I don't have any new pictures to show today, but I just want to write about a few experiences I have had recently.
The first actually happened a few weeks back, but since I have not yet written it, I thought it would be good to do so. Here in Nigeria potable water is one of the major focuses of everyday life. That statement may seem pretty obvious; of course drinkable water is something we all need to have. The interesting thing in Nigeria is what people have to go through to get it. Due to the generally poor infrastructure available in Lagos, water is not something that people here can take for granted. Drinking water is purchased at every level of Nigerian society. One of the most common delivery methods you is 1 liter plastic pouches of water. These are just a sealed plastic bag filled with drinkable water, and the standard cost for a bag is 5 Naira about 4 cents, but when you consider that people on the street tend to live on less than a dollar a day this is a fairly significant cost. I will try to get me driver to buy a couple of these so I can take a picture later. There is no spout on the bag, you just chew of a corner and drink.
Since clean water is such a problem, people will do some interesting things to provide water for their needs. Many companies have their own water treatment facilities, in this environment it is a necessity. If a facility does not have the room for the treatment equipment, they can have water delivered. One of the companies here that has several locations has a main water treatment facility and they truck water to their other offices. They use tanker trucks for this purpose, and since they are just hauling water, most of them don't worry too much about leaks. One day several weeks ago I saw a young boy who could not have been more than 6 years old, crawling under one of these tankers to fill up a bucket of water from the leaking tank. I found this to be a very hard thing to digest. Just to watch what people here have to do to get the basics is pretty staggering.
I had another incident this week that fit into this same category and I honestly found myself choking back tears. There is a bridge that I pass under everyday on my way to work and on my way home; there are always people who live under or near the bridge begging from the cars that pass. Normally you just look away (I know this sounds heartless, but it is necessary) but sometimes you see things that are very difficult to ignore. While we were stuck in traffic near the bridge a young girl, no older than 10, with a baby strapped to her back was begging at my window. It was raining and I was doing my best to focus my attention elsewhere. As she walked away she swiped her hand down the hood of my car and then drank the water from her hand. This was one of the hardest moments that I have had related to beggars since I came to Lagos. The hardest moment is a story I will save for another time. When I see what people here, especially children, have to go through just to get through a day it is very eye opening. This is life in a developing country.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Bachelor Chow
Okay, this post is specifically for my wife and my mother. I want you both to know that even when I am left alone, I’m still eating well and I’ve only gone to restaurants a few times. Tonight I made meatballs! Yes Josie, that means I had to stick my hands in the ground beef to do it! (I have a minor issue when it comes to ground beef, don't know what it is, I can deal with other meat with no problem but ground beef just gets to me)
I looked at the recipe in the cookbook, but then I made it up myself! I didn’t measure anything and put whatever I thought would taste good in them that should make my dad proud! The only thing that I did by the recipe was the actual cooking time and temperature. Then I cooked up some rice and a sauce that I also made up on the fly. Here is the final result!
It turned out pretty well too! I think it will taste even better tomorrow as left-overs!
I looked at the recipe in the cookbook, but then I made it up myself! I didn’t measure anything and put whatever I thought would taste good in them that should make my dad proud! The only thing that I did by the recipe was the actual cooking time and temperature. Then I cooked up some rice and a sauce that I also made up on the fly. Here is the final result!
It turned out pretty well too! I think it will taste even better tomorrow as left-overs!
Saturday, July 21, 2007
New Purchase
I went to Lekki market this morning with my boss and his wife. They wanted to go today because they are leaving Lagos this coming Friday, so they were shopping for various items to take with them. They invited me and since my social schedule just happened to have an opening I decided I would go along.
First let me just describe the experience: Lekki market is an open air market, basically what we would call a flea market back in the US. Driving to Lekki market you go over some pretty awful roads, today the road was a huge muddy mess! As you get close to the market boys of all ages will start running next to your car. They do this because they want you to choose them as your "porter" while you are at the market. It is common practice to choose one of these boys right after getting out of your car, if you don't choose one a whole group will follow you around until you do. So when you get out of your car there are usually anywhere from 15 to 30 boys all yelling out their names "You remember me, I'm your fist boy, choose (Insert name here)" and various other phrases to get your attention. When Josie and I go we usually use Simon and most of the boys know this, but Simon is not always around early when Josie and I go. So we will always have someone offer to go get him for us, just so they can come back and tell us he is not around in the hope we will use them instead. This is a normal game. Today Simon was not around so I chose one of the boys that was keeping his distance and was not swarming around me, his name was David.
