21.11.09

Hey y'all. Have been languishing on the couch this week with malaria so am up and about today in town at the internet cafe, as the net at College is down. It's nice to be out and about. Anyway, as you can see, my new blogs have photos on. I've had real difficulty putting the pictures and making it look nice at the same time - I've tried and tried as I can be a little picky about how it looks, but you'll just have to take it the way it is. I also couldn't work out how to put captions with the pics, so you'll have to guess who all the people are!..Enjoy!

8.11.09 Part 4

Wedding

Last week, Eriye left for Port Harcourt. She is hoping to get her visa soon so that she can join David inCanada. Fingers crossed. It’s hard for her hanging in limbo not knowing whether she’s staying or going. Anyway, she’s safely down there with her friend and I’m back to living on my own. My neighbours the

Aparshes are always around though and I enjoy sitting out on the back step while they cook, clean and mess around (8 year old boys are the same the world over – Abraham (AB), their youngest, started to squelch his armpits this evening and made me chuckle as Alex used to do that when we were little).

Yesterday was the wedding of Mrs Monde’s son. The affair was huge. The ceremony took place in the College Catholic Chapel and then moved over to a big lecture hall in the College. Once in there, the happy couple and a host of dignitaries sat on the stage while an MC oversaw proceedings. There was lots of singing, food and dancing. While the married pair started their first dance, people came forward with handfuls of notes and stuck them to their foreheads.

It was quite hectic as gifts were exchanged for a wedding souvenir bag and calendar with a picture of the wedded couple on. This is common at weddings. When it came to cutting the wedding cake, the MC had announced that someone had given him 500 Naira to stop the cutting. The bidding was then opened up to let the cake be cut and this meant that people put forward amounts and several thousand was raised. Later, a group of traditional dancers came in and danced around the bridge and groom banging drums and blowing whistles (a change for more spraying). I danced quite a lot and made some new friends who encouraged me to shake my bum! It was all such fun. It seemed to frantic at times, but it all came together with laughter, which was the best thing of all.This is called ‘spraying’ and was lots of fun to watch and then join in with when I plucked up the courage.

There were loads of moments where the crowds took to the dance floor, so lots of spraying took place. The money was then gathered up and given to the couple. At one point guests were invited to present their gifts, so a long cue was formed.

Me the journalist

Next month’s issue of VSO Nigeria’s quarterly magazine will feature me! I’m the profile volunteer so had to write a little piece about myself and what I’m doing here. I’ve also submitted an article about Tashi and his long standing development through his interaction with all the VSOs that have passed through the College and I hope that will be published too. So for the souvenirs box, I’ll make sure I get a few copies.

8.11.09 Part 3

Teacher Training

This month saw the first bit of teacher training from CRD – hurrah! There’s been some research that we started some time ago into current teaching at the Demonstration Primary School that is attached to the College and we haven’t followed up on it yet. The report isn’t quite completed, but the Headteacher came in saying that the teachers had a training day coming up and could we step in with some training on classroom management. We jumped into action. I put together some key areas to cover and after a discussion with the team on what we were going to do, we decided who would be responsible for each part of the training. We submitted the proposal and budget (for pens, paper, refreshments) to Mrs Monde and she was more than happy to approve it.

So, the day came, the team was there, and we carried out a morning session on discipline and aspects of managing a classroom to 40 teachers. Lots of the morning was spent encouraging them to input so that experienced teachers could share their skills with less experienced one. After the initial input in the officer,

I was keen to see the rest of the team take over facilitating the workshop, however I did have a role and that was to act the part of 2 different behaviour management styles in a role play that the teachers then critiqued. The first teacher that I ‘played’ was frustrated, disorganised, shouty, unaware of the pupils’ names and distracted by someone at the door (this caused a lot of laughs as someone commented that it looked as though I was going out for a beer). The next teacher was controlled, organised, fair, had a good knowledge of children’s abilities, laid down the ground rules of behaviour at the start of the lesson and gave lots of positive encouragement to those doing the right things. Obviously, I’d like to think that I, as a teacher, have all the qualities of teacher number 2 and none of number 1’s, but I’m not sure if that’s the case!

Anyway, it went down well and we had lots of positive feedback. What we need to do now is to get it all written up in a report and plan what we want to do next. So, this week will be report writing week. We also need to finish off and plan a set of training for primary school teachers across Akwanga on early reading. We started this concept quite some ago, but once we’ve done it we can submit it to the local education secretary, because November is the month where budgets are decided. So, we’ll be quite busy.

Random

Sometimes you never know what your day will bring you. I was in the office the other day when Tashi called me. He was in the State capital, Lafia, for a meeting and asked me to go and see the Chairman of the Local Government (Stanley). Apparently he had some money to give to Tashi for his NGO, Beter Leven. When I met him, he said not to worry about the money, but that he had lots of guests arriving from Abujaand they were interested in seeing the women at Beter Leven and the training that they have been receiving on tailoring and dying. So, I returned later to meet the guests. It turned out that they were about 50 from the Defence College in Abuja and were doing a study tour of Nasarawa State looking into ‘youth empowerment’. Many were quite high ranking (Major Colonels etc), so I sat at the back and tried to blend in (not that that was going to be possible in any lifetime). Then, as it turned out, there would be no time to go to Beter Leven, because they were due to meet Mrs Monde at the College, so I went with Stanley and attended this meeting. It was interesting to watch and nice to see how those in Government or authority are taking an interest in what is going on out in different communities.

