Bringing Christmas to local street kids

Today we hit the street with our youth, hanging out with some of the local kids in our neighbourhood.

The place we spent the most time in is this empty section about 3 houses down from Caleb's school. In this empty sectioned (it's fenced behind concrete walls), lives a man, a woman and 11 kids. They've built a couple of little shacks in the section, and they also have a tiny little store (its a hole in the concrete wall onto the street) where they sell things like softdrink, soap, tomato paste, and other necessities. The kids are not all the woman and man's, I think maybe 3 of them are... all the others are orphans... either Fatima (the woman) is their real Aunty, and they are her sister's children, or they aren't... it's hard to tell because every women here is your 'sister' and every woman who is older than you or takes care of you is your 'aunty'.  Either way, these two amazing people are taking care of all these kids, sending them to a public school, although they can only afford to send them one or two days a week (note: it costs $150US to send a kid to school for a year, if you are interested in sponsoring one, let us know).  They don't have much, they sleep on the ground, maybe share a couple of packets of 2-minute noodles for lunch or dinner between them.

So, today we blessed them. What an amazing day! Our youth are such amazing teenagers too, just connecting straight away with them, playing games, painting finger nails and reading stories....

I had an awesome conversation with their neighbour who kept saying, you don't know what this means to them, you just don't know, thank you for coming and spending time and getting to know them.  

At the end of our visit, we bought out Christmas presents, the result of our church's 'shoe-box' appeal... these kids were so grateful and happy... the hanging out had been a highlight of their week already, and now this! 

We also blessed Aunty with a massive bag of rice, some big bags of milk powder and some multi-vitamins.  What a beautiful experience.... you know, some people go for years with no recognition of the work that they do in caring for people.

The best part of today for me, was seeing these expat kids connecting with these street kids in such a beautiful way.... that both lots of kids were able to see that below the surface, we truly have the same desire for love, acceptance and the same hopes and dreams.  I hope this is a memory that will stay with all of them forever!

A day in the life...

What a wonderful Saturday!  It follows a week and a half of Malaria induced headaches, nausea, cramps and exhaustation... and with the medication and 2 days of bed rest, I feel so much better!
LCF has been collecting Christmas shoe-boxes for a tiny percentage of the less fortunate kids in Lagos, and tomorrow we are taking the youth, and visiting some of the local street kids around our neighbourhood - playing games, telling stories and giving them presents. After telling our driver to take us to the nearby Lekki markets, he suggested heading into the heart of Lagos, where goods are the cheapest anywhere.... this is where the other shop and market traders purchase their goods from. 
So, back we went to the craziness of Lagos markets.... Oh how I love it! I am so grateful that we have the freedom to go and explore these places. We invited friends of ours who work for Mobil, and they can't go there unless they have security with them. Teachers are probably the minority of expats who are free to do this. 
Our driver is such a legend, at times I was running to keep up with him... I don't know how many times we nearly got bowled by cars, motorbikes, buses... ducking and weaving through what felt like a million people. The city centre is so crazy. From what I have read, it is one of the best African markets.... it is huge. Blocks and blocks and blocks of stalls and street sellers... and the people! Wow!! So many! 
And while the general experience was fantastic, I did witness something I wished I hadn't.  A man was getting beaten up, from police, from other people.... everyone was having a go.... John (our driver) said that he was most likely caught pick-pocketing or stealing.  I know that Lagos has a bad reputation, but to be honest, there is so little petty crime.... people here just don't stand for it. If it was later in the evening, or at night, John said he would be a 'dead man'.... We have heard stories about people having tyres thrown over them, then been doused with petrol and set alight, because someone had tried to steal something from a street stall.
It's terrible, even the Nigerian church ministers don't see it as a bad thing.... the person gets what they deserve, apparently. It's not good. We have met a missionary here who runs a theology college, where they are faced with the enormous challenge of transforming the wrong doctrine of the majority of locals.C'mon guys, it's about grace and love remember! Go against the 'norm'.
It makes me so sad, because chances are, these people are stealing because they are starving, or maybe they have babies who are starving.... these people know what the consequences of their actions will be if they are caught.... but yet they still do it. It has to driven by a sense of desperation.  But that is still no excuse... yes, there are a million people all trying to make a few naira (1 naira = 1 cent NZ... to put it in perspective, you can get your shoes shined for 25 naira, can get a feed of beans and rice for 100 naira), but at least these people are trying to make an honest living... chasing cars a block down the street to finalise a sale on a 200 naira phone card, or a 300 naira bunch of bananas).


