Abuja!

 

Had to travel back to Abuja again for 3 days to celebrate International Volunteer Day and for the Annual VSO Volunteer Forum. Thankfully this time I had the company of the lovely Michael, my fellow VSO volunteer in Calabar, who made the 13 hour bumpy journey much more bearable! I'm not sure he was too pleased when I kept beating him at all the card games though!

 

 

 

Day one of the conference finished early, so I managed to escape (well snuck out) to chill out in Millenium Park - was so green and quiet considering we were in the middle of Abuja! Really enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I finally saw the signs that it was Christmas - it just feels off here that its warm! Can't believe my birthday is next week!! Also treated ourselves to very expensive Pizza at Dunes - after several days of snacky food a girl deserves a treat :-) Made sure we made the most of their air-con and nice bathrooms too! Stared at the cheese counter as well, can't believe how much I miss milk and cheese......

Abuja is not an easy town to get around by foot, so thanks to my lovely friend Vince, we had an escorted driven tour around Abuja and its sights. It began with a trip to Shoprite - a South African supermarket chain who now have several branches in Nigeria. It was so amazing, like being back home, there was so much choice I found it difficult to choose what I wanted!! I never imagined being overwhelmed in a supermarket! But I did purchase a nice bottle of wine, some salt and vinegar crisps and ate chocolate ice cream!

Church and Mosque in Abuja - my two favourite buildings!

 

 

The football stadium and their own 'dome' 

 

Abuja city itself and their 'twin towers' being constructed

Interational Volunteer Day Celebrations

So to celebrate International Volunteer Day VSO were invited to take part in a conference on Volunteering. Our new Country Director of VSO took to the stage and gave a great speech on the importance of volunteers:



 

We also had some poems, singing and drama from some youth volunteers:

 

 

Sadly the day was incredibly bureaucratic and there were way too many speeches and not enough time for interaction between us international volunteers and the national volunteers. One of the things I find frustrating here is the need to continually recognize dignitaries and VIPs and make things very formal, when sometimes just an informal networking event would give greater benefit. But I’m not here to change a country’s culture. After a very expensive but gorgeous club sandwich (was the equivalent of 3 days of my usual food budget) in the Sheraton, we headed to a craft market where I bargained hard for some earrings, before heading back for a afternoon nap in my air conditioned room – you have to take advantage of power when you have it!

The evening was a real treat, all the VSO volunteers got together for dinner which was fantastically cooked by Andi, Robert, David and Joe – we were treated to toasties, curly fries, BBQ chicken, potato salad and baguettes! It was delicious and so lovely to spend time in an informal setting with other VSO volunteers!

 

 

I also finally got to meet the lovely Christine who is based just outside Calabar - and I’m glad that we hit it off straight away and I expect many more nights out together in Calabar!

I had the lovely surprise of seeing my friend Sarah, who was a volunteer in Calabar and was heading back home to Uganda and was in Abuja for a few days! I’m sad we only had a few weeks in Calabar together and will miss her company. I hope to see her again in Uganda or Kenya when I leave here on my travels through Africa!!

 

The final day we bonded with the VSO programme office by playing some team building games - including the good old 'lead a blindfolded person' and then ate a last meal together. 



 

 

 

 

The 13 hour bus trip was definitely worth it, it is so good to meet with and get to know my fellow volunteers. Discussing our challenges and all the fun we have was great and I know I have a great support network here.

The downside??? Well I now have to make even more road trips to visit my friends in Lafia, Lagos and Ilorin! J

Abuja Jazz Club - best night out so far here!!

So how did I end up drinking red wine and dancing with some of the most important business men and government officials in a hotel conference room listening to a live jazz band……………….

Sometimes you just never know where life will take you, one chance conversation can open all kind of doors and that is just what has happened to me here in Nigeria. On my first 13 hour bus trip to Abuja I was lucky enough to have the company of 12 other lovely people and we had great conversation! One of the very lovely people was Vince, who also paid for my taxi fare and to be escorted by another female passenger as he was worried about my safety. Vince and I kept in touch and we met up in Abuja again on my next visit and he invited me to go to his members only jazz club! In England I’d find ways to say no to this invitation, but here if you don’t have an open mind you will find yourself sat alone in the dark reading my kindle by candlelight!

