Rebecca
awaits the examination at the Unijos School of Post-Graduate Studies
November 5, 2012 was a pretty special day for Rebecca Samuel Dali. It
was the day for which she had been preparing herself for some years, especially
since 2003 when she entered the Master's
program in Ethics and Philosophy at the federal University of Jos
(Unijos), and took a graduate course with Wendy. At the time Rebecca had
already started the research which would become the heart of her master's
thesis on the effect of violent conflict on women. After the Jos crisis of 2001
she had followed up on those women, both Muslim and Christian, who, like
herself, had been deeply affected by that event. She asked them many questions
about injuries sustained, trauma and various kinds of loss suffered during the
crisis. The result was a thesis which argued that, because of their pivotal
role in the family and society, the effects of such crises were more devastating
for women than for men.
New Buildings at Unijos
Although Rebecca wished to continue immediately with doctoral studies, a
number of delays at the university in calling on an external examiner for the
master's theses meant that she was not able to defend this thesis for some
time, and enrollment in the doctoral program was delayed until 2009. But that
did not stop her from beginning the work toward a doctoral thesis as an extension
of earlier work, now focused on the northern communities of Kaduna (the
crisis of 2000) and Maiduguri (the 'cartoon' crisis of 2006): "An Ethical
Analysis of the Plight of Women in Violent Conflict in Northern Nigeria
(1980-2008)".
This time the focus of the thesis was somewhat different.
Rebecca used evidence obtained through interviews and discussions to argue that
in general there is far too little understanding of the plight of women in
violent conflict, and that, contrary to public perception, Muslim women were as
seriously affected by these crises as were Christian women. Rebecca submitted
the completed thesis to the Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy in
June. Normally the thesis is first approved by a committee of the department,
before it is passed along to the Dean of Arts and Sciences. From that point it goes before the University Senate, and if this body approves, an external
examiner is called upon to come and examine the student in an oral defense of
the thesis, the Viva.
Wendy working
with Rebecca to prepare her for the oral defense
Compared to many graduate students, Rebecca's doctoral defense was
scheduled fairly soon after she completed and submitted the thesis to the
department. Some students wait a year or more before an external examiner is
identified, and is ready to come for the defense. Since Wendy, as supervisor,
was not in Nigeria at the time, she depended heavily on a Nigerian colleague,
Prof. Musa Gaiya, to take care of arrangements for inviting the external
examiner and setting the date. Even so, we were caught somewhat by surprise
when, on October 6, we received an urgent request from Prof. Gaiya to come for
the November 5 defense, and arrive in Nigeria by November 1 if at all possible.
A month is rather short for obtaining a Nigerian visa, but we did manage to get
it by asking for expedited service. And we arrived in Jos in time, by
Wednesday, October 31!
Rebecca with Prof. Gaiya and Wendy at the
defense
Already the next day, Thursday, Wendy started working with Rebecca,
preparing her for the kinds of questions and challenges she might expect on the
arguments and positions taken. Rebecca appeared confident enough in these
discussions, so we were not overly concerned about her ability to hold her own
in the oral defense. Of course, when Monday came, the day of the defense,
Rebecca was rather nervous. And the external examiner didn’t help matters when
he started his examination with a barrage of criticism. Even so, Wendy noticed
that his critical remarks focused on rather insubstantial details, without touching central positions defended in the
thesis. This was a good sign. In the end the examiner affirmed Rebecca for presenting
'groundbreaking' work, and awarded the doctoral degree. She would have to
provide only moderate corrections; although she was given six months to
complete them, she will probably be able to finish them by Christmas time.
Rebecca and Wendy with external examiner
Rebecca signs the important documents
So, the time had really come to celebrate the event! We are so grateful
that Rebecca has achieved her desire to finish the doctoral studies. Many years of
educational effort have come to a climax with this examination. And Rebecca has
worked hard toward this achievement. Although, with her husband, Sam, Rebecca
now serves the Church of the Brethren (EYN in Nigeria) and The
Theological College of Northern Nigeria (TCNN), she began life in a family
characterized by a thorough mix of Nigeria's major religious groups: Muslim,
Christian and traditional African religion. She remembers the rote memorization
of Islamic prayers in early childhood. But that did not lead to her receiving a
regular basic education, for her herbalist father was more interested in having
her help in the preparation, brewing and distribution of his products. But one
day her older sister rescued her from this work, and had her placed in a
mission school. At the time Rebecca did not have the proper clothes for
schooling, but that did not stop her. Without further help from her parents, she
worked in the fields at harvest to earn the money needed for tuition and a
uniform.
In 1983 the Nigerian Church of the Brethren (EYN) sponsored both Sam and Rebecca for theological training at TCNN, and from 1983-87 Rebecca was enrolled in the Christian Ministry program there. Upon completion she taught for six years (1987-93) at EYN's Kulp Bible College. But this would not be the final goal of her studies, for in 1993 the Basel Mission of Switzerland sponsored her for further studies, first for her Bachelor's degree (1993-96) and following that, to work towards a Master's degree (1997-98) at TCNN. Since that time Rebecca has been teaching at TCNN on behalf of the Church of the Brethren. She did take a leave of absence for a number of years to complete her doctorate, and transferred to live in the north east of Nigeria, also because last year her husband became Executive President of the Nigerian Church of the Brethren, which meant relocating to Mubi, not far from Maiduguri. Aside from the NGO which she has established to help women victims of ethno-religious violence, Rebecca is teaching and preaching in that part of Nigeria for the time being. She hopes to go back to teaching at TCNN Bukuru from January through July 2013, before returning to Kwarhi, near the Mubi EYN Headquarters, until her husband Sam finishes this term of service to the church.
Time for celebration: Rebecca and Sam with
Adrian and Wendy
Aside from her studies and teaching activities over the last years,
Rebecca has published a number of books: Women in Ministry with Jesus: Where
are They? Reflections on Women's Activities in the Church Today (2000); The
Secret of Successful Living in the Christian Home (2001); Wealth
Creation and Savings: Some Biblical Principles. Not long ago she managed to
publish her master's thesis on women in the Jos 2001 crisis, and we anticipate
that the doctoral work will soon join this list of publications.
Over the years we have asked many of you to pray for Rebecca as she
faced one obstacle after the other, to pray for Wendy's supervision of her
work, and for the successful completion of her studies at this level. This is
the appropriate time to thank you for your faithful support, which has made it
possible for us to celebrate this event. In her thesis Rebecca acknowledged the
help of many people who supported her along the way, and special thanks must
go to our department's Professor Umar
Danfulani (currently Dean of Arts and Science), who always supported Rebecca,
and initially encouraged her to work with Wendy. Also important for Rebecca's
work was church historian Prof. Musa Gaiya, who looked after all the
bureaucratic details of Rebecca's obligations to the Post-Graduate School of
Unijos, particularly when Wendy was already back in Canada, and was continuing
her supervision by email.
Rebecca working with Coleen Starwalt
Once Rebecca began collecting data based on her interviews, the
intervention and help of Dr. Coleen Starwalt of TCNN was crucial for the
analysis of the statistics on which her results are based. And Rebecca's work
owes much to the timely help of Mrs. Crozier and others at TCNN who helped her
to edit her thesis for English. But finally Rebecca's acknowledgements begin
with what has been most important throughout these years: “My appreciation goes
to God Almighty who bestows His favour upon me in His ministry. 'My God is
God.' He opens doors for me, and has sustained and enabled me to this point.
Glory, honour and majesty belong to God.”