The news of more than two hundred girls kidnapped from Chibok Government Girls Secondary School in northern Nigeria went unnoticed by most Americans for almost two weeks. Frustrated with the lack of attention, a South African woman named Gugulethu Mlambo, 33, decided to take action. She created a flyer on her iPhone in four minutes calling women to #rockyourcrown wear a headwrap at a rally in New York City’s Union Square last Saturday.
The colorful flyer was shared and liked thousands of times across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Her plan worked. More than 200 men, women and young children showed up to Union Square, their heads clad in Geles, traditional Nigerian headwraps. Others came donned in fabric and headpieces representing their home African countries to show support. They shouted “Bring Back Our Girls,” “The World is Watching,” and “Nigeria, the World is Watching.”
“Now I’m in talks to build an alliance with other concerned women to see how we can further help,” said Mlambo, a photographer who has lived in New York since 1999. “I won’t be completely content until these young ladies are brought home.”