So of course I said yes to the invitation and took along two fellow VSO volunteers Robert and Stacey. We were rewarded with red wine for being the first people to arrive, then found out that Vince was the MC for the evening and later on found out he was a very talented bongo player! Stacey and I were awarded with our very own Abuja Jazz Club mugs:

 

 

Then the real fun began – the band were fantastic, Stacey and I were forced to sing and were held hostage until someone paid the N1,000 release fee so we could return to our seats. Being Vince’s special guest I of course was released last!

Then we danced the night away! As girls we could only dance when dancing with a man – something we only found out when Robert left Stacey and I alone when going to the toilet and we were quickly grabbed by a professor and temporarily came part of his entourage! Then I experienced the Nigerian custom of spraying – keep your minds clean – it’s the custom of showering money onto people whilst dancing!



 

 

Me and the lovely Vince!

 

 

 

 

It was so random but so much fun! The welcoming nature and kindness of people like Vince just blows me away and makes me so glad I said yes to Nigeria! 

 

One month in.....

Can’t quite believe a month has gone already, in some ways I feel I’ve been here for ages and in others it’s like I only just arrived! Nigeria has a way of making you feel so welcome it becomes home, but then it throws some interesting challenges to test you – i.e. the food and power situation!!

I have absolutely no regrets about leaving my UK life and coming here. I’m loving being on African soil and am already planning my travels for when I leave here – am planning on going to Tanzania, Zanzibar, Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa between Oct-Jan for anyone who wishes to join me along the way!!!! Africa has definitely got a strong hold on my heart and desires for the moment.

Things aren’t always easy, there are still cultural issues which I’m adapting to and ways of life that are so different to our UK ways. I’ve become good at cooking and showering in the dark, pretending I can’t hear the mice squeaking in my bedroom at night, turning down dates, refusing to give out my phone number, and discussing religious issues. But this is what also makes the experience! Being in Abuja for 2 weeks in some ways was great – power, internet, supermarkets, fridges etc – but I missed the feeling of being part of a community, in some ways I could have been almost anywhere in the world. I love walking to work and having people shout good morning to me, seeing children staring at me, making people laugh just by smiling or waving at them! Whilst I most definitely am their entertainment being a strange white lady living in their community and walking to places – it makes me happy to know that seeing me makes them smile and maybe I make their day by saying hi to them. I love seeing the shock of some of the older women’s faces when they realize the person saying good morning to them in WHITE!!! People want to talk to me or spend time with me. Many times I’ve had my cab fare or a drink paid for to welcome me to their country – that’s not something that would happen in London! Overall this wins out over power and some of the other challenges here.

I’m making lots of friends here in Calabar too, there is a quite diverse population here (relative to the size) and a few other international volunteers working on primate conservation and other VSO volunteers – so often it’s a nice mixture of people when we go out. I find myself turning down invitations to go out in order to have the odd quiet night in to rest! I’ve seen more Arsenal matches here than I ever do at home, people are always amazed when I don’t want to support Man U or another team, they can’t quite understand that a woman would actively choose and support a team for 25 years so is therefore not up for swapping sides now!  I’m getting used to the enormous bottles of beer they sell here, where to buy the odd chocolate treat from, and how to dance to ‘Azuntu.’

I’m really looking forward to December. It will be nice to have some time with the other volunteers in Abuja, and to spend some time with GPI staff on our retreat. I’m also looking forward to Christmas time – it is going to be an interesting mix of people and food all celebrating at my house! Then time to chill, hike, swim and admire the beautiful scenery in Obudu and Affi afterwards. Plus I also have a parcel from England arriving soon – can’t wait!

The weekend!

Had a lovely weekend, went to the Drill Ranch on Saturday to see the Drill monkeys and to try and reserve some accommodation up in their forest – Affi Mountain for Christmas. The monkeys are an endangered species and are only found on the border between Nigeria and Cameroon. The ranch is run by an American NGO called Pandrillus and they are breeding the Drill Monkey with the hope to release a group back into the wild shortly. Affi is quite booked up so am crossing my fingers that we manage to get a spot there over Christmas!

