Settling In

Don’t worry, I won’t keep this daily diary thing up for long, but at the moment loads is happening each day so it helps me break it down.

Day 5 (Monday 7^th Feb)

I was picked up a lady called Anne-Karin who is from Denmark and looks after the short term side of City Ministries for SIM.  She took me to the Gidan Bege.  This is the first stage of the ministry where the boys go straight from the street.  They stay here for six months, and then choose whether they want to go to Gyero, of back to the streets.  There are eight boys living at Gidan Bege at the moment.  One of them is really (terminally) ill with a condition I don’t really understand, but it generally only affects Africans and is called something like stickle cell and affects either red or white blood cells (I’m rubbish at medical stuff).  He was really unwell and in lots of pain, it was really sad to see him so upset.

I met the ‘Aunties and Uncles’ (the people who look after the children), and watched the boys having an English lesson.

Ricky picked me up from Gidan Bege and we went printer shopping in the computer street.  It’s not like going to PC World, you have about 6 small shops/shacks next to each other all selling the same stuff which is piled up outside and inside their shack.  You ask them for the price, they give you the Baturi (white man) price, then you ask for the best price, then you do the same at all the shacks until you get the best price.  In the last shack the daughters of the owner offered Ricky free Hausa lessons at their house but he politely said he didn’t think his wife would be impressed.  I’m gradually picking up some words and phrases, and have learnt that as long as you string a few of them together randomly the Nigerians are very impressed.

In the evening I played Wii Sports with Ricky and Angie, I was rubbish but it was good fun.

Day 6 (Tuesday 8^th Feb)

I was picked up by Anne-Karin again and taken to Gyero (The rural village, school, and care centre on the video at the bottom of my blog).  I sat in a maths class and helped one of the boys with the answers which resulted in him having ‘very good’ written in his book meaning he loved me!  I had a chat with the Nigerian teacher called Chris who had an England shirt on which won my approval.  After the lesson it was their break time, I got on really well with them, and they kept calling me uncle which I still find cute and need to get used to.  I got chatting to one of the boys who they think has learning disabilities, he taught me some Hausa words.

After Gyero Ricky made me Nutella on toast which was amazing.  After lunch it was time for my Nigerian driving lesson with Luka (Mission Africa driver).  He was mean to take me on the quiet roads, but Ricky told him to show me where my ministries are so we ended up on the main roads.  It was pretty crazy, but I managed to use my horn a fair bit, and didn’t crash.  Everyone laughed at me because Luka said that I need another lesson which coming from a Nigerian means they think I’m pretty bad.  I think I’m going to go out with Ricky next time because he can relate to the differences between UK and Nigerian driving (I was surprised to hear that they have cars in Northern Ireland, but apparently they do). 

Day 7 (Wednesday 9^th Feb)

Today we went to Kagoro which is the rural place I will probably be heading to for four weeks when the girls arrive.  Its and hour and a half from Jos, on the way Luka decided he wanted to go to a rural market we passed.  The others stayed in the car and I headed in with him.  It was crazy busy, packed and felt like real rural Africa.  I was the only Baturi, and got stared at quite a lot, and heard a few ‘Baturi’ comments, and welcome white mans.    

In Nigeria you get very used to passing abandoned crashed cars by the side of the road, and often wonder how they ever ended up like that.  We passed a car which was barely recognisable and were told by the other Nigerian with us Macage that his three neighbours had been in the car and all died.  They were three young men.  It really brought it home to us that the greatest danger we face here is the driving and roads.  If something happens there are no emergency services to call, you have to rely on someone getting you to hospital.

When we got to Kagoro I got to see where I will probably be staying for four weeks.  The place is tiny, the accommodation VERY basic, ie shack with a bunk bed.  The toilets are a tin shack outside, with doors that don’t really shut and no flush (you pour a bucket of water down.  The showers are the same with a bucket.  It will be good to experience some real rural living though.  We went to a Fulani (an unreached people group) village where Mission Africa is working close by.  The pictures below are all from the village, the long building is the school built by Mission Africa and SIM.  It was hard to communicate because the Fulani spoke no English, so we tried a bit of Hausa.  Angie (who is pregnant) nearly fainted in the heat while we were there and Lynsey and I caught her.  The chief’s son got a fruit we had never seen before from a tree and handed it to me.  I bit in to it without thinking that it hadn’t been sterilised (you have to sterilise all raw fruit & veg with baby steriliser or it makes you ill).  It was disgusting, and I’m still alive after eating it which is all good.  Because Kagoro isn’t on the plateau like Jos it is much hotter.

Here are a few pictures to get a taste, I need to find a better way to upload pictures because its a nightmare!

When we got home I was given some proper Nigerian food called red stew.  It was pretty nice, it’s made with tomato and meat, and is quite spicy, nothing like anything we have at home. 

Day 8 (Thursday 10^th Feb)

I felt absolutely exhausted today, I haven’t rested since arriving and it’s really started catching up with me.  Ricky picked me up and we travelled in to the centre of Jos to look for some cloth to make Nigerian outfits.  We couldn’t work out which material is for men and which for woman.  We gave up after a while and decided we need to take a Nigerian / Female with us. 

After lunch I met with Lynsey to discuss what I’ll be doing in Jos.  I am meeting with Anne-Karin on Monday, but it looks like I will be working mainly at Gidan Bege helping the boys with reading, homework, their teaching, and discipleship.  I will then (probably) go to Kagoru with the girls when they arrive for four weeks, then to Agugu which is where the other short term people are for a couple of weeks.  I will have zero internet during this time.