A Quarter Century of Life; 49 Years of Independence

Bawoni! (Hello in Yoruba, or at least one way of saying it)! Greetings from the Motherland!! I’m finally here in Ibadan, Nigeria after a looooong journey “home.” After an initial 13 hour flight to London, I had a layover for 12 hours (British Airways has joined Northwest Airlines on the “no-fly” list – Virgin Atlantic is now there as well), followed by a 5.5 hour flight to Lagos, Nigeria. After the tiresome journey, let’s just say that I’m not really looking forward to the flight back and praying that British Airways gets it together come May.

Anyways, after two weeks of being in Ibadan, I have had a lot of new experiences and reflective moments, but mainly more questions that need to be answered for me to fully understand the Nigerian situation. Below, I’ve broken up into sections my thoughts/experiences so far (WARNING: Kinda long…take breaks as needed):

Birthday:
Well, I guess I should start with saying Happy 25th Birthday to ME! :) I’m thankful to be able to say that I’ve reach the blessed age of 25. A quarter of a century of life and I’m experiencing such a “milestone” of life during my first trip internationally. I think that’s a great sign of good FIRSTS to come this year, so I’m looking forward to more blessings that God provides in 2009.

Growing up, I always thought about what I would have accomplished by 25 - marriage, kids, solid career in law, a more stable, in-depth relationship with God, etc. As I reflect on 25 years of life, I realize that most of those things will never happen and some simply have yet to happen. Even still, I praise God for His mercy and grace over 25 years. I think about Psalms 139: 7-16, that God thought about me and the purpose He wanted my life to fulfill even BEFORE He created me. I AM fearfully and wonderfully made...I was “…thought about, born in God’s thoughts – and then made by God….” That is humbling and thus I know that everything that has happened in the span of 25 years is for a reason, though I don’t understand most of those reasons just yet. I am thankful for another year of life and another opportunity to just say Thank You, God, for loving me enough to make me so that I can (try to) glorify You in all that I do!

Initial Arrival/First Thoughts:
As can be recalled, I was a ball of nerves and apprehension about my first trip overseas. However, before leaving U.S. soil, I was given the clear blessing and OK from God that this whole trip was going to be just fine. On the plane, I happened to sit down next to a young woman who was coming from Detroit, and was also flying into Lagos. We get to chatting, etc, and I find out that she’s a niece of my supervisor here at CEDAR !!!! It was the most ironic thing EVER, but it helped me to understand that God brings the right people at the right time for every situation. I needed the reassurance of having a travelling buddy and confirmation (again) that I would be ok. (Sidenote 1: I DEFINITELY walked on the British Airways plane and saw all the nice seating , thinking to myself, “Man, sittin’ in one these bad-boys for 12hrs won’t be so bad after-all. Then I looked down at my ticket and saw that my seat was row 64A…. It was then that I realized that I was seeing the luxury of first-class flying and that my measly economy seat was going to be cramped and no-so-luxurious.)

I arrived to Lagos at 6am, stepping off the EXTRA tight (seating-wise. READ: Oppression against tall people) Virgin Atlantic plane to a sea of too many Black folks. I really began to wonder what type of aircraft just transported all of us without being overweight. Anyways, I was a bit scared when I had to go through customs, which was going to be the test of whether I’d really “…be just fine [so you don’t need to worry]…” because of my problem-visa that the U.S. Nigerian Embassy messed up on prior to my leaving (spelling my name wrong and giving me the wrong type of visa). Anyways, I walked tiredly to the customs desk where all non-Nigerian passport holders were to go, getting through with no problems. The only problem now, however, is that they only gave me 3 months to be in the country…even though I applied via the U.S. Nigerian Embassy to be in the country until May. So, I’m going to have to go back to Lagos at the end of March to extend the visa, which is frustrating, but I’ll deal with that when the time comes.

After stepping outside the Lagos airport, I was greeted by 80+ degree exhaust-filled air (mind you, it is now about 7am and I was still in a Michigan hoodie and jeans, thus I was roasting immediately), with 50-11 folks awaiting the arrival of their loved ones, and some Nigerian police officials holding large machine guns. Seeing the guns, I just prayed “Lawd, please don’t let nothin’ pop off right now!!” I was scared outta my mind – I’d never seen such weaponry except in the movies!! (SIDENOTE: We got pulled over the other day on the way to church and I almost wet my pants. It's known that the Nigerian police make people pay bribes to let them go after a traffic violation and I was sooooo scared that we'd have to pay something or that they'd hall me in for not having any identification. PRAISE GOD we got off with nothing, though the driver DID have to pay something...pretty sure it was a bribe because he didn't even get a record of a ticket. :( )Leaving the airport, I gained a new perspective on traffic and driving rules (or rather, lack thereof). By 7:30am, EVERYONE is up and at ‘em in Lagos (and Ibadan for that matter). Everyone’s on the go and with there being no speed limits or lines to separate lanes, potholes everywhere and the horn of a car as essentially the most prized mechanism of the car (to tell folks to move and/or stay outta your way), it’s definitely a site to be seen so early in the morning. I was definitely concerned for arriving in one piece to Ibadan given the chaos on the Nigerian streets, but even in the craziness, there seems to be some bit of “organization” that keeps folks from getting into accidents.