8.11.09 Part 2

Fulani Meetings

The Centre for Research and Documentation has worked quite a bit with a local Fulani School Supervisor called Adamu. He oversees a small group of nomadic schools in an area called Warro Basso, out into the countryside beyond a town called Wamba, which is a 40 minute drive from Akwanga. Previous volunteers had done fundraising with him to get a school building erected, but he is still experiencing problems with pupil numbers and lack of appropriate teachers. He is very keen for more support, so we’ve been trying to see what he can do to help himself and how wecan encourage the wider community to support him. We’ve written to the Nomadic Education Commission and they are keen to offer support. Then, I went with 2 colleagues, Alhaji and Clement, to Wamba to meet with Adamu, a selection of local Fulani Chiefs and the local education secretary. It was a very interesting meeting. I was the chairperson, despite the whole meeting being conducted in Hausa (although my understanding of Hausa has been improving, Alhaji did the translating for me). The main issues that we need to start tackling are the lack of appropriate teachers who are sensitive to the nature of nomadic children in terms of their language and religion (Islam), lack of understanding amongst the Fulani community at large on the importance of education and lack of resources in the form of buildings, desks, chairs and books. Several suggestions were put forward. The Fulani people will need to be encouraged to support schools more and even enrol in teacher training and the links between them and the local government need to be strengthened so that they feel as though they have a say in what happens. We’ve made a tentative arrangement to meet again and Adamu will arrange this.

Last weekend, Adamu had a naming ceremony for his new baby, so I went with Alhaji and a Kenyan volunteer who was staying with me for the weekend for her ‘recently arrived volunteer placement experience’. The naming of a new baby amongst the Fulanis takes place with just the men and then food is served. The photos will demonstrate better than words and show how it is the men who cook the meat and serve it. It was very special to be invited.

Here are some pictures of the Fulani village. I took along some presents from the UK for the children, including a teddy bear that a little girl then 'backed' it (put cloth round it and strapped it to her back), just like they do with babies.

8.11.09 Part 1

A month Back in Akwanga

Most of my September was spent in the UK with family and friends. It was wonderful to see everyone again. The journey there and back again was, however, peppered with a strange sensation of having each foot in very different worlds. One life was on hold while I experienced the other. I love my life here but also reflect on the special time I spent with my little nieces and nephew and hope that they won't have grown up too much more before I see them again.

When I arrived back to Abuja at the start of October, I was met by Eriye at the airport.

We’d been delayed due to fog, so bless her; she’d had to wait for over an hour for me. I was dazed for the next few hours, but was pleased to see my home here in staff quarters and my neighbours. I spent the first weekend home in Akwanga and started to prepare for my birthday party the following week.

The Party

I help the party in front of my block in what is essentially a car park.The Acting Provost, Mrs Monde, had lent me a set of plastic garden seats to use.

Several volunteers came and a number of people from the neighbourhood and work. I’d told people that it would start at 5pm. However, 6pm rolled on by and we were still waiting for quite a number of people who said that they would be coming.

I was asked by a nice couple who work here at the college what the order of events would be and who would be the MC. I’d completely forgotten about this aspect of Nigerian events, so I texted Tashi to come to my rescue ASAP. He finally arrived and kicked things off.

Proceedings start with a prayer and welcome. Then I was presented with my birthday cake. Not only that, I was asked to stand up and dance in honour of the cake. Thank goodness Becky stood up with me.

We then cut the cake and food was served. My neighbour, Mrs Aparshe, did the cooking for me, which was jaloff rice (spicy rice with vegetables in it), coleslaw and beef.

Eriye was also amazingly helpful and insisted on keeping on top of handing out drinks (I’d been out that week and purchased several crates of fizzy drinks and beers). While we were eating, several people got up and told jokes, some funnier than others and some just funny because of..well, I won’t go into it here and, at the risk of being extremely cryptic but for purposes of me enjoying this at a future date without offending anyone right now, one had no punch line and Nico found it very funny.

The light faded and so did many of the guests (apparently nearly 60 plates of food was served, so not bad!), so the VSOs and Mrs Aparshe’s family went inside to dance. Sylvester Aparshe was DJ for the night (another cryptic clue to myself – remember his nickname!) and we continued dancing and drinking until late. Anita, Sylvester, Enoch and Ann Aparshe were fantastic dance teachers, Abraham and Augustine Aparshe were photographers.

It was great fun, but it sadly had to come to and end for the sake of the rest of the neighbours.

Abuja

The following weekend, I went to Abuja and met up with some volunteers. Liz, my programme manager was leaving Nigeria to return to the UK and have a baby, so I saw her one last time. A Dutch volunteer, Sitske, had her parents and brother visiting, so we all went out for fish and beers at the ‘Barracks’, an army barracks just on the edge of the city that is thriving in the evening with vendors and barbecued fish. We also had a good time lounging by the pool at the British Village, an ex-pat run pool and bar.

This is a picture of Angie, a Canadian volunteer based in Abuja enjoying the remains of our barbecued fish.

31.8.09

Visitors

This month has been a time for visitors. Some were welcome and some were not. I’ll start with the unwelcome variety as I’m sure that’s the more intriguing story. Anyway, last Wednesday morning I went to take some money from the little stash I keep in a drawer and discovered it to be missing. I knew this because I’d taken out a couple of thousand naira the day before and knew I had some left. The silly thief had also locked the document wallet that had contained the cash: something I never do. Upon further investigation I discovered that my mp3 music player was missing, a much more upsetting robbery, as I love listening to music while I travel. These grievances also seem to explain why my padlocks have been getting spoiled. Well, upon discussion with the head of the block, Mrs Okereke upstairs, I found out that she had lost some money, so we decided that there is a petit thief about. She advised me to tell my Director, Mr Kuzhe, which I did and he has informed the management. Everyone in my block was called into a meeting with the Head of Housing, where fingers were pointed at a local boy who is known to have had light fingers in the past. I was reluctant to initiate a witch hunt, but became increasingly annoyed and frustrated that someone had been into my place and could easily do it again. I awoke on Saturday morning disturbed by these feelings, but resolved that there was no point holding on to them. We’ve since had a meeting as a whole block with all the children too to discuss this further and to warn us all to be vigilant. Fingers were pointed again, but no confessions were forthcoming. One of the main concerns of my neighbours was that this whole business would make me go away with a bad impression of Nigeria, especially as I’m a volunteer on a small allowance. So I’m writing about it here to express the point that I made to them: since being here I’ve received so much generosity and kindness, and this incident doesn’t diminish my regard for all the people here who make me feel so welcome. Crimes happen everywhere and although you shouldn’t be naïve enough to take unnecessary risks, I feel safe and looked after by my neighbours and colleagues. The front door of the block also gets locked in the early evening, so security is very good when I’m in.

