Friday, September 11th through Sunday September 13th

Friday, September 11th through Sunday September 13th (Clicking on the pictures should make them larger)


I slept in. I should have gotten up to help adjust to the new time zone, but I did not. The trip was over 24 hours and my time zone change was 5 hours. Today's task is to set up housekeeping. I have Saturday and Sunday make the sleep adjustment. I am staying at the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria Guest House at the church headquarters compound in Numan.

The guest house is four duplex building. The building I am in has a kitchenette between the two rooms. The two rooms of this building have several two single beds and a bunk bed. This is the only unit with a kitchenette so people who are considered part of the LCCN are expected to cook for themselves or if they want to eat at the guest house kitchen then they pay by the meal. Like other guests.

My bed net had a couple holes in it. I tied knots to close the holes.

The bathroom is simple with a sink shower and toilet. The water does not run so there are two small plastic barrels for water. I use the steel bucket to flush the toilet and the green plastic bucket for shower water. I collect rain water to refill the barrels and use the dirty water from clothes and dish washing water to flush the toilet.

The kitchenette is simple. The sink would have running water if the water was running. Yakubu brought my refrigerator, clothes and some other things I has left in the house in Jimeta. He could not get to the cabinet that had my silverware and dishes. I have my refrigerator on a table and cook on one burner cooker on top of a cooking gas tank. Like camping out. I mostly do one pot meals with rice as the base. The lamp on top of the refrigerator is a solar light I brought with me. The light socket in the kitchen does not have a bulb yet.  I will buy one if I remember and find an light store.

I was told the national power is operating for eight or more hours per day. The compound has a large diesel generator that is operated when someone in the HQ offices needs power or a meeting that needs power. In the evening if grid power is out the guest house has a small generator. It is not big enough to handle all the lights ceiling fans and my little refrigerator. When they use the little generator I turn off the power to the refrigerator.

Early this afternoon I walked to a market area not far from the Headquarters Compound. I found a small shop that had a fairly good offering. Not much for food.  I got some canned mackerel and sardines, margarine, canned milk powder, oatmeal, sliced bread.

Included in the items Yakubu brought were the two cans of mixed fruit that had spoiled and burst the tops open. They were in the same box as my blanket, towels, dishtowels and dish cloth. I spent an hour washing out the smelly black goop that were in them.

Late this afternoon I went out the opposite direction to a bigger market area and bought more bottled water, a diet Pepsi and two plastic bottles of Maltina. Tonight I am cooking basic rice with sardines. Maybe add in some tomato paste and curry for flavor. The light in the kitchenette does not work so I am cooking by flashlight, a typical skill of a Nigerian woman. The solar lamp has not been charged yet.

Saturday Morning September 12, 2015

I actually got up today reasonably early, but not at the crack of dawn. Rosters start crowing a little before dawn and then the lady at the house next door starts rattling pots to start her day of cooking.  I eventually, turned on the radio and found the BBC on shortwave. Depending on the time of day they can be received on different frequencies. By 9 AM the sun interferes too much to receive the BBC signal. I switch to the only FM station from Yola that I can receive in Numan. It is mostly music and news. Half the time it is broadcast in English and half in Hausa. Sometimes they have call-in programs. They are interesting mostly because half or more of the calls seem to get dropped. The cell service here is not as good the worst in the US.

Had some Frosty Z cereal and a glass of milk for breakfast. They are a made in Nigeria, Frosted Flakes  copy but with not as much sugar.  I boiled some water and made some loose leaf tea in a mug. Should have brought my tea infuser. I rarely use it at home. I had not planned on having loose leaf tea. On our way to drive the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park we stopped at a coffee and tea shop. I had an Earl Grey that they make themselves with a honey added to the tea leaves. I liked it so much, I bought a bag for the trip.

Sunday September 13, 2015

Had alarm clock set for 7:00. Woke up closer to 6:00 and got up to check time at 6:59. English church services are at 8:00 and only a two or three minute walk from here. I made a cup of tea with the hot water from the Thermos bottle of hot water I saved from last night and boiled some water for oatmeal. Used the left over hot water in the Thermos to mix with the cold shower water bucket and refilled the Thermos with boiling water. I had a warm shower, hot tea and Thermos of hot water for later.