Other general thoughts:
· I love seeing people who look like me EVERYWHERE, wearing traditional dress and enhancing their natural beauty (have yet to see anyone that's not Black. OH, and most folks think I'm Nigerian...or Caribbean...NOT African American...until I open my mouth, that is)
· Cars/Trucks, motorbikes, and pedestrians have an interesting way of interacting with each other (and tons of yelling/cursing goes on during commutes)
· The air is really thick and smog-like. I kinda wonder what further damage is being done to my lungs and the rest of my respiratory system
· I wish people in the U.S. would be ON their grind (not on your way to your grind) and REALLY hustling at 7am like Nigerians. When I saw the number of people out and hustlin’, this song (sorry, I can't get the video to post directly...just click the first option) immediately came to mind

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For your viewing pleasure: PICTURES
Please visit my facebook website to view new pictures. I am unable to post them here for some reason...if you know how to do this, PLEASE email me at hales.n.jade@gmail.com. THANKS

Moving past the initial “shock,” I’ll now begin my personal understanding of my surrounding, socially, politically, culturally, and academically.

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs):
I’ll first start with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that seem to be evermore present in developing countries than they are elsewhere. Living in the United States, the concept and knowledge of MDGs don’t seem very relevant or at least not as widely discussed as they ought to be given the U.S.’s role as a world leader. Thus, in my attempt to learn and then educate others, here are the eight goals that the world should have accomplished by 2015 (and numbers 3 and 4 are referenced below as they relate to my cultural understanding of Nigeria and the work I am doing here in Ibadan):

1. Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal mortality
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

Host Family:
The familIES I currently live with are an interesting bunch and fun to be around. (I was told that I would live in my own apartment, but my supervisor said I had the choice to stay with her or in the apartment. Since I just arrived and my supervisor has had a long list of personal issues going on, [her sickness and doing the funeral arrangements for her father-in-law], I haven’t had the opportunity to see the apartment to make a decision.) In one house, there’s eight people living (including me currently) and in the other house right next door (the home of my supervisor’s mother) there’s four people. In my living quarters, there are two parents, a set of boy twins my age, a cousin, and two “help people” who do the chores. In the other house, there’s a family of three, plus my supervisor’s mother.

Everyone’s really nice, making sure I’m ok and have what I need…but they keep calling and comparing me to Sudie, my colleague who came, lived, and worked with the agency last year. It’s frustrating, to some extent, because I feel like everyone expects me to be more like her, the social butterfly of her class…and that’s not me at all. Hopefully everyone will soon realize that I’m different from Sudie (HEY, I love you gurl!! :). Living with all of these people means it’s always noisy and you know I don’t do well with constant noise, so we’ll see how things pan out in the next few days. I LOVE that my family and seemingly everyone in the area is Christian...it challenges me in a number of ways to grow stronger in God, and I'm always hearin' folks screamin' Hallelujah and other encouraging words about life!! It's apparent that the relationships and reverence that most Nigerians have for God is simply because He IS all they have, so their faith HAS TO BE in Him for getting them from one day to the next. Oh, how amazing it would be if I, if Americans, would truly see and understand and worship God in such a way!!! Praise God!

The house itself is decent size, but there isn't constant electricity (MAYBE 2hrs total per day) and the tap water is not safe to drink (and even it doesn't always work). Even though it’s exceptionally different to living in America, it really isn’t so bad. It is evident that my host family is “well off” or more financially stable than most other Nigerians, which is a good and bad thing in terms of my own experience for obvious reasons. The only thing that’s frustrating at times is my desire to read or hold a conversation with someone but can’t see anything or anyone because there is no electricity. Other general thoughts:

· Bucket bathing isn’t as bad as I thought it’d be (and, being the environmentalist and treehugger that I am, I think a lot about how much I’m conserving when I bathe).
· Lack of internet/electricity was and still is a LITTLE harder to get used to…but I think I’m becoming more efficient when I have such luxuries. I seem to get a bit more done when I’m at the office (with my only internet connection - hey, this post IS efficiency in the making) and take advantage of power when it comes on at home
· I feel like the heat (mid 90s everyday) and living conditions (sans air condition/fans) are not so different from rural southern living of Sweet Water, AL (my Dad JUST told me a few minutes ago that Sweet Water is TWO words, not one. He'd always grown up thinking is was one word. WEIRD!). As an aside, the red/orange dirt brings me a smile everyday that I step outside and I feel at home in the deep south!
I wish I spoke Yoruba!!!!

