The Flights Home, Booking Cancelled, Hard Landing and Medical Emergency

Wednesday March 31st we went to the Yola airport for a ticket to Abuja. Arik Airline had no seats so we had to go to IRS Airline. They had cancelled a flight last year when they only owned two airplanes. They now have more planes so the chances of cancelation are a little less. They only had room on the 7:30 AM flight. This means a 12 hour layover in Abuja. The flight is only $100. The next morning I was up at 5 AM to eat breakfast and finish packing.

We stopped at the airport and took this picture. Click it to see the bigger picture. The sign in the center says Emergency Operations Centre. The flight out of Yola was less than one hour late leaving. It was an old Folker F3 that had new upholstery. I think it was a former SAS plane. I prefer Arik Airlines. They have newer planes and are an international carrier. The flight had no problems. The ride from the domestic airport to the International airport was quick and only cost 1000 naira ($6.66).

The 12 hour layover was boring. This airport has little to do. I had lunch in the fast food spots on the second floor. Same food I have been eating in Jimeta chicken and rice but twice the price. found a spot that I could plug in my computer and get on the internet using the cell phone modem.

After 10 hours I went to the departure counters and through the first security check. When I finally got to the baggage check in counter they said I was not in the computer and I needed to go to the KLM office. This was not the first time this had happened to me so I knew where to go. There was a line of people at the KLM office. It seems Delta had cancelled a flight the day before and then moved people to this flight. There were three of us who were no longer booked. I should have called in a confirmed the flight. The lady took about 5 minutes to rebook me on the same flights. So I drag my bag back the check-in counter and back into line. When I got to the front of the line the lady there said I was not in the computer and to go to the KLM office. The lady at KLM was surprised to see me back. Over the next hour I made this trip two more times. The lady at the KLM officed indicated that for some reason the Delta computer was cancelling my booking everytime she booked it. Then I was moved to the KLM supervisor. She went to her office behind the check-in. Came out 5 minutes later and took me to the front of the line. After the passenger that was being checked in she tried to check me in with a manual override. This did not work. So the supervisor had the check-in clerk get the computer to a certain point and stop. She then went to her office and rebooked me. Then had the clerk continue. Delta did not have time to cancel me and I got on the flight. It was now less than 30 minutes before the flight and I had to go through Nigerial Immigration Departure interview, upstairs, then through the second more comprehensive security check. I rushed and got upstairs to find that they were just starting the security check and I would stand in line for another 30 or more.

The flight from Abuja to Amsterdam make one stop in Kano, Nigeria for fuel and passengers. The landing was one of the hardest I had ever had. We bounced and and hit hard again. Bounced once more and made the landing. This being a modern Airbus the computer detected the hard landing and called for an inspection of the landing gear. The pilot briefed us and told us the mechanic had gone to his office to get his computer for the test procedure. Later the pilot informed us that the laptop was broken and the mechanic was going back to his office to get the paper version of the inspections. After two hours on the ground in Kano we took off.

When the crew made the landing announcement they said there was a medical emergency on board and everyone should stay seated until the emergency crew had removed the passenger. That did not happen. As is turns out the emergency was that a passenger had been found with no pulse and cold. A doctor on board said he had be dead for a while.

I had a 4 hour layover in Amsterdam. I got my first cup of brewed coffee in 6 weeks. At security in Amsterdam they put me through the new body scanners. It detected the piece of in my back pockets and also identified a place of suspicion on my chest. This is about the same spot that I have a lump on one of my ribs. I was impressed with the technology. The screen the security people see is a generic outline of a person (I wish I had that kind of build) with I square where the suspicious items are. The flight to Minneapolis left right on time and was only a 1/2 hour late arriving due to flying around bad weather.

Bike Ride

I am in Amsterdam Airport and will try to add this short video. It is part of my bike ride from Bandaguri back to the main road.

Kids Playing.

I tried to load this video from the internet cafe in Jimeta it failed. It uploaded at the Abuja Airport using my Modem on the MTN network. I have a few hours seating here so I may produce another video and post it.

Girl Pounding Guinea Corn in Bandaguri

Medicine Tree Seeds

The Neem Tree is also called the medicine tree because most of its parts are used for some kind of traditional medicine. They are also a valuable shade tree. They are an evergreen with regular leaves (not needles). The leaves are constantly falling and new ones growing. I the heat of the dry season they provide shade in areas where no other shade trees can grow. They are all over the compound I live in.

I had been picking up the seed to see how hard it is to make Neem Oil which sells for a high price in Natural Foods stores. It is used on the skin. The school kids saw me picking up the seeds one day and started to help me. My little pile multiplied as their little fingers are more efficient at picking up the seed. Late Farah told about a lady that makes Neem Oil. She brought her over the other night and we discussed the process. They use the wet process that makes a liquid oil. I bough a 3 ounce bottle for 200 naira ( $1.25). What I have seen at Lakewinds Coop is more of a one ounce container of creamy butter for around $10.00. I gave her all the kernels I had removed from the seed shells since the pile on my porch was bigger than I could handle.

The trees fruit at the end of the dry season. The birds and the flying dogs (fruit bats) seat in the tree and eat the sweet fruit and drop the large seed on the ground. My pile is a tiny fraction of the seeds around the compound. I would bet I could get 10 gallons of seeds from the trees on this compound.

