Thankful

Last week I spent like an hour writing a post and just as I was about to publish it the NEPA went and lost the Internet connection and everything I wrote. When there's no NEPA we put on the generator, but I was so frustrated by the whole event I turned off the computer and went upstairs. I tell you all this because NEPA is currently powering the system and I'm reminded of the upset that occurred the last time, hoping it doesn't happen again.
Not too long ago I learned there are school fees primary and secondary education (the equivalent of K-12). On top of the school fees, parents must buy their children's books, and on top of that school uniforms. It's no wonder there are so many adults and children who are not educated. Blessing went as far as primary school, currently studying to pass her secondary school exam.
I was talking with a doctor last week-he said the most all of the books in their library are from the 1940's. I sort of choked and laughed at the same time, it's seemed so absurd, I couldn't believe it.
Blessing's brother died this weekend in a car accident in Lagos (big city that used to be the capital near the coast) His burial will be in the village, about 8 hours drive from here. What do you say to someone who has just lost part of their, and so unexpectedly? There aren't enough words...
Last week I watched a doctor stitched up a hole the size of a silver dollar in the side of a guy's knee due to a bike accident. For the time I've been here, I think I've only seen one or two guys wearing a helmets. The week before that one of the our staffs brother was killed instantly in a bike crash just down the road. The majority of people can't afford a car. Bike transport is, for most part, their only means of getting around-to work, the market, the hospital, wherever...

Latest & Greatest

It's strange that tomorrow is Thanksgiving, it sure doesn't feel like it. Before a couple weeks ago I had all but written it off until a missionary couple mentioned they have a big get-together at their house. I'm totally stoked.
In other news, for the first part of the week I was in the GOPD-General Out Patient D...what does the D stand for? Department? Doctor? I don't know, probably one of those. Then today I was in the lab, fascinating stuff. Tomorrow I'm in the pharmacy; I've been there before, mostly counting and packaging pills.
Don't be fooled by this brief update; there's a lot going on in my head and as time goes on it's proving more and more difficult to put it all to page. I'm observing a lot, thinking a lot and learning even more. I guess you could say I'm letting it all simmer for now.

Randomness

Just a few things to think about if you're trying to get a visual of what it's like here: Gone are the days of pop cans or plastic pop bottles; here it's all glass. Not only that, but all the bottles are recycled and reused again and again and again. Don't be fooled, when I say 'recycled' I mean they'll take the bottle and fill it up again (I pray there's a super sterile cleaning procedure). Yams are a staple. Here again, they're not the kind of yams you're probably thinking of. These yams are white and look like massive tree roots. They make yam everything: pounded yam, roasted yam, fried yam, yam porridge, yam stew (actually, I made that one up), yam, yam, yam. English is the official language, however I have to tell you I'm in the process of learning pigeon English-what a lot of people use. It's so strange hearing fragments of English run together. "How now?" that's "How are you?". I've also been picking up a little bit of Hausa, the other predominate language spoken here. Here's something that's totally crazy: they don't have street lights or stop lights. Think about down town Denver without any lights in the evening, or better yet, NYC pitch black. Of course they're used to it, but me, not so much. I found out last night the motorbikes have a curfew; they all have to be off the road by 8:00 pm or they're fined. It's like driving in a ghost town when they're not around. It takes me about an hour to wash what would be considered a small size load in a washing machine. I've concluded recently that they have hard water here-that make it all the more interesting getting all the soap out. Tea is the drink of choice in the mornings, the closest I've gotten to a cup off coffee has been from a can of instant-just add hot water! Plateau State (where I am) is the most evangelized state in all of Nigeria. I'm not even exaggerating when I say there's a church on every corner, sometimes more. Something else I found interesting: by and large you're either a Christian or a Muslim. The only exception I've been told would be for people who live in tribal regions, and then there they would practice what ever is specific to that tribe. It's not uncommon (I'm finding out) to see a grown man relieving him self on a nearby wall, or ditch or whatever really. I'll just be walking along, and whoa, sorry sir, didn't mean to interrupt...

