COVID 2020 DIAKAID GRANT - NIGERIA

The Order of Deaconesses Methodist Church Nigeria sincerely appreciates the support from the DIAKONIA World Federation through the DIAKAID. 

Our intervention was educating and creating awareness about domestic abuse/violence, sexual harassment and rape. The awareness was taken to schools because we observed that female students go through lots of sexual harassment both from their fellow students, teachers and even within the home and community. 

The awareness lecture explained the meaning of the various topics: unwelcome sexual advances, unwelcome behaviour and incidences that can lead to rape. The actions to take in the event of rape either as a victim or as a witness. The interaction with the students was quite interesting as most of them, especially the hearing impaired students, contributed meaningfully to the discussions after the lecture as they are in the vulnerable group.

The students were also advised on the importance of personal hygiene through which some of them are lured by rapist. They were also advised on defence mechanism in the event of an attempted rape situation.

At the end of the awareness lecture Hygiene Packs were presented to the students. We intend to also arrange a lecture and awareness programme for the boy-child on the same topics since boys also go through these challenges. 

Dc Ronke Oworu

How COVID-19 is impacting communities in Nigeria and Africa

(by Deaconess Ibironke O. Oremade-Oworu)

The Corona Virus Pandemic or the Covid-19 is an uncommon situation that showed up across the World and created a situation that the present generation had not witnessed before. The pandemic caused virtually all economies of the world to shut down. Movement within each country and across continents have been limited. 

The virus has caused so many deaths with some countries more affected than others. The western world, even with all the advancement in health care, has witnessed more death and has been greatly affected.

Looking at the effect of the pandemic as it affects Africa we might say that Africa has been very lucky because the fear at the beginning was that Africa Countries will be greatly affected especially in regards to our health care system and since no Country was prepared for something of this magnitude.

South Africa is the African Country that has been greatly affected with the highest number of infections and deaths.

NIGERIA

Nigeria has also experienced her share of the Covid-19 infection but again the country has been lucky so far. The country has had 50,488 infections with 985 deaths and 37, 304 recoveries. 

The Government had to issue a lockdown of most of the country, causing businesses to shut down and people to stay at home. It was not a pleasant experience because most people earn their wages through daily labour or employment. When people are not able to go out during the day, then they are not sure of being able to feed their families. This was the greatest challenge at the beginning of the lockdown experience. 

The government acted by providing palliative measures in terms of cash transfer and provision of food stuffs to vulnerable families. However, this could not continue for too long because the population is so large. This challenge made the government ease the lockdown, so that people could gradually return to their businesses. There were stringent measures in place to curb the spread of the virus. The use of the facemask is compulsory even though the compliance is not 100%.

Another challenge which we have observed during this pandemic is the increase in cases of domestic abuse and rape. The rape victims have sadly been young babies, children, young ladies and even older women. When caught, the perpetrators of this evil act will most of the time blame the devil for their actions. There has been an increase in cases of fathers defiling their daughters and their family members. The government is concerned about this upsurge and is now working on enacting laws that will keep perpetrators of such acts away from the public for a long time. Some of our legislators and members of the public have suggested life imprisonment and castration for anyone caught in the act. 

As with other parts of the world, another challenge is how to get students to return to school in the midst of the pandemic. In Nigeria the government last week allowed students who have to write their final High School examinations to return to school just to write the examination - while observing all safety rules. However, in one State in the country, seven students writing the examination have already tested positive.

In the Archdiocese of Lagos, Deaconesses are working with relevant authorities and agencies to discourage domestic violence and rape through education programmes that highlight the importance of being vigilant with the girl child. As well, remembering that the boy child also gets raped. We consider gender when we speak about domestic abuse and rape.

Remembering Nigeria - prayers of praise, and intercession

Wonderful to see some of the photos of the recent ordination of deaconesses at the 44th/9th Biennial Conference of the Methodist Church, Nigeria, held in the Barham Cathedral, Port Harcourt. Deaconess Ibironke O. Oremade-Oworu reports that the  Prelate himself put crosses on the deaconesses after the laying on of hands. The deaconesses were ordained in a service that included the ordination of new presbyters. We give thanks for these new deaconesses and offer prayers for their ministries.

 
(Photos from Deaconess Ibironke O. Oremade-Oworu)

Please hold the Order of Deaconesses in the Methodist Church in Nigeria in your prayers.

As well, please remember in your prayers the current Ebola outbreak, the largest in the nearly 40-year history of the virus, which has affected 1,603 and killed 887 people this year in four Western African countries — Nigeria, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, according to the WHO. Ebola, which spreads through body fluid or secretions such as faeces, urine, saliva and semen, can kill up to 90 percent of those infected. The fatality rate of the current epidemic is about 60 percent.

A Nigerian health official says that eight people who were in direct contact with the man who flew to Lagos and later died of Ebola are now showing symptoms of the disease. All have been placed into quarantine. Two deaths have been confirmed in Nigeria. A doctor who treated the first victim of Ebola in Nigeria's most populous city of Lagos has been infected with the virus less than two weeks after the patient died in a public hospital in the West African country.

Please hold in your prayers Deaconess Ibironke O. Oremade-Oworu, who serves as Conference Health Secretary, Methodist Church, Nigeria.

