Nigeria’s Rebecca Dali receives UN award in Geneva

   

                       Dr Rebecca Samuel Dali: Winner of 2017 Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation award

      Nigeria’s Dr. Rebecca Samuel Dali, who had helped in the North East to reintegrate girls and orphans freed by Boko Haram received the Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation award today in Geneva.

   Rebecca who runs the Centre for Caring, Empowerment and Peace initiative (CCEPI) was recognised for her courageous efforts in promoting the reintegration of returning women abducted by the Boko Haram group back into their local communities in Nigeria.

The award was given at the United Nations European headquarters, Palais des Nations in Geneva to mark the World Humanitarian Day (WHD). The WHD is celebrated yearly on 19 August. In her address after receiving the award Dr. Rebecca Dali said: “I give thanks to my God who gave me courage and opportunity to serve his children – my neighbours”.

                        Rebecca Dali and her husband, Samuel Dali at the award ceremony today

   Dali said she was heartened by the recognition she and her organization have received from the de Mello Foundation. “The award came to me as a miracle from God,” she said. “So, it will urge me to do more. It is really going to help me,” she said.

   Rebecca Dali was nominated for the award by Mr. Stanley Noffsinger, director of the office of the General Secretariat of the World Council of Churches and former general secretary of the Church of the Brethren in USA, which had close cooperation with Dr. Dali, CCEPI and Church of the Brethren (Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa) in Nigeria.

   The award is given every two years in memory of Sergio Vieira de Mello, who was killed in a terrorist attack on August 19, 2003 in Baghdad, Iraq, along with 21 others. The prize aims to draw world attention to the courageous, often unnoticed, humanitarian work of an individual, group or organisation in areas of conflict.