Peace and trust are not familiar concepts in Northern Nigeria and Kano, where religious and ethnic tensions have led to conflict over the past few years. Now though, our Peace Club project is developing understanding between young people.
'Members of the different communities live in fear of conflict arising out of the blue, leading to violence', says Omotola Oyebanjo, British Council Communications Manager. 'The majority of the people would like to live without fear and in peace'. This is why we created a pilot Peace Club for young people (aged 14 – 18) at our premises on 27 May – a date chosen to coincide with International Children’s Day.
Founding members of the club were drawn from seven secondary schools and the fifty members have attended monthly meetings throughout the year; developing the mindset to appreciate cultural differences and to develop trusting relationships beyond their ethnic groups. Children from different religious traditions have limited contact with one another so bringing them together is a breakthrough.
Links have been established between three peace club schools in Kano and three schools in Northern Ireland. 'Kano and Northern Ireland share a history of community conflict and the links provide a platform to share experiences and encourage the youth to work together and discuss issues of common interest', says Omotola. All the students already involved in the programme have been swapping personal information via e-mail and have committed to looking at themes of diversity, human rights and conflict resolution in the first phase of the partnerships.
The Peace Club hold monthly meetings at our centre, with the help of project co-ordinator Femi Sodipoi. Femi hopes the Peace Club will become a 'way of living, in which the values of mutual respect and tolerance for others will become a reality.' He hopes that 'they will be the forerunners in establishing a society that will regard peace as a state of mind, a chosen value, and a way of life.'
In March this year Femi and his colleague Elijah Alkali, British Council Education Officer, visited Northern Ireland to develop a relationship with the NGO Children in the Crossfire and to meet teachers and pupils from a range of Catholic and Protestant Schools. The first exchange visit between the club's members is planned for October in Londonderry, with a visit to Kano in February 2008. We plan to work with local sponsors to establish Peace Clubs in four other northern states of Nigeria: Kaduna, Jos, Bauchi and Gombe.
Find out how we support change in access to democracy, education, health, information and other basic rights across Nigeria on our Nigeria website. You can also visit our Northern Ireland site for information on how we're strengthening human rights and governance.
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