The HAWK Project

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

HAPSTA HOLDS TOWN-HALL MEETING IN ETINAN, AKWA-IBOM, STATE



In our effort to drastically reduce the endemic belief in witchcraft and the prevalent practice of child-witch stigmatization, torture and in some cases killing, the Humanist Association for Peace and Social Tolerance Advancement (HAPSTA) on Thursday the 19th of June 2014, holds anotger town hall meeting with elders and religious leaders in Etinan town-hall in Etinan Local Government area of Akwa-Ibom state. 


The town-hall meeting which has its central theme: Community Involvement in the Campaign against Childwitch Stigmatisation was to explore the nexus of the role of the community in the war against child-witch stigmatization. The preference for the choice of the topic and the setting is predicated on the prevalence of the instances child-witch stigmatization in Etinan and its neighbouring local governments in Akwa-Ibom state.
The meeting which kick-started at 12:00pm as scheduled had 38 participants in attendance among whom were religious leaders; representing each of the three popular religions namely: Christianity, islam and African traditional religion, serving corp members, young school leavers, artisans and school teachers.
The meeting started with a brief introduction on who we are, what we do and the purpose of the meeting by Emmanuel Okon. Ayobami Ojedokun as interpreted by Ekaette Ante gave an elucidated talk on the role of the community in the fight against child-witch stigmatization and all other forms of child abuse that is found prevalent in Etinan, its environs and Akwa-Ibom state at large. And Emmanuel Okon also took us through the fundamental human rights and the essence of the principles of human rights as against the irrational belief and practice in witchcraft. 
In his own remark, the chairman of the occasion and the paramount ruler of Etinan, Dr. J. J Nzek beseeched everybody to cooperate with us in the fight against the irrational belief by advocating for the respect and sanctity of human rights, peace and social justice as against the irrational belief in witchcraft, resulting in child-witch stigmatization/hunting capable of deterring the desired growth and development in the area and the country at large can afford basics of life.


This section was followed by an interactive session which again took an hour. Particular questions were asked about: how we get sponsored by for our projects, whether or not we are religious or political in our activities. A boy named Nzik remarked that he is a witch and asked how the community can in that case be of help to him? Also, questions on how and what do we do to avoid the problem of witch-hunting/ and how can we protect our human rights in the face of wanton human insecurity in the country were asked. Ayobami Ojedokun and Emmanuel Okon did justice to the raised questions, noting that HAMU, Norway and AFRUCA, UK be appreciated for the support given to us so far, and stressing that it takes the collective effort of the community to successfully kicking out the mallace of witchcraft belief in the state .
Talking about the way forwards: the unenlightened Muslims, Christians should be educated on the useless passion of ritual killing and the tie of familihood is entrenched. Also, education and human rights education/advocacy is considered to be key to resolving the problem of the menace addressing.
The meeting which lasted for almost three hours was rounded off with the eventful taking of group pictures with the participants to make it memorable. Eight (8) participants volunteered to join our organization.

HAPSTA TAKES HUMANIST SCIENCE EDUCATION TO SCHOOLS IN AKWA-IBOM STATE, NIGERIA



On Wednesday 18th of July 2014, the Humanists Association for Peace and Social Tolerance Advancement (HAPSTA) in her effort to advocate for a witchcraft and superstitious belief free Akwa-Ibom state took humanist science education to schools in Ibono and Eket Local government area of Akwa-Ibom state Nigeria, under the auspices of Humanist and Science Education Programme (HASTEP). 


The schools visited for the eventful training were Secondary Grammar School Ibeno and Apostolic Church School Esit Urua Eket where a hundred and seventy five (175) and fifty-five students (55) were trained in the respective schools. The training which was targeted only at the school prefects and the generality of senior school students bearing in mind that they are part of the school leadership has its main theme: Science Education as a Veritable Tool for Eradicating the Irrational Belief in Witchcraft. It is a renewed effort to inculcate in the young ones the virtues of science oriented mindset and its consequent usefulness for a peaceful and tolerant school environment and society at large.

In his opening remark, Ayobami Ojedokun said that the training is to enable the trainees to know, imbibe and put to use the scientific world as a guide to life as this is the prerequisite for a superstition free, witchbased violence free and human rights conscious society. He then took the students through the definitional and conceptual analysis of superstition and science; the qualitiess of putting scientific worldview to use and the virtues of putting the lessons learnt to use in their day to day activities both in the school environment and the society at large. 


On the other hand, Ekaette Ante  gave his account on the danger of superstition in the face of modernization and human rights conscious state like Akwa-Ibom state, Nigeria. By means of expatiation, she highlighted the reasons we should inculcate the scientific orientaion to life. Opeyemi Adeyinka corroborated this by highlighting the problems of superstitious beliefs, saying that it is unscientific and demeaning to the fundamental human rights. 

Towards the tail end of the training, crested T-shirts were distributed to the participants to include the teachers that joined in the workshop. On the T-shirt is written the HAPSTA 2014 dictum that reads thus: DON’T DISCRIMINATE: All Different, All Equal in front, and at the back is written My Rights (is) My Life, Protect my Rights, and Ask Questions, Be Critical. This is to make the impression long lasting on the minds of the participants.


Also, photographs were taken so as to make the occasion a memorable one. HASTEP Team met with the school authorities/students, took pictures with them and pledged to continue to partner with the schools in ensuring that superstition and particularly the irrational belief in witchcraft in the witchcraft belief endemic Akwa-Ibom state Nigeria. In rounding up the talk, the team leaders Ayobami Ojedokun and Emmanuel Okon held that the students are the hope of the country and hope that they would help in the advocacy against witchcraft, witch-based violence, stigmatization and killing.

