{"id":8244,"date":"2017-08-31T18:58:23","date_gmt":"2017-08-31T18:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/news\/?p=8244"},"modified":"2018-10-16T19:03:52","modified_gmt":"2018-10-16T19:03:52","slug":"rebecca-dali-my-faith-in-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2017\/rebecca-dali-my-faith-in-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebecca Dali: My faith in God motivates me every second"},"content":{"rendered":"

Church of the Brethren Newsline
\nAugust\u00a031,\u00a02017<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
Rebecca Dali with the 2017 Humanitarian Award from the Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation at a ceremony at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Photo by Kristin Flory.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The following release from the World Council of Churches (WCC) notes an unprecedented honor for a member of Ekklesiyar Yan\u2019uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). Rebecca Dali, founder of the Center for Compassion, Empowerment, and Peace Initiatives (CCEPI), has received the 2017 Humanitarian Award from the Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation at a ceremony at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.<\/em><\/p>\n

Kristin Flory, Brethren Service staff working in Geneva, accompanied her at the ceremony on behalf of the Church of the Brethren, and took these photographs. Stan Noffsinger, former general secretary of the Church of the Brethren and now a staff person at the WCC, also was present at the event.<\/em><\/p>\n

CCEPI\u2019s work to aid widows, orphans, and others affected by the violence of the Boko Haram insurgency has received financial and other support through the Nigeria Crisis Response of EYN and the Church of the Brethren. Additional work Dali and CCEPI have done to document the personal stories of those killed by the insurgents has been aided by a partnership of the Church of the Brethren with faculty and students at Elizabethtown (Pa.) College. Brethren who attended Annual Conference and National Older Adult Conference in 2015 will remember seeing outcomes of this work in the \u201cWalls of Healing\u201d that featured the names of thousands of Nigerian Brethren victims.<\/em><\/p>\n

In addition, the denomination\u2019s Global Mission and Service office has been supportive of Dali\u2019s higher education as well. Dali holds a master\u2019s degree and a doctorate. These high-level degrees have given her work with CCEPI increased stature with international partners.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cShe is tenacious, just tenacious in a deep way,\u201d said Jay Wittmeyer, executive director of Global Mission and Service. He expressed admiration for Dali\u2019s persistence on behalf of the most vulnerable Nigerians, Christian and Muslim, in an area that for many years was in danger of being ignored by the rest of the world. CCEPI and its accompaniment, he said,\u00a0has made all the difference for many surviving victims of Boko Haram.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rebecca Dali: My faith in God motivates me every second<\/strong>
\nA World Council of Churches release<\/em><\/p>\n

During World Humanitarian Day on Aug. 21, Dr Rebecca Samuel Dali received the 2017 Humanitarian Award from the Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation at the United Nations office in Geneva in recognition of her courageous efforts in reintegration of women abducted by the Boko Haram into their local communities in northern Nigeria. In her visit to the Ecumenical Centre, Dali shares the source of her courage and commitment to help the most vulnerable.<\/p>\n

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Rebecca Dali speaking at the award ceremony at the United Nations. Photo by Kristin Flory.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAt first I was helping vulnerable children, but when the crisis of violence came to Jos, I started helping widows and orphans,\u201d recalls Dali, who founded and runs the Center for Caring, Empowerment, and Peace Initiatives (CCEPI) in northeast Nigeria. \u201cLater, when Boko Haram came, we started working with the whole range of displaced people. We have registered 380,000 households whom we have helped with something,\u201d says Dali, who herself was forced to flee with her family when Boko Haram militants took over the town of Michika, Adamawa State, in 2014.<\/p>\n

As the situation in the northern states of Nigeria only worsened, the CCEPI relief work grew gradually, resulting in helping 1 million individuals since 2008. \u201cIn that big, huge congregation, there were widows and orphans again, and I started to focus on the most vulnerable,\u201d says Dali. A lot of people coming from Boko Haram insurgencies were neglected, \u201cthe government did not care, the community rejected them\u201d–often including even their own families. \u201cWhen I started opening my arms to them, they started coming to me: some were sick, some were hungry, most of them had experienced trauma, violence, abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dali, with her colleagues at CCEPI, started to take a more detailed look in their cases, offering specific help. \u201cOften help used to be just a handout, small and insufficient–but as I looked at the people and their stories more closely, I was able to offer the help they needed.\u201d Starting with trauma healing and providing a shelter, continuing with support in pregnancy and giving birth, support with clothing, food, and housing, and moving on with training and empowering them, enrolling people into the livelihood centers–the CCEPI was and still is there to help.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes when I am really exhausted, the thoughts of stopping this work come to my mind. But then I remember that God did not reject me, and He is not very tired of me–so how can I be tired of people? I believe that God is God of love, and He has said that we should love other people as ourselves. He came to reconcile the world,\u201d says Dali, adding that we should act as ones who help others to reconcile too.<\/p>\n

