Tanzanian Adventure

Well it’s been a few weeks since my last blog and it’s been a very busy end of year and start of 2013.

I mentioned that my Mum was coming all the way to Africa to spend a week with me in Jos and what a fabulous week it was. I had activities planned each day such as a simple walk down to the open-air markets, a visit to the various orphanages I work in, attending a Nigerian staff Christmas party, a Nigerian cooking lesson with a friend of mine and a picnic at some rock formations overlooking a small Fulani village on the outskirts of Jos. Mum reported thoroughly enjoying her time here and meeting all the amazing Nigerians in my life.

We left Jos together the next Saturday to fly to Nairobi, Kenya to start our week of fun in Tanzania on Safari. We had 1 day to explore Nairobi and decided to spend the morning at the Elephant Orphanage and Rescue Centre in Nairobi. They rescue baby elephants under 2 years (when they still require milk) whose mothers have commonly been killed by poachers. The elephant keepers spend 24 hours a day with the new babies, sleeping with them and following them around the national park (as they’re not caged in) in an attempt to nurture and create that caring relationship. We toured the city (which was so modern and western in comparison to Jos) and saw the various main tourist attractions then met up with our tour guide later that evening to be briefed on what to expect over the next week. Emmanuel (Manny) our CEO (Chief Experience Officer) was such a great guy and his humor and desire for us to have a great time really did make the trip a memorable one.

The G Adventures Crew

We drove to Arusha (Safari capital of Tanzania) and met up with the rest of the group (2 other kiwis, a few Aussies and the rest Canadians) for dinner.  The trip turned out to be a nice mix of game drives through the Ngorongoro and Serengeti National Parks (ticking off every animal I had on my list!) and other activities to break up the sitting and driving. We visited a local Tanzanian village, tried banana beer and enjoyed an authentic Tanzania meal for Christmas lunch. We were hosted by the Masai people in their village and saw how they lived, watched a man make fire from dung, danced with the ladies and the guys had a traditional jumping competition!

One of the highlights for me was waking up at 2am in the morning and hearing a buffalo chewing grass and breathing right outside my tent! We also had a curious elephant come into the campsite to drink from the water tank. We had been told emphatically not to leave perishables in our tents because the hyenas WOULD come and investigate if they could smell food, so when I heard hyenas cackling and lions roaring in the distance it was a little disconcerting! Getting up to pee in the night was a courageous venture indeed!

Overlooking the Serengeti National Park

After an unforgettable trip and a lot of memories being made, I said goodbye to Mum at Nairobi airport, but wasn’t too sad as I knew I would be seeing her again in a month.  After a long wait (and attempting to sleep on the cold tile floor of the airport) I boarded the plan back to Nigeria just in time to celebrate New Years Eve with a big shared dinner at Challenge compound. We finished the night by toasting marshmallows over George’s fire (yes it is actually COLD here in Africa in the mornings and evenings….well when I say cold, it’s all relative!).

New Years Day Fiona, Keesha and I decided to take some of the orphans to see some traditional dancing to celebrate the New Year in a small village called Miango about an hour out of Jos city. We drove all the way out there and then slowly through the village trying to see signs of activity, crowds of people or anything resembling a larger gathering, but when we couldn’t see anything happening we asked a local who informed us the Chief of the village had a brother die so it had been cancelled! Ah well, we decided to make the most of it and take our picnic somewhere and enjoy the day, but then a young boy pointed to our car “Aunty…your tyre!”.  Great timing! So out we jumped to start to change this flat in the middle of nowhere…..some of the local teenagers came to assist which was appreciated (not that we couldn’t have managed….we’re professionals now!), but then we also discovered Fiona’s spare was flat as well! So the boys then told us they’d take the tyre down the road to get fixed, so off they went carrying the tyre on the back of a motorbike, essentially leaving us 3 white girls stranded in the village! They promised it would take 5 minutes….45 minutes later, when our anxiety levels were high and we’d thought through every possible scenario for getting ourselves out of this mess if the tyre didn’t reappear, sure enough the motorbike returned and we were able to get back on the road.  Love spontaneous African adventures!!

