Not much to write about today, I had a day working from home which was so relaxing, and I really needed the break. I spent much of the day planning discipleship for the boys at GB. I felt led the title “Only God can heal your heart”, and it developed from there. I’m using “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51v10 (ESV). I’ve spent a good amount of time cutting out hearts from pink card, trying to be artistic with glitter glue (it really does look like a child did it) and sticking plasters on things. I’m going with the idea that you can stick a plaster on the outside but not the inside. I think the whole thing kinda works. I spent quite a lot of time chilling with God, which was such a relief from my hectic days I’ve been having.
I popped to Ricky and Angie’s in the evening to update my blog, and while I was there it started to rain. It’s the first rain of the season and it is pouring, I was so excited I nearly ran outside to do a rain dance but figured it was a bit too wet. Jos will soon turn from brown to lush and green, it’s very early for it to start, but should signal some cooler weather.
Day 23 (Friday 25th Feb)
Fridays are a half day working for us because we need to leave work before the Muslim’s kick out of prayers which is when there can be trouble. I taught a lesson of phonics at GB, and taught the meaning of some of the words which they didn’t know by drawing and acting very enthusiastically. I managed to draw a cat, and hat. I demonstrated the noise a cat makes, and showed them what a bat was by using my water bottle to hit bits of chalk across the classroom. I seemed to engage them!
I took one of the boys out of the next lesson while they were taught by another teacher because he was crying. We had a chat which was really hard because of his tears and broken English. I found out that he is sad because he’s not allowed to go to a wedding which his mum will be at, and he hasn’t seen her for a year. He was given up by his mum who is disabled I think because his mum remarried and her new husband didn’t want him. I had the challenge of trying to explain to him that his mum was free to come and visit him any time, and that he was being stopped from going to the wedding for his own good. (I don’t fully understand why, but I trust it’s for his own good and think it’s probably to do with the fact that if his mum hasn’t bothered to come and see him in a year, it may not go down well if he turned up at a wedding with one of us). I tried to talk to him about the family he has at GB, and that God is his ultimate daddy, but how do you tell a kid his mum doesn’t want him? It was so sad, and it’s hard to not let it affect me, but I stayed strong and gave him a cuddle (I haven’t seen the boys being given physical affection at GB).
School finished early at 11.30 so there could be a staff meeting before I needed to leave, we went over the new timetable which includes me. There seems very little for me to do on it, which I’m finding quite challenging, but trusting that more opportunities will open up for me as I gain the trust and hopefully respect of those I’m working with.
After school I went to collect my caftan (Nigerian outfit, can’t spell it). There were no parking spaces anywhere so I thought I would try my charm on the armed man guarding a bank and it’s parking spaces. I asked him very nicely if I could quickly park there, he pointed to the no parking sign and said no, I smiled and he let me, but said if I was more than 30 minutes they would burst my tires. (The standard parking enforcement method here). I went to the cloth shop I bought the cloth from and they went to get the tailor. It wasn’t finished so I had to go get my car, and they made a space outside the shop for me. They took me to where he worked to hurry them up. It was a bit of real Nigeria in the middle of the city, they took me down a little alley way behind the shops where they were drawing water from a well etc. I watched the man finish making my outfit, I was really impressed with the speed he was working. I tried it on and it fits perfectly, I’m going to wear it to church on Sunday which will get a few laughs from the baturis and Nigerians. When I left the shop it was a little odd driving past tanks and military men with machine guns, but I’m getting used to the realities here.
I had a quiet evening because nobody was up for the Fretheims.