Anyway, I've digressed. We ended up getting so much fantastic stuff to fill our shoe-boxes with. I am so excited about handing out these presents tomorrow :)


After that, I had a visit from my tailor. That in itself was a novelty, a first for me, but I thought I'd blog about it, as it is something that could just be passed off as 'normal'. Sometimes I forget that what is 'normal' here is so far from normal back home, so I just need to remember to keep my outside perspective eyes on so I can keep a record of these experiences.  I've got a wedding to go to on Saturday. The wedding of one of my Teaching Assistants. I'm so excited for her! 
I'm also very excited about having my first Nigerian traditional dress. I'm a bit nervous about how it will turn out.... I'll definitely post some pictures once it's done. 

LCF - Our expat church in Lagos, Nigeria

Caleb and I have been a part of LCF since we first arrived in Lagos. This place has become like a home to us, and the people are fast becoming family. It's one of the things I love about God... he designed us to be a part of a community, to be in relationship with Him and with others... and I love that because of this, no matter where I go, I have family.  Anywhere in the world we can walk into his house, and instantly connect with the people there... we all share in the same joy and love and knowledge that we're His kids!
When we first attended LCF, I have to admit, it didn't really excite me. Being a small expat church, we didn't have our own space, and were using a really large traditional church... when you've only got 20 or 30 people there, the acoustics are terrible and you are so aware of the fact you are sitting in a big empty building. The people (and Ed's teaching!) were the main reason we kept coming back again and again.
A few weeks ago we moved into a really nice conference room in the Best Western Hotel on Bar Beach Road in Victoria Island. And wow, what a difference it makes being in a smaller room! Apart from the stunning ocean views, there's a new sense of intimacy, it's easier to connect, and people are hanging around a lot longer to socialise and chat afterwards (that could have something to do with the coffee and deepfried goodness though...).  There are more and more people coming too. It was Week 4 today, and we were scrambling to find extra chairs for everyone! There is a lot more freedom in the place too, I think God is really going to do a new thing with LCF...
Caleb and I have also signed up to lead the youth ministry... Today was our first day with them, and honestly, we're all so excited. I think it's been quite hard for these kids... Lagos is not the most liveable city in the world, and these kids just don't enjoy the same kind of freedom as kids in NZ.  There's different kinds of pressures and realities here, so it's going to be good to be able to spend some time with them and help them make the most of their lives here.
If any expats have stumbled upon our blog and want to come along to LCF, here's the website:
www.lcf-nigeria.org

So blessed!

Wow, what an amazing few weeks we've had..... the moments of 'what am I doing here' and homesickness becoming less frequent, and the 'wow' moments are becoming a continuous state of mind, as I realise how blessed we are, and how God has everything in His hand.
Here's a select few of the best things in my life at the moment...
Women's Bible Study... I have teamed up with two other wonderful American women and we have started a worship and bible study for us expat wives who aren't lucky to be fully supported by our husbands at home all day! It is such an amazing blessing to have these women in my life. We've already got another 2 girls, and it's just beautiful to spend time together praying.  I'm learning a lot from them already in the short time I've known them...

Lagos

 Sailing... some friends of ours have been taking us along to the Yacht Club where we have been lucky enough to crew for a couple of races. This makes me so happy as I have been wanting to learn to sail for a long time! We sail in the main port harbour, and it's crazy. There are massive tankers and container ships everywhere! We got off to a terrible start in our last race, but because of a massive tanker, we timed the pass perfectly and ended up coming in a cool 4th place.... not bad!! It is so wonderful to be out on the water, even if it is oily and black.... I particularly like the fact that it seems most of the races are sponsored. With copious amounts of Australian wine and delicious cheeses. Mmmm.... cheese.
Water skiing.... yes yes yes!!! Our wonderful friends took us out waterskiing - my first time!! We took the boat right up the creek, past an old ship graveyard, and the water became a nice light brown colour.... clean! And the river banks were lined with coconut plantations and beach houses. Very very nice! I was especially stoked because I stood up pretty quickly (thanks to my wonderful instructor husband and friends!!). 

A massive oil rig under repair.

Action Man. A pro. I expected nothing less! ;)

I might look unco, but this IS my first skiing experience!

