Day 9 - 14

Day 9 (Friday 11^th February)

I had a lay in today which I REALLY needed, and was picked up by Ricky at 12.  I bought Ricky, Angie and Luka Suya (the kebab resembling meat) and Fried Irish (the Nigerian name for chips) to say thank you for all their feeding and babysitting me.  While Ricky and I were waiting we had some Dough Dough which is a fried dough balls type thing, they cost 10 Naira for 6 which works out at 4p.  Bargain!  After lunch we were meant to be going to get driving licences but Luka said the offices shut at lunch time on Friday so we’ll try next week.  I went to a shop owned by Lebonese Muslims,  they are the only other baturis other than the missionaries.  The shop is a little more like a corner shop at home, and a little less like Poundland. 

In the evening I went to ‘Friday at the Fretheims’ for the weekly gathering of City Ministries people.  It was good to meet some more people.  After we went back to Lynsey (the girl looking after short term for Mission Africa), and Niffer’s (Another Northern Irish girl working for Wycliffe) house to chat and play games.  We played mafia which was a great way to practice lying to each other, deceiving, and thinking up ways to kill someone.  I was pretty good which I don’t think is meant to be a good thing!  We all had to head home before 10 because thats when the compounds lock down.  It is really weird getting in to the routine of early nights.

Day 10 (Saturday 12^th February)

Today was a very chilled out day.  I was meant to be babysitting Noah so Angie and Ricky could go to a romantic valentines Chinese lunch at Hillcrest (the US run missionary school), but Angie wasn’t feeling well so I didn’t.  We spent the afternoon watching football, and went to a Lebanese run restaurant/takeaway called Kingsbite for a takeaway.  The prices are expensive for here, similar to UK price which is expensive for us trying to live on a Nigeria budget.  It was lovely though!

Day 11 (Sunday 13^th February)

I was picked up by Lynsey at 7.45am for 8am church service.  We took her mission car which barely coped with the off road driving to get there.  When we arrived the church was empty even though we were late, but it was packed after a while, nobody seems to arrive on time here.  We got very confused by the offerings, there were 3, the middle one was for a ladies 50^th birthday, it was bizarre!  She got out of her seat with her husband and they walked up to the front singing (very out of tune), she was joined by her family, and then by all her friends (half the congregation were up the front).  It was like the Von Trap family (or however you spell it).  We tried to not get the giggles, but it was hard.  The worship was quite good, there was even a Hillsong song amongst the  Hausa songs.  The serman was really good and was on Mathew 28 (The great commission).  The pastor was really passionate and direct, he was asking questions like “If you died today and faced God, what would you say to him?”, and “How many people have you brought to Christ”.  After the service (which went on for a while), we chatted an prayed with the Youth Fellowship, and went to one of their ‘houses’.  It was a very small room with a mattress on the floor, a little burner in the corner, and a bucket of brown water from which we were offered a drink (we politely declined).  When we got back I had Indo Mie for lunch ( I will talk a lot about it, it’s Nigeria’s version of Super Noodles, only comes in chicken flavour, and like the Fanta here contains an ingredient illegal in all but 3 countries).  It’s like your five a day here, everyone lives on it.  After lunch we played with Ruth for a few hours and chatted.  I don’t think I’ve mentioned Ruth yet, Ruth is a baby chick.  Abi (a short term Mission Africa girl who’s in UK for 3 weeks but heading back out soon to join us) thought it was a sensible to adopt this chick from the wild at Gyero.  So it now lives in a box, and is being looked after by Lynsey and Niffer while she’s in the UK.  Ruth thinks she’s a dog, and follows you everywhere round the house, and will climb and sit on your knee, lap, or shoulder.  It’s quite cute, they’re in the process of working out what to do with her as she grows bigger.  That evening Lynsey and I joined some of the teachers from Hillcrest school for a meal at Kingsbite.

