Blogs from Nigeria, Africa
Nigeria: The return of Trains
For many Nigerians, news of the resuscitated Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) is an incredible one. To them, it is unbelievable considering its long years of tragic decay and the tedious efforts made by civilian governments for more than a decade to bring back the erstwhile moribund corporation but which ended up in futility until recently. My findings revealed that few decades ago, the Nigerian Railway Corporation was considered as the mega revenue source for the Nigerian government, whose revenue was used to establish many other organisations. In fact, “it is the NNPC of those days,” an elderly Nigerian confided in me. To investigate the current state of the Nigerian railway service, I flew from Abuja to Lagos on Thursday, June 9, 2011. I visited the train station, especially its Iddo Terminus in the heart of Lagos ... read more
Well… it may have started with the King and the finest champagne but it ended with home brew poured from a huge yellow drum made from distilled palm trees and dancing in an R&B video stylee! We were heading home – prepared to get tucked up for a night of sweet, sweet slumber. Then, we heard the African beat and just had to get involved. I’m not exactly sure what the party was for, I’m not even sure if there was a reason for the party but we spent a good couple of hours dancing like crazies! I’m starting my blog now (at 2:30) because the music is still loud and there is no way in hell I’ll be sleeping any time soon… just as I typed that last line the music stopped. Spooky! Oh wait… ... read more
It was SO hard to get up and get motivated for teaching today. Even Jim, the most perky and keen of all of us, was on a go slow. Today is our last day of teaching and we are all starting to feel ready to come home. The last couple of days have felt like we are here just for the sake of it rather than here to really get something out of it. I’m not sure if that’s because we are starting to feel a little home sick for things like hot showers and real food or if it’s because we’ve had so little freedom to do what we what to do whilst we are here that we are just craving normality. It’s not the fault of the school or anyone else for that matter ... read more
This morning was an early start as we had to be at Steve’s house before eight to set off to the local high school. The school is owned by the King but is for the local children and children of the teachers at Olashore International School. They still have to pay but it’s much less than at OIS but still, in Nigeria, education isn’t for everyone. We set off at Nigerian 8:00am (9:00) in a bit of a muddle as nobody seemed to know what was going on and Steve is at a conference in Lagos for a few days. Upon arrival at the school we were dumped out of the van and pointed in the general direction of the Admin block. We found the principal’s office who took Jim to chemistry, Jade to Business Studies ... read more
First of all, sorry that there was no blog yesterday. I did better than all of the other white types and lasted a whole week without picking up a single illness - not even a mosquito bite! Yesterday however, I was really quite poorly in the morning. Just couldn't keep anything down at all. After loads of sleep and plenty of water I was right as rain by about 5pm. It was weird, 8am I was dying and 8pm I was perky and bright. Maybe that’s just the Nigerian way too?? Today was the cutest day of my life! We went to the local primary school where James is working. There are 400 (ish) kids who range from one to twelve years old and range in cuteness from very cute to exceedingly cute! When the car ... read more
Thankfully last night was infestation free and I had a good night’s sleep! I had to get up early to go to school and teach a couple of lessons. The kids here work so hard. They don’t really have any time off on a normal week. I was the first to arrive at 8:10, lessons started at 8:15 but there were no members of the maths department there until 8:30 – Nigerian time keeping at its best. I had to leave my second lesson early too as today was the day we met, Kabiyesi; the Nigerian King of Kings. Kabiyesi was in his office, in his compound across the road from the school. We were shown down a long corridor into a room with the biggest desk I have ever seen. He was wearing a huge ... read more
Well, we’ve been in Africa for a whole week now and I think I am getting whiter! I know the idea of coming wasn’t to spend time out by the pool but I thought that by now I’d at least be a little bit black! I’m currently typing this in the middle of what would be called a monsoon if we were in India! It’s absolutely throwing lashing it down but at least this time the thunder isn’t in the middle of the night. Speaking of the middle of the night – last night I was fast asleep when I became aware of a sort of rustling on the shelf which makes up the headboard. I thought I was hearing things (Malarone is blamed for a lot of mental problems since we’ve arrived.) but the rustling ... read more
The School Grounds
Thursday! Today has been long! Jim is a very early morning person he is in the lounge/kitchen area before 6:45 every morning and he tries his best to be as unstealthy as possible. I had my first lesson at 8am so I had to be up but the Malarone and the heat are really making me spaced out. Maths is not a fun subject to teach… especially as the maths over here is pretty old school. The stuff they teach at GCSE is stuff that I never saw at A level and as they don’t have calculators they have loads of crazy rules for working things out in their heads. To be honest, with the older kids I look like a bit of a Douche. The staff are really keen to know my ideas though – ... read more
Word of the day – Oyinbo. It means white person or white people in the local Yoruba language. I’ve also developed several new nieces and nephews and they all call me Auntie from England. The little ones are very, very cute and just sit and grin at the Oyinbos! James (who is working at the primary school) showed us photos yesterday and any time he gets his camera out he is mobbed by kids who want their picture taking. I think it’s the Nigerian way to LOVE being on film. Even the security guards keep asking us to take pictures of them when they spot that we have a camera. Today Dr Ash (as he’s known here) has travelled down to Lagos and he will return to England on Saturday so we won’t see him until ... read more
Four days in Africa and I’m not black yet – what’s going on there? After I finished last night’s blog I snuggled under my sandpaper bed sheet and drifted off into a sweet slumber. At around two AM there was the loudest noise I have ever heard in my entire life, I sat bolt upright in bed and my eyes were violated with a good 10 seconds of extra bright strobe lighting. As I was trying to figure out what the hell was going on, if my retinas were permanently burned and whether or not I still had ear drums, there was a blood curdling scream from across the bungalow. It was only when I heard my name being shouted that my Malarone blurred, sleep deprived brain could work out that we were slap bang in ... read more
