Hello folks! Good to have you again on this column of the Sharing Education and Learning for Life SELL, BLOG. This week’s update is full of the remarkable experiences we had during the last weekend’s workshops. I say it is remarkable because a Team of four persons (Leo, Jonathan, Moses and I) got split into two teams.   




While Leo and Jonathan went to Jos, the capital of Plateau State, Moses and I were at the Railway Community of Bauchi. It was still spectacular because the two Teams were both delivering the Community Building Unit of the SELL Programme.

Our participants at the two workshops got very insightful ideas to go home with. Some of them, at Railway Community in Bauchi, that have had experiences of crises, now have reasons to live with their fellow  Muslims as sisters and brothers, believing quite well that Islam is not a dangerous religion.

From Jos, the participants saw that the SELL workshop came at the right time as they are experiencing crises in the area.

Discussions that arose from the workshop, broadened their perspectives on what a community should be. That a community cannot be constituted of only one religion without the others, it cannot be constituted of only one tribe, or people of the same occupation. An ideal community should at least constitute of different people, occupations, religion and so on. 




At the end of the workshop participants’ attitudes were changed for the better. One of them gave this comment. ‘I really appreciate you guys. At least now I know how to relate with other people and respect their religion. I now have something to tell other people out there that see or look at the Muslims as bad people. I also know more about the human sexuality and how to educate my younger ones about their sexuality because I use to be a very shy person’.  




Grace Ori, also a participant, and a facilitator or the SELL Programme to be trained come June, said in her end of workshop evaluation that, ‘In my interaction with our Muslim brothers and sisters, where communication and communal life has been jeopardized, I can now understand that they are also God’s children and have their own way of communicating with God. Thanks for educating me on how to paint a rainbow of bright colors in my heart’. 

Hilda Hoomsen also said this, ‘I will recommend and appreciate the humility between Fr. Leo and Jonathan if they are able to go run the society and educate our people (Muslims and Christians), all this crises and misunderstanding will stop’.

Participants were not only marveled at the message we brought to them but most of them were thrilled at our facilitation style. Pam Dung Kwis commented on that, he said,’if I must be sincere, I’ve never attended any workshop that has been so educational from the beginning to the end, in fact every part was just as good as the other’. The SELL team is looking forward to when we will be in Jos again for another workshop.


As the SELL programme is on-going, the Catholic Diocese of Bauchi is still mourning the demise of her Bishop, Most Rev. Dr. John Moore SMA,  whose thanksgiving mass to celebrate his good  works will be coming up on 20th May 2010, at the Immaculate Conception Secondary School play ground Bauchi. Guests from all over Nigeria and beyond are expected on that day.Late Bishop Moore will forever be in our memory as the history of SELL will never be complete without mentioning his name. The SELL programme was introduced in Bauchi diocese in the year 2007 when we received an invitation by the late Bishop to come and help with Youth Formation in the diocese.  

The Sharing Education and Learning for Life (SELL) programme has in recent times met and collaborated with other sister organizations in Youth Ministry, one of them is the CAFOD from the United Kingdom. Two young adults Chris and Luis visited Nigeria on a CAFOD Youth Exchange Programme from the UK. While in Nigeria they got the chance to visit us at the Youth Formation Centre in Bauchi. During their visit the duo went together with the SELL Team to Railway community in Bauchi were the SELL Team delivered a workshop on Community Building of the SELL Programme. Chris and Luis were participants at that workshop. 

To be frank it was a weekend the SELL Team enjoyed with them, Chris and Luis has this to say about their visit to Bauchi and the SELL programme 



“The purpose for our visit here was to observe and take part in the Youth Formation project set up by Leo and led by 3 young people (Jonathan, Moses and Maria). The Sharing Education and Learning for Life project focuses on a variety of topics in 6 modules that engage young adults with life shaping issues and assists them to make conscious choices on how they will live their lives and shape their communities.
The module that we took part in was on peace building module, which was particularly relevant to the recent violent crisis between Christian and Muslim communities. This experience has given us the inspiration and the
encouragement that work like this taking place here in Nigeria, could have a really positive impact in the communities back home in the UK”.

The SELL Team looks forward to meeting other youth groups.

During the just concluded facilitators training that took place at the Youth Formation Centre in Bauchi, we gather a lot of insights and comments from the participants of the training which we showed you in our previous bulletin. Some of the participants are still bringing in their comments. One of the participants has this comment below;

‘Be the change you want to see. This phrase touched me the first time I attended the SELL workshop in my school Abubakar Tafawa Balewa university Bauchi. This statement made me conclude that if every one can adopt this attitude the world will be a better place for every one to live in mostly our country Nigeria. I got this knowledge from the SELL Programme. What about you? Be a part of it! I am Theophilus saying you can be the change you want to see’ SHALLOM!!!!!

This weekend 7th - 9th may, 2010 will be the second time that the SELL Team will be in Jos to deliver workshop on the Community Building Unit of the SELL Programme. The first time the SELL Team went to deliver a workshop was on the 19th and 20th of February, 2010 in Mista-Ali Jos, Jonathan and I did the facilitation of that workshop. This weekend Jonathan and Leo will be in the pastoral centre to deliver the workshop.

They will meet the leaders of the Catholic Youth Organization of Nigeria CYON of Fatima deanery. The Youth Chaplain of the Catholic Arch Diocese of Jos Fr. Denis invited the SELL Team for the workshop, in his statement he said the workshop will have been for all the Youths of the deanery but because of their large number only the excos will participate and it is expected that before the programme gets to their various parishes the excos would have shared it with other youth members. The Community Building unit of the SELL programme which will be run with the youths/young leaders of the deanery is particularly useful this time considering the recent ethnic and tribal violence in Jos. We hope the youths will find the insights from this programme useful in building a peaceful community in Fatima deanery and indeed the whole of Jos and environs. While Jonathan and Leo are in Jos, Moses and I will be in Railway community in Bauchi to deliver the same workshop which is Community Building unit of the SELL Programme. Update of the workshop will be brought to you next week.

Up coming workshops

We have a work shop at a Catholic Church in Kaduna state, Nigeria and Wuntin Dada Community in Bauchi state the two workshops are slated for next weekend 14th-16th of May, 2010 and the units are Personal Growth and Peace Building units of the SELL programme respectively.

Thank you and stay with us on this blog.

Maria 
For YFC Team.