IMMEDIATE RELEASE - November 19, 2007
Nigerians organize 10-Day Peace Walk
Worldwide Christian Schools Director, Dale Dieleman, 1-800-886-9000 or 616-531-9102
CRWRC Media Contact, Beth DeGraff, 1-800-55-CRWRC or 616-648-7821
GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.: Today, after years of hatred, violence and death, residents and churches of Benue and Taraba States in Southeastern Nigeria will walk for 10 days to celebrate peace and promote rebuilding a school that symbolizes their reconciliation.
The walk, the first of its kind in Nigeria, commemorates the first anniversary of the Takum Peace Agreement signed November 28, 2006, which ended a violent land dispute that destabilized communities, displaced families and caused starvation and death throughout the area.
Peace Walk participants gathered from all over Nigeria yesterday in Takum to begin the first full day of the walk early this morning. Walkers will travel from church to church each of the ten days, stopping to preach messages of peace to each town in the evenings and resting at churches along the way.
The walkers will return to Takum on Thursday, November 29, to end the 10-day walk. Taraba and Benue States total about 300 square miles and a combined population of about 6.8 million residents.
Walk organizers, led by the Peace, Justice, and Reconciliation Committee (PJRC) of the Reformed Ecumenical Council of Nigeria (RECON), include the Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria (CRCN), and the Nongo Kristu u hun Sudan Ken Tiv (NKST). The organizers were crucial in bringing about last year's peace agreement. During the peace process, local pastors brought together Kuteb and Tiv tribal leaders with law enforcement representatives and members of state and local governments for a series of discussions that resulted in the peace.
"By the time the papers were signed, this crisis had already claimed dozens of lives," says Bulus Ali, Nigeria Partner Contact for the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (www.crwrc.org). "But since the Peace Agreement was enacted on November 28, 2006, the guns have been silent. Displaced persons have returned to their communities. Life is returning to normal."
Ali and another CRWRC staffperson, Chinyere Nwachukwu, will accompany walkers along the way this week.
"I have been quite involved in planning a solidarity walk here in Jos," Nwachukwu says. "A route has been mapped out that includes all of the churches, the seminary, and the Government House where walkers will meet with the Governor of Plateau State."
Plateau State neighbors Benue and Taraba States which lie on Nigeria's Eastern coast. High turnout is expected from day-to-day throughout the ten-day period. The walkers and their congregations have raised funds to cover all of the walk expenses and are hoping to raise additional funds in the next year to rebuild Mbiya School, a high-quality, venerable K-12 facility in Taraba that was razed during the unrest.
The Nigerian churches aim to raise 5 Million Naira (US$42,371) for rebuilding in the first year and anticipate a second, larger event in 2008, with solidarity walks around the country and perhaps across the world.
Before being burned down, Mbiya School educated and housed more than 1,000 primary and secondary students. Money raised through the three organizations spearheading the walk will support a joint 10-year rebuilding project. The school is also supported in North America by five funding organizations: Worldwide Christian Schools, the Reformed Ecumenical Synod, Christian Reformed World Missions, CRWRC, and the Christian Reformed Church's Office of Social Justice. The Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria has a more than 100 year history, being organized in 1904.
The PJRC is also seeking to pressure the local and state government over the next year to return the Mbiya school property, seized during the violence, to church ownership.
"There is a lot of excitement about the potential of the Peace Walk to foment change," says Ali. "Ethnic differences can either be a blessing or a curse. They are a curse when complete loyalty to the group is blind. But they are a great blessing when the diversity of rich cultures add to community - the knowledge, customs, languages, and skills for each ethnic group contribute to the fabric of community life.
"Join us in celebrating what God has done. Indeed, it is He who causes wars to cease to the ends of the earth. Pray to the God of peace that we may continue to reconcile communities diverse cultures, and ethnicities."
For more information, see the Bulus Ali February news link on the Nigeria pages of www.crwrc.org. Call CRWRC Media Contact US, Beth DeGraff at 1-800-55-CRWRC for information on the 10-day peace walk and additional contacts, or call Dale Dieleman at Worldwide Christian Schools for information on Mbiya School at 1-800-866-9000.
For more information about CRWRC, visit www.crwrc.org or call 1-800-55-CRWRC<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /
CRWRC is a Christian, non-profit agency of the Christian Reformed Church in North America providing a ministry of development, relief, and justice education to people in need around the world. CRWRC is currently active in 30 countries and has an international reputation for "helping people help themselves."
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Beth DeGraff US Media and Justice Contact 2850 Kalamazoo SE Grand Rapids, MI 49560 degraffb@crcna.org ph: 616-241-1691 x4191 fax: 616-724-0806
"Then Jesus took a towel and a basin and redefined greatness." Richard Foster