Watched lots of football on Saturday – all the premiership matches are shown here and I can always find someone to accompany me to watch an Arsenal match!! A lot of Nigerian’s support Chelsea as they have 2 Nigerian players but there are lots of Arsenal and Man U fans too. Thankfully not too many Tottenham fans so it was a celebratory environment when we beat them 5-2! Then I experienced my first Nigerian nightclub – went out with our neighbour Phillip and two other VSO volunteers based here in Calabar, Michael and Paul. We met a few other people too, it’s so easy to make friends – I could go out every night if I wanted / could afford to! The music was good and we danced the night away til 3am!

Woke up on Sunday to see my ceiling fan moving – we had power!!!!!!! A momentous moment, so I jumped out of bed to charge all my electrical appliances and had made the most of the power by watching the boat that rocked (a funny movie) with Leanne.

 In the afternoon I went into work to join my group for this week – silvers. I’d given them an assignment to think of questions they wanted to ask me and things they wanted to know about the UK, and boy did they think of lots of questions. I was grilled on why I wasn’t married and had babies, what food we eat, what the weather was like, what clothes we wore and on the legal system! I was very proud of the girls! After my interrogation we had a lesson on human sexuality and the changes to our body and lifestyle over the years. Apparently 31-40 is when you start to get wrinkled skin, grey hair, become a grandmother, get ill more often, have backpain, and maybe early menopause – so lots to look forward to (though pretty sure the grandmother thing is off the cards!). No one here believes I’m turning 35 next month anyway, so I’m thinking of losing 10 years and going back to being 25! Can’t believe my birthday and Christmas is almost here……..  

Month of December!

So I've got THE craziest month planned in December! I've got a 5 day trip to Abuja for International Volunteer Day, then a 5 day retreat with the GPI staff, then the festivities of my birthday, christmas, Calabar carnival and a trip to the north of the state to visit Obudu Cattle Ranch and Affi Drill Ranch! Thankfully I've 2 weeks off work over Christmas to recover!

I'm pretty sure that will be followed by the January blues despite the sunshine - so lots of texts and emails will be needed! Some younger UK volunteers are arriving hopefully in January also (depending on visas), they are working at GPI through VSO so that will be a good and busy distraction for me from potential homesickness!

 

Abuja and ICT training!

Have just returned from a 2 week trip to Abuja for my In Country Training (ICT). The trip started with a 13.5 hour bus ride from Calabar to Abuja - it was on a "luxury" bus - but it was still pretty cramped and hot! But I survived and met some lovely people on the bus, in fact I was brought a drink, was accompanied to the hotel by a lovely lady who did not want me to get lost and I had my taxi fare paid for! People here are so generous and kind!

This time round Crystal Palace Hotel seemed luxurious - just two weeks in Nigeria have redefined my expectations! Having electricity, wifi, air con and a fridge was a definite novelty!

ICT was good, it was lovely meeting with my fellow volunteers, learning more about VSO's strategy and generally swapping ideas and experiences. The group was diverse with volunteers from Kenya, Holland, Canada and the UK.

My group:



Abuja:

 
Us in a local bar!

For the weekend we got to stay with 'seasoned' volunteers and I found myself with the lovely Heather and McKinley staying in their nice apartment! It was great to have some girly conversations, go shopping and hang out in the pool - almost like being on holiday! We lived next door to Gordon and Robert who were hosting Daniel and Robert, so Saturday evening we had the pleasure of amazing Kenyan food! Chipati and stew - was delicious!

I also got to visit a rural community with Heather and her organisation (EVA) and saw the peer sexual education programme for myself. At first the presence of two white girls seemed to hinder the session, but once photos of the various STIs were shown then the conversations soon began! Travelled out to the community on my first okado (motorbike taxi) - thankfully my driver went slowly and I found myself enjoying the breeze rather than being stuck in a hot bus!

The last night in Abuja was a gorgeous meal with the volunteers and VSO staff - definitely the nicest meal I've had here so far! 

Then so quickly I found myself on the long journey back to Calabar - again meeting lovely people and one gave me a lift back to the house! The journey goes through rural parts of Nigeria and the country is so much greener than I expected it to be.

 

Nigeria has a reputation for being a difficult country to travel in - which given the state of the roads it is true! But it is also important to acknowledge all the kind and helpful people who make those journeys worthwhile.

I'm back in Calabar now for 2 weeks, but I have to make that journey again in 2 weeks for the volunteer forum and celebration!!! But hopefully this time I will have the company of my fellow calabar volunteers!