EmilyinNigeria

Petrol at £4 a litre?

2012-01-11T16:33:00.000+01:00

I left Nigeria less than two months ago and am still very aware of contrasts between Britain and Nigeria, so I know that in Britain overnight, the night being 31st December 2011, train fares increased by 10%, I also know that petrol in Nigeria went up from 65 Naria to around 145 Naria, around 28p up to around 60p.

This is because the government removed the subsidy, but what does this mean to the average Nigerian? When I was in Nigeria my bus fare to work was NGN30 (about 12p), sometimes depending on the mood of the conductor, the weather, the demand for transport it would be NGN40, I just paid without arguing my salary being around NGN1000 daily. Many people didn't get on the bus, they chose to wait for another vehicle or walk, I'd like to know what the bus fare is now.

Petrol in Nigeria doesn't just provide transport of course, it provides electricity, I monitored our electricity at work for one month, 3% of the time it came from the mains, the rest of the time from one of two generators, one fuelled by diesel and one by petrol. Many homes and businesses rely on a small petrol generator for electricity.

Nigeria is the sixth largest oil nation in the world, with the 37th biggest economy, and the 121st poorest people, I think the subsidy is seen as the only thing Nigerians get from their government. Read my earlier post about this Jesus Wept.

I get frustrated that Nigerian's don't protest more and hold their government and religious leaders to account, there again I am not Nigerian, and don't have recent memories of military rule, or current realities of a very hierarchical society.

I have heard it said that Nigeria politicians are the richest in the world, (perhaps that's why its worth cheating) here are some facts? shamelessly stolen from an internet blog, and re-posted all over the internet including here

Nigeria

1. The American President has only 2 aircraft, our president has 9 in his fleet and voted money recently to buy 1 more!

2. The British prime Minister has only 2 official cars, our president has 23 in his pool and only recently voted 300m naira to buy 2 more bullet/bomb proof ones!

3. Senators in the US earn about $6,000 dollars monthly and that's about what a university professor, or a director in a state department, or a doctor with 20years experience, or a teacher with 25years experience earn too.

In Nigeria a senator earns 245million Naira per annum! Representing the salaries of 25 vice chancellors, or 50 medical doctors, or 60 directors, or 500 school teachers!

4. The US, almost the size of Africa with about 500million people have 24 ministers, and 32 govt parastatals and commissions.

Nigeria has 42 cabinet ministers, and over 50 government parastatals!

5. America with about 500million people and more mileage to drive consumes 39 million litres of petrol daily, Nigeria with 150 million people 60% out of which live in remote areas, yet our government tells us we consume about 35million liters of petroldaily!

Electricity, water and plastic money

2011-11-26T12:22:00.001+01:00

Last Tuesday morning I got a phone call, which led me to jump on a plane in a hurry, and arrive in the UK. VSO of course don't encourage this kind of behaviour they focus on "preparing for change" when leaving or returning to your home country, although they and my Nigerian colleagues were very supportive in getting me home on this occasion.

So here are some comments on things that have surprised me on my sudden re-immersion into UK life.

Electricity - it hasn't gone off once since I have been back, now 9 days, and I have not come across a noisy smelly generator. I notice this mostly when I find myself thinking that I should charge my mobile while the power is on!
Water - when I need to brush my teeth, I wonder where to find drinking water, actually it comes out of the tap.
Plastic money - after 21 months of living in a cash only society, I have rediscovered a plastic card and a secret number, unfortunately I seem to forget it still has to be paid for!
Shops - in particular supermarkets and Boots the chemist, there is so much variety of apparently identical products, a whole aisle full of hair dye for example, a bit different to a recent trip to a shop in Nigeria that only sold make-up, when I told them I was looking for lipstick they said they were out of stock!

Happy Birthday Nigeria 51 today!

2011-10-01T20:53:00.000+01:00

Today Nigeria is 51, this time last year I was in a crowd of Nigerians in Eagle Square in Abuja, who were proud of their country and their President; and hopeful for the future, with an election looming. That day however there was a terrorist attack on Abuja resulting in a number of fatalities, MEND the Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta claimed responsibility.

The following day, I went to a Jubilee service at the National Christian Centre where the President spoke, again a great sense of hope for the times ahead.

12 months on, the election took place in April and was claimed by national and international bodies to be the freest and fairest election ever in Nigeria, but nobody said it was the most peaceful; widespread violence and rioting followed particularly in a number of cities in the North.

When I came to Nigeria, I was told Abuja is safe, if there is ever trouble and volunteers are at risk, they are taken to Abuja while things calm down; unfortunately this no longer seems to be the case. The UN building was bombed in August, causing 23 deaths, in June the Police Headquarters. This time the group claiming responsibility is Boko Haram, which means Western education is sin, they want Sharia Law to be imposed in the Northern States, and since the election have claimed responsibility for a large number of fatalities mostly in Maiduguiri, situated in Borno State, the Land of Peace, but most recently in Abuja.

So Nigeria has its new President, or elected President (Goodluck Jonathan was formerly Vice President and became President in 2010 following the death of the Late Yar’Adua), but it also has a lot of conflict, and I think a lot of impatience from Nigerians that the President is not doing enough to address it. I for one hope they will be patient and give Jonathan time, and that he will have the strength and wisdom to provide the leadership this country needs.

God bless Nigeria!

Climate Change - North and South

2011-09-03T21:55:00.000+01:00

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change defines an extreme weather event as an event that is rare at a particular place and time of year. The frequency of extreme weather events has already increased and is expected to increase further. Examples of extreme weather events are intense rainfall, and heat-waves. The UK has experienced extreme rainfall recently in Gloucester, Hull, Lake District as well as Bournemouth and Poole. There were around 2000 deaths in the UK as a result of the 2003 heat-wave.

Few British people have however died as a result of flooding, the Department of Health report – Health effects of climate change in the UK, 2008, states 8 deaths from flooding since 2001, it acknowledges an as yet undefined link to disease, indirect mortality, water-borne disease and mental health problems.

In Bournemouth, my home town, on Thursday 18^th August, a month's rain fell in six hours, resulting in wide spread flooding, disruption of services, water likely contaminated by waste and sewage pouring onto the streets, and the beach and no doubt for a few into their homes. My Nigerian colleagues were surprised that this could happen in the UK.

Source: Daily Mail

Then just eight days later, Friday 26^th August, heavy rain fell in Ibadan, buildings collapsed, bridges collapsed, a dam overflowed, whole families were swept away the death toll is now 120, the events of Bournemouth seem rather minor.

Source: BBC

Of course, I feel for those in Britain whose homes and gardens have been flooded, but they are alive. I also am angry about what happened in Ibadan, what is the difference, water is water after all?

I have discussed this irony with my colleagues, and I believe many things contribute to this circumstance.

1. Urban migration.

2. Poverty – resulting in poorly built buildings, ie people taking short-cuts

3. Lack of planning – and ability to just put up a building anywhere (bear in mind Ibadan is an enormous densely populated city not a village)

4. Poor infrastructure and enforcement – therefore lack of implementation of building regulations etc

5. Blocked drains – plastic, rubbish, what a terrible thing to lead to loss of life.

6. Corruption of course, contributes to all the above.

This is not an attack on Oyo State government, more an observation, in their defence Ibadan is an enormous city that I imagine is experiencing rapid population growth and inward migration from surrounding rural areas.

Oyo State government are apparently taking action to clear drains, and properties that have been built in places that water should flow. Nationally and in Lagos, the organisation I am working for NEST is supporting government to develop Adaptation Strategies.

Sources

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14735726

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14774793

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2027453/UK-flash-floods-Dorset-monsoon-Bournemouth-coast-gets-fortnights-rain-30-MINS.html

Jesus wept

2011-08-28T09:48:00.000+01:00

Last week as I sat in car on a journey to the Sunshine State, I was driven at speeds of up to 140kmph by a Nigerian, who maybe thought he was invincible along roads with the usual obstacles of potholes, goats, children, motorbikes and oncoming traffic. As I admired the beautiful greenery, of bananas, palms, and mountainous countryside I pondered this rich poor country and I remembered that Jesus wept.

He wept over Jerusalem, and I am sure he is weeping over Nigeria, this country that is full of joy, laughter, noise, vibrancy, enthusiasm, and poverty, this country of potential and poverty, this country where the happiest people in the world live, you don’t have to have Jesus’ compassion to weep over Nigeria.

Nigeria is rumoured to have the highest paid politicians in the world, at least some of whom have private jets, it is the sixth largest exporter of oil, the most populous country of black people, has the 37^th largest economy, and hopes to be in the top 20 economies by 2020.

Who would wish the burden of oil on a country, one of Nigeria’s poorest areas is known to be the Delta, which has for years experienced pollution as a result of the oil trade, a recent UN report ordered a clean up by Shell. Meanwhile this oil rich country has almost no electricity, with only around 40% of people having access to electricity, even those who do have electricity rarely see it, today I have had none for example – in fact official reports describe Nigeria’s electricity supply as “epileptic.”

A quick look at Nigeria’s Millennium Development Goal report 2010, reveals some harsh facts

· In 2004, 54.4% of people lived on under $1 a day

· In 2008, 23.1% of children were underweight

· In 2008, 88.8% of children were enrolled in primary education, but only between 2 and 98% completed depending on the State.

Nigeria also recently earned a new “claim to fame” as the second worse place in the world to be pregnant. The MDG report states an under-five mortality rate of 157 per 1000 live births and a maternal mortality rate of 750 per 100,000 births.

As if all this wasn’t bad enough, since the election Boko Haram, allegedly responsible for Friday’s bombing in Abuja, have carried out a number of fatal bombings of police stations, markets and churches in their campaign for adoption of Islamic Law in the Northern States.

Sometimes I wish Nigeria’s people would stop being happy, and hold both their political and religious leaders to account, surely if the people in Nigeria are the 25^th poorest in the world, but the economy is the 37^th largest, something is wrong?

Jesus is weeping and so am I

Some facts above from this interesting article

Nigeria: Rich country, poor people

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/nigeria-rich-country-poor-people/96703/

OD - Happy Day!

2011-08-23T09:26:00.000+01:00

Having promised to tell you more about my work, today I found a message in my inbox from the Chair of the Board congratulating me on leading the Organisational Development plan, saying it is comprehensive, readable, practical and the organisation will do all it can to implement it!

It has not been easy, actually the doing it wasn't very difficult, the hardest thing was getting the right people together for long enough to discuss it, come up with ideas and make decisions. The right people being people who were committed and stayed in the meeting room for the duration of the meeting. They all came with their mobile phones which they also attended to throughout the meetings, but this is Nigeria, I'm getting used to it slowly, at least they didn't bring their laptops and browse or their newspapers and read, which is also common practice in meetings in Nigeria. Apparently you don't listen with your eyes so you can read the paper and listen at the same time, however I doubt they would do it with their father, or their pastor!

Lagos - Perceptions and Reality

2011-08-22T02:03:00.000+01:00

Before I came to Nigeria, I was scared of it, and even more scared of Lagos. If you are wondering why I am surprised, Nigeria has a reputation for it seems all things bad: crime, corruption, armed robbery, juju, 419 and email scams. My grandmother told me some friends of hers spent 20 years in Nigeria and hated every minute of it, now I was a little dubious, they could have just flown home! Another friend who did some consultancy work here told me that she was met at the airport in Lagos by a driver, and an armed guard, somebody else told me not to come at all. So now I have been to Lagos three times and I rather like it!

So after all these dire warnings I was glad that I was flying into Abuja, a long way from Lagos, and that apart from the intense heat, February is not a good time of year to move from Bournemouth to Abuja, I found Nigeria was surprisingly normal, I could for example walk along the street and use public transport, without the need of an armed guard! However even in Abuja the tales of Lagos continued to be off-putting, you could waste the whole day in a traffic jam, or go-slow as Nigerians call them, another friend told me she took a UK visitor to a big market in Lagos and she was totally overwhelmed.

So after moving to Ibadan, a mere 128km from Lagos, I finally ventured to Lagos to visit Mike, a British volunteer who is based there. My journey was a classic example of Nigerian hospitality; first I caught a shared taxi to Iwo Road, a major transport hub in Ibadan. I asked a fellow passenger to help me find transport to Lagos. She did, found the vehicle, negotiated the fare, and arranged for someone on the same bus to make sure I got off at the right stop and found connecting local transport.

Note the bus stop with canopy and name!

One thing that struck me immediately in Lagos were bus lanes, and formal bus stops, almost like a tram or railway station, bus tickets, and buses with destinations on the front. Na wa o! This is the BRT or Bus Rapid Transit System brought in by Fashola, the Lagos State Governor who has just been re-elected for his second term. His campaign slogan was “Lagos is working, Fashola is working”. Sceptics say it is in the second term you find out if politicians are genuine; currently they can only serve two terms so in the second term they can steal the money!

Lagos is working, Fashola is working

I should add a word of warning here, although I have been from Lagos Mainland onto Lagos Island on a BRT bus and not wasted a whole day in a go-slow, I have only done this journey at the weekend, I cannot vouch for weekdays, when apparently traffic and go-slows are still a big problem!

On my second trip to Lagos, I went to the airport to see off to VSO volunteers and to a wedding, which I have written about here.

On the BRT bus

My third trip to Lagos was just last week, I travelled on Thursday to attend a meal with Lagos volunteers and VSO staff, in particular the new Country Director. The meal was great but we met at 5, and poor Abdul sat politely with us, until sundown around 7, before he could eat (its Ramadam)! But another reality check, by around 7:30 some of my fellow volunteers started worrying about getting home safely! Murugan said there were often armed robberies in go-slows at night, Clementina and Rebecca didn’t feel safe it the area they lived in, Mike and I were living the closest but he still said we should really be back by 8pm!

We arrived safely in Mike’s neighbourhood, Mike playing the great host had stocked his fridge with beer and we sat up talking till late.

So on Saturday, I saw another side of Lagos, the one for the rich and privileged, Victoria Island and Bar Beach. Like a true Brit I paddled in the sea and ate fish and chips, before going off to see Thessa at 1004 estate, see below!

Of course I had to paddle!

To me Lagos is an example of how good leadership can make a difference, Nigeria is an enormous country with big challenges, but it seems that Fashola has really managed to change Lagos, a recent (2008) guidebook makes Lagos sound terrifying, it has clearly changed and other States should learn from what has worked.

Fish and chips Nigerian style

However it is an enormous densely populated city, with a population of between 8 and 17 million depending on which report you read, and of course it still has many problems including poverty, crime and climate change. Recently heavy rain caused widespread flooding and a State of Emergency was announced, around 25 lives were lost, a clear example of the challenges that will get worse as climate continues to change.

More Lagos pics

And then the doors closed...

2011-08-20T19:57:00.000+01:00

Last Saturday I got in a lift, and pressed number 6, as the doors closed I panicked a little and questioned my sanity. I can’t even remember when I was last in a lift. If you have ever been stuck in a lift or lived in a country where electricity may disappear instantly you will I am sure understand where I am coming from.