Taking a risk for justice<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dali\u2019s CCEPI is recognized by UNHCR as the first humanitarian actor to set up a livelihood program for internally displaced persons and returnees in the Madagali and Michika areas of Adamawa region in Nigeria. The center took the risk of reaching areas considered inaccessible and dangerous at the peak of Boko Haram\u2019s insurgency, at a time when other non-governmental organizations could not.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if you are persecuted–you should not be demoralised because of the persecution, but continue to help others,\u201d says Dali. \u201cImmediately as we were chased away by Boko Haram, on the first day I slept, but on the second day I was among the other displaced people–registering them, gathering their stories, listening to their needs, and later starting applying to donor agencies to help them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dali was also amongst the first to visit the parents of the 276 Chibok girls after the mass kidnaping by Boko Haram in April 2014. Dali\u2019s husband, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Dante Dali, at that time was the president of the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria (EYN, Ekklesiyar Yan\u2019uwa a Nigeria), to which most of the kidnapped Chibok girls belonged. Located in the northern districts of the country, congregations of the EYN suffered severe attacks by Boko Haram militants, forcing up to 70 percent of the church members to flee and become internally displaced persons.<\/p>\n

Courageous efforts of Rebecca Dali and the CCEPI in the reintegration of women abducted by the Boko Haram were recognized by the Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation, which granted Dali its biennially conferred Humanitarian Award. \u201cAs the local communities resisted their reintegration, your negotiation skills and reconciliation efforts played an important role in their successful reintegration,\u201d states chairman of the foundation and UNHCR\u2019s director of External Relations Anne Willem Bijleveld.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe provided medical services and trauma healing for women returning from Boko Haram,\u201d says Rebecca Dali. If the women where pregnant, CCEPI supported them and waited until they give birth; took them to the hospital and purchased everything needed for the baby. \u201cIt is very sad, but after they gave birth, some used to say, this child is from Boko Haram,\u201d recalls Dali. Many believed those are children of \u201cbad blood\u201d and that\u2019s why they had a high risk of being killed or just left neglected. \u201cWe had to be there to encourage the mothers to take care of the babies, as it was not the fault of these children–they all are wonderfully created in the image of God,\u201d says Dali.<\/p>\n

Such encouragement usually worked very well, but the real challenge was families of these women and their husbands, who in many cases refused to accept their women returning from Boko Haram captivity. \u201cSo we had to do lobbying, going to these families and talking with them, making a lot of phone calls and arranging the meetings, involving local community leaders as well,\u201d says Dali. There were cases when it did not work, and there was a need to build houses for these women in other communities who did not know their background. In some such cases reconnection with families happened gradually, after the trauma had gone from both sides.<\/p>\n

Dali received the award on Aug. 21 at the United Nations in Geneva, during the annual World Humanitarian Day event aimed to raise awareness of aid work, commemorate workers who have died while in the field, and mark the day in 2003 when 22 people were killed in a bomb attack on UN offices in Iraq, including the head of mission Sergio Vierra de Mello.<\/p>\n

Thanking supporters, thanking God<\/strong><\/p>\n

In her moving speech at the award ceremony in the fully packed Human Rights and Alliance of Civilizations Hall, Dali said: \u201cI give thanks to my God who gave me courage and opportunity to serve his children–my neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the current recognition, Dali says she sees the award as a key to further success of CCEPI. \u201cThere are people who already have approached me with invitations to speak, partnership and donation offers for building of trauma healing clinic and a school. I finished my speech and in less than 20 minutes I met a lot of people who wanted to help. Without the award I would not be known to them–so I thank God for this opportunity!\u201d<\/p>\n

Dali acknowledges that support from donor agencies–Church of the Brethren USA, Christian Aid Ministries, International Rescue Committee, UNHCR–has been important motivation for her work. \u201cYou have the funding and resources to help, and you see a lot of needs and suffering of people around you–I can\u2019t just say I\u2019m tired, it motivates me to keep on doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

But above everything else Dali highlights the love of God and the good of her neighbor as the main drivers of her commitment: \u201cEach minute and each second I find motivation in knowing that God is near me and protecting me. Because of Him I am doing this work.\u201d<\/p>\n

From someone who meets the harshest violence face to face on a daily basis, these are not just words.<\/p>\n

— This WCC release is available online at\u00a0www.oikoumene.org\/en\/press-centre\/news\/rebecca-dali-my-faith-in-god-motivates-me-every-second<\/a>\u00a0.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to\u00a0www.brethren.org\/Newsline<\/a>\u00a0to subscribe to the Church of the Brethren Newsline free e-mail news service and receive church news every week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following release from the World Council of Churches (WCC) notes an unprecedented honor for a member of Ekklesiyar Yan\u2019uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). Rebecca Dali, founder of the Center for Compassion, Empowerment, and Peace Initiatives (CCEPI), has received the 2017 Humanitarian Award from the Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation at a ceremony at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":8245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1295,456,1262,9,13,1263],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-8244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-advocacy","tag-brethren-disaster-ministries","tag-ecunemical","tag-emergency-disaster-fund","tag-nigeria","tag-peace"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8244"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8247,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8244\/revisions\/8247"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8244"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=8244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}