August 2010

Return of the Queen…

Well yes, it has been a very long time. I’m very sorry, as it seems that I’ve out into the wild and back again, emotionally, physically and spiritually. But everything’s alright. I’m still Looby Loo, alive and kicking and living up to the blurb on my keyring that says that Lucy’s are ‘curious and always on the go’. Although, sometimes I just sit around Akwanga pondering and reading, but I guess I’m living a quiet life somewhere exotic, so it still counts! I’m currently sitting on my sofa at home waiting for my yam porridge to heat up and thinking about which pirated DVD to select to watch. My theory on DVDs here (I don’t think that it’s actually possible to buy an original movie if you tried…) is that we shouldn’t have a moral conscience about them being ripped off, because enough people stick to the rules in the west to keep the money ticking over in that industry… As for my yam porridge, I’ve been eating it all weekend. It used to be my favourite thing to cook and eat, so I made a huge batch for the freezer on Friday, but now it’s a case of overload. Basically, I boil yam (fyi mum and dad – Tashi’s going to be sending you some yam when I come back in September) and black eyed beans until soft. I then blend onions, carrots, red pepper and tomatoes and boil them with curry powder, thyme, salt and pepper. I then put everything together and cook. This time I also added spinach leaves. Everything is fresh and straight from farm to market to pot, so theoretically I’m living the perfect eco-existence. Although I cancelled all of that out last weekend when I bought some cheddar cheese and Nutella from Abuja. Goodness knows where they were imported from, but they cheered me up!

This year I’ve really settled into life here. Around May time, I visited a place called Obudu down south in Cross Rivers State. Obudu is a cattle ranch and tourist resort high up in the mountains. It’s very beautiful. Maartje, a volunteer from the Netherlands, and I were on a budget, so we stayed in a little hostel just outside the ranch. After spending a couple of days there, we went a few kilometres to a monkey sanctuary in a place called Afi. To get there we had to get on the back of a couple of motorbikes for and hour or so right into the depths of some of the last rainforest that Nigeria has. An American started the place 20 years ago to preserve drill monkeys (they look a bit like baboons), breed them and set them off into the wild. Guests can visit and stay in lovely wooden chalets on stilts overlooking the monkey compounds. You literally wake up in the morning in the middle of the jungle to the sound of monkeys and birds. It really was quite wonderful. They also keep chimpanzees. Maartje and I then made our own ways to our separate homes. I remember that it felt nice travelling home. Nasarawa State really feels like home and there felt like a definite shift coming from the south, where it’s more expensive and where the conversations with people veered more frequently to talk of oil and the problems in the Delta region, to the north, where things seem more relaxed and peaceful. I don’t know, maybe it’s just my perception, as I’m more used to the north, or middle belt as it’s actually known.

We had some good news this year. My very good friend Aminu celebrated the birth of his baby girl, Mariam (Mary if you’re Christian). Talking of names, before the World Cup, another volunteer here put us in touch with a primary school from north London that was exchanging postcards with countries that were in the World Cup. So, we received 25 sweet little cards from children there and we went to a local primary school and asked them to write postcards in return. The school in the UK were making a display of postcards from around the world, so I hope ours made it (though it seems that post can’t be relied on here…). But yes, Aminu was very interested to see the wide range of Islamic type names on the UK postcards. It’s always nice to explain to people here how diverse the UK is, particularly London, but also that it’s quite a difficult place to live if you’re not from there, so people shouldn’t be naïve and think that the streets are paved with gold.

Work Stuff

This year has seen me taking on some other roles within the College of Education, Akwanga. I’ve run lectures for students in the Primary Education Studies Department on Early Reading skills. It was quite a task coordinating them – roughly 500 students to fit into 4 hour slots each week in small classrooms. It was interesting though. The course also included an element of making teaching aids, so the students made flash cards and I taught them games that they can play with children to teach phonics using flash cards.

The College also has a new Department called ‘Early Childhood Care Education’ (ECCE). I was called on to help develop their course materials, which I’ve done alongside lecturing the new students on early communication skills. At the end of April, the students took their end of semester exams. It was quite an undertaking, and I played my part by invigilating. Then came the marking, which was very time consuming. The standard of written English varied enormously, so it was a good insight into what the students are capable of producing. For this semester, I’ve only taken one course in the ECCE Department, which was a relief. The exams have rolled round again quite quickly, so we’re in the thick of them now

In February, we held an HIV/AIDS campaign here in the College. My department (The Centre for Research and Documentation (CRD)) was responsible for this and we gained funds from VSO to carry out activities, and also received educational materials (posters, handouts etc) and contraception from various different organisations here in Nigeria. We planned the events with several student groups, including the student union and the group of student peer educators. We conducted training for the peer educators on HIV/AIDS, so that they can then educate their peers in turn. There was also a football match to raise awareness, an educational session involving the college doctor (we also supplied the College clinic with HIV testing kits), a rally around the campus, and an entertainment evening that included music and drama that focused on the issue of stigmatisation and prevention. The whole thing proved a bit stressful for me, especially when the DJ and student organisers turned up amazingly late for the entertainment evening. Time keeping is a very hard thing here. Generally, we run on African time, which means no specific time, ‘as and when’, but sometimes you come across people who like sticking to time. So it’s hard to work out when to be which!

