21/6 – For this Sundays service, we made the short trip to (the other) Adupi, the home of our regular visitor Reverend Ameh. He often sees us at home to ask us when we are coming to ‘his side’ so we decided to grant him his wish this time around. He requested that one us us do the sermon so I took the opportunity to use more of my resources from the Pastors Training. The sermon was looking at worship, which became particularly poignant since the service opened by prayer and blessing for the purchase of two new fancy offering boxes!
After the service, we had lunch at Ameh’s house before visiting the original birth place of Sam (the expert – he fixes any problem we have in Ogugu) before travelling home. Later on in the day, we were greeted by shouts and screams from a large crowd; a snake had appeared on the side of the house. Nigerians don’t like snakes! In fact they wanted to kill it, furthermore, they believe the snake is the symbolism of Satan! The boys couldn’t understand why I was going so close to it and not killing it.
22/6 – After a mad rush to prepare worksheets, we were very pleased to be on our way to RCM primary school for our first lesson since the teachers had returned from their strike. I will be taking the year 6 class twice a week in R.E and P.E. which should be good fun. The good news is the children are very well behaved in the classroom (although we will see how they are on the sports field)!
In the afternoon, I went off to visit my footballers in their homes. It is nice to see their families and get an idea of how they are doing in school and other things. Our evening’s entertainment came in the form of our driver Zongo! After coming down to bring Susanna and Kirsty, Zongo went on his usual tirade of how Becki (the house help) should have married him instead of some stranger in Lagos! Zongo is a legend and I hope to hook him up with an Igalan princess before I leave Nigeria!
23/6 – My day started early today; 6:45 to be precise… I know by African standards that is almost halfway through the day, but for most of us, 8 am is a reasonable waking time (well for me anyway). Unfortunately for me and Ryan sleeping outside, Reverend Ameh was unaware of the cultural difference. He is clearly also unaware that lying on your bed with your eyes closed usually means you are trying to sleep! Other than that, there is not much worth noting for today except more holiday club preparation and football training in a tropical rainstorm!
24/6 – These next couple of weeks are set to be days full of preparation; getting ready for the holiday club and the orphans party. So since everyone is at school, I took the opportunity to do some paper work (whoopee!) including writing some reports for Saturdays PDY programme.
The plan for the rest of my 2 months is to be seeing my football boys in their homes in the afternoons, today’s visits were Ernest Justin and Thank God (although he wasn’t there, but I was met by his slightly crazy elder sister). As part of my programme I will now be coaching both my junior and senior team every day. The senior team is fast becoming attractive to new players having seen a game they recently played in.
25/6 – Today has been a frustrating day; firstly an old woman threatened to kill me because I wouldn’t give her money, although now I look back on it, I laugh! However, I’m not so impressed by the amount of grief I receive when two of the footballers threaten to beat each other! On a more positive note though, my lessons at RCM are going well and we hope to start in the other schools very soon.
26/6 – Most noteworthy moment of the day: The safe arrival of Chris from Abuja, bringing with him Mel, who is nurse from Derbyshire who is now at bible college in Glasgow. He’ll be working at the centre for 2 months; working with Elder Rueben and leading the medical outreach in July. Another exciting bit of news, I will be coaching my first senior team match in two weeks!
27/6 – Another Saturday meant another Purpose Driven Youth programme. Fortunately the length of our journeys over the weeks has been decreasing, which is important as the rainy season is setting in (making the roads a nightmare). Todays destination was Unyi-Ogugu, which means First Ogugu or House Ogugu (which we discovered receives the brunt of the rain during this time of the year).
The mornings programme was as good as it has ever been! The HIV quiz was well participated in and the gender balance exercise activity was brilliantly understood and participated in. This kind of activity is vital because before my explanations, I often hear boys saying girls are lesser and below men. The afternoon was slightly spoiled by the torrential rain, however, after last week I had a plan B. Since there were fewer young people, the workshops inside were manageable without splitting the group in two. They really seemed to enjoy themselves, even to the point of wanting a group snap!