The day after, we packed up and headed back to Miango to the SIM retreat center for the annual SIM Spiritual Life Conference. It was a 5-day conference with speaker, small group sessions, free time for hikes and exercise, activities and lots of time for catching up with other missionaries living off the Plateau. It is a time of refreshment, reenergizing of the vision and encouragement for what God is doing here in Nigeria. It was nice to get home on Sunday though as I’d been living out of a suitcase for over 2 weeks by that point.

With just over 3 weeks left in Nigeria now I have to think of goodbyes and quality time with the people I love here. I’m not looking forward to all the farewell parties I know are being planned on my behalf and I foresee a lot of tears, but such is life and the price you pay for investing your heart.

December highs and lows

Well December is not even halfway through yet and it feels like I’ve had a rollercoaster of highs and lows already. Last week I was at a farewell dinner for a friend who is leaving for her 6 month furlough home to the US, when I received a frantic phone call from one of the uncles out at Gyero saying that one of the little boys Matthew (who I had been treating for the last 3 days for vomiting, fevers and headaches) was getting worse and that his ‘breathing has changed’. I’ve realized over my year here, that it’s difficult for non-medical people to describe symptoms to me. Then add the cross-cultural barrier of language PLUS being on the phone and there is room for a lot of frustration and miscommunication. But from what I grasped, it was urgent and they were going to take public transport to the hospital. I rang ahead to Dr Sheppard (a colleague of mine who helps me with urgent consultation of the kids in an attempt to by-pass the slow triage and treatment system in the ED) and asked him to meet me at the hospital and then 10 minutes later rang Uncle Chris back to find out how far away from the hospital they were, only to be told Matthew had ‘gone’, he’d ‘given up’. I couldn’t believe it.  As you could imagine the rest of the dinner was ruined when I couldn’t control my emotions and burst into tears at the table and had to tell the news to all the other missionaries, many of whom loved and cared for Matthew over his years at Gyero. Matthew was our only child in the ministry who suffered from sickle cell disease. For those of you who are unaware of this condition, the red blood cells of a patient who suffers are sickle shaped and so have a tendency to clump together more easily. Sicklers (as they’re referred to here) have regular ‘crises’ which present as painful swollen joints predominantly and so I’ve spent a lot of time with Matthew, using heat packs, ibuprofen and prayers. I am unsure what actually ended his life, but I have a feeling that his illness (? Malaria) brought on a sickle cell crisis and that he either died from a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in his lungs) or an aneurysm in his brain (blood clot in his brain).  It was a huge blow for everyone out at Gyero because he was such a sweet gentle boy who always had a smile on his face, even in the midst of his pain, and would always help other children with homework or stick up for another child who was being bullied. He will be missed.

That next weekend, (I credit God for the excellent timing) the girls and I had arranged a 2-day holiday in Abuja.  It was so needed by that time I assure you, and by the end of the weekend I felt back to my normal emotional capacity, recharged for the Christmas season and the many Christmas parties with the kids. The usual things that one does on a visit to Abuja (that you can’t do in Jos) include going to a nice pool for a swim (we chose the Hilton and I could have easily forgotten I was in Africa when I looked around at the tropical setting with beach chairs and umbrellas), eat nice ice cream and go to the movies. I’m sure these things don’t sound terribly exciting to many of you, but to us it was heaven!

The next exciting thing to look forward to this month is my Mum coming to visit me in Jos! I am so looking forward to being able to show her around this place that has become my home, introduce her to all the people that I have grown to love and watch her experience all the cultural experiences I did when I first arrived.  I’m just praying her experience of the Lagos airport won’t be as daunting as mine was!

Graduations, Ordinations and Thanksgivings!