But there was no problem, I arrived at the sixth floor and visited my friends Thessa and Bash, who have just moved into the famous 1004 estate in Lagos, and very nice it was too! I didn’t “snap” the inside but here are some views from the window.

Apparently when the government was based in Lagos, Senators stayed in this estate and it was notorious for having no water or electricity and generally not functioning. Thessa pointed to the enormous power plant that is feeding the complex, so it is safe to get in the lift at least for now.

So after spending a couple of hours, I left via the lift!

Last time I saw a lift was in June, I was staying in a very nice hotel in Abuja, I was only on the first floor so didn’t take such a dangerous risk! That hotel had very good electricity but it wasn’t constant, there was at least a few seconds gap between NEPA (grid electricity) and gen (generator).

My Work

2011-08-19T21:59:00.000+01:00

I realise I haven’t written much about my work, maybe because it feels like it is taking me such a long time to achieve anything. Anyway here goes:

NEST stands for Nigeria Environment Study Action Team, it is situated on Awolowo Avenue, in a lovely house as you will see.

My official role is Climate Change Technical Writer, NEST is implementing a 5 year project and in the final writing up stage of lots of reports that will be read at national level and beyond.

The project is called Building Nigeria’s Response to Climate Change (BNRCC). It aims to enhance Nigeria’s ability to achieve equitable sustainable poverty reduction through more effective governance: by developing policy – a national climate change adaptation strategy and building capacity of government civil society, individuals and networks. It is doing this by working on socioeconomic research into the impacts of climate change, scenario development, and pilot project adaptation projects which feed into policy and communications work.

So now in English!

I think this project is really exciting, it has done some great things, made two documentaries about climate change in Nigeria, and worked with vulnerable communities to help them to adapt to climate change, and helped to take the learning from these communities to national government level. The adaptation strategy National Adaptation Strategy and Plan of Action for Climate Change in Nigeria, is in its final stages, and NEST are working with Federal Ministers to get it finalised and approved.

I have been involved in writing some Executive Summaries of the Pilot Projects so will shortly post a few highlights in order to give you a feel for what is really happening in Nigeria as a result of climate change. You can watch the videos here

http://www.nigeriaclimatechange.org/

So I have five things to do at NEST

1. Support writing for final reports from BNRCC

2. Lead NEST Organisational Development process

3. Conduct an Energy Audit

4. Support proposal writing

5. BNRCC programme evaluation

I’m busy, will give you an update on each of the above shortly!

PS I do have some colleagues, but don't want to post their pictures without their permission!

NEST Organisational Development Plan - almost there

2011-08-16T14:26:00.000+01:00

About a month ago I wrote about the challenges of getting from an OD assessment to an OD plan, and how I had just had a week of useful meetings with a small team, but was worried about the next stage.

Well the next stage was good, feedback on the plan was generally supportive, and it is now very close to being finalised.

It sets out a plan of action between now and Dec 2012, of building the capacity of NEST. The main aims are a new strategic plan, which I will lead, fundraising, HR and IT, all of which require external support. This may be provided by future VSO placements.

Last week I also completed six months at NEST and had to report to VSO on whether I had build capacity of individuals or the organisation. I asked my colleagues, those involved in the OD planning meetings all said that I had built their capacity by improving their knowledge of concepts, increased confidence and team-building skills.

Being a professional

2011-08-01T19:22:00.000+01:00

Earlier today I wrote a blog post, about feeling very small against the big hierarchy that is Nigeria, about how an incident had made me feel, and that depite the fact that I could see that the incident was culturally normal, I was struggling not to take it personally, and felt rejected and undermined.
I know that one of my weaknesses is a tendency to take things too personally, even when I can see the rational argument of why something is as it is. I hope I am improving.

I wrote the post very carefully considering who may read it, my blog is very easy to find, even by mistake, and at first was happy that it was an objective report of the incident, and it didn't matter who read it. I liked what I wrote it and considered it honest and personal but objective. However on reflection, and an email from a friend, thank you, you know who you are, I changed my mind and removed it.

So I won't display it here, but the jist of it is here, sometimes in another culture, things happen that may be normal in that culture, but to me are not. Sometimes these things are a challenge, and rather than accepting them as normal, I take them as a personal attack on myself, very unprofessional!

Where are all the children?

2011-07-22T23:10:00.000+01:00

Today was a good day, in this case because I chose to speak honestly, this is what happened.

As I was walking to meet one of my colleagues for a drink, I looked at the children I passed on the way; busy washing clothes, fetching water, or trading, and realised I really miss seeing children being children, to me that means being safe, protected, having fun, not being self-conscious and enjoying their innocence while it lasts.

When I met my colleague, for a drink or two, I mentioned that now I have been there nearly six months, I have to report on my progress and whether I have built capacity of individuals or the organisation. Now I know I have done lots of small small things, but I didn’t expect anyone to notice them, but he responded that I had built his capacity.

Then I went home, but popped out to my “corner shop” and perhaps emboldened by two beers, told the mama, despite the fact that two of her children aged around 7 and 12 were there, that Nigeria was making me sad because I didn’t see children having fun! She said it was true, but they do have fun at Christmas, Easter and Eid. The younger one then told me that she had had fun yesterday at her end of term party. Somehow this “risky” conversation turned into a much deeper one, about what all their names were and what they meant, and did I know Sarah? Sarah was here two years ago, but I knew her when I was in Abuja, so I said yes, I was in email contact and tomorrow I would come with a camera and “snap” them and send it to Sarah.

Then when I got home, thanks to the internet, I managed to chat with my good friend Irma, I’m not sure when we last spoke but it’s certainly not since I left the UK early in 2010, I last saw her about a year previously. Irma is a very great long term friend, but there is an extra connection, her husband Okey is Nigerian, and therefore their children part-Nigerian, but based in the Netherlands! For me chatting to a friend at the end of the day, particularly a long term friend, with an extra special interest in Nigeria was as the British would call “the icing on the cake!”

More rain

2011-07-21T17:13:00.000+01:00

In yesterday's post, I mentioned that the road near my office often floods when it rained, so today, much to my surprise, it only rained gently for a couple of hours, it flooded, and I got some good pictures, enjoy!

Don’t go out there, it’s raining!

2011-07-20T22:09:00.000+01:00

When I was first in Ibadan and still staying at the luxury Davies Hotel, one evening Abdul, a member of VSO staff was also staying there, and I had arranged to go and visit Karen and Brent (former volunteers), it was their last evening in Ibadan. We met at reception as arranged but when we got to the door we found torrential rain. Like a true Brit, I said, “wait I’ll fetch my umbrella”, I did, but Abdul persuaded me that we couldn’t go. If I had been alone I probably, would have tried, and got drenched waiting for public transport that never came, and would have either been forced to take an okada (motorbike taxi) and get wetter in the process, or to give up!

Since then there has been heavy rain while I have been at work, fortunately this has stopped by the time I had to leave, but on a number of occasions it has left the nearby river flowing over the road instead of under it, with cars forced to turn around, and people wading through. Fortunately I live in the opposite direction.

On Sunday, I was enjoying an Indian meal at a fine hotel, two bus / taxi rides away from my house, it was only when we came to leave that we realised it was raining, it was also already around 8pm so pitch dark. Four of us ventured to the main road where we hoped to find a taxi, at one point ankle deep water was flowing across the road.

We found a taxi going to Mokola or roundabout, a central location in Ibadan, from here we were due to go in different directions me to UI, and them to Bodija. I was busy negotiating for the guy to take us all the way home, my fellow passengers were complaining, it’s too expensive we’ll just get another shared taxi, look out of the window I said do you want to step out into that lake, don’t worry about the money! They agreed.

It’s hard to describe it now, but it was hairy, I know that cars can get stuck, float away, and people can get carried away by fast flowing water, and of course, you don’t know what is under the water, or in the water, and it was dark!

Eventually we got home safely, and I paid the driver and entered my dry house, washed myself with running water, and was able to enjoy electricity. It made me realise how heavy rain can be dangerous, disruptive, or just unpleasant, and if I like most people, was unable to pay extra, I could have been stranded in pouring rain until the next morning.

The Educated Elite of Ibadan

2011-07-14T19:25:00.000+01:00

Three times in the last couple of months I have flown between Ibadan and Abuja. Ibadan, is famous for its university, the University of Ibadan, the oldest university in West Africa and locally known as UI, which I must say is a much better name than UNIBAD! Most Nigerian universities are known as UNI...., it took me a while to realise that UNILAG was not a universal pipe lagging material, and UNIMAID, I thought must be something to do with milk! Actually they are University of Lagos and University of Maiduguri.

Anyway back to my story, Ibadan is a big city, an endless sprawl, I’ve no idea of the population, but I have read of 2 million and of 5 million. Many people daily must travel between Ibadan and Abuja, but only a few go my air.

There are two flights on weekdays, one on Saturday and none on Sunday, some planes carry 30 and some 50, its advisable to book in advance and the single fair is ₦18,000 for Overland, and ₦21,000 for Associated (about £80), I am told that both these airlines have a poor safety record, but I’m sure it is many times safer than going by road. (90% of Nigerians live on less than $2, approx ₦300, so to fly would be 60 days of income, even for me as a VSO volunteer it would be two weeks of income, I only fly when somebody else is paying!)

So both flights leave Ibadan at around 8am, and as I sit in the airport waiting, the atmosphere is a bit like a university common room, or a school reunion, except Nigerians respect hierarchy and titles and you hear people greeting each other, “Good Morning Prof, Good Morning Doc etc”.

Waiting at Abuja airport, with passengers flying all over the country, it is less easy to identify the educated elite of Ibadan, although traditional Yoruba dress of lace, embroidery and funny hats, is always a clue. When flying in this direction it is only as I board the plane that I hear the academic greetings.

Change catalyst???

2011-07-08T23:14:00.000+01:00

One of the hardest things about being a VSO volunteer is that your aim is to facilitate change, and change is hard! However during the last five days I feel like I have achieved more professionally than the whole time I have been in Nigeria, around 16 months. I am very realistic change is challenging and who knows what is around the corner, so I want to post this before I find out!

Part of my role at NEST is “Organisational Development Advisor”, or OD. OD is helping an organisation to assess its strengths and weaknesses and make a plan for developing itself, VSO is interested in this as it works through partner organisations, and VSO can more effectively reach its vision of a world without poverty, if the partners it works with have improved capacity.

During my first week at NEST, I co-facilitated an OD workshop, over two days around 20 people, comprising staff, board members and partners, assessed NEST according to about 50 indicators, and made suggestions for improvement. These indicators covered a range of “capacity areas” such as Strategy and Vision, Board of Trustees, Management, Human Resources, Finance, IT.

I sensed a sense of excitement to how NEST could improve and a commitment to make it happen. It was my job to write a report of the workshop and lead the development of a work-plan. The report was fine; I could do that alone, but then the work-plan....

Reality was trying to get a small group of people together to turn the findings from the assessment into a plan of action. Although I was the lead on this it needed to be done in participation with staff, or it was likely to be irrelevant, and with no staff ownership, and confined to the filing cabinet.

We started with a mix of “big people” and “little people”, but getting the “big people” in one room and focussed on the task was a challenge, so I got permission from the “big people” to work with the “little people” to come up with a draft. Then I found that “little people” are also difficult to get in a room because “big people” send “little people” on errands. I became more and more frustrated and got fed up with OD.

Then I was in Abuja for a meeting, and I was chatting with a former Executive Director of NEST, who had been at the OD Workshop, he commended me on the report, and said, “if NEST implement everything in that report, NEST will go far”. He got me thinking so what is stopping me, how do I make it happen. The following day there was a board meeting, so I asked the chair of the Board if I could make a presentation about the OD process, he agreed.

In my presentation, I tried to give members of the board, (some of whom were present at the OD workshop) a sense of the possible future for NEST, and to build ownership to the process, but I told them I was stuck, that the land of milk and honey had been spied, but there were giants in the way, and we didn’t want to wander in the desert for 40 years. (Numbers 13 ff). They asked me what I wanted, so I said I wanted my small team for 2 hours a day for a week. I got it.

So last week, Monday to Thursday, 4 of us developed a Draft Work Plan, and I think its good, and I think that the four of us worked hard, are committed and motivated to make it happen. Let’s see what comes next!

Give me something

2011-06-25T16:11:00.000+01:00

There is a perception that because I am white I must be rich, and therefore I ought to share my riches, this means I frequently am asked to “give me something”. Mostly I ignore it or laugh it off, but sometimes it really gets to me.

There is a lady in my street, who sells traditional medicine, almost every day when I come home she says “White, what have you brought for me?” She has two lovely daughters, aged around 7 or 8, who never ask me for anything. One evening after dark I met one of her daughters crying in the street, when I asked what was wrong she said she had dropped Naira 50. Clearly she had been sent on an errand and was dreading what her punishment would be. I gave her Naira 50, wondering if this would be the beginning of a problem, but nothing has changed the daughter continues to greet me happily not demanding anything.

One day, when I was with my friend Rebecca a fellow Brit, a boy aged around 13 or 14 and carrying a biro, or BIC approached me and said “give me something”. Our conversation progressed as follows:

Me: “no, you give me something, how about that pen?”

Him: “but I only just bought it, give me something”,

Me: Why don’t you ask them (various wealthy looking people) to give you something?

Him: because they are not white

Me: did someone tell you that you should ask white people for things?

Him: Yes, my teacher

Me: My teacher told me to ask black people to give me things, so give me something

At this point he walked off. Rebecca was trying not to laugh, and asked me which teacher had told me, I replied Geography when we were learning about the world!

A few weeks ago, close to my house the children asked me for moto, (I assumed this meant motor, ie car), since they are all far too young to drive, I jokingly counted seven children and promised seven cars. I forgot that sarcasm in humour is a purely British thing, now the mother is asking me when I am bringing the motos?! I told her when I married a rich Nigerian I’d be able to afford it!

I mentioned this to a colleague today, she said maybe they meant toy cars, I’ve never seen one in Nigeria so I didn’t think of that, perhaps I’d better go and look for some, or will I just reinforce the stereotype that you can ask white people for things because they are rich?

Take me to your country

2011-06-23T15:43:00.000+01:00

Take me to your country, is a phrase I hear too often for my liking, sometimes I make a joke of it, but often I ask them why, what do they know about my country and why do they want to go there? Often I find they don't even know which country I am from, but all the same they assume that it is a land of riches, and once there, their problems will be over.

Yesterday, someone from our Internet Service Provider was in the office, he complained that I hadn't accepted his facebook request, so I clicked on it to find he was "in a relationship with" the name and photo provided. He even bragged about her beauty, so I wandered why he was so worried about my facebook friendship.