Thursday, 16 July 2009
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
6th - 20th June
6/6 – Since we had originally thought the match was today, we didn’t really have much to do. I managed to get some more pictures up on facebook. Chris’ girlfriend Susanna also arrived in from the airport; she is going to be staying for 3 weeks.
7/6 – Finally the big match day had arrived; Nigeria vs Kenya in a vital World Cup Qualifier. Nigeria had made a bad start to the campaign with a surprising draw against Mozambique so a win was vital (Kenya had lost to Tunisia in the opening game). Emmanuel, Micah, Debbie and Ellie had bought an extra 12 supporters with them as well! We were hyped up and ready. We arrived in plenty of time for a typically African 1 hour delay before the match kicked off at 5pm.
Other than a second half appearance from former Arsenal legend Kanu, the big names did not appear (Yobo, Martins, Mikel). The Nigerians ran out 3-0 winners; after scoring in the opening 5 minutes, the result was never in doubt, but they will have to improve if they want to beat Tunisia in a couple of weeks time.
8/6 – Our short stay in Abuja was finished and since Zongo had to take a few of the Jos crew back early, it gave me the opportunity to ride public transport back to Jos. Lets just say I’m very thankful it was only a 4 our journey!
After settling ourselves back in Jos, myself, Emmanuel, Ellie, Debbie, Susanna, Chris, Trevor and Lisa (Lisa lives with Debbie and Ellie, working for SIM) went for a walk up Sherry Hills. Now I thought it would be a brisk easy walk, this was not the case. The experience turned into a full rock climb and I managed to hurt my knee on the way up! Unfortunately Ryan was so ill in Abuja that he couldn’t make it to Jos and had to stay with Billy and Linda.
9/6 – My job before coming out to Nigeria was a playowkrer with disabled children; therefore I was happy to visit Open Doors today! This is the only school in Nigeria that specialises in educating special needs students. After a tour of the centre, I was left in one of the classrooms during playtime, I had an amazing time chillin’ with the kids!
After lunch, I traveled with Emmanuel to help coach one of the football teams he works with (the boys were definitely better behaved than the lads back in Ogugu). We then went straight to Hillcrest School to play football and ultimate Frisbee on what turned out to be a seriously water logged pitch. The Frisbee was truly ultimate as I got a bloody nose! In the evening we indulged in some fatty western food at Net Café, but I am missing my Ogusi soup.
10/6 – Since, technically, this time in Jos is a holiday. I decided to spend my morning lying on the sofa and watching friends (and then falling asleep for some time). Ellie and Debbie then came to pick me up to go to EMS (a school that they both work at) to have a wee look round. While they took the girls class, I took the boys for some (what else) football! In the evening we went to a farewell party for some of the American missionaries who were leaving.
11/6 – For our last time in Jos we took a short trip to Giden Bege (the place where street children go to live and get educated etc) to visit the boys whilst they did their maths class. Before we left we bought some potatoes (since you can’t buy them in Ogugu). We had dreamt of receiving a really nice car from Mission Africa (as Pippa was being ‘taken in’), however, we were given Liam and Colletes old car (and I mean old). As soon as Zongo arrived, we hit the road to pick Ryan and Kirsty up before going back to Ogugu tomorrow.
12/6 – Yay! It’s brilliant to be back in Ogugu after a couple of weeks (although the car journey with 6 people and luggage was not so comfortable)! Unsurprisingly we were greeted by about 6 million children as we pulled up outside the house. We introduced the children to Susanna and Kirsty before hitting the sack. No rest for the wicked; got a Purpose Driven Youth programme tomorrow.
13/6 – Ok, so maybe its not entirely great to be back in Ogugu. As planned we arrived in Onichu-Igo (our destination for Purpose Driven Youth) at 10.30am only to find there was no one there! Looking on the bright side, this is the first time such a problem has occurred and the journey was not too far (and only a little bumpy). Unfortunately there was no Plan-B for the day, so I read a lot and went and practiced with the football team. Of course, an empty Saturday would not be the same without a few games of cards.
