By Nafisa Bala, YES Nigeria alumna ‘11

Aisha Waziri, YES ’12, received an alumni grant from the YES program to provide training for YES alumni in peace education. After being trained, the alumni plan to educate the Kaduna State community about conflict resolution.  This project intends to address the politically-motivated and sectarian violence that has plagued Nigeria. Kaduna is a religiously diverse province near the "Middle Belt," where Nigeria's mostly Christian south and largely Muslim north meet. Kaduna has seen violence, such as church bombings and revenge killings. Nigerian YES alumni have diverse identities including Muslim, Christian and other religions. They decided that they can be agents of peace and change.

The peace education training took place in July 2013, with a professional conflict resolution trainer, Mr. Peterx Maji who is the coordinator at Carefronting. Mr. Maji has previously been involved in conflict resolution in Nigeria and took part in a retreat which produced a film called “Dialogue in Nigeria - Muslims and Christians Creating Their Future.” The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria has been distributing this film. 

After the training, alumna Nafisa Bala, YES ’11, said, “The alternatives to violence and conflict resolution training had a great impact on us, the alumni. It enlightened us more on how we can contribute to the peaceful coexistence in our societies, which gave us more insight on how to go about our football for peace project where we educate young people, like us, about the importance of peace amongst people living together. And wherever we find ourselves, we will remember that there are always alternatives to violence, and act as agents of peace.”

One way that the alumni will reach out to educate the community is through the field of sports, where fans of many backgrounds put aside differences to support their team. Thus the alumni have partnered with a major soccer club in Kaduna, Narayi United Football Club. The peace education project provided the club with equipment, materials and new uniforms to improve their image and provide a professional look, thereby dignifying the team. The team has begun to distribute peace stickers at football games. Soccer fans are now interested to know more about the YES alumni and the peace education project. While the message “Muslims and Christians are Brothers and Sisters” is a simple one, it is an important one to the fans since it comes from the football team.

Alumni involved in the project are: Karima Aminu Diyo YES ‘10, Salman Samira YES ‘10, Aisha Salihu Waziri YES ‘12, Ayuba Deborah YES ‘08, Muhammed M Bello YES ‘10, Saeed Ibrahim Abdullah YES ‘12, Adamu Kamal, Nafisa Bala YES ‘11, Faith Aruwan YES ‘13, Baria’ah Balarabe Musa YES ‘09, Nzallah Whong YES ‘13. In addition, advisors of this project are Professor Whong, father of YES ‘13 student Nzallah Whong and Dr. Saidu Yakubu, Director of IRIS Nigeria.

Iowa Resource for International Service (IRIS) facilitates the YES program in Nigeria.