He then started telling me how he wanted to go to Canada, when I asked him why, he said because it was quiet there. Now that makes sense, Nigeria is a noisy place and has a population of around 150 million people. However he went on to tell me that he needed an invitation to Canada, so I said he'd better ask a Canadian.

Then it became clear that he thought I was a Canadian, I told him I'd never been to Canada, he said but you are still a Canadian, you can still invite me! I'm still not sure if he believes that I am not Canadian!

My first Nigerian wedding

2011-06-09T09:47:00.003+01:00

My friend and former colleague Hamzy, invited me to a wedding; in true African style I had never met the Bride or the Groom but I had met Ismail one of the groom’s brothers. The wedding was in Lagos so I went with Mike, a Lagos based VSO volunteer, and had a wonderful day thanks to Hamzy and Ismail’s family going out of their way to make us welcome and include us in this special day.

Me and Hamzy

All I knew from Hamzy was that the wedding was in Lagos, and it was on Sunday 29th May. So off I went to Lagos, (since this coincided with the day of the Presidential Inauguration the VSO security advice was to “lie low” whatever that means). The previous day, Hamzy texted me the address of the wedding and told me it started at 9am! I said are you serious Hamzy, 9am, he said yes don’t be late. Mike and I decided to leave his house at 9am and aim to arrive at 10

10 o'clock!

Now we get the programme it says start at 10am, not 9 Hamzy!

Bride

When we finally got the programmes we saw that the official start time was 10am, my learning from this is to arrive at least 90 minutes late to weddings in future.

Groom

So the wedding was an Islamic and Yoruba wedding, my second Islamic wedding and first Nigerian wedding. The Islamic bit was first and to my surprise a lot of the audience / congregation or whatever the term is were chatting while the Imam was officiating, even the Imam received a call on his mobile during the ceremony.


Imam

Then the Yoruba part, first a change of dress into rather grand costumes, then we (I have become a friend of the bridegroom) had to dance our way into the ceremony. During this we had to produce a lot of money, in fact the whole currency, ie one of every Nigerian note, (fortunately the highest note is Naira 1000, about GBP 4, there are no coins) Mike had a few US dollars which helped. (Being a wedding guest is expensive in Nigeria – go with lots of money!)


Groom and mother dancing

Lots of Naira

Eventually after dancing a lot and providing the whole currency we “made it” into the room where the groom and his male friends had to beg the bride’s family for the bride.

Then greeting the groom’s family and seeking marital blessings!

Well it looks like it worked as here they are together.

Happy couple

It was wonderful to be a part of this, and to be appreciated for being a part of it. I had phone calls from Hamzy and Ismail afterwards thanking us. A little insight into another culture, and I now know how to dance like a Yoruba man!

So thank you, Hamzy, Ismail and family, and thank you Nigeria!

More photos here

Election fever - free, fair and fatal

2011-06-06T09:06:00.000+01:00

When VSO asked us to stay inside during all three voting days, and on the days that results were announced, I thought they were being over-cautious but my Nigerian colleagues did not! It turned out that every voting day between 8am and 4pm, there were “movement restrictions”, people being supposed to travel only on foot, and only with the purpose of voting. This was to reduce the possibility of anybody interfering with the voting process, by intimidation, persuasion, or other means.

Voting is time consuming, despite already being registered voters had to turn up for “accreditation” and then wait to cast their vote. They were also encouraged to stay around until the end of voting and witness the count, which was to be posted at each voting post.

Generally the elections have been commended by national and international observers as free and fair, although there have been “isolated” cases of rigging and stuffing. Stuffing – is a term applied to stealing ballot boxes and “stuffing” them with votes, using ballot papers of voters who didn’t show up to vote. There were also a number of bombings and fatalities: of the INEC (electoral commission office) and several in Maiduguri. My colleagues said “they gave their lives for democracy”.

Nigeria only emerged from a military government in 1999, the President “elected” then was a former military dictator, he was re-elected in 2003. In 2007 the late Yar’Adua was elected, and succeeded by his Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan last year, who has now in 2011 been elected President.

All was well (ish) until the outcome of the presidential election, after which riots erupted in the North, leaving around 800 dead and displacing around 50,000. A quick look at the map below helps to explain why. (Map from BBC website read more here) Apparently the trouble began in Katsina, when people already celebrating the supposed victory of Buhari, heard the news that Jonathan had been elected and assumed that the election had been rigged, not in their favour. To give some context this country is enormous, and is massively divided between rich and poor, Islam and Christianity, 250 ethnic groups and 500 languages. And of course these many groups did not chose to become a country, like most of Africa, the country Nigeria is a result of colonialism. The practice of gaining control over other countries and ocuppying them with settlers, (Oxford English Dictionary)

Source BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12893448

Three large cities in the North, (all of which I have visited) Kano, Kaduna and Kafanchan were affected. Here are two stories of people affected.

xxxx, originally from Lagos (in the South) was in his house, when people came to the door and asked him if he was a Christian or a Muslim, fortunately for him, they were looking for Muslims. They made him recite the Lord’s Prayer to prove his Christianity, and killed his Muslim friends in front of him. He fled hiding in the bush, until he could fly out of the area. Unsurprising he has now resigned his job in the North.

Kim a volunteer, based in Kafanchan, was out of the country at the time. She lives in Kagoro, the market was burnt down, now there are two markets one for Christians and one for Muslims

Clearly many people were involved in this violence, some say it was orchestrated, whether or not it was, people took part in widespread violence and murder. After the Rwanda genocide, I came to the inclusion that in the right circumstances anybody could become a murder, these circumstances could be fear, hunger, anger, ...... In Nigeria, 90% of people live on less than $2 a day, and 70% on less than $1 (that is not enough to live on, I tried $1.25 a day just for food for a week, I was hungry, you can read about it here). There is a lack of political leadership, and underlying tensions between ethnic groups...., maybe someone offers you money to take part, or threatens to kill you if you don't, what do you do...?

Ironically while all this was going on all was well in the South, I was reading War and Peace at the time, which recounts the insanity of a war between the Russian and the French, in the midst of it the “high society” continue their lives relatively normally.

So what next? – Well people try to get on with their lives, Kim, above is amazed by their tenacity – read here. VSO volunteers who were evacuated from those towns go back to their houses and jobs, and I have now experienced an African election. On a positive one of my Nigerian colleagues says that Nigeria is on a journey towards democracy and despite the violence and trouble things are getting better. I hope he is right.

The long silence

2011-06-01T08:26:00.001+01:00

I try to update my blog at least weekly, after my Mum telling me she gave up looking because it never changes, this has not been possible in the last couple of months. My laptop died, and thanks to a Dell warranty has now been resurrected. Dell actually sent their engineer to me, (from Lagos) to put a new motherboard in my computer, much to my amazement and relief, it took three weeks for this “Next Business Day” service to happen but at least it did.

In the meantime, I borrowed a desktop from work, which is OK, but with very limited electricity that can go off at any second, rather frustrating. A few times I borrowed my friend Rebecca’s tiny lap top, and I got a two week extension on my two assignments that were due for my MSc, submitted last Thursday.

So hopefully with work submitted at least for now, next deadline 4th July, and the scary prospect of having planned the next 16 months of my life away, (one of those two assignments was a proposal for my MSc dissertation, to be submitted in 16 months and estimated to take 600 hours) I will manage to blog a little, plenty to tell you about, watch this space!

How many Nigeirans does it take to change a lightbulb?

2011-05-08T20:30:00.000+01:00

This morning I went to buy a lightbulb and some akara, a delicious Sunday morning breakfast treat, basically deep fried beans, so healthy in a protein kind of way, but in Ibadan they don’t give you extra pepe like they did in Abuja, must remember to add some next time!

Anyway, my lightbulb was not in a “nylon” as Nigerians call plastic bags, but just loose in a box in my hand. So a neighbour asked me what I was going to do with it? I thought this a rather ridiculous question so I asked him what he thought I was going to do with it. To this he asked if I was an electrician, no I said but I do know how to change a lightbulb. He then told me that many Nigerian women do not!

This afternoon I met my British friend Rebecca, and over lunch at the lovely Kokodome, relayed the story, she told me that the Nigerian family where she stayed in Ife, called an electrician to change a lightbulb.

Now a word of caution, in Nigeria changing a lightbulb is different to changing one in the UK, for a start it happens more often. I have been in Ibadan, for four months, and only have four lightbulbs, I have bought and changed at least three lightbulbs in this time.

Much as its life is significantly shortened by the unreliable, surging power, so is the risky manoeveur of changing it greater, hence I am far more cautious I follow all the rules that I may be a little lax about at home; make sure the switch is off, my hands are dry, and wear shoes with rubber soles while I do it! A quick look at Nigerian wiring and you will see why!

Election Fever - POSTPONED!

2011-04-04T21:39:00.000+01:00

Having had strict advice from VSO not to leave the house for all voting days; on Friday, I made sure I had plenty of things to eat and drink on Saturday and prepared for day one of “house arrest”!

I was very productive, pancakes for breakfast, mung beans cooked with coconut and chapattis for dinner, did my laundry, studied, watched two movies, but I began to understood the term “Cabin Fever”, which got worse when I found out the election had been postponed until Monday. However I thought I’d better not leave the house, unless VSO “released me” as there were rumours of trouble as people who were turned away from voting.

The election was postponed because the ballot papers had only arrived in the country at 9am on Saturday, polling booths were due to open at 8am. I fail to see why this couldn’t be announced on Friday, but one of my colleagues told me that it was to prevent allegations of fraud, or to stop trouble or some such.

So on Sunday, I had déjà vu of Friday, and prepared myself for another day of “house arrest”, for the Monday elections, only to be find out they were now to be held next Saturday. Both times I found out about the change of plan from friends postings on facebook, not from the BBC World Service which I listened to, VSO or the FCO travel advice to Nigeria.

To plan or not to plan, that is the question...

2011-04-04T21:22:00.000+01:00

Nigerians and I have a different attitude towards planning, and towards making plans public. I find this strange, but as my Dad would tell me its not strange its different!

Actually Dad now denies this is his phrase but I distinctly remember him telling me it as a child, I can’t remember what “it” was!

When I started work at NEST I suggested that we had some kind of shared calendar, so that we would all know the whereabouts of our colleagues. To me this is a useful planning tool; to my colleagues it clearly seemed to be like something all together different, police state or something. They protested that there really wasn’t a problem, when staff travel away from the office they always let others know of their whereabouts!

Many planning / not planning / not sharing examples took place last week

On Tuesday – colleague A was not in the office, when I asked where he was somebody thought he had gone to Abuja but they weren’t sure when he would be back.

On Wednesday – colleague B and I met to plan some work, we planned a meeting on Friday with colleague C who was due back in the office that day after 10 days of external meetings. I also wanted to meet him on Friday regarding a different project.

On Thursday – I was due to meet colleague D, he was out of the office all day, as another colleague (more important than me) had sent him on another task. I also found out that colleague C wouldn't be back on Friday when I had planned to meet him.

On Friday – the Governor of Oyo State, announced a public holiday, so that people could travel to vote the following day. Unfortunately I only had confirmation of this holiday at 7:30am, when I was about to leave for the office.

On Saturday – the President of INEC (the election commission) announced that that day’s elections would be postponed until Monday, as the ballot papers had not arrived in time.

On Sunday – the President of INEC announced that Monday’s elections would be postponed until the following Saturday to ensure that everyone gets a chance to vote.

Now I am sure behind each of these examples there is a good reason, perhaps because so many things are just outside of ones control, like an election being postponed, a public holiday being announced a big oga / boss telling you to drop everything and do something else.

Snappy Dressers

2011-03-28T15:57:00.000+01:00

One of the things I love about Nigeria is the variety of clothing that people can wear, men and women. These images from Jonathan's rally last Saturday, show some examples.

Jonathan's rally

Election Fever - a bike instead of a car

2011-03-28T15:49:00.000+01:00

Many years ago, I met a Kenyan who had spent some time in the UK and was there during a general election, he had been surprised how life went on as normal.

I am about to experience my first African election, there are three voting days, on 2^nd, 9^th and 16^th April, Parliamentary, Presidential and State governors and legislators.

Things are a little tense, before 1^st October, when there was a bombing during the Independence Day Celebrations; any violence in Nigeria was isolated, in specific points and linked to ethnic / religious issues. Since then there was another bombing at Abacha Barracks on New Years Eve, and MEND a group trying to get justice from oil companies for the people in the Delta have threatened to bomb strategic locations in the Niger Delta, Abuja and Lagos.

During January all the schools were closed, supposedly for voter registration, but others said it was to stop the schools being a focal point for violence.

Last week, we received a strongly worded email from VSO with their security plans, these are that we should not leave our houses for the three voting days, or on the day results are announced. If we feel unsafe we are to let VSO know and move somewhere safer. If VSO or our countries want us to evacuate we should proceed to Abuja. Hopefully of course apart from being “grounded” (yes they used that term) for four days, none of this will happen. However when I told my colleagues that VSO didn’t want us to leave the house all day, they thought it was very sensible advice, I was expecting them to tell me it was over cautious.

The other election advice we have been given, and have been being given for months, is to avoid crowded areas and talking about politics. So my first action to maintain my safety took place yesterday. I had just arrived back in Ibadan, after a weekend in Ife, and was at Iwo Road, a big junction full of traffic, traders, people begging, and the Ibadan Marathon was passing through. I walked off to get the first of two shared taxis home to be told there was “no road” (a Nigerian term used when a road is closed, in this case for the Marathon), I would have to take a motorbike, now I am quite scared of Ibadan traffic so I decided to take a taxi instead. Then as I sat in the taxi I realised I was in the middle of total grid lock, in a crowded area, in the part of town I had been warned could be prone to election violence. I got scared and decided I would after all be safer on a bike. So my first "keeping safe in the election action" was to take a bike instead of a car.

My new home

2011-03-20T21:53:00.002+01:00

More photos
I am now living in an area of Ibadan known as Bodija, and specifically JK Junction.

The street I live on is

although the address is

About 10 metres away is my nearest shop

And sometimes I think I live near a football stadium, (due to the noise)

When I want to study, actually go running I go to

"My sister lives in Arsenal State"

2011-03-19T19:57:00.000+01:00

Nigerians are mad about football, and most of them, well most of the men, follow a British Premiership team, so when the security guard at my new home, Johnson, found out I was from the UK, he told me his sister lives in Arsenal State.

I explained that Arsenal actually isn't a state, its the name of a football team, that used to be in Highbury and Islington, and is now somewhere else, and there are other famous football clubs in London such as Tottenham Hot Spurs, Crystal Palace, and another one?

So I promised to get him a map of the UK. I found one on line and printed it for him, and explained, England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, London is the capital city, along with showing him other places of footballing interest, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle.

Fortunately I came to Nigeria with a small atlas, so we spent some time looking at it together comparing country size, population and so on.