The service at St. John’s Archcathedral was nice. It is hard to get a good picture of the church. The crowd for the English service was quite small. I think the Hausa service is bigger.  There were several visitors today. At the Jimeta Cathedral were I have attended the last 6 years, they ask visitors to rise and introduce themselves. I made out only a little of what the elder was saying when he asked visitors to rise. So I rose and introduced myself, and that I was here to work with Demsa and the water program. Less than 15 seconds. It turns out that they do not do that here.  The elder explained that they do not have time for everyone to give a speech. They had a nice service with a lot of music and a short sermon. Unfortunately for me, the sound system and reverberation of the room was not compatible with my hearing. I understood little of what the Pastor said about the story of Martha. After the service I talked with another visitor staying at the Guest House. He is a Nigerian from Houston, Texas, and professor of administration. He and his wife were visiting their families. The pastor called me over and introduced himself as one of my Facebook friends.

As I got back to the guest house the power went out.  It had been on since about 1 PM yesterday, 22 hours The church must have a generator. I can hear their loudspeakers going for the Hausa language service. From here I can understand the songs better during  than from inside the church. I made another cup of tea. I have no plans for today. It is overcast and cooler than normal. The wind was blowing after church  like a storm was coming but now has calmed down and the skies are a little brighter.


After I wrote the above the skies have darkened and temperature dropped to cool. Rain started fairly hard but the lightning and thunder of the main storm seems far away. The rain on the metal roofs sounded harder than it was. It rained moderately for about a half an hour than slowed to a light drizzle for a few hours. I did not think to put out water pots until the rain had slowed. The water tank we share in the courtyard is empty. The water bucket of dirty water from clothes and dish washing that I use to flush the toilet was almost empty. The water dripping off the roof for a couple hours refilled that bucket  and I got another bucket and a half of water to add to my showering and washing water.

Tomorrow, I will head out to Demsa. Morning devotions are at 7:30 at St., John Church the small round church near the guest house This was the first Lutheran Churchj established by the Danish missionary Niels Bronnum in 1916. Dr. Bronnom arrived in 1913. He was part of Sudan Mission from Denmark and supported by the Danish Lutheran Church in North Dakota. Trinity gave the LCCN a wall hanging for the Centenary Celebration. It now hangs in St. Johns Church. After devotions I go back to my room and fix breakfast before I leave for Demsa around Nine.

Man workingin rice field along Numan - Yola Road

This rain was not very much but it will be good for most farmers and not welcomed by the people still recovering from the floods. Yakubu has rented a large plot of land this year for rice. This is not paddy rice. It is planted in low areas and depends on rains to keep its roots wet. They have had a dry June and July. He had put down herbicide to control the weed but the lack of rain made the herbicide ineffective. He had to hire people to weed his rice. I think he told me he has 10 hectares about 25 acres. He was worried that there would not be enough rain for the rice to mature. If it continues like the last couple of weeks he thinks he could have a good crop.

What is good for rice is not necessarily good for everyone. The rains have caused flooding. People are still recovering from flooding. The Benue is high and the flood plains are full. More rains could mean more flooding. The Benue River originates in the Adamawa mountains in Cameroon. The Cameroon government there has built a large reservoir and has for several years been filling the reservoir and starving the Benue River. They have announced that they will be opening the flood gates and people down river living in the floodplains should move to higher ground. The radio said that they will be discharging excess water until November. From what I saw from the airplane if they open their gates any wider there will be more flooding here.

While watching the dripping water I decided to get out the Topcon Theodolite I brought with and see if it is still within acceptable calibration since being moved from Minneosta to Ethiopia and Nigeria. The work I am doing does not require a high accuracy. We are just making a topo map of the area that the church wants to use for the future buildings of the health centre. Set it up on the porch and shot a forward and reverse angle to the edge of St. John’s. It checked out fine for being on a concrete porch rather than having the legs of the tripod planted in the ground.

The power was still out at 5PM so I decided to cook dinner early while I still had some light. I have partially charged my solar lamp. So I do not have to use a flashlight between my teeth to cook. As soon as I finished dinner and started to wash the dishes the power came on. My phone and modem SIM cards still show as “invalid SIM”. I am hoping that they will be reactivated tomorrow sometime. If not I will have to go and try again to register them.

Tonight I may have to use a two sheets on my bed. It has been warm enough to sleep just in soccer shorts under the bed net with the ceiling fan running. Tonight the temperature is already down to 78 degrees F. I have put on my sweat pants.

Flights to Nigeria (September 9th and 10th)

Flights to Nigeria 

On Wednesday September 9^th I flew from Dulles Airport to Addis. Ababa, Ethiopia to Abuja, Nigeria to Yola, Nigeria and then drove to Numan, Nigeria arriving Thurday evening. My Etisalat mobile phone and modem SIM cards had expired. I tried to register my old cards. That did not work. I bought new SIM cards from another vendor and he typed the registration into the computer. It did not work either. On the Tuesday I had the opportunity to travel to Yola, the State Capital and the Etisalat office their registered my new cards. Numan is a small town and only has 2G internet speed. I have now been here a week and this is my first post.

