28th June - 17th July (more to come when im back in the good old UK)

28/6 – Now, in Nigeria, church actually starts half an hour after the scheduled start (because no one turns up on time), but when we arrived at UEC at 8 and there were not even any church leaders there, we became a bit suspicious. Only then were we informed that it was a English/Igala joint service starting at 9am (which is the kind of service that lasts until well past lunch time). We decided instead to head to Becki’s church Faith Gospel Centre for a bit more of a crazy African service. This meant Mel went from Free Church of Scotland where they only sing psalms to bending low and screaming HALELUJAH!

The rest of Sunday was fairly ordinary; playing cards and reading.

29/6 – After the usual Monday morning boredom of writing reports and typing letter (yawn), it was off to RCM primary school to do another class. For me, Mondays are bible classes and Thursdays are P.E. classes. The benefit of the schools not running for a while was that I could develop a good African accent before being thrown into the deep end. Good behavior and understanding from the children is my reward!

After lunch I continued visiting the young footballers, completing the fantasy football team competition with all of them (the player who matches the most amount of players to my fantasy team wins a prize), although its surprising how few player some of the boys know for such an avid footballing place such as Ogugu.

30/6 – Preparation for the Holiday Club (starting on the 21st July) is really starting to come along! If all goes well I should have all my volunteers training planned and ready to do in a couple of days.

Another success story for the day is my visits to the houses of my football teams. The fantasy football competition has given me a really good chance to spend time with the boys and speak to them one on one. I was also able to enjoy a day off from coaching since the inter-schools football championships was being held; LGA Secondary School taking on QIC Secondary School.

1/7 – Market day is starting to become a real social occasion; I can’t walk down the (one) road without someone calling me over or getting into a conversation (even if I don’t know who they are). Market day also involves something highly African, today for example there were a group of people marching a guy around and around the market. Becki explained that the man was being publicly humiliated for attempting to steal a goat.

This afternoon I attempted to gather all the holiday club volunteers for training and preparation. Unfortunately only 6 or 7 turned up, but considering its market day I’m not too disappointed. TIA (This Is Africa). The last duty of the day was football practise, getting preparation in for the match against Adupi.

2/7 – Today I took my first P.E. lesson at RCM primary with the year 6 class. We did a warm up and I taught the children some important stretches. We spent most of the hour playing some fun games. As I had expected, the children are much harder to handle when outside and very excited.

As soon as you could shout ‘big match’ 2.30 had rolled around and the boys (who I refer to as Duncans Destroyers FC) were ready to move to Adupi. We managed to cram 18 guys into the car for the 20 minute journey. The match was full of incident; we were awarded a penalty after two minutes which was converted but due to some defensive mishaps we found ourselves 3-1 down soon after.

Once I had delivered my inspirational team talk and made a couple of tactical changes, the boys came out much stronger and scored the second goal very quickly. With minutes to go we were denied a blatant penalty. The game ended at 3-2, but we were not ashamed, finishing the game much stronger than Adupi.

3/7 – It seems as if we British Ogugu residents are in our element; the rainy season is upon us and whilst Nigerians are cowering in the comfort of their homes we are out splashing around in puddles with the children. Along with getting very wet I also managed to finish holiday club preparation by doing bible worksheets and the puppet show. I feel like a little kid again, I can’t wait for the 21st!

Rain was not entirely welcomed because training had to be cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch.

4/7 – Since there was no PDY programme this Saturday we decided to travel to Ankpa to get some fruit (since the only fruit you can get in Ogugu is Orange) and visit the internet café. We managed to leave a little bit later than planned because Chris got himself locked in his own room! We eventually got out of the house and into a crammed taxi, what is so great about Nigeria is that you can have a decent friendly conversation with a completely random person, rather than looking around awkwardly and hoping that no one will talk to you.

After Ankpa, a holiday club meeting followed, and as promised the number of volunteers doubled (even if most of them were very late).

5/7 – The holiday club is beginning to pick up speed; I know have 15 or 16 names signed up to volunteer and today I made an announcement to well over 300 people in church so I’m expecting that number to increase.

Sundays are often a time of relaxation, and today was no different until a girl named Helen came to visit. She’s a student of nursing at a Kogi State University and she’s back in Ogugu on break. She invited me to see her house (which is a usual custom) but this turned into going to a graduation party with a lot of people I didn’t know and then eating some very, very hot peppe soup. Our famous music star Pierre was even at the party as the MC; he was sporting a lovely bright yellow jacket, with matching belt, shoes and even handkerchief!

6/7 – Well I never really thought I’d be spending my birthday in a place like Ogugu! I didn’t make a big fuss over it (since Nigerians don’t either) so my day was normal; working at the computer place to get all the holiday club stuff ready and then going to RCM for my one hour session with the year 6 class. This afternoon I took the junior team for an extended practise because they have a match tomorrow (still struggling with their behaviour ha ha). The birthday celebrations involved an epic game of cards and boiled tins of condensed milk!!

7/7 – I was slightly anxious today about the impending junior match. They have not had a match since the last disaster and since then their progress has not come close to the senior teams. Still, the Clasti Boys came to our field (as usual over an hour late) for a friendly match. I’ve become accustomed to the junior way of playing football (hit and hope to put it lightly). The score reflected the lack of rhythm in the game, the Clasti Boys going away with a 4-2 victory.