After you get through the "porter selection process" it is time to move on into the market. The market has everything from foodstuffs to Ivory, paintings, carvings, bronze, and jewelry. You can find many things, but for me the hard part is finding the things that are unique. Many of the stalls sell very similar things and you can see the same "different" or "one of a kind" item several times along the way.
Today I happened across a couple of the more unique items, I passed up one of them because I was not sure if Josie would like it, but the other was a very nicely made box, and I was very impressed by it.
Segun is the name of the person who made this, and I looked at pictures of some of his other work, it was very nice. We have several items made by a different artist and we like them, but I have also promised Segun that I would check back with him as well.
I just really felt that the box had a very good level of detail, and it was a style I have not seen a lot of here. Most of the carvings here are people and animals, and I thought the very simple flower motif was very nice.
It has very clean lines and seems to be constructed very well. Segun also had some pictures of things that were a lot less ornamental that the items we have typically bought from our other artist. I think Josie would really like some of his things, and I promised I would bring Josie back when she returned so she could see his pictures.
It was not very expensive, so I did not even worry too much about bargaining much on the price. I am willing to pay a little more when I feel that the work is good quality.
This was the only item I purchased today, much to the disappointment of many shopkeepers who are all evidently "My friend". I have one rule when I go to various markets like this in Lagos, anyone who grabs me automatically loses my business. People will walk over and grab your arm and lead you to their shop. Since this was my only purchase my "porter" had it pretty easy, but he was willing to go get me a cold drink or a beer anytime I wanted. The rest of the time I just walked around, I found some things that I like, but I'm going to wait until Josie gets back. If I buy something she doesn't like it will just end up in a closet! She has already explained to me that I arranged some of the furniture incorrectly in the pictures I posted a few days ago. Anyway, just wanted to share some of my day today and now I think I'll head to the squash court for some more punishment.
First let me just describe the experience: Lekki market is an open air market, basically what we would call a flea market back in the US. Driving to Lekki market you go over some pretty awful roads, today the road was a huge muddy mess! As you get close to the market boys of all ages will start running next to your car. They do this because they want you to choose them as your "porter" while you are at the market. It is common practice to choose one of these boys right after getting out of your car, if you don't choose one a whole group will follow you around until you do. So when you get out of your car there are usually anywhere from 15 to 30 boys all yelling out their names "You remember me, I'm your fist boy, choose (Insert name here)" and various other phrases to get your attention. When Josie and I go we usually use Simon and most of the boys know this, but Simon is not always around early when Josie and I go. So we will always have someone offer to go get him for us, just so they can come back and tell us he is not around in the hope we will use them instead. This is a normal game. Today Simon was not around so I chose one of the boys that was keeping his distance and was not swarming around me, his name was David.
After you get through the "porter selection process" it is time to move on into the market. The market has everything from foodstuffs to Ivory, paintings, carvings, bronze, and jewelry. You can find many things, but for me the hard part is finding the things that are unique. Many of the stalls sell very similar things and you can see the same "different" or "one of a kind" item several times along the way.
Today I happened across a couple of the more unique items, I passed up one of them because I was not sure if Josie would like it, but the other was a very nicely made box, and I was very impressed by it.
Segun is the name of the person who made this, and I looked at pictures of some of his other work, it was very nice. We have several items made by a different artist and we like them, but I have also promised Segun that I would check back with him as well.
I just really felt that the box had a very good level of detail, and it was a style I have not seen a lot of here. Most of the carvings here are people and animals, and I thought the very simple flower motif was very nice.
It has very clean lines and seems to be constructed very well. Segun also had some pictures of things that were a lot less ornamental that the items we have typically bought from our other artist. I think Josie would really like some of his things, and I promised I would bring Josie back when she returned so she could see his pictures.
It was not very expensive, so I did not even worry too much about bargaining much on the price. I am willing to pay a little more when I feel that the work is good quality.