14/6 – Today’s church service was brilliant! The head pastor from Rueben’s church (another U.E.C) spoke and was actually really funny, challenging and spoke a lot of sense. I returned home very happy. It really seems like someone has prepared for us coming back to Ogugu; good sermons and NEPA (Nigerian electricity) was on almost all day! England also won in the cricket, which I got to watch because of my special relationship with the guy who runs the football shack!!
15/6 – Myself and Linda have decided that the July holiday club is going to be for the 93 orphans who are on the sponsor list. Leaving it open to all children could potentially leave us looking after a thousand children every day (and that is no understatement) and registration is not one of Nigeria’s strong points. I designed some invitations today which Ryan will give to every orphan and then finished preparation for this weeks pastors training which I am running. My relaxation was playing football in the afternoon, if you call running around after a ball in the blazing heat relaxing!
16/6 – I was required to travel to Ankpa with Rueben in the morning in my attempt to secure a projector for the pastors training (4 months ago I didn’t think such a thing here was possible). Rueben is a well known man and has some good contacts so we found someone who runs movies on a projector who was kind enough to lend it to us free of charge. I then spent the rest of the day finishing preparation, I even had to miss football (I know what you’re thinking, It must be serious).
17/7 – Today was the big day, the first day of my pastors training. Things could not have started any worse; After going all the way to Ankpa (again) to pick up the man and his projector, he discovered that he had forgotten the cable (ahhhh), I took decisive action and told him I would not use the projector tomorrow. Instead I printed off the handouts (since the church was paying for it). Things seemed to get worse as the generator refused to work, leaving me with no laptop to work from (and no fans, no fans with shirt = bad).
Thankfully this is where the bad times finished. 40 pastors turned up and listened very well. I was able to flex my Igala and even got a couple of laughs from the jokes I told (I’m starting to get what makes a Nigerian laugh). What’s more important is that the central message sunk in… Being a pastor requires humility and service to those who are in need. The Ogugu Area Conference chairman (my good neighbour Rev Okponachi) even suggested I help the churches in the area set up a committee for giving funds and collections to the poor. That’s a big thing here! So today I am as happy as Larry!
18/6 – In celebration of the children being back at school, we took time to visit the various schools in the area. This was in order to use our skills in English, P.E. and (some people’s) maths to teach the children. I had planned to be doing my second day of training but it was postponed. I had the afternoon off, which I enjoyed by watching Brazil beat USA 3-0 in the confederations cup.
19/6 – Going away to Jos was really what I needed, it gave me time to relax and also to get really excited about coming back to Ogugu. Everything is going really well at the moment (especially when you consider what happened when we first got here). In one day, we rounded up 20 volunteers for the holiday club. I, however, cannot take the credit for this. The applaud must go to Esther, a primary school teacher who has put herself forward to help us with translation, the orphans work and anything else she can do for us. Another success of the day was the football training. Usually the boys just want to play a game, but today we did a warm up and stretches. They even liked the idea of me coming to visit them in their houses! Things are looking up.
20/6 – After the events of last Saturday, I was determined to make sure the Amiriwa PDY was a success. The day didn’t get off to the best start, we were given more watered down fuel which messed the engine up. My last resort was to take my big with me and go with Rueben on his motorbike. I have to say, the ride along the beaten dirt track was a lot of fun. Our destination today is the most remote area in all of Ogugu; Amiriwa gets no national electricity whatsoever and no mobile signal at all! Despite this, the young people’s HIV knowledge was good! The programme was a success, the only mishap was the rain that spoiled the afternoons handball tournament.
7/6 – Finally the big match day had arrived; Nigeria vs Kenya in a vital World Cup Qualifier. Nigeria had made a bad start to the campaign with a surprising draw against Mozambique so a win was vital (Kenya had lost to Tunisia in the opening game). Emmanuel, Micah, Debbie and Ellie had bought an extra 12 supporters with them as well! We were hyped up and ready. We arrived in plenty of time for a typically African 1 hour delay before the match kicked off at 5pm.
