This past weekend many families celebrated mothers day… half way around the world, hundreds of mothers were not however, engaging in such celebrations, but instead mourning for their daughters. The kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls in north-east Nigeria by a militant terrorist group occurred just over a month ago.

Today, May 15th, marks one month since the victims of the kidnapping at Chibok Government Secondary School were taken captive by Boko Haram.

In the past thirty days, the call to Boko Haram has been heard around the world: "Bring Back Our Girls." There has been an international investment into the lives of the schoolgirls whose whereabouts remain unknown. There are continuous calls to action to and by foreign governments to assist in the recovery of these girls, and an investment by men and women around the world - from vigils, to rallies, to the streets of social medias' plains.

The Boko Haram is an extremist militant group attempting to create a radical Islamist Nigerian government. Influenced by Koranic phraseology which says: "anyone who is not governed by what Allah has revealed is among the transgressors." Boko Haram believes it is fundamentally forbidden for members to engage in westernized culture: dress, social practices, or political engagement. Muslims, they believe, are forbidden from engaging in Western society, in any way - this secular schooling or democratic practices. These are values and ideals of terrorism, not of faith.

The irony within this tragedy centers around the development of the Boko Haram, and the acts that such development has made them capable of. This mass kidnapping was a statement against western education, against secular practices, against women.

Founded in 2002, by Mohammed Yusuf, Boko Haram began growing in the northern Nigeria when the Muslim cleric opened an Islamic school. A part of an Islamic complex, this seeming community organization allowed poor Muslim families to enroll their children. For these Nigerian families, and those from neighboring countries, Boko Haram represented an opportunity for their children and their families.

Education however, was not the purpose nor a priority for the group, but instead, it served as a recruiting tool. Boko Haram recognized that education served as their best recruiting outlet. They know and recognize that education, and the chance to educate, are powerful things.

By opening such a school, the Boko Haram were able to close another.

While more than 230 are still missing, some 53 girls have escaped from their captors. These young women who just a few short weeks ago were seeking to be enriched by their education were made victims by their ambitions. The 53 women have shared their experiences in a way that must make our cries for these women grow stronger and louder.

What I find so endearing, in this most heartbreaking of circumstances, is the message that has spread so far and wide: "Bring Back Our Girls…" the posters, tweets, and banners cry - "Our Girls" - ours… The global community has taken a collective investment in the lives of these young women. They are seen not just as the daughters or sisters of those thousands of miles away, but instead, they are our daughters, our sisters, our classmates. Their lives are meaningful, and valuable to you and I, to all of us.

This is a call and a passion that should not, however, be limited to just the girls of the Chibok Government School. The movement and mass kidnapping of women and children across national borders is far too common a crime, with ignorance far too common place. While I hope and pray that these missing girls are soon reunited with their families and that their path to healing is a road they soon find themselves on, I also hope and pray that such an outcry continues, that the demand to "bring back our girls" continues to ring out - in the United States, in Thailand, in the Philippines, in Russia… I hope that the international attention on this horrible story grows to shine a light on the millions of voices that may never be heard, and that may never escape their captors. I hope this tragedy gives power to the men, women, and children, those treated as commodities, that have been displaced, bought, sold, and borrowed.