Blogs from Nigeria, Africa - page 2

Yesterday while most of you were tucking into your roast potatoes I flew across to West Africa, specifically Lagos, Nigeria. I was questioned on the plane by a rather large Nigerian woman who turned in her seat and shook my arm. “why are you going to Nigeria, we do not see many of you in Nigeria (white women)” I told her I was working there… I could see her mind ticking while she thought, “ohhhh you must have a Nigerian boyfriend then?” I think I said No No NO I have a British boyfriend thank you a bit too fast and strong for her and she gave me a smile and moved away like she didn’t believe me… The first time I travelled to Lagos, Nigeria the luggage belt broke, I waited 2 hours in 40 ... read more

Wow. Honestly "wow" is probably my first thought at almost everything since we've arrived in Nigeria. "Wow, I have never seen such a beautiful mosque", "Wow, some of these people are living INCREDIBLY difficult lives", "Wow, I have entered a whole new world". This has to be the most interesting place I have ever been. And I'm completely infatuated with it. Our flight to Paris was fairly easy-going; a walk in the park compared to our later flight to Abuja. As soon as we boarded the plane to Nigeria we realized how different of an environment we were about to be in. There were so many children on our flight and they seemed to enjoy walking about just as the plane was getting ready to take off. It was very chaotic on that flight. A lot ... read more

Wednesday June 13 We're sitting between the borders of Benin and Nigeria and I'm up in the front with the Pastor (more in a minute!) when the truck jumps forward. Looking through the left side mirrors, I see we've been clipped by another truck who doesn't even stop and acknowledge it! This is coming after Benin officials accused us of having fake passports! Good morning! We were giving Pastor Emmanuel a lift into Nigeria as he'd delayed his departure to make sure Cecilia had her visa. Conversation was stilted at first but slowly warmed up as he told us a bit about himself. We'd been close to one border but were advised not to cross there and so we were heading a little further north to another crossing. Upon arrival at the border (a rope separated ... read more

Gideon was the Health and Safety Manager in Ghana and has featured many times in my blogs, I grew very fond of him over the 18 months that I knew him, he introduced me to Ghana, he insulted me, he made me laugh, we had many long conversations about Ghana, England, politics, religion and his family and he met my family and Joe when he made his first ever journey on a plane to the UK... and even if he is not politically correct at all I very much consider Gideon to be a friend, as does the rest of the safety team. Gideon got himself another job with career progression, so sadly he left the company last week. Ghana will not be the same without him Good luck Gideon, I wish you all the best ... read more

Nigerians to me are friendly, incredibly happy, they make me laugh constantly, they are very smart and then there are those that the media catch hold of, those that we in the UK have heard of but maybe dont understand and they let Nigeria down. one of those is Boko Haram (BH), they are a Nigerian Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram means “Western Education is Sin” and they cause much if not all of the grief that you see on the television about Nigeria. Bombings in Jos and Abuja, and kidnappings and killings. They attack Police, government, teachers and anyone who may get in their way. There are over 160 Million people living in Nigeria, 50% are Muslim and they live mainly in the North and 40% are Christian with the other 10% being other or ... read more