Halfway through with my cup half full!

Friday the 19th of November marked the halfway point of the programme. 6 weeks gone, 6 weeks to go. Because of this occasion, we had something called the mid-phase review which is basically a weekend away to discuss how we think the programme has gone so far. Our weekend away was in a place called Obudu Cattle Ranch. We left 7am Friday morning and during the 5 hour journey we had a chance to take in the scenery. Jungle either side of the road and huge hills in the background with small villages every so often. It was beautiful and the journey gave me a chance to reflect and take everything in. We arrived mid afternoon at the bottom of the ranch and we had an 11km climb to the destination. Going up the mountain in a banger of a bus with the edge of the mountain just feet away was quite a thrill. As we got closer to the top, there were lushes mountains all around and not any man made structures to spoil them. To sum it up it was seriously breathe taking. We reached the top of the ranch and the weather was cool! it was amazing to feel a cool breeze for the first time in 6 weeks. We strolled around the area and it was extremely peaceful and everyone seemed to be in a philosopical state of mind...........'wow......a place like this just makes the world seem perfect'. The sunset came as the clouds were in touching distance and all we could see were the mountain tops as the sea of clouds were covering them. It was also getting bloody chilly. THE STARS WERE AMAZING! (sorry for repeating such words as beautiful and amazing but what else can i say!). They were diamonds in the sky! we sat discussing the stars when a huge shooting star crossed the sky to round up the night. I went to bed that night feeling rejuvenated, fascinated, privileged and extremely happy. The next day we got a cable car down the mountain to the water park and looking at it, it was like a death wish. Literally, the cable was joined from one mountain to another with the biggest drop in between. It took a lot of persuading to get everyone on. As we went over the first drop we could just see what can only be described as jurassic park! my mind was so sure of it that i was constantly looking out for dinosaurs! anyway, being suspended on a wire was incredible and the ride took 15 mins so it was another chance to be philosophical. We reached the bottom to go to the water park and it was huuuuge, surprisingly, we were the only ones there. The park had diving boards, water slides and 3 pools so we managed to keep occupied. My counterpart  Abbas cant swim but a few people convinced him to jump from the diving board (the deepest part of the pool) but, it was ok because people were in the pool READY to get him. He jumped and after a few seconds didnt come up. Everyone started panicking saying he was at the bottom of the pool. Que hero! So in a David Hasselhoff, Baywatch moment i jumped in, saw him at the bottom and managed to drag him up and get him to the side. It was so scary, but for the rest of the day, Abbas kept telling me i was his hero (ego boost). On sunday morning i had a freeeeezzzing cold shower and thought i was slowly catching a death. Later i realised there was a hot tap.......arrrgggghhh! Anyway, we left midday and it was just what we all needed after a very stressful week. We left with clear minds and good spirits, ready for the last push of work.

Work Placement

When we arrived in Ikom on the 14th October, we spent a week having in community training which included learning how to work with communities, how to leave a sustainable impact and what to expect. The second week starting on the 24th was for us to get into our teams and plan the whole work programme so we would be prepared to start work the following week. There's 3 groups on the programme: health, education and livlihood's. Health are broadcasting a radio show every saturday for 45 mins concerning issues mainly involving sexual health. They are also holding workshops to create awareness for HIV/AID's and to carry out HIV and maleria tests. Education team plan to cement 4 school floors along with a school hall and find resources for a school library in Ajassor. In Bendeghe, they are restoring a community library and finding resources for a school library. The Livlihood team are trying to find better ways of living and healthier lifestyles for the communities. They will do this by holding workshops and working closly with the community. There are also sub commities such as media and social. I'm in both the education and media team. So far in 6 weeks of work the education teams has cemented 3 school floors, found space for a community library, started building tables, chairs and bookshelves for 2 school libraries and currently finding resources for both of them. Working out here can be tough at times due to everything being very slow paced and communication and response from the community can be hard. So far all the teams have acheived so much and were all really pleased with the progress were making. In some cases the communities have really shown togetherness and totally exceeded our expectations so we have to be pleased with our efforts because we are trying and after we leave there will be another team coming out in January to carry on our work so the work will be sustainable.

