Students work with GPF staff to package soap and petroleum jelly products.
Global Peace Foundation (GPF) Nigeria helped some 100 young men at Borstal Training Institute Kaduna in a unique two-day training program in April 2023. While they may come from many different religious and social backgrounds, the men were eager to participate in engaging discussions and hands-on activities to create everyday goods like petroleum jelly.
The Country Director of GPF Nigeria, Rev. John Joseph Hayab, attended the program with Sheik Haliru Maraya, GPF Nigeria’s Northern Coordinator. The principal of the Institute, CCS Musa Dauda Doguwa, led them on a tour of the institute’s facilities and introduced them to some of the young men, including one who has received a scholarship to study nuclear science.
Students at the Borstal Training Institute GPF workshop.
Borstal Training Institute may be a reforming center for juvenile offenders, but the facility takes care to instill qualities of good citizenship to help young men be welcomed back into society.
Students learning how to mix liquid soap.
Youth have an essential role in the future of peaceful societies. For this reason, GPF Nigeria is focused on including young people in the peacebuilding discussion while helping foster moral and innovative leadership qualities that will benefit them and their communities.
In his welcome remarks, CCS Musa Dauda Doguwa expressed gratitude towards GPF Nigeria for turning “rays of light in the direction of the institute.” He said the students are intelligent young people brought in by certain unpleasant circumstances and behaviors, but given appropriate guidance, teachings, and training, would become useful and productive citizens of immense benefit to various sectors of the nation.
Student observe ingredients used for homemade beverages.
He addressed the students saying, “The program is a reflection of the society’s love and affection for you. It shows that you are loved and liked, but the bad behaviors are what the society does not like.” He asked them to treat each other with love and respect irrespective of religious differences, as demonstrated by Rev. Hayab and Sheik Maraya, who practice different religions yet work together as brothers.
(From left) CCS Musa Dauda Doguwa, Rev. John Joseph Hayab, and Sheikh Halliru Abdullahi Maraya exchange greetings at the Borstal Institute principal’s office.
Rev. Hayab and Sheik Maraya reinforced the importance of coming together, saying that, as humans, we come from a single ancestral root. Rev Hayab emphatically expressed to the participants that “we have come to identify with you and be part of your life. We are here to add value to your life so that you can, in turn, add value to yourselves, your families, and the nation at large. Make sure you come out of here as the kind of Nigerians that Nigerians are praying for.”
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