The girls noticed that I was opening the seeds and taking out the kernels. Friday I looked out the door and they had found some rocks and where crushing the seeds to separate the kernels from the seed. This was their last day of school for this term. So they made a big mess of seed shells and crushed kernel. I slowly picked through the mess for the next four days. The shells will make a good mulch to hold in moisture. Many insects stay away from the Neem products because it is known to make them infertile. Natural selection has left the bugs that stay way from the Neem trees.

Tuna Fish Salad Sandwich

This is some of the things in my cupboard. I have finished the oatmeal with two breakfasts left to go. The Vienna Sausages and beans made beans and weanies a couple of nights ago. The Heinz vegetable salad mixed with tuna chunks makes three tuna fish salad sandwiches. I have a bowl of the it in the freezer. The freezeer only gets power a few hours per day so it will stay cold but may not freeze. Lately, we get power from the national grid from around 1AM to 5 or 6 AM. Then I am connected to the generator at the Jimeta Catherdral. They have programs most evenings so I get generator power for a couple hours most nights. Last night there was no program at the church so I had no power. The 4 bottles of water in the freezer I had managed to freeze last week, when the weather was cooler and the Cathedral had programs everynight are thawing out. They are easier to drink that way.

Saturday, Out for a Walk, One-Eyed Buffalo

I am having trouble with uploading pictures. So I will post this without pictures and try to edit it and add the pictures. The internet cafe I use has always given me problems posting pictures and movies do not post at all. It is Wednesday morning 3:00 AM. I have Yakubu's Zain Modem and the internet is working and I have power from the NEPA. So I am making final changes to the work I have been doing the last 6 weeks and adding pictures to this posting.

This morning was a cool morning with cloud cover. I decided to take a walk out the back (north) of the compound. I have been out the back gate a few times but always headed south back to the main road. Today I stayed on the backstreet and headed east toward the tool store that had range poles for surveying.


My first surprise was to find a technical bookstore. It is like a small student’s bookstore. Many of the books were published in the late 2000’s. They had two copies of Environmental Geology the sixth and eighth edition. The 8th edition was from 2008. The text on project management was from 2006. It was a good thing that I had only 6,000 naira on me or I may have spent some of it on books.


I made my way across the next main street east of the compound without being hit by any of what I call the Chinese mosquitoes. Blue smoke puffing Chinese motorcycles. They go every which direction and obey no rules. Most have two or more people on them. I just want to swat them like mosquitoes. I decided to continue down the back streets and found a "one-eyed buffalo". This is what they are called in Korea. It is a large diesel powered roto-tiller that has a seat and a rear wheel. They can be driven down the road pulling a cart, connected to a water pump or or even till a farm field. This was the first one I have seen here. Its tiller had been removed and a welding coil had been mounted above where the tiller was. When the machine shop needs something welded they drive out their one-eyed buffalo and use it for arc welding. They men in the area were amused when I called it a "one-eyed buffalo". Then I showed them the single headlight and it did the work of a water buffalo in Korea. I asked the men if these are used on the farms around Adamawa and they said yes. I asked where and they said on the Governor’s farm. They did not know of any other places.


I continued by walk to the tool store and looked at the range poles. When I looked at them, the quality was poor and the shopkeeper wanted 1,200 naira ($8). I was not sure I wanted to pay that much for something only had one use for. So I continued my back street trek. Heading further north to the next street north wondering what other surprises were waiting for me. I found a borehole with a hand pump and a sign saying it was a 2006 federal government project (N09.28105, E012.45306). The sign was beaten and rusted and the pump was not functional. that was no surprise. This pump is in a more residential area and would be a good candidate for repair. Since it is in a large town it is the responsibility of the Adamawa State Water Board. Of course it would not surprise me if the local water sellers broke the pump and that it would be broken again as soon as it was fixed.


I headed back to the house to get my camera and found my last surprise of the morning. There is a laundry shop about 100 meters north of the compound. I have been hand washing my clothes at night in a bucket. Last year I trekked south to a laundry about a 1000 meters away. I stopped using them after the first load of clothes smelled worse after washing than when I took them in. This laundry wants 150 naira ($1) to wash a shirt and pants. But if I brought them in on Monday I would not get them back until Thursday or Friday. I might give them a try next trip. I leave on Thursday.


After photographing the bookstore and the "one-eyed buffalo" I headed to the Specialty Hospital to meet with the "Spring of Hope", HIV support group. They hold their meeting the last Friday of each month. Today they had the doctor in charge of monitoring and evaluation of TB and Leprosy programs in Adamawa State talking to them about infectious diseases. It was mostly in Hausa but I could catch the drift of what he was saying as he switched back and forth from English and Hausa. The support group had a lot of intelligent questions and he gave them straightforward answers. After he finished they had a group photo with the doctor and then I was asked to say a few words. I told them what I was doing in Nigeria and gave them the standard “teach a man to fish, and help him to get the equipment to fish but I won’t fish for him” speech. Them I told them how glad I was to see that they have support groups and understand the importance of helping each other. I also told them that it is good to ask doctor’s questions. It is their health not the doctor's so it is good that that they understand how to protect their health. We then had lunch and I paid 1500 naira for an annual membership in Spring of Hope. They use the dues to rent an office, for conducting awareness campaigns/outreach and for emergency loans to group members to buy drugs needed to fight the opportunistic infections that many HIV positive people have to fight.

