Not too near, but not far away...

I make this post with a little bit of trepidation because I don't want anyone to freak out and start contacting Amnesty International or something. This is just a piece of Nigerian news that I found notable and I want to share it with you. Remember, Nigeria is a BIG country with millions of people. That said...
In case you didn't know, we are currently in the Islamic month of Ramadan where Muslims take 30 days to fast and seek enlightenment from God. It's a holy month and with Nigeria being 50% Muslim, I'm well aware of it. Every Friday night I can hear the call to prayer from the loudspeakers at the mosque. As one can imagine, in a country divided staunchly between Muslim and Christian, a time like Ramadan has the tendency to tense things up a bit. Such might be part of the reason for the incident in Tudun Wada near Kano (up north) last weekend, but then again, religious differences have long been an issue here in Nigeria.

Allegedly, a cartoon was found with Mohommad's head on a dog's body and it was though to have been drawn by a Christian student in one of the schools (Later, after some investigation, it was discovered to have been done by a Muslim boy in Bangledesh). This set off a riotous group of teenagers who went around rampaging shops and known Christian homes. The fairly small group turned into a much larger mob once word spread and by the end of it all, churches (nearly all in the area) were burned to the ground, 9 people killed, and over 130 Christian homes were looted while families were driven out without any belongings in hand. In an attempt to "protect" went around to Christian homes, asked where they would like to go, and helped to ship them out to other towns. In reality, this served the Muslim ideal because they'd rather have it segregated anyways.
Article about the incident.

Now, you may be wondering why I am waiting over a week to write about this to you. I heard about this by word of mouth and kept looking for something in the papers about it. This article I refer you to is some of the only coverage of this terrible travesty. Can you imagine something like this happening in the states and not hearing about it? But censorship prevented any newspaper from publishing on it, partly out of fear that it would only fuel reactionary violence. One can understand that, I certainly heard a few Nigerians voice their strong opinions about what actions should be taken, but the lack of coverage also help to cover-up the grave injustice that took place. Not just the looting, the "help" provided by the authorities.

Other conversations and mentions of it during prayers, the incident last weekend in Tudun Wada has not had any affect on life in Jos, as far as I can tell. I don't fear for my safety when I walk past a Muslim kneeling on his prayer mat, and neither should you. I share this news with you just to help you understand an underlying issue in Nigeria and ask you to pray for profound peace and for Christ's love, light and truth to be stronger than the hate, darkness, and lies that reside in the human heart.

Hausa word for the day: Semi = love

http://allafrica.com/stories/200710011288.html