Southwestern Nigerian Culture:
Taking the MDGs for the world and the host family as I have experienced them together, I look at the progress of Nigeria in terms of how far the nation has to go to reach said goals. I haven’t explored much of southwest Nigeria yet, but from the conversations I’ve had with my host family and other colleagues at CEDAR and the information I’ve read thus far, I have come to learn that the country has a long way to go in addressing these goals. I have faith in the country and its people, though, given the new turn in administration of the U.S. (Sidenote 2: As could be expected, many people here look to Obama and the current U.S. administration as an example of how to run an “uncorrupt” country [in my opinion, there’s tons of {hidden} corruption in the States…but that’s another blog].) In the southwest of Nigeria is where the Yoruba tribe resides and has also been deemed the fashion trendsetters of Nigeria. This means that everyone speaks Yoruba and most of the style ideas, such as wearing uniforms or wearing the same color schemes for events (i.e., weddings and funerals, both of which I have attending in my less than two week stay), are what defines this group from others across the nation.

The food here is great and filled with spices that tend to give me a run for my senses (I JUST killed an amazing lunch of fried rice and this hot-HOT roasted chicken. Lips still tingling). I haven’t gotten sick, praise God, and I feel relatively okay with my food intake (though I still have yet to incorporate some sort of dairy into my diet). I have yet to learn the names of the dishes I’ve tried, but suffice it to say that I’ve liked everything I’ve eaten (OH, a lot of the dishes include rice, which have me concerned for my starch intake level. I only eat one solid meal a day, though, so I think I’ll manage okay in that area.)

Anyways, I guess what strikes me most about the culture so far is the high number of maids/housekeepers/house-helpers/drivers that not only does my host family have, but many other “well-to-do” Nigerians utilize. In my house, there are 2 live-in house helpers (one male, 21, and one female, age unknown, probably 10-13), and two other house-keepers that come every other day. I’ve never fully understood such services in anyone’s home (U.S. or otherwise) and it’s difficult for me to fathom the idea that a child or someone else other than a head of household is preparing food, cleaning the house, etc. for the whole house, when there are grown folk plenty able to do for themselves. It’s even harder to understand why a 10-13 year old girl has the education level of a kindergartener, doesn’t know her birthday, but is cooking and cleaning most of the day instead of schooling at a good school and playing as a child should (she does attend school, but not all day).

When I see all this, I try not to pass judgment on the culture or the family arrangements, but it’s hard to understand how this is her situation and her play-brother who lives next door and appears to be roughly the same age has a completely different situation. I also struggle to understand how gender equality will be achieved when educated people of Nigeria and those who advocate for progressive policies partake in activities that are gender-biased. I’ve silently cried for her and the other house-help who have been disrespected and run ragged right before my own eyes because I don’t know what else to do. I try my hardest, though, to always wash my own dishes and clean up after myself (duh) even when everyone around me tells me I should “…just leave it for XXX….”

Academic/Professionally:
The work for me started less than 36 hours after I landed in Nigeria (literally, I landed on Thursday morning and I was in the office Friday morning at 10am). I’m working on two projects of my own right now:

1. Developing a literacy tutoring/mentoring program between senior secondary students (high school equivalents) and basic primary students (elementary equivalents). This is very similar to the work that I did with the St. Louis Public Schools Volunteer Services program last semester and I’m excited to be replicating the program within the international context.

2. Developing a service learning course with a local university, which its students will serve the surrounding rural communities in providing health education and general tutoring/mentoring services.

Getting the ball rolling on both of these projects – making contacts and connections, learning more about the Nigerian education system, conducting community (needs) assessments, creating survey instruments, etc – have been my focus for the last 6-8 days. I feel a bit overwhelmed at times with just these two projects, but I think it’s good for me to keep busy and not be so caught up with missing home, family, and friends. The education system here is very different and I often wonder what other policy reforms are going to be made that will improve the education so as all Nigerians have access to basic primary education. I'll talk more specifically about this in a later post.

Concluding Remarks:
All in all, I’m happy. I feel very blessed to have this opportunity, but it’s going to be a challenge to constantly push myself over the next 15 weeks to make the most out of this experience, especially because I feel like I’m on vacation and away from the intensive and depressing academic environment known as GWB. (Random: Warm weather truly makes me happy and feel better about life. Sorry to all of yall kickin' it in 5-10inch snow and/or blistering cold weather. I'm sweatin right now if that makes you feel better...prolly not. HA!) I’m glad that I’m DOING what I dreamed of doing when I applied to GWB in January 2007. It’s truly fascinating how God works everything out to His liking right when it’s supposed to be.

Here’s to another quarter century of living and another 49 years of Nigerian independence!

-JadeInNigeria

p.s.
Prayer Requests:
1. Maintaining good health and that current body aches/pains would resolve themselves immediately
2. The host family I’m living with in coping with the loss of their grandfather (father, father-in-law)
3. That these community service projects I’m working on will have the desired impact on the Ibadan communities