Some of the ladies said "We will never go to America. But now our picture will."

Farah (pronounced far-ah) james is their leader and a local activist on many matters. She found out she was HIV positive when her husband died of AIDS. At the time she was pregnant and passed the HIV to her baby who also died. She no longer has a paying job. She was a teacher but the stress of full-time work and fulltime activist was too much. So she quit her job. She is like me just doing volunteer work. But unlike me she does not have savings and a IRA. Her latest venture is to start a young women’s group for the Lutheran Church. She is headed to Jos with representatives from the other diocese to discuss how the church could start this new group. She used to live in the house that I have been living in. It is basically, falling apart. She decided to live with her Mother rather than keep spending money on fixing up a 60 year old mud brick house. I found out that she is hosting the women of the Lutheran Youth Encounter in her (or her Mother's home). LYE is a singing group that has been traveling Ghana and now Adamawa. They will be performing in Minnesota and Wisconsin sharing their travel experiences in May and later this summer.

Retired Governor & Ambassabor Juta

Friday night dinner was the best I have had here. Chicken with small potatoes, rice with peas and sweet corn, and a coleslaw salad with baked beans (it’s a British thing). We had dinner at Retired Governor & Ambassador Juta’s new home (N09.26062, E012.47293). He has been working on this home for many years. It could be as long as a decade. But while he was still working he made little progress. He continued to live in his family compound inside of Jimeta as he was active with politics. He finally, retired from politics and a little more work was done on the house. Then he had a fire at his compound last August. Much of his compound was burned. He decided to take a sleeping mat and move into the house and work on it. His wife stayed at the burned compound living in the parlor, which had escaped the fire. By October he had made enough progress that his wife moved to the new house. He continues to work on the house. At this point he is working on furnishings, and what we would call the punch list of items to fix or finish. We toured the downstairs (office, meeting rooms, parlors, guest rooms) and the outside gardens, basketball and squash court, swimming pool and chapel. The top floor of the house is the family living quarters.

I met Juta during our 2006 trip when he hosted a party for Gary Sande and again in 2007 when the public health team went to his old compound for dinner. Gary is the Nigeria coordinator for Global Health Ministries and was a missionary teacher here in Nigeria. I think Juta was one of his students and later became the principal of the same school where Gary was the principal.
When Elisabeth was teaching at TCNN in Jos she met Juta a young man that was just returned for 6 years of studying in the US. Later he would be the Governor of Gongola State (which has now been split into Adamawa and Taraba States). After being Governer he became the Ambassabor to Zimbabwe. Recently, he had been working with development in the Delta region where the oil companies are getting the oil and the people are not. Elisabeth was also a teaching missionary in Nigeria and Juta became the principal of the Hong Secondary School that Gary had started earlier.

We had a long talk about water in Nigeria. His last posting had him working with the Delta Development Authority. They were trying to help the people of the Delta with development projects as a means to calm down the fighting in the Delta Oil region. He said they would come to a town a build a modern water system with boreholes, towers, and distribution systems then hand it over to the Local Government to operate and maintain. They would return in a few months and it was broken and parts of it were missing. I told that these were the kinds of problems we were trying to avoid. The give a person a fish approach does not last long. We discussed community ownership and how the community has to feel they own the system. They need to be involved in the planning, the financing and the construction before they will want to spend the time and money to operate it and maintain it. He was of the opinion that most villages would not spend their own money to build a water source. It is the duty of the government to use the tax money to build the system. The church should not have to contribute. The church should work with the government but the government should use the tax money to pay for the projects. This discussion was held on the terrace above his swimming pool. Being a wealthy person who pays a lot of taxes he wants his tax money spent in his community. At his point I commented that the communities had no “skin in the game”, why would they want to have to spend the money to operate and maintain the system that the government put in. If the government wants them to have the system they seem to think that the government should keep it working. I side stepped the tax issue. I do not think the poor subsistence farmer cares about taxes. They have no income so they pay no taxes. They cannot read or write so how will they fill out a tax form. I was a bit surprised. This was the first mention of taxes in the four years I have working on this program. This is the first time that I have discussed the program with someone of his position.

John & Christiana Orume 50th Jubilee

Sunday March 21, 2010 Orume Golden Jubilee
Today we celebrated the 50th Wedding Anniversary of John A. T. and Christiana I Orume. They were married on March 16th, 1960. John had a long career in government before retiring in 1993 as the Permanent Secretary for Taraba State. When John was 14 he wanted to attend middle school. He found out that they only accept children that are 12 or younger. So he registered for middle school as a 12 year old. Since then the official records John indicate that he was born in 1936. He was also active in all the churches he was part of. From his early Christian education, he continued in the church where his government postings took him. When posted in Yola he and Christiana became members the church now known as LCCN Cathedral Jimeta. He was on the building committee chair and treasurer for the construction of the Cathedral in 1988. His hobbies are listed in the program as sports, gardening and animal rearing. Based on what we saw at his celebration dancing should also be included.

