Photos

 

Just a few photos taken from our garden.

My ambition is to take better pictures of birds, butterflies and lizards but they just won't stay still.  Flowers are much more co-operative.

The lizard that lives in the water tower

Cashew nuts growing

The cashew apple is a most peculiar fruit.  When you cut into it it strongly smells of perfumed apple, a bit like an excessive mackintosh red.  When you bite it nearly all the moisture in your mouth is immediately sucked away in a rather disconcerting fashion.  It's definitely an acquired taste and one I may not have a chance to get as most of the fruits are being devoured by a voracious and efficient flock of long-tailed birds.  All they leave behind are the greenish-grey nuts lying on the ground below the tree. I'll have to see what I can do with those instead.

Cashew fruits

BRICC's first birthday

A year ago today BRICC (Building Relationships in City Centre) began.  Yesterday the co-ordinators all met for a celebratory lunch and get together to celebrate the occasion.  Muslims and Christians came together at the Niger Creek Centre in Jos to share food, fellowship and the love that is such an integral and obvious part of BRICC.

Physiotherapist Fiona & Baba

In true Nigerian fashion the Baturis (foreigners) arrived at the appointed time of 1pm.  Most of the Nigerians didn't turn up before 2.  We ate, laughed at BRICC family jokes and appreciated everyone who in their very different ways has made an impact.  I found it very helpful when we went round the room introducing ourselves at the start, then Joseph mentioned everyone individually in his speech and finally Toby named people again as he gave out the keepsake plaques.  Now I can put a few more names and roles and faces together; not all by any means, but a lot more than before.

Joseph, one of the founders & driving forces of BRICC

Thompson & Eugie

Fraser and I sat with two young men, Thompson and Eugie (not sure about the spelling), who are filled with the desire to change the situation and attitudes in Jos and Nigeria as a whole.  It's encouraging to hear people who haven't lost hope, despite everything that's happened.  They told me how so many people have been so traumatised by the violence that they have lost all hope that anything will change and no longer want even to try to rebuild relationships with members of the other community.  Before there can be lasting change there must be healing.  Eugie mentioned one Christian who refused to have anything to do with Muslims after the Crisis.  He attended a BRICC trauma-healing session for both communities and his attitude completely changed.  Now he is encouraging others to go and talk out the hurts that destroy from the inside.  The lack of hope has to be addressed.  One of the things that unite people in BRICC is that they have not lost the hope that Jos can be restored to peace and they're willing to reach out to others in whatever ways they can.  As Toby said of the film-making department, there's no shortage of ideas in BRICC, in fact there are too many ideas, enough to keep us occupied for years.

Bearing in mind the problem of corruption at all levels in Nigeria, I asked Thompson what he thought could be done.  His answer was simple.  People are hungry.  If money that could be used to improve agriculture and education stopped finding its way into the bank accounts of the "bigmen," if there was more of a concept of leaders serving the people, not exploiting them, if the government paid more attention to making the electricity reliable so people could make a living and feed their families then they would no longer be as vulnerable to those wanting to take advantage of them for political or religious reasons.  There's also the age old problem of older men being unwilling to make way for the younger generation with all their ideas and enthusiasms.  The generation gap, despite (or because of) the traditional Nigerian respect for elders and tradition, is very apparent.  The young are tired of being told they are the leaders of tomorrow when tomorrow never comes (especially when former leaders in their old age are still attempting to get involved in running the show).  I would not be surprised to see Thompson running for political office one day: may his enthusiasm never be eroded.

On a completely different subject.  Problem: what do you do when you need oranges for a recipe but have none in the house?  Answer: go out and pick them from the tree in your garden.  I do enjoy living in Nigeria!

Driving licences (again)

Today I got a Texan husband.

At 1pm this afternoon Fraser and I arranged to meet Makeji at the Tax Revenue office in Jos to continue our pursuit of the elusive documents that are Nigerian driving licences.  We filled in another form and waited patiently for our turn to be photographed and fingerprinted -a bit like being arrested (not that I have personal experience) but with the added fun of giving each other electric shocks whenever we passed things (a frequent occurance this time of year).

Fraser was called up but I was then invited along to a much more upmarket office to upload my details.  It was air-conditioned and I was offered a comfortable padded chair instead of the ubiquitous plastic seat.  Ten minutes later I wished I was still in the public waiting room as the official moved on to his third laptop in an attempt to get it to accept what he was typing.  The fourth laptop allowed him to fill in the form but then he told me I'd have to move over to his colleague as his computer had no camera.  A picture was taken but then I had to wait again before moving to yet another desk with another laptop attached to a very clever fingerprint reading device which eventually, after several attempts for each digit, took its readings.  I was now on the system and could be issued with my temporary licence which when printed had already expired.

