For them, building a new life is anything but certain.

“Normal life of Maiduguri masks the scars that the conflict left for some children,” said Patrick Rose, a spokesman for Unicef. “These children have experienced horrific things.”

Amina

On most days, Amina, now 18, can be found on the street selling detergent and broth with her mother — the only one who knows her secret.

“I feel so guilty,” she said.

A year and a half ago, insurgents would come and go in Amina’s hometown in the countryside. One day they decided to take her with them, shooting her older brother and tossing his body in the bush.

They took her to a Boko Haram camp, where she was shocked by the huge number of women living there, many of them pregnant or with infants. Amina was told that she would have to marry one of the fighters, but would first accompany them on operations to help kidnap other girls. If she did not do so, she would be killed.

“On my first outing with them, I abducted three,” said Amina, whose last name, like those of others in this article, is being withheld out of concern for their safety.

Capturing other girls soon became a pattern for Amina. Fighters would enter a village with guns blazing, kill and kidnap men, and expect Amina and other girls to round up the young women. They were told to leave behind older villagers and anyone nursing babies.

Kidnapping victims were easy to find. They were often crouched in terror in their homes.

“When the girls would hear the gunshots, they’d run into their rooms and hide,” Amina said.