Our trip to the bush?

I finally had the opportunity of going to Ogugu, which is where I was originally meant to work. It is a 7 and a 1/2 hour drive away! It was great to see another part of this amazing country. It was the most beautiful part of the country I have seen yet.

Before reaching Ogugu, we stayed at Holley Memorial Hospital in Echadem on the Friday night, we were shown around the hospital on Saturday morning and then headed to Ankpa to have lunch with a Mission Africa couple (Liam and Colette Hannah). It was great to spend some time with them as they don't get many ex-patriates passing though their area so they are quite isolated. After lunch we headed to Ogugu and stayed there from Saturday night until Tuesday morning.

The reason why I put a question mark on the title is that the 5 of us that went (3 girls, 2 boys) expected to be living in a mud hut in the bush. Instead, we were treated like royalty and stayed in a Nigerian mansion! I'm not complaining, I just thought I would get to experience true Nigerian bush life - o well!

Our purpose for this visit was to simply see Ogugu and where Still Waters is (which is an HIV/AIDS ministry run by a Mission Africa couple) and to hang out with Billy Abwa (Mission Africa) and the team of boys that has just started working down there. We didn't do a lot but what we did do was help build a fence around the HIV/AIDS centre, play with the local village kids, sing a special number in the village church on Sunday morning, meet the chief of the village in his "palace", visit one of the orphans connected to Still Waters, help fetch water from the nearby river and try some weird and wonderful food. I actually have grown to love Nigerian food but to welcome us to Ogugu, we were given a kola nut - the most disgusting thing I think I have ever tasted! It just tasted like a very strong flavour of grass. We had to eat it, we had no choice!

All in all, this was a great experience and I am so glad to have seen another part of Nigeria before I leave. It is so different to Jos. It was so peaceful but the only thing was it was way to hot!

Special Olympics

Open Doors held the Special Olympics for Plateau State on the 28th February. It was a great day for all. It was clear that everyone had a great time. We had the 100 metres (walking and running), wheelchair races, the long jump, a table-tennis competition, a girl’s 5-a-side football match and a boys 5-a-side football match. Many medals were won. The next stage is the regionals in another state, then the nationals in Lagos. If any of our kids get through the nationals they will be on their way to the world olympics 2012 in Rome. It is not impossible for any of our kids. Last year 2 pupils from Open Doors ended up in China for the world olympics!

And then there was 1...

When I first arrived in Nigeria there were 6 girls living in our house, then 4, and until yesterday there were 2 of us, now it is just me. My housemate and good friend Janina left Jos yesterday to fly home tonight. The good news is that I'm not on my own for long, 2 more girls arrive on the 9th or 10th Feb. They are both with Mission Africa and they had no problem getting their Visas, so thank God for answered prayer! The whole Visa situation must be improving. Please pray that God would help me to cope well with all the changes that are happening and that I will get along well with the new girls.

Curfew

2 posts on the same day!

I forgot to mention the exciting news - last night the curfew was extended to 9pm! Please pray that the peace in Jos remains. It's going to be so strange when I'm home and I'm actually allowed to stay out to all hours! Bring on the parties!

Health

I was very sick during the week. We still don't know what was wrong with me but I just thank God that I am much stronger now. I was very weak, dizzy and I had a headache that I couldn't get rid of. I was tested for Malaria, but the test was negative so our only guess is that it was a virus or some sort of parasite. I am so thankful that God has made me stronger. I go back to work on Monday. I was looked after really well by everyone and some staff at work even delivered a Get well card to me yesterday, that the kids make for me. It was so sweet! Please pray that whatever I had won't come back and that God would continue to keep me strong. There are so many illnesses that can easily be picked up here and at the minute the air is full of dust because of Harmattan season, so that doesn't help.

Room for improvement!

Hi all,

I apologise for my lack of blogging recently.

Well I started back to work on the 12th Jan after a very long break! Open Doors had a 3 week break so during that time I helped with the Gyero outings to the Wildlife Park and swimming which I really enjoyed but I couldn't wait to get back to Open Doors. I'm sooo glad to be back. We are currently quite busy. We have just begun a music therapy program that we now take every Wednesday. We are still at the experimental stages but so far it is going really well. There are a lot of Autistic kids that don't respond to any other therapy so we realised the school would really benefit from this as music is known to help Autistic children. We only had our 2nd session this Wednesday and have already seen amazing improvements. I think everyone, including me had given up hope on a girl called Adiza who doesn't respond to anything. She is always in her own little world and for some reason she refuses to use her hands even though she is quite capable of this. She can be quite violent and I have experienced this once when I was working with her on my own. Anyway, we decided to try music therapy with her and this week she clapped and even played a drum, with both hands. Music seems to calm her down. I couldn't believe my eyes. The difference in her is incredible and it's only the 2nd week! I am going to try and get the loan of a camcorder so I can record a few weeks of music therapy to see the differences. I promise I will post some pictures soon.

Prayer requests:

Dramatic changes have been happening in our house recently. When I first arrived there were 6 of us, then 4, now 2 and on the 3rd February I will have the house all to myself! We are expecting 2 more girls to arrive in Februrary. They are also with Mission Africa. Please pray that they have no problems with their Visas. They are hoping to arrive in a couple of weeks. Please pray that I will be able to adapt well to the changes that are coming up. Seeing people coming and going is what I find most difficult here.

I am hoping to spend some time with Billy and Linda Abwa in February. They are missionaries with Mission Africa and they are in charge of an HIV/Aids ministry just outside the capital, Abuja. Please pray that this will still be possible. When I first applied to go to Nigeria, the plan was for me to work with Billy and Linda but unfortunately things didn't work out. It would be great to see another part of Nigeria!