It seems that we have now officially entered wedding season. Much like in the West where people get married during summer months to eliminate weather issues, Nigerians choose the end of the year to marry. As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, weddings here are a very open affair, and it’s not uncommon for people to come along to celebrate even if they don’t know either the bride or the groom, which was the case with me last weekend! I knew the brides brother and he said he’d be honored to have me come, so I went to pick up some friends (2 of which were groomsmen for the groom - who they had never met! He was from out of town and didn’t know many people in Jos) and I was slightly concerned at 915am when the boys weren’t even in their suits for a wedding that started at 10am. But in true Nigerian style we arrived (with the two groomsmen) at 1020am and weren’t late at all.  In fact, by 1130am when the bride still hadn’t come into the church, one of the pastors had to stand up the front and apologize that because of time constraints, the bride really did need to start her procession! Only in Nigeria J

So needless to say, after assuming the wedding would be well and truly finished by 1pm, at 1230am when the sermon had only just begun, I realized I needed to leave to be on time for the graduation I was attending at 1pm.  I went to get in my car only to find all the bridal cars had parked me in! Nightmare. So then I had to try and find the owners of the car to move them…. what a drama!

So after all that I ended up getting to the Widows Ministry for the graduation an hour late, but as usual, they were only just starting the programme. Sometimes Nigerian time has its benefits. Eight of the widows were graduating from the sewing ministry and being honored for their effort but also being given an opportunity to thank those that had imparted so much into them over the last 2 years. They’ve become a real family, so there were many tears shed. I even let a few slide down my face when one of the widows shared her testimony and what had happened in her life up until joining the ministry. These women have lived hard lives to put it mildly. It was a real privilege to be part of their day. Thankfully only one of the widows that attend in weekly class (I teach literacy and bible study to a group of 8 women each week) will be leaving, so I’ll still have most of my usual group for fun, laughter and learning each Tuesday.

Vicky, Sarah and I. The two graduating widows I teach.

As I’ve spoken about before, as well as learning about the African culture, this year has been a year of embracing American Cultural traditions as well (because I’m surrounded by American missionaries). One of the biggest celebrations in the American calendar year is Thanksgiving. So in usual American tradition we organized a Thanksgiving meal, invited a big group around and tried to recreate the original Thanksgiving meal as best we could in Africa. Instead of turkey we had chicken, instead of sweet potato we had mashed potato, normal bread instead of stuffing and some honeyed carrots and other sides including jelly with the main course (who has jelly for dinner?)! I did a good old New Zealand Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding for dessert, which went down well with everyone. We went around the group and said things we were thankful for which was encouraging and edifying, then played some fun games to end the night.

But the traditions didn’t stop there! According to Keesha, Thanksgiving marks the start of holiday season, and in her family they give a small gift the day after thanksgiving, which this year we benefitted from! We got a cute Xmas mug with some yummy American hot choc and cider sachets. Last night we all got together to put up the Challenge Christmas Tree. For someone like me, who doesn’t get into the festivities in a huge way, who is quite happy to put up a nativity scene and a tree a few weeks before Christmas, even I enjoyed the ambience after the tree was decorated, stockings were hung, nativity set out, Christmas carols were playing, all was dark except for the tree lights glowing and Christmas smelling candles were burning in the corner…..very festive indeed.

This Sunday I had the privilege of attending a licensing and ordination ceremony for my good friend Bawa (a compound parent with his family at Gyero orphanage) who was becoming a licensed Pastor. I was transport for him and his family, or so I thought, but ended up packing my car with other church members and children (a total of 9 people) and 3 crates of minerals (glass bottles of soft drink), 2 huge sacks of rice in containers and a big metal tub of Kunu and Zobo (both common Nigerian drinks made from local leaves and berries). This doesn’t break my record of 13 kids in the car, BUT these were big Nigerian mamas, so weight-wise I think it was my heaviest load! It certainly felt that way driving down the bumpy dusty Gyero road! My poor suspension.

The service was very long with many songs and ‘special numbers’ by various groups and included the reading of biographies of the various men becoming Pastors and Pastors becoming Reverends. I was the only white face in about 500-600 Nigerians, and tried my best to hide at the back, but was still spotted by one of the Pastors performing the ceremony, so got a special mention and acknowledgment of my attendance. It was just a great time to serve a family who have given so much to the Gyero orphanage and have loved so many children over their years of service there.

Dancing down the Aisle!

Well last weekend was the long awaited wedding of my good girlfriend Njien. Although I’ve been to other Nigerian weddings so thought I knew what to expect, being IN the wedding was a whole other experience!