8/7 – Amazing, for N 2700 (just over £10) I got myself 30 exercise books, 30 pens, 30 pencils, 30 rubbers, 30 rulers and 30 sharpeners, better than WHSmiths any day! All these things are going to the football boys to help them with their school studies.

In the evening we welcomed the arrival of three more enefu; Linda and her uncle David (a politician) and Auntie Anne (a teacher). Billy will be joining us next week.


9/7 – The summer team’s arrival is getting closer and closer so Linda decided it was about time to delegate some responsibilities to us. I was already prepared to be leading the week of the holiday bible club, however I did not expect to be in charge of the summer team for the whole 3 weeks (as Billy and Linda are going back to the UK), still I do love a challenge! My new role involves getting to the airport in Abuja to welcome the summer team, making sure their stay is a happy one and generally making sure everything gets done.

The population of white people in Ogugu rose again today from 8 to 12 people as the 4 medical students from Holey Memorial Hospital landed in for the weekend. They will be coming back later on to help us with the medical outreach.

10/7 – Life as a Mission Africa is not always big adventures and stories to tell… It rained today, so we all stayed in and played card games!

11/7 – The plan for today was to run the last Purpose Driven Youth Program in our own U.E.C headquarters, Ogugu Central. Unfortunately, like the incident with Unicha-Igo, the head pastor failed to inform any of the youth so no one turned up. I was disappointed because the HMH girls were around to help with HIV testing. We have re-scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, but there won’t be time for testing.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing; in the evening we went up to Sams compound (where everyone else is staying) for a sugary feast and to play Frog on a Log! (Coming to Barnet, and the world, very soon).

12/7 – As planned, after church we ran the reduced PDY program. The program ran as normal except for the removal of testing and the chair-ball tournament due to lack of time. The church felt a bit bad for not informing anyone so they let us run their generator which was a bonus; that enabled me to make a few more snazzy presentations!

13/7 – Since I am supposed to be in charge of the 3 week summer team program, I am technically in charge during the medical outreach in the second week. I thought it would be wise to sit in on the medical people’s meeting. I felt a bit like Joey from Friends in the episode where the guy tries to sell him encyclopedias (but you’ll only understand me if you like Friends).

As it was Monday, I was needed at RCM to teach my R.E. lesson (although being in Africa, it’s less politically correct so I can just say bible class), then soon after lunch the 4 girls (Helen, Ashley, Alison and Kate) left to go back to the hospital.

In the afternoon, I went to the tailors to get my kaftan measured (long African suit) that the church are buying for us. I then had coaching with the older boys who have their second game on Wednesday.

14/7 – As much as I love living in a secluded place like Ogugu, one thing that really annoys me is having NO INTERNET! I have to travel all of 45 minutes to Ankpa just to send an email. I had no choice but to get a taxi and do that today. Rarely here does anything pass without issue or excitement, and today was no different. On the return journey, the driver was stopped at the roadside and next thing I know I was sitting in the transport commissioner’s office asking what on earth was going on! After getting no answers I stormed out. Thankfully Zongo was also in Ankpa and so gave me a lift home. By the time I was home it was gone 3pm so I missed football with the juniors (I guess one day won’t hurt).

15/7 – The summer team are arriving in 2 days time! Linda asked me to accompany Zongo up to Abuja to meet the team. We decided that it was best to travel tomorrow so I could get everything for the holiday club finished. I managed to finish the bible worksheets, which are looking really good.

In the afternoon, Duncan’s Destroyers took the short trip to Emonyoku to play their second match against the local team there. The opening 20 minutes were very tense and we were largely on the back foot, but for the rest of the game we controlled and made the most chances. This pressure was rewarded when we scored from a long range free kick half way through the second half. This made the lads very happy!

16/7 – As the journey to Abuja is very long (around 6 hours) me and Zongo thought early progress was the best idea, so we left Ogugu around 7 am. Our journey was obviously well timed because a new road had just been opened which shaved off 30 minutes from our journey; combine this with little traffic and we had a journey from Ogugu to Abuja in record time. Our one and only hitch was when some Kogi State ‘nail boys’ (boys who try and con you into thinking they work for the government) try to suggest that we owe them money because we have a sticker on the car.

Once we got to Abuja it was time to hit the sack, since we were getting up at 4.30am to pick the Scots up.

17/7 – If only I were wearing my Dreamcast Arsenal shirt! I and Billy were waiting at the airport and who pops up, none other than former Arsenal legend Kanu! He gave a quick glance and smile before being ushered out by his large entourage. I’m sure that even if I had asked him to stop for a photo, I probably would have been pushed away by the big guys standing around him.

Fortunately we were waiting for people more important that Kanu and finally (probably because of the British polite practice to let other people push in front of you at customs) the summer team emerged last from the doors. The guy’s names are Campbell, Andrew, Jenny, Joan and Kirsty.

After another smooth 6 hour journey, we were welcome by traditional dancers and flowers for the girls (not too many complaints from Campbell and Andrew).