He asked me if he could borrow the atlas for a few days, of course I agreed. This morning when I woke up, late, (after being disturbed by people praying very loudly between 1 and 3am! - I am sure that is banned in the Bible!) I looked out of the window, to see him reading the atlas.

I know its a small thing, but it gave me a little warm glow, that I had enabled one person, to have a look at my little atlas, and maybe expanded his view of the world a little bit, until now the only thing I have seen him reading is the Bible.

Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story

2011-03-17T21:05:00.000+01:00

If you have a fast enough internet connection, have a look at this, a Nigerian speaks

http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html

Anticipating mangoes

2011-03-12T19:20:00.002+01:00

On Thursday evening, I was very excited to see a man carrying mangoes on his head, yes my first mango of the year, 150 Naira, (Abuja price!)

Making a difference in Nigeria?

2011-03-09T22:06:00.000+01:00

This isn't really a fresh post, but an article I wrote for the Friends of Nigeria newsletter, see page 4

I am soft and squiggy

2011-03-07T21:24:00.002+01:00

Yesterday my soft squiggy body spent 9 hours inside a hard metal box on wheels, in close proximity to many other hard metal boxes all moving in similar and opposite directions, at varying speeds.

The metal boxes were travelling on a surface with many obstacles: potholes, speed bumps, police check points, contraflows and drivers who think they are Bond.

Along the way there is evidence, of crushed, folded, distorted metal that were formally metal boxes on wheels and presumably were carrying soft squiggy people, this evidence however doesn’t persuade the drivers to behave less like Bond.

My physical health at least, in tact I arrived safely at my destination, and am no longer in a metal box, indeed I haven’t been in one all day.

So if you think the danger of Nigeria, is the risk of armed robbery, being kidnapped, catching a tropical disease, or food poisoning, these risks can be all but eliminated with the right precautions, but you cannot live in a country without travelling, and for me as for you, the most dangerous thing I do on a regular basis is get in a car.

Abandoned in Nigeria

2011-03-05T18:51:00.004+01:00

Twelve months ago last Sunday, I arrived in Abuja at 4 45am with Heather and Richard. We were the three Brits arriving with 15 VSOs from other countries. Last Sunday, Heather and Richard were my first visitors to my new home in Ibadan, on their way to Lagos, Benin, Togo, and Ghana for one last adventure before they go home.

So here we are after our final beer together, at TinTins my new local bar, they have now crossed the border and are no longer in Najia.

It should be noted that Rich is wearing Hausa clothes and a Yoruba hat, which I daresay is culturally inappropriate!

The Brits!

My Grand Tour of Northern Nigeria – rat survey

2011-02-24T19:55:00.014+01:00

Kaduna – rat no 1

Since my previous employer granted me an extra two weeks leave, I took the opportunity to see a bit more of the North, which now I am based in Ibadan, ten hours South of Abuja, is much more difficult.

Heather and a hat

I started by travelling to Kaduna, where I spent a few days with Heather, fortunately as I was leaving my house a fellow volunteer warned me that it was cold in Kaduna, and I grabbed a fleece. Wow was I pleased, I was sleeping in it, and wearing it on motorbikes, it was cold, according to the BBC website reaching 13°C at night. The reason it was so cold was because it was Harmattan, the name given for the season where sand blows south from the Sahara blocking out the warmth of the sun, it creates a hazy impression, see photo below, and a lot of dry skin, cracked feet, cracked lips, coughs sneezes and so on.

Sports ground in Harmattan dust

Anyway in Kaduna, rat no 1, made an appearance, it didn’t alarm me too much as when I saw it it was stationery, so it didn’t make me jump. Zippy the cat didn’t take too much notice either!

The view of the river from Sea Breeze

Heather’s local bar is called Sea Breeze, it must be at least 500km from the sea, but it does have a view of the river. Two other volunteers live close by just along Rat Alley, named due to the proliferation of rubbish and therefore rats. The river also floods in the rainy season, Heather had to move out in August because her road flooded, and no doubt the swamps that are left create a great breeding ground for malaria, which Heather has managed to contract six times in her 12 months in Nigeria. It is now my third year in a malaria zone, and so far I am unaffected, lucky me!

Dutse – rat no 2 and many ants

My next stop was in Dutse, the state capital of Jigawa state, where I visited Lucy, a British volunteer from Bournemouth and Lawrence a Ugandan. Jigawa state is very different from any other part of Nigeria I have seen, it was much hotter, and felt much quieter and more rural. Dutse the capital only has a population of 17,000 according to Wikipedia.

View from The Tower

It’s a challenging place to live, especially for a woman, you hardly see any women anywhere, and when you do they are well covered. Lucy really misses female company. It also got me thinking about whether religion is a choice or not, Lucy works at ESSPIN, Education State Sector Support Programme in Nigeria, which is UK funded. Although there are only around 10 staff a mosque is provided in the building, so I imagine if you are a Muslim man, the pressure to go to the mosque at the appropriate time, and to fast during Ramadam, is pretty high.

Emir's Palace

Lucy and Lawrence have some consolations though, a wonderful house, inside and out. Ensuite bathrooms, and the most amazing garden, and a mosque just outside, should they feel the need. There were a few disadvantages, here I saw rat no 2, boldly in broad daylight helping itself to the rubbish bin, at least this time it was in the garden not in the house, along with several thousand ants in Lucy’s bathroom, and the neighbouring mosque calling you to pray five times a day!

Lawrence in the secret garden

Dutse – means rocks and is surrounded by these rather beautiful rocks.

It wasn’t all relaxation while I was there, Lucy got me making resources for her Sangaya classes, she is training teachers to train the Almajiri boys. These boys are sent to be trained in the Quran, Lucy’s organisation is making sure they get at least some basic skills in English, Maths, Hausa (the local language) and Social Skills. You can read more at her blog here.

My hard work, hopefully now being used to teach Nigerian children

Kano – rat no 3 – fortunately a no show.

My next stop was at Kano, where I have been several times before, but I really wanted to go to Kurmi Market, (last time I went it was Friday afternoon, during an Islamic holiday everything was closed). The market is ancient, allegedly has been there for thousands of years, and traded slaves, now it is famous for all sorts of crafts, I bought a leather bag, it also sells blankets, and the traditional “dresses” for camels and horses.

Kano street view from the back of a bike

I got a lift to the market from Jusuf who works at the Dye Pits, on the way back he took me on the back of his bike down alley ways to see the tannery, crocodile and snakes skins were there along with goat. I even went to the museum, what a lot of culture!

Crocs!

I stayed with Abbe, a Ugandan volunteer and Beth, unfortunately Beth wasn’t there, she is in the UK on sick leave. Much to my relief I didn’t get to see their resident rat, which apparently is as big as a yam!
Zaria – no rats
I stopped in Zaria on my journey South from Kano, to take a look at the Emir’s Palace. I also learnt about the Queen of Zaria, who was a great warrior, and never married, but had a series of “temporary” husbands who were killed in the morning so that they didn’t tell tales.

Emir's Palace Zaria

I also visited Miriam, a Dutch volunteer at her workpace, which is a rehab unit for sufferers of HIV TB and leprosy, and is set in amazing scenery.

Miriam and a tree

Kagoro – rat no 4

My next stop was to visit Kim in Kagoro. I have been hearing how beautiful Kagoro is since I arrived in Nigeria, and how it has a mountain. So I was hoping to climb the mountain, unfortunately I didn’t get time, so it is still “calling” me!

Kagoro is a very small village, and probably the most rural place I have been in Nigeria, it was very quiet, mainly due to the lack of electricity, no microphones, music, calls to prayer, loud churches, cars “horning” there were of course cockerels and a rat.

Me and a mountain

Rat no 4, made its appearance when Kim and I were sitting chatting to the light of a paraffin lamp. We heard a pitter patter of running around the room, and yes it was a rat which we managed to chase around the house, but not to get rid of. It was definitely smaller than rats no 1 and 2, however Kim’s squeals definitely won the award.

We did go for a nice walk on Friday evening, but I didn’t get to climb the mountain as I left to go to Panyam on Saturday morning.

Panyam – no rats

My next trip was to Panyam, and I nearly didn’t make it, due to trouble in Jos. To travel between Kagoro and Panyam, I had the option of an eight hour journey changing several times or a two / three hour journey via Maraba-Jamaa. The question was how far is Maraba-Jamaa from Jos?

The reason for the question is that every since I have been in Nigeria VSO volunteers are banned from travelling to Jos, or within 10km of Jos. Anyway after much research, deciding Maraba-Jamaa was more than 10km from Jos, talking to local people etc I decided to make the journey.

The reason I am mentioning it here, is because the journey was fine, the scenery beautiful and if I hadn’t seen a number of military road blocks along the way and known that very recently there had been local killings (and more since) I would never have known. This got me thinking about how easily we distance ourselves from conflict, because we can’t take any more, or don’t know what to do about it, or because it is easier not to care. Anyway on a lighter note…

Dan and Stella in Panyam

I spent the weekend with Daniel, Stella and Joel, Kenyan volunteers and Mike, Canadian, relaxing, playing scrabble and cooking chapatis and of course eating them!

On my return to Abuja, again via Maraba-Jamaa, more military road blocks, no conflict, but we lost a wheel on the vehicle, see previous blog, perhaps another reality check, I am sure the number of deaths in Nigeria in road accidents greatly outweighs those from any kind of conflict, and is probably more easily prevented, wheel nuts for instance!

More photos

Finally the Christmas holiday blog post

2011-02-18T21:42:00.007+01:00

For those of you who have forgotten, Christmas occurred about two months ago, and while for you it was cold and snowy, for me it was hot and sweaty. I spent two weeks travelling in Nigeria and Cameroon, and will attempt to give you a summary below.

First to Obudu Cattle Ranch
The first part of my Christmas holiday involved seven of us, Beth a volunteer in Kano, and her man Dan, who visited from the UK, Heather from Kaduna, me, Richard from Lafia, Lucy (also from Bournemouth) who lives in Dutse, where she is seriously deprived of female company and alcohol, and Sarah, a Dutch volunteer who lives near Calabar.

Intestine road - view from cable car

So off we went to Obudu Cattle Ranch. This is a proper tourist destination, with proper tourist prices, we stayed in a small guest house, Abebe’s to avoid such prices. It is beautiful and has been called Nigeria’s lake district, we walked down a steep hill, in fact it was more like a mountain, to swim in a freezing river, walked back, drank some beer and sang some songs in the evening, and enjoyed a trip in the cable car and swim in the pool complete with water shoots and slides!

Clearly something was funny!

More Obudu photos

Then to Athi
Athi is a drill reserve, the drill being a monkey, related to a baboon. It provides a habitat for monkeys that will eventually be released into the wild, these have often been intercepted when people try to smuggle them across borders, its also houses some rescued chimps. It is also a rather wonderful place to relax and chill out, as you will see from the pictures. There is no mobile phone reception there, but we did get a daily alarm call from the pit latrine, unfortunately Beth managed to drop her phone in the poo! Needless to say at seven the following morning it sang from the depths!

Chimps!

More Athi photos
To Akpap Okoyong for Christmas!
Dutch Sarah bravely invited six Brits for Christmas to her little village Akpap Okoyong, it took us a while to learn to say that. The village is also known as Mary Slessor village, she was a Scot who campaigned for the end of the killing of twins, traditionally twins were seen as a bad omen and had to be killed at birth.

Fixing a throttle cable in the dark, with the engine running, no wahalla!

Our journey to Akpap Okoyong, was a bit stressful, we had arranged to be picked up from Athi at 8am, no sign of our driver by 9, and no mobile phone reception. Fortunately there was an okada driver (motor bike taxi) and I was sent to the village to order seven bikes for the one hour trip to the village. Even that journey took around 15 minutes and was a bit too exciting for my liking due to the rather steep wet road. So when I got back with seven bikes and drivers, I was relieved to see that our car had turned up, of course we paid the bikes, before squeezing seven of us plus driver into the car, we went for five in the back, and two on the front passenger seat. A couple of times we had to “dismount” to make it up a hill, and the driver also hit the engine with a rock but eventually we made it to the main road and then to Ikom.

Pancakes and Bucks Fizz for breakfast on Christmas Day

The next journey took us to Calabar, where we did a Christmas Eve “supermarket dash” before proceeding to Akpap Okoyong. Our driver said we should swap vehicles as the alternator wasn’t charging, it was already dark so we said drive on. Then the throttle cable snapped, he just happened to have a spare one and fixed it with the engine running and in the pitch dark. We tried not to get run over, become victims of armed robbery or kidnap, we succeeded.

Dancing

Finally we made it to Akpap Okoyong, Christmas Eve 9pm, and so to bed!

My poem from Secret Santa

Christmas Day, Bucks Fizz (gin, orange juice and sprite) with pancakes for breakfast, no stockings as Santa couldn’t find a chimney, scrabble, fish and chips for dinner. We had an afternoon walk, presents from secret Santa, and dinner complete with crackers. Only problem was when the water disappeared unfortunately before we gutted the fish! We managed to get some more, and fortunately it returned the next morning, but when we went to bed we were rationed to 3 bags of Pure Water each, that’s about 1.5 litres, to drink, wash with and clean our teeth!

Christmas Dinner

More Christmas Day photos
Boxing Day off to Calabar
So next to Calabar, for the carnival and the route to Cameroon. I liked Calabar, compared to other Nigerian cities; it seemed much cleaner and calmer. There are litter bins, no okadas; and good public transport. The carnival was fun but not quite up to my expectations, the atmosphere was great though, lots of Nigerians out to have fun, and as it was purely carnival no fear of “trouble” unfortunately that came later, to Abacha Barracks on New Year’s Eve.

Calabar carnival

More Calabar photos
Cameroon
Cameroon was fun, but brief, three days climbing a mountain, two on the beach and back! The mountain was great, really hard work, we started at 1100 metres above sealevel and reached the summit the next day which is 4095m, so basically it was a steep steep climb. It was beautiful though and very interesting being an active volcano, last erupted in 2000. As we walked through the lava flow, some was just ash, the more recent, but other areas, had started to host their own habitats. Some of it reminded me of a coral sea bed. I asked our guide whether there were local beliefs about the mountain, he said that they used to sacrifice albinos to the mountain when it erupted, now they sacrifice goats instead. The guides are mostly former hunters, and have been trained as guides to give them an alternative livelihood. Bush meat itself is not bad, we got to eat some unknown species, likely to be rat or squirrel, yum! but it includes threatened species such as chimps and gorillas.

We made it 4095m above sea level

After the mountain we went out in Limbe to welcome in 2011, and just about managed to stay awake until midnight, and then had a couple of days on the beach before returning to Naija!

Is this the sea or the ocean?!