This was the only item I purchased today, much to the disappointment of many shopkeepers who are all evidently "My friend". I have one rule when I go to various markets like this in Lagos, anyone who grabs me automatically loses my business. People will walk over and grab your arm and lead you to their shop. Since this was my only purchase my "porter" had it pretty easy, but he was willing to go get me a cold drink or a beer anytime I wanted. The rest of the time I just walked around, I found some things that I like, but I'm going to wait until Josie gets back. If I buy something she doesn't like it will just end up in a closet! She has already explained to me that I arranged some of the furniture incorrectly in the pictures I posted a few days ago. Anyway, just wanted to share some of my day today and now I think I'll head to the squash court for some more punishment.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
The New Flat
Although I don't have a permanent internet link installed yet in the new flat (I'm using a wireless broadband router that one of the guys at the office had) I wanted to give everyone a chance to see the new flat. This includes Josie; she went on vacation a few days before I moved over here.
This is the living room with all the furniture that Josie picked out. The facilities folks here made Josie's list the standard, so I think most of the flats got the same (or close to the same) items.
Here is the sitting room, and I just realized from looking at the picture that the painting is crooked.
Next is the dining room
Here is a shot across the sitting room. You can see the chests that we had made here.
And to go with the chests here is a picture of the entertainment cabinet made by the same person we had build the chests. The company contracted him to make 5 of these.
Lastly, just a couple pictures from the balcony. This is the view out to the east.
And the pool
This is the living room with all the furniture that Josie picked out. The facilities folks here made Josie's list the standard, so I think most of the flats got the same (or close to the same) items.
Here is the sitting room, and I just realized from looking at the picture that the painting is crooked.
Next is the dining room
Here is a shot across the sitting room. You can see the chests that we had made here.
And to go with the chests here is a picture of the entertainment cabinet made by the same person we had build the chests. The company contracted him to make 5 of these.
Lastly, just a couple pictures from the balcony. This is the view out to the east.
And the pool
Sorry for the delay
Alright, first I have to apologize, I moved into the new flat two weeks ago and as of yet still don't have Internet access at home so I haven't posted much this month. With Josie gone on vacation things have been relatively slow here. I am learning to play squash and have tried out our pool at the new complex (which is very nice). I walk down to the office every evening and call Josie to check on her, other than that there is not a lot going on. I am waiting to get my new little camera that Josie will be bringing back with her in two weeks so that I can take more pictures. I want to start showing everyone how the "go slow store" works.
In the meantime our Steward is taking good care of me, making sure my laundry is done and ironed so I don't walk out of the house looking like a slob. She had a bit of a crisis one day and called me, she wanted to change the sheets on the bed but I had not bought an iron! Now this may make sense to some, but it took me a minute, I laughed when I realized that Grace would not put sheets on the bed unless she had ironed them first.
Anyway I just wanted to give you all an update. Hopefully the Internet will be working at the flat this week, then I will take some pictures around the flat so everyone, including Josie, can see the new place.
In the meantime our Steward is taking good care of me, making sure my laundry is done and ironed so I don't walk out of the house looking like a slob. She had a bit of a crisis one day and called me, she wanted to change the sheets on the bed but I had not bought an iron! Now this may make sense to some, but it took me a minute, I laughed when I realized that Grace would not put sheets on the bed unless she had ironed them first.
Anyway I just wanted to give you all an update. Hopefully the Internet will be working at the flat this week, then I will take some pictures around the flat so everyone, including Josie, can see the new place.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Church Adventure
A couple of weeks ago I sent an email out to my family documenting a very exciting Sunday at church. I now have pictures to go with the story, and so I will repeat the story this time with visual aids!
The building we go to church in here is actually just an old house and so we make the best of the spaces available. Three weeks ago when I ended my class I came out of the room to find two men trying to open the door to the Primary (children 11 and under) classroom. One of the men was holding the door handle in his hand; it had broken off when they tried to open the door. This particular door is a security door and as you can see from the picture, it is about three inches thick.
It is also important to note that there is not another exit from this particular room. It is on the second floor so you can’t just crawl out a window either. After seeing the situation I realized that there were about 20-25 young children and several adult women trapped in this room. I quickly joined in the efforts to open the door. The door was not locked, but the handle would not turn, and since this is a security door the mechanism is all enclosed. After working on the outside of the door for a while I decided to see if there was any way to get into the room from the outside. I went downstairs and walked around the building looking for a way to get up to the second floor.
