Summary

In “Tree of Death,” Zainab and Ya Ta go into the forest hoping to find better food than what is available in the camp. They encounter a baobab tree and are initially comforted by this sight. Closer to the baobab tree, what they consider the “tree of life” (150), however, they begin to smell rotting flesh. They realize that Boko Haram has been burying bodies beneath the Baobab Tree.

Zainab tells Al-Bakura that she is on her period and cannot go to that day’s Quranic classes. It is a lie. Ya Ta realizes that the Boko Haram men who comes into their quarters at night only select the older women, not the young girls. One night, Al-Bakura selects Aisha. Though Aisha protests, Al-Bakura threatens to kill her. When Aisha returns, she repeats the words “This is not Islam” over and over again. Ya...