Photos from Lafia

I have uploaded a few photos from my stay in Lafia ; the smaller size is easier to dowload! just learning about how to arrange them as you can see! I arrived in Jos today and from what I have seen of it so far, I have been impressed. Will write more on the next post...running out of credit! But I will just add that when I arrived at the school for a first visit earlier on, I noticed that the children had made a couple of welcome posters for me!! Good start!

A visit to Lafia

I can definitely tell I am somewhere near the equator. To say I felt hot when trying to sleep last night is somewhat of an understatement! Given that the temperature didn’t dip below 30 degrees all night, and there was no electricity to power the fan ( except for a couple of welcome hours when it came on sporadically during the night) , it was not surprising that I woke up sweating like a pig.
So I have now relinquished my title of sun goddess and I am trying to avoid the sun as much as possible…well in the middle of the day at least!
I am in Lafia at the moment, on a placement visit with Marilyn, a Canadian volunteer who has been here for 4 months so she is showing me the ropes ; how to sterilize and work the water filter, how to charge everything electrical you own the moment the power supply comes on in case it goes again, how to wash using a bucket shower, and how to negotiate good deals at the market ! I am supposed to be learning how to cook a typically Nigerian meal too, but she let me off with that last night and cooked me some beans on toast which tasted amazingly great! I have been given lots of spicy food at the hotel since I arrived on Saturday so although it rather goes against the spirit of the exercise, beans on toast was exactly what I wanted! Marilyn has got a handy little campfire toast rack that you can put on top of a hob. Unfortunately she located it in Canada so I am not sure whether toast will be a rare luxury for me here…we shall see!

I have also been excited that you can get Smirnoff Ice in the most unlikely road side bars …even ice cold ones! So that has cheered up the evenings!

I am going to Jos next week which still appears to be a popular place from what most people say so I am pleased I am going there. Watch this space for photos of typical Nigerian street scenes….I should be able to upload them next Sunday.

ARRIVAL IN ABUJA !

Well I have finally arrived in Nigeria and got around to posting something on this blog! Now the hard bit...what to put!

My first impressions of Nigeria ... Sunny, hot and full of friendly, cheery people! But actually , I don't really think I have experienced the true Nigeria yet as I have only been in Abuja, the capital, so far . As someone suggested, it's a bit like an African version of Milton Keynes, as it's a well planned city with lots of highways and roundabouts. There's also not much traffic and it's fairly quiet and ordered, which is apparently not like the rest of Nigeria! I have been pleased to discover that most people are quite enthusiastic when I tell them I am going to be living in Jos which is a good sign. And bizarre as it may seem for a sun lover like me and I am actually quite relieved that it is cooler up there in the mountains as I am frantically seeking shade here in Abuja! Strange to think that I was feeling cold just a few days ago.

So far I have been doing a few days training with the othe VSO volunteers in my "batch" as its known. I am the only volunteer from the UK, but there are a few volunteers from the South to South programme, from VSO Kenya, Uganda and India who are all really friendly.There are over 50 VSO volunteers in county at the moment and it seems like people meet up with each other quite a lot at weekends. I am going on a placement visit with another serving volunteer tomorrow for a few days so that should give me some insight into what to expect. It's all quite exciting so watch this space for more news about life in Nigeria.....!