Coming into the cold

Leaving Nigeria early raised both positive and negative emotions. I was so excited to get back see family, relax, eat lots, drink some rum and chill. On the other hand, I wasn't able to go with my counterpart Abbas back to his state, Osun, to meet his family and see another part of the country. My flight back was on the 22nd of December, i spent most of the flight reflecting and appreciating the vast desert land of North Africa. Also, as we arrived in London, the sun was setting and I had a wonderful birds eye view of capital city which sorta made me feel pleased to be back. The first night back I went out for a Indian and ate my heart out, I felt at home, yet far away and detached from my Nigeria home so it was pretty emotional! Anyway, I got right into the Christmas spirit by eating lots of fatty food and felt very humble by all the positive comments I received from various people from my return. The days soon went by and it still felt like I was living out of a suitcase and on January the 3rd the Nigerian's flew in and we were back to being a team again! :)

First time on English soil!

The Nigerian's were freeeeezing! it was hilarious! constantly screaming and moaning and missing Nigeria! haha! We all got a coach to our residential center in Essex which we spent two nights there. The boys were in one room and the girls in another. On the first night, when we were getting ready for bad, one of the Nigerians, Nafiu, put on his hat, put of his, gloves, put on his scarf, extra trousers and pulled the cover over him. We were in stitches! the central heating was on so we were all saying don't worry you wont be cold tonight! but that happened for the next night as well. We had a few sessions and it was just good being with everyone again. We then got told where our work placements were and where we would be living. I was placed in a youth center in East Ham and I got told I would be living in Hackney. So me and Abbas were the only one's not living in Newham.

Tears, hallucinations and Jabs

Ok, so the title refers to my last week in Ikom and with my host family. It was literally the craziest week of my life.....so hectic, so emotional, so sick, so tired, so sad etc etc. First of all, we had so much work to be done so we had to finalise everything in two communities and make sure all work was completed and everyone was paid and happy. This proved to be a nightmare! it was just so tough to get this moving fast in the communities. Everyone from the team was so tired from walking their socks off and it seemed this last week really pushed our mental and physical strengths to the limit. What an amazing team by the way! i don't know many other people who would of fought through!

Team education! amazing people!

So during my last week in Ikom, I was ill but i didn't really pay much attention to it because i just thought i was fatigued and i didn't really have enough time to be ill haha! My first illness which i had 2 weeks prior to leaving was peptic ulcer disease which meant i could barely swallow! it felt like daggers were in my throat every time i gulped or had water or food! it was severe pain and Ive never experienced it before! So i couldn't really eat much or drink much because the pain was unbearable. My second illness was bacterial infection in my blood and the third was malaria. I think all three developed into one big illness to take down my body. I didn't go to the doctors until 4 days before leaving because i still refused to believe i was ill. I think the first signs of malaria came during a night when i woke up petrified on my mattress thinking i was flying through the air on it, so i held on so tight, sweating away till i realised i was hallucinating. I then got up to go to the toilet and i had the same thing again! imagining i was on a flying toilet! i was shitting myself! so it was a good job that i was on the toilet! the next day i was about to go out and i said hold on a second i forgot my wallet, so i went back in the room to get it and walked back out again and my friend said have you got your wallet, i said no....so i went back in and couldn't remember again what i was looking for and i think that's when i realised i needed to go to the doctors.

I had my blood tested and i had Malaria. So i was given lots of medicine and told it should be ok. The next couple of days i was waking up sometimes freezing, sometimes boiling. I felt so sick and my stomach felt like it was about to explode! i had no energy whatsoever. The last two days were absolute hell and i cant think if Ive ever felt that ill before! it was quite crazy! I was being sick violently everywhere and i hadn't had any food for 2 days! so on the last day where i had to pack and say my goodbyes i couldn't do it because i didn't have the strength! (I literally had to try so hard just to stand up). I was taken to hospital and as soon as i got there i felt like i was going to faint i was sick several times in the doctors office and he insisted i got jabs and on a drip asap (after i was better, he told me he was really scared). So i was on a drip to give me energy and some calories. My whole team came and visited me and it was so nice to see that everyone was looking out for me! during the night i think i had 8 injections (4 in my legs, 4 in my bum). The next day i was feeling a little better so i had to travel.