Christiana was born of Mr. and Mrs. Basuku Ate. Her father was of Bama Jukum ruling house of Wukari. Chrsitiana attended Ebenezer Primary church school from 1954 to 1959. After marriage in 1960 she attended Administrative Officer’s Wives Course in 1962. She also has remained active in the church. At 19 she was the secretary of the HEKAB Women Fellowship and is currently, the president of the Lardi Women Fellowship. She has raised the families 9 children (7 daughters and 2 sons) and celebrated the births of 29 grandchildren.

The festivities of the day started at the English service at the Cathedral which were presided over by Bishop Edward Ishaya, Bishop of the Yola Diocese. We celebrated with a Thanksgiving Offering. John and Christiana came to the pulpit and John told a few stories of their lives and how they had stayed together for 50 years. Then as the offering started they danced down the aisle from the back of the church with their children and grandchildren. They then shook hands as people filed down the aisles to lace their tithes and offerings into the containers at the front of the church.

Later in the afternoon, they held a reception at their house in Jimeta. Dr. Bille was the Chairman and Bishop Edward Ishaya’s wife was the Chairwoman. Retired Archbishop David Windibiziri was a guest speaker as well as Bishop Edward Ishaya. After introducing the head table, visiting dignitaries and honored guests, John and Christiana were introduced and danced their way into reception area in their courtyard shaded by mango trees. After various speeches from friends and officials they cut an anniversary cake (with fireworks) and drink a toast from the same cup. Later we were entertained by a local traditional drum and singing group. As they were singing John and Christiana got up and danced. This become the naira dance as people came up the threw money at them and tried to get it to stick to their foreheads. Usually, in this environment that is not hard. But because of the Harmantan Winds with dust from the Sahara has blocked the sun for three days the temperature was cool.

Guyuk and Retired Archbishop Windibiziri

This weekend has been busier than most. Saturday morning Elisabeth and I drove from the Jimeta LCCN Compound (N09.27996, E12.44847) to Guyuk to visit Retired Archbishop David Windibizri and his wife Margareth at their home (N09.90310, E11.93101). Elisabeth and the Windibiziri’s have been friends since he was a pastor and Elisabeth was a missionary teacher and school principal over 40 years ago. David is writing a book on the history of his tribe, the Longuda. He has been working on it for many years. A few years back he had a fire at his home and all of his papers burned. Fortunately, Elisabeth had most of it typed into her computer. Since the fire David has not done much work on it. Whenever he gets started something else will come up and he will put it down. Elisabeth has invited him to go to Denmark for 3 months to work on the book. She has done research in the Danish archives and found information about Christianity coming to his tribe. In Denmark he will not have as many distractions. Elisabeth says whatever the results are at the end of the three months that is what the book will be.

When we arrived we greeted Margareth outside in the cooking area and then David greeted us. He had just arrived minutes before us from the funeral of his son’s mother-in-law. He wanted us to photograph the compound of a senior member of his tribe that was still decorated with the traditional symbols of respect for a senior on his passing. The compound had a long with ribbon about 4 inches across wrapped around the tops of the structures. The ribbon was made of traditional hand woven material. At the front of the compound they had a grass rope with swatches of grass hanging from it. This indicates that the deceased was a highly respected and senior member of the tribe. If you are only 50 or 60 you would not get this honor. Inside the compound we greeted the family and they showed us the grave. The man was a hunter and his grave was marked with the symbol of a hunter. His grave was beside the hut that had his bow, spears and the tails of the animals he has killed. Part of the burial tradition is three days of drinking a local beer made from guinea corn. The three days had past but neighbors were bringing more beer. (Life is not easy for women in Nigeria. Look at the biceps on this young woman. She does not have a gym membership. But a lot of hard work.)

The other thing that David wanted me to see was the bad water conditions on his side of the town of Guyuk. Normally, towns where a Local Government Authority is based has the best water supply and the area around the main part of town does have a good borehole, water tower and distribution system. It is only turned on a few times per day. Water supplies for towns with a population of over 10,000 are operated by the Adamawa State Water Board. The well that services Davids part of town broke many years back. They brought a cable tool drill rig out to the borehole but it broke.(N09.90014, E011.93134) To get water people either walk to the other part of town that has working water and wait for the operators to turn on the water or they buy it from local water sellers. The price is 15 naira for 25 liters of water. In Jimeta they charge 10 naira for water from a borehole. The Guyuk water vendors walk to a dry streambed about 500 meters from David’s compound. (N09.89826, E11.93109) They have dug holes in the streambed and inserted drums with no bottoms. They scoop water from the hole. Some use a funnel with a clothe filter to take out the big chunks. A few years back David had received some money from Minnesota to drill his own borehole. Unfortunately, he fell victim to poor contractors. They told him that there was water at 70 meters and they would drill to 70 meters. Water is at 150 meters in this area. He got a dry hole and did not have the money to go deeper. He wanted me to see the problems of the water and then see if I could do something. What needs to be done is to have conscience civil servants that will get the borehole fixed and this side of the town will have water.

