Going away parties

Unfortunately someone once said that all good things must come to an end, and for us this came true for our time in Nigeria...

Don't get us wrong, there were definitely hard times, and working here is an interesting experience to say the least, but we've made such good friends here as well all go through the same stuff, and we've done some amazing things here that we'd never imagined back in oz - we're going to miss it all.

Most expats are in west Africa for the money (as it is VERY good - no complaints), so when we said we were sad to leave, we got a lot of blank looks like "why would you want to stay in this shithole rather than go to the States..?" Why? Coz, we've had so much fun with so many people, we've been part of people's families, both in the villages and in Lagos with Chris our driver...

So much so, that Chris actually secretly organised a party for us by himself!! Using his own money!! (ie about a months salary for the one night!!) It ended up being a hell of a last weekend in Lagos. Whilst juggling packing, getting visas and closing out everything here, we had a party every night for a few days, just to fit it all in. No one shys away from an excuse to have a party in Lagos, and we didn't do it any differently!!

Chris and I spent days driving around town buying up all the beer and food we could find. In the end, we got a bunch of the stewardesses working at 29 ikoyi (where we live) to help cut and skewer what seemed like a tonne of suya (spicy bbq skewers) - so much that it filled a few peoples freezers...

Whilst it was sad saying goodbye to everyone, the thing that got us was Chris. He was so proud to have work for both of us that he made a speech and presented us with a painting of George and I dressed up in local gear which he had taken when the three of us had taken our road trip up north the previous year. I was surprised to hear later that no one had ever heard of staff putting on a party for their boss with their own money and we felt like proud parents as Chris made his speech (a little teary)

Anyway, there's too many people to thank and to say "see ya later" to. We'll miss you all... enjoy the slide show (click on the "comments" icon next to the yellow man on the bottom LHS to see photo descriptions)

Ikaare - Unity Junior Grammar School (1of 2)

The Ishahayi Beach School Foundation (IBSF) started in the small fishing village if Ishahayi to help finish a school building the local church had started. In only a few short years, the foundation had built schools or infructurture in half a dozen small villages off the beaten path that are generally under the radar of larger charity groups and NGOs.

And it was the village of Ikaare that started that expansion.

Once the children of Ishahayi had finished primary school, there was no High school on the isolated peninsula and the mainland was to far to practically get to by boat (expensive) for the kids. There was, however a run down set of ruins called the Unity Junior Grammar School in the nearby village of ikaare that was hanging on to life. IBSF saw this as the only chance for these kids if they wanted to further their education...

...so we built a new junior high school from the ruins of the old...

The building at the end of these ruins had recently been completed by the government, but no sooner than it had been completed, it started to fall down again - I couldn't believe it... (well, actually, I'd been in Nigeria long enough to completely belive it - even expect it. A sorry day)


I won't go into the details of the first building that was covered in blogs last year. Suffice to say that our new building is on the left and the crappy government one is on the right...

Anyway, before I get all soap boxy about how the education department doesn't care about outlying schools and that the once 2000 strong student body, with teachers from as far afield as Ghana, has all but disappeared here, I should just cut to the chase. The building was crap, we raised more money and we rebuilt it.

The state of the thing was unbelievable. Barely 6 months old and it was falling down as all the timber was rotting...


So we jacked the roof up (by hand) and pulled out the bad wood...

... we set proper steel reinforcement in the lintels over windows and door openings (which had already begun to fail)



... we treated all the roof timber to prevent any further attacks...


... and we gave the whole thing a paint job!!

...oh yeah, and we hooked them up to the local power pole (by hand...) so they could run lights and fans (and the principle could watch TV...)


It took the best part of a year, and as much begging borrowing and stealing as I've ever done to get this project done, but it was absolutely worth it, and I made some good friends in that village.

HUGE thanks have to got to all at IBSF for getting this one across the line, especially Lindy Edwards and Jerry Aroozoo (and of course the principle with the mostest... Chief Osaba)

Ikaare - Unity Junior Grammar School (2 of 2)

Unfortunately we had to leave Nigeria before IBSF could open the school officially as they wanted all the sponsors and the local king to come to the ceremony.

An expat blogger wrote about it here (with HEAPS of photos!!) and from what I can tell it was a great party. It's good to see that village finally getting somewhere, hopefully it'll stay that way...

We worked really bloody hard on that school and I was sad to miss the fun

> Cheif Osaba (the principal)[red tie] and the local King Oba Akinyemi [beige mumu]

local woman with offering

[l-r] The principle, Osaba; the vice; the king; and reps from the education department
all looking very proud of themselves...

Abagbo - Epiphany School

The village of ABAGBO is just one of many fishing communities around Lagos that has quietly minded their own business as the government and big business change the environment around them.

The community has the misfortune (though some say fortune) of being split in two by an oil pipeline that runs from the Government owned tank farm near the port of lagos, inland.

Whilst the construction of theis pipeline brought wealth to a few in the village in the form of handouts and bought contracts, it the longrun the villagers, like many others in the area, suffer due to oil spills polluting their fishing grounds.