More Cameroon pictures
Differences between Cameroon and Nigeria
OK a big disclaimer, I have spent six days in a very small part of English speaking Cameroon and nearly 12 months in Nigeria. However it seemed quieter, ie not the Nigerian insistence on turning up the volume so loud that everything is distorted, “horning” for no apparent reason, nobody shouted Oyibo, Baturi, or Onyocha (Nigerian terms for white person) or equivalent words, apparently they don’t have such words in Cameroon. Pepe was optional in Cameroon, but the people were less friendly, I think. I didn’t get to taste much Cameroon food apart from fish and plantain which was very good, but is also good in Nigeria. There was of course the spaghetti omelette!

Choosing fish and prawns for lunch

Start of Part 2 – NEST

2011-02-13T16:55:00.001+01:00

Last Sunday I travelled to Ibadan to start my new placement at NEST. My job is called “Climate Change Technical Writer” and the aim of it is to support the finalisation of a three or four year project (can’t remember which), BNRCC – Building Nigeria’s Response to Climate Change.

NEST has had four VSO volunteers, Sarah who was transferred to Abuja, and Brent, Karen and Ellen who arrived a year ago and have all just left. I overlapped with Brent and Karen for a week, and together with Brent and Abdul from VSO facilitated a two day Organisation Development Workshop for NEST on Wednesday and Thursday, talk about being thrown in at the deep end!

Organisational Development is not in my job description, but fortunately for NEST I have already had some experience in this area, as I helped my friend Patience, a Ugandan volunteer in Abuja (sadly leaving shortly) deliver a similar workshop. The idea of OD, is that it helps the organisation to assess its strengths and weaknesses and come up with a plan for addressing them. The process involves a series of one to one interviews, where staff rank the organisation against various indicators, the workshop was similar, we ranked around 50 indicators, on a scale of 1 to 4, NEST has done nothing in this area, to NEST is doing very well, along with suggestions of how it could improve. There are indicators for around ten capacity areas such as Strategy and Vision, Staff Management, Programme Management.

I will be living in Bodija, near the university, where Karen was living, she is leaving today, making me the only VSO volunteer in Ibadan. Currently until Tuesday I am staying at the rather nice Davies Hotel, and enjoying a big bed, my new place only has a single, air conditioning, hot water, and constant electricity, while I can. However the novelty of eating alone in the restaurant is wearing off, romantic dinner for one on Valentines Day coming up tomorrow!

End of Part One - Farewell to ICEED

2011-02-11T19:02:00.002+01:00

Farewell drinks at Ibiza

My placement at ICEED was originally supposed to be for two years, however this was shortened by my employer first to 12 months, and then to 11 months with the final month in leave, which I took full advantage completing my “Climate Change Strategy” assignment for my masters and going on a “Grand Tour of Northern Nigeria / Rat Survey”. No explanation was given to myself or to VSO, although I have my ideas about what bought this about. Fortunately for me VSO have found me a new placement at another environmental organisation in Ibadan, which I began last Monday, 7^th February.

Hamzy and Slim - so cute!

Naturally, I have asked myself what I achieved during my time at ICEED, and this is what I came up with:

· one of the colleagues with whom I was working closely has improved in confidence, writing skills and professionalism

· I played a key role in a successful pilot project that installed improved wood burning stoves in a school in Niger state.

· I supported a colleague in her successful application to the Climate Change Media Fellowship which enabled her to attend the COP16 in Cancun.

Dancing Ewah!

I have since heard from a friend of mine who works for VSO in Namibia .that visited ICEED, that they have had three VSO volunteers, one of who was an Energy Expert and made a big impact on the organisation, clearly once you leave you are fantastic!

New dress coming shortly!

Whoops we lost a wheel

2011-02-01T14:21:00.000+01:00

Yesterday as I was travelling back from Panyam to Abuja, I heard a loud bang, panicked as the driver tried to control the vehicle, breathed a sigh of relief when he brought us safely to a halt and then after taking advantage of the unplanned "comfort break" took a look at the damage.

Now I thought we had a puncture, so I wandered why some of my fellow passengers were running along the road, Nigerian men don't go that far to pee after all, then I saw them returning with a wheel. I realised that we had lost the whole wheel and had come to a halt by scraping along the leaf springs and whatever the inside bit of a wheel is called.

In true Nigerian style the driver quickly assessed the damage, and despatched the conductor to the nearest town for some new wheel nuts.

I took a bit longer for me to see the evidence that two wheel nuts were sheered off, and probably we had been driving with only two nuts, (out of five), the two nuts were adjacent to one another and could not easily be removed. Therefore if I re-entered the vehicle it would have three nuts, better than two, and whatever damage had been done to it by dragging its underside along the ground.

I decided not to get back in the vehicle, and never to get in a vehicle again without counting the wheel nuts! With a fellow passenger we flagged down a vehicle and travelled to Keffi, and then to Abuja, I didn't check the nuts, so much for good intentions.

The thing that amazes me, is how calmly everyone takes it, I tried to imagine what would happen if a National Express Coach lost a wheel, "sorry madam, well you see we only had two wheel nuts, and with the pot holes in the road, and the speed at which we were travelling, it was kind of inevitable, but inshallah God was with us, and we are all alive, soon we will get some more wheel nuts and be on our way, sorry for the inconvenience"

Nobody made a fuss, and as I panicked everyone told me it was perfectly safe, I suppose it comes down to if there is a choice, and if the alternative is guaranteed to be better, I got into another two vehicles, at further cost (covered by my fellow passenger, again another Nigerian characteristic, welcoming of strangers, not the first time I have had my fare paid) and arrived safely, maybe my fellow passengers weren't worried because there isn't really a choice, and maybe the driver drove really slowly for the rest of the trip as a precaution. I don't know because I had a choice, and chose not to re-enter that vehicle.

Shaking hands with Hafsat Abiola

2011-01-18T17:53:00.000+01:00

I recently attended a production of Seven, the story of Seven inspirational women, from Afghanistan, Guatemala, Pakistan, Northern Ireland, Cambodia, Russia and of Hafsat Abiola from Nigeria. You may remember the story of Mukhtar Mai, which became international news, she was gang raped as a child by another family as an “honour” punishment, and instead of committing suicide as society expected of her, she brought her rapists to justice and started building schools for women and girls, unfortunately her fight is not over. The part of each woman was read by an actor, the stories are of pain, but of hope as each woman fought for her own rights and those of others.

Hafsat Abiola from Nigeria, was a student in America when she was asked to sign a petition to release the newly elected Nigerian president, Moshood Abiola from prison, the man was her father.

1993 – Ibrahim Babangida allows elections, but when civilian Moshood Abiola wins, he reneges, annuls the elections and throws Abiola into jail

1998 – Abacha dies suddenly and is succeeded by Major General Abdulsalam Abubakar. Chief Abiola is found dead in his prison cell a month later. (from Bradt Nigeria Guide)

After the production, Hafsat Abiola who was in the audience, spoke about the show, it was the first time she had seen it performed in Nigeria, and also spoke about the work she is doing to campaign for democracy. In April 2011, Nigeria’s 51st year, the next election will be held, Hafsat is part of a campaign called Enough is Enough encouraging people to RSVP, Register to Vote, Select, Vote, Protect your vote by calling for accountability.
As Nigeria approaches these elections, if you are someone who prays then please pray, for a calm free fair peaceful election, with an outcome that is good for Nigeria and Nigerians.

And whatever happens don’t give up, Hafsat closed with this poem, by Dag Hammarskjold, the second Secretary General of the United Nations, who died in a plane crash during the time he was trying to bring peace to the Congo

Tired
And lonely,
So tired
The heart achesMeltwater trickles
Down the rocks,
The fingers are numb,
The knees tremble.
It is now,
Now that you must not give in.

On the path of the others
Are resting places,
Places in the sun
Where they can meet.
But this
Is your path,
And it is now,
Now that you must not fail.

Weep
If you can,
Weep,
But do not complain.
The way chose you-
And you must be thankful.

Back to Bida!

2011-01-17T18:11:00.000+01:00

If you read my blog back in the “summer” if you’re in the Northern hemisphere, you will have read about Bida. We had a project to install efficient wood-burning stoves in a school. Traditionally around 60% of cooking in Nigeria uses a traditional “three stone” fire, causing smoke in the kitchen, which affects peoples’ health, according to the WHO 79,000 Nigerians die annually of Indoor Air Pollution, and burning inefficiently hence using even more wood than is necessary.

Cooking on wood

When I last wrote we were working with GTZ to source an international stove expert, we did and he is Fred Colgan, from Oregon in the US. He agreed to bring three stoves, install them in the school and train the cooks in their use.

DHL – Delivered Horribly Late!

The stoves were shipped with DHL – now we have all seen adverts for DHL, when whatever you need magically arrives at another part of the world the following day! Well not in my experience, our stoves spent a week in Amsterdam, and a week in Lagos, before they finally arrived. But I did learn some new pidgin English in the process. One day when I had progressed from calling DHL four times daily to sitting in their office in Abuja, my contact telephoned his colleague in Lagos to check the whereabouts of our shipment, “call me back sharp sharp the client is in my front!”

Finally the stoves arrived, and then so did Fred. Fred went off to Bida with my colleague Okey to install the stoves and train the cooks, I got to visit for a day and see what progress they were making. When I arrived at Bida, the stoves had been installed, the cooks loved them and were cooking using 12% of the wood they used using a “three-stone fire”. One of the cooks said “with the new stoves, my eyes don’t water, my chest doesn’t hurt, my back doesn’t ache and the baby on my back has stopped crying.”

Fred was also highly popular with the girls at the school as you can see in the photos!

Two weeks later we had an official commissioning with the Dr. Mua’zu Babangida Aliyu , Executive Governor of Niger State Government, represented by the Commissioner for Education, who said in his speech, that “we (the government) shall ensure that this pilot programme goes into all our boarding schools”.

This is me and the Swiss Ambassador, the Swiss Embassy funded the project

Fred and his fan club!

Cooking on wood, part 2!

My name is in Hansard

2010-12-14T22:06:00.000+01:00

If you read my blog back in September you will remember that I helped to host Jo Swinson MP, who came to Nigeria for a week as a VSO volunteer, VSO have a scheme enabling MPs to volunteer for a short time. Jo came to support ICEED to advocate for a National Climate Change Commission Bill. The bill has now been accepted by both Houses; in this case the House of Representatives and the House of Senates, and is waiting for the signature of President Goodluck Jonathan, which hopefully will occur in advance of the forthcoming General Election.

On 24th November, the Overseas Voluntary Sector was discussed in the House of Commons, and you can follow the debate on Hansard or They Work for You, or read the whole day’s proceedings which is quite fascinating, I didn’t know for example that they open in prayer and that they really write down AYES and NOES, and list all those who voted each way. And my name is mentioned on page 102!

Jo (left) wearing the dress made by Chisoba (right)

If you look at the links, I recommend the They Work for You link, you will see that Jo has really tried to tell the story of her time in Nigeria, not just the big things she did, lobbying State Government and so on, but the story of Chisoba, my tailor who made her a dress and Dickson, the ICEED driver. Jo didn't tell Chisoba that she was an MP, as she didn’t want to intimidate her, but next time I go to see Chisoba I will take a print out of p102 from this Hansard document and show her that she has been mentioned in the House of Commons.

A bus and a plane – order and chaos!

2010-12-12T18:59:00.000+01:00

Last week I went to Ibadan, reputedly one of the biggest cities in West Africa, I travelled there to have a look at an organisation called NEST and to get a feel for the city, as I have been offered a new VSO placement at NEST, from February 2011. If cities can be opposites then Abuja and Ibadan are opposites, Abuja quiet, empty, organised, rich, dry – Ibadan, noisy, crowded, chaotic, lively, vibrant, poor wet. I liked Ibadan by the way. Anyway this blog post is really about transport, as for the first time in Nigeria, I travelled by bus and by plane.

The bus – air conditioned, lots of leg room, a toilet on board, a proper break for food and toilet stop, a bottle of water and a meal on board. I went to the bus office the day before to get my ticket, and when I arrived to travel there was orderly queue to tag my luggage and then get on the bus. We were searched before getting on the bus, and when the bus stopped for a break, the doors were locked, and before re-boarding we had to be searched again and present our tickets. The bus was quite slow, the journey took 10 hours, however it was comfortable and unlike most public transport I wasn’t expecting to die at any time, I relaxed, slept, listened to music, read my book and looked out of the window.

View from the window - bikes queuing for fuel

The River Niger or the River Benue - not sure which!

The plane was another story. I travelled with fellow volunteers Brent and Ellen to Lagos airport, it was a Sunday and there are no flights from Ibadan on Sundays, we travelled in luxury being picked up from the house and driven straight to the airport. At the airport we had to push and shove to buy a ticket, while in the queue someone put a business card “office of the President” on the counter next to the guy selling tickets, then push and shove to check in our luggage, while some people tried to jump the queue and others somehow managed to get their luggage checked in without queuing. Once the luggage was checked in we were back to civilisation waiting to board, before completing a pleasant flight back to Abuja.

For those of you who complain there aren't enough photos of me!

If you want to know the cost by the way, the bus was Naira 4,700 and the plane Naira 22,000, and being a cash economy I paid, with 44 Naira 500 notes. The biggest denomination here is Naira 1000, around £4.

CONFLICT AND HOFSTEDE!

2010-11-24T09:19:00.000+01:00

There was a conflict, and shortly afterwards I found myself reading about Hofstede. Some of you will know that Hofstede came up with a set of cultural dimensions to help understand how people from different cultures communicate and relate to each other. Now I had read the theory in the past, but then I came across a website which ranks different countries and it is fascinating, I really encourage you to take a look and notice how different even neighbouring countries are to one another, UK and Ireland for example. Read about Hofstede here.

I am probably something like this

Anyway my interest of course is Nigeria where I find myself, and the UK, where I have become the person I am. The main differences I notice between Nigeria and the UK are the Power Distance (PD), and Individualism (IDV). This basically means peoples ability to challenge authority and whether they behave as an individual or as a group. The UK has a PD figure of 30 compared to 72 in Nigeria, and an IDV figure of 85 compared to 15 in Nigeria. In low individualism countries “harmony may be more important than honesty.” Being an individual I chose to challenge the power rather than maintain the harmony this resulted in CONFLICT! Check out your country here

The people I am working with are probably something like this!

There is even a place on the website where you can compare where you are from with where you are working, check here.

Go Slow

2010-11-19T15:20:00.000+01:00

Last Saturday, I got stuck in a big Go Slow. Go Slow is pidgin for a traffic jam, and I think this was the worst traffic jam in my life so far. I had decided I needed a weekend away and chose to visit Heather in Kaduna, Kaduna is around 200km North of Abuja, and the journey generally takes around two and a half to three hours.

So I went to Mabushi, to get a car to Kaduna, and was very impressed, that 10 minutes after arriving we were on the road, leaving Abuja at 09:25am, I would be there by mid-day. Unfortunately after about half an hour we hit a big Go Slow, and got stuck for two hours of stop start traffic, more stopping, than starting.

Go Slow!