3 weekends ago I went to Abuja for the weekend. It turned out to be a volunteer get together. We went for grilled fish at the Barracks before going to a bar with live music till late. Great fun. The following weekend I went to Lafia and stayed with Trine. Then the following weekend Clare, Martyn and Monique from Kaduna came to stay and were joined by Trine and John from Lafia. It was great to have so many of us together. We went for walks around the campus, visiting the various Fulani villages nearby and on Saturday evening we went out in Akwanga for chicken and drinks.

During the following week I had a new volunteer, Angela, come to stay. She had arrived from Canada a few days earlier and is based in Abuja, so I hosted her to show her the ropes, so to speak. We met at Keffe, which is between Abuja and Akwanga, as I was doing a talk there about volunteering to graduates who are about to start their national service year. All graduates under 30 have to complete a year of service and they are currently at a camp to learn skills and train. They are then placed anywhere in the country to experience a different environment to the one they’re used to.

After Angela left, Mary, who is based in Kwara State, came to stay. She was the only volunteer here in Nigeria that I had met prior to coming. She is also a teacher, and we’d met on the teacher development course. Unfortunately I was feeling a bit under the weather, but well enough. On the Saturday, my new colleague, Alhaji, took us to some beautiful waterfalls at a place called ‘Farinruwa’, which means ‘white water’. He also brought along his brother, Babs, who was to be our guide. The journey was very interesting. Some of the way was on a main road, then we went off road and it was extremely bumpy. Many slippery slopes, rivers and scrapes to the chassis of Alhaji’s car later, we arrived. There was a small trek and when we finally got to the falls, they were breath taking. When I get round to adding photos to my blog, they will add to what I’m saying. We stayed there for some time, getting wet from the spray before heading off and visiting Babs and Alhaji’s village, which was nearby. By that stage they were quite happy to take some refreshments, as Ramadan had just started and they had been fasting (no food or drink) since dawn.

This weekend I’ve been saying goodbye to David. He’s travelling to Abuja before flying back to Canada. The future is a little bit uncertain for him and Eriye, as she still doesn’t have her visa to travel with him. She’s going to go back home to Port Harcourt, but will return in October to visit me, which will be something to look forward to. They’re been such great support to me and really good friends. It’s going to be very strange around here without them.

As for now, it’s a cool and quiet day in the office. Tashi and I have implemented our new plan, so team members are getting on with a few things on their own. I’m probably going to be winding down over the next week, as I’m travelling next week to the UK. So to those of you who are reading this – see you soon!

4.8.09

Riots

There was severe civil unrest in the north of the country last week and several volunteers were put on alert. Although Nasarawa State, where I am, is officially in the political north of the country, the problems were much further away in places called Kano and Maiduguri. I’ve caught snippets of the situation via BBC online and through VSO’s weekly country update. The unrest left several hundred dead, most of whom were young Muslim men killed by police as they tried to terrorise their communities. They had apparently been part of a group called ‘Boko Haram’, which roughly translates as ‘stop western education’. The events came to an end with the killing of their leader. Reports say that he had been captured by the military and handed over to the police. Sometime later, his bullet ridden was shown to journalists, throwing up questions about the circumstances surrounding his death.

My colleagues were fascinated by this story and we’ve been discussing it this week in the office and around the campus. It’s interesting to get a flavour of what people think about the issue and how faith seems to have drawn a line between the popular opinions. Many of those I’ve spoken to are glad that he’s dead and don’t care whether it was a just death in the eyes of the law. I’m finding religion a murky and difficult river to swim at the moment. That’s a whole other issue, one that I won’t go into now, but the line that has been drawn seems to divide Christians and Muslims. It’s a divide that shouldn’t really be there, but it seems to be an easy one to fall back on when people are threatened or powerless.

Funnily enough, the Christians that I work with were all for the sect leader’s death, regardless of the circumstances surrounding it. One man that I was speaking to said that he and the rest of his followers should be wiped from the face of the earth: ‘made extinct’. Of course, the death of the people that his followers murdered and the subsequent death of any ‘trouble-makers’, is an awful thing to happen, but I tried to interject by saying that whilst the violence needed to be stopped, the (alleged) unlawful killing of this man by the police only serves to make him a martyr and doesn’t look at the root of the problem. I also had an issue with the fact that we had, just 5 minutes earlier, been talking about how Nigeria had something to teach the rest of the world about dedication to religion (they were all strong Christians that I was talking to at the time).

An interesting point came with the arrival of a Muslim colleague. He said that the leader and followers of ‘Boko Haram’ were western educated themselves, which many point to as hypocrisy in the face of the violence that they incited in the rejection of it, and that the main catalyst for their action was the fact that they had no job opportunities despite obtaining degrees and masters. For me, he seemed to point at a plausible reason why people would resent government to the extent that they do. This opinion, which I know is shared by another Muslim colleague of mine, is in no way a defence of their action, as they do not condone any of the murders or violence that occurred and are themselves peace loving Muslims: it is an opinion that needs to be acknowledged and explored, however. After all, cutting the head off a weed doesn’t stop it growing again and doesn’t solve the problem of why the garden is full of weeds in the first place.

