Peace activist to speak on ‘Learning to Love Boko Haram’

peggygish

Lecture: “Learning to Love Boko Haram: A Nigerian Peace Church Responds,” lecture by Peggy Faw Gish
Date and time: Tuesday, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m.
Location: College Mennonite Church (map)
Cost: Free and open to the public


On Tuesday, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m., the Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism and College Mennonite Church will host a public lecture by Peggy Faw Gish, titled “Learning to Love Boko Haram: A Nigerian Peace Church Responds.” The lecture will take place in the College Mennonite Church-Chapel on the campus of Goshen College (handicap parking available), and is free and open to the public.

Gish, born in northern Nigeria to American missionaries, has been active in peace and justice work all of her adult life. In the spring and summer of 2015, she worked closely with members of the Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN), the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria, who have suffered great violence and upheaval at the hands of Boko Haram, a radicalized group in northeastern Nigeria. Gish will share stories and insights based on her work among the EYN and their search for nonviolent responses in a context of intense persecution.

Since October 2002, she has been working in Iraq with Christian Peacemaker Teams. She was in Iraq before, during and since the March 2003 U.S. invasion.

Her first book, “Iraq: A Journey of Hope and Peace” (2004), covers the first year and a half of the Iraq War. Her second book, “Walking Through Fire: Iraqis’ Struggle for Justice and Reconciliation” (2013), picks up the story from Summer, 2004 to Summer, 2011.

Peggy is a mother, has five granddaughters, is a community mediator and member of the Church of the Brethren. She has been an organic vegetable farmer and lives on a farm near Athens, Ohio. She loves to walk in the woods and loves to hunt wild mushrooms, fruits and berries.

Read more about Peggy and her peace work on her blog, Plotting Peace.

For more information contact John D. Roth (johndr@goshen.edu).