Meanwhile I had plenty of time to chat to my fellow passengers, what was the problem, it was Salah. Salah is a celebration that takes place 40 days after the end of Ramadam, so everyone was travelling as Monday was due to be a public holiday. No I said Tuesday and Wednesday are holidays not Monday. My fellow passengers were determined it was Monday. Public holidays in Nigeria are announced a few days in advance, and I have now found out that one newspaper announced Monday and Tuesday, another Tuesday and Wednesday.

There was plenty of Nigerian entertainment in this Go Slow:

• A crash! Well as much as a crash you can get in semi stationery traffic, “you brushed my car” Nigerians are not particularly patient drivers and seem to imagine in their haste to get one car ahead, that their cars are slimmer than the space, and wing mirrors are an unnecessary accessory useful for scraping other people’s cars.

Helping a bus cross from one Go Slow to another Go Slow

• Shopping, my purchases through the window were limited to some plantain crisps and a sachet of “pure water” – this is water that is sold in a pyramid shaped plastic bag, you simply bite one corner and drink. However there were plenty of other goodies for sale, mostly sold by young boys or men, the only thing I saw being sold by women was bananas.

Duty Free!

FOR SALE

• Goat for Salah, soft drinks, gala meat (a rather disgusting sausage roll), moi moi (a kind of bean cake), cashew nuts, perfume, mobile phone chargers, handkerchiefs, socks, apples, vitamin C, biscuits, palm oil, 20 Naira notes, you can buy 800 Naira worth of money for 1000 Naria! (small change likely to be used for “spraying” the bride and groom at weddings).

Goat!

After two hours we got through the GO SLOW, there appeared to be no cause other than volume of traffic and we were off, the rest of my journey went like a dream, I arrived in Kaduna at 2pm. I needed to get a bus to Stadium, as a taxi driver was trying to persuade me all the buses were full, a bus came along, which later broke down, but quickly transferred me onto another bus, and then onto an okada (motorbike taxi) straight to a bar called “Sea Breeze” (next to a river but a very long way from the sea) where my friends were waiting with a much deserved cold beer!

Fortunately my return journey was much shorter!

At Church with the President, God and Goodluck!

2010-10-21T20:35:00.000+01:00

Two days after Independence Day I attended a Church Service to celebrate Nigeria’s Golden Jubilee. My main motivation for going was actually to see the inside of the National Christian Centre and despite hearing that the President was going to attend the service, I didn’t really expect that he would show up.

Inside the church

However when I arrived all the nearby roads were blocked, and there were Police everywhere, and getting into the building was a little like getting on a plane, only I didn’t have to remove my shoes and I wasn’t wearing a belt! Inside the church was rather empty to start with, so I took my seat beside Christian, a fellow Oyibo (white person) that I met outside, and waited to see what would happen. Being the only two white people present, we were asked if we were diplomats, I said no, but Christian said yes, and much to my embarrassment we were taken almost to the front row. However once things got going I was rather pleased with my front row seat and view of the President, not so pleased with all the cameras in my face, several witnesses have told me they saw me on TV!


Onyeka Onwneu singing Happy Birthday Nigeria

Onyeka Onwenu singing Happy Birthday Nigeria

The service was amazing, very Nigerian of course, lots of singing and dancing and wonderful clothes, but also a real sense of hope. It was based on Jubilee, in the biblical sense, with readings from Leviticus 25, Joel 2, and Isaiah 61. The Jubilee year, as described in the Bible, is about giving land back to its original owners. When the Israelites entered the Promised Land, they were each given their share of land. As trade began the value of the land was to depend on the number of years to the next Jubilee, (every 50 years). So Jubilee is about re distributing things such that every thing is fare again, as opposed to capitalist economics where the rich keep getting richer at the expense of the poor. (I imagine Nigeria is one of the richest poorest countries in the world). The other readings were about reclaiming the stolen years, and preaching good news to the poor, healing the sick and so on.

Year of Jubilee

So in the context of a country that has had a rather troubled first 50 years and is due to have an election in its 51^st year, you can imagine all of the above took on a rather profound meaning. This was added to by the “Sounding of the Shofar”, the Shofar is a trumpet, usually made from a Ram’s Horn, only blown by a learned man, for religious purposes such as prayer and announcing the Jubilee.

Sounding the Shofar

So that was the God bit, now for Goodluck, he read the second reading, and addressed the Congregation, each time standing at a special lectern. Unfortunately I can’t remember what he said but a Nigerian sitting next to me said that he is good because he is open to change, and this certainly came across in his speech.


Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR, President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Federal Republic of Nigeria

So if you are someone who prays please pray for Nigeria, that the elections are free and fair, and maybe more importantly peaceful, and that the next 50 years are better for the Nigerian people than the last.

Outside the church

Nigeria at 50

2010-10-04T17:16:00.010+01:00

Last Friday, 1st October was Independence Day, 50 years of independence from the British, celebrations were to be held at the Eagle Square, which is rather a small venue, so we aimed to get there by 08:30, it was due to start at 10. Unfortunately as often occurs when one group of people aims to meet another group of people it was more like 09:30 and there was no way we could get into the Square, unless we wanted to fight the police!

Peering through the fence in the rain

We found a space outside and thanks to a heavy rain shower we got close enough to the fence to observe some of the action, which started with a military parade and a brass band. Even then it was great to be part of the crowd of Nigerians clearly proud of their country, one wanting to see her President, “I want to see his face not his picture, seeing Goodluck will give me Goodluck for the day” and generally excited to be celebrating Nigeria. Many were wearing national colours, and some had their faces painted.

Nigerian facepaint

Later we managed to find our way into Eagle Square, and finally even got a seat, where we saw dancers, an air display, a display of tanks, and then we got the text message from VSO, “confirmed explosions in Eagle Square, please avoid busy areas.” The event then ended suddenly without the President speaking.

Men or possibly women emerging from a helicopter

Once we left the stadium we met some other friends outside who reassured us that Nigeria was a peaceful country and there were no bombers there, it was just a rumour, I did remind them about the underpants bomber, who they disowned rapidly. Finally I checked the BBC website and found the first topic was that there had been two car bombs in Nigeria, then I realised that these weren’t just rumours.

Note my green and white Nigeria is 50 hat and badge!

The sad thing is that this happened on the day the whole world was looking at Nigeria, and it reinforces the negative images about Nigeria, which I had as well before I came here. My journey to Nigeria started last September, with an email from VSO with the Subject : Placement offer in Nigeria, my first thoughts were “Oh no, not Nigeria”. In my mind Nigeria was a place where it was unsafe to walk on the streets, rife with bribery, corruption, kidnapping and armed robbery along with ethnic and religious conflict and violence.

The reality is very different, I regularly walk around Abuja during daylight hours, and I have never been asked for a bribe. During the seven months I have been here, one friend has been mugged, she was walking alone at night, one person had a phone stolen by a pick-pocket and one VSO staff member was the victim of an armed robbery of the staff car. Now of course none of these things are good but neither do they live up to Nigeria’s reputation.

On the positive side, I have left my keys in a taxi and the driver looked for me to return them, my friend left her phone in a taxi and the driver returned it, another friend even forgot her laptop in a bar, and went back to find it exactly where she had left it.

So is Nigeria’s reputation fair, yes and no, of course there is crime and reading the history of the first 50 years of Nigeria tells stories of civil war, coups, military dictators and religious violence, but in my experience Nigeria, is a peaceful country, full of people who love life, and want to live it to the full.

More Independence Day pictures

Entertaining the Honourable Member for East Dumbartonshire – Jo Swinson MP

2010-09-29T17:51:00.011+01:00

For the last six days I have been on a temporary “holiday” in a different part of town with Jo Swinson MP. Jo was taking part in VSO’s Parliamentarian scheme, where MPs visit a country for a short time to be involved in high level advocacy in her case the Climate Change Commission Bill, for Nigeria. As they are supposed to behave like “real volunteers” they get to stay with volunteers. VSO decided she should have the best they could offer and put her in a flat in Zone 2, to stay with Viola. Viola was in Germany though, so I offered to stay there with her, which gave me a great opportunity to get to know Jo in between all her important meetings.

Jo and Ugochi

Jo was formerly the youngest MP, elected when she was 24, and first stood for parliament against John Prescott, the then Deputy Prime Minister when she was only 21, so you can imagine she is quite an inspiration. It’s worth taking a look at her facebook page, she also tweets, to get an idea how younger MPs may help to involve younger people in politics.

Final alterations on Jo's dress with Chisoba the tailor

Over the weekend I took Jo to the tailor so she now promises to wear her new dress in the House of Commons, and then we met other volunteers for barbecued fish on Sunday. It was a real privilege to spend time with her and to introduce her to others who helped her understand Nigeria and were inspired by her, for example Jo told them of door knocking every week in her constituency even when it is not election time, (to ensure she contacts people who will never contact her). She was also able to explain to Nigerians, who are very cynical about the lack of Democracy the story of the Liberal Democrats, who have gone from being a minority party to being a part of government.

Jo and I dressed Nigerian

I had always wondered why MPs use the terms “the Honourable Member for ..” and now know that you cannot use names in parliament as each MP is speaking on behalf of their constituents, and replying to the constituents of another MP. I’ll be keeping in touch with Jo especially as she has promised to take me for tea in the House of Commons when I am back in the UK. And thanks again Jo it was great to meet you, you’re an inspiration!

Jo and Velice, eating fish and talking politics

Barka da Salah

2010-09-21T14:39:00.000+01:00

The week before last was the end of Ramadam, and Thursday and Friday were public holidays, so I went with some of my fellow volunteers to Kano to see the Durbar. I travelled with Viola and Richard, in this car on another terrifying Nigerian journey, but we arrived in one piece if with slightly raised blood pressure. On arrival we went off to find Sophie’s house a volunteer who lives in Kano.

Richard in the car, or a coke advert?

Due to the moon, Thursday was still a fasting day, but when we woke on Friday, the streets were full of people in their best clothes, shouting Barka da Salla, and eating and drinking in daylight hours for the first time in 40 days. It felt at bit like Christmas Eve in Britain though rather a lot warmer!
We spent Friday, pottering around Kano, enjoying the party atmosphere, there were horses everywhere ready for the Durbar, in the afternoon we headed for Kurmi market, one of the supposedly biggest and oldest markets in West Africa. Don’t go on Friday afternoon, we left soon after arriving, of course it was prayer time and most shops were closed. And then we found cold beer, in Sabon Gari, Sharia Law?

A cold beer (or several) on a hot day


and then it got dark

Saturday morning took us up the hill, to see the view, and then to the Durbar. The Durbar is an ancient ceremony where the Emir checks his military might, so tribal leaders, dress up themselves and their horses and come to greet the Emir.

The Emir in a silly hat with a big umbrella

It was also a great opportunity for crowd watching as cameras were welcome and everyone was dressed in their best outfits, including young girls complete with make up jewellery and handbags.

posing

The next day we were invited to another ceremony at Government house, where I found myself in a seat market “Diplomat”. (Apparently there was a shortage of diplomats travelling to Kano, all due to some Christian who wanted to burn the Koran at Ground Zero in New York on Sept 11th, their embassies had warned them not to travel to Northern Nigeria, fearing repercussion.) Fortunately no-one warned us so we ended up at a rather amazing ceremony!)

At the ceremony the Emir arrived and his rather fine carers / bodyguards? and the local government chiefs (all male) paid homage taking turns to kneel on the floor and bow their heads all the way to the ground. The only women present were “diplomats”.

We were then ushered out by our host to get a very fine view of the tribal leaders on their horses, (unfortunately my camera battery had died by then!) and then the three of us who were travelling back to Abuja dashed off to the motor park, for a rather death defying trip home, just think James Bond at 140kmph and throw in a few pot holes, at least on the way back we didn’t have to worry about whether the driver had taken food or water since dawn!

More people watching pictures
More Durbar pictures

More Diplomat Emir pictures

Emily Bullock speaking live from Aso Radio the "Station on the Rock"

2010-09-07T00:19:00.004+01:00

One day when I was with my boss on the way back from a meeting, he said, that's where Ugo works, and pointed to a rock with a mast at the top of a hill, and I wandered how on earth you could even get there, well last week I found out. On Monday Ugo asked me if I would be on her show the following day, to talk about renewable energy in Nigeria.

So I went, up the hill to the "Station on the Rock" to take part in her weekly environmental programme "Green Angle". So I got in a taxi that said of course they know the way, he did this time, and he took me out of town and up the steep steep hill to the "Station on the Rock".

Me and Ugo on the rock

The programme started at 9, so Ugo asked me to be there at 08:50, well she is on the radio all the time, anyway I got there about 08:45, we went quickly through the questions and then we were live on air, me the renewable energy "expert", although I must say I surprised myself at how much I knew and how easily we filled a 30 minute programme, fortunately before the texts and calls came in, but after she asked me how to collect electricity from thunder!

in the studio

The half hour went really quickly so before I knew it we were outside taking a walk on the top of the hill and looking at the view.

view from the hill

Then after the adrenaline rush of being "live on air" I went back to the office, expecting everyone to comment on how great I had been! First of all my boss who had approved it and given me guidance asked why I was late, as did my colleagues. I had forgotten I was in Nigeria, in an office where internal communication is to put it politely rather poor, and I'd assumed that since at least four people knew where I was going, they would all be listening avidly. So as far I know, one person listened a colleague, I am hoping to get a CD and will try to post it if I can manage the technology! My wonderful father, hope you are reading, tried to listen on line but couldn't get it to work, thanks Dad!

More "Station on the Rock" pics

Six months in Nigeria

2010-08-29T22:39:00.000+01:00

On Saturday, I was having a drink with my fellow British volunteer, Richard, and he said it was our six month anniversary, a little confused, I asked for clarification, six months since we arrived in Nigeria. Yes six months ago, Richard, Heather and I stumbled off a flight from Heathrow to Abuja at 05:30am into hot hot Nigeria.

Well hot hot Nigeria, has become cold wet Nigeria, it goes down to 22°C at night and I have a blanket on my bed! The obvious question of course is what if anything have I achieved, or if you are VSO, have I “shared skills and changed lives?”
I’m a bit of a realist about what I expect to achieve, I even have a document at work that I add to occasionally called “Small, small achievements!"

So here is a list of achievements…..

1 – Skill shared, I helped Ugochi prepare for her telephone interview for the Climate Change Media Fellowship, you can read about it here and here

2 – Languages – very basic greetings in Pidgin and Hausa, ina kwana, ina auni, lafia, how dei, I dei fine, well done, sannu.

3 – Inches lost around my waist, at least that is what the tailor told me last time she measured me, and probably at least 3 inches gained on the length of my hair, as I haven't managed to achieve a hair cut yet, next months challenge!

4 – States visited, I live in Abuja, which is in Federal Capital Territory or FCT, the Centre of Unity, but I have been to Kano, Centre of Commerce, Kaduna, the Liberal State, Nassarawa, the Home of Solid Minerals, where I met the Deputy Governor, and Niger, the Power State, where there were still power cuts! Look at my map to see where I have been.