50 Minutes For Water

On Tuesday evening March 2nd I decided to take a walk in Bali. I went to the borehole and hand pump I saw out by the main road. There was a line for water at 5:46 PM. I decided to join the line and put my empty water bottle at the end of the line. The immediately picked it up and said that people who just want a little do not have to wait. I told them I did not want to break into line and wanted to see how long it took to get water. They laughed and did not understand this crazy white man. Some older youth told me "No, it will be dark before you get water." As I stood there more people came by and tried to get me to go to the front of the line. The kids would explain it to them. They would leave puzzled.

After 25 minutes my bottle had moved to the edge of the waste trough. I young man that had argued with me earlier brought his little bottle to join mine.

At 6:36 PM the last container was full and I filled my bottle and walked back to the Bali Project Compound.

(The bucket that used to be in front of mine was moved forward in the line and combined with another bucket.)

The people had carts and wheel barrows to haul the big containers and multiple containers away. Some put them on their head and walked off.

Fat Man On Little Motorcycle (March 6, 2010)

This me getting on the little Daylong 125cc motorcycle for our trip into the bush and then through mountain trails to Bandguri (N0.8.33031,E011.24217). These are designed for street use but are used to take people into the bush. This would have been a fun ride if I were driving a dirt bike. (And I was 30 pounds lighter). Being on the back I was able to take pictures and GPS readings as we went. When we first started I was holding on. The people around us were laughing and saying "He doesn't know how to ride." They do not hang on. After we got going and I had confidence in the driver, I rode with the camera in one hand and the GPS in the other.




We started at the west end of Garba Chede (N08.445965, E011.112891) and drove through through farm fields headed to the the valley between the mountains ahead. As we went through the farm fields the road turned to path and the trees on the edges got closer. When we reached the hills the fun started. There were uphills on narrow paths and downhill through streams.









An hour later we reached the village. Pastor Bunduku's driver took a short cut he knew in the town and passed us.

March 15th, Several Items

No Playground Equipement

The compound I live on is the playground for the schools and the community. This year there is a large branch from a tree that has fallen. It made a natural tetter-totter

The former church school which was taken over by the former Military Governement is just outside the compound, then the Cathedral has built a primary school on the far side of their compound which is adjacent to this one. Within this compound the Cathedral operates a Pre-school. The other day I was on the back porch and the Pre-school let out for a break. The kids saw me and yelled "Bature" and they rushed me. In about a minute I had 2o to 30 uniformed 4 year olds clinging to me. After a few minutes I escaped to the front of the house and inside where the lady that was sweeping tried to chase them away. They kept returning to the door.

Wash Summary:

It is amazing that the trip is more than 1/2 complete. I have not accomplished what I had hoped. The next two weeks we hope to visit the 6 Bishops and the Arch Bishop to see how committed they are to the WASH Program. We need to see some action in both people working of organizing and funds being allocated to the project. I need to get the schedule of when the Diocese are having there conventions and try to talk to pastors. I suspect that the problem is that most will have the conventions when I am back in Minnesota in April.

The Peacemaker Has Died

His Royal Higness Chief Aliyu Mustopha, Chief to the Adamawa Kingdom, Lamido Fombina (Chief of the South) died after a short illness at the age of 88 On Saturday evening. He has been the Lamido Fombina for 57 years and has kept peace in the Adamawa Kingdom. During those years he has maintained peace between the tribes and religions in the area. He is a Muslim that has Christians in his family. The Yola Airport has been jammed with private flights coming to pay respects to the Chief of all class A chiefs. The televison and radio has been giving a play by play (I do not have either so I did not know anything until today.) We had power almost all day Sunday and for 4 hours on Monday. When we heard that all the important people in Nigeria are coming to town that explains the power.

Fruit

Here is another picture of the fruit. Girls were selling it on the side of the road near Garba Chede. We were trying to find motorcycle drivers to take us into the mountains to Bandaguri to meet with the Aikaku from that area. The nut of the tree grows outside of the fruit. The fruit at the nut end is edible. But the other end is very acidic. I think the nut end is pretty acidic. To make the nut edible you remove it from the fruit and roast it. The shell opens and the nut is revealed. It is one of my favorite nuts.

What is this fruit.

They served this fruit to me when I arrived in Bali. I have never seen or tasted it before. It was bitter but had a lot of moisture. It turns out that I am very familiar with the products from this tree. We just do not eat the fruit in America.

I am back in Jimeta.

It has been over a week and a half since I updated Facebook or my blog. From Wednesday through Sunday of the last week of February I was attending the National Convention of the LCCN at the Demsa Convention Grounds about 40 minutes out of Jimeta. Elisabeth drove me there each morning except Saturday and we got back late and too tired to walk to the internet cafe. On Monday, March 1st I headed to Taraba State and the Bali Mission Field with Pastor Bunduku. From Tuesday until today I have traveling around the Bali area visiting the villages where Nigerian missionaries are living and converting people from traditional religions.

