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.