5 – Church services attended - Family Worship Centre, Baptist, Methodist, Summit, Redeemed, these are marked on my Abuja map.

6 – Oibo I love you! – Well actually I didn’t count but a certain number of men have claimed to be in love with me, want to marry me and so on!

7 – New outfits, one of the great things I’m enjoying about Nigeria is buying fabric and getting it made up, pictures here.

8 – Exercise, 4 times running, 4 times swimming, rather poor for six months I know but it was very hot when we arrived, and I’m working on it, but I have lost three inches!

9 – New types of food, egusi, vegetable soup, bitter leaf soup, pounded yam, eba, semovita, jollof rice, suya, shawarm – I will write about food another time, but if you would like to you can look at this great blog post by Richard, a different Richard!

10 – Haven’t made it to 10 yet! – but I have passed one module of my MSc since I have been here.

Mmm well let’s hope that after 12 months I have some more concrete achievements to share with you.

Would you notice if the power stations were shut down in your country?

2010-08-26T08:58:00.000+01:00

Pride comes before a fall, and following my recent blog posts about how wonderfully reliable our electricity has been, I got home last night to find there was none. I cooked and studied by candlelight, used two batteries for my laptop, and slept with the windows closed and my ears stopped with ear plugs against the sound of my neighbours generators. And I heard there was a strike.

Now I am at work where we have apparently 36 hours of battery back up, and I found this wonderful story from panapress which I really have to share with you, in the interest of acknowledging my souces, I found it at http://www.panapress.com/freenews.asp?code=eng057805&dte=25/08/2010 and as for the normally well-lit glistening streets of Abuja, can somebody tell me where they are please?

Nigeria's electricity workers on strike

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's 40,000 electricity workers Wednesday embarked on an indefinite nationwide strike to press for payment of "monetisation" arrears, but most Nigerians who are already used to poor power supply are shrugging off the strike.

The few hours of electricity usually enjoyed by residents of most cities across Africa's most populous nation were cut due to the strike.
"We told all our members to stay at home and all the power stations in the country have been shut down," said workers' spokesman Temple Iworimo.

But government spokesman Labaran Maku said the situation is under control, and that the government will do all it can to resolve the problem.

"In the next couple of days, those issues (payments of arrears of allowances) would be resolved," said Maku, who is the junior Minister of Information.

On Wednesday night, the normally well-lit streets of the glistening capital city of Abuja were plunged into darkness, except in areas that were lit by solar-powered lights.

"Most streets here are in darkness. That's how you will know there is a strike ," Adebayo Ojo, an Abuja resident, told PANA.

Apart from street lights, most Nigerians, who provide their own electricity using power generators, are oblivious of the strike.

"What difference does it make?" queried Innocent Chukwu, a Lagos resident. "We have not had light in our area for weeks. Let them continue the strike for as long as they wish."

Nigeria, with a population of 150 million, generates about 3,000 megawatts of electricity, which is inadequate to power the vast country.

Most homes and businesses depend on power generators for electricity, as the government monopoly Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) cannot meet their electricity demands.

Lagos - 25/08/2010

Would you go to school, send your children to school or teach if....

2010-08-24T14:20:00.000+01:00

Its hard to tell what Nigeria is really like when you work in an air-conditioned office in the capital city with colleagues who lobby the government, but perhaps reading this will give you more of an idea.

As plagiarism is the biggest from of flattery here is a link to Simon's blog. Simon is a volunteer based in Kaduna, (around three hours North of Abuja) working in the primary education sector. This blog post has some shocking statistics about primary schools in Kaduna state, which apparently is one of the better ones!

Click here to read Simon's blog

Defining customer service

2010-08-22T09:04:00.000+01:00

More NEPA / PHCN stories, for a reminder that stands for Nigeria Electric Power Authority / Never Expect Power Again and Power Holding Company of Nigeria / Problem Has Changed Name, for more info read my two previous posts Paying for Nepa or not? and PHCN became PHGA.
So after paying 20,000 Naira for our electricity two weeks ago, and finally getting re-connected we receive another bill for 17,800 Naira that says it is for June and July, its dated 29th July and that was the day we paid the previous bill.
So off I go to PHCN, first to customer service, then I am directed to the second office on the right. The customer service office is a clean air conditioned office where two staff sit with desks and computers and chairs for the waiting customers. The place I am directed to resembles a classroom with rows of desks, and a bookshelf at the back, and rather worryingly no papers, or computers - so how on earth do they track my electricity consumption?

This is the room of the "marketeers" which I found out are the people who "manage" my power supply, ie make sure I have paid, disconnect if I haven't, re-connect if I have. I am told I have to wait to see Helen, who looks after my area, she should be here sometime after nine, (it was around 8:30) so I sit and quietly fume about the inefficiency, why can't someone else see me, why have they sent me an incorrect bill, why are they wasting my time etc etc?

However when Helen arrives I change my mind, and wander if this really is customer service, she explains the bill to me, tells me where I have to pay, gives me until the end of the month to pay, and gives me her phone number in case I ever need to contact her if I can't pay on time, so that she won't have to disconnect.
So this customer service had me waiting for the right person to turn up, but at home, I could have been on the phone, on hold, transferred between many different people who ask me all the things I've already told the last person!

And for the record, the NEPA has almost become AEPN (always expect power now), this could be due to the rain, (as some of Nigeria's power is generated from hydro), or the cooler climate (fewer people turning on the AC) or maybe it is Goodluck himself, who when he was sworn in as President promised to take personal responsibility for the power sector.

We frequently lose power for about half an hour in the morning, after it is light, I notice as the ceiling fan stops going round, and occasionally at night, normally by the time I have found a candle, it comes back. I'm not looking forward to the dry season, and the resumption of hot candlelit nights, disturbed by the noise of generators.

Well done Ugochi or should I say Sannu and a sad farewell to Angie

2010-08-13T15:08:00.000+01:00

Well done and Sannu are often heard phrases here, you don't seem to have to have done anything well, or done anything at all. But well done Ugochi, whose facebook status says: "thank you God, I was among the 40 journalists selected out of thousands of applications from all over the world for the fellowship, happiest day of my life"

My last blog was about supporting Ugochi to prepare for a telephone interview, well she was succesful, it is for training in climate change journalism and funding to attend the Mexico Climate Change conference in December.

The in my opinion rather cool picture is of Angie (left) and Ugochi (right). Sadly for us, and happily for Angie's family she is currently on a plane flying back to Canada via the UK. Angie worked as a VSO volunteer with ICEED for a year, supporting work on Communications, and really welcomed me to ICEED and Nigeria, thank you Angie.

Sharing Skills and Changing Lives

2010-08-05T11:06:00.000+01:00

Sharing Skills and Changing Lives - (for the uninitiated this is the VSO motto!)

I sometimes wander why I am here, yes its interesting I am learning, but am I helping Nigeria, or even one Nigerian?

Well this morning I received this text message:
"Tank u Emily for ur support. d interview went well. just d same things you asked me. tanks a lot"

Working in "development" sometimes feels like an "industry" of its own, and to be honest it sometimes feels like convincing donors to make rich Nigerians richer. I work for an organisation that sees itself as affecting policy at the highest level, ie Federal Government, in order to reduce poverty, which of course is important but it takes time and feels rather abstract, and has little to do with grassroots level actions which I am used to. Talking to Nigerians about using individuals to influence government policy is met with hilarity, bewilderment, and statements like "you don't know how things work in Nigeria", this is true and I am trying to learn.

So when I got the above text message this morning, it bought a tear to my eye, yes I know that's not difficult. It was sent from a colleague Ugochi, who works for a radio station, and is with ICEED as an intern to learn more about climate change. She has a radio programme called Green Angle on ASO radio (you can listen on line, Tuesdays 09:30am) and applied to the Climate Change Media Fellowship to attend a nine month training for journalists and then to attend the Cancun meeting in Mexico. Yesterday she had an email to invite her for a telephone interview at 6pm.

So, Velice my Kenyan colleague also VSO, and I conducted a mock interview, with me in role of interviewer and Velice as observer. I asked "if you could interview President Obama what would you ask him?", "how do you prepare for your radio programme?" and "tell me about a difficult situation you have faced live on radio and how you handled it?"

Ugochi has experienced the effects of climate change in her village and wants to understand the issues better and use art and media to educate people to create change. If she is selected she hopes on her return to Nigeria to train journalists and grassroots organisations to build their response to climate change in Nigeria.

PHCN became PHGA

2010-08-03T14:31:00.000+01:00

So the good news is Problem Has Gone Away, ie electricity is back, this will only make sense if you read the previous post, scroll down or click here

So we returned from work on Thursday, to find there was no power, and to observe that they (PHCN) had taken our fuse, I counselled colleagues and fellow volunteers on what to do next and heard three approaches to solving the problem:

phone whoever told you it would be done (aah hindsight, why didn't I get the number?) until it is done
pay a bribe
get your own fuse

Actually we did none of these, we went to the office on Monday around 3pm, and the staff remembered us, and greeted us as if we had just come to say Hi. They were mystified when we told them we were still waiting for re-connection. They sent someone with us to sort it out straight away, he was surpised to find that we didn't have a car, and he would have to walk to our house, but he came and plugged in the fuse, and power returned.

At work we proudly told them that we had sorted it, without money changing hands and were warned of trouble to come!

Paying for NEPA or not?

2010-07-29T15:27:00.000+01:00

If you read one of my earlier posts you will have heard about NEPA and PHCN. NEPA stands for Nigerian Electric Power Authority or Never Expect Power Again. NEPA is in the process of being privatised, which is supposed to increase access to electricity, in the mean time it is being "held" by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria or Problem Has Changed Name.

Now I can't remember the numbers but loads of Nigerians do not have access to electricity, and lots more is not being paid for. In fact one evening when I was buying suya, (roasted meat) I noticed that all the stalls had electric lightbulbs but I couldn't hear a generator, and looked up to see some "free" electricity being "stolen" from a streetlight.

Anyway until last week I was under the illusion that I too was enjoying "free" electricity, and yes as a Brit I should have learnt by now that as there is no such thing as a free lunch, neither is there free electricity. Our meter doesn't work, and we haven't received a bill though we have been in the property since April, but last week a bill was delivered for 20,000 Naira, and we understood it was from February.

Now this was only last Friday (22nd), despite the date on the bill being the 15th July, so we asked VSO for money for Feb and March (when a previous volunteer was there) and put our resources together to pay the fee.

Meanwhile yesterday evening, we were sitting in the dark, enjoying the quiet, when it occurred to me that no light and quiet don't go together, no light goes with noise, generator noise. No light and quiet goes with no electricity to our flat only!

So yes the watchman confirmed that a big group, (no he couldn't stop them) had come and disconnected our power. So a trip to PHCN to pay the bill, the first lady sends us to a different office, who sends us to a different building the other side of town where we pay 20,000Naira. I asked how soon we could be reconnected she said we had to go back to the other side of town with a photocopy of our paid bill, (we even had to pay 5 Naira for the photocopy) I did make the suggestion that she could just phone them for us, email them, to much hilarity. I managed not to suggest that she just updated the database, even our office of 12 people isn't properly networked.

So we go back to the other side of town and they promise that they will reconnect us today, but I'm not banking on it.

Now we complained about why they hadn't given us more time to pay, they seem to think we have already had several bills, can they change the meter, yes it costs about 56,000 Naira, that's more than a months wages for a VSO volunteer, so I guess we try to persuade the landlord and in the meantime get used to how to pay for NEPA.

More trips to Bida

2010-07-22T14:46:00.000+01:00

Second “jolly" to Bida.

The following week I returned to Bida, this time no driver so we used “public”. “Public” transport in Nigeria, starts from a “Motor Park” (I haven’t quite worked out how to pronounce this I missed the stop on the bus on Saturday because I said it incorrectly something like MotoPak is probably more useful). Arriving at the MotoPak, you are surrounded by people trying to get you into their car, but once inside it is relatively organised, the next car to each destination having a signboard on its roof.

Then it is a matter of agreeing the fare, and waiting for the car to fill, and completing the form with your next of kin, in case you die on the way, and the less said about Nigerian driving the better!

On this trip we were “on expenses” so my colleague paid for an extra seat meaning we got to sit two across instead of three across in the back seat. On my return from Bida to Minna, I paid for two seats, meaning I got to sit alone in the front seat instead of two people, yes I am serious for an hour and a half journey.

The other thing about having no driver was that all our travel in Bida was by okada, this is the name for motorbike taxis, and since VSO insist that volunteers wear a helmet, it gave the locals something to stare at other than a oiybo (white person) on a bike. Its a great way of seeing the town as well. In this photo I was in the car looking at the okadas

Of course no driver meant no trips to the out of town beer supply, in the evening, although a couple of times, my colleague passed me a black plastic bag containing one beer bottle, and I wasn’t taken to the Sharia court.

Fortunately no rats in my bedroom, this time my colleague had a rat in his room, and saw several in the dining room. I just dreamt about them instead!

Anyway enough about transport and rats, what about our work, well some challenges arose, getting the stove insulation to stay in the stove, and finding suitable cooking pots. (More later)

Day trip to Bida

Third trip to Bida, this time with the Swiss Embassy and GTZ. On this occasion I went with my boss, and a driver in an air conditioned car, and was dressed in my best Nigerian outfit so I was smart and my head was covered. The trip was good but revealed some problems with our stove design as GTZ (stove experts) asked questions about our combustion chamber. The next day I met with my manager and an international stove expert, and we discussed how to move the project forward. So now we are looking for another stove expert to help us finish the work and an extension from the Swiss until the end of November. No rats, and no beer on this trip!

A "jolly" to Bida

2010-06-16T17:09:00.000+01:00

A jolly is a British term for a business trip which implies that you will be travelling at someone else's expense and probably staying in a nice hotel and drinking a few beers in the evening. Before this “jolly” I was told that the best hotel in Bida didn’t have hot water, and that there was no beer. I asked if we could take beer with us, and my colleague asked if I wanted to be tried under Sharia Law for drinking alcohol!

The purpose of our trip was to build efficient wood-burning stoves for a school in Bida, following a successful funding proposal to the Swiss Embassy. In Nigeria it is estimated that 95 million people (the population is around 150 million) rely on wood fuel for cooking, this is mainly burnt on traditional “three-stone” fires, which are inefficient and smoky, the World Health Organisation estimates that 79,000 Nigerians die annually from Indoor Air Pollution, (the highest in the world). Most schools also cook this way, this project is a pilot, so that the lessons learned can be shared across the state Niger, in this case. Each state adopts a name, Niger is the State of Power, (more later) lets hope Jos, the State of Peace of Justice can become that soon.