Recently, we have continued working with the Peer Educators, by supporting them to run another awareness raising evening of entertainment. CRD had received some funding to run some activities that focus on gender, so some of our funding went into this event and some of the Theatre Arts students presented a drama on gender inequality. Part of this programme on gender also included some sensitisation to a rural community on the importance of Girl child education. We held a forum with what felt like the entire village. The Chief, Imam, representatives from the women’s forum, teachers, children and other village elders and villagers were present and we engaged them in a lengthy discussion about the issue of sending children to school and the importance of ensuring that all children are given equal opportunities. The week after this, we returned to have a further discussion with the women’s forum, with a view to gauging their opinions on how we can help strengthen their group so that they can make an impact on the young girls in the community in terms of education and healthcare. This project is ongoing.

Recently, we have received funding from VSO to run a pilot teacher training project with a cluster of rural schools. We then hope to expand this model to more clusters within Nasarawa State. We visited 6 schools in Nunku, which is about 20km from Akwanga, and observed lessons, spoke with teachers and asked them all to fill in questionnaires to find out which areas they need improvement in. Most of the schools are quite derelict. The headteachers and teachers just keep going, because they’re dedicated, but the roofs might be caving in, there are no desks and chairs and you’ll find dirt and rubble all over the floor. Not a very conducive learning environment. My job was to then put together a training programme in the areas of using and making teaching aids, questioning skills, using group work, and lesson planning. I then went through the workshops with my team members, and then they carried out the training under my supervision. They did really, really well, and I was pleased that the programme that I put together was practical, so that the teachers could take away ideas to use in the classroom straight away. Too much emphasis can be placed on theory sometimes, and of course it’s good to know why you should be doing something, but I’ve always found that the best courses are ones that give you handy and doable ideas. Another aspect of the project was to add some colour to one of the classrooms in the form of an alphabet, paintings of children, number bond butterflies and number and pictures on clothes lines. About 50-60 teachers and headteachers attended the 5-day training course, which also included lunch and snacks. All in all, it seemed to be pretty well received. We’re now putting together the report on what we did, which we will take to the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB – fyi, you’ll never find as many acronyms for things as we have here) in order to apply for further funding to expand the project to more schools. We’ll do this with the help of our new Director, Mr Tsaku. He’s a lovely man and very supportive.

Something else that I’ve been working on recently is a college anthem! We have a new Provost here at the college of Education Akwanga, Mrs Monde, and for her inauguration ceremony, she wants the College to have an anthem. So, I’ve written one and am now collaborating with Moha, a lecturer from the Theatre Arts Department, to perform and record it. It’s quite fun and different doing something like this, and I have all of my neighbours singing the song!

New Arrival

VSO has sent another volunteer to Akwanga in the form of Peter from Uganda. He’s come to work with the computer department. He’s in his late 20s and very sweet. Of course, I’ve been showing him the ropes, old hand that I am, and he’s been settling in well. He’s become very fond of my neighbours and is feeling his way. Last weekend, we went to visit another volunteer, Richard from Kenya, who’s working at a college of education in a place called Gidan Waya, a 2 and a half hour drive from here. We had some good fun – went out for some drinks and dancing, and spent a lazy Saturday sitting around watching movies on his tv. I keep meaning to travel a lot more than I have been, but I’ll get round to it eventually. The weekend just past was a totally lazy one. I spent Friday afternoon cooking my mammouth yam porridge, invigilated an exam on Saturday, saw my friend Maria, went out for some drinks on Saturday night with some guys here in Akwanga, and did nothing all day on Sunday because I was very tired. It was also raining a lot, so a good excuse to stay indoors. The rain has really been coming down the last couple of weeks, which makes the weather very cool. When I come home in September, I really should get a decent wall thermometer so that I know for sure, but I really have been getting very chilly. On the weekend I bought a new soft pillow and throw for my bed, so on Sunday night I really enjoy cosying down and slept like a log all tucked up. Goodness if the weather can actually be defined as ‘cold’ by UK standards, but I’m certainly feeling it.

