Happy 3-year Wedding Anniversary!
It has been just about two weeks since our last blog update. Although it doesn't feel like too many things on the to-do-list have been checked off, a lot has been happening. And in just two short weeks, we'll be returning back to the States for the duration of the summer. Perhaps the first thing to report about is the escalating violence in northern Nigeria. On July 26th, the BBC reported that a small fundamentalist Islamic group launched an attack on the police headquarters just outside of the northeastern town of Maiduguri. This was not an unprovoked action on their part, but rather in response to the police detaining their leader a few days earlier. In any event, the small group attacked the police headquarters and killed some officers in the process. Naturally, the police fought back in an attempt to avenge their fallen brothers, and by Monday morning (July 27th) the Nigerian Federal Government had called in the army to "dispose" of the fundamentalists. By Tuesday, July 28th, 200 people lay dead. By Saturday, August 1st, 400 more were added to their count, and the army had re-captured and killed the fundamentalist leader, as well as most of his followers. By Sunday, August 2nd, mass graves were being prepared and the army was planning its departure from Maiduguri. Down in the southeastern part of the country - the Christian area - our safety was never in question. The people of the South view the people of the North - the Muslims - as another country. Indeed, most things about the North and South are different, despite the fact that only 400-800 miles separates them. The people we spoke to in the South said that the North was always fighting with themselves, and there wasn't really any chance it would 'leak' south. It seems they were right as business was as usual in Calabar during the week of increasing violence. So - in short - we remain safe, secure and moving along with our various One Sky projects.
One of the projects that we have been tasked with completing while in Nigeria is the setting up of the One Sky Office/House - both furnishing and establishing systems for smooth Office/House management. From a Western perspective, no big deal, right? But things have been a big deal, though. We have been living in the Office/House for three weeks now, and yet many things remain to be done. The key piece to unlocking the puzzle of setting up the Office/House (the kingpin, as it were) is the shipping container that remains on the docks in Lagos. The container is from One Sky's head office in British Columbia, Canada. It contains everything. Vehicles, desks, chairs, curtains, sheets, bed, pictures, mugs, plates - you name it - it is in the container. A tremendous amount of effort went into buying, packing and transporting this container to Lagos on June 2nd. Yup, June 2nd. It has been sitting on the docks, in Customs, awaiting final clearance since then.
One Sky's Nigerian Country Director, Patricia, went to Lagos two weeks ago to try and get the container out of Customs. No such luck. She even hired someone to help her navigate the craziness of container clearance. No such luck. Apparently what has happened is that all the items in the container have been labeled as contraband. Nigerian Customs fears that we are going to sell our items because we have an unusually large number of things. They say, "Who needs 75 chairs?" We say, "It is for an NGO Office. We are running workshops with lots of people." And they say, "We don't believe you, and further we believe you are going to be selling these imported goods and thus, we need to charge you as if you were an importer." And around it has gone for three weeks.
There is no question that One Sky's Nigerian Office could have been better prepared and ready to navigate Customs, but they weren't. Needless to say the container is still on the docks in Lagos, and because our Country Director has been gone for so long (with all the One Sky money and authority to do things in Calabar), we have been significantly hampered in our task of setting up the Office/House and establishing house-wide systems. Not only is this turn of events frustrating for us, but disappointing for everyone involved - not least of which is the Office Staff that are trying to work with us (volunteers) without their boss (Patricia) to check in with on a semi-regular basis (Patricia hasn't been answering her phone since she has been gone). It is definitely hard not to feel abandoned and left wondering why we have found ourselves in the middle of this situation. But we are in the middle - we are here right now - so we are trying to make the best of it. And despite all of the challenges, things are going well.
So, in the meantime (waiting for the container and Patricia to arrive from Lagos) we still have been busy with plenty of smaller projects. Adam has continued to meet one-on-one (for 2 hours each) with the Leading from Within Project participants - speaking to 12 of them to date. This has definitely been one of his highlights in Nigeria, along with the first Intensive in late June. Kate has continued to spend a lot of her time volunteering with the Oten Ita Foundation. In collaboration with Jakes and Afo, she recently completed a current events newsletter for the Foundation. Looking to the future and the Foundation's sustainability, she trained Afo and Jakes on how to work on Microsoft Publisher, and even left them with a bunch of useful Publisher templates for future newsletters. Also, on behalf of the Foundation, Kate attended a recent public meeting/gathering with the Nigerian Minister of Women's Affairs at the Women's Development Centre in Calabar. And to top it all off (pun intended) Kate has taken her hair out of the long braided extensions she had for two weeks, and has exchanged them for a new red-haired weave. That's right - a weave. It is sewed onto her existing hair, which fits neatly underneath in cornrows. Her new hairdo comes complete with straight hair, bangs and a little cap to wear at night to keep it looking fine. She looks great! For all of you out there interested in potentially trying out a weave once in your life, Kate reports that it feels like a hat...a warm one, no doubt, in Nigeria!