31.7.09

Rain

It’s raining pretty much everyday now. I could hear the storm last night, and this morning was still hung with clouds. It reminds me of autumn, but without the cold. People who greeted me on the way into the office laughed when I said that it wasn’t cold (they had coats and hats on). I got into the office about 10 to 9, opened up the windows and set up my computer. No-one else was there yet so I took the opportunity to mull over what we’ve done this week. Towards the end of last week I came down with malaria. Something had been lingering and was bringing my spirits down, so at least I know that I was properly poorly and not just depressed. My gloomy feelings had come to a head when a second padlock to my flat’s front door got stuck. It upset me an unreasonable amount. David suggested that I was having that slump that all volunteers experience at some time or another. Missing home, anxieties, and agitations at the slow progress of things at work seemed to manifest themselves more than normal and then my head started to hurt. A small prick to my finger on Thursday was enough to let the college doctor know that I had malaria. I then had to endure the start of a course of medication. Things were looking up the following day but then I came over all sweaty and chilly and achy on Friday night so had to miss my colleague Aminu’s wedding on Saturday, which was very disappointing. David and Eriye ensured that I was ok and when I look back on it, it wasn’t as bad as all that; I just felt very peculiar, achy and tired. As there had been no gas in the town for me to refill my canister that week, I was relying on them for cooking too. A visit from my colleagues on Friday, as I lay in state on my sofa reading an ‘easy sick-bed read’ Star Trek novel, to let me know that they’d had the staff meeting and had planned activities for the following week, really lifted my spirits (I had been mentioning to them that if I’m not there, the office still has to function!). Some calls from mum and dad were also nice. Mum said that when she lived in Brazil, they sprayed the houses to get rid of the mosquitoes. Apparently they don’t do that here because the chemicals affect the egg shells of birds of prey. David told me this and wonders why egg shells are more important than the millions of Africans affected by malaria each year. But then again, mosquitoes adapt to what’s thrown at them, and exposing people long-term to chemicals can’t be good. Anyway, things passed and I woke up on Sunday morning nice and fresh.

Monday and Tuesday: Report Writing

On Monday I returned to work but grew tired during the course of the day so went home at lunchtime. That evening, Tashi went and got my gas, which really perked me up as it meant that I could sit with a cup of tea, read my book and listen to the rain. At work, I’ve been doing some training with the team on report writing and keeping English language plain and simple. It’s interesting how language has its own way of evolving. English English is very different to Nigerian English. Lots of people use broken English, which is basically another language that’s derived from English. Formal writing uses Standard English though, without the idiosyncrasies that we take for granted in contemporary oral and written English. Nigerian newspapers are a good example of how very pompous and unnecessary words get in the way of what needs to be said. Anyway, we’d done some lesson observations at the demonstration primary school here, so I worked with Becky on writing a report to document our findings. Clement was in charge of writing the report on the findings of the questionnaire on HIV/AIDS that some students had completed to establish their level of awareness. It was quite successful, but there is still a lot to be done to improve their confidence to write. It’s a shame that everything is so dependent on good English, as it’s a big hurdle to jump, but it’s something that can’t be undone now and something that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) need to be competent at to apply for funding, deal with international organisations, such as VSO, and advocate on issues.

Wednesday: Schools Visits

On Wednesday we visited 2 primary schools in Akwanga. Both had several hundred pupils and 50-60 teachers. We wanted to talk to them about how they teach reading, with a view to running some training in the next academic year on the teaching of phonics (referring to the letter sound rather than the letter name). It’s a hard thing to discuss, because I know what a tough time teachers have, and we don’t want to give the impression that we know best and want to steam-roll over the good work that they’ve been doing. They were receptive though and it was good to establish this communication. Both schools are quite run down. Rusty tin roofs leak, rubble is strewn on the floor in the classrooms and pupils squeeze onto rows of benches, all aimed towards the blackboard that many of them can’t read. There’s no quick fix for the problems of the education system, but little by little with community action and good governance, things may change. In fact, at the moment, I’m helping Tashi with his final paper for his degree. It’s about how low teacher motivation leads to low pupil attainment. This low motivation can come about from all sorts of things, from low pay to large class sizes to poor discipline and a small number of resources. As is the case at home too, teachers know best, as they are the ones on ground. It will take a big commitment from above to make the changes that are necessary and give the teachers the resources and respect that they deserve. In fact, Nigerian university lecturers are currently on strike because of low pay and it is not known what kind of agreement can be made. It’s certainly livened the staff quarters up here though, with students all returning home for the meantime. In general though, teachers are quite powerless, but we can do a small amount to improve their self-esteem and develop their skills; something they are still keen to do despite their tough conditions.

Thursday: Visit to Warro Basso

Yesterday, we visited the Fulani school in Warro Basso. As I mentioned in a previous blog, the Fulani people are nomadic, so the challenge has been to encourage and retain pupils. They are also severely under resourced and lack teachers. The school’s supervisor, Adam, is keen for CRD to help improve the school and help with these issues. We need to put our heads together to discuss what they need and what we can offer. It may be that we advocate on their behalf to the local education authority or to the nomadic commission, as they are the ones that should be providing these services in the long term.

Friday: Staff Meeting

Today, we had our Friday staff meeting and discussed what we’ve done this week and what we will do next week. Unfortunately, Becky has come down with malaria so wasn’t there. I went to see her yesterday to commiserate. Tashi and Clement were present, along with Aboki, a work placement student from Nasarawa University, and Alhaji, a new member of the team. Usually, a Muslim is called Alhaji when he has travelled to Mecca. I asked him about this, but he hadn’t.

Cold Food (It was either a Shakespearean character or a Klingon who first said that revenge is a dish best served cold. However much I like salads, they were quite right.)

After the staff meeting, I went with Tashi on a mission. On Wednesday, I had had someone round to fix my cooker and investigate the suspect gassy smell. Well, he took it away to be serviced and, as it turns out, the burner is completely broken so needs replacing. Oh, and I should add at this point that, after heaving the cooker down the steps from my flat with the help of a neighbour, he then had to get it to town. When I questioned how this was possible without a car, he laughed and proceeded to lift it onto his head to carry it down the half a kilometre stretch to get a motorbike into town. It was amazing and I’m extremely disappointed that I didn’t have my camera on me. I wanted to get it, but he said to snap him upon his return with the fixed unit. Anyway, I saw him yesterday, when he informed me about the broken part, so I’m now cookerless. The point of Tashi and mine’s mission was to see someone about getting a new cooker. We ended up seeing Mrs Monde, the acting Provost (Head) of the College, but we’re going to have to wait until Monday to sort it out. While we were waiting in her office, she was being greeted by local elders, who apparently pay her regular visits to keep relations between the college and the community cordial.

