We are here

It is now sat and we have been here a week. The internet connection is very slow, and we are very hot.
WE have been welcomed well.
We are staying as part of Amaudo 2 the long stay resident community, our house is the same as everyone else's. We have an outside loo and wash area which we are trying to get used to.
We are eating with all the residents 3 meals a day. The food is in large portions but there is not much variety and all complex carbohydrates and fat. The residents are happy to eat what we can not. I find breakfast a plate full of beans hard to eat but Andy has managed it!!

Amaudo 1 where Andy ill be working is the short stay rehabilitation for mentally ill destitutes and is much larger. It is 3 miles but the roads are as bad as can be imagined between the two. Andy may venture trying to ride a motor bike.

We have made it into town today a long journey by minbus (public transport) that was quite expensive. We are not sure how often we will get in.
the best way to communicate is via text our numbers are Hazel +2348084759081 Andy +2348084759080.

We are on a two week induction period. There is another Canadian volunteer Micki who is a nutiotiinist, she is here for 6 months and has been here for 3 already, She found it difficult to get a role for herself but is making one now.

A lot of Nigerian people seem to want to be managed by whites and view that we will get the place back in order. Whereas we just have come to do our jobs!!! But we hope to see some improvements in how people are treated especially in the second village where we are staying this year. Some of the NIgerians have asked us to help bring this about.

We are about to go into the market very busy and try to buy some cloth for bed sheets and then try to find some mosquito repellent we have bought some but not nearly enough.

We are well and will try to write soon,
WE hope to get to know people better here and make some friends.

Goodbye England!

We are happy to say that our visas and flight tickets have arrived and we are all set for leaving Sheffield tomorrow (Friday 9th Feb), although hopefully the recent snow won't cause another setback in the travel arrangements. We are due to leave Heathrow at 22.00 on Friday on a Virgin service, arriving in Lagos early Saturday morning. We then take a short domestic flight to Owerri in the south east where we will picked up by an Amaudo driver. So we should be at our new home in time for lunch (or in time for tea at least).

This will probably be the last you here from us before we set off. If all is silent over the next few days (or even weeks), please do not be alarmed. Our place of residence and work is some distance from internet access so we still don't know how frequently we'll be able to update our 'blog.

Best wishes

Andrew and Hazel

visa applied for

We went down to London yesterday and have now applied for our visa. An experience i am glad i do not have to repeat. This will hopefully be picked up on Tuesday pm, and then we will fly out on Friday. So we are now a stage closer to setting off on our adventure.