Week 7: Do You Know How Thick Our Toilet Paper Is?

Dear Friends,

I left the Abuja guest house at 5:30pm Saturday and walked into my Phoenix home at 10:30pm Sunday, (6:30am Monday Abuja time) 37 hours later. Brenda, Janet and myself were collected by Bashir, one of the IHV-N drivers, Saturday evening and taken to the airport, 45 minutes away. We were greeted by Segun, an IHV-N employee, who is responsible for shepherding us thru customs, ticketing and various other little stops in the terminal.

One of the subjects that I have not really mentioned but have alluded to, is corruption in Nigeria. Six weeks ago, I didn't think that there was any corruption because I didn't "see" it. Now, I think that it is so omnipresent, impacting all elements of daily life that it is just not seen anymore but always felt.

I mention this because Segun's "job" is to make sure that we are not hassled or delayed in the airport. He greeted and shook hands with ALL of the customs/immigration folks, intervened at the ticket counter when the obviously new KLM employee was trying to coordinate three sets of tickets for places this man had never heard of, carried our passports thru Passport Control bypassing a very long line and walked us thru every checkpoint to our gate, smiling and shaking hands along the way. Part of the IHV-N budget is "Segun/Airport Greetings" with an additional $10,000 US above his salary for the "Greeting" part, i.e.: everyone is paid off.

After saying our goodbyes and thank you’s, we boarded and flew 40 minutes to the city of Kano, directly north of Abuja, to pick up more passengers and then on to Amsterdam. At the beginning of this leg of the trip, they asked for a doctor and Janet proceeded up to First Class because a man had fainted. She did not return after a while so both Brenda and I went to sleep. I woke up 2 hours later and Brenda was gone! So, either the pilot was dead and they were sitting with the body or they were now in First Class. I wandered to the back of the plane and was told that all was well and my friends "were sleeping in First Class." Gee, too bad I had been asleep curled up like a pretzel in 2 seats! We landed 6 hours later, at 6am.

When I purchased my tickets and saw that there was a layover in Amsterdam, I thought "I'm here anyway, I might as well take advantage of it and see the city." And that I did. But my first impression when I deplaned was, "It's Christmas! When did that happen?" Halloween and Thanksgiving are not celebrated in Nigeria so there are no markers to signify the start of the holiday season. It is also such a poor country, and Christmas is a time of being with family, not of giving gifts, as we think of it. I left 80 degree humid weather and walked into 35 degree Christmas tree weather. Whoa!

I put on more layers of clothes than I had worn in 6 weeks, stored my carry on, bought a train ticket and with 2 hours of sleep, headed out to visit Amsterdam at 6:30am.

Sunrise was at 7:45 so when I arrived at the Central Station at 7am, it was still dark. I exited the station to misty, foggy, "see my breath" weather with damp streets and only a few people and cars. Priceless!
As wild and crazy as I had been told Amsterdam was, it was Sunday morning, so I just walked the streets, watching the pre-dawn sky lighten up and people on bikes appear along the canals.

I stopped at the Victoria Hotel and had the first decent cup of coffee in six weeks along with a chocolate croissant and watched the hotel and surrounding streets, wake up. I later had a breakfast of eggs and salmon, more coffee and a delicious piece of chocolate.

I could have visited the Anne Frank House or wandered by the Van Gogh Museum but I was fighting sleep and just happy to wander the canals and watch the people. I returned to the airport to wander thru some gift shops. I loved Amsterdam!

My next flight was a 10 hour flight on Delta to Memphis, Tennessee. But before we could get on the plane, each of us was individually questioned, at length, about where we had originated, why we were there, etc. Most people seemed to quickly move on but...not me. Now I am tired and having to explain why I would go to Nigeria for an extended period of time, have almost no purchases and stop in Amsterdam for 8 hours. The interrogation lady, a TALL Dutch woman, was very nice and very polite but sure had lots of questions. She wandered off to talk with her boss, a stern looking woman wearing sensible shoes, returned to me, thanked me for my service and let me board.

11 hours later, I arrived in Memphis, again explaining to the very nice Immigration man about my Nigerian trip. Collected my luggage, dropped of my luggage, went thru screening, blah, blah, blah, slept off and on, and landed 2 hours later in Phoenix to be greeted by my honey.
I saw the sun rise in Amsterdam and set somewhere over Indiana, 16 hours of daylight.
My initial thoughts on coming home: It is noisy here. For 6 weeks I did not hear or see anything in the sky so seeing airplanes or hearing helicopters over our house, has been startling.
We have very thick toilet paper here! I think that I must have been using 1 ply tp for 6 weeks!

Some things that I will miss:

- meat pies
- shawarma's grilled Lebanese sandwiches that are made with chicken, pita like bread, wonderful spices.
- thunderstorms
- CNN International with the focus on Europe and the Middle East.
- singing and dancing at church
- goat stew
- the people of Keffi Clinic
- the people of IHV-N
- the neighborhood of the guest house. I felt safe there and became comfortable walking around by myself during the day.

Some things that I will NOT miss:

- litter
- undrinkable tap water
- men with really big guns
- power/water/internet outages
- constant horn honking with all traffic
- Nigerian food
- heat and humidity

What did I miss the most about home when I was there?
FREEDOM! Freedom, to go out alone and discover and enjoy. Freedom, to feel relatively safe without men with guns wandering about.

I loved this mentorship! I fell in love with this little clinic, in the middle of nowhere and no one was more surprised than me! I realize that I lived in a privileged "artificially safe" environment. The guest house was guarded and safe. We were driven everywhere in an air conditioned, safe SUV or car. We were accompanied everywhere and only went to places where kidnapping was not an apparent issue and our safety could be assured. In spite of all of this or maybe because of it, I really liked it here.

Nigeria has oil, land, people but is in danger of being a Failed State due to corruption and ineffective leadership. Malaria, TB and HIV are endemic to the country but TB meds are not being distributed because "no one has been paid off yet." Nasawara State, the state where Keffi Clinic is located, has a population of 1.4 million with a 7% HIV rate. The average age of a clinic patient is 29; the average lifespan in this State is 51. 29% of the children are underweight, 38% are physically stunted. I could go on and on.

The country is beautiful with lush vegetation, nutritious soil and high desert terrain. But the mounds and mounds of rubbish that are piled everywhere is crazy and outrageous! No wonder no one wants to visit here or is encouraged to do so. There is evident wealth but anywhere from a 50-75% unemployment rate. The villages are dusty, mud-packed clumps of lean-to's with no employment opportunities. The people look hot and tired. I hope that this country survives.

Thank you for traveling with me. Until next time...!

Kathleen