,' Omitogun said. 'I just wanted to go and do what my mom said I should do.'

But the men lured her into the vehicle, purporting to know things about her life and her family they shouldn't know. Once in the car, the men tried to manipulate her.

'They did things to me and they said things,' she said. 'Those few hours felt like a few days because so many things went on.'

The men threatened her.

'They actually asked me to bring money from my home if I wanted everything to go well with my family,' Omitogun said.

When panic overwhelmed her, Omitogun began hitting the car windows and calling for help.

'Some guy saw me, and he came to my rescue and stopped the car,' she said. 'I was crying, and I was sweating.'

"Those few hours felt like a few days."

- Hillary

Years earlier, Omitogun was with her mother, Bola Omitogun, when the woman was robbed and shot — nearly fatally. The mother and daughter had been driving home from work when Bola realized a group was following them. She tried to call for help.

'But everyone went into their homes and locked their doors,' Hillary Omitogun said.

During the attack, the men beat up Hillary and shot her mother twice before speeding off in her car.

'The bullets went really close to her heart,' Omitogun said. 'She was supposed to die.'

She didn't, which is a huge part of the reason Omitogun today is pursuing her dreams in America. Her mother, who continues to work back in Nigeria, sends over money to cover Omitogun's international tuition of $296 per credit hour — or $4,440 for the average full-time load of 15 hours.

'After watching my mom get shot, I just knew I had to … I mean, I love my country …

but there are still things that need to be improved there,' she said. 'And I just knew that if I stayed there for too long, I would not get to that place I wanted to get to.'

Omitogun has big dreams about affecting change in Nigeria and places like it through improved technology, policy and resource management. And she hopes an American education will help her accomplish that.

But, Omitogun said, she also is glad to be here for practical reasons — loud sounds still resonate as gunshots to her.

'I just wanted to leave and come somewhere that would be safer for me,' she said.

As a teenager in Nigeria, Omitogun got used to being harassed.

'Random people would touch me,' she said. 'I would have to tell them to leave me alone or push them away. But there was nothing I could do about all those things.'

By nature, Omitogun is introverted. Which, she said, makes Iowa a perfect fit for her.

'It's so quiet and calm,' she said. 'I'm also a quiet person, so I feel safe here.'

That level of security, Omitogun said, has actually made her more bold. She has found herself stepping outside her comfort zone, participating in activities and volunteering her thoughts and ideas. She works for Kirkwood's International Programs office and helps others like her find resources and support.

'I've actually had way more opportunities than I thought possible,' she said.

After graduating from Kirkwood, Omitogun plans to attend Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., where she will study economics, with a minor in sustainability. The goal, she said, is to educate herself well and connect with people who share her passion for improving foreign relations and crises.

Country ties to Faces of Conflict

*Source: Council on Foreign Relations. Other country profile information from CIA World Factbook. Map by John McGlothlen / The Gazette

'If I could gather a few people that would be able to make that change — start somewhere, at least — and try to see what we could do about countries like Nigeria,' Omitogun said. 'My country first, and then countries like Nigeria.'

Omitogun believes the main issues facing Nigeria are corruption and then resource management. That, she said, ties into the fact that most of the country doesn't have much electricity.

'We only have it for a few hours a day,' she said. 'I feel like if the electricity problem is solved, than everything else can be solved.'

She's also taking classes in sustainability and environmental science, in hopes of finding more efficient ways to manage resources and provide power.

'There are so many hardworking people in Nigeria — if they were given the opportunities to use what they have and use their talents, they would do a lot of good things,' she said. 'I know it's going to be difficult, which is why I try to work so hard.'

That work ethic and humility are among the many African trademarks Omitogun said she misses. And they are characteristics she values in herself — things she got through an upbringing that she wouldn't change.

'I don't want to lose the struggle,' she said. 'I just want to always know that I went through this. And now I know that I have to work really hard to get what I want. Because I know I've been through so much and coming here is such an opportunity, and I have to use that opportunity well and do something with it.'

She also values the gratitude prevalent among Nigerians. That, she said, is something that seems to be lacking in America.

'Even though we have so many issues in Nigeria, there are still people that find ways to be happy with the simple things in life,' she said. 'And I feel like here in the U.S. …

they are always wanting more.'

Omitogun said she, too — in a culture of abundance — can get wrapped up in wanting more.

'But back home, we just have people that are content with the little things they have,' she said. 'They are just happy with getting to eat three times daily.'