My Heart Hurts

I don't remember how much I've told you about Blessing; she's one of two very special friends here. Blessing is quite possibly one of the most genuinely joyful people I've ever met. She's never down, every time I see her she's smiling and laughing. She has a great laugh, really contagious. From day one she was so welcoming, always greets you with a hug. Her name really suits her.
Blessing's mom left her when she was little (not sure what age exactly) to live with her step-mom and her grandmother. She said they brought her up in anger, hatred and fear. I'm reading between the lines here, but I think that means they treated her really poorly, possibly abusive? She didn't know of love (those are her words). She was forced to marry at 15 to a man she didn't know. After that she had children, two boys, and a year before her husband died she found out he was positive. After he died her husbands family kept her boys and kicked her out of the house. With no money and no home, she came to Faith Alive, lived in transitional teen housing, learned to sew, and started ARV treatment. She said she just wanted to have peace with her husbands family, she didn't want to fight with them. She prayed that God would help her take back her children without causing conflict. Today Blessing looked different; she looked quite somber and "down". With tears in her eyes she began to retell the story above, really emphasizing that she never knew love in her childhood or in her marriage. She said the first love she ever knew was from God. She kept saying, I know He loves me, I know He'll always be there. She continued; "I don't like to think about these things, I don't want to think about past. It hurts me. I just want my boys to have better life. I want them to go to school, do what I couldn't" On her current salary she's not able to afford for her boys to go to secondary school, at least that's how I understood it. She said she makes about 1.000 Naira a week, sometime less, sometimes more. That's about $10. What she would like to do is go to school herself so that she can get a higher paying job to provide for her kids. Right now she has her own sewing shop where she teaches other HIV positive women to sew. She has to pay her shop rent, house rent, 35,000 Naira and 30,000 Naira respectively (they pay lump sums for the year) food, school fees and books for her boys. She hasn't put credit in her her phone for two weeks because she hasn't had the money.
Here's the real kicker-when I went home I calculated how her rent fees translate into dollars: shop rent-$290/year, house rent-$250/year. And for her to go to school? About $500 for three years. I added up just what it would cost for her to go to school and pay her rent for three years time-$1,250. That's $416 a year. That's $34 a month. That's a little more than a dollar a day. Granted there would be more expense involved, there's more to life than just rent and school fees. Nonetheless, perspective. As I said before, my heart hurts.

Malaria Update

For those you who don't already know, I'm fine. I started taking meds last week, and a day or so later I was feeling a thousand times better. With modern medicine it's not like it's a death sentence. People here literally get it it four and five times a year. Most people are down for a week or so, mostly due to the side effects of the drugs, but after that it's back to life as usual.

Mrh

I was lying on my bed tonight, waiting for dinner, thinking I should post something on my blog. I have a problem referring to this as "my blog", I don't know why, it just sounds weird. In fact, I laugh every time I say it. So, last weekend I went to a wedding. Technically it was two weddings, one was traditional one was the church wedding or the "white wedding" as they call it. The traditional wedding was supposed to start at 4:00, it didn't begin until oh, I don't know, 6:00? We were just hanging out outside, waiting, for something. At some point an MC type character started making announcements about money people were giving the couple; there was a runner, who would go to the seats of the guests, take the money (and their name) run it over to the MC and then the he would report the amount and the name of the donners. That lasted for a good hour, hour and half. Then we were served dinner, in our seats, still waiting for something to happen; at least that's what was going through my mind having never done this before. Somewhere along the line the groom came out, dressed in traditional Nigerian wear, and was seated facing the brides family. There was a presentation of the dowry, and then negotiation about the dowry, and then argument over the dowry. Someone told me that the brides family said that it wasn't enough, so they had to come up with more money on the spot. The dowry must be accepted by the brides family before she's allowed to come out. When the bride came out she was surrounded by her "bridesmaids" I don't quite know what to call them. They were singing and dancing around her walking her over to the groom. She sat on the groom's lap and then it was official, I think. Yeah, still trying to figure it out, it wasn't the most orderly thing I've ever been to, so it was a little difficult to figure out what exactly was going on when. Anyways, that was that. Then the next day was the church wedding, complete with bridesmaids, groomsmen, white gown, the whole nine yards. The service lasted somewhere between 2-3 hours. Then, the reception, oh my lord the reception. That didn't kick off until 2? Yeah, had to be about that time because my stomach had eaten itself by then, I remember it clearly. Something interesting about weddings here. they're more of a come one, come all sort of a thing. People invite their friends, and their friends friends and their friends family's friends and so on. It would never fly in the US, that's for sure.

Mosquitoes

Do they have a productive propose? I was thinking, maybe they're some integral part of the bug world. Maybe a very important insect would die if they didn't have mosquitoes to feast on. The better part of my conscious tells me they're just annoying and the reason I have Malaria. It started yesterday with extreme muscle aches. I was feeling really weak and went to bed fairly early. During the night I had the chills and later on woke up in a pool of sweat. By the time morning came around I hardly had enough energy to make it to the bathroom and back. I slept most of the morning and then later on a doctor from Faith Alive paid me visit. After describing my symptoms he said, "Have you had Malaria before?". Within a couple hours my faithful friend Krysty showed up with medication. From what I'm told (and what I'm feeling) Malaria is a lot like the flu-headaches, muscle weakness, joint pain, fever, chills, etc. Not the worst thing in the world, but certainly not favorable.