By Josfyn Uba and Bianca Iboma-Emefu
Esther Ibanga parades an impressive resume. Like the Biblical Esther, she possesses a rare sense of courage and threads even, where men fear to walk on. She is a Christian Women Leader whose forte is conflict resolution and peace management in crisis-prone communities in Jos, Plateau State. Ibanga has broken barriers and literally brought down walls, negotiating for peace with her “Women Without Walls Initiative”, an NGO whose focus is to develop a non-violent, creative, and inclusive approach to conflict resolution and transformation in Nigeria, through women who are natural agents for social and national change.
Ibanga told Daily Sun in this interview that the initiative was borne out of a need to respond to the incessant religious and ethnic crisis that rocked Jos, Plateau State, for decades. She noted that the primary objective was to bring down the walls of religion and ethnicity that have been used by politicians to polarize the community.
What informed your decision to establish this initiative?
I have lived in Jos for over 50 years of my life. Unfortunately, I have seen a lot of religious, ethnic crisis and violence that brings everyone looking for safe place, whenever it happens. Whenever there was conflict, I tried to avoid the troubled areas and not get involved, especially politically.
It came closer home in 2010, with an attack on a village close to where I live. One Sunday morning, we woke up to the harrowing news of the gruesome murder of over 500 women, including children in a Christian village.
That particular incident broke me down. It was heart-breaking because it seemed to me that women and children were their target. I cried and was angry but then we needed to do something.
I was actually fasting when this sad incident took place. It was two days to the end of the fasting. The women kept coming to my place, crying cried, then, my husband asked me and other senior Christian women leaders in and around the city, what we thought should be done in response to the crisis. He argued that we should stage a peaceful march to protest the killings, instead of just sitting and wailing.
A week after we did, the Muslim women equally have theirs. That protest became a personal turning point because I couldn’t bear another minute of watching as a bystander.
So after the Muslim women had their own protests, I reached out to their leader. I told her the need for us to collaborate to put an end to the violent and senseless killings of women and children in Plateau state.
That was how we came together and formed “Women Without Walls Initiative” which was borne out of the desperation to put an end to the killings.
What positive impact has your organization made in the rural communities with regards to these conflicts?
The organization carried out some investigations and we found out that the foot soldiers used for the upheaval and killings were usually intoxicated and influenced by the illicit drugged gins. We went to their base and had to enlighten the women. Most of the people used for the killings are poor and do not have education. This was a potent weapon used to recruit the perpetrators of violence.
So we started visiting the communities and discovered that most of them were out of school, unkempt and their eyes were bloodshed. We had meetings with them in zinc houses where they hung out. At the first meeting with them in that community, we had over 200 youths.
Some of this communities we visited, military men do not enter those areas because it’s is extremely dangerous. But we went as mothers and informed them about our intention to have a meeting with them. They were curious so they came. Many of them were even intoxicated when they came to meet us. We told we were here as mothers. They wanted to know our mission and we spoke with them for four hours.
What were your findings at the meeting?
Most of them said that was the first time in their lives that anybody bothered about them. They expressed their grievances also because we had a mixture of Christians and Muslims so it gave us an added advantage to truly have productive outings with them.
If there were no Muslim women, we would not have gotten that entry point. So God already made it easy for us to penetrate. They expressed their anger and frustration about their under-development, neglect by the government, poverty and lack of basic amenities. So we became mediators between the communities and the State government. We wrote an official letter to the government and advised the government to intervene in these communities to give them basic amenities. The provision of these basic things was able to reduce the amount of violence.
Small intervention by the government was able to bring some decorum in these communities. Some of the projects were handled by corporate organizations. We made them fund these projects for these rural communities as part of their social corporate responsibilities. Over the years, we were able to stop the rate of violence. Those youths became peace ambassadors as they started working with us. So this was some of the impact we made. Other communities heard and decided to be part of it.
Like when there was a clash between the Fulani herdsmen and the communities, they requested that our organization must be involved for them to have a peaceful discussion, with them. They said if our organization will mediate, they will come because God gave us credibility. We were truly for peace and just want the killings to stop. So, we can live in peace.
How were you able to advance the cause of rural women who brewed the drug-laced local gins consumed by the youths whose intoxication sparked off violence in communities?
We were able to advance the cause of 64 women in some of the rural areas who were producing the local gin, called Goscolus.
We sensitized them on the dangers of their enterprise which was basically lacing up local gin with hard drugs for the youths and why they should stop the production. We empowered about 64 of them, sourced for funds and created a Job Replacement Programme. We enlightened them again, on this new source of livelihood. Some of them went into poultry farming among other businesses.
There were a few failures. Some could not cope with the business or empowerment and went back to the production. But 64 of them were able to start legitimate businesses and grew in it
Naturally, women are peace-builders. What advice do you have for women in conflict prone areas?
God can raise up women for a great purpose. Women are expected to be life givers. Wherever there is conflict, they should mediate as peace makers
Women have been placed at an advantageous position of raising their voices. They can bring solution to issues with their motherly wisdom. They have been endowed naturally so they need to come out of their comfort zone.
God has given to us all it takes to bring back change, through His words and love. Women should challenge themselves in this regard, look around and see what problems they can solve.
Women who are interested in becoming entrepreneurs do not have access to finance. What practical solution can you provide to help them increase their income?
Most women look at the government as solutions provider. They should stop looking at them for help. I enjoin you to use what you have to get what you want. What I mean by this is; in terms of funding for your business, look inwards and see what you have and you can collaborate with other businesses to expand. When I started the ministry and then the NGO, I was funding the project from personal cash and solicit funds. It was the church that gave me a voice. I never had the resource but somehow I got help. I never thought twice while using the resources. Out of the blues, an organization that I never knew existed gave me an award. I was the 32nd person to receive that award in 2015. I was the first Africa female to receive the award. The award came with a cash prize. God has His own way of rewarding your faithfulness. You can equally collaborate when you don’t have the financial strength or capacity to do some things or don’t have strength to handle.
Can you tell us about the “Mother School” project?
The Mother School” project engages mothers as the first line of security for their families and communities. These mothers have contributed to de-radicalizing their sons who in most cases are recruited by radical, extremist groups due to their poverty, redundancy, and lack of educational opportunities.
Through the “Mothers School” approach borrowed from “Women Without Borders” Austria, the mothers are trained to identify the signs of radicalization in their sons. This approach has had demonstrable impact in the communities that we work in with many mothers who gives us information on these signs, and thus providing points of entry for us to meaningfully engage these youth and impact them positively.
Beyond the home setting, our organization works in schools – organizing peace carnivals and story-telling campaigns to demystify and change the narrative on conflict and crisis. The organization now has a refined strategy focusing on six areas: advocacy; provision of relief to internally displaced persons and the needy; training of women in peace building initiatives/activities, dialogues, and mediation between warring parties; developmental projects in under-privileged communities with grievances that became drivers of violence; and women and youth empowerment
All these progress couldn’t have been recorded without any hiccups. Can you recall some of the major bottlenecks you faced while as you moved on in conflict management and peace resolution?
The first few years following the inception of the Women Without Bothers Initiative I were challenging. However, God rewarded our efforts when I won the Niwano Peace Prize of 2015 which was a pivotal moment in my journey. I had renewed hope that the work that I was doing in collaboration with the women’s movement in and around Jos was indeed bearing fruit.
Whilst doing the work through the Women Without Walls initiative in the initial stages, one of the key challenges faced was, and continues to be, funding. When we started, we had no money, thus we had to use our own money to run the different projects that we had in the docket. However, we have undertaken projects like renovation of a public school Muslim Community and construction of borehole in a Christian community