More reflections from the rainforest

It's early September, it's still raining and I've left my umbrella at home. I hope that by mid-October at the latest all this wet weather will be behind us and we can start complaining about the heat again.

The words "customer" and "service" are two words that Nigerians don't seem to understand when put together. I have been trying to open a sterling bank account through which we can have money transferred directly from our partners in London, and it's driving me insane. We still haven't been able to make the first transfer so it looks like I'm going to have to go to the bank again, a place where such things as orderly queues, smiles, courtesy and getting the right information are in short supply. At least the place is air-conditioned.

Anyway, I'll stop whingeing for now. I'll leave my complaints about the food, the roads, our leaking roof and police corruption for another day. We are due to go on a much-needed holiday from this Saturday. Back to the incredibly dull but refeshingly clean and ordered Abuja (the capital city where you can get such luxuries as fresh cheese and cream cakes) on Saturday before travelling on to Jos on Sunday. Due to its relatively high altitude, Jos is probably the coolest city in Nigeria and therefore very popular with the "whites". From there, we hope to explore the north of the country, Hausa territory where Muslims outnumber Christians.

Thanks for all your lovely comments. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers. It may seem that we're having a really tough time out here but it's not so bad really. Besides, it is good to experience what living in poverty actually feels like - it makes one much more determined to make poverty history. Jesus swapped heaven for thirty years in first century Palestine which seems like much more of a raw deal. Nobody's threatening to crucify us (yet) so we have to count our blessings!