"My journey of healing and self-discovery"
Communities of peace practice in Nigeria
-Wazieh Offuh-
“I have an origin story and that moment has always been there pointing me to the path in peacebuilding that I now walk today.” Wazieh Offuh is a peace leader from Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. Wazieh’s origin story begins with significant childhood trauma. While she carries scars of this trauma in the form of physical, verbal, sexual abuse, life on the streets, single motherhood, starvation, and more - this does not define her. Wazieh has transformed her life into a life dedicated to personal healing and service to others. To hear Wazieh in her own words, we invite you to watch this 3 minute interview that was conducted during our 2023 Peace Leadership Forum in Ghana.
Wazieh’s Background
Wazieh’s parents separated when she was two and the courts gave her father full custody. Kept from a relationship with her mother, she had minimal interaction with her and was informed of her death at age nine. At that same time Wazieh’s father began experiencing significant financial and business failure. He was certain that his daughter might be cursed and took her to doctors and prayer houses that confirmed his suspicion.
“Some family even said that I killed my mom. Ever since then I went through physical abuse such as beating, sexual harassment and verbal abuse by some of them even physical and verbal abuse by my father to have me confess to their claims. I was accused of everything going wrong in the house.”
With all of these accusations and regular abuse, living in her own home became unbearable and Wazieh chose the streets. The streets were not a refuge. “I faced all manner of discrimination and stigmatizations and it was so difficult to make friends to the extent that I left the familiar environment to an unfamiliar one in search of peace and acceptance.”
At age 19 Wazieh became a single mother which came with new hardships. It was hard enough to sustain herself, now she could barely provide two meals a day for her daughter. “I began to question my existence. I resented my mother for having to go through this and I had suicidal thoughts. At times I would walk on the motorway with the intention of being hit by a car to end it all.”
Wazieh’s journey of healing & self-discovery
Wazieh continued to struggle with emotional distress which showed up as aggressive anger, bitterness, defensiveness, depression, and isolation. It wasn’t until attending a local workshop years later that she realized she was emitting the effects of trauma. “It helped me discover that I was traumatized which started my journey to healing until 2021 when I joined the Peace Practice Alliance Program. My childhood scars motivated me to become an agent of change, a peace leader.” Joining the PPA, Wazieh explains, “is where my journey of healing and self-discovery began. The very first module on personal peace brought me to the place of forgiveness and acceptance where I had to learn to forgive and accept Wazieh first. The first module was all about me and when I embraced it, healing was activated and restraints loosened.”
My childhood scars motivated me to become an agent of change, a peace leader.
“After the six month journey I became a new and better version of myself. Even the people around me began to attest to the transformations. My purpose became clearer. How do I keep this healing and transformation to myself when nothing has changed in my family and my community? Indeed it was for me to help myself, so I can help others for I believe that learning does not end as peace is a continuous process. As I follow this peace path, not only am I inspiring my environment (people around me) to lead peace and be agents of peace themselves, I am also unlearning and learning how to stay healed and better tend to others.”
Wazieh’s current initiatives
The theory of peace leadership, an integrated approach to practice peace within and without, has inspired Wazieh to create programs, workshops, and spaces designed to share everything she has learned with those who need it most in her community. Peace education is the cornerstone of all of her community work.
Wazieh’s current initiatives center around women and children, specifically workshops to address domestic violence and trauma healing. Wazieh has formed a team of support in this work “We carry out sensitization workshops on domestic violence focusing on the causes, effects, consequences and possible ways for eradication through a safe community-based dialogue cycle.”
They have also established a trauma healing room where Wazieh and her team “help people understand trauma (the wound of the heart or heart wound). How can we heal heart wounds or help others heal their heart wounds? Here, the healing room we help victims of sexual abuse, verbal abuse, and physical abuse.”
With an enlarged capacity to serve, Wazieh has become a leader in her community, someone people turn to for support, counseling, and healing. “I carry out one on one in-person sessions which I call the listening space. I say I am here for you. No one is judging you. There is no right or wrong.”
To support the healing of these women and children, Wazieh believes it’s critical to also emphasize the empowerment of women through practical skills. “Victims need support and those who break out of the cycle of violence need a boost. Skills acquisitions such as baking, tailoring, skincare, etc., engage vulnerable young girls and women and help provide stepping stones to independence and self-sustaining businesses.”
Wazieh is a shining example of personal transformation and selfless service. “What I am most proud of in terms of my peacebuilding work so far, is the ability to inspire myself, family, friends and community to lead peace with the tools of peace leadership that have equipped me with the ability to create safe spaces where women and children can be vulnerable even with themselves and find communities of support and healing.”
Wazieh’s vision
As Wazieh continues to emerge into her full potential, she holds a beautiful vision for herself and her organization.
“The vision I hold for myself and my community in the next 5 to 10 years is seeing myself live and speak the peace language in my home, inner chamber, family gatherings, community gatherings, marketplace, workplaces, and worship place.”
“We hope to see our organization inspire 80% of members of our community to choose compassion for self and others over violence by adopting the peace leadership model which I call the Behavioral and Healing Approach by Euphrates Institute. We hope to raise a foundation that creates a safe space for marginalized and underserved women, young girls and children to reclaim their voices and build resilience for their mental well-being. Through community leadership empowerment, we hope to inspire people to continue in the mission of advocacy, self economic independence through skills acquisitions, quality and affordable education and peace education.”
Wazieh insists that collective care and community support are the most important ingredients in helping her move this vision forward. “I have a community of peacebuilders who gives me all the support I need. They help refill my tanks when I am running empty. They offer their wisdom, knowledge, ideas, skills and experiences…and the resources my mother (organization) Euphrates Institute offers me for life.