Day 12 (Monday 14^th February)

I walked to Anne-Karin’s compound for a 9am meeting with her and Lynsey.  We chatted about what I’ll be doing etc so it’s starting to come together.  I’ve got another meeting tomorrow morning so that should make things clearer still.  When we finished Lynsey’s car wouldn’t start, so we called Ricky (he’s in charge of missionary cars) and he arrived with Luka.  Luka fixed it the Nigerian way by disconnecting the battery, pouring loads of water over the electrics, and then hitting a few things with the spanner.  It seemed to work because the car started straight away. 

Ricky, Luka, and I went to the government offices to get driving licences, and queued for ages.  We  were given an invoice and told to go to the bank, Py IT, and bring the receipt back so they could issue a driving licence.  We went to the bank which was guarded by men with guns, and a door capsule type system.  You press a button, a door swings open, the revolves and lets you out the other side one person at a time.  When we go to the front of the ‘queue’ in the bank we were told they had no receipts and to come back in two days on Wednesday by a very rude lady.  I resisted shouting at her, but wasn’t in the mood.  We tried another bank and were told the same thing, and then again in a third bank.  I’m very confused how banks can run out of receipts, do they not order more when they are running low?  Apparently not in Nigeria!  So we will be going back on Wednesday to try and get a receipt so we can go back to the government place to get driving licenses.  They are closed tomorrow because it’s a Muslim public holiday.

I spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out with Ricky, Angie and Noah.

Day 13 (Tuesday 15^th February)

Today is hard to write about because I am keen to get the balance of reality, without hiding the facts or alarming anyone.  I’ll start with the boring stuff...

I went with Lynsey to a compound called Pharmacy which is quite near the centre of Jos for a meeting with Dee who looks after the discipleship in the City Ministries centres.  On the way we passed a car which had caught on fire, there were loads of men crowded round it trying to put it out with earth which was SO dangerous because it was well alight.  At the meeting we chatted about the opportunities for me, and some of the specifics of what I’ll be doing, I seem to be having lots of meetings, I’m going to a teacher training one (hopefully) tomorrow.  On the way back to my compound I got a couple of texts 1^st saying there was unconfirmed and then confirmed trouble in the centre of Jos, and in a surrounding area.  A policeman had been killed by one side but we didn’t know (and still don’t know) the details.  We were 100% safe in our compound and we carried on with our day.  In the evening Lynsey and I went to Hillcrest to hang out with some of the teachers.  They told us that Fiona (the physio short termer who’s just arrived), and Katie (the other short term person who’s just arrive from New Zealand) were both caught up in it somehow and had seen a number of dead bodies.  I am thankful that Ricky was on the ball and kept us away because I know at least one of the Missions had no security warning sent to them.  When Niffer arrived she told us that she too had been caught up in it trying to take her boyfriend home.  She drove past the body of a man who had just been killed and was told to put both her hands in the air by the military while she drove past.  The sad thing (other that people are tonight without their dad/son/friend) is that she had to drive back past (it was the only way home) and the body had been burnt completely and they were raking away the ashes to leave no evidence of his existence. 

The drive home from Hillcrest was eerie, there were no cars on the road, and my compound was fully locked down when I arrived.  Hopefully everything will be back to normal tomorrow (apart from for those who have lost those they love).  I knew I would hear about people dying before I came here, but I’m trying to not be flippant about those who lose their life, I think it’s easy to distance yourself especially for those missionaries who have been here for years.  We are safe, but many people here aren’t.  I pray for a peaceful day tomorrow.   

Day 14 (Wednesday 16^th February)

Today was a peaceful day, and there was no sign of the trouble yesterday.  We received word that Goodluck Jonathan was arriving in the afternoon, and Jos went security mad.  There were armed police and the military every few hundred metres down the main roads.  I went to Gidan Bege for a meeting which was basically teacher training for the Nigerians.  Lynsey and I exchanged a few looks and sniggers at the American style of teaching and presentation. 

After we spent the evening at Lynsey and Niffer’s and had curry which was lush, and runny angel delight (it doesn’t set here because we only have powdered milk).  Ruth appears to be poorly, we’re worried she is going to die, hopefully not of some deadly disease she caught in the wild and has passed on to us!!!  I’m driving home tonight so I can drive on my own to Gidan Bege tomorrow for the first time.  Anyone who knows me knows I have zero sense of direction so I will probably get lost!