Other than a second half appearance from former Arsenal legend Kanu, the big names did not appear (Yobo, Martins, Mikel). The Nigerians ran out 3-0 winners; after scoring in the opening 5 minutes, the result was never in doubt, but they will have to improve if they want to beat Tunisia in a couple of weeks time.
8/6 – Our short stay in Abuja was finished and since Zongo had to take a few of the Jos crew back early, it gave me the opportunity to ride public transport back to Jos. Lets just say I’m very thankful it was only a 4 our journey!
After settling ourselves back in Jos, myself, Emmanuel, Ellie, Debbie, Susanna, Chris, Trevor and Lisa (Lisa lives with Debbie and Ellie, working for SIM) went for a walk up Sherry Hills. Now I thought it would be a brisk easy walk, this was not the case. The experience turned into a full rock climb and I managed to hurt my knee on the way up! Unfortunately Ryan was so ill in Abuja that he couldn’t make it to Jos and had to stay with Billy and Linda.
9/6 – My job before coming out to Nigeria was a playowkrer with disabled children; therefore I was happy to visit Open Doors today! This is the only school in Nigeria that specialises in educating special needs students. After a tour of the centre, I was left in one of the classrooms during playtime, I had an amazing time chillin’ with the kids!
After lunch, I traveled with Emmanuel to help coach one of the football teams he works with (the boys were definitely better behaved than the lads back in Ogugu). We then went straight to Hillcrest School to play football and ultimate Frisbee on what turned out to be a seriously water logged pitch. The Frisbee was truly ultimate as I got a bloody nose! In the evening we indulged in some fatty western food at Net Café, but I am missing my Ogusi soup.
10/6 – Since, technically, this time in Jos is a holiday. I decided to spend my morning lying on the sofa and watching friends (and then falling asleep for some time). Ellie and Debbie then came to pick me up to go to EMS (a school that they both work at) to have a wee look round. While they took the girls class, I took the boys for some (what else) football! In the evening we went to a farewell party for some of the American missionaries who were leaving.
11/6 – For our last time in Jos we took a short trip to Giden Bege (the place where street children go to live and get educated etc) to visit the boys whilst they did their maths class. Before we left we bought some potatoes (since you can’t buy them in Ogugu). We had dreamt of receiving a really nice car from Mission Africa (as Pippa was being ‘taken in’), however, we were given Liam and Colletes old car (and I mean old). As soon as Zongo arrived, we hit the road to pick Ryan and Kirsty up before going back to Ogugu tomorrow.
12/6 – Yay! It’s brilliant to be back in Ogugu after a couple of weeks (although the car journey with 6 people and luggage was not so comfortable)! Unsurprisingly we were greeted by about 6 million children as we pulled up outside the house. We introduced the children to Susanna and Kirsty before hitting the sack. No rest for the wicked; got a Purpose Driven Youth programme tomorrow.
13/6 – Ok, so maybe its not entirely great to be back in Ogugu. As planned we arrived in Onichu-Igo (our destination for Purpose Driven Youth) at 10.30am only to find there was no one there! Looking on the bright side, this is the first time such a problem has occurred and the journey was not too far (and only a little bumpy). Unfortunately there was no Plan-B for the day, so I read a lot and went and practiced with the football team. Of course, an empty Saturday would not be the same without a few games of cards.
14/6 – Today’s church service was brilliant! The head pastor from Rueben’s church (another U.E.C) spoke and was actually really funny, challenging and spoke a lot of sense. I returned home very happy. It really seems like someone has prepared for us coming back to Ogugu; good sermons and NEPA (Nigerian electricity) was on almost all day! England also won in the cricket, which I got to watch because of my special relationship with the guy who runs the football shack!!
15/6 – Myself and Linda have decided that the July holiday club is going to be for the 93 orphans who are on the sponsor list. Leaving it open to all children could potentially leave us looking after a thousand children every day (and that is no understatement) and registration is not one of Nigeria’s strong points. I designed some invitations today which Ryan will give to every orphan and then finished preparation for this weeks pastors training which I am running. My relaxation was playing football in the afternoon, if you call running around after a ball in the blazing heat relaxing!