This was my only option:
The ladder you see in the picture was not there at the time, and even if it was it would only get me about halfway to the balcony. Instead I climbed up the fence! From there I was just able to grab the bottom ledge of the balcony; from there I swung a leg up and was able to climb onto the balcony.
I went into the Primary Room to find Chinedu (one of the councilors in the Bishopric) working on the door while the Primary teachers were keeping the children occupied. I have to give the Nigerian children a great deal of credit, they were not crying or panicking, in fact they all seemed to be having a pretty good time. We worked on the door for a while from the inside, we unscrewed the handle and tried to get into the mechanism, but as I said before this is all enclosed. We found out that the latch would not retract into the door, and you could not get to it to force it to move; it was completely seized. I started to look for other options; I thought about taking out the hinge pins.
Nope that won’t work!
You may not be able to tell this from the picture, but the hinges are like the ones on my gun-safe, they are not coming off! After a while of working on the door more men started coming in from the balcony; I went outside to discover that they had found a ladder (also not the one in the earlier picture) that would reach high enough for an adult to get to the balcony. After seeing that we were having no success with the door; we decided to start sending the children down the ladder. We formed a sort of “bucket brigade” and passed the children from one adult to another off the balcony and down the ladder. The kids loved this part! Once all the kids were down that left us with a new problem, we had several adult women stuck up there, and one of them was 8 months pregnant!
At this point one of the men working on the inside of the door suggested that we should just break the door down. Knowing how big this door was this seemed to be a formidable task, but the kid in me decided it sounded like fun!!! (Sound about right Mom?) I climbed down the ladder and went back into the building and up the stairs (Josie had been standing outside the door the whole time, she missed all the fun while we evacuated the children down the ladder) I think Josie was pretty worried when she realized I was going to try to kick the door in. After about 4 or 5 kicks I started to be a little concerned as well, the door had not moved a millimeter! I backed up and gave it one more good kick and it flew open, it was hilarious (and I must admit I was a bit relieved) everyone around started cheering and laughing. I think I made quite an impression on the people that Sunday!
Anyway, that is my funny Sunday story, hope you enjoyed it!
The building we go to church in here is actually just an old house and so we make the best of the spaces available. Three weeks ago when I ended my class I came out of the room to find two men trying to open the door to the Primary (children 11 and under) classroom. One of the men was holding the door handle in his hand; it had broken off when they tried to open the door. This particular door is a security door and as you can see from the picture, it is about three inches thick.
It is also important to note that there is not another exit from this particular room. It is on the second floor so you can’t just crawl out a window either. After seeing the situation I realized that there were about 20-25 young children and several adult women trapped in this room. I quickly joined in the efforts to open the door. The door was not locked, but the handle would not turn, and since this is a security door the mechanism is all enclosed. After working on the outside of the door for a while I decided to see if there was any way to get into the room from the outside. I went downstairs and walked around the building looking for a way to get up to the second floor.
This was my only option:
The ladder you see in the picture was not there at the time, and even if it was it would only get me about halfway to the balcony. Instead I climbed up the fence! From there I was just able to grab the bottom ledge of the balcony; from there I swung a leg up and was able to climb onto the balcony.
I went into the Primary Room to find Chinedu (one of the councilors in the Bishopric) working on the door while the Primary teachers were keeping the children occupied. I have to give the Nigerian children a great deal of credit, they were not crying or panicking, in fact they all seemed to be having a pretty good time. We worked on the door for a while from the inside, we unscrewed the handle and tried to get into the mechanism, but as I said before this is all enclosed. We found out that the latch would not retract into the door, and you could not get to it to force it to move; it was completely seized. I started to look for other options; I thought about taking out the hinge pins.
Nope that won’t work!
You may not be able to tell this from the picture, but the hinges are like the ones on my gun-safe, they are not coming off! After a while of working on the door more men started coming in from the balcony; I went outside to discover that they had found a ladder (also not the one in the earlier picture) that would reach high enough for an adult to get to the balcony. After seeing that we were having no success with the door; we decided to start sending the children down the ladder. We formed a sort of “bucket brigade” and passed the children from one adult to another off the balcony and down the ladder. The kids loved this part! Once all the kids were down that left us with a new problem, we had several adult women stuck up there, and one of them was 8 months pregnant!