Anyway, long and short of it is, I have a very large pasta, tuna, boiled egg, cabbage, tomato and cucumber salad in the fridge and will either go over to David’s or ask a neighbour to borrow their stove to boil water. It’s a very warm afternoon with a murky rumbling sky that threatens/promises (depending on whether you are inside or outside) rain.

20th July 2009

Football!

I’m writing this in retrospect as I suddenly realised that I forgot to write about my attendance (that makes it sound like there had been a formal request for me to attend, much like the queen, but there was no such thing) at the Nigeria/Kenya World Cup qualifier last month. It was great, and the first football match that I’ve been to. I was with Berry (a volunteer), and met Thessa and some others at Abuja stadium. Richard, another volunteer, got us the tickets, but he went off to sit with his fellow Kenyans. They were deifinitely in the minority. We got dropped off close to the stadium and followed the long snake of people that gradually got fatter the closer we got. Everything was pretty sedate – we queued for a little while before we got into the inner sanctum, and could sit just about anywhere. We found some space on the second tier looking down onto the long side of the pitch. There were drums and trumpets coming from somewhere in the crowd, but as the seats filled up with a sea of green it was hard to distinguish where all the sounds were coming from.

It took an age to begin as the 5pm kick off was timed using a Nigerian clock. When the players came onto the pitch, the crowd went crazy. The Nigerians were preceeded by the Kenyans, who were greeted by a polite smattering of claps (I imagined Richard and his crew going wild) and then there was a fair bit of warming up before the game began.

It was all very thrilling and I thought that the momentum was kept throughout, despite more seasoned football fans being disappointed by the lack of excitement (this was my first match so eyes were glued). As you can imagine, it being a game and all, there was lots of running around and passing and I think I got to grips with the off-side rule, but do wonder how much exercise the refs have to do just to keep up with it all. Nigeria dominated in the first half, scoring a goal pretty much straight away. That was great. Lots of cheers and bangs reverberated around the stadium, but not as much as I imagined. I thought that I would have to wiggle my fingers in my ears to bring back my ear drums, but that didn’t happen.

The star of the match appeared to be Peter Odemwingie, a Nigerian player who always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. He didn’t score any of the 3 goals, but contributed to them. Nigeria scored the other 2 in the second half, one by penalty and the other because of apathy from the deflated Kenyan side. They did do more in the second half, but not quite enough to score. I was to hear from Richard later that he drowned his sorrows with the Kenyan team and various ministers at their embassy later while we were out on the highway trying to flag down a taxi along with 20,000 others.

So, all in all, great fun and I now wish I had a team to get excited about.

19th July 2009

Fulani

Yesterday I was visited by Adam, a Head teacher of a Fulani school in a place not too far from Akwanga called Warro Basso. He often calls to greet me and to encourage me to carry on with the school improvement work that previous volunteers had done with his school. I haven’t made it over to the school yet, but this has now been remedied. He came over to invite me to the opening of a new vet surgery in Wamba, a 20 minute car journey away. It primarily caters for the Fulani farmers. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but the Fulani people are nomadic and are scattered throughout West Africa. Rather than rearranging words into my own prose, I’ll lift a bit from my ‘Bradt guide’ here…

‘A number of African states, including ancient Ghana and Senegal, have had Fulani rulers. The Fulani also converted to Islam and were known to have arrived in Hausaland (now northern Nigeria) in the early 13^th century, though their origin is more of a mystery. Once a pastoral nomadic people, theories and legends abound: descendants of gypsies or Roman soldiers who became lost in the desert, a lost ‘tribe’ of Israel, or relatives of the Tusreg who inhabit the southern edge of the Sahara. More realistically, it’s believed the Fulani originated from Mauritanian shepherds who were looking new pastures. Whatever their origin, the Fulani, with their olive skin and straight hair, settled in the cities and mingled freely with the Hausa, and mostly adopted the latter’s customs and language’

When I arrived at the ceremony on this Sunday morning I was ushered to a comfortable lounge seat at the front of proceedings and enjoyed some piped music before the speeches began. The surgery is in partnership with an organisation supplying pills and potions, which were then distributed by a lively rep. I was also asked to say a few words, which I stumbled over trying to express my gratitude at being there and wishing them well.

I also visited Adam’s family, who were not far from the venue and live right next to the school. It was a fleeting visit, but I hope to return next week and discuss what I can do to help.

Food and Health

I have to say at this stage that I’m dong a lot better with my cooking. My favourites so far have been my bean burgers with sweet potato chips. I plan to do more, but it does mean that I’m looking a bit ‘plumpy’ (Eriye’s word for it) and I keep getting comments from colleagues that I’m looking fat! I should point out that this is not an insult; it’s actually desirable here to look plump, as it’s a sign of good living. I have been trying hard to get up and go for short runs in the mornings though and do my Pilates exercises that I can remember, so hopefully some of it is muscle too! Oh well…

Until next time…

As for the rest of today, I plan to go and cook some dinner at David and Eriye’s as my gas has run out. I’ll have to go and get that refilled tomorrow. It’s quite in the block at the moment – Sunday’s quite a quiet day generally and I have some Django Rheinhart playing while I type. Lately, my music of choice is David Bowie. Managed to acquire a huge collection of his albums from another volunteer. As for entertainment, am running a bit low on movies – bought a pirate copy of the new Star Trek but refused to watch it as it was filmed in the cinema and cuts the tops off the characters heads. I don’t have a problem with copied movies, but I do draw a line. I also enjoy receiving newspaper clippings from the UK and the odd newspaper, and very much enjoyed looking through a copy of OK magazine that Bec sent me. Hilarious! Am reading quite a bit these days as I’ve discovered that I can read in moving vehicles without feeling queasy, and am feeling (quasi)political so am reading a copy of Tony Benn’s Diaries 1991 – 2001 that I picked up in the VSO office this week!