The wonderful Heather!

The boys...

Couch surfers... we have had the coolest couch surfers come and stay with us here in Lagos. From Poland, Austria and Germany so far. I love being able to show them around some of my favourite places here and show them that Lagos life isn't so bad.... it's definitely not the gun and area boy presence everywhere! You can walk around the streets... in the day time at least.
Taco Tuesday... Yay for Americans! One of the main reasons I love Americans is because they are so passionate about Mexican food. Dana, our host, cooks awesome Mexican food and we watch great movies.... like Back To The Future I, II & III! 
The discovery of the adult fiction section of our school library... Thank you God! Finally, some books to read!!!
My wonderful husband.... who is such a pillar of support for me when I lose sight of the blessings and when I get homesick. I admire him because he knows how to be content in every situation, and I am still very much learning how to do this. It's funny, even when I get all down on Lagos, I still laugh to myself about how this is just what I wanted.... I wanted the challenge, the opportunity to be stretched and to grow. So, there is no where else I would rather be right now.  :)

Backpacking Nigeria

I love mid-term break. FINALLY, a chance to escape the constant horn-honking, the dancing roads, the concrete jungle that is Lagos. 

We decided on a trip to Benin, the neighbouring country.  After plenty of hours scouring various websites and forums, we decided to head to the border, and get the 48-hour transit visa, and renew it once in Benin.  

We hit the road just after 5am in order to escape the infamous 'go-slows'.  The slums of Lagos turned into beautiful tropical country-side, the roads lined with coconut and banana trees.  We reached the border about 7:30am, and after going through the Nigeria exit procedure, we headed to the Benin visa office. From there, it was back and forth between the different countries, as we tried in vain to get one of these transit visa's. For some unknown and totally unheard of reason, we were denied. 'There are no visa's', 'the visa's are finished' we are told, over and over again. We saw African guys in front of us offer a 'dash' for a visa, with the money basically thrown back in their faces with a big fat 'NO'.  We eventually ran into another teacher from our school, who frequents this border as his wife is in Togo. But yet, he too (having purchased a transit visa only 3 weeks earlier), was denied. We still don't know if he got in, but regardless, after 4 hours spent at the border, we got back in our car, and formulated Plan B.

Travel Nigeria. Why not? We live there, let's explore it! Turned out to be the best plan, and we are so thankful that we had this opportunity to walk this track, completely off the beaten track. A place empty of tourists, cities full of children who have never seen a white person. 

First we headed to Abeokuta. A simply beautiful African city, famous for it's big rock.  Instead of trying to describe this beautiful city, I'll let the pictures do the talking...

I just love the greenery, the iron roofs, the 1940's architecture, the narrow roads, the wonderful people and the fact that there are houses built on boulders!

From Abeokuta, we sent our driver home, and proceeded to use public mini-buses and okada's (motorcycles) for the rest of the journey, much to the horror of our HR woman at work, who we kept updated every few hours. 

The next day, and 3 okada's, 2 public buses and a shared car later, we arrived in Ibaden. With the help of a very friendly local, we made it to the IITA - the International Institute of Agriculture. This tropical paradise, was just a beautiful place... a private reserve complete with lake, fruit plantations, swimming pool, fabulous restaurant, and golf course. I am still trying to work out how I can get a job at the school at this research centre.  

From there, it was back into the cities and to a place called Osogbo. Ibadan and Osogbo are nothing special as far as cities go.... but they do give you the true African city experience. It can't really be described... only experienced. 

The thing I was really impressed with during our trip was the helpfulness of the people when trying to find our way somewhere, and also the reliablity and efficiency of the public transport system, within cities, and between cities. Basically, mini-buses and shared cars run between motorparks, and leave when all the seats are full. So you never have to wait long, and you don't have to walk far at all.  It actually puts these 'developed' transport systems to shame, if you ask me! 

There were two highlights for me in Osogbo. First of all, the Osun Sacred Forest, which was a project of an Austrian woman in the 1950's who began restoring and recreating sculptures and Yoruba shrines, with her own artistic spin. The result is a beautiful, crumbling array of unique stylised shrines among beautiful African bush. Unfortunately they wanted to charge us $25 to take our camera in, so all these photos were taken on the road leading to the entrance... If you want to see them for yourself, we'll take you there....

Unfortunately, I have no patience with the Internet this evening, so you will have to wait for some photos of this place. 