For the last three weeks, Adam has started training for a 31-mile trail race in September in Vermont. Hard work in the Nigerian heat. Surprisingly, there is a Golf Course in Calabar relatively close to One Sky's Office/House, and as long as Adam stays close to the perimeter and out of the way of the golfers everything is fine and dandy. In the evenings, on the hour, we listen to the BBC. It is nice to catch up on the daily news, and we definitely enjoy the routine of the five beeps, and then the one long beep that coincides with the change of the hour: beep...beep...beep...beep...beep...bbbeeeeepppppp....This is the BBC." When we aren't listening to the BBC, we are reading to one another. Right now we are reading, One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marques. It is comforting to have routines and a schedule, especially when so much that surrounds us is uncertain and catch as catch can. Speaking of which, one afternoon, when we were at HitechPro online, the guy sitting next to Adam tried to grab money out of his pocket. When Adam turned to confront the guy asking, "Hey, what are doing (grabbing his hand)?!" the would-be robber said, "Here, this is yours....(and then went back to typing). Dumbfounded and not sure what to do next, Adam also went back to typing.
The One Sky Office/House has about a million keys. Each room has like four keys associated with the front door, and about five keys associated with the closets within. This makes for a lot of keys, total. Concerned that keys would be legitimately taken from doors, and afterwards added to a "General Pile" and lost forever into uselessness, we thought it best to label and avoid the unnecessary confusion later. Make no mistake though, this is a big task - especially when resources are limited. Fearless, Kate took it on with eyes wide open. She scrounged up some cardboard, a hole punch, a black pen, duck tape, packing tape and locked herself in our room until it was complete. She emerged with a rope full of individually grouped keys (based on usefulness) with tags associated; as well as one backup key for all the keys on a separate piece of rope. All the future confusion of which-key-goes-where evaporated in front of our eyes. It was magic.
In an unrelated event that happened on the same day as the aforementioned key magic, a participant from the Leadership from Within Project arrived at the One Sky Office/House with a wheelbarrow. This was not an unprovoked action, but rather something we have been asking after - to numerous parties - for weeks. The guards/groundskeepers - Stephen and Solomon - have a lot of trash and land to move on the premises. They claimed a wheelbarrow is indispensable for this work. Seeing that we have very little One Sky money to go around, we thought it best to borrow one from a friend. Easier said that done. Two weeks later - in mysterious collaboration with Kate's key magic - a beautifully orange utilitarian wheelbarrow arrived at our door. It was immediately put to work.
On Friday, July 24th, NEPA arrived at the One Sky Office/House. The Nigerian Electric Power Authority (NEPA) provides "light" to homes that are connected to the electrical grid. It is very intermittent. Sometimes it is on for 10 minutes, sometimes no minutes, sometimes in the middle of the night for 4 hours. We have been told that there is a guy - presumably in a booth somewhere - that doles out the Calabar alloted power. There doesn't appear to be a system, or method. He just kind of connects cords for awhile and then unplugs them and connects other ones. What this means for our Office/House is that we can now charge our computer - albeit intermittently - and turn on the lights from time to time. These are huge boons for us, and makes work at the Office a tiny bit more manageable. And plus, when NEPA turns on - which is always unexpectedly - it is like Christmas.
Every Sunday we go to church. It is just what people do here - particularly in the southern part of Nigeria. Two Sundays ago we were invited to go to the church of a friend - a participant from the Project. The first church service was pleasant and not unlike other services we have been to in Nigeria. Singing, dancing, carrying-on and so forth. It is always a good time. The second "church" service was not church at all - despite the fact that it was held in the church - but rather a 50th birthday celebration for the Pastor. Oh boy, we had no idea!
We were invited to the head table and given the microphone on two separate occasions to speak to the congregation. The first time Kate spoke. We were asked to judge the Pastor's ability to cut his birthday cake. We stood there watching his skill and precision at cutting the cake - wondering what to say - and then Kate was handed the microphone to deal out the verdict to the assembled onlookers (estimated at 200 souls). Naturally she started with a "Praise the Lord" which was returned with a "Hallelujah" from the crowd. And then she spoke about family, and how the Pastor's unmistakable skill in cutting the cake would mean that he'd live until old age. The second time we were handed the microphone, Adam spoke. After a few "Praise the Lord"(s) and "Hallelujah"(s) in return, Adam attempted to speak in the local dialect by saying, "Good afternoon to you in the name of Jesus Christ!" Some people responded back with the appropriate, "Amen"(s), and others were just plain confused by this white boy trying to speak their language. After a few words of thanks and congratulations to the Pastor, Adam sat down a little overwhelmed by the silence. Nigeria continues to catch us off-guard - in fact, that seems to be the rule rather than the exception. It is guaranteed though that it will be always entertaining.
On Monday, July 27th, in the evening another volunteer from the US arrived at the Calabar Office/House, Angelica. We are happy she is here to assist the team in delivering the upcoming Intensive (August 11-14), as well as just hang out. Angelica is also doing research for her Master's degree on leadership, and so has been spending a lot of time interviewing the participants and getting to know Calabar. Kate and Angelica were quick friends, and they have enjoying exploring Calabar together. In fact, Kate has really been realing round the town on her own these days - feeling pretty comfortable and confident! And just the other night, they came home from a day at the market and running errands with a bunch of food to cook for dinner. Kate cooked up her tasty spaghetti sauce, and we shared a wonderful meal together!
