Bono dedicated that day’s performance—by name—to two of the girls abducted from the Chibok School in northern Nigeria by the Boko Haram in April 2014, a tragedy that spawned the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. The dedication initiative, titled #KNOWHERNAME, gave voice to the names of two girls: Lydia Habila and Rejoice Musa, missing for 747 days.
Oscar winner Nyong’o said, “We’ve asked (Bono) to join us today to launch our effort to bring direct attention to the challenges faced by millions of girls all over the world living under the tyranny of war, in poverty and being denied their human rights simply because they are female … From here on out, each performance will be dedicated to specific girls from around the world who have been kidnapped and are still missing.”
Bono added, “The cast wants us to remember two specific girls in particular — Lydia Habila and Rejoice Musa … It goes without saying if they were American girls or Irish girls we’d get a daily report on how they are doing. Well, they’re not out of the news tonight and we want that daily report.”
All future performances of Eclipsed will have live dedications during the bows. In some cases, special guests will join the cast onstage for this moment.
Eclipsed playwright Gurira is an ambassador for the ONE Campaign, co-founded by Bono, and its Poverty is Sexist campaign. ONE will be working with Eclipsed on the Dedication series to drive attention and action in support of the fight to #BringBackOurGirls, #KnowHerName and other initiatives that will highlight the issues experienced by girls and women globally.