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.