The Woman Who Brought Chess to the Children of Boko Haram’s War

YOLA, Nigeria —  When Vivian Ibrahim returned to Malkohi camp in Yola, the capital of Adamawa State, it was not for the pageant-style charity visits and photo opportunities that once defined her reign as Miss Adamawa in 2017. This time, she carried something smaller — a chessboard.

In 2020, she launched Chess in IDP camp, a grassroots initiative aimed at bringing learning, focus and ambition to children displaced by insurgency. A lifelong chess player and alumna of Modibbo Adama University, Ibrahim had represented her school in numerous tournaments throughout her childhood. She knew the game could be a tool to empower young minds living in the shadow of conflict.

So far, more than 40 children in displacement camps have returned to formal education through Ibrahim’s grassroots work, a modest but meaningful victory in a region where most young people are still waiting for their future to begin.

Kids pay chess to commemorate International Chess Day at Malkohi, a displacement camp in Yola, Nigeria, on July, 20th 2025. Photo credit: Vivian Ibrahim 

According to the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Adamawa is one of the three states, along with Borno and Yobe, in the BAY region, which is an area most devastated by over a decade of Boko Haram insurgency. What began as a fundamentalist movement opposing Western education evolved into a violent campaign after the death of its founder, Muhammad Yusuf, while in police custody in 2009. Under Abubakar Shekau’s leadership, Boko Haram splintered into factions, including the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), with links to ISIS and Al-Qaeda. 

For decades since, the insurgency has left behind a trail of mass shootings, bombings, abductions, forced marriages and the conscription of child soldiers across Nigeria and neighboring Chad, Cameroon and Niger. The Global Center for the Responsibility to Protect reports that, since 2014, Boko Haram has abducted at least 1,600 children and displaced more than 2 million people. In 2024 alone, over 580 Nigerians — mostly women and children — were kidnapped. Despite military offensives and costly rehabilitation programs for repentant fighters, insurgency still destabilizes much of the northeast.

Dr. Nnmadi Chife, a security analyst based in Lagos, said he believes insurgents who have completed the de-radicalization program now have a deeper understanding of society and are less inclined to view education and youth development as harmful.

Ibrahim sees an opening in that change, especially since about 60 percent of Nigeria’s internally displaced population are children. While humanitarian agencies like the OCHA-managed Nigeria Humanitarian Fund and Grassroot Life Saving Outreach provide basic aid, many families in displacement camps still struggle to feed their children, let alone pay for education.

Children gather to play chess on International Chess Day in Yola, Nigeria, on July 20, 2025. Photo credit: Abdullahi Jimoh 

For many children in displacement camps in Yola, the backdrop of insurgency is simply the rhythm of life, making education seem like a luxury. But Ibrahim's chess initiative has empowered and engaged over 60 students so far across Malkohi and EYN displacement camps, with efforts to encourage these same children to attend school. 

In November 2024, she organized a chess tournament in Malkohi camp alongside a back-to-school campaign in Adamawa, aiming to rally support for children’s education. Within months, her students were making headlines — most notably 12-year-old Mary Zira, whose mother fled Boko Haram’s violence when Mary was just a year old. In March, less than a year after learning the game, Mary won silver at a U.S. tournament and earned a scholarship to the American University of Nigeria Academy, one of the country’s top private schools.

The campaign helped at least 38 children enroll in public school and raised ₦7,663,854 (about $5,000), funds she continues to use for their chess training and education. At least 15 children took part in the Malkohi camp tournament, marking a significant step in their return to the classroom.

As for Timothy Kulkua Hassan,15, an orphan, who came to Malkohi camp in 2016 after fleeing an attack by Boko Haram insurgents on his hometown in Gwoza, Borno state. Under Ibrahim's mentorship, he won a medal on two different occasions one in Lagos and the other in Delta. Hassan, now enrolled back in government owned high school through the program, says chess changed how he thinks. 

“Chess makes me perform better in class, especially in mathematics,” he told More To Her Story proudly.

Around the world, from Colombia to Uganda to Syria, educators and community leaders are embracing unconventional tools like chess, art, and sport to help displaced children reclaim their education, confidence and sense of purpose. These efforts, often overshadowed by formal aid structures, tap into the overlooked resilience of young survivors of conflict.

“This kind of game can help children jettison their trauma quickly,” said Babalola Josiah Olabuju, a psychologist based in Yola. “Chess demands concentration, long-term thinking, and mental clarity. It helps redirect focus away from the trauma and into something constructive.

Advocates say these grassroots programs are especially vital when the broader picture remains fraught: aid cuts across northeastern Nigeria have pushed families toward desperation: In July, the World Food Program reported its emergency food assistance had run dry due to ongoing insecurity and record hunger. Médecins Sans Frontières reported hundreds of child deaths from malnutrition in 2025 alone. Meanwhile, jihadist groups like ISWAP have escalated lethal attacks in Nigeria’s northeast.

At the same time, strategic education initiatives are reaching thousands: Trauma-informed schools like Neem Foundation’s Lafiya Sarari have helped girls from Borno State abducted from Book Haram heal and rediscover their dreams.

Ibrahim’s program embodies how small, community-rooted interventions can offer purpose, dignity and healing when the fundamentals are fraying. Ibrahim hopes to fill the void even when aid falls short, she believes crowdfunding and reaching out to philanthropists in and outside Nigeria physically can go a long way.

“The vision is to extend the program to other IDP camps in and out of the state, cause I believe there are hidden talents that are waiting to be discovered. And more kids to get back to school.”