Travel to Nigeria 

Wednesday morning we drove to Dulles Airport in Virginia from Hyattsville, Maryland, a little over an hour drive in rush hour. When I arrived with my large bag I weighed at the empty Delta counter while Sally waited. It was 2 pounds under the limit for international flights. My box with a surveyor equipment is much lighter but within 1 inch of the maximum size. My carry on is my computer bag and theodolite. The line for the Ethiopian Airline flight to Addis Ababa was long. They only had a few agents checking in passengers and luggage. At security the TSA agent had never seen at Theodolite and did not know what to do. She called her supervisor and  they consulted a manual and decided to swab it and test for explosives. I was one of the last people to get to the plane. 

The flight was full. I have an aisle seat that does not recline. It is only a 14 hour flight. The lady in the middle seat was an older west African lady (based on her dress and accent) with an American Passport. It was obvious she had not flown much. She sat on her and my seat belts, the blanket and the plastic bag that Ethiopian Airline provides containing earphones, sleep mask, toothbrush and a pair of yellow socks. When the first meal came she said no. When the second meal came the attendant just set it down on her lap. She looked surprised and said “For me?” When she wanted to go to the lavatory she asked the Africa man at the window to ask me to let her out. I noticed that she had a lot of trouble moving and walking. Towards the end of the flight we talked and she said she was going to visit her son in Jos, Nigeria. I told her I was going to Nigeria and told her how to go to the gates where they bus you out to the planes for Nigeria. She said she would follow me. We were at the back of the plane with tight connections.

Thursday

In Addis Ababa, we got off the plane and I walked slowly so the lady could keep up. I looked for an elevator to take us to the lower level. They did not have one. The escalator was broken. So I convinced her that I would not steal her bags and I would carry them down the stairs. The stairs were equal to about two normal stories. She grabbed the handrail with both hands and I stood behind her making sure people gave her room. On the last step before the first landing her left shoe started to came off and she stumbled. She did a slow motion fall onto the landing. I was two steps behind with 4 bags. No one was close enough to help. She held to the handrail and made a fairly soft landing. Some people rushed over and helped her up. She continued down to the next landing where the stairs reversed direction. The escalator was working from here to the bottom. She hesitated and stepped on. The step formed under her foot. She wobbled for a moment then stepped down to a stable position. Her dismount of the escalator was hesitant but better than at the top.

Older Lady in blue headband at Addis Ababa Departure.

In the lounge area I asked a man if she could have the seat his luggage was on but did not speak English. The next man jumped up and offered his seat. She sat down and said she needed to buy a ticket to Nigeria, her daughter only gave her a ticket to here and she had to buy a ticket. I asked to see her ticket. She showed me the boarding pass to Addis Ababa. I asked she had anything more. She showed me two excess luggage receipts. I did not see Abuja. She tried to hand me a $100 bill for her ticket. Panic. The ticket office would be upstairs, outside of security, she would have to get her luggage and recheck everything. She could not possibly make the plane in less than an hour. I went and found an Ethiopian Air employee who referred me to another employee and she was of no help. A man in the next row of the lounge asked to see her ticket this time she dug deeper in her overstuffed purse and found part of a boarding pass to Abuja. Blood pressure returns towards normal. She continues digging and eventually finds the other part of her boarding pass.

They finally call our plane and the crowd pushes toward the gate. We waited a bit and then as we walk toward the crowd at Gate 1D they opened up 1C for a second bus and we were directed to that bus. I asked the attendant if this was also to Abuja and she said yes and we got on. The bus pulls up to an old 737 rather than the new 757 Dreamliner we are suppose to fly on. The older lady and I were last off of the bus as the attendant at the top of the plane stairs was yelling at the driver that he is at the wrong plane. Everyone on the stairs turned around and headed back to the bus. After a few minutes the driver was directed to our plane. When we get on the plane there are passengers already in our seats. The flight attendant says that the computer does that all the time. The plane was not full so the older lady get a seat in the middle a few aisle ahead of where I find an empty seat. After an into this flight hour the older lady get up with her bags and heads to the back of the plane saying she wants another seat. An hour later she walks towards the front of the plane with a young girl carrying her bags. That was the last I saw of her. I hope someone is going to meet her at Abuja. If she is expected to buy a ticket at Abuja to Jos she will have a lot of trouble. If she is able to find the right airline ticket office and get her ticket she will have to climb to the top of the terminal on a set of steel steps and back down to get to the bus to the planes.

