Almost 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped from a school in Chibok, Nigeria, on April 14th, and a Presbyterian in Ottawa is speaking up in hopes of having the girls returned to their families.
Rebecca Onuoha, Nigerian-Canadian and daughter of former Presbyterian Church in Canada missionary Rev. Arlene Onuoha, was devastated upon learning about the crisis.
“It was shocking, but all I could do was pray for them,” said Rebecca. “That really broke my heart and I immediately wanted to do something.” So she teamed up with other Nigerian students in Canada to organize a rally in support of the girls.
The rally was held on May 4th. They met at the Nigerian High Commission in Ottawa and walked to the Human Rights Monument. “We lit candles and said a Christian prayer and a Muslim prayer for the girls and for Nigeria,” said Rebecca. The rally also included short speeches from various Canadian organizations and the distribution of flyers, which explained what is happening in Nigeria. They asked people to hold the girls in prayer and spread awareness.
The militant group Boko Haram claims responsibility for the kidnapping. Boko Haram has said the girls, who are between 16 and 18 years of age, will be sold, either as bargaining chips or as wives.
“It’s not simply that they kidnapped a bunch of girls, they are making a statement,” said Rev. Arlene Onuoha, a Presbyterian minister who served as a missionary in Nigeria for over 25 years. Boko Haram is saying that girls do not belong in school, they should be entering into early marriage, Onuoha told the Record. They want Nigeria to follow Shariah law and this is causing conflict, she said.
Boko Haram, although Islamic, is not making a statement against Christianity, explained Onuoha. The group is focused against all aspects of Western society, not just religion. Their attacks have targeted both Christian and Muslim communities to demonstrate that the government is unable to protect its citizens.
“Very often there are conflicts in Nigeria and the media picks it up as Muslim vs. Christian,” said Onuoha. “There are always lots of dimensions.”
The terror in Northern Nigeria goes back to the 1980s and earlier, she said. In the years Onuoha spent in Nigeria, there was always terror, much of it due to the tension between farmers and nomadic herders, including kidnappings and burning down churches and mission stations.
There isn’t a Presbyterian church directly in Chibok, but there is one in Maiduguri, about 130 kilometres away. However, according to Rev. Solomon Umazi, Moderator of the Synod of the North in the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria, the membership of the church “has almost relocated out of the city due to this insurgency.”
The government of Nigeria is now accepting help from other nations, including Canada.
Rebecca Onuoha hopes to return to Nigeria one day, but wants to know that it is safe.
“We have friends and family there,” she said. “I want them to be free from terror and to be happy in their country.”