Noah Balogun

Monday, June 16, 2014

HAPSTA MEETS WITH RELIGIOUS LEADERS TO MITIGATE WITCH-STIGMATIZATION INCIDENCES IN KOTA-EKITI



As part of our efforts to advocate for human rights and peaceful co-existence, the Humanist Association for Peace and Social Tolerance Advancement (HAPSTA) on Wedsnesday the 11th of June 2014, holds town hall meeting with the religious of Omuooke, Kota and Badoore area of Ekiti-east Local Government, Ekiti.
The purpose of the meeting was to explore the nexus of religious beliefs, jungle justice and the principles of human rights with the aim of mitigating the incidences of witch stigmatization in Ekiti State. The preference for the choice of the topic and the setting is predicated on the prevalence of the instances of jungle justice which involves witch-killing and stigmatization and the killing of perceived thieves in, Kota, Omuooke and its neighbouring towns.

The meeting which started at 3:00pm as scheduled had 50 participants in attendance among whom we have religious leaders; representing each of the three popular religions namely: Christianity, islam and African traditional religion, serving corp. members, young school leavers, and school teachers.
The meeting kick-started with a brief introduction on who we are and what we do by Seun Joseph. Oluwakemi Alaba gave an elucidated talk on the idea of jungle justice. And Oluwasanmi Adeyanju took us through the fundamental human rights and the essence of the principles of human rights. In his presentation, Noah Balogun related the talks of the former speakers to the prevalent happening of jungle justice in Omuooke and its environs, noting that jungle justice is a menace which must be dealt with and making emphasis on the need to meet with the religious leaders to reason together to fight the menace.
Noah Balogun thus beseeched the religious leaders to cooperate with us by advocating for the respect and sanctity of human rights, peace and social justice as against jungle justice and witch-hunting capable of deterring the desired growth and development in the area and the country at large.


This section was followed by an interactive session which took about an hour. Particular questions were asked about: how we get sponsored for our projects, whether or not we are religious or political in our activities by Rev. Arojo, one of the participants. Other questions discussed are: whether witches exist or not? How and what to do to avoid the problem of witch-hunting/ and how can we protect our human rights in the face of wanton human insecurity in the country. Noah Balogun and Opeyemi Adeyinka did justice to the raised questions, noting that HAMU, Norway and AFRUCA, UK be appreciated for the support given to us so far and that the principles of human rights must always be considered while dispensing their services as religious leaders.


Way forwards: the unenlightened Muslims, Christians and traditionalists should be educated on the useless passion of ritual killing. Education and human rights education/advocacy is considered to be the key to resolving the menace of witch-stigmatization. Participants assured that they shall take active part in ensuring that this they promote sermons that would be conscious of the tenets of human rights and social tolerance.
The meeting which lasted for almost three hours was rounded off with the eventful taking of group pictures with the participants to make it memorable. About 21 participants volunteered to join our organization.

---Noah, Seun, Ope and Samuel, for OHAWK

HAPSTA TAKES ANTI-SUPERSTITION EDUCATION TO SCHOOLS IN OMUOOKE/KOTA, EKITI



On Tuesday 10th of June 2014, Humanists Association for Peace and Social Tolerance Advancement (HAPSTA) in her effort to advocate for a truly peaceful and social tolerant society has taken science, anti-superstition and social tolerant education to three (3) schools in Omuooke/Kota Ekiti, under the auspices of Humanist and Science Education Programme (HASTEP). 



Among the schools visited for the eventful training were Isedo Comprehensive High School, with about (46) students; Glory Idea College with (27) students and Community Grammar School with (36) students all in Omuooke/Kota Ekiti. Also involved in the training were some of the schools teachers namely; Mr. S. Ajiboye; Mr. Taiwo Wasiu and Mr. Olorunsogbon Femi who are school representatives for the training.
The training which was targeted only at the school prefects (the newly appointed ones), bearing in mind that they are part of the school leadership/authority has as its theme: Good Leadership and Peaceful School Environment essentially emphasized the essence of good leadership for a peaceful and tolerant school environment and society at large.


In his opening remark, Noah Balogun held that the training is to enable the trainees to know, imbibe and put to use the attributes of good leadership, noting that it is the prerequisite for a peaceful school environment and the societies at large. He then took the students through the definitional analysis of leadership; the qualities of good leadership and the virtue of putting the lessons learnt to use in their days to day running of the leadership positions they occupy. On the other hand, Seun Joseph gave his account on peace and culture of peace and its requisite ….. in our schools environment and the country at large. By means of expatiation, he highlighted the reasons for violence and war in our school environment and society at large, and dwelled on how culture of peace can be entrenched and cultivated.
Towards the tail end of the training workshop, crested T-shirts were distributed to participants. On the T-shirt is written the HAPSTA dictum that reads thus: DON’T DISCRIMINATE: All Different, All Equal. Protect my Rights, and Ask Questions, Be Critical …..This is to make the impression long lasting on the minds of the participants.


Also, photographs were taken so as to make the occasion a memorable one. HASTEP Team met with the school authorities/students, took pictures with them and pledged to continue to partner with the schools in ensuring that the students are better leaders. In rounding up the talk, the team leaders, Noah Balogun and Sanmi Adeyanju said that the training is in stages and the final stage would be held in August to commemorate the year’s World Youth Day, later in 2014.

---Noah, Seun, Ope and Samuel, for HAPSTA-OHAWK