So our team set off to Bida, Emily (that’s me), Okeychukwu my colleague, and Adrian our stove expert from the UK. We went in a very nice air conditioned vehicle with driver Ifay, and picked up Jiks in Minna to act as interpreter / local guide. (Our Minna meeting point and lunch stop was of course Mr Biggs)
Our first visit was to the school where we met the Vice Principal and saw the current kitchen, met the cooks and some students. The flowerbed shown has the text "Welcome to GGSB" (Government Girls School Bida)

Then to our hotel the Al Haramain Guest Palace, here a photo of my palatial room and bed big enough for at least three, Nigerian’s have very big beds. There was a little too much wildlife for my liking woodworm in the ceiling panels guaranteed a fresh scattering of yellow dust on my pillow throughout the day, and a rat. The good news was that I didn’t see it until the last night, the bad news, it ran under my bed and appeared to stay there.

The next day we arrived at the workshop and started working with some local metalworkers to build the stoves. Work went well and the guys were interested and helpful, the design was modified a few times as we went along. There were a few “challenges” to a Western eye, such as the sunglasses used for eye protection while welding, the wiring, and several small children watching and also damaging their eyes.

My promise that there would be constant electricity in the State of Power was soon put to the test when the power went off. No problem the workshop had a generator, but first we needed permission to use it and then we needed fuel. When I went back to my colleague who had promised constant electricity the story changed to its generated here, and transmitted elsewhere.

Looking for pots – the stove we are making requires custom made pots, so we went to look for someone to make them, we found this man and his wares in town and contracted his services.

Getting covered in clay – the stove needs to be insulated, our online research had suggested a mix of clay and fine sawdust, as you can imagine a messy job.

Finding beer – the advantage of having a driver was we could get a much needed drink in the evening, you just have to know the right person. So Mr Bob took us to the Army Barracks, where we got very nice fish pepper soup and a beer.

Mourning – on the final morning of my first trip to Bida (more later), we arrived at the workshop, to hear that the owner had been bereaved in the night so we couldn’t work out of respect. It was suggested that we go to pay our respects. So we drove into town, fortunately I was carrying a scarf so I covered my head, and followed my 5 male colleagues into the house. As I was expecting the women separated from the men as we walked in. I didn’t want to get stranded with the women so loitered outside and was then invited into the place the men were, so I just sat to one side. The workshop owner greeted us all and we left, and were able to continue using the workshop for the rest of the day.

It was great to be away from Abuja and see a bit more of Africa, but I was relieved to be back in the city, with my hot water and rat free bedroom for a few days. One of the nearly completed stoves is shown below.

More Bida pics

A new president and a new prime minister

2010-05-13T11:53:00.000+01:00

Last Thursday when most of you were going to the polls, to elect who would believe it a Conservative / Lib Dem coalition, I was having an unexpected day off, except I had my unexpected day off at work.

Literally as I arrived at work, my colleague received a phone call, saying why are you going to work its a public holiday, it did seem a little quiet but we preceded to the office to find out that during the night the now Late President Umanu Yar'Adua had died, and a public holiday had been announced.

Yar'Adua had been ill for sometime, and was out of the country from November to February receiving treatment in Saudi. Since he returned to Nigeria he has not been seen in public even by the former Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, who has now been sworn in as the President, and has personally taken responsibility for the Ministry of Power, and funnily enough our electricity has been rather good during the last week, we had three days without water instead! This unfortunately is not universal, my colleague said his electricity has been poor, and its not been so good at work either!

During the morning we got a phone call from VSO to warn us not to get into political conversations! Later a taxi driver said to me "Our president don die." I was considering how to respond, thinking that he had said don't / didn't, you can imagine the speculation about a president that is ill but has not been seen for 5 months. Fortunately I quickly realised that it was pidgin "our president don die" is like "you don chop?" ie have you eaten? So I replied appropriately, yes I know I'm sorry.

Two months and one day in Nigeria

2010-04-28T12:44:00.000+01:00

So I have been in Nigeria for two months, but this is an attempt at “a day in the life of me” because when I spoke to my Dad the other day he said he wanted more of a picture of my day, so here is a combination of yesterday and a typical day, hope its not too boring, but I thought I may as well share it with you

Waking up:

I set my alarm for 06:30 but normally wake earlier, one of the first questions in my mind is whether there is electricity, it is quite clear as there is a ceiling fan over my bed, and I definitely turn it on at night even if there is none when I sleep. Funnily enough by morning it doesn’t really matter if there is electricity, the main time it matters is when I am trying to sleep, one as the fan helps to create some air, and cools me a little, and two as the many noisy generators won’t be running.

Sometimes of course I wake up in the night and the fan is on and I can still hear the gens! Very annoying, but then I think if I had a generator, I would probably be fast asleep enjoying my air conditioning and not getting out of bed to stop the generator annoying my less fortunate neighbours.

And in case that is not clear, we do not have a generator or air conditioning.

However a glass of cold water from the fridge is always welcome!

Breakfast:

Today it was mango, normally its bread, sometimes I eat because I’m hungry, more often because I am taking anti-malarials, and you are supposed to take them with food. And of course I have tea, always tea, with have a gas cooker so that’s easy.

Washing:

And we have hot water, which is amazing, when we have running water and electricity at the same time which is reasonably often.

Travelling to work:

Its close, look at my google map, we walk, about 20 mins, take a “shared transport” (small mini-bus) for 20 Naira or a drop (taxi) for 150 Naria. My Abuja places

Work:

Well it’s just work really, today I am working on a proposal to the Swiss Embassy for a small grant to install an efficient wood stove in a school in Niger state. I am also working on the Clean Energy Bill, which is really an advocacy attempt to raise the profile of clean energy in government. Then there is my to do list, the Clean Development Mechanism, Carbon Trading, Small Hydro, and an article I am to write for the Daily Trust.

Water and tea:

We have a kettle and a water cooler, for those who know me this is very important, I drink a lot of tea and a lot of water, they both work when the electricity is on. When the electricity goes off we run off a battery and there is only 2.5kW for the whole office so air conditioning is replaced by ceiling fans and hot and cold water are replaced by warm water!

Lunch:

There is a place just opposite where we usually eat very tasty rice and beans. Nigerian food is full of “pepe” and mostly I like it. They do eat “cow skin” which is served at our cafe, and I can’t say I have yet developed the taste. Its usually served in a kind of roll of skin, a couple of times I have found it chopped up in a stew, yuck!

After work:

We finish at 5, and go home. Again the question is there NEPA? NEPA stands for Never Expect Power Again, well really its stands for Nigeria Electricity Power Authority or something which has now been changed to PHCN Power Handling Company of Nigeria or Problem has changed name. At this time of day electricity means, a cold glass of water, and maybe a hot shower. Once its dark it means electric light versus candles and the sound of everyone’s very noisy generators.

Yesterday the regional director of VSO was in Abuja and he took the volunteers for dinner, most evenings involve eating, staying in to read book / play scrabble / study / watch film, or going out for a drink with colleagues or other volunteers, (there are 5 of us based in Abuja).

Cooking:

The good thing about a big portion of rice and beans for lunch is that bread will do in the evening. I like cooking but its challenging here for so many reasons, mainly to do with electricity. Our fridge is fine at keeping water cold for a while, but in this climate even tomatoes can go off in one day, carrots may last two. So at the weekend I cook, but when we have had a good portion of rice and beans at lunch time, we tend to just make a sandwich or eat eggs and bread in the evening.

And so to sleep:

I tuck in the mosquito net, I turning on the fan, and if there is no NEPA, I inserting my ear-plugs and so to sleep!

Exercise or the lack of it:

Well as you know you are supposed to do this at least three times a week or is it five?. Since I have been in Abuja I have been jogging twice, and swimming about four times, some of the swimming could be termed exercise, some could be termed cooling off in the pool. So I still have work to do here! If sweating can be a measure of exercise, I can stream with sweat just sitting in the house, does that count!

And finally arriving in Zone 4 – 8, Port Said Street

2010-04-10T16:23:00.001+01:00

Last week Velice and I moved to our new home. It is a two bedroom flat on the first floor, and is very secure, it would take a determined person to get in here! I have to remember never to leave the house without a torch incase I come back after dark, the electricity is off, and I have to unlock the door at the top of the stairs. This involves putting my hand through a small opening to undo a padlock!

From zone 4

When we arrived there was no water or electricity, but since then the water has been fixed and the electricity is improving. It’s a luxury anyway isn’t it, after all I have three batteries for my laptop and plenty of candles!
I don’t mind candlelit evenings, I do object to everyone else’s generator, it gets very noisy when the electricity goes off as everyone who has one starts their generator. I sleep with the windows closed and ear plugs on those nights. When it works we have a fridge and ceiling fans, to keep us cool!

Zone 4 is a great location for changing hard currency if you have any, praying if you are a Muslim man, buying suya, which is delicious roasted meat, walking to work, walking to the main market, catching buses around Abuja, and buying the best bread and yoghurt that you can get in Abuja. And of course there is a Mr Bigs - Nigeria's burger chain, I haven't felt the need for a burger yet but that day may come!

From zone 4

More Zone 4 pics

Abuja

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Abuja is hot and dusty, its is a strange place, lots of roads that sometimes make me think of America, little public transport, mostly we use “drops” (green car with white stripes and a photo) a taxi to get around. Of course we have to bargain, the real fair is usually between 150 and 300 Naira, but the negotiations normally start at about 400.

There are nice places to go out for a drink or food, and supermarkets where you can buy everything that you can’t afford. As VSOs we can go to the "British Village" where there is a pool!

Abuja pics

Starting Work at ICEED

2010-04-10T16:16:00.001+01:00

ICEED is in a building called Bassan Plaza, on the third floor, and there is air conditioning – hurrah! Well actually there is air conditioning when the NEPA (electricity is on). When its off, we run off a battery, and resort to fans, and no kettle! All the computers are plugged into UPS, Universal Power Supply, which is basically a voltage regulator and battery. Every time the power goes off, you have to move the plug from the socket that’s linked to the mains electricity, to the one connected to the battery.

My colleagues, have been very welcoming, they look like this www.iceednigeria.org/team.html I started work by attending a lot of workshops see photos, this means you get good lunch! I spent the first two days at a workshop to develop an advocacy strategy for the Clean Energy Bill, I’ve been to a workshop at the Hilton (good lunch and excellent electricity) on the Second National Communication on Climate Change, the (former) Minister for the Environment was there, unfortunately the next day the cabinet was dissolved, however he has since been re-instated. Another workshop on the National Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan.

My job so far will involve co-ordinating the Clean Energy Team, and we had a meeting today to develop a workplan, I will be working on wood stoves, small hydro, and the clean energy bill, and have to write an article for a national newspaper at the end of May.

ICEED pics

Workshop pics

A trip to Kaduna, and a look at the real Nigeria.

2010-04-10T16:13:00.000+01:00

A few days into our in-country training, we were sent off to visit existing volunteers in their placements. I went with Anne, to visit Richard in Kaduna, Shmriti travelled with us to visit Marsje also in Kaduna
I feel like I am in Nigeria now, Abuja is a strange and rather sterile city, now I have seen a busy market, rural villages, eaten rice and stew in a tiny café, and ridden an okada.

Okadas are motorbike taxis, an important way of getting around outside of Abuja, and quite comfortable as long as you don’t think about “what if?” Nigerians seem to drive as though they can achieve a stopping distance of 0m however fast they are going.

So in Kaduna, we killed two rats, (with Richard’s recently acquired rat trap, imported especially from the UK). We visited the charity Hope for the Village Child and went to visit a community where they are going to start some microfinance work, the meeting was called by banging a “gong” hanging from a tree.
Kaduna market was amazing, especially the engineering part. We walked along narrow paths surrounded by welding, aluminium smelting, hammering and so on, and definitely felt the need for a hard hat, safety glasses and a pair of steel toe cap boots

Kaduna pics

Arriving in Abuja - hot hot hot!

2010-03-18T09:09:00.000+01:00

So on the 28th of Feb, at 04:30am, UK time, I arrived in Abuja, with Heather and Richard, from the UK, and Elizabeth and Charlton from Canada. We were met my VSO staff and taken off to the Crytsal Palace Hotel, with such luxuries as wireless internet access and air conditioning.

The photo is of the mosque, there is also an equally beautiful church / cathedral. Abuja is a modern city, designed with the motor car in mind, if you don't have your own car, you get a "drop" which is a taxi.

There are 18 volunteers on this intake, from India, Uganda, Kenya, UK, Canada and US working on the VSO programmes of HIV, Secure Livelihoods (that's me) and Education.

The electricity is what you might call intermittent, in the hotel the intervals were filled with a genearator so after a few moments of darkness, the lights would come back on and all go. One afternoon it failed, for about 8 hours, but I still got a typewritten note under my door with the correct date, apologizing for the inconvenience!

A lasting impression, is walking outside at 9pm, for a drink, in a small adjacent bar with a ceiling fan, and feeling like I am sitting under several hairdryers!

Emily is not in Jos

2010-03-08T19:01:00.000+01:00

Hi all - sorry for the lack of updates, I will rectify this as soon as I can, but meanwhile, be assured that I am not in Jos, VSO has no volunteers in Jos at present, is finding alternative solutions for those who were supposed to go there, and has re-inforced its travel ban - volunteers and staff are strictly banned from going to Jos or within 10km of it.

And on a positive note I am enjoying Nigeria, and as my new colleague I just met just pointed out, the good thing about Nigeria having a bad press is that people are positively surprized. I feel very much welcomed, secure, and safe.

Anyway for now I'm off to eat some nice spicy Nigerian food.

I made it! Arrived in Abuja at 05:30am - feeling rather hot!

2010-02-28T15:20:00.000+01:00

I am in Nigeria, got here safely, met a lovely lady on the plane, was met at the airport by cheery VSO staff, and just chilling out now while others turn up from other flights, India and US. Full on In-country training starts tomorrow.
Its good to be in Africa!

Its about to happen

2010-02-27T16:43:00.000+01:00

Well I have checked in online, my bags are packed, I've seen most people for the last time in a while, a few more tears still to be shed! The good news is I'm excited and just want to be on the plane, the bad news is I haven't finished my assignment, just asked for an extension (for which the qualifying criteria are "extenuating circumstances beyond my control").
So watch out Nigeria, I'm on my way!

7 days to go

2010-02-21T00:44:00.000+01:00

So - 7 days from now I will be in the air, hopefully calmly drinking a glass of something provided by BA, looking forward to my future and confident that I have the right things in my suitcase and am prepared.

So the next week, is packing, and goodbyes, finalising a few admin things, and trying to keep up to date with my studying. For those of you who don't know its an MSc in Climate Change and Sustainable Development (three years distance learning), I started in Septmeber and have passed the first module, hurrah!

And for those of you who did the quiz, here are the answers

https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AT4F8ENdCmF1ZGRoeG5nZjhfOGRuZmdqbWhy&hl=en_GB

Ok no photos of Nigeria yet, but one of me and Lucy instead!