The other highlight in Osogbo was the discovery that the 'African' food we have been eating in Lagos, is not real African food. Oh no. The food we ate here, where there are no white people, was far different from Lagos food. This food was hot. Unlike curry hot, or any other hot, it was pure chilli and pepper. Wow. I swear the inside of my lips was blistering so bad, I had to open my mouth wide to avoid touching the food on my lips, it hurt that bad!  Actually, the whole dinner was an unforgettable experience as well. I had no idea what I was ordering. We ended up with the incredibly hot catfish pepper soup (whole catfish, btw), an even hotter chicken wing (I could not even touch this, go Caleb!), and pounded yam. As Caleb has said, yam is good - boiled, fried, mashed, roasted, any way, BUT pounded. However, if it wasn't for this yam, there is no way we could have eaten the food... it needed SOMETHING to absorb the heat. Wow.

That's it for now... I've got to get to bed... I'll try and do a part 2 over the next few days. Better yet, I'll try and get Caleb to do one!! 

Organised chaos of Lagos Island

So the big news is that we finally have a driver! Which is amazing. It finally means I don't feel landlocked anymore and we can go out like normal people. Although, having a driver doesn't actually feel that normal.

I've been itching to head into Lagos Island, which is the main CBD area of Lagos. 

First of all we went to the National Museum, which was super interesting (albeit a big dusty and cobwebby), with heaps of relics displayed the spiritual traditions of the indigenous tribes.  Unfortunately we couldn't take a camera in here, but anyway. 

We then began the wander down towards the markets. Along the way we saw:

1. The reason that you do not want to get sick in Nigeria. 

2. The reason I do not want to give birth in Nigeria.

Somehow this photo turned out looking okay. In reality this place looked like a 200 year old mental hospital. Not good.

Seriously though, it was an amazing day experiencing the richness of this busy city.... check out the photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lekki Conservation Reserve

Last weekend we were gifted the use of a driver for the day which was such a blessing! We headed about 5km down the Expressway to the Lekki Conservation Centre... a small area of rainforest which has been protected from the sprawling urban developments of Lagos city. For the short time in there, I forgot where I was, the constant drone of traffic and incessant honking faded right away, and I could have sworn I was back in Papua New Guinea rainforest. A run down information centre greeted us, along with a number of ancient tortoises, who have seen more than triple my entire lifespan! It was quite a rainy day, and the guide who met us was rather confused by the fact we wanted to walk in a light drizzle. The gentle rain just added so much beauty to the rainforest, and although we didn't see any crocodiles or giant rats, we were lucky enough to get an awesome view of the mona monkeys as they crashed and leaped through the trees. An awesome climb up to a treetop platform, put us up in the tops of the trees... too bad it wasn't a couple of metres higher so we could have really looked out over everything. 

I felt my entire soul being refreshed at this place.... and it actually increased my homesickness a bit, as I realised just how much I took for granted all the beautiful natural surroundings of home. Luckily this place is just down the road though, and with the added addition of our new driver, hopefully more remote journeys are to come!

Lekki Beach

Last weekend we took a walk down to our closest beach, a 20 min walk away. Upon arrival, we're greeted by a couple of guys who wanted to charge us 1,000 naira (N$10) to go down. My awesome husband took control of the situation and we turned around to leave, only to be invited in for nothing.... The beach was so beautiful underneath all the rubbish.  Check out these photo's.  The rubbish washes in from the ocean. So sad!

You can't really tell in this photo, but there is rubbish everywhere!

We stumbled across a couple of cool shipwrecks, and a couple of guys wanting us to dash them because they live on the boats to make sure no one steals them (?!).... sorry guys, we're not going to pay you for that.

3rd day of school and we're closed!

On the main road on the way to school.

It rained last night. Not a big deal right? Wrong. Today was the scariest drive of my life. The puddles are deep when you are in a little Kia. Every road is wrought with deep holes, some roads where like rivers. The water floods over our bonnet. But you know what? After finding a couple of the roads were actually closed, or blocked by other cars who were stuck, we made it to work, on time. However, not everyone was so lucky.... our friends car got stuck, and water started seeping in through the doors! 
In the end, all the parents or drivers of the 550 children who come to our school were turned away and the decision was made to close the school for the next 3 days. Perhaps it's because the roads around our school look like this:

You try and get cars (there's no buses) for 550 children down this road. It's not going to happen.

