In 2014, Boko Haram militants drove into Gwoza in north-east Nigeria and began an assault that would leave hundreds of people dead.
Ruoyah, who was just 14, hid in her house for eight hours under continuous fire.
She says when she finally opened the door to leave her house she says: "There were corpses everywhere, we even saw the corpse of our neighbour in our front door."
Ruoyah managed to escape to Cameroon, but her sister was kidnapped by Boko Haram militants.
She was taken into the Sambisa forest where she was forced to marry a militant and starved.
A few months later, Boko Haram's leader unilaterally declared that Gwoza was a caliphate.
Ruoyah now lives in an internally displaced persons camp, she speaks to Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty.
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(Photo: Boko Haram. Credit: AFP)