Gardening (don't read if plants send you to sleep!)

It's been a while since I put anything on the blog.  I'm building up my resistance to Nigerian viruses (ie being laid low by one).  It's not gone yet but I wanted to show you the serious gardening tool Bakle and Tapshek brought round this morning.

It's raining more frequently now and everything is turning amazingly green amazingly quickly.  The garden is a bit like a treasure trove as seeds leftover from last year are sprouting before we even plant any of our own.  So far there are red beans, potatoes and occra to go with the pumpkins, bananas, papaya I'm cultivating.  By the end of the week we should have planted potatoes, carrots, leek, cabbage, lettuce and peppers.  My herb collection is growing with basil, thyme, rosemary, two types of parsley and chives.  There's aloe vera for burns and these plants shouldn't die of frozen insides like the ones I grew in Scotland.  The guava tree is coming on nicely, I have a coffee bush and moringa (neem) tree and hope to get cuttings from a mulberry soon.  There's red hibiscus and the possibility of purple ones, bougainvillea of all colours, red and yellow crown of thorns plants and some pretty though nameless orange and purple shrubs.  The mangoes are ripening and growing so well Fraser had to prop up a heavily laden branch and the avocadoes are coming along nicely.  I'm holding out for a plantain and might succomb to a second grape vine and passion fruit - you can tell I'm enjoying the garden.  You might also guess that there's a nursery nearby.  I think I'm turning into my mother, looking forward to going to the nursery to get more plants (they're between 40p and £1 each) - I just need to suggest they open up a shop with coffee and cakes.

Bakle & Tapshek

I haven't forgotten what I'm really in Nigeria to do.  BRICC is developing, my Hausa is progressing but having a beautiful and useful garden is a real pleasure.

BRICC Keke 1

Yesterday afternoon there was a lovely sight waiting for me at the BRICC office - our first shiny new keke napep had arrived and was sitting in the road where Toby used to park (bit of a difference between a jeep and a little 3-wheeler). 

After the obligatory photos I got my first trip.  Coach Musa, aka Terminator ("I'll be back") drove me.  Unlike all the men I've come across who're itching to get behind the wheel I'm quite happy to sit in state in the back and be chauffeured.  There was a hairy moment when Coach didn't seem all that familiar with the controls but we were soon off, narrowly avoided the chairman's chairs in the road.  It would have been awful to crash the thing on its first day but we made it safely round the block and I was a convert to keke riding.

The purchase of two kekes has been made possible by specific donations to BRICC.  This one will be allocated to a Christian driver, backed by the local church leaders.  The second, as soon as we get it, will be driven by a Muslim suggested by the imam.  We really need the two to promote BRICC's spirit of relationship building between the communities and it'll be great to have the steady rental income they'll bring.

Just an ordinary day walking along with a sewing machine on your head

Children

One of the challenges of life in Nigeria is how to respond to the children who find the bature (white people) an endless source of fascination and hope of goodies.  It's lovely being able to make a gang of small children smile and giggle just by waving at them but it's not as pleasant being unable to be in the garden without feeling like the chimps at a chimps' tea party.  We've had up to dozen children lined up along our fence watching our every move and continually calling out "Hello". I would like to be able to give them produce from the garden regularly but I know for my sanity and that of the rest of the family I have to maintain some distance.  We could not function here if our home was not a place of peace to return to.

Some children don't wait to be given fruit.  While we were away a gang came through the gate, into the garden and stripped the cashew tree.  Often they don't even wait until the fruit is ripe but take it then throw it away as being too sour.  As I was having my Hausa lesson yesterday about half a dozen young boys approached the house.
"The gate is locked," announced one so they came closer, obviously looking for weak spots along the fence.  Bakle (my teacher) and I stood out of sight, waiting to see what they'd do next.  They'd got to the fence when the security man from the provost's house next door shouted at them.  They replied and Bakle translated: "We've come to ask for forgiveness."!
I'm not a expert but the previous demeanour of the boys was more reminiscent of a gang casing the joint than penitents seeking forgiveness but it did give us some cause for amusement.  They were probably the children of students at the college so we decided if they truly wanted forgiveness they could go and see Fraser in the library.

Fun in the Sun

Fun in the Sun has been running over the Easter weekend for a number of years.  Organised by an American family, many of the missionaries around Jos head out to the Miango Rest Home (however that sounds, we're not all old and decrepit) on Maundy Thursday for a time of relaxation, fun and celebration of Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection. 

Coming from Britain we felt very much at home as several activities had to be rearranged because of the rain.  It’s taken quite a bit of getting used to the dry season as we’ve been able to plan outdoor activities secure in the knowledge that they won’t be rained off.  Now the rains are approaching and we’ve had two good thunderstorms already.  I enjoy the weather here, even when it rains it’s exciting, but driving along an unfamiliar “road” (more like a string of huge potholes joined by slivers of thin tarmac) in torrential rain, catching the lightning out of the corner of your eye and wondering if this really is the way to Miango as there are no road signs, is not the best way to start a weekend of fun in the sun.  

The good thing about the rain here is that it doesn’t usually last that long.  A lot of water falls in a short space of time then it’s over (unlike Scotland where it can and does frequently rain all day).  By teatime it was dry again and we could join the other families on the basketball court for some “beach” activities.  I discovered a hitherto unknown talent.  I can actually keep up a hula hoop for a reasonable length of time – sometimes I surprise even myself, even if as Fraser so kindly points out, I expend a lot more energy doing it than most of the children who make it seem effortless.  

Rain may have meant that the Good Friday service by the campfire was relocated to the fireplace in

View from Easter Sunday sunrise service

the lounge but climbing up Mount Sanderson to the sound of African birds at 6am on Easter Sunday was a great experience.

With films each night, hikes, plenty of friends for James and Ruth to go off with (we didn’t see much of them over the

Friday's walk

weekend) and someone else to cook the meals, it was a good break.  

The Miango Rest Home (MRH) was founded with the express intention of providing somewhere in-country for missionaries to rest, relax and recharge before heading back to their place of service.  Now it’s used by many Nigerians too and is in fact one of the honeymoon capitals of the country but it still fulfils its original purpose.