At Abuja I get my luggage through immigration and customs with a minimum of trouble and walk to the Arik Airline ticket area for my ticket to Yola. With ticker in hand, I turned on my phone to call Yakubu and confirm that I had would be in Yola that evening. My phone is a cheap “Techno” phone with dual SIM cards. One card said “Invalid SIM” and the other said “Unregisted SIM”. At that time I looked up and Bishop William’s wife Bobil was walking towards me. Bobil is a former missionary from Denmark. She had flown to Abula that morning and was returning to Yola. She call Yakubu for me. I mentioned to her that I was going to have to pay for extra weight of my bags.The local flights do not allow as much weight at the international flights. She said she had no bags and so we can check in together and the weight limit is doubled. We checked my bags and climbed the stairs on the other side of the terminal to the domestic departure lounge. Security is at the top. They had never seen a theodolite either. I told them it was surveying equipment and they said ok. Bobil had bought a bottle of Gin in Abuja not thinking about liquids not being allowed. She decided to send it through the X-ray and see what happens. The x-ray machine found her bottle. He asked what was in the bottle and let the bottle go with her rather than in the box of other bottles sitting by him. I commented that he must lake champagne and not like gin. 

Part way from plane to around the 747.

I have flown this flight many times with my camera in my pocket and rarely took any pictures. This time I left it in my bag in the overhead. As we descended and approached Yola we flew right by Numan where the near flood stage Benue River bends and the Gongola River joins the Benue. There had been a lot of flooding a few weeks ago. This is the widest I have ever seen the Benue. We turned and flew along the Benue over Demsa. If I had my camera I would have been taking a lot of pictures.

The plane behind the engine was our plane. 

As we landed in Yola I noticed a 747 jumbo jet at the terminal. I have never seen anything bigger than and 737 here, usually, only regional jets. Bobil said it was probably a charter flight for pilgrims going to Meca. Men were lined up to board at the front of the plane and women at the back. Our plane had to park a few hundred yards away from the terminal and we walk around the jumbo jet.

Yakubu Bulama met me at the Yola airport and he asked if I wanted to stay in Yola or go direct to Numan. The house I normally stay at in Numan is now the Development Office for Mission Afrika. I told him whatever is best for him. He decided we would go to Numan. Liuraman the Guest House Manager was waiting for us. He settled me into my room and showed me the kitchenette. Yakubu drove back to Yola. On our way to Numan he had told me he had to get right back because robbers set up roadblocks later in the evening usually by 9 PM the roads were unsafe. Unfortunately for him they were out early and he had to pay a toll to get back to Yola.

Headed For Nigeria

Tomorrow morning I head to Dulles International to catch a an Ethipian Airline flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and quickly on to Abuja, Nigeria. A couple hours in Abuja and I catch another flight to Yola, Nigeria.

This trip will be about a month in Nigeria. I will be mostly working with the Demsa Health Centre renovations and planning. There will also be some water work that is yet to be specified. I hope to have some time to go to Jimeta and see the progress on the Deaf Church. I am traveling fairly heavy this trip. My main bag is near the 50 pound weight limit. My second bag is a box that is within an inch of the maximum size for international flights. It has a tripod, elevation rod, and some books for kids at the Deaf Centre school in Jimeta. I will carry-on a digital theodolite and my computer bag. The flights to Abuja should not incur any extra fees. I will be over weight on the flight to Yola and have to pay by the Kilogram. It will still be easier and cheaper than last year when I took the truck trailer hitch.

Sydney headed to first day of "day school"

The house I usually stay at is being used. As of today I do not know where I will be staying. I am hoping it will be somewhere that I can keep the expenses down. Since, a lot of the work will be in Demsa which is near the church headquarters in Numan. I am hoping that I can stay at the Numan Headquarters. They had one of the rooms at the guest house set up for long term visitors with a small kitchen and refrigerator. If I am lucky I can get that space for free or at least for less than a hotel room. Numan is a much smaller town than Yola/Jimeta but I can walk to a couple small stores that will have some food items. But to get my usual cans of veggies and various canned meats I may have to go to Yola. 2008 was the last time I stayed in Numan.

At top of Stony Man 

I have been traveling for over a week already. Sally and I drove to Hyattsville, Maryland last week for nanny duties with our granddaughter. Today, Sydney had here first day in all day daycare. Sally will return to Minnesota next week. I will fly back to DC area in October and drive back to Minnesota.