1st June 2009

Abuja Skills Share Workshop

Ahh, it’s been a fun few weeks. 2 weeks ago I travelled up to Abuja to take part in a VSO skills sharing workshop. I met up with Clare and Martyn at Howard’s place where we stayed for the weekend preceeding the workshop. We went out for drinks with Thessa (an ex-VSO who now works for the Dutch embassy), her boyfriend Bash, Trina, Richard and Wahab, other VSOs who were up for the workshop. On the Sunday, Clare, Martyn and I headed over to an ex-pat compound called the ‘British Village’ where we found a bar showing football, tennis courts and a gorgeous outside pool gleaming in the Nigerian sun and calling us in. It was an extremely refreshing swim (as well as stretching the muscles, it did quite a good job of cleaning my feet, which seem to be in a constantly dirty state despite regular baths). That evening we headed over to share some wonderful croaker fish at a grilled fish restaurant called Abacha Barracks. It’s actually a working army barracks, but also opens its doors to trade and people in search of very tasty spiced fish. We met Thessa and Bash there along with another VSO down for the workshop called Binu and some Indian friends of his. Clare and Martyn were also able to finally meet up with the brother of a friend of Clare’s from the UK.

Anyway, VSO business started on Monday. It was run by fellow volunteers Cicely and Laurie with various others facilitating sessions. It was very informative and covered issues such as participatory approaches, how to fundraise, HIV/AIDS awareness and the rights based approach (using the U.N.’s Human Rights Acts as a basis for development). It ran for three days and we finished off on Thursday. It was a great workshop, especially as it was good to catch up with other volunteers and generally mix with some really positive people. I could also browse on the hotel’s wireless broadband and watch CNN!

Cakes at the Hilton

I stayed in Abuja for the weekend after the workshop and stayed with Berry, another volunteer who was based in Lagos, who is unfortunately going home because her placement hasn’t worked out. We were all exceedingly sad about this, but I’m glad I got to spend some time with her while she waited in Abuja for her flight home. We pottered about, ate some nice food and spent some good time with another volunteer called Stacey. Oooh, and on the Sunday, after frequenting the British Village swimming pool again, Berry, Teleri and I went to the Abuja Hilton! We were feeling incredibly indulgent and spent N1500 (just over our daily allowance and equivalent to roughly £6) on their afternoon tea buffet. What a treat! There was an endless supply of a range of teas, little smoked salmon and cheese sandwiches, petit fours, chocolates, huge cheesscakes, brownies, apples tarts and gorgeous cakes. Oh, and scones with jam – yum! We ate as much as we could and generally felt much scruffier than we ought to have been, but we didn’t care!

Back to Akwanga

It was nice to get back to Akwanga the following week and see my work friends again. While I’d been away they’d finished off the lesson observations at the demonstration primary school, which was great. We had to put that project on hold, however, because Liz wanted us to work on a proposal for CRD to carry out some research for VSO on the National Youth Volunteering programme. It’s a scheme that graduates take part in and involves them moving to another state and working in schools as teachers. So we had to plan how we would carry out this research and compile a budget. That took a couple of days and on the Wednesday we went to attend the opening of ‘Beter Leven’s permanent site. Beter Leven is Tashi and Manga’s Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) that works with local widows and orphans to train them in self-sustaining skills such as knitting, bead making and small business enterprises. They had been given money from the Dutch Embassy here in Nigeria to construct the building, so the deputy Ambassador for The Netherlands came along with a range of local dignitaries. The ceremony was great, culminating with some cold drinks at a local café.

Last Friday was a public holiday and I went up to see Clare and Martyn in Kaduna. Kaduna was the capital of the north and a 2-3 hour drive north of Abuja. I travelled up with Thessa and Bash (Thessa has a car!) and met up with C&M that evening for a super fish and chips supper in Kaduna.

The following morning C,M and I travelled up to Kano, another 2-3 hours north of Kaduna to stay with Binu. Kamal (another VSO) was also there. We had some nice Indian food and went clubbing. Beer has been disagreeing with me, so I’m off alcohol from now on, so it was interesting to see how I’d last on the dance floor. As it turned out, this new tee-total idea is quite a good one and I had lots of fun with no hangover! We also visited the dye pits (see pictures) and the ancient market. It was quite a labyrinth, and although I haven’t been, it reminded me of what I’ve seen of Moroccan markets. Within was an old slave pit where traders used to barter for labour. Some of the guys wanted a group photo there, something I thought inappropriate. Kind of akin to doing a thumbs up pose outside a prison camp.

Clare, Martyn and I travelled back to Kaduna on the Sunday to find no lights and no gas left in their kitchen. There was also no food on the roadside or local ‘chop house’ (restaurant), but we did find some beef being barbecued. I’m not sure how to spell it, but it’s called ‘soo-ya’. It’s very tasty, but, as Martyn and I found out later after trips to the toilet, something was wrong with it (Clare had wisely abstained)!

Weekends whizzing past

Time really does seem to be flying by, so a quick summary of other things I’ve been up to.

v I’ve visited Kaduna again and seen some great Hausa theatre (dancing, music and drama).

v Went down to Kwara State in the south of Nigeria with CRD to research the current national volunteering scheme for VSO. We conducted interviews with all the key stakeholders and then wrote a report on our findings. I then went to Abuja and took part in a meeting with VSO to present the report and discuss plans for the next role out phase.

v Enjoyed a party that David and Eriye threw to celebrate their one year wedding anniversary. We had goat that I watched being slaughtered and cooked (it’s amazing what you’ll find in the belly of a goat – I wonder how long those plastic bags will take to decompose!)