Host Family

Ok, so It's been over 4 weeks since I last updated and alot has happened since the 12 hour journey down south from Abuja to Ikom, Cross River State, so there will be a lot of catching up to do. First of all the drive was quite intense......Being squashe up in a mini bus with hardly enough room for us all, plus our luggage and no a/c or cold water was quite an experience but it was great! We were all in good spirits and excited to meet our new family. We arrived in Ikom at 7pm and were hosted by a severe thunderstorm. I decided the only logical thing to do was to stand with arms stretched out wide, head up to the sky and get soaked. The moment was quickly over when my host mum had arrived. After getting the luggage into the car being knee deep in rain we set of to my new house. The house is a gated compound and as we drove through the gates, a man with a belly the size of an overly pregnant woman, a face stern and fierce like a gorilla with a scar stretching wide across his cheek was waiting to greet us. Our host dad. We sat outside speaking to him but i couldn't understand anything he was saying.....He, like many of the locals had a strong broken English accent (some of the locals struggle to understand us). We soon went to bed and I sat there feeling 1 million miles away from home and out of my comfort zone which excited me a lot! Our host home has 13 people living in it (the mum, the dad, me and Abbas, 5 guys aged between 19 and 24, 1 girl aged 22 and 3 young kids). I only worked this out after 3 weeks living here! After 4 weeks of being in the house, we have spent so much time together and we get on so well. The guys and the girl my age always chill together at night and we have a lot of fun, were all very similar. There's about 3 hours electricity per night and the water supply isn't constant. However, we have a flushing toilet and a shower which is a luxury because most of the other group don't have them and have to use a bucket. Cooking is done outside with firewood and there are no electrical appliances in the house. I wash my clothes by hand and everyone was in stitches watching me 'try' to wash them. All the luxuries in England are not needed here and the household functions perfectly fine without them. The food is getting quite tiresome as there isn't variety. Plantain, rice, yam, gary, fish, goat, bush meat and indomie are pretty certain to be on the menu and everything is soooo spicy. All the volunteers live close and we get bikes everywhere. The roads are awful! pot holes everywhere and a lot of the roads are dirt tracks. Our house has visitors constantly and the locals are so friendly. Our curfew is 6pm which is very hard but were working on it to be later. In that aspect it feels like in 10 again because your not considered an adult until you leave home. Everyone usually comes round ours at night so It's not so bad. Living with this host family has got me totally immersed in the culture and already my perceptions of Nigeria have changed greatly and I have experienced so many things for the first time so everything is new and intriguing. Although i miss the comfort of home so much I'm really really really enjoy this experience so much and i still have a long time to go and i know that when i leave i will be heartbroken. Just thinking about it gives me a lump in my throat.