From Wednesday, July 29th, through Friday, July 31 we left the confines of Calabar and went to a village, Ofumbunga - 3 hours north - to spend some time with friends (Ejibewa and others) and check out their farming-related projects. The following is a segment from Adam's journal - stream of consciousness - on the details of our comings and goings in the village:
Wednesday, July 29
Up early with rain. Left house with Ejibewa at 9a. Rented taxi - 3 in the back, 3 in the front. 2.5 h ride to Obubura. Then 20 min motorbike ride to Ofumbunga. Crazy road. African village. First inside, lunch. Then walked around village to water (river) and back. Lots and lots of kids following us. Very hot. They are all saying, "Snap me, snap me, snap me!" Pics and videos taken. Hot and sweaty. Saw cooperative headquarters; grass cutters, goats, pigs and a vacant building left over from an EU Project. Some local language learnings, checked out the Primary School from afar. Village life and routine very comforting. Simple. Kids following, always watching. Hot, tired. Return. Dinner, spicy food. Then Star beer and Nigerian film, Millionaire's Daughter (2h). Bed at 10p, after cold shower. Loud generator-powered fan until 12a, then hot during the rest of the night/morning.
Thursday, July 30
Breakfast at 8a. Then went on walk to other satellite villages to see the other cooperatives (a long muddy walk). More kids, more pics. Met with three chiefs, last the paramount chief. Kola nut and whiskey as welcome, thinks we are Canadian International Development Assistance (CIDA) people. Back to house for lunch, hot, siesta until 3 or 4p. Afterwards, go for a walk to the Secondary School run by the church, on the top of a hill. Caught in the rain at the end of the walk. Kind of nice to have the heat broken by the rain. Nice light. Then we went in to see the Pastor and Headmaster of the School. Watched TV with him for awhile. We leave after a bit and walk back to the village. Right at twilight, a very nice time with some good pics of village life and pace. Dinner back at the house, then Nigerian film, Mountain Girl (2h). Bed at 10:30p, after cold shower.
Friday, July 31
One of the volunteers in the village took us to her house and her dad's farm and fish pond. Nice to meet them. Then up to a high place on a rock overlooking the village and river. Nice up there, good wind. Then down and into lunch. Small rest, motorbike ride to base of last climb up to Obubura, and then walk up to car. Drive back 2.5 hours, fast and rainy. Back in Calabar by 3:00p.
We learned that village life is quite different from "city" life in Cross River State. In the village, 90% of the people are up by dawn and walking to their farms for the day, which in some cases are 3-4 hours walk uphill. On the way out of the village in the morning they (most typically the women) are carrying a big bucket on their heads filled with a little food, tools and a few other smaller items. On the way back into the village, at dusk, the bucket they are carrying on their head is jammed-full of yam, cassava or corn, and on top of that they are carrying lots and lots of logs for the evening's firewood. Amazing. Carrying these items on their head is no easy task, and the feat never ceased to amaze us whenever we passed some 65-year old lady carrying 100+ pounds on her head in the driving rain. She'd smile with grace and say, in her language, "Welcome."
Because most people are working on their faraway farms during the day, the village is more or less empty of adults. But not empty of children. Lots and lots of children (150-200) are hanging around - playing with rocks, fetching this or that, or trying to keep their wheel upright and rolling with a stick as they run down the street. And when we were in the village, we were the main attraction. Everywhere we went there was always 50-80 kids following in our wake. Even if we sat down to drink water, they would crowd around and study our every move. Some would run up to us and touch us and then run away giggling. Others were afraid to get close to us and kept their distance or hid behind their siblings. But more often than not, they wanted their picture taken - or as they put it, "snapped." So, as we walked around the village the kids would run in front of us, assemble into a group, and as we approached them they would shout, in unison, "Snap me!" We took around 400 pictures, and 10-15 minutes of video in 2.5 days.
It was wonderful to be in the village, a pleasant change of pace from the hustle and bustle of Calabar. The people of Ofumbunga were incredibly welcoming, and so tickled when we would speak to them in their local language as we walked throughout the village. We quickly learned the words for: Good morning, Good afternoon, Good evening, Thank you, Welcome, How are you?, and a few others. In the evenings, outside of the house we were staying in, the villagers (100-200) would gather for late-night prayer and worship service with their pastor. And in Nigeria worship mainly means singing. So, for two hours during the 2 nights we stayed in the village, the gathered people sang in perfect harmony their praises to the Almighty. It was beautiful. It was peaceful. It represents Nigeria's hope for a more honest and forthcoming tomorrow.
This week we are preparing the Leading from Within Intensive next week. We are working in close communication with the One Sky team in Canada, and are looking forward to Patricia's return mid-week. Maybe even the container will arrive before we leave. Keep your fingers crossed!
And today, August 4th, 2009 is our three-year wedding anniversary - and six years since we met on Interstate 78 in New Jersey....
Love to all,
Adam and Kate
