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Photo courtesy of EYN
Global Mission and Service staff visit a refugee camp in Nigeria.
Shown here, Jay Wittmeyer and Roy Winter speak with leaders of a refugee
camp in Ankoma, in Karu local government in Nasarawa State. EYN staff
report that more than 550 people are living in the refugee camp.
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Plans are progressing for a relief effort responding to the violence
in northeastern Nigeria, in cooperation with Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a
Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) and the Church of
the Brethren’s Global Mission and Service and Brethren Disaster
Ministries.
This follows on a resolution on Nigeria adopted by the Church of the
Brethren Annual Conference in July stating, in part: “We further resolve
to partner with EYN and ecumenical international relief and development
agencies to offer support as requested and directed by the leadership
of the Nigerian Brethren.”
Global Mission and Service executive director Jay Wittmeyer and
associate executive director Roy Winter of Brethren Disaster Ministries
visited Nigeria earlier this month and met with EYN leaders to begin the
planning. The meeting also considered needs for crisis management for
EYN as well as security assessment and civil defense for EYN
congregations and members.
“Just the fact that they were starting to move to an organized plan
was extremely helpful to their own wellbeing,” Winter said in an
interview he and Wittmeyer gave to Newsline on their return to the US.
He warned that the plan is in the formative stages, and a lot of work
must yet be done before a full relief effort is underway. “We can’t do
much until we do a good assessment,” he said. “That’s got to be one of
the first things” after EYN identifies leadership for the effort and
hires staff to carry it out.
Winter said he anticipates a similar level of involvement in Nigeria
as Brethren Disaster Ministries took on following the massive earthquake
that devastated Haiti in early 2010, which resulted in a large disaster
relief and rebuilding program and significant cooperation with the
Haitian Brethren.
In recent years, EYN and its members have suffered innumerable losses
at the hands of the Boko Haram insurgent group, including hundreds of
murders, village massacres, the destruction of churches and homes and
businesses, and abductions including the schoolgirls kidnapped from
Chibok and the abduction of pastors and their families, among other
atrocities. The United Nations says 650,000 people have fled their homes
because of Boko Haram fighting, according to a recent Voice of America
report.
Among the displaced are 45,000 EYN members, according to reporting
from EYN staff. The displaced church members have been seeking refuge in
other communities or with extended family in other areas of Nigeria, or
have fled across the border to Cameroon.
Boko Haram, which translates as “Western education is forbidden,” is
an extremist Islamist group that has turned to terror tactics in a fight
for a “pure Islamic state” and the imposition of Sharia law in
northeastern Nigeria.
A call to be the church in Nigeria
A highlight of the meeting between EYN leaders, Wittmeyer, and Winter
was the setting of priorities for a response, and the decision to
regard the effort in terms of spiritual discernment. “Discerning the
call to be the church in Nigeria today” was a key component of the
planning process, Winter said.
The meeting with top EYN staff included president Samuel Dante Dali,
general secretary Jinatu Wamdeo, and leaders of church departments
crucial to the relief effort and crisis management: the Relief
Committee, the ZME Women’s Fellowship, the Peace Program, and the staff
liaison to the Church of the Brethren in the US, among others.
Six priorities were set:
- work with internally displaced people,
- development of a risk management/security plan to help mitigate the effects of violence on Brethren congregations,
- growth of the EYN Peace Program,
- pastoral care and trauma healing and resiliency programs,
- training of youth to deal with the situation,
- work with refugees across the border in Cameroon.
Winter helped facilitate the meeting, which in addition to
identifying needs and priorities laid out an agenda for strategic
planning and crisis management, and talked about how to get started, and
who is assigned to these tasks.
The Nigerian Brethren leaders provided background information and
updates, including a history of the crisis and an analysis of the
extremist Islamist focus on northeastern Nigeria. They reviewed latest
statistics, which revealed significant increases in the impact of the
violence on EYN.
Violence increasingly affects EYN
“Some of those statistics were startling to me,” Winter said. For
example, he reported that EYN has now closed 7 of its 51 church
districts--two more than the 5 districts that had been closed as of the
start of the summer. Parts of other districts also are being abandoned.
The districts are closing because their areas are being overrun by the
insurgents or are becoming too violent and dangerous.