The Bali Mission Project is a companionship project between the Jimeta Cathedral and Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church in Excelsior, Minnesota. Since missions started in the Bali area the Aikaku (plural form of missionary in Hausa, Single is Aikake) have established approximately 200 churches in Taraba State. I have taken almost 400 digital pictures and movies during my visit to Bali. It will take a few evenings with power to sort through, reduce the size (the upload speed at the internet café is very slow) and post some on my blog and face book. This is a photo of Pastor Bunduku and me at Bandaguri. This is one of the more remote an hard to get to places. We took the short way by motorcyle. Just over one hour through stream, narrow paths, through several valleys and up steep hills. It was a rough hour each way on the back of a 125 cc Daylong motorcycle. I took a lot of short videos as we bounced up and down the hills. On Saturday after three straight days on motorcyles I had a red half moon on my forehead from wearing the hat backwards. My arms and back of neck looked like medium rare steak. During the visit I was able to meet 20 of the 24 Aikaku many of their wives and children.

I will be writing separate blogs on the Convention and my 8 days in the Bali Mission Field. Tonight at the Internet café I will be trying to catch-up on emails. Tomorrow, I will start on the administrative tasks of helping the LCCN organize a sustainable Water and Sanitation/Hygiene (WASH) Program.

Water Work:

Oh! Yeah that is what I came here for, other than to increase the temperature by 70 degrees. This is the hottest time of the year. The inside temperature was 100 on Saturday. No breeze.

I am here to help the LCCN restart its water program. The Danish mission ran a water program here for many years. Mostly, hand digging wells. The missionary that was running the program left and his Nigerian assistant operated it for a year or so and then left. My objective is to help them start and operate their own program. In 2008 I spent 8 weeks visiting over 100 sites and talking to many pastors, chiefs, village elders, women who actually do the work of getting the water, all seven bishops and government officials. Last year I spent ten weeks here “helping” them develop a vision of what the program could be. I put helping in quotes because what I ended up writing I think is more my vision of a self sustaining program. I included organizational charts with multiple ways of organizing. During the 2008 visits I noticed that many of the boreholes (here a well that is drilled is called a borehole) were no longer operating. Most stopped working within a year or two of being drilled. The first phase on my proposed plan is organize, train and equip borehole mechanics that have the tools and knowledge to fix the many broken boreholes. I was in one village in 2008. They had three non-functioning boreholes. They walked just over 1 kilometer to a spring during the dry season. During the rainy season they go to the stream that is only 500 meters away.

At last November’s church-wide business meeting they approved a program What that program is nobody seems to know. By email I have been asking what is the program and how can I help them. But the response has been that I should come so they can continue the work. Eventually, I decided that I should come and see what is happening. One of my biggest recommendation was to hire a manager for the program. One encouraging thing is that they have taken my version of teaching a man to fish. For the few projects they are doing, they are telling the people in the village, “We will help you get a hook and line, and we will teach you how to fish. We will help you market your fish but we will not fish for you. You have to fish for yourself.” Too often people will teach someone to fish but not make sure he has a hook and line or has a fishing license or has a concept on how to market the fish. UNICEF trained people in villages to fix pumps. But they never developed a plan to get the special tools or spare parts needed to do the work. If the pump was installed by the government they people will not work on it because they are afraid. The tool kits cost more than most rural families earn in a year or two. Parts are relatively cheap but are only available in Yola. It is a full day drive round trip to Yola from many areas. The part may be 500 naira but the travel cost can be more. Permission is not the problem most people think the Water Manager for Adamawa State Water, Environmental and Sanitation told us last year he will give us a letter of authority to fix any rural public pump.

So that is the background. I am here to work on the water program. But this week is the National Convention, several thousand people will be living at the Demsa Convention Grounds from Wednesday until Sunday. Elisabeth and I will drive in every day except Saturday. Yakubu will pick me up Saturday. Saturday is the day the different Diocese compete against each other to raise funds for the church. Most Diocese work hard to raise lots of funds. It is like a huge carnival. I am afraid as a Baturi I will be the target of the fund raising. They assume all Baturis are rich. I think that is why Elisabeth does not go on Saturday. On Sunday they will be ordaining new pastors including a Danish women that is teaching at the Seminary. Also the Bishop for the new Abuja Diocese will be consecrated.

On Monday I will go to the Bali region of Taraba State where the Jimeta Cathedral in companionship with Mount Calvary Lutheran in Excelsior, Minnesota have 18 Nigerian missionaries. Pastor Bunduku will be taking me on public transport. I will stay a week and then Elisabeth has been asked to visit. She will come at the end of the week and we will return on Monday. Then I start the water work.

Saturday 02-20-10 thru Tuesday 10-24-10

After breakfast Saturday morning at the Adip Hotel Yukubu picked me up and we went to the Lutheran Church of Christ (LCCN) compound in Jimeta adjacent to the Jimeta Cathedral. This is where I stayed last year in Elisabeth’s Mission house. Yakubu Bulama, the LCCN Projects Coordinator and my main contact has his office in her living room. Elisabeth retired in 2004 and returned to Denmark after over 30 years in Nigeria. She comes back each year working on writing a history of the church and trying put together an updated photo album of all the pastors. She will be chasing them down at the National Convention. I think she is working just as hard in retirement as when she lived here.

She is living in her house now so they have cleaned the other Mission house for me. No one has lived here for two years. We looked at it last year and decided it would not be worth the effort to clean up.