Sorry the quick briefing, but I’ve gotten so behind with things that it will take me a month of Sundays to go into detail. I’ll try harder in the future!

5th May 2009

Flying Time

Time really does seem to be flying by but that’s probably because settling into work and life here and that means time finds it easier to slip by. April was also an extremely busy month as it turned out so I have a lot to try and remember here.

Lafia

On the first weekend of April I visited Lafia. Another volunteer that came to Nigeria at the same time as me, Trina, lives there so we arranged to meet up. Lafia is the state capital of Nasarawa State, the state in which I’m based. Its main industry is coal mining and was founded about 300 years ago by the Hausa people (Hausa is the language that a majority of people speak in the northern part of Nigeria. There are many tribes with their own languages throughout the country, resulting in english remaining the main language of instruction.)

As for Lafia, all I can say is hot, hot, hot!!! I’d heard that it’s hot but I wasn’t expecting the wall of heat that greeted me, and the sweat was dripping off me in buckets. Aminu from work was visiting family there so I got a lift down with him. Trina works as an organisation developer and is working with a group of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) working in the area of education. She’s based at one of their offices, the staff of which were working on a project linking local children with sponsors overseas. On the Saturday we visited the market and I bought a rechargeable lamp, which has proven useful when the electricity goes. I continued to sweat but we watched a couple of movies and stayed until Sunday. On Saturday, Lafia saw its first rain storm of the season and Trina was shocked at how the temperature dropped below 40 degrees for the first time at night! The journey home was nice and cool.

Osogbo

The following weekend was Easter so we had the Friday and Monday off work. A group of us had planned to go down to Osogbo for the long weekend. Osogbo is in Osun State in the south-west of Nigeria so it was going to be a bit of a trek to get there. Unfortunately some of the volunteers planning to go couldn’t make it but we ended with a good little posse – Richard (a volunteer from Kenya working up in the College of Education, Gidan Waya on IT systems), Howard (a volunteer from the U.S. working on IT systems for the HIV/AIDS awareness campaign, SNR), Mary (a UK volunteer working with youth volunteers at a College of Education in Oro State) and Esther (a Dutch volunteer working in Lagos). And me, of course.

I travelled to Abuja on Thursday night and stayed at Howard’s place. He has a pretty swanky place in the city with lots of space. Richard also came and met us there and we went out for some chicken and chips (not as good as nice plump Akwanga country reared chicken, I might add.). The following morning we got up at 6am and made our way to a motorpark to find transport to Osogbo. Lots of people were vying for our attention and it was pretty packed, but eventually we found a bus (again, not a bus that we’re used to, but a mini-van, an old mini-van). We waited some time for the bus to fill up (there’s no schedules here, you just got onboard and wait for every seat to be taken – this can take 5 minutes or 2 hours) and set off. We were told 7 hours for the journey time, but this turned out to be a very optimistic estimate and it took more like 10 hours. It was fine though. I chatted with Howard and the guy sitting next to me (Richard had got the front seat, something he later regretted as he said it was like sitting in the front seat of a horror movie with cars hurtling past at great speeds and with great recklessness). We had a stop on the way to refuel, change 2 tyres and for Howard to get told off for taking photos of the market without seeking permission. Rather amusingly, this guy turned out to be somewhat of a local ‘eccentric’ given to hastling tourists. Once on the road again, our journey was mostly plagued by police stops, where we were generally checked over and waved on our way.

Finally we arrived in Osogbo. It’s a large place with lots of buildings and pretty good roads. We met up with Mary and Esther at the hotel, divided into boys and girls for the 2 rooms that we had (luckily for us girls the beds were huge) and went about finding food. There’s a fast food chain store in Nigeria called Tantilizers that was right opposite our hotel, so we went there and I had a burger and chips that was quite tasty. I do appreciate I so seem to eat lots of chips – I really don’t eat that badly, it’s just been a bit of a treat at the time so I felt it worthy of a mention.

The following day we went exploring and visited the Sacred Grove, a forest that’s inhabited by traditional Yoruba shrines. It’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site as it’s believed to be the last remaining Yoruba grove. The ancient Yoruba culture was revitalised by an Austrian artist called Susanne Wenger, who came to Osogbo in the 1960s. Amongst her legacies are a large collection of sculptures based on the Yoruba gods that can be found throughout the beautiful forest, where we also found bamboo trees and a collection of friendly monkeys.

Back in the city we visited the Market Shrine and Oba’s Palace, some old buildings that we entered cautiously, but ended up being welcomed into a Yoruba shrine where we left some bread in order to avoid being cursed with chicken pox! The main road was busy with market traders and okadas shooting by. As we made our way along the rows of shops, we found ourselves in the ‘ju-ju’ section of the city. Ju-ju is a form of witch craft, something still practised in Nigeria by a few and still feared by the superstitious many. The ju-ju part of the market sold things such as rats, hedgehogs, dead vultures and dried chameleons. It was an interesting mixture and for the non-believer was quite startling!

Osogbo is also home to many artists and galleries, which was good to experience. I bought a small painting from the Phoenix gallery, where I also got to meet and chat with the artists. He was a very skilled artisan. A painter, sculpture and furniture maker, he was also passing his skills onto a group of young artists. On our trek through the city, we were also presented with an impromptu exhibition of dancing and drumming from a huge group of children that we managed to gather.

The journey back to Abuja was fairly uneventful. I tried not to eat and drink too much so as to avoid needing to go to the toilet enroute! Back in Abuja we had another night at Howard’s, bought some tinned foods at Park ‘n’ Shop (an Indian owned shop near him that sells a huge range of western foods) and enjoyed a Mexican Schwama (salad and chicken roll). I also managed to purchase the next season of ‘24’, which I duly devoured the following week.

