Culture And Women At The Frontline As Kasuwan Magani Marks Peace Day

By Abdullahi Alhassan, Kaduna

Residents of Kasuwan Magani in Kaduna State set aside grievances on Monday and turned to pounding guinea corn, shared meals and traditional games to mark the International Day of Peace, in what organizers described as a deliberate effort to rebuild trust in a community once torn by violent clashes.

The gathering, put together by the Interfaith Mediation Centre with support from the German Embassy in Abuja, brought Christians and Muslims together around practices elders say defined life in the market town before mistrust set in.

Kasuwan Magani is a major trading hub that draws people of different faiths and ethnic groups. It has also witnessed deadly conflicts that destroyed livelihoods and left deep divisions. IMC said it chose culture and women this year because those are the threads that still hold families together.

“If there is peace, there can be development. If there is interaction, there will be understanding,” IMC Co-Executive Director, Mr. Samson Auta, told participants. “We should look at ourselves as humanity. In humanity, we need to cherish and share love among our brothers and women and the children that we have.”

Auta warned that modern lifestyles and technology were pulling young people away from their roots.
“People are not connected to their history, people are not connected to their culture,” he said. “We need to revisit this culture to teach our younger ones so that we just don’t lose our identity. Because when we lose our identity, we don’t know where we are.”

The event featured communal cooking of local dishes, the revival of grinding and pounding of grains, and games designed to get young people interacting across religious lines. IMC said similar activities are now running in Zone 1 and Zone 3 of the community to sustain the momentum.

Community leader Jonathan Peter said the approach was intentional. He argued that overreliance on Western education had weakened values of togetherness, and that elders must now transfer knowledge of peaceful coexistence directly to the next generation.

He described women as central to that effort.
“Women are critical to child upbringing and to achieving lasting peace,” Peter said, adding that the community is prioritizing activities that strengthen relationships among women.

Peter also made a direct appeal to the Federal Government to rebuild national trust and to bring women fully into peacebuilding structures. He urged the Christian Association of Nigeria and Jama’atu Nasril Islam to work together with sincerity, stressing that “humanity comes before any religion.”

According to him, traditional rulers have a unique role because their authority cuts across politics, religion and tribe.
“Unlike religious bodies that operate within limited mandates, traditional institutions have no boundaries and remain rooted in the core purpose of uniting people,” he said.

For residents, the day was less about speeches and more about doing things together again.
“My call to young ones is for us to reflect on what our olden days parents were doing, because there was no segregation between Christian and Muslim,” said community member Miss Gift Jerry. “They always do things together, they play together, they come together as one. When we see what our parents have been doing before, we reflect, then we will be able to follow their steps and do more.”

Organizers said the commemoration is part of broader work to heal divisions in Kasuwan Magani and to entrench peaceful coexistence by drawing strength from values passed down by previous generations.

The message on Monday was simple: peace will not come from declarations alone. In Kasuwan Magani, it started with a pot, a mortar and a decision to sit, cook and play together.