Winter was struck by what this means in terms of financial impact on
the Nigerian church and its leaders. The loss of whole districts means
less support for ongoing church program, even as EYN tries to mount a
new relief effort. It also means loss of a living for numerous pastors
and their families.
Celebrating EYN’s capacity to respond
During the meeting, Wittmeyer and Winter said the group took time to
celebrate the remarkable accomplishments of EYN in the midst of such
difficulties, and the capacity of the Nigerian Brethren. EYN’s strong
administrative structure, with districts that hold regular meetings and
communication between denomination and district leaders, lends itself to
effective response in crisis.
For example, the general secretary has been contacting districts to
get an accounting of what each is doing in the way of aid for those
affected by violence. In another example, EYN staff have been sending
out information about the Ebola epidemic and how to recognize symptoms
and prevent spread of the deadly virus.
“We have to talk about Ebola within the current crisis, which is so frightening,” Winter commented.
Geopolitical analysis
In the historical background offered by the EYN leaders, Wittmeyer
said he was impressed by the level of geopolitical analysis. EYN leaders
trace the rise of Boko Haram back to pre-colonial empires--Fulani
Empire and Borno Empire--that once ruled much of West Africa, and the
Fulani/Hausa Caliphate that controlled the northeast of Nigeria before
the creation of an independent, democratic nation.
They characterized Boko Haram as not unique in the world, Wittmeyer
said, reporting that they placed Boko Haram among other violent factions
who are actors in a global conflict playing itself out between
different Muslim groups in various areas of the world.
One hope the EYN leaders hold to is that more Muslims will be open to
cooperative work toward peace with Christians, as Boko Haram
increasingly targets moderate Muslims and traditional community leaders,
Wittmeyer said.
The refugee situation
Wittmeyer and Winter also visited refugee camps with EYN staff, to
see first-hand some of the living conditions of those who have fled the
violence. They visited camps outside of the capital city Abuja. One camp
they visited houses more than 550 people, mainly from the Gwoza area
which has been overrun by Boko Haram and now is under insurgent control.
In his follow up notes to the visit, EYN staff liaison Jauro Markus
Gamache listed some key concerns about the situation of refugee
families: diseases like malaria and typhoid and the related need for
good toilet facilities, proper medical care for pregnant women, food
needs in the refugee camps and malnutrition of some children, widows who
are being marginalized and orphans who are not receiving care, problems
associated with lack of protected sleeping spaces, lack of shade in a
hot season of the year, and the need to purchase land for the camps both
for living space and for farming.
“There is tremendous increase in the [refugee] population and need for food and house rent is highly our priority,” he wrote.
His list bemoaned the disappearance of family members who are
presumed to have gone into hiding, and the fact that some surrounding
areas will not accept refugees because they fear retaliatory attacks by
Boko Haram. He wrote as well that Muslims who are not affiliated with
the insurgents are increasingly suffering from the violence.
The document also noted the activity of other Christian groups
becoming active in camps where most of the people are EYN members.
Next steps
Next steps in the response start with refinement of the priorities, in communication with the EYN staff liaison, Winter said.
On the financial side, he and Wittmeyer will take on the task of
clarifying what portions of the response are best covered by the EYN
Compassion Fund, and which will be covered through grants from the
Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF).
EYN plans to hire several staff for the relief effort, with some
financial support from the American church, Wittmeyer said, adding that
the new staff may include some of the pastors who have lost their
churches.
How to help
There are three ways to contribute to the relief effort in Nigeria:
Donate to the
Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) at
www.brethren.org/edf
or by mailing a check to Emergency Disaster Fund, Church of the
Brethren, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120, note “EDF Nigeria” in the
memo line.
Donate to the
Global Mission and Service program in Nigeria at
https://secure2.convio.net/cob/site/Donation2?df_id=1660&1660.donation=form1
or by mailing a check to Church of the Brethren, 1451 Dundee Ave.,
Elgin, IL 60120, note “Global Mission Nigeria” in the memo line.
Donate to the
EYN Compassion Fund at
www.brethren.org/eyncompassion
or by mailing a check care of the Church of the Brethren, 1451 Dundee
Ave., Elgin, IL 60120, note “EYN Compassion Fund” in the memo line.
Source: 8/26/2014 Newsline