Weddings

The following Saturday was awash with weddings. My neighbours Mr and Mrs Arpache (he’s a language lecturer here and she works in the home economics department) were sponsoring a pair of students who were getting married in the campus’ Catholic Church. The service was meant to start at 10am, so David, Eriye and I set off in the rain. On arrival, events weren’t happening yet (there’s something called ‘Nigerian time’ here, which means that time is like a very loose elastic band – it reminds me how us Europeans are ruled by the clock), so we decided to visit another wedding that was taking place in the Fellowship Hall, also here on campus. This was a very grand affair with dancers, a band, an MC and about 5 different priests presiding over the ceremony. The bride entered in a western wedding gown looking beautiful and the service was very recognisable in its format. At one point, guests were given envelopes, which they filled with money and formed a procession to hand the gifts to the bride and groom.

After the ceremony we made our way back to the other service, which was still taking place. Food of chicken, donuts and Schweppes was also provided, which was yummy. Something that I’ve noticed at weddings here is how the importance of having babies is celebrated in the service. In the UK we don’t take it for granted that couples will have children, but here families have traditionally been very large. For example, Tashi’s father had 9 wives and he estimates that he has between 50 – 60 brothers and sisters. That’s an extreme example and not that common these days, but polygamy is still quite widespread.

Work

That week also saw the visit of a volunteer who had served at the college about 4 years ago. It was good to catch up with her and for her to see how CRD had changed. We’d spent some time getting the office tidied up and have started to sort through the various teaching resources that it has. It has a small selection of children’s books, some teaching manuals and lots of flash cards to teach the alphabet. I’m hoping that in the future we’ll be able to develop these into a resource lending library for local primary teachers. Tashi (the Acting Program Manager) and I also conducted staff interviews to establish perceptions on CRD, its work, their roles and ideas for further training needs. I’ve been working closely with Tashi on how to manage the department and how to organise training and projects in an organised way.

We developed an Action Plan of objectives and activities that we wanted to achieve in the short term that would get CRD generating ideas and work. One of the first things we did was to have a team meeting to discuss the department’s Strategy Plan. This was successful and we managed to generate ideas for research that we would like to carry out that fits in with CRD’s long term aims and objectives. We also planned some in-house training that staff members felt was necessary. Tashi has starting stepping down some training on how to write proposals for funding and I’m running a short course on phonics. I’m also training the staff on grammar and spelling. The weeks seem to fly by, so the aim is to not be too ambitious, but to have a selection of achievable activities each week.

In-house training takes up a lot of time, but we’ve also devised and distributed a questionnaire on HIV/AIDS awareness for the group of 1^st year students who hope to be peer educators. Peer educators are young people who spread the message of awareness and they will help to educate their fellow students of HIV/AIDS. They will also be involved in awareness campaigns that we hope to hold. We have also started planning a course on teaching aids for primary education students. Linking with the Primary Education Studies Department is going to be important for CRD, so this should be good. We will also be working with teachers from the demonstration primary school here on the campus. We’re carrying out lesson observations in their classes and interviews with the teachers, starting this week, and when we’ve finished these we’ll be able to put forward a proposal for some teacher training workshops. All these activities take some time, but little steps…

Dutch Embassy Party

On 30^th April, Holland celebrates ‘Queen’s Day’. You may wonder what on earth this has to do with me, but when the Dutch Embassy holds a party in Abuja, that VSOs are invited to, where purchase of a ticket equals free food and drinks all evening, I was pretty keen to celebrate. A group of about 10 volunteers were there, along with various ex-pats living in Abuja, and it went on late into the night. Eriye and her brother Evans, who was visiting from Port Harcourt (a city in the south of Nigeria), came too, and we, along with a volunteer couple from the UK (Clare and Martin who are based up in Kaduna), stayed at Howard’s. It was good to let our hair down and big thanks goes to Thessa, a previous volunteer who now works at the Dutch embassy.

Jos

The following week was a short one as the Friday was a national holiday. For the long weekend I travelled to Jos with Eriye and David and stayed with some American missionary friends of theirs. Steve and Deedee spend half their year in Jos and the other half in Tennessee in the States. They’ve been in Nigeria for many years now and are currently building a Bible school in Jos. They were great hosts and had a wonderful house on the hillside overlooking the city of Jos. The journey from Akwanga took about 2 hours. Jos is on a plateau (it’s the capital of Plateau State), which means that the temperature was very cool. This was further improved by the storms in the evenings, which nearly called for socks to be worn. Eriye found it very chilly and wrapped up in blankets, but as someone from the UK, I could still appreciate that it wasn’t really cold! Jos was very pleasant and we visited the museum and shopped at the market. I bought some fabrics to make some skirts as well as a wooden African board game that’s proved to be very addictive (it reminds of all those hours spent playing backgammon in Harlow).

On the Sunday, Steve wanted to visit a new well and a church in Gombe State, so we thought we’d travel with him too, not fully appreciating the length of time it would take to get there. 5 hours later we were joining in with the church service and taking snaps with the villagers who had gathered. It was great to meet Steve and Deedee and will remain grateful for the great pots of tea I was inundated with! I was also bestowed with a Star Trek: The Next Generation DVD when I left, so was very very happy! I hear that there’s been a bit of a Star Trek rejuvenation back home thanks to the new movie. I can’t believe I’m missing it!

Tummy

Unfortunately the last week has given me my first proper illness. I had to stay at home for a few days with a bad stomach, but have now been under the course of a range of interesting pills that the doctor prescribed and I’m now feeling a lot better. I had a quiet weekend with a visit from Trina, who proved an excellent pancake maker when David, Eriye and Tashi came over for brunch on Sunday morning! I have to admit that being ill has made me miss home, particularly when I think about food! I keep thinking about mum’s roast dinners, lasagne, pizza and cake. I made myself feel better though by watching ‘Withnail and I’ and a Jimmy Carr DVD!

Anyway, this has been a really long blog entry, so I will endeavour to make it shorter next time. Tomorrow I will be observing some lessons at the demonstration primary school and delivering some phonics training in the afternoon. Captain’s Log over and out.