At this point one of the men working on the inside of the door suggested that we should just break the door down. Knowing how big this door was this seemed to be a formidable task, but the kid in me decided it sounded like fun!!! (Sound about right Mom?) I climbed down the ladder and went back into the building and up the stairs (Josie had been standing outside the door the whole time, she missed all the fun while we evacuated the children down the ladder) I think Josie was pretty worried when she realized I was going to try to kick the door in. After about 4 or 5 kicks I started to be a little concerned as well, the door had not moved a millimeter! I backed up and gave it one more good kick and it flew open, it was hilarious (and I must admit I was a bit relieved) everyone around started cheering and laughing. I think I made quite an impression on the people that Sunday!
Anyway, that is my funny Sunday story, hope you enjoyed it!
Thursday, July 5, 2007
I feel I have been bested
After a comparison of Josie’s pictures of Oklahoma I feel I have been outdone. Well rainy season isn’t over in Nigeria, and it won’t be for several months, so I thought I would share some more pictures.
The building we go to church in is on a road that is very susceptible to flooding. Even when it is dry the potholes are so deep that you can easily scrape the bottom of your car as you drive into them. When it rains these convert from potholes to pond-holes!
To get to church on Sunday I had to request one of the Land Rovers that we have for trips to and from the airport, not one of the armored ones, but the ones the police ride in while they provide our escort. I had gone to the church for an activity on Saturday and we barely made it down the road, so Sunday I took no chances. I’m not sure exactly what had happened to this car, but it was clear it was not going anywhere!
Here is a good view down one of the side roads into a housing area. People here are pretty used to this, they just fold up their pants or hitch up their skirt and wade right through.
It was actually very beneficial to have the Land Rover, especially since it rained quite a bit while we were in the church. Even if we had taken the car and actually made it to the church, getting out would have been another story.
This bus had bottomed out on the edge of one of the pond-holes. I felt cruel for snapping this picture and not helping the guy, but I would be scared to wade in this water, I’m sure the locals have some natural immunities and tolerances that I don’t posses. I would only go into this water if I had a pair of hip waders on, which wouldn’t be a bad thing to have here this time of year!
A lot of the areas around the church are prone to flooding. Here is a picture I snapped on the way back to the flat, as you can see the rain causes some serious issues here.
Now before I close this out I want to show you some pictures of the grassy field that is across from the church……
You can see the field can’t you?!?
It looks like our property value should have gone up, we now have church on Lakefront property!
The building we go to church in is on a road that is very susceptible to flooding. Even when it is dry the potholes are so deep that you can easily scrape the bottom of your car as you drive into them. When it rains these convert from potholes to pond-holes!
To get to church on Sunday I had to request one of the Land Rovers that we have for trips to and from the airport, not one of the armored ones, but the ones the police ride in while they provide our escort. I had gone to the church for an activity on Saturday and we barely made it down the road, so Sunday I took no chances. I’m not sure exactly what had happened to this car, but it was clear it was not going anywhere!
Here is a good view down one of the side roads into a housing area. People here are pretty used to this, they just fold up their pants or hitch up their skirt and wade right through.
It was actually very beneficial to have the Land Rover, especially since it rained quite a bit while we were in the church. Even if we had taken the car and actually made it to the church, getting out would have been another story.
This bus had bottomed out on the edge of one of the pond-holes. I felt cruel for snapping this picture and not helping the guy, but I would be scared to wade in this water, I’m sure the locals have some natural immunities and tolerances that I don’t posses. I would only go into this water if I had a pair of hip waders on, which wouldn’t be a bad thing to have here this time of year!
A lot of the areas around the church are prone to flooding. Here is a picture I snapped on the way back to the flat, as you can see the rain causes some serious issues here.
Now before I close this out I want to show you some pictures of the grassy field that is across from the church……
You can see the field can’t you?!?
It looks like our property value should have gone up, we now have church on Lakefront property!
