Near my new house, and some party pics...

I am now getting settled into my new house, and am enjoying the walk to work in the mornings. Luckily, I discovered a path leading straight from my house to the school…the only trouble is there is a river I have to cross and during rainy season it can get quite high. I am negotiating stepping stones on my way to work at the moment… and am hoping they won’t be completely covered over one of these days. The pictures show the views near my new place and also my outside kitchen, and the rooms inside. As you can see I am making myself at home there, and my 2 year old next door neighbour helps me out with the mopping!! He is always in my place shouting “ Aunty, Aunty!” wanting me to play games with him!
I am busy at work preparing for the conference in Ghana as well as all the usual things. And the big news is that the wheelchair request has been approved by the ministry so we are hoping that wheelchairs will be provided for all the physically disabled children by the end of August. But I am on the quest for more funding as there are so many other things we want to provide, including electronic talking machines and other aids for the physio room and for the parents to use at home etc! I will try to get into fundraising once I get back from Ghana I think. Any ideas for contacts, please let me know!

The other pictures are from a leaving party I went to in Abuja last weekend…the theme was “stars and stripes” as both the people leaving are American. I won the name the 50 american states quiz ( admittedly with a little help from a friend!) and my prize was a stuffed animal. I took in back home and was going to give it to the school but I thought the kids would fight over it so I gave it to Abdulai, my little neighbour..but he was so scared of it he started crying!!! Not a success….think it will be going to school after all!....

Special olympics... and a new wheelchair!

Just a quick post this time, to show you a few photos from the Special Olympics event they held at school today. The kids really enjoyed themselves, although it was a shame the rain came earlier than usual and rained off the last few events. They were all so proud of their medals, and loved doing the march past to mark the start of the ceremony, including lighting the Olympic flame. I ended up being the chief photographer for the event so I didn't actually have much time to take my own pics but here are the few I did take...

I have also included a picture of Joseph in his new wheelchair, kindly donated last week. Admittedly, it is not exactly made to measure, and he has some difficulty staying in it properly, not least because it is made of slippy material, but he was so happy the first time he had a ride in it, as you can see. His mother was so happy that they finally had a wheelchair for him she started to cry, as did his nanny ( the girl also in the picture) who is generally the person who has to carry him around at school! We are hoping that our request for some more lightweight wheelchairs from the Ministry will come to fruition....We shall see!

Life continues to be hectic but in a good way. I have just moved house for the third time in six months, but this time, it’s to my own place. A friend of a work colleague has built a house in his back yard, and I am the first one to move in. It’s a great little place, with three largish rooms and the only down side is that the kitchen is outside in a small shed. But I am now fixed up with running water and the potential for electricity…depending on whether the power is on or not! My boss has been a great help in collecting furniture for me to use, and even re- upholstered an old three piece suite for me to put in the sitting room. The only trouble is that my only means of cooking is an electric hot plate at the moment…not ideal for a country with unreliable electricity supply!

I visited Kano last week to combine a VSO conference with my birthday celebrations last Saturday. It’s a really interesting place to visit…a huge city of over 3 million people with sprawling old city area complete with the original buildings from over 500 years ago. In fact, there were buildings in the old market that were apparently used as the main depots for trading slaves. They are now used as money changing venues.
It was fascinating wandering around the narrow market alleyways bustling with movement. I nearly got my eye poked by someone carrying a long piece of timber on his head. Needless to say I got carried away buying objects from the market…I kept thinking that it was a birthday treat to myself….but it was nice to be able to see your things being actually made on the spot. ( such as the tie die cloth and the pot ( called a calabash…see pics) They still make the tie dye cloth in the original way and each die pit is owned by a particular family and passed down through the generations, over hundreds of years. But perhaps the best thing about seeing all these things was that you didn’t feel as if you were just another tourist…we were asked to sign a book when we went to the dye pits and I think we were the first tourists there for a while!

I was also lucky enough to have a birthday party arranged for me…I just had to turn up! A VSO friend helped to organise it , and asked a good friend of hers if he wouldn't mind holding the do at his house, complete with a pool! I felt ready to cool off in the water after a long day's sightseeing....!

It's been back to work this week though, and I am working of Saturday too as there is a family forum with the parents, to discuss issues around coping with children with disabilities. The next round of the Nigerian special olympics is also being held at school tomorrow so I will be hoping to get some good pictures of that....!