16/6 – I was required to travel to Ankpa with Rueben in the morning in my attempt to secure a projector for the pastors training (4 months ago I didn’t think such a thing here was possible). Rueben is a well known man and has some good contacts so we found someone who runs movies on a projector who was kind enough to lend it to us free of charge. I then spent the rest of the day finishing preparation, I even had to miss football (I know what you’re thinking, It must be serious).
17/7 – Today was the big day, the first day of my pastors training. Things could not have started any worse; After going all the way to Ankpa (again) to pick up the man and his projector, he discovered that he had forgotten the cable (ahhhh), I took decisive action and told him I would not use the projector tomorrow. Instead I printed off the handouts (since the church was paying for it). Things seemed to get worse as the generator refused to work, leaving me with no laptop to work from (and no fans, no fans with shirt = bad).
Thankfully this is where the bad times finished. 40 pastors turned up and listened very well. I was able to flex my Igala and even got a couple of laughs from the jokes I told (I’m starting to get what makes a Nigerian laugh). What’s more important is that the central message sunk in… Being a pastor requires humility and service to those who are in need. The Ogugu Area Conference chairman (my good neighbour Rev Okponachi) even suggested I help the churches in the area set up a committee for giving funds and collections to the poor. That’s a big thing here! So today I am as happy as Larry!
18/6 – In celebration of the children being back at school, we took time to visit the various schools in the area. This was in order to use our skills in English, P.E. and (some people’s) maths to teach the children. I had planned to be doing my second day of training but it was postponed. I had the afternoon off, which I enjoyed by watching Brazil beat USA 3-0 in the confederations cup.
19/6 – Going away to Jos was really what I needed, it gave me time to relax and also to get really excited about coming back to Ogugu. Everything is going really well at the moment (especially when you consider what happened when we first got here). In one day, we rounded up 20 volunteers for the holiday club. I, however, cannot take the credit for this. The applaud must go to Esther, a primary school teacher who has put herself forward to help us with translation, the orphans work and anything else she can do for us. Another success of the day was the football training. Usually the boys just want to play a game, but today we did a warm up and stretches. They even liked the idea of me coming to visit them in their houses! Things are looking up.
20/6 – After the events of last Saturday, I was determined to make sure the Amiriwa PDY was a success. The day didn’t get off to the best start, we were given more watered down fuel which messed the engine up. My last resort was to take my big with me and go with Rueben on his motorbike. I have to say, the ride along the beaten dirt track was a lot of fun. Our destination today is the most remote area in all of Ogugu; Amiriwa gets no national electricity whatsoever and no mobile signal at all! Despite this, the young people’s HIV knowledge was good! The programme was a success, the only mishap was the rain that spoiled the afternoons handball tournament.
Saturday, 4 July 2009
2nd - 6th June
Sorry about the major delay, i've been so busy that i've only been able to write the blog at the internet cafe, leaving me with not much time... So the next 3 months are going to come in dribs and drabs
2/6 – As I had promised everyone, I got up at 5.30 to watch the sun rise over beautiful Miango. Getting up at this kind of time makes you really feel like a true African! After breakfast we had worship and a talk from Mission Africa Chairman Paul Bailie (who looks a lot like my dad, weird). Then after a break we listened to the presentation of other Mission Africa members (ours is tomorrow).
In the evening we had a chance to ask Paul some questions (like where is our living money!), unsurprisingly not much light was shed. Oh the joys of living in Nigiera!
3/6 – I thought today would be good to put some prayer requests up (I realise writing this in July is a bit late, but they still matter). Firstly, there are 3 people who really need prayer; Eleojo has had a brain tumour for 5 years and its pushing her eye out; thankfully she has received the money to get an operation, but finding a good doctor is a challenge. Secondly, Rose; what a lady! She’s got TB and is really ill, but is so kind and generous to us! Thirdly, Henry. He is such a young boy, and he has already lost his parents to HIV. Henry has no transmitted HIV too and desperately needs love and care shown. Prayer for the church is needed too; some of their theology is strange and unbiblical, so we are trying our best to spread the truth!!! Finally, more gapers or a long term placement to Ogugu would be amazing. Some of our work would be wasted if no one is left to continue!