Thus, to earn a living they are turning to the perilous activity of steal petrol from the pipelines to supplement their income... An activity that has killed hundreds in the last two years:

BBC article 40 dead December 2007

BBC article - 260 Dead December 2006

[click on pic below for full size]
I always used to get nervous walking through here, ut at lw tide we could never egt our boat n to the village nd woud hve to tieup at the fuel dump ad walk in through the contaminated area...

The locals make small holes in the piepline and let the fuel spillout and soak the surrounding sand.

They then dig holes and collect the fuel to sell on the black market or use themselves.

Meanwhile the women still dive for shellfish living in the mangrove swamps, though god knows how toxic they are...

Local pigs love 'em though


meanwhile the men still have to fish to be able to put food on the table and money in their pockets...

This is the epiphany Anglican School at Abagbo. Built on the other side of the pipeline to the village, it was contructed by a foreign contractor when the pipeline was put in.


Problem was, it was never properly finished, and being the only school in the area has become in dire need of assistance.


Unfortunately, a lot of things had been left to go to waste around this village - like this state of the art self powered medical suit that was never used and so was looted and smashed

Likewise a bore was drilled but never attached to pumps or a tank - just left to rust.

Unfortunately for that year (2008) we had comiited most of our funds already and so could only manage a small, bit vital, project - the installation of tanks and a pump and small generator.

we also managed to install some taps near the toilets and near the school building for the kids to wash themselves and drink clean water.

If the village manages to lookafter the well, the appalling state of the classrooms acn hopefull be adressed in 2009 with a new roof and new ceilings...

Benin Republic - Abomey to Grand Popo

We joined a 3 day trip to the Benin Republic - the spiritual home of Voodoo (know as Juju in these parts)- that was organised by the Nigerian Field Society (an anthropological organisation of like minded nerdy-folk)


The organisers, Hans and Maaike, planned an excellent programme with such variety that nobody could have been bored. We began with a travel day and after leaving ikoyi at 7:00am in a convoy with police protection to get to the border. We arrived in Abomey around 4 pm. The border was a bit tedious and took two hours to clear, with Hans and Maaike taking care of officialdom - but as they wouldn't "dash" the border guards they took plenty of time with our papers. Whilst I understand while they didn't do it, it's normal practice to hand over a hundred naira or so ($1) as a sort of tip to each person who needs to stamp your passport - just to get things moving.



ABOMEY

Hotel “Chez Monique” provided an excellent atmosphere to end a day on the bus. We had a large garden to wander around filled with masks, statues, tapestries and beer. There were lots of separate beer corners within the garden and we relaxed and enjoyed each other’s company. Then when we needed a new beer garden we walked a couple of blocks down the wide boulevard to the local beer garden and had a few more..


Francis, the enthusiastic and knowledgeable tour guide, gave us a run down on Benin’s history. There are plenty of historical sites from this once great kingdom.


Beware of the “protector” of one of the sites - the Marlboro man, or so his hat proclaimed! As we took photos of 18th Century palace walls from the street he decided it was his duty to stop us and demand money. Not unusual, but when we paid a nominal fee, he decided to chase our bus through the streets of Abomey for at least half an hour shaking his fist, motioning us to pull over, cutting us off (on an Okada no less!) and then he followed us to Blacksmith Village where he turned our visit to the local blacksmith into a big scene.




We also saw a local voodoo (juju) shrine which was coincidentally in use while we were there so we saw the grisly procedure of chicken sacrifice. This lovely event was followed by a stroll through the local market to watch the humane treatment of the local live produce as it is wrangled with and tied up in order to fit on the back of an okada, bicycle, rooftop, etc





Fuel is expensive in Benin so they sell black Market fuel (often stolen from Nigeria where it's heavily subsidised) by the side of the road in big glass jars

WITCH DOCTOR

Next stop was a trip to the voodoo village and the witch doctor introduced us to fetishes and spitting upon them. When asked if anybody had problems to cure, nobody did. We were a happy healthy group. Or, more likely, everybody was on the verge of passing out from heat exhaustion in the cramped tiny room in which we were viewing the rituals and didn't need to have gin spat on us









The old guy got drunk at talked to this piece of cloth for a while, occasionally laughing - must've been some funny cloth...

This concoction of wax and palm oil and a skull - apart from stinking - is wiped on the little statues (fetishes) to get the gods to help you...

GETTING AROUND



One thing Benin has going for it is the fact that fashionable young ladies like this one can ride okadas (motorbikes) here. In Nigeria that's unheard of (actually a fancy bike like that is too...)

This is the more usual use for an okada - get the whole family and off you go!

TRAIN TO COAST

The next day a train had been arranged especially for our group to take us from a town near Abomey, called Bohicon, to Pahou near the coast. The 3 hour ride seemed short, because it was so enjoyable. The train carriage is 1922 vintage with beautiful hardwood floors and a big back verandah.

The train doesn't run any more - though like everything else around here did once in the "good old days" whenever that was... It's the first train we've been on in Africa






The children who saw this extremely rare sight of a train are so excited that they bounce up and down when they wave at you.










Tanks to Sheryl tank for some of the text :)