This time last week I was sat on my own in KFC in Belfast wondering what the week would have in store. I was to meet x amount of people the next day who will be traveling to Nigeria with me. Thoughts running through my head included 'They're bound to be slightly odd, because you have to be a little crazy to be embarking on this type of mission'.
I wasn't disappointed when I met Bethan, Lyndsay, Ali and Will (who I' met previously) the following morning. I felt very at home in the semi mad group which became increasingly crazy as the week went on. It is so reassuring that I'm spending six months with such lovely people. Bethan, Lyndsay and Ali are going to Jos where I am headed at the same time as me. Will is heading to Agugu which is a few hours away from Jos, but we will still get to see him out there. In the picture Behthan is left of me, top row is Ali, Will, Lyndsay.
Anyway, after meeting my new friends we are given the timetable for the week. My eyes were immediately drawn to the compulsory fun on Tuesday evening, and the fact that Thursday was to be solely dedicated to security training. We got to know each other as a group and got to know the people who work for the mission. It was good to meet Lynsey who is going to be looking after us in Jos, she's heading out for two years in January to look after the short term mission program. The other people were Jonny who looks after the short term program in the UK, Naomi who does loads of officey stuff, and Jeremy who has just returned from Burkina Fasa. He is working as an England rep for the mission and is based down the road in Dorset. We were also introduced to Emma who is Jonny's wife and the most amazing cook ever :)
After all the introductions we got on with orientation stuff. We covered so much, and my little brain quickly felt like it was going to explode, or shut down in a windows blue screen type of fail. Luckily we were given an orientation pack to write all over and refer back to once home.
We started by looking at the Commission in Mathew 10, it was a great way to remind us right at the beginning the sole reason we are doing this. I particulally like verses 5-10:
5These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' 8Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 9Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; 10take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.
We then covered other stuff which I won't bore you with including spiritual preparation, mental preparation, work preparation, support preparation, integrating in to Africa, the first month and relationships.
By the time we had to have compulsory fun in the evening we were pretty shattered. We played a couple of mature and sophisticated games called signs and I have never. I foolishly admitted to having never eaten a banana during I have never which turned out to haunt me for the rest of the week.
Wednesday started with everyone trying to force me to eat a banana for breakfast which I managed to deflect somehow. We then went in to a session on sharing your faith, followed by working with children. We then had a session on packing and what to take. After looking at the list when I got home mum said that it reminded her of when I went on camps when I was little and they told you to take 1 change of underwear for the week and a warm vest. It was a really useful session and made it feel quite real actually thinking about what I'm going to take. Hopefully I will get a 69kg luggage allowance which will give me the opportunity to take loads of things out for the people I'll be working with. We also covered the medical side and the injections etc that we will need. I need to know my blood group so the recommendation is to give blood then they will tell you. I can't give blood so I'm thinking if I injure myself somehow, go to hospital, then they will tell me my blood group to save me paying £10 for a test.
The afternoon was dedicated to First Aid Africa style. We covered all the usual CPR, choking, and bleeding type stuff. I discovered I didn't inherit my mums medical genes because the stab wounds made me go queezy and gave me the eeby geebies. It was good fun, but I paid more attention than I ever have before to first aid training because this time there won't be 999 to call if something happens. At dinner we had banoffee pie for pudding and I was incredibly grateful that Emma has made me my own special one with no banana. I was so touched that she had thought of me knowing my hatred of them and made me my own special one!
That evening some more people from the Mission rocked up as well as Barry and Judy who are the England reps that interviewed me. It was lovely to see them again. We all spent the evening together and tried to sing a few songs etc.
Thursday was the day dedicated to security theory in the morning and interestingly security practical in the afternoon. Although it is very unlikely that anything will happen while I'm there, it was good to know what to do in the unlikely event that it does. We covered all sorts from dummy wallets, to being followed, mugged, attacked, and how to fight back if necessary. So don't mess with me, it might hurt lol! We began the afternoon by being told to wrap up warm and head outside. It was FREEEEZING!
We had a chat and were shown what to do if traveling in a car and you get shot at. We discussed different scenarios, and then got to have a practical 'exiting a car' lesson. We had to get in the car, with doors locked, seat belts on, and then when one side of the car was hit pretend that it was being fired at. The tactic is to shout contact left or right depending on which side the bullet came from, all roll out the other side head 1st, then get behind the wheels. The grab each other and run to a safe close area not too fast or you collapse. We had a good laugh practicing! Mum this has never happened it was a worse case scenario so stop worrying! Next we went to a car park to practice our checkpoint training. We will go through loads of checkpoints (apparently about 30 between airport and Jos). We got in a car and drove round a corner where we were met by a couple of scary looking guys wearing military gear, and carrying guns that were pointed at us. Even though their faces were covered one of them looked very like our trainer Tim. They shouted at us in foreign sounding voices and asked us lots of questions, I managed to not laugh which I think was a good option. The other group had their heads covered and were interrogated properly. While they were being interrogated a car turned up in the car park with some scared looking people in it. Jonny had to explain that it was a training exercise before they called the police to say people were being held at gun point! So that was security training, there was lots more we covered, but there's no point in boring you with it.
Feeling like Rambo we decided it would be good to have a fire in the evening. It was a great time of chatting and singing. Bethan was leaving early on Friday morning (sad times) so it was the end of our time all together before Nigeria. We wrote down our worries on pieces of paper and threw them on the fire to symbolise giving them over to God.
Later that evening we decided it would be a good idea to practice what we had learnt earlier, so we made a car out of chairs and practiced diving off them, but I got confused with my left and right so it ended in chaos. We also practiced interrogating each other which ended in more laughing than interrogating.
Friday morning I had managed to avoid the banana all and was pleased that someone had eaten the last one. We went over our individual placements with Jonny, and covered the last bits like Nigeria culture etc. At the end I was presented with a special banana that had a message written on it. It took me a while to work out how to get in to the thing, but I managed it with some help. I gallantly ate the poisonous fruit without a murmur of protest. The last time someone tried to feed me one I was a baby and it was mashed up with Weetabix. I'm planning on waiting at least another 26 years before going near one again!
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