4/6 – In the morning we shared communion and we as a group are feeling more and more that times like this should be a remembrance of why we are here; to refresh ourselves in order to get back to Ogugu and get stuck in with our mission! A lot of great things in history have started because of one incident (take the civil rights movement); Christianity is the same thing, Jesus’ death on the cross was and still is a sign for what we are called to do (mind blowing isn’t it).
5/6 – Today we were sad to day goodbye to Miango (and civilization)! Leaving the compound gates truly reinforced the class and wealth divide in Nigeria (need is say more?). Before heading to Abuja, we stopped of at Zongo’s (the one and only driver) family house and then went down the road to see the house he is building (he truly is a man for every job). Zongo is just a complete legend but cannot find a wife. He has set his eyes on a wife in Ogugu, so one of my aims before leaving is to see Zongo hooked up! Since we are in Abuja to watch Kenya vs Nigeria (World Cup qualifier), I thought I would make up a few Nigeria songs…
- (in the tune of Vinadaloo) Me and me mum, me dad and me gran, we come from Ogugu, Me and me mum, me dad and me gran, with a bucket of hot red stew!!
- He’s quick, he’s black, he snuffs out the attack, MIKEL, MIKEL!
2/6 – As I had promised everyone, I got up at 5.30 to watch the sun rise over beautiful Miango. Getting up at this kind of time makes you really feel like a true African! After breakfast we had worship and a talk from Mission Africa Chairman Paul Bailie (who looks a lot like my dad, weird). Then after a break we listened to the presentation of other Mission Africa members (ours is tomorrow).
In the evening we had a chance to ask Paul some questions (like where is our living money!), unsurprisingly not much light was shed. Oh the joys of living in Nigiera!
3/6 – I thought today would be good to put some prayer requests up (I realise writing this in July is a bit late, but they still matter). Firstly, there are 3 people who really need prayer; Eleojo has had a brain tumour for 5 years and its pushing her eye out; thankfully she has received the money to get an operation, but finding a good doctor is a challenge. Secondly, Rose; what a lady! She’s got TB and is really ill, but is so kind and generous to us! Thirdly, Henry. He is such a young boy, and he has already lost his parents to HIV. Henry has no transmitted HIV too and desperately needs love and care shown. Prayer for the church is needed too; some of their theology is strange and unbiblical, so we are trying our best to spread the truth!!! Finally, more gapers or a long term placement to Ogugu would be amazing. Some of our work would be wasted if no one is left to continue!
4/6 – In the morning we shared communion and we as a group are feeling more and more that times like this should be a remembrance of why we are here; to refresh ourselves in order to get back to Ogugu and get stuck in with our mission! A lot of great things in history have started because of one incident (take the civil rights movement); Christianity is the same thing, Jesus’ death on the cross was and still is a sign for what we are called to do (mind blowing isn’t it).
5/6 – Today we were sad to day goodbye to Miango (and civilization)! Leaving the compound gates truly reinforced the class and wealth divide in Nigeria (need is say more?). Before heading to Abuja, we stopped of at Zongo’s (the one and only driver) family house and then went down the road to see the house he is building (he truly is a man for every job). Zongo is just a complete legend but cannot find a wife. He has set his eyes on a wife in Ogugu, so one of my aims before leaving is to see Zongo hooked up! Since we are in Abuja to watch Kenya vs Nigeria (World Cup qualifier), I thought I would make up a few Nigeria songs…
- (in the tune of Vinadaloo) Me and me mum, me dad and me gran, we come from Ogugu, Me and me mum, me dad and me gran, with a bucket of hot red stew!!
- He’s quick, he’s black, he snuffs out the attack, MIKEL, MIKEL!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
