A leap of faith
How two Christian and two Muslim young women went from Nigeria to Notre Dame, overcoming tragedy and trauma to show the world-changing power of knowledge
Maijidda Haruna didn't have the words to explain how cold it was.
On the day she stepped outside of O'Hare International Airport — her first time on American soil, her first time outside Nigeria, her first time being more than a few dozen miles away from her village — it was zero degrees Fahrenheit.
As each breath of Midwestern winter air froze her lungs, the 18-year-old didn't feel like she was half a world away from home. She felt like she was on a different planet.
“I called my mom, and I was just trying to describe to her how cold it was, and I didn't know how to,” she said. “I was so scared — I didn't know how I would be able to manage, and I couldn't even describe the environment to them.”
Five years later, every step of the journey that began that day for Maijidda and three other Nigerian women is nearly indescribable. They came to Notre Dame that arctic morning in early 2018 after being carefully selected by their government, shepherded by senior leaders from the United Nations and the Catholic Church, and anxiously but quietly awaited by a tight circle of supporters at Notre Dame.
For a country torn apart by religious violence — with Boko Haram waging a brutal insurgency in the northeast and a communal conflict in the country's middle region that cost even more lives — and where the value of educating girls was constantly questioned, sending four young women to a Catholic university on an unfamiliar continent was a gamble, but a risk many felt was worth taking.
Latest University News
- ‘One must hold up the dignity of all human life’: Distinguished scholars discuss history, future of Israel and Palestine at Notre Dame Forum eventDistinguished scholars Hussein Ibish and David Myers joined the University of Notre Dame’s Maura Policelli on Sept. 25 at DeBartolo Hall for a discussion addressing the approaching first anniversary of the Hamas attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The event began the Israel-Palestine Series of the 2024-25 Notre Dame Forum on “What Do We Owe Each Other?”
- Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to speak at Notre Dame Forum eventCondoleezza Rice, the 66th U.S. Secretary of State, the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and a Notre Dame alumna, will participate in a “fireside chat” with University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., at 4 p.m. Friday (Oct. 11) as part of the 2024-25 Notre Dame Forum. The conversation, titled “The Perils of U.S. Isolationism,” will take place in the Leighton Concert Hall in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center and will also be livestreamed. The event is free, but ticketed, with tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning one hour beforehand.
- Alumni Association honors outstanding alumni during fall board of directors meetingThe University of Notre Dame Alumni…
- Six new faculty join psychology department to advance research on mental health, other disordersThe Department of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame has hired six new faculty members this year, a significant expansion of a field that is core to the University’s commitment to fighting the U.S. mental health crisis.
- Notre Dame receives significant gift from the Ernestine Morris Carmichael Raclin estateThe Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame is the beneficiary of a significant gift of paintings, sculptures, and decorative art objects from the estate of Ernestine Morris Carmichael Raclin.
- Notre Dame juniors Faiza Filali, Angela Olvera named Obama-Chesky Voyager ScholarsUniversity of Notre Dame juniors Faiza Filali and Angela Olvera have been named to the third cohort of Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholars. They are Notre Dame’s second and third Voyager Scholars after senior Raleigh Kuipers, who recently returned from Latin America as a member of the second cohort.