Two women have been working for two days. It is built of mud bricks covered in concrete. The foundation or walls have settled in a few places making cracks at most of the doors. Much of the concrete has fallen off the mud. The women continued to clean after I arrived. Moving dirt from one place to another. The little boy who last year screamed and ran away from me just stared on Saturday. He is about two and rarely wears clothes. Today we played soccer on Elisabeth’s front porch for about a half hour with two of his older sister. He had a small rubber soccer ball. At first he would barely push it towards me. After a few minutes he kicking it pretty hard for as tiny as he is. He has the cough and runny nose you see with many of the kids here. Burning trash and more Chinese motorcyles bilging blue smoke than mosquitos make the air hard on young and old lungs.

We had a carpenter work on fixing window screens and an electrician reconnected the house to the power grid. Jimeta had power for two hours on last Tuesday and two hours on Sunday night. We had the electrician install a manual generator switch over. I am hoping that I can convince Bishop Edward to connect the house to the big generator at the Jimeta Cathedral. They only need to run about a hundred feet for wire from the well house. It would be a lot cheaper than buying a small generator. Something is going on at the Cathedral almost every night so you get a couple hours. That will be enough to cool down the large bottles of water in the freezer. I am told that this house is connected to the churches borehole and water supply. Unfortunately, the pump is not functional. I have two 60 liter barrels and buy water from a street vendors (100 naira $0.67 for 120 liters). I buy bottled water to drink 750 naira $5) for 12 1.5 liter bottles.

The refrigerator works when we have power and the gas stove may be able to be repaired. I bought a pot and 2 plastic place settings. At the “New Ultra Modern Market”. Since my first visit in 2006 the market has been under construction. I have never seen anyone actually working there. Every year a different contractor has been paid to compete it and has stolen the money. I was surprised when I went inside. It looks like it has been in use for years. The storm water grates are so weak that most are busted from cars driving over them.Now on Tuesday it has started in the afternoon we had three hours. Elisabeth said this is the most for a long time. I told her they knew I was in town and added power for me.

Elisabeth just stopped over. Her car has a flat tire. Since power came on at 3 PM we are going to take advantage of power until 5 pm then take her tire off and get it repaired. I told her I was on my way over to see her when the power came on. Since she is always around and power is rarely around I decided to recharge the batteries in my computer and write this blog while seating under the ceiling fan.

I have designed a solar cooker. Unfortunately, I probably won’t have the time to build it for 2 weeks. The rest of this week is the Annual National Convention and next week I will be in the bush visiting the Bali region in neighboring Taraba State. Last year my simple box cooker made of cardboard and aluminum foil cooked rice in 2 hours. This year I am going to try an octagonal sort of parabolic cooker made of cardboard and aluminum foil.

I will be sending this blog from the City Wide internet café. It is about a kilometer from the house. Last night I hope on a motorcycle drive for 50 naira $0.33). Hospital road is full of potholes. One of the worst in Jimeta. He as he hit pot holes his light would go out. He would reach up and hit it until it started again. He was the fastest driver I have ridden with. I do not take these rides often. The streets swarm with them. Chinese 125cc motorcycles leaving a plume of blue smoke behind. The Governor of Taraba State outlawed them in his capital Jalingo. They moved here.

Thursday 2/19/10

Thursday, 2/19/10 – I got up and ordered breakfast of oatmeal and hot tea. This is one of my staple breakfasts when in Nigeria, everything is boiled. Pastor Hosanna picked me up a little after 9 AM and we headed to the airport and exchanged more dollars so we could pay for the parts. (I still had not found the error). We drove after rush hour traffic it only took about 25 minutes to get to Unipump.

While we were waiting for them to gather the parts we took a tour of the factory. They have the capability to manufacture and galvanize the pump heads, handles, tank and base. The rest of the pump parts are imported from their factories in India. We picked up the parts and drove through downtown Lagos to the area where the buses accumulate another 20 minute drive. We got to within 2 blocks of the location and the road was badly potholed and flooded. We watched a truck drive through the water and decided we could not get his old springless Toyota through. We took an alternate route and bottomed out his car but got through. We found the bus that was heading to Yola and showed the driver what we had to ship. He said 12,000 naira and Pastor Hosanna said he was crazy and that he rides this bus many times every year and offered 5,000N. They argued at a 6 to 10 spread. Pastor told me to him 7,000 and to get in the car. The driver refused, finally we settled at 8,000. He probably could have negotiated better if a white man had not been there. I took a picture of the tools laying in front of the bus. Later that evening I emailed them to Yakubu in Yola. (Mercedes manufacturers buses in Nigeria for the West African Market.

We headed back to the guest house via the longest bridge in Nigeria. By now it was 3PM so we stopped at Real Meal Deals for chicken and noodles lunch/dinner. Tomorrow we will fly to Yola on Arik Airlines. They have a lower weight limit on luggage so I repacked all the heavy stuff into my carry-on bag. My big bag is now close to 40 lbs and so is my carry-on.

