Nigerian Christian leader honored for aiding victims of Boko Haram
Rebecca Samuel Dali was recognized especially for her efforts to reintegrate women and their children who had been held captive by militants.
Rebecca Samuel Dali, a Nigerian Christian leader, received the 2017 Humanitarian Award from the Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation at the United Nations office in Geneva on August 21.
Dali, who founded and runs the Center for Caring, Empowerment, and Peace Initiatives in northeast Nigeria, was recognized for her efforts in reintegrating women abducted by the Boko Haram. As the situation in the northern states of Nigeria worsened, the CCEPI relief work grew from focusing on vulnerable children to include “the whole range of displaced people,” she said. The center has helped 1 million people since 2008.
“When I started opening my arms to them, they started coming to me,” she said. “Some were sick, some were hungry, most of them had experienced trauma, violence, abuse.”