We have had fun here in the DC area. We went to Shenandoah National Park last weekend and drove most of the Skyland Highway. Did a little rock climbing along Skyline drive, got a haircut at the  Bladensburg Barber School, and went swimming.

Before leaving I went back and had another student give me a buzz cut.

Sydney under water.

Village Visit Monday May 27, 2015

(Note: Clicking or for some systems double clicking on the image will take you to a larger image.)

I was just reviewing this blog about to start new and noticed this was never published. We kept pretty busy while I was in India last May. I took a lot of pictures but never got time to blog. Also they had poorer internet than I have in Nigeria.

This post will be a lot of pictures and few
Padali  is a small farming village near Jamkhed. We went there Tuesday morning and accompanied the Village Health Worker on her rounds to visit some of the people in the village. The village health worker is a person, usually a woman, in the village that is a volunteer. She receives a month of training and ongoing training from CRHP(Comprehensive Rural Health Project). The purpose of our visit was non-technical. We were to visit people, speak with people, learn about the people. When CRHP  comes to a village they spend several months just getting to know the village. Becoming friends. Our task was to observe and interact with the people and the children. We were in four student teams with a social worker or other member of the Mobile Health Team as our interpreter. The Mobile Health Team are CRHP employees who go from village to village working with the Village Health Workers and various organized groups in the villages. The village health worker we visited was the mother of the social worker we were with. She spoke no English so her son interpreted for us.

As we started down the first street these kids were standing  by their artwork. The house across the street was decorated in anticipation of a wedding that evening.



This village of around 250 homes is fortunate to have a continuous water supply. However, I noticed that some of the pipes are broken and the water flows continuously. The water supply is from a well beside an artificial lake. This area is in its fourth year of drought. They believe the water will flow for ever but that is because it has flowed for a long time. I am afraid that the water that is wasted today will be the water they won't have in the future.

At one home we stopped at two ladies and a young boy was sitting in the shade make thin round cakes. I am not sure what cereal they were using. They mostly grow sorghum in this area along with millet and wheat. The grain was boiled and pounded to the consistency of yogart.


It was spread onto a piece of cloth and then transferred to the large piece of cloth on a bed. After they had filled the bed they carried it out into the sun to dry. They are making these only for personal consumption.

A kitchen.

 This is one of the older homes that is still in use.

Shows the thick rock walls the oldest walls do not have the chiseled rock fronts.

Temple near the center of the town.

Inside the temple.

Jay in India?

India? Yes India. I have traveled to Jamkhed India for a 2 week Observation of the Comprehensive Rural Health Project. I left last Wednesday morning and flew Air India to Mumbai, India. I arrived on Thursday evening. I waited at the Mumbai Airport for Dr. Thompson of Global Health Ministries to arrive around Midnight. Then we waited for the 10 person team from Nigeria to arrive at 4 AM Friday and the 5 person team from Madagascar to arrive at 5 AM. When all had arrived and cleared customs we boarded a Tata Starbus(Indian truck and bus brand) and made the 6 hour drive to Jamkhed.

The drove through Mumbai and across the bay. At the first toll booth plaza we stopped for restroom, drinks and snacks. This area served mostly street foods, tea, and bottled drinks. We drove on through the lowlands and industrial parks of Mumbai.

Then we started up the steep hills surrounding Mumbai. After a tunnel or two and about half way up the bolt connection the shifter to the transmission linkage broke. The driver found a bolt that might fit but the driver could not get it to installed. Finally, an older mechanic arrived on a moped and was able to reconnect the gear shifter to the transmission and we continued to climb out of Mumbai.

With having more than one gear we continued up the hill onto the plains. After a few hours we stopped at another rest area. This one had a sit down restaurant, where we had lunch.

A while after lunch we came to Ahmednagar and a Courtyard by Marriot. Ahmednagar is a District capital and an industrial town. There were many high tech and modern factories. Quite a difference from the rural farming country we had been traveling through.

A few hours later we arrived at Jamkhed around 5 in the evening. A lot of very tired travelers. I had been traveling the longest, slightly under 48 hours. 

Saturday we started on the history of the founders of the project and the concepts of Comprehensive Rural Health Project. At this point all I will say is that they take a comprehensive view of a village's health (not just physical health) and they emphasize Equity rather than Equality. Monday we went on a village visit. 

This is all for tonight. I am 10.5 hours ahead of Minnesota. It is almost 10 PM here in Jamkhed.