Teaching women to detect radicalism, extremism in children
In a bid to curb the rate of radicalism and extremism among children, the Women Interfaith Council (WIC) organised a fourday training of trainers for executive members and leaders of the faith group in Kaduna State.
The training focused on educating women on how to detect signs of radicalism, aggression and extremism early in children.
At the workshop, it was established that on the average, more men, women and children die as a result of violence every year than from storms or droughts, which means that people live in greater danger from people around them than from natural disasters.
The executive director of WIC, Reverend Sister Ann Falola, who is also a sister of Our Lady of Apostles said the council is concerned with the issue of violence, extremism and radicalization and thought it wise to help women detect signs when a child is being brainwashed by an outsider.
According to her, mothers who are able to effectively educate their children about positive life skills and build strong communication channels with them can guide them away from harmful and potentially radicalising influences and strengthen their resilience so that they recover from distress more quickly.
“By improving your family habits and routines such as tolerance, creativity, fun and team work, you can build welcoming, enjoyable families and counter the allure of gangs and substance abuse as well as recruitment into extremist groups.
“Young ones are often attracted to such behaviors to fill an emotional void in their lives,” she added.
The signs to look, she said include: when a child becomes secretive and the parent is unaware of his/her friends; when children surf the internet for a long period of time and become jumpy when a person appears, it is an obvious sign of a gap in communication.
“Many of us do not create close relationship with our children by trying to know their teachers, friends and people they mingle with,” Reverend Sister Falola also cautioned.
While noting that women have long been recognised for their relationship-building and listening skills, empathy and ability to read body languages, she said they should be encouraged to be vigilant, watch for worrisome signs in the behaviour of their children and take initiative.
The women were also given clues on how to raise their children and how to develop a family where children can confide in their parents and to also create self awareness.
Preparing this generation for marriage also formed part of the discussions at the workshop so that they could become aware of motherhood; how to be good wives and also how to balance all of that with their careers.
“That makes us women. The issues of self-esteem and the role of fathers also came up because we can’t battle all of these alone; we need the men to assist us. So also is the issue of cultural practices that create a barrier for us to offer what we have. Though, some of these things are beyond our control but hopefully, talking about it, sharing it would make a difference.
“Another issue that came up is prejudice. We know that both the Christians and Muslims have prejudice against each other but as mothers, we can help to reduce this so that our children don’t hold resentments against each other because of their religious differences,” the WIC executive director said.
For working mothers who may not have much time to stay with their children, she stressed that if the entire society is safe, there will be no problem.
“Mothers must be able to access where to leave their children if they are going to be away for a particular time with a view to making sure they are safe.
“Also, mothers need to know their priorities, there are times in our lives that career may not be a priority and at such times, a woman should pipe low with their career until the children attain certain age. All these are dynamics that even the society needs to help with because if there is enough economic power in the society, people will not have to work tirelessly to make ends meet.
“A whole lot of issues came up in the course of our interaction with the women; some women don’t even know who they are and so to create general awareness, we invited security personnel and government agencies like Ministry of Women Affairs so that we can work in synergy to prevent mishaps,” she said.
The general coordinator of WIC, Hajiya Amina Kazaure, said the essence of the workshop was to provide women with a safe space to talk, articulate their concerns and share their experiences.
She said it also aimed to guide mothers to become change makers and act in small purposeful ways right from their homes.
She urged women to play their roles well in ensuring a peaceful and stable society.