God Above Everything

Cross River State is known as the 'Ocean of Christianity' and you will not meet one person who will not speak about religion to you, its the most important thing in their lives and as far as i know everyone is mad about religion. Just imagine how Americans are when they run around dancing in church, its like that but 100 times worse! They believe in evil spirits, witches and miracle healing, so you can imagine how intense it is. Most times when i meet someone new they say, are you religious? and you are judged on how good a person you are based purely on religion. My host family is extremely religious and trying to express my opinion is an absolute nightmare. I try to say I'm spiritual and believe morals are a more important thing than being 'catergorised' into a religion. The responses are very defensive and my opinion goes unheard of. It's religious blindness. "Who do you thank when you wake up?" "You will go to hell if you don't have faith!" With my conversations with everyone and the experience in churches, for me its just bullying tactics for you to become religious. "Shit!, even I'm a good person, do good things, help out others and try my best to make a difference I'm still going to hell! I guess i have to become religious" If that's the message then it goes totally against my way of life and beliefs. I would like to believe if there's a god, he would judge you on the person you are and what you have achieved in life. Oh and by the way im in no way an atheist, I'm quite open in my opinion and do believe that there is something greater, so I'm not just slagging off religion. At one point the religious aspect was really affecting my happiness here because it was so intense. Most mornings my host family wake up around 6am and pray for nearly an hour, then they can have the same prayer at lunch and even longer at night (not to mention services and church can sometimes be in between prayers). So in the morning they would get angry if i did not wake in time for prayers. One week was so intense it seemed i was praying constantly. I prayed in the morning, then said i had to go for out and they asked me to have a 'quick' prayer which made me late at lunch, then after spending the whole day flooring a school, i was shattered but they forced me to pray for an hour with them when i wanted to go to bed. Church usually lasts 3 hours but I've definitely got past the most intense part and I've accepted the fact i have to pray. It's part of the Nigerian culture so it will be good to look back on. At first they saw me as an opportunity sent by god to be changed to a believer but now i guess they just see me as the devil haha! I guess the hardest part for me is the fact that no one was listening to my opinion or respecting it when i was respecting theirs. But hey ho, I think the only way to conclude this is to say 'Thank God' I'm open minded. 

Touchdown!

So, finally here! I arrived 4 30am Monday morning and as soon as I saw the first sight of land it was absolutely pouring down! 12 of us managed to squeeze into a 9 seated mini bus ( not to mention our luggage). So having my friend mamun on my lap was part of the team bonding. We arrived at a hotel in Abuja at 7am and were greeted by our Nigerian counterparts who are lovely! Abbas is the person I will be living with for the next 6 months and we get on so well. So after no sleep we had our first breakfast. Spicy everything! Alot to eat and HOT! But very nice (apart from the fact I've been on the toilet at least 3 times per day). We have finished our 3 day training today and are now prepared for everything haha. So, we have a day off tomorrow then we start our 12 hour journey down to cross river state at 5am Friday. It hasn't really sunk in yet and we havnt been able to see much of the place so I think I will probably have some culture shock when we get to our host homes. It's all exciting and the locals are so friendly, however, I think it all begins after our journey south as at the moment it feels like a holiday. IM READY!

My Motivation

In 2009 I spent 3 months at a special needs camp in America and the disabilities of the campers ranged from brain injury to cancer. This experience opened my eyes and made me realise that helping others is what i want to do. After finding out about Global Xchange it gave me fire in my belly and I felt so strongly that it was for me. My mum spent 20 years growing up in Nigeria so i have always had a connection to not only the country but the continent. I feel like a lot of people can be ignorant towards 'Africa' and it is often viewed as one place rather than all the different colorful countries it possesses. I'm on this programme because i really want to make a difference no matter how big or small to peoples lives. I'm not here to change the world, just the bit I'm involved in. I also want my experience of Nigeria to take away any prejudice or ignorance I have about the place. Many people who I have told I'm going to Nigeria have said stuff like, "rather you than me" or "couldn't they of put you somewhere nicer" things like that. To be honest i wouldn't pick anywhere else if i could. I want people to know that 'Africa' is more than a place of poverty, it has culture, atmosphere, rich and poor places just like any place in the world.

Hello!

Hi everyone,
this is a brief introduction to my blog. I'm writing this blog as a sort of diary to connect with people back home, to connect to global xchange and for anyone really. First, let me tell you a little bit about my placement. I'm taking part in a 6 month programme called Global Xchange where i spend 3months in Nigeria with 10 English people and 10 Nigerians then both us the Nigerians will spend 3 months in Newham, London. So in theory its an exchange. I'm not 100% sure of the work I'm doing whilst in Nigeria but it will revolve around community development, HIV awareness and education (I will clarify when I'm out there). I hope to update this blog as much as i can but I'm not sure about internet access out there so stay tuned and i hope you enjoy reading my blog!