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