I have to admit to not really understanding the point of a blog. Putting one’s thoughts in writing – and into the public domain, no less – seems to me to be fraught with difficulties (legal, social, diplomatic, etc). I also have to admit to never having been able to keep up with a blog, even when written by some of my dearest friends.
Nevertheless, with that optimistic opening out of the way, I would genuinely like to let people back home – and anyone else who may feel like tuning in (that’s the weird part) – know a little bit about what I’m up to whilst volunteering with VSO in Nigeria.
We’ve been here for over a week now. Naturally, I have freaked out on a daily basis about the general newness and crazyness of it all, but I’m gradually getting used to the idea that we’re here for the long haul. It’s hot but not drastically so (I have no idea what that translates to in degrees, but it’s manageable) and less wet than one might expect a rainy season to be. As a sweeping generalisation, Nigerian people are very friendly and jolly – lots of laughter, and they can certainly teach me a thing or two about relaxing!
We’ve been eased into our life here with extraordinary luxury by Nigerian standards – a hotel room in the capital, Abuja, with TV, air conditioning, wi-fi (kind of) and hot running water. Abuja is a strange city – it was created when the government decided to move the capital from Lagos, and has been built from scratch with wide, clean roads, tall-ish buildings and a ban on motorcycle taxis (called okadas). It’s pretty spread out, so no-one really walks, and with no okadas, the only option is to take taxis everywhere – luxury!
A four day trip over the weekend to stay with a volunteer in rural Akwanga gave us a better insight into what Nigerian life will really be like. Hopping on and off okadas (and telling the drivers to drive hankali (carefully) because I’m a baturi (white person)), bathing with a bucket of cold water, killing rats in the flat…the fun has only just begun. We also got to walk through some villages belonging to the nomadic Fulani tribe – a real privilege.
The journey back was our first attempt at public transport without the comfort of current volunteers showing us what to do. Bush taxis are like mini vans with two rows of seats behind the driver/passenger seats. The rows are clearly built for 3 people each, but they squeeze at least 4 onto each with much shifting and some pain. Then when they’re full, they put two people on fold down chairs behind the driver, facing backwards, two people on the passenger seat, and even a second person sharing the seat with the driver. It’s truly astonishing to see how many people can fit into such a small vehicle.
Back now at the Crystal Palace Hotel in Abuja (and even though one volunteer describes it as “neither crystal nor palatial”, it’s actually pretty good) for the remaining couple of days of our In Country Training. We’ll be travelling up to Kaduna to start our placements on Friday. Fortunately, we’ve been told they have found accommodation for us; unfortunately, it isn’t ready yet (not sure if that means it’s currently being built, furnished or vacated) so we’ll be staying in a hotel for a while.
A final word on the food: HOT!
First stupid question: how widely is English spoken?
ReplyDeleteIn its spread-outness, Abuja sounds like Los Angeles! Do you have palm trees? I do!
I once dealt with a book from the 1970s called "Amazing Addis Ababa" that was published by the Ethiopian government and had a great cover illustration of an exceedingly ugly concrete city centre.
Hello! How exciting - a comment!
ReplyDeleteEnglish is pretty widely spoken in some form or another. It is, technically, the language of business and education. However, we are definitely going to learn more Hausa (local tribal language) to help with school visits and just day to day getting on with people.
There is a lot of concrete architecture from the 60s and 70s - not too different from some places back home actually. Someone here referred to Abuja as the Milton Keynes of Nigeria.