Day 24 (Saturday 26th Feb)
I had a semi lay in and got up at 8 to go shopping because my only hope of breakfast, a loaf of bread, was mouldy and I couldn’t face scraping it off, and toasting it on the hob using two knives like chop sticks. I bumped in to Niffer at the shop, and she told me she was up for some chicken, but had never cooked a whole chicken before. I was like your 31 and never cooked a chicken! So I gave her some guestimated instructions, and was invited over for dinner. I bought some cheese which cost a third of my weekly food budget but is so worth it, one of the most exciting moments since I arrived! I spent the day preparing discipleship material for GB next week all about creation. God didn’t bless me with creative abilities, but he keeps giving me ideas to use so I’m grateful for that. Later I went over to Niffer and Lynseys to cook the chicken for them because Lynsey also had no idea what to di with it. Abi arrived today who is the short termer who has been here for 6 months and went home for a wedding the day before I arrived. It’s great to have another short term Mission Africa person here and she’s even English (ish). Niffer, Lynsey, Abi and I spent the evening eating, chilling out and chatting. Ruth the chicken belongs to Abi, so she was really excited to see her again, and how much she’s grown. I’m not convinced Ruth is a she so we decided to try and sex her. We carefully chose our search terms on Google and managed to find out some methods. The signs appear to show that she is a he, but apparently the professional way is to turn her over, squeeze a certain area and see if anything pops out. Lynsey held her, and had the job of squeezing. I know I’m not a profession chicken sexer, but I couldn’t make anything pop out, so either Ruth is an unfortunate boy, I’m a rubbish chicken sexer, or a girl. I’m airing more on the rubbish chicken sexer option, but all will become obvious when she gets a bit bigger. The other option is that our very reliable source of information relating to exing of chickens (Wikipedia) was incorrect!
Day 25 (Sunday 27th Feb)
Abi was up for going to a new church so we tried out one called ECWA gospel no.2. It was packed, and we ended up somewhere near the front ish and in the middle. They asked anyone who was new to put their hand up, which we had to do as the only Baturis because we stood out. We were the only new people, we had to fill out a welcome card. They welcomed us by name from the front, and then sang us a song with the whole band etc. Then everyone looked at us and wanted to shake our hand etc. They asked us to come and sit on a special bench at the front for new people where everyone can look at us, Abi prodded me and refused so we stayed where we were. I think they will let us off as stupid Baturis. The worship wasn’t great, they only sang one song. The sermon was great, but was from a visiting preacher. I still don’t feel I’ve found a church I’m at home in which is a struggle.
After church Abi and I had lunch with Ricky and Angie. We had lasagne and chips which had been made by their new Nigerian cook and was really nice by the standards of food here. After lunch because Abi can’t be in the car on her own as her male friend Jabez I drove them on a trip to pick up his mum (who works at GB with me) from a womans conference. It was a bit of a drive out of the city, but was good to see a new area. I spent the evening with Abi, Lynsey and Niffer chilling and chatting about nothingness.
Day 26 (Monday 28th Feb)
I have no car this week because it is being used to take one of the short termers home from Ugugu, so I am relying on lifts. I was picked up by our driver Luka and Ricky at 11.30. On the way a car cut in front of us in a way which was bad even by Nigerian standards. Luka shouted something at him in Hausa which ended in a very pronounced Wawa. Ricky and I figured it was the most important word on the exchange and found out it means idiot. It has become our new favourite word and many sentences and texts contain it.
I hung out with the boys at GB, for lunch I bought fried yam on the street which cost me ₦50 (21p) which I thought was a bargain! I used the words tu wahala meaning you’re trouble and wawa on them a fair bit. They seemed to find it amusing. Mathew who is the boy who should be at Gyero, but is there because he is really ill chatted with me quite a bit. He is incredibly cute, and has made a genuine commitment as far as I can tell. He was telling me all his favourite verses and reading to me. I gave him one to keep hold of which means a lot to me as my baptism verse, Psalm 119v9. “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.” I pray that he pays more attention to it than I have in my life.
I had some sad news that Daniel may be choosing to leave. I don’t understand the details, but he’s been told that if he leaves he can’t come back. I hope that he realises the life he has at GB is so much better than what he wants to run away to.
Two new boys arrived at GB today. They don’t speak any English so it’s hard to communicate with them, I got the others to help translate. They are very wary, and it’s hard to speak to them. I gave one of them some of my yam which made him a bit more attentive to me!
