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 compou
nd. 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 publish
ed 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-eye
d 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 u
nderstand 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.
This morning was a cool morning with cloud cover. I decided to take a walk out the back (north) of the compou
nd. 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 publish
ed 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-eye
d 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 u
nderstand 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."
Fa
rah (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.
Fa
rah (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.
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