Sunday, July 1, 2007
The Nature of Okada
Okay in the last two days I have learned something about okada. As I have mentioned before okada are motorcycle taxis. They move around Lagos like swarms of bees. If you run afoul of an okada driver you had best beware, where you see one, there are five others right around the corner just out of sight. They weave through traffic ignoring both law and common sense. They are also the quickest way to get around if there is traffic.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to ride not one, but three different okada, and I learned some interesting things in the process. Until yesterday I viewed okada just like we would view a taxi in the USA or in the UK. You flag one down you tell them where you are going and you hop on and go. Well yesterday I learned a bit more about how the okada system works. First off, and yes this one is obvious, okada do not have a meter. When you flag down an okada you tell them where you want to go to (there are some guidelines here which I will cover shortly) and they tell you their price. Rule number 1: Never agree to their first price, rule number 2: be prepared to walk away and head toward another okada when they will not budge from their price. Now the guidelines on location: certain okada operate in certain areas, again referencing the bee analogy from above, okada are territorial. There are actual companies that employ okada, and some companies only operate in certain areas. If you don’t know the boundaries of the particular okada it can be difficult to know where to catch one for the next leg of your journey. This is the main reason that I rode three different okada yesterday. My driver had dropped me at the church for an activity and we were going to be traveling to a “motherless baby’s home” for our activity. I had expected more youth to show up, but it ended up being just one of the young women leaders and I left at the church. The road to the church was in really bad shape so we did not want to walk down to the bus through shin deep water. We flagged down two okada and each rode one down to the end of the road, though the shin deep water of course, I actually heard water sizzle on the exhaust pipe a couple times. It cost us 50 Naira each (39 cents) for the ride down to the main road. Here we began the negotiations for the long distance portion of our journey. We would share one okada for this leg of the trip (yes that means three adults on one 125cc motorcycle, which happens all the time here. The most I have seen is 5 people total including children on one okada, if I am lucky I will catch this on film at some point. ) This portion of the trip cost us 400 Naira (about $3.13) and I have to say it was an interesting trip riding as the third person, definitely a new experience for me. Once we got to the first Lekki roundabout we found two more okada to finish off our journey, it cost 70 Naira (55 cents) each for these.
Overall it was a very interesting trip, but most of all it made me realize something……I MISS MY MOTORCYCLE!!!!!!
Yesterday I had the opportunity to ride not one, but three different okada, and I learned some interesting things in the process. Until yesterday I viewed okada just like we would view a taxi in the USA or in the UK. You flag one down you tell them where you are going and you hop on and go. Well yesterday I learned a bit more about how the okada system works. First off, and yes this one is obvious, okada do not have a meter. When you flag down an okada you tell them where you want to go to (there are some guidelines here which I will cover shortly) and they tell you their price. Rule number 1: Never agree to their first price, rule number 2: be prepared to walk away and head toward another okada when they will not budge from their price. Now the guidelines on location: certain okada operate in certain areas, again referencing the bee analogy from above, okada are territorial. There are actual companies that employ okada, and some companies only operate in certain areas. If you don’t know the boundaries of the particular okada it can be difficult to know where to catch one for the next leg of your journey. This is the main reason that I rode three different okada yesterday. My driver had dropped me at the church for an activity and we were going to be traveling to a “motherless baby’s home” for our activity. I had expected more youth to show up, but it ended up being just one of the young women leaders and I left at the church. The road to the church was in really bad shape so we did not want to walk down to the bus through shin deep water. We flagged down two okada and each rode one down to the end of the road, though the shin deep water of course, I actually heard water sizzle on the exhaust pipe a couple times. It cost us 50 Naira each (39 cents) for the ride down to the main road. Here we began the negotiations for the long distance portion of our journey. We would share one okada for this leg of the trip (yes that means three adults on one 125cc motorcycle, which happens all the time here. The most I have seen is 5 people total including children on one okada, if I am lucky I will catch this on film at some point. ) This portion of the trip cost us 400 Naira (about $3.13) and I have to say it was an interesting trip riding as the third person, definitely a new experience for me. Once we got to the first Lekki roundabout we found two more okada to finish off our journey, it cost 70 Naira (55 cents) each for these.
Overall it was a very interesting trip, but most of all it made me realize something……I MISS MY MOTORCYCLE!!!!!!
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