Religion

There’s a girl here in the college called Abidemi, who’s serving here on the national service scheme that all post graduates have to do. She came to my house this evening and we chatted well. We talked a lot about religion. It’s true that in the UK, religion is on the decline. You could say that we have become ambivalent or just apathetic about it. Maybe this is because we don’t need for much, so we don’t ask. Going to church is not what people do. It’s certainly what people do here – literally everyone is either Christian or Muslim, but the sincere Christians and Muslims that I know also accept that many people pay lip-service to religion and don’t actually follow through in their daily lives. I know that I’ve been lacking religion in my life for a long time and refuse to go to church. It’s been hard to know how to approach it. I like to understand things very well before I commit to them and don’t like going into things half heartedly. This has led to stress at times (particularly when I think about the nightmare that was my first year of teaching), and when it comes to religion I’ve been resisting so much because it should be something that comes from the mind and from the heart, and unless you reconcile the two, it won’t work. I’ve never had a problem stating that I don’t go to church here, even though it baffles some people, but the truth is that I like to make the point that I don’t take religion and church-going for granted as something that you do to just fit in and be socially acceptable. Some people are very forthright in the way that they preach to you, and this can be off-putting. The way sermons are delivered can be very off-putting. And the way people seem to find it so easy to accept ‘Jesus’ can be off-putting. It’s as if they find it so easy without putting so much thought into it. It’s as if I want to find it easy, but resist, because making that step to join religion again will be a committed step. It’s probably about time I take it though. But anyway, talking to Abidemi this evening was very enlightening. She talked in terms of God being like a father, and someone who wanted to experience human suffering in order to understand, so came in the form of Jesus. You can’t deny that Jesus was a great guy, so he really should be a role model for all. And I guess it makes sense that you can be a lovely, well meaning person who does good things, but if you don’t have a relationship with god, then it doesn’t have as much meaning. It’s like being brought up well and knowing that your good actions are a product of that upbringing, but not maintaining a good relationship with your father. You need to be able to thank your father for putting you on the right path. Another thing is that it’s difficult finding a church that fits here, because there’s so many. Some are too loud, some too dull. And sometimes it’s hard making that commitment, because I like having quiet Sunday mornings to myself sometimes! Well anyway, we’ll see.

Health

Healthwise I’m not too bad at the moment. I’ve had various tummy issues, which I’ve been working through, trying different foods, making sure I eat enough etc. I’m quite a bit thinner, but I’m hoping that this is because I don’t’ really snack or eat unhealthily. I eat solid food, meat and vegetables every day, so I should be ok. Over the past few months I’ve also been losing lots of hair, which has been quite distressing. I’ve recently bought a good shampoo though, so my scalp and hair seem to be getting back into a good condition. Oh well, the true test of whether I look dramatically different will be when mum and dad meet me at the airport when I come home in September. Maybe I’ll put on lots of weight with cheesy baked beans, pizza everyday, fresh milk, chocolate cake and bacon. Hopefully!

Homeward Bound

Obviously, at the moment I’m very excited about coming home in September. I’m going to pack in as much as possible. I think I’ve mentioned to some you the nature of my flight home, but for those not in the know, here’s the story…A couple of months ago it was Queen’s Day in the Netherlands, so the Dutch embassy in Abuja celebrated it with a party for ex-pats, VSOs etc. There was food, drink, games, etc, and one of the activities was to give your ticket to the person dressed in the best orange outfit and that person would then win a free return flight from Abuja to Amsterdam. No-one was really paying attention to this, so I went round and asked people for their tickets. And at the end of the night, I was the winner – hurrah! I can’t think of a time when I’ve won anything so huge (apart from the big stuffed tiger that I won at the Stansted carnival years ago, which reminds me to ask mum what ever happened to him as he seems to mysteriously disappeared…), but I did, so now I’m coming home via Amsterdam!

It seems so strange how a year has gone by so quickly. I can’t wait to see you all, particularly how much Alice, Daniel and Hannah (and Nao!) have grown. And my friend Gavin’s baby, Frank. Some good British humour is definitely needed too. It will also be good to check out this new government is doing. I’m sure there’s lots of same old same old, but it will be interesting for me! I’ll have to thrill you with my growing knowledge of the Hausa language. I think I’m the slowest pupil in the world though. I don’t know why languages are so hard for me. My teacher is so lovely – he’s called Shehu and is the Head of the Hausa Department here in the college. I’m sure there are more stories to tell and lots of things that I haven’t even touched upon here, but I think that it’s safe to say that I’m still loving it here and am growing into the culture more and more every day. Just when I think I’ve gotten everything wrong, I’m reminded that I’ve come so far! Before I sign off, in case I’m reading this in years to come in some place far away, I should just mention the names Moha and Sam for my own benefit and to remind me of a couple of things I’ve learnt this year. So for now, bye-bye and see you all very soon!