Bauchi is a State in Northern Nigeria, its capital city is Bauchi. The State was carved in 1976 out of the former North-Eastern State of Nigeria. It originally included the area now called Gombe State, which became a distinct state in 1996.

Bauchi State covers a total area of 49,119km.sq. And according to the 2006 census in Nigeria, it has a population of 4,653,066. Bauchi along with some other Northern state in Nigeria has experienced various degrees of crises in her history especially as a result of ethno-religious clashes and most recently recurring attacks by the Boko Haram Islamic sect which is said to have a link with Al-Qaida. 

For the Catholic Faithful of Bauchi Diocese and especially the Parishioners of St. John Catholic Cathedral Bauchi, Sunday the 23rd day of September 2012 was a tragic day; a ‘Dark Sunday’ because of the shock and experience we got from the suicide bomb attack at the Church gate.

Bauchi is where the SELL Resource Team is based and run the SELL Programme from. 

We wish to sympathize with all those that were directly affected by this incident. We join all other faithful in praying for those that lost their lives in this attack that God May grant eternal repose for their souls and speedy recovery for those lying in the hospital as a result of injuries sustained. Click the link below to read more on the story of Sunday’s bomb explosion; 

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/bomb-explosion-rocks-bauchi/125763/

When incidents like this happen, mutual trust between Muslims and Christians in the community breaks down. There is usually fear and suspicion, we know that this trust has taken years to build and will take more efforts to rebuild it after what has happened. This makes the work we the SELL Programme do here in the Northeast of Nigeria and Plateau State even more critical. 

Young people need to be able to talk about such situations and share their experiences of it towards learning to live in peace with others in the community. SELL Programme provides the platform for such sharing and learning to become peacemakers. Therefore, as part of plans for next year, we hope that more training of SELL facilitators will take place in Plateau State and the Northeast of Nigeria. In view of this, we invited SELL Representatives from these areas for a meeting and planning with the SELL Resource team towards these trainings next year. This meeting took place on the 22nd September 2012 at the Youth Formation Centre, Bauchi. From what the representatives shared with members of the SELL Resource Team, they are making progress with preparations, even though there are a few constraints. They were encouraged and assured that they will always have the support of the SELL Resource team. Hopefully, these trainings will start in some of the states by the end of this year.

Thank you for being with us on this blog, I shall always bring you updates from SELL next week. 

Have a peaceful weekend!

Maria Dagogot and Jonathan Ekhator,

For the SELL Programme

This week’s update carries two interesting stories on how 54 young adults in the North East of Nigeria experienced the Sharing Education and Learning for Life (SELL), Programme. 

We had two groups running the SELL programme concurrently on the 14th -15th September 2012; one was in Taraba State and the other in Gombe State, Nigeria.

The SELL Programme in Taraba State held in Sabon Gida town. Sabon Gida is a small town that is about an hour and half drive from Jalingo town the capital of Taraba State.

The Leadership unit of the SELL Programme was shared with the Young People of Sabon Gida. The unit has as its symbol, a circle inside a triangle. 

This symbol communicate different kinds of leadership; the triangle speaks of the hierarchical model of leadership that exists in our world today and the circle inside it speaks of the community model of leadership the SELL Programme is advocating for, where there are no rulers but leaders, a kind of Leadership where respect exist for all individuals, were people are listened to. 

These were some of the issues discussed at the interactive forum of the SELL Programme at Sabon Gida. Facilitators that led the discussion were Victor and Freda who are both members of the SELL Team in Jalingo. Jonathan a member of the SELL Resource Team was there to support and mentor Victor and Freda. 

According to Jonathan who brought back the report to us, he said there were 31 consistent participants at the Programme. Their participation was very stimulating; it generated very many healthy discussions. 

Again the programme was very timely because the group was preparing for election for their new leadership. In their evaluation they said some of the skills they acquired will be very useful in their new leadership that will soon emerge. 

The second SELL Programme took place in Tunfure area of Gombe town. Mary one of the facilitators at Tunfure, has this to say on the programme. 

“We are living in a world today with new ideas about the nature of human capacity, gender roles and responsibilities and about what is possible for human beings. These revolutionary ideas post many new challenges to all humankind living within a community or society. As a result of these challenges we create boundaries between ourselves and relate with one another based on our own ideologies and perception which are, most times, culturally determined.

A Community Building programme was run with some young adults at Tunfure on 14th – 15th September 2012. Some of the issues explored during the SELL Community Building Programme were on dealing with our assumptions, stereotypes and biases. Challenges on our sexual health were also looked at. Other areas that were touched during the programme were on identity and the causes of division among people.  The group shared on ways to build and sustain a healthy community.

During the evaluation, Alhamdu and Leonard some participants at the programme attested that women are sometimes relegated to the background and their opinions are not listened too or respected in the community. Finally participants we challenged to accept people the way they are irrespective of their differences.

The programme recorded 23 participants (10 ladies and 13 young men). Gobet one of the new trainees from the Bauchi SELL Team, Felicia and James members of the SELL Team in Gombe and Mary from Bauchi SELL Team, facilitated the workshop and sharing.

This week has being a very busy one at the Youth Formation Centre, Bauchi, where the SELL Resource team is and runs the SELL Programme from. Some of the things that kept us busy were; planning for the Programme’s 2013 calendar and communicating with groups we hope to reach next year; to share these proposed dates with them.

