"Today, mother died," said Abba Ali Abakura, 57, his voice heavy with grief. He is the head of the Kiskra canton, located in the Lac province on the shores of Lake Chad: a vast, marshy expanse where the borders of Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria, and Chad converge. The white mourning veil highlighted his proud bearing, despite the shame that consumed him. "My family won't come to offer condolences because I have nothing to give them to eat," he said, tracing shapes in the sand. "This is the height of dishonor in our culture."

Kiskra was once prosperous, before the Islamist group Boko Haram imposed a reign of terror on the local population, destroying the largely fishing- and farming-based economy of Chad's Lac province, a neglected region where half of the population lives below the poverty line.

Founded in the early 2000s in neighboring Nigeria, Boko Haram initially advocated a return to the fundamental principles of Islam, all while condemning elite corruption and government neglect. Gradually, the group became radicalized, making grim headlines through suicide bombings, kidnappings, rapes and deadly attacks on both civilians and regular armies. Military operations conducted by the countries around Lake Chad have severely weakened the group, but have not been able to eradicate it.

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