( CNN ) -- The militants pulled into the northeastern Nigerian village of Chibok under cover of darkness , their target a girls ' boarding school filled with students ahead of final year exams . Armed and wearing military uniforms , they told the girls they were there to protect them . The girls started to assemble in the yard as ordered to , not realizing the men were from Boko Haram -- the group whose name roughly translates as `` Western education is sin '' -- until it was too late . More than 200 were loaded onto trucks and spirited away : the group 's leader later announced that he would sell them . Since the mass abduction on April 14 , the world 's attention has been focused on Chibok , but CNN was the first global news organization to send a team to the scene of the atrocity . The journey from the relative safety of Nigeria 's capital , Abuja , to the remote countryside stalked by Boko Haram can take eight to 10 hours , but logistics and security concerns meant that it took CNN international correspondent Nima Elbagir 's team four days to complete the trek . For most of the route , the road was tarmacked and the team constantly stopped at checkpoints manned by the military , police or vigilantes looking out for militants . But for the final 45 minutes the tarmac and checkpoints disappeared and the team swerved through the bleak , potholed landscape at full speed with flak jackets beside them . Read more : The road to Boko Haram 's heartland . Some girls managed to escape Boko Haram , making a desperate dash for freedom after the militants loaded them into cargo trucks . `` We would rather die than go , '' one of those girls told CNN . With fear in her eyes and voice , the young woman , who asked not to be identified , described what happened on that horrendous night . Read more : Escaped schoolgirl describes ordeal . Families had sent their girls to Chibok Girls Secondary School for a desperately needed education but Boko Haram 's attack left the school a burned-out shell . Chibok is part of Borno state , where 72 % of primary-age children never attended school , according to the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria . The militants destroyed everything they could at the school . One of the girls who managed to flee said their attack had ended both her education and dreams of becoming a doctor . Read more : How Boko Haram cripples children 's future . Outrage over the mass abduction has prompted a global campaign , calling for the girls to be freed through the Twitter hashtag # BringBackOurGirls . But in Chibok the outrage is overlaid with despair . CNN 's Nima Elbagir spoke to the mothers of two of the missing schoolgirls . They described hearing gunfire before discovering their daughters had been taken away . The kidnapping has left an indelible mark on Chibok . During the day , it looks like a normal village . But at night the fear and terror is visible . The women , elderly and children go to sleep -- and the young men stay awake , doing patrols , keeping vigil . The men arm themselves with whatever they can -- machetes , homemade bow and arrows , in the hope that they will be able to protect their families . CNN 's team joined them . Read more : Boko Haram threat keeps village awake . Nima and her crew returned to Nigeria 's capital , Abuja , safely . Around the world , the # BringBackOurGirls campaign continues and foreign governments including the United States , Britain , France , Israel and China have offered help to Nigeria 's government find the girls . But the schoolgirls are still missing , their relatives still praying for their return and the residents of Chibok still haunted by the attack that left them cowering in the bush as Boko Haram plundered their village . Full coverage of CNN international correspondent Nima Elbagir 's Chibok journey will screen on CNN International on Saturday 17 May at 2100 CET , Sunday 18 May at 0030 CET , 0400 CET and 1200 CET and Monday 19 May at 0730 CET .
On April 14 , Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 girls from a school in Chibok , Nigeria . A CNN team made the dangerous journey to the village in Boko Haram 's heartland . CNN correspondent Nima Elbagir spoke to a girl who fled , mothers of abductees and other villagers . She accompanied villagers armed with machetes on their night-time patrol of the area .