As part of plans for next year, we hope that more training of SELL facilitators will take place in Plateau State and the Northeast of Nigeria. In view of this, we have invited SELL Representatives from these areas for a meeting and planning with the SELL Resource team towards these trainings next year. This meeting is taking place on the 22nd September 2012 at the Youth Formation Centre, Bauchi.

21st September 2012 was marked as International Peace Day. Members of the SELL Resource Team also observed the day, bearing in mind that the SELL Programme is a Peace Building Programme for young adults. As part of our activities to mark the day, Moses a member of the SELL Resource Team wrote this piece to commemorate the Peace day.

Today is the International Peace Day. It was established by the UN resolution in 1981, but the General Assembly officially declared this day, September 21 as the International Peace Day. Theme for this year’s celebration is “Sustainable Peace for a Sustainable Future”.

It is recommended that at 12 noon, depending on your time zone, people are to observe a moment of silence. Anyone anywhere can celebrate peace. It can be as simple as lighting a candle at noon or just sitting in silent meditation.  All we encourage is for us to say or do something in relation to peace on this day. 

It is also a day of ceasefire - personal or political. Imagine what a day of ceasefire would mean to humankind. As we mark this day, I congratulate all peace makers and workers – “Blessed are the peace makers, for they shall be called Children of the creator.” For those who wish, you may join me to sing this peace song, 

Peace is flowing like a river

Flowing out through you and me

Flowing out into the desert

Setting all the captives free.”

Thank you for reading our blog this week. I will bring you more stories and news from the SELL Programme Next Week.

Maria Dagogot,

Communication Desk, SELL.

A CITATION OF APPRECIATION BY THE SELL TEAM IN KUMASI AND OTHER STORIES

This week, I want to share with you something special and different. The week’s blog is special and different because it is dedicated to the Kumasi SELL Team.

So I start by sending our heartfelt appreciation to the Sharing Education and Learning for Life (SELL) trainees in Kumasi, Ghana. I would have loved to list your names here, you know yourselves, and to you we are grateful. 

While you were taking the SELL facilitators training programme for your personal development and to share it with other young adults in Kumasi, you were not only participating in the Programme and training, you were also affecting our lives.

 We grew in friendship with you, and as we are not Ghanaians, you shared some interesting part of your culture with us. You taught us how to eat your local dishes. The Fufu, Kanke and Banku we really we enjoyed. One thing I will not forget to mention are your jokes, they made us laugh and feel at ease with you.  Our office here in Nigeria and of course our homes are decorated with the Variety of arts and crafts you gave us as gifts. 

And now, you put on a frame your beautiful photo and a citation for us. We cannot keep your kind words in the citation at our office for ourselves alone. So I am sharing it here with readers of our blog.

Citation by the SELL Team in Kumasi Ghana;

CITATION OF APPRECIATION

                                     This citation is presented as a token of appreciation from a grateful SELL team of Facilitators from Kumasi, for your continuing efforts in developing life building Skills in the young adults.

                                     As we show our appreciation today, we do so knowing that an example of true character and virtue has been shown us to follow; a seed which have to be nurtured to its fruition. 

                                     Thank you for creating an environment of enthusiasm for learning, appreciation for maturity and room for making mistakes along the way.

                                     You are not only our trainers; you are our friends, our mentors and our guardians.

                                     We will always be grateful to your support and kindness; our success in the journey of life and as bearers of the SELL Programme in Kumasi will be your blessing.

                                 You have and will continue to be a great influence on us.

                                     Thank you for the great work you do and the huge impact you make in young people’s lives.

AYEKOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YE DA MO ASE

Good isn’t it? To your citation our Ghanaian friends, we are thrilled and we say ‘AKWABA’ (you are welcome) at least we learned a few comments too from Twi - the spoken dialect in Ashanti region of Ghana. 

Another exciting event is taking place this week in Nigeria on the 30th and 31st August 2012. The SELL team in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria, are up again this week with another SELL Programme. The Programme is on the Leadership unit of SELL and it is going to take place at Kabwir town of Pankshin Local Government, Plateau State Nigeria. The facilitators are members of the SELL Team in Jos; Hilda, Beji, Alex and Grace. We wish them a good working time with their participants.

We are amazed at the energy that members of the SELL Team in Jos have.  Last week, the 23rd and 24th August 2012, they held a SELL Programme in Jos. The programme was at the Abattoir area of Jos and the unit they shared with the young adults that attended was the Wisdom of Traditions’ unit.  They gave this report of the programme;

                                     We the Jos SELL Team had a Programme of SELL in Jos and recorded 52 participants. The unit we explored was the Wisdom of Traditions’ unit, which has the following aims:  

• To explore what is sacred in our world, our lives and our culture.
• To recognise how this sacred influence is expressed in spiritual and religious ritual and practice
• To identify the spirituality we are living out of and to reflect on it together.
• To have different prayer experiences during the workshop

                                   All these aims were achieved, thanks be to God. With the corporation of the participants we were able to explore around perspectives concerning people of different faith backgrounds and how we all see God differently base on the situations and circumstances we find ourselves

                                  We also shared with the Participants on the need to have a balanced spiritual live, to achieve this, we need to; ACT JUSTLY; LOVE TENDERLY; and to WALK HUMBLY With the creator

We like to say a big well done to the Jos team and every blessing in the programme they are delivering at Kabwir this week. 

Join us again next week on this blog for more update from us and the SELL Programme. Hope you enjoy the colourful photos.

Maria Dagogot,

Communication Desk, SELL