Day 27 (Tuesday 1st Mar)
Today was really frustrating! Luka was meant to pick me up to take me to GB at 12, but he hadn’t arrived at 2. I text him and he said he would be with me at 3 (this means 3 at the earliest in Nigerian, and likely to be later). There was no point in going because I have to leave by 4 and had plans for 4.30. I spent the day listening to Ben Rowes Breakout preach which was just what I needed, reading my bible, and starting to plan a talk on judgement day which has been laid on my heart. It’s going to be about nominal Christianity, and separating of lambs and goats, very appropriate for Nigeria.
I walked to the other compound which took a while and waited for them to get ready. We all went to a bbq for Rachel who works for Wycliffe’s birthday. On the way we went the shop to buy some meat. We have no idea what we ended up with, but we hope beef burgers and can only guess what was in the ‘flying farmer’ sausages. We had a fun evening, and it was the first meat meat that I’ve had since being in Nigeria. The burgers were yum, and the sausages interesting. I still have no idea what was in them.
After the bbq I went back to Lynsey and Niffers with Abi. We watched prison break on dvd. I went on Facebook and chatted to Bethan who is one of the two short termers coming to Jos very soon hopefully. I feel so sorry for them because they were meant to be on the same flight as me and still don’t have visas. The latest is that they will hopefully be here next week, it will be very exciting when they arrive!
When it was time to go home, all three of the girls came to drop me off which was cute, I feel so isolated being on a different compound to everyone else. When the girls arrive they will also be on the other compound. There are no young people on mine, and I don’t know anyone, but at least I can usually get to the other one pretty easily.
Day 28 (Wednesday 2nd Mar)
I was sick today which meant I wasn’t able to go to Gyero as planned. I spent the day sleeping and catching up with blog etc. I got lots of texts from people making sure I was still alive having heard I was unwell which was nice. Lynsey brought me bread because mine was mouldy and a drink which was nice. I blame Niffer for the illness because she cooked the meat last night although I am the only ill one. I felt better as the day went on, but very delicate.
While I was listening to some music little Nigerian girl from the compound came to my window and said hello. She said “Are you a boy”, me “yes, why?”, her “because you sound like a girl”. I tried to not be offended!
Later on I was very excited to find a book and dvd called More Than Conquerors which I thought I’d left at home. It’s where the quote at the top of my blog comes from. I watched the first film again and was reminded that “Safety isn’t the absence of danger, it’s the presence of God”!
Day 29 (Thursday 3rd Mar)
I can’t believe I’ve been here a month today, it’s crazy! England feels a million miles away, but it feels like I’ve just arrived. I woke up this morning feeling much better. Lynsey gave me a lift to GB, I can’t wait to get a car back so I’m not relying on other people all the time and stranded on a different compound to everyone I know.
I taught three lessons which were phonics, reading and writing. To my delight Daniel is still at GB, and I think he’s staying. My favourite boy (not that I’m allowed favourites) has gone back to Gyero. It’s the boy who’s not very well, Mathew. It’s great for him, and he is in the class I teach at Gyero so I will see him there. I took my camera with me and took lots of pictures of GB. It was really difficult to take natural pictures because they were all desperate to have their picture taken so pushed each other out of the way and jumped in front of the camera. They love having their picture taken and I’m happy with a couple of the pictures.
Later on I did some discipleship with the boys. Abi came with Angie, Noah and her “friend” Jabez. Jabez played the guitar and sung some songs with them which they loved.
On the way home we stopped at the shop to buy some food. I don’t buy the argument that you get what you pay for, so when faced with the option of ₦60 (25p) or ₦250 (£1.05) biscuits, I went for the ₦60 ones. They are made in Jos just down the road from us and I thought what can go wrong. When I opened them they were completely broken (how hard is it to transport something a mile down the road?), and tasted like stale Asda smart price dog biscuits. (Not that I’ve tried them, but it’s how I imagine they would taste. The moral of the story is definitely to spend ₦250 on my biscuits next time.
I spent the evening sorting out and editing some of my pictures from the day. I started writing my first prayer letter which I hope to send out soon. If you’re not on my mailing list, ie. Haven’t received any emails from me, you can join by sending me an email to pray4neil@live.co.uk
Hi Neil, Photos are great! Hope you have car back now :)
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