But how did I acquire a Texan husband when I already had a Scottish one?

One of the questions on the form was state of origin.  The drop down list of options contained all the Nigerian states, Illinois and Texas.  Fraser, disappointed though he was not to see Glasgow listed, decided (in consultation with his official) to pick Texas as his state of origin in the desire to be registered and the hope he'd be able to change it later.  I, having been born in Norfolk, was similarly disappointed not to see my place of origin among the choices but I could not bring myself to plump for a US state.  My official, acknowledging my difficulty, made enquiries of the technical team with the result that we altered the system.  Now, along with Nigerian and US states, Norfolk is listed on the Jos Government list of places of origin.  A satisfying day's work.

Happy Christmas

The sun is shining, there's a slight nip in the air (it is only 20 degrees Celcius) and I'm woken by the sound of carols at 4:45am - it must be Christmas Day.
There have been lots of firsts this year; here are a few Christmas ones.

• I picked oranges from the tree in the garden to put in James and Ruth's stockings instead of buying them from Tesco.
• A box of Kellogg's bran flakes is a special treat for Christmas breakfast.
• At church this morning we were invited to stand up and dance and everybody did, rhythmically.
• We went for a post Christmas lunch walk in shorts and t-shirts.
• I'm wished "Merry Christmas" by armed soldiers manning the checkpoints with big smiles.

These are some of the firsts but what's most noteworthy is the thing that never changes - the amazing fact that the Creator of the universe put aside his glory to become a human baby and be born in the degradation of a stable simply because he loves us too much to spend eternity without us.  Jesus, "born to pay a debt he didn't owe because we owed a debt we couldn't pay".

Happy Christmas everyone.

Christmas Eve

Not a penny spent - can you tell?

Christmas Day

BRICC Christmas

What do you have for your school/work Christmas dinner?  Yesterday I went to the BRICC meeting room to share in the jollof rice prepared for the Christmas celebrations there.  It might seem strange to have Christians and Muslims having a lunch for Christmas together but it's all part of building relationships.  At the end of Ramadan in August there was a lunch for the Muslim festival and yesterday was the turn of the Christians.  It's great to see respected members of both communities coming together to share food and accounts of how BRICC has helped them.  Siddique the education co-ordinator told of how at the start the classes would be obviously split with Christians and Muslims extremely wary of each other.  After a few weeks he saw a Christian boy and a Muslim boy leave together, walk along the street then shake hands before parting to go to their own areas.  "That's what BRICC's all about," he said. 

Joseph, another Nigerian in the management team, spoke of how he took a group into an area from which they thought they'd never return alive.  These others had believed rumours of how members of their faith would be killed if they ventured in that particular region.  They all came back safe and well and with a better understanding of the other community.

One man, principal of a local school, was there for the first time but he too got up to speak.  At first he'd thought he was far too busy to get involved in anything else but people told him about the peace-promoting work of BRICC and now he's signed up to voluntarily teach one of the classes.  His comments on Toby (American co-founder of BRICC), Ruth (Irish) and me were quite humbling.  He pointed out how we'd all left our families and the wealth of our home countries to come to Jos to help heal a wound that we'd had nothing to do with.  Toby is now the doctor; Ruth and I nurses!

It wasn't just the adult co-ordinators who were there, four boys from the football teams had been invited as a reward for their efforts on the pitch.  They're the ones most affected by the violence and they are the ones who can spread the message of reconciliation and relationship among their peers.
It's a great privilege to be a part of BRICC and be welcomed into the lives of the people involved.

Sleeping dog

Everybody needs a teddy.

Instructions for cooking rice in Nigeria: first open the packet and pour into bowl. Next pick out the weevils merrily crawling over the grains, then add hot water.  Any weevils you've missed can now be easily scooped out as they float to the surface.  Proceed with cooking according to your favourite method and don't tell the children.

Extreme gardening

What do you think of when the word gardening is mentioned?  Alan Titchmarsh, Percy Thrower, older ladies in straw hats gently clipping off flowers to put in their baskets? How about the slash and burn of extreme gardening?  Francis, a Nigerian who appears only too happy to come and set our garden in order, today introduced me to horticulture in Africa.  There is a rumour in certain circles that I am a not so closetted pyromaniac.  Today there were enough flames to satisfy even me.  The land needs to be cleared before we can do anytihing with it and this is the quickest way, even if it did provoke a text from another ex-pat to Fraser - "Did you know your garden's on fire!"  I was relieved that Francis had cleared a fire break near our new fence before he torched the place.

I'm hopeful that we'll be able to grow enough to have some food to give away.  Many of the TCNN students struggle to make ends meet and if we can help by providing a little extra it'll be a good way to show our appreciation that we've been given such a lovely place to live.

Besa meets a refugee from the flames