I decided to update my spreadsheet with the actual quantities of tools and parts and put in the 5% discount. I got a price of 201,742N. I called Engr. Hygi and he was away from his computer so I texted him my email address so he could send me his spreadsheet. Later he texted me that he found his mistake. I decided to proceed to Yola and talk to the State rural water manager on Monday to see if they are using R1’s on their projects. I am having Engr. Hygi send me prices for the R1 repair parts. I will figure and order for another 90,000 Naira of parts and tools and have them ship it to me in Yola. The rest can be refunded to me via a bank transfer. This way I will not have to dip into my reserve cash quite as soon.

Wednesday Evening 2/18/10

Wednesday Evening 2/18/10 - One day in Lagos and I have burned through almost a half million Naira. I flew from Minneapolis to Atlanta to Lagos. As I waited for Pastor Hossana Yohanna, the Lagos District Pastor to pick me up at the Lagos international airport, I exchanged $100 at 148 Naira to the dollar and then purchased a SIM card and recharge card for my phone. When Pastor Hossana arrived we went to the domestic airport and exchanged more cash at 150N per dollar. I am staying at the Archbishop Vining Memorial Church Cathedral, Vining Guest House. It is near the airport and near to the Lagos Church. They have nice rooms on the top floor of their conference building. Carrying a 50 pound bag up four flights of stairs is tough. Lagos is warm (90’s) and humid. Their rates are very good at 5,500N ($36.33) per night for a large clean room with hot water and an air conditioner that gets the room down into the 80’s. I get 3G on my modem but at 0.15N per kilobyte it is more expensive than the Yola Internet Café. Even with 3G the network was too busy I was able to read and send email but could not connect to facebook or to my blog.


After checking in at the guesthouse we called Unipump to arrange for tomorrow’s visit. Unipump is the only pump manufacturer in Nigeria that I have been able to contact. They are owned by a manufacturer from India and all the senior staff are from India. Since, they were still working we drove 40 minutes to the factory and reviewed prices. I am not a great negotiator, I talked them into a 5% discount off the prices they had emailed me. When Engr. Hygi was entering the discount into his computer he made an error in the equation and it increased the prices. I wanted to spend around 300,000 Naira ($2000) for tool and parts to repair pumps. I had thought I could buy 3 full tool kits and parts to repair 50 pumps. When we put that into the spreadsheet it came to over 500,000N. My sleep deprived brain did not find the error. I did ask him if he was sure and I looked at the spreadsheet. We ended up purchasing 2 tool kits and enough parts for 25 pump repairs at 403,484N. We arranged to come back the next day at pick up the parts.

Engr. Hygi asked us why we were buying parts for the India Mark II and told us that the Nigerian Water Supply Authority and UNICEF has specified that the RUWASU 1 (R1)or RUWASU 2 (R2) should be used in Nigeria. The R1 is basically an India Mark III and the R2 is basically the AFRIDEV pump. They have been modified with PVC riser pipe, stainless steel couplings and a PVC cylinder with brass liner. The main difference is that a local villager can be trained to repair the R1 or R2 pumps with simple tools. The Mark II requires a specially trained mechanic with special tools and two helpers. I agreed with him that the R1 & R2 are better fro rural villages but that only the India Mark II was available on the open market in Adamawa State and therefore we have assumed than most broken pumps were India Mark II’s. Above the ground you cannot tell the Mark II from the RUWASU 1 without lifting off the head and tank. Also, since the RUWASU 1 is more expensive than the Mark II we assumed that the contractors were charging the government for R1’s and installing Mark II’s.

On the way back to the guest house we stopped for fast food. Chicken and rice with a salad at Real Meal Deals near the guest house.

Plan? Who needs a plan?

I will soon be headed back to Nigeria. This year I am doing things different. I am flying into Lagos. I will arrive on Wednesday and be hosted by a pastor. On Thursday I hope to visit the Unipump manufacturing plant and purchase some tool kits and spare parts. When the next cross country bus leaves for Yola I will take my purchases and pay for the bus to carry them to Yola. Two nights later I will arrive in Yola. Yakubu will meet me in Yola and is working on finding me a place to stay. The next week the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria will hold its National Convention at the Demsa Convention Ground. I will be among thousands of people sleeping outside during the 5 day event. I have no clue as to what to expect. After the convention I hope to travel to the Bali, Nigeria area and meet some of the 25 Nigerian missionaries serving in this remote region. The following week, we hope to continue organizing the Water and Sanitation/Hygiene program I have been working on last year and approved at the November Church business meeting. While doing the organizing we hope to also start some pump repair worker training and work on a few projects. Even before I have left it looks like I may have to extend my trip past Easter. I will return in time to file my taxes on April 15th.

Some people have asked a few questions about my trip. The short answer is: "I do not know. I will find out when I get there." Where will I stay in Lagos and Yola? See previous answer.(SPA) How long will you be in Lagos? SPA Who is going to meet your in Lagos? SPA What are the buses like? SPA Will the pump parts and tools be cheaper in Lagos than in Yola? I hope so. Some tools are not available in Yola. What will my role be at the National Convention? I invited myself, so I guess my role is what they will let me do. I want to learn about what happens at the convention so that next year we can use the convention to promote water, sanitation, and community health, solar cooking, using recycled paper for cooking fuel and other economic development ideas. I want to video the consecration of the new bishop for the new Abuja Diocese. My good friend Pastor Benjamin Fuduta.

When I get internet access I will update you.