On Saturday, we went to Ojukwo's bunker in Umuahia.
For those of you who don't know about Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwo, he was the leader of the secessionists who tried to form a new country called the Republic of Biafria out of the eastern regions of Nigeria, in the late 1960s. The Nigerian government objected and a full scale war ensued which the Biafrans eventually lost. Umuahia became the capital after the fall of Enugu and Ojukwo and his inner circle set up base in a purpose built bunker in a rich man's back garden.
The facilities were somewhat better than what we endure at Amaudo, with running water feeding the kitchen and bathroom. Not a place for clausterophobics, mind, nor those with vertigo as we discovered whilst negotiating the vertical escape route by which we exited the bunker. If I was there in wartime, I think I'd take my chances against a Nigerian infiltrator rather than go up that ladder again!
Nevertheless, it was all worthwhile as I got to eat a lovely bowl of pepper soup in the museum's cafe afterwards. A photo of said pepper soup will be posted herein shortly. And, if you're all really good boys and girls, we might give you another picture of a goat.
Tuesday, 31 July 2007
Thursday, 12 July 2007
us with the head of conference
I said i would post a picture of the head of conference when we saw him in Lagos and here it is. Look at the size difference between us all.
Tuesday, 10 July 2007
High jinks at the high table
It's Tuesday which usually means, as it does today, that we find ourselves in Umuahia and hence have the opportunity to update the blog.
We have just finished a management training event, where all the managers and supervisors in Amaudo got together to explore our job roles. My favourite part (apart from lunch) was when we were asked to imagine Amaudo was a ship and to think about where we would be on the ship. I placed myself on the bridge updating the captain's log with all the relevant data, but I don't envy Hazel who found herself up the mast with a disabled child, insisting that this was an important part of the child's rehabilitation.
On Sunday, we went to a birthday party. Now we are just coming to realise that just about every event (birthday, wedding, fundraising event, send forth) follows pretty much the same format. Hazel and I were called up to the "high table" which basically means we get to sit at the front with the chairman, are first to be served the ubiquitous garden egg dipped in peanut butter and are generally expected to give the "celebrants" more money than the mere mortals in the general congregation. The MC follows a more-or-less standard agenda, with prayers, speeches, dancing and, on this occasion, a game of musical chairs with about 15 children competing for one chair. One has to wait to the very end for one's food but I must say it was worth waiting for - however, the standard fare of rice, salad and a chunk of meat is becoming rather predictable.
Tomorrow we travel to the capital Abuja on a bus that has such luxuries as a toilet, air conditioning and your own seat. We will stay with former Amaudo volunteers, Polly and Julian and their young son, and we are due to return to Abia State on Saturday.
Bye for now
Andrew
We have just finished a management training event, where all the managers and supervisors in Amaudo got together to explore our job roles. My favourite part (apart from lunch) was when we were asked to imagine Amaudo was a ship and to think about where we would be on the ship. I placed myself on the bridge updating the captain's log with all the relevant data, but I don't envy Hazel who found herself up the mast with a disabled child, insisting that this was an important part of the child's rehabilitation.
On Sunday, we went to a birthday party. Now we are just coming to realise that just about every event (birthday, wedding, fundraising event, send forth) follows pretty much the same format. Hazel and I were called up to the "high table" which basically means we get to sit at the front with the chairman, are first to be served the ubiquitous garden egg dipped in peanut butter and are generally expected to give the "celebrants" more money than the mere mortals in the general congregation. The MC follows a more-or-less standard agenda, with prayers, speeches, dancing and, on this occasion, a game of musical chairs with about 15 children competing for one chair. One has to wait to the very end for one's food but I must say it was worth waiting for - however, the standard fare of rice, salad and a chunk of meat is becoming rather predictable.
Tomorrow we travel to the capital Abuja on a bus that has such luxuries as a toilet, air conditioning and your own seat. We will stay with former Amaudo volunteers, Polly and Julian and their young son, and we are due to return to Abia State on Saturday.
Bye for now
Andrew
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