I am currently in Ogugu, which is where Mission Africa have their own ministry - ADVANCE Action Against Aids. I arrived here on Tuesday the 8th. Before coming here, I was in the capital, Abuja for a few days so that I could collect the new arrivals at the airport. There are now 7 short-termers - 4 in Jos, and 3 in Ogugu. I came to Ogugu with Lyndsay who has just arrived. She is the only Gapper from Northern Ireland, the rest are from England, Scotland and Wales. Look Ogugu up on a map, it should be there but you might need a magnifying glass! It is a village in Kogi State, South Nigeria. It's a beautiful place, but very very warm! Maybe I will have lost a few pounds in sweat by the the time I go back to Jos! I do love it here though and there is 
so much happening here. As much as I love Jos, it is nice and peaceful here, so it's a nice break from Jos. I think I've fallen in love with this place. So this is what I have been up to in Ogugu so far: Tuesday - Arrived in Ogugu after a 6 hour car journey from Abuja, and was greeted by Elder Reuban, the man in charge here, Asabe who works for ADVANCE and who is also kind of in charge and looking out for our short-termers, and Will and Mel, who are both from England and have been serving here since October. Wednesday - In the morning, we went to the market which comes every 4 days. Mel, who is a Medical student and has just completed 2 years of her training, runs a free Health Clinic at the small village hospital - The Royal hospital, Ogugu. She runs this clinic alongside an ADVANCE team. This hospital is right beside the market. 
so much happening here. As much as I love Jos, it is nice and peaceful here, so it's a nice break from Jos. I think I've fallen in love with this place. So this is what I have been up to in Ogugu so far: Tuesday - Arrived in Ogugu after a 6 hour car journey from Abuja, and was greeted by Elder Reuban, the man in charge here, Asabe who works for ADVANCE and who is also kind of in charge and looking out for our short-termers, and Will and Mel, who are both from England and have been serving here since October. Wednesday - In the morning, we went to the market which comes every 4 days. Mel, who is a Medical student and has just completed 2 years of her training, runs a free Health Clinic at the small village hospital - The Royal hospital, Ogugu. She runs this clinic alongside an ADVANCE team. This hospital is right beside the market. 
While Mel was operating the clinic, and Lyndsay was helping her as her secretary/Pharmacist, I was helping Will and Elder Reuban hand out leaflets to people around the market, to advertise free HIV/Aids testing, which is available on market days at the Health clinic, and also at the ADVANCE Donegore centre during the week. The Donegore centre was built by a Mission Africa church team a few years ago. Funnily enough, they were from Donegore Presbyterian. This is the ministries base, it's where quite a lot of programs happen. Thursday - We did quite a lot of planning for a Kids club that all of our short-termers will be running during Easter. A group of us will be coming from Jos to Ogugu on the 9th April and staying for at least 3 weeks. In the afternoon Asabe was taking a bible study in the Donegore centre, with a group of teenage girls, so I was able to join that with Lyndsay. In the evening we had a time of prayer/devotions. This was quite a special time, and its definately important to get into the habit of doing together! Tonight there were some gunshots. Luckily I was warned of these. Don't be alarmed, it was simply to show respect to someone from nearby who had died. This is apparently what they do the night before a buriel. Friday - On Friday I continued some preparation for the kids club. A huge part of the ministry here, is orphan care. The other Lyndsay had the opportunity to visit the homes of some of the orphans who are on the ADVANCE sponsorship program, called 'Circle of Hope', and she had the chance to pray with some of them. Saturday - Every Saturday a childrens program is held at the Donegore centre, from 10am. This is for all those who are on the 'Circle of Hope' program, so we all got involved with this. They sang a cool song to welcome me and Lyndsay to Ogugu. It was a song about being from the UK and coming to help them. We sang quite a few childrens worship songs with them, learnt a memory verse, played outdoor games, football in a nearby field, and while football was on, some of the other children had the chance to play in the park, which was built by a team from First Carrickfergus Presbyterian. After the children's program, Will took me on the motorbike to Ofante village, which is about 20 mins away, to meet with the Pastor there. Don't worry, I was wearing a helmet and Will is a pretty good driver! It was quite nice on the motorbike, because I had a lovely breeze blowing against me, so it cooled me down for a while :0) Ofante is where we are going to run the kids club at Easter time. We had in our heads that there would probably be 40-50 children at this church. We were both quite shocked when we asked how many children attended the church. The response was 500!!! I didn't really know what to say. Unfortunately we are going to have to limit the program to a smaller number of children, by possibly saying it is for 7-11 year olds. We plan to have craft at this program. There is no way we would have enough materials for 500! Ogugu is an amazing place! The people are so friendly, the kids are quite well behaved, although Asabe may not agree with me on that, but compared to back home, kids in Nigeria definately listen a lot better! It will be strange when I go back to Jos on Tuesday because the other short-termers, Bethan and Alethea who also arrived this week will already be settled once I get there but I have really enjoyed my time here so far hanging out with the lovely people of Ogugu and Will, Mel, Lyndsay, Asabe, and not forgetting Mercy, who is thee greatest cook! :0) Adventures in Ogugu to be continued...
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