A convoy of 3 cars filled with 6 people each, set off from Jos at 8am (after having said we’d leave at 630am…..another example of Nigerian s and time) to Kaduna, a 4-hour drive East. I ran into trouble because I stupidly stopped for the Vehicle Inspection Officers (hard not to when someone walks out in front of your car and waves you down dressed in an official looking uniform). I was later told I should have just kept driving because they didn’t have nail boards to stop me or cars to chase me! Anyway, they found my car papers were out of date so was lumped with a hefty fine. Opps! I totally thought I had till the END of November!  To top it off, my alignment on my car got really bad and at high speeds I was wobbling all over the road (all those pot holes on the road to the orphanage really don't do the car any good!)!

We arrived at the home of the groom and were warmly welcomed by several large Nigerian mamas doing the celebratory call (this high pitched yodeling kind of noise which I’ve tried hard to recreate to no avail). The other 11 bridesmaids and I relaxed the rest of the afternoon, got to know each other better and did last minute preparations for the big day.  Njien and Joe had to go for their meeting at the church and Njien had to undergo a final pregnancy test (the ECWA church insists on making sure they’re not getting married just because the women is pregnant!).  Another interesting thing couples in Nigeria have to do is a blood test to check for their compatibility for sickle cell disease. If couples are not compatible, some churches won’t marry them for the increased risk of having a sickle cell child and the burden that comes with that. I’m still unsure of what I feel about this….

Anyway, after a poor sleep (on the floor - 6 girls in 2 small rooms and 1 bed and 1 couch) we woke early to start preparations. We had to ‘pack’ our hair (which just meant put it up) and wear headscarves during the church service, but the rest of the other accessories were open to interpretation. Njien was the perfect relaxed bride, no diva behaviour at all (not that I expected it) and it was just a fun time!

After the service we drove to the reception and had to dance the bride and groom in to their seats of honour (the part I was DREADING!). BUT guess what? I got LOTS of compliments on my dancing! I was so happy. I thought all the comments would be in jest, laughing at my terrible white dancing skills, but all the comments were positive with people asking where I learnt to dance Nigerian and commenting that I really blended in! It totally made my day. All I did was bend over, keep a straight back and stick my butt out and wave my arms a bit out from my sides (I’m sure the picture you now have is pretty accurate!).

The Bridesmaids!

The whole weekend was another good chance to be exposed to African culture and try and adapt my attitude accordingly (but I'm always glad to have 1 other white person around when things get too annoying or frustrating...I can just glance over at Fiona and know she shares my pain!). But the more time I spend exclusively with Nigerians, the more I'm coming to expect certain things and mentally prepare in advance. On this trip in particular, I found myself several times during the weekend reflecting on how much I'm going to miss this crazy life once I’m back in NZ

I've been reading a book called ‘Re-Entry’, on making the health transition back into your home country after a mission’s experience. Even though many of you may be thinking ‘what could be so hard about coming back to the people that you love and miss, consistent electricity, running water, internet, amazing food and the convenience of a culture that actually works?’ but I can tell you now, I’m already anticipating it being a hard time. I’m going to get serious about journaling thoughts and answering questions posed in the book that they recommend time be spent pondering. As I’ve communicated before, the thought of leaving my life here saddens me immensely, the friends I will leave behind, the excitement of everyday life, the sense of the unknown and air of adventure I live with, the amazing satisfaction and fulfilment I receive from my work with the kids and the smiles…oh the smiles. However the closer my departure from Nigeria becomes, the more I'm thinking about all the people I'll get to catch up with and all the fun things I'll get to do, buy and eat (terrible I know!). I need to get my head around trying to not feel guilty and unspiritual for looking forward to being able to go and buy some new clothes (after wearing the same t-shirts and skirts for a whole year...my clothes are soooo ruined and worn out!) and having access to supermarkets with so much more selection of yummy food!

So now that the wedding is over, the next big thing coming up for me is my Mum arriving in December to visit me in Jos. We’re planning on a safari through Tanzania as well so my next task is visa applications. But I have about a month of normal ministry here in Jos before Mum arrives. I'm kind of looking forward to some down time to be honest!