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.