I came back from the hospital, and had to say goodbye to my host family. We had a taxi waiting with two others from my team who were also sick. I started to say goodbye and my heart literally split in two. I did'nt think it would be that hard but it literally killed me. The kids were all in a huddle crying with each other and i could barely look at them it was so painful. I said goodbye to the parents and all the older kids, then i went up to the young ones said something along the lines of, you have no idea what you guys mean to me, i love you so much and ill never forget you, we had a massive hug and i got in the car (I'm getting pretty emotional writing this). The car started and pulled away, i saw them crying and i literally burst out into hysterics! i don't think Ive ever cried that much and i cant even describe how painful it felt and still feels. To know how important some people are in your life and then be suddenly gone instantly, its almost as if someone died. I still think of them everyday and I seriously fell in love with them! I will never in a million years forget them.

Not the best picture but the only picture i have of all of s together. from the left: Erica, Etima, Me, Agim, Divine, Osman and Agbor.

So, i left Ikom to go to Calabar, the capital of Cross River State. I spent my last night with the team there before i was flown to Abuja to get treatment and then back home. Me and two other team mates who were sick, Tash and Stevie were flown to Abuja. As soon as we got there, they were both admitted for having malaria and i was free because i was somewhat better from this point on. The day i flew was my birthday so it was one which i will never forget! as they were both on drips, i spent the day being their personal assistants, getting them food and drink. The hospital was so funny and we found alot of laughter in each others pain haha! One nurse was hilarious and she kept of coming in and telling us to get our bums out to jab us! by this time i think i was on jab 15 over the period of three days, so i lost my phobia of jabs!

The lovely nurse!

We spent the next couple of days there till everyone was free to go! although on our way, 3 more of the team came to the hospital looking weary with malaria! so on Dec 22nd I flew back to London, said an emotional goodbye to Nigeria and went home for Christmas.

Pastime Paradise

Only two more posts till I can start blogging about the UK phase! Seems like this has been taking me forever to backtrack, but I’m nearly there. After a couple of serious posts, its time for one a bit more light-hearted. Of one the most beautiful things I experienced out in Nigeria were spending time at the little streams and rivers. I spent a lot of time at a certain one because it was opposite my host family's cocoa warehouse. After shifting and drying cocoa in the sun we would head to the stream to cool down and it was a magical experience (although, it was probably the reason why a lot of the team got ill).

 

We were situated in a little town called Ikom with various villages surrounding it. My host family would often take me to visit them so they could see family or friends. Visiting the villages for me was insightful, refreshing, spectacular and all of the above really and I was constantly awestruck when i was there. We visited a place called Aparabong the most, it had one straight road with beautiful shacks/houses either side with rivers and streams flowing through at certain points and there was a lot of greenery throughout. I would get asked by the naked men if I wanted to join them bathing in the river or I would be invited into one of the locals houses. Every time I visited a house or someone new, they treated me like a king! They, cooked, bought drinks and would chat for hours to me. I was a complete stranger to most of them, but they are some of the friendliest people in the world and welcome you with open arms at any occasion. It was truly amazing and I felt privileged to meet such people. 

 

 

 Weddings and burials could almost be put in the same sentence because on both occasions people save up for months beforehand and they both bring out the community for a big celebration/party. Burials were a true celebration of life and everyone would be dancing and drinking all night. Weddings were very interesting…….they often started 3 hours late but the women looked stunning in their traditional wear. 

Altogether my favourite way to pass the time was to spend time with the children in my house. Agim, Agbor, Erica and Osman. These kids were nothing short of amazing! And when I would go to work I couldn’t stop thinking about them and getting excited to see them at the end of the day. I used to come home, shout from the front gates and they would run out screaming “uncle Joe” and jump all over me. I cant tell you how much this made me happy! These children were the most well-behaved, strong and happy kids I’e met and I seriously felt like they were my family. I would just sit with them in the evening in absolute awe of them playing with each other and they had so much love to give. Man I miss those guys so much…..