These prayers may enliven your own prayers for West Africa and the threat of the Ebola virus:

God of our anguish, we cry to you
For all who wrestle with Ebola.
Grant we pray, peace to the afraid,
Your welcome to the dying and
Your comfort to those living with loss.
And, merciful Father,
bless those many loving hands
that bravely offer care and hope.
(Revd Canon Edgar Ruddock)

God of healing,
whose Son healed those who were brought to him.
Hear our prayer for the peoples of West Africa
suffering from the Ebola outbreak.
Inspire and enable your church
to be a source of healing, comfort and hope to those affected,
and an agent for the education
and equipping of communities
to stop the spread of this disease.
For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
(Revd Tim Harford)

The abduction of the girls in Nigeria

Just before dawn on 14th April, 300 schoolgirls were rounded up at a boarding school in Northern Nigeria. Armed men from the fringe Islamic militant group Boko Haram torched the school and abducted the girls, taking them to the rebels' camp deep in the bush. The leader of Boko Haram declared in a video that God had told him to sell the girls into slavery. The kidnapping is just the latest in a series of assaults on schoolchildren. Eight more were abducted in the same area in the past few days.
This has prompted a response of “profound concern” from the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit. In his letter to Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, Tveit encouraged “swift and peaceful” action to restore these students back to their homes. “This tragic situation is devastating not only to the immediate community, but also to all Nigerians praying and working for peace. It touches the World Council of Churches directly, as many who have lost their daughters are members of our church families in Nigeria".  He added that the WCC’s concern for the abducted Nigerian students is “intensified in the face of increasing global sexual exploitation of girls and women, and the possibility that these abducted students may become victims of just such injustice and violence.”
“Following the rescue of these children for which we pray, the impact of exploitation may require long-term accompaniment of the young women and their families by the Nigerian government, faith communities and local networks of care and support,” he added.
Assuring the WCC’s support to the Nigerian government, Tveit said that the WCC is ready to assist in “mobilizing the inter-religious and international communities to seek effective and peaceful means towards safely restoring these students to their homes, loved ones and communities.”
Read full text of the WCC general secretary’s letter

The latest grisly attack on a Nigerian village this week is absolutely tragic. It happened in an area that troops had been using as a base in the search for the hundreds of abducted schoolgirls. The assault on the village came after military troops deployed to the area were called to the border area near Chad, where reports - later determined to be false - surfaced that the schoolgirls had been found with Boko Haram militants. The death toll in the village could be as many as 300.

You may have seen the campaign, #BringBackOurGirls, which initially began on Twitter. It has quickly spread, with demonstrators taking to the streets over the weekend in major cities around the world to demand action. Hadiza Bala Usman, Coordinator of the campaign, says, 'We want countries outside Nigeria, the international community, to support us and show that these girls are not forgotten'. Perhaps in solidarity with grieving families in Nigeria you could use social media to post a photo of yourself, like the ones below.

Clearly the response needed from the international community involves particular interventions. As a global diaconal community, let us hold this situation in our prayers. Praying is powerful. 'Prayer is dangerous stuff. And amazing stuff. It gets us deeply involved. It makes us co-creators. It transforms us and our world in some significant ways. It shakes things up and takes us to uncharted places. It leaves us unsettled in many good ways. The prayer that changes - changes us, changes our world, is the one that accepts a role in the answer'. (Joe Kay, on the Sojourners blog)

This prayer by the Nigerian Catholic Bishops seems as relevant as ever: “All powerful and merciful father, you are the God of justice love and peace. You rule over all the Nations of Earth. Power and Might are in your hands and no one can withstand you. I present our country Nigeria before you. I praise and thank for you are the source of all we have and are. We are sorry for all the sins we have committed and for the good deeds we have failed to do. In your loving forgiveness, keep us save from the punishment we deserve. Lord we are weighed down not only by uncertainties, but also by moral, economic and political problems. Listen to the cries of your people who confidently turn to you.  God of infinite goodness, our strength in diversity, Our health in weakness, our comfort in sorrow, Be merciful to us your people. Spare this nation Nigeria from chaos anarchy and doom. Bless us with your kingdom of justice, love and peace. We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen”. (June 27, 1992, in response to a particular crisis in the country)

Thoughts and prayers for Nigeria

It is shocking to learn of the bus station bombing in Nigeria where dozens have been killed (at least 71 according to reports) and 124 wounded. It happened during the morning rush hour. The bus station, 8km southwest of central Abuja, serves Nyanya, a poor, ethnically and religiously mixed satellite town. Nyanya is filled with government and civil society workers who cannot afford Abuja's exorbitant rents. The attack underscored the vulnerability of Abuja, built in the 1980s in the geographic centre of Nigeria to replace coastal Lagos as the seat of government for what is now Africa's biggest economy and top oil producer. Boko Haram, which says it is fighting for an Islamic state, has largely been confined to Nigeria's remote northeast. The group has been particularly active in the area over the past few months and is increasingly targeting civilians it accuses of collaborating with the government or security forces. Boko Haram violence has cost more than 1,500 lives already this year, but most of the unrest has affected villages in the remote northeast. Nigeria is Africa top oil producer and largest economy, but more than 80 percent of the its 170 million people live on less than $2 per day. Analysts say that the Boko Haram unrest has partly stalled economic growth and scared away potential investors. We hold in our prayers the families of those who have died, and for the nation of Nigeria. We remember the Christians in Nigeria, where extremists are fighting for an Islamic state. We remember the Deaconess Order, Methodist Church, Nigeria, and their ministry amongst the poor, vulnerable and needy.