Jos Life

It’s been a hectic couple of weeks since the Kabba weekend. Another volunteer, Heather, has moved to Jos so I have had a good excuse to eat out more than usual to show her the best places! She considers that Jos has practically artic conditions since she has been living in Delta state for the past few months, but I pointed out that although the temperature has admittedly dropped recently it’s still around 26 degrees or so. Hardly freezing, but then I felt a bit chilly the other day and needed a few layers on so perhaps I am succumbing to the local view of the climate!
Anyway, I am gathering a few more people to come with me to the samba and tango lessons I have started going to…which is necessary as the timings are rather casual , as are the other dance participants. Different people tend to come each time. Generally I end up texting the teacher before the class to remind her to come. That seems to work, although she was still 25 minutes late the other day, even after the text. I wouldn’t mind, but as it’s only for an hour….! Anyway, now we have a few definite regulars things should improve! I have been told that my waist needs to be more flexible in no uncertain terms, but at least I seem to be able to get the steps so that’s a start. And its all good fun which is the main thing.
The country pictures are of another hike in Jos with a few friends. I promised that I would take them to a place with boulders to climb and I don’t think I disappointed them! It was a beautiful day and even though I have seen the landscape in that area a few times now, I haven’t got tired of it yet!!

And moving to school matters...well, its all going quite well at the moment. I have been so pleased that many of the things that I had suggested and try to set up have actually happened. We managed to get external funding to create a partition in the physio room to make a small dark room area as a basic sensory room. I spotted a disco ball in the main “supermarket” in Jos ( not exactly Tesco sized…more like your average convenience store) and I couldn’t believe it as I hadn’t seen anything like that here before. So we bought that, and along with some light up toys I brought out with me, we have been able to create an atmosphere of flashing lights and spinning light up balls etc. We have also rigged up a ball pool using a paddling pool and a bag of small plastic balls we found in town. It makes a great waiting area for physio!
You may think this has nothing to do with speech therapy but actually I have been trying to get the non-verbal children to ask what toy they want using pictures, or a make-shift switch with a recordable message such as “I want toy!” If they press the switch, they get the toy! The switch I have got is tiny though as it is just a basic toy as part of a telephone set, so we are hoping to get funding to get some decent switches and “ talking machine” type technology ( AAC for those of you in the know) so I am more hopeful about that as I really think it will work.

Work and Play!

I had a busy long weekend at Kabba, in Kogi State. There seems to be a regular get together hosted by some irish priests down there for VSOs ( at least 20 of us or so) and other people that they know here in Nigeria. It involved lots of fun and games, including crazy golf, hiking, bar games like jenga and the hat game incorporating the donning of as many different types of hats as possible it appeared! Not sure what the point was but it was good fun which was the main thing. The incredibly cheesy music and impressive display of energetic dancing also added excitement to the evenings!!

It was good to meet up with everyone, after a busy week at work. I have been busy preparing materials as I tend to make all my own resources rather than buy things that aren't appropriate...or indeed available!....so that keeps me occupied in the evenings. I also had to plan a workshop I was giving to local teachers on general language development and how to help develop young children's speech and language...and how to spot possible problems etc.

We had a few hiccups because even thought I had made sure that the generator was available in case of the inevitable power failure, I had failed to ensure that there was sufficient fuel to power the generator. So I had to swop the video clip to the middle of the workshop once someone had gone to buy some fuel...always need to be flexible in these situations!

I have also started dancing at a local Nigerian Dance studio that does African Samba and Tango lessons. I think I will take a while to get as flexible around the waist as everyone else there, but at least I am giving it a go!

I thought I would add a picture of my room at school...complete with an invading herd of cows!

An action packed weekend in Abuja!

Admittedly this is yet another bulletin completely non-work related but I just wanted to give you a quick update about the weekend. I went to Abuja for another get together at the army barracks which is the local gathering point if you want good fish and chips!

Later we ended up with some friends at a posh house with a full sized bar in the front room and I felt like I was in a surreal film set....But that was nothing compared to the party we went to the next night. It was in a house with a life sized model areoplane on the roof, taking up the top storey...anyone who has been to Abuja will know where I mean! A friend of mine knew the Lebanese family throwing the party so a group of us went along. It was very ornate inside, but the apart from the delicious food ( as much hummous as I could imagine !!) it was great to try out lebanese-style dancing ! Everyone was very friendly and we were all encouraged to bop away...The worst part was that I have never felt so under dressed for a party in my life. I only had my scruffy trainers with me in Abuja so i borrowed a friend's top but had to make do with my sporty trousers and trainers when everyone else was in cocktail dresses and high heels!! When I noticed the film crew filming us dancing , I was particularly aware of my outfit, but by then it was too late for me to care too much!! In fact the whole weekend was very surreal as I ended up sunning myself at the Hilton by the pool on Saturday...for free this time. Managed to get away with it!

Back to work today though. Lots of planning to do for another workshop and I was going to do another evening of making resources but I have had a nice excuse to go out for a meal....my gas canister has run out and I can't even boil water or cook at the moment!! I should be getting a new one in the next couple of days.....We shall see...!