The view from our place...

Here's the view from our very sweet apartment block. I love it. Despite these apartments are about NZ$400,000 and are full of lawyers and accountants (maybe the "Nigeria prince's son" too...) there are the awesome local markets and people who have very little, living right on our doorstep. I HEART it. The kids are rad. We even had our first beer at 'Special Joint'. I like that the beer here comes in big bottles. Flashback to crate days I swear. 

In case you missed the potholes on our street, here they are again. They're not shallow.

Oh! Here's some corrections to my previous posts....

Interesting fact #1 "Reclaimed land".... that is, the land on which we are living. I thought it must mean soil and sand. Wrong. Its landfill. I'm living on a rubbish dump. We all are. In fact, Victoria Island is no longer an island because the landfill joined it up with where we are.  Update: Actually, now I'm not sure again. It is sand. What defines landfill anyway? Anything that fills the land right? Well. Whatever. It's something.


Interesting fact #2 When I thought that lady gave me an extra akara cos I bargained so badly? Well, that was actually a dash. A dash is more often a bribe that you pay to people... like, the Area Boys who charge you to go on the beach, or to the police who stop you for no reason. However, it can also just be a gift from a street vendor. How nice! I love these people.


We're definitely getting more known from our walks. Yesterday we stopped to by something and the lady called her daughter over straight away and said "She's been waiting for you, she wants to ask you a question!", but the girl just got so shy... "What? Now they're here you aren't going to ask them??" Mum says.  I broke the ice with the girl by asking her some questions, but it wasn't enough for her to come out of her shell.... maybe she wanted to practice her English with some real oyibos, and that can be pretty scary! I'm thinking that I might be able to give some free english lessons.... but not just yet.... gotta get my head around the fact that my own school starts in two days!


Speaking of school, I've got the most awesome combination of nationalities.... nigerians, british, american, israeli, pakestan, indian. Awesome. I'm excited.

Lizards!!!

Check these out. So cool. They are everywhere. They do press-ups. They could do more than Caleb I bet. Impressive.

Red headed agama.

Oyibo!

No matter where you go here, you hear the same greeting – “Oyibo!”. Which means “white person!”. It’s said in such a friendly way, almost with a touch of surprise… and I guess it is… there’s not that many expats wandering the local markets like we do. “Oyibo” translated literally means “peeled one”… as in, our normal black coloured skin has been peeled off…. as one Nigerian put it, ‘people are not supposed to be that colour!’  


Our Indian friend gets the same reaction - except hers is 'Yellow oyibo!' Classic. 


PC? I think not. 

Nigerian Chop (that's food for those of you not yet up on the local lingo)

Snail. They actually look like this, but cooked. And without the shell.

On our third day, the school took us our to ‘Yellow Chilli’ for our first taste of African food. While the goat head soup, and offal pepper soup looked really appealing, we went a bit more tame…. With fish pepper soup for me and goat pepper soup. One thing I’ve noticed is that Africans like soup. Most of the time, soup is actually more like a stew. And it’s very peppery! Spicy! MMMMM.  Also on the menu was goat legs… not actually goat legs, but the tendons and vessels. Didn’t try that either. Did try the snails though. Big fat juicy snails… despite being quite tough and tasting like soils, they tasted a lot like paua. Mmmm.

Akara. YUM!

We’ve discovered a few tasty treats from the street vendors:  akara – which are deep fried bean balls are probably my favourite. My first experience with batering for these, went a little something like this: “How much?” “10 naira” (that’s the equivalent of 10 nz cents)…. “I’ll give you 20 naira for 3”… to which the lady chuckled to herself and accepted the offer…. 2 minutes later we reach into the bag, to find there are 4 akara in there…. Obviously she felt sorry for my terrible haggling skills and wanted to let me know the correct price. Although, it’s kind of hard to haggle over 10 cents. 10 cents! Come on, that’s already a bargain!!

Efo soup. Those curly bits are skin. I gave those to Caleb.

 We've also tried cooking some efo soup (so it was a frozen soup from the supermarket... don't judge us) along with some pounded yam flour. You mix this yam flour with boiling water and it turns into a playdough like subtance, which you then rip off and dip in your soup. Efo soup consists of large quantities of 'greens' (unsure exactly what kind), pepper and hunks of meat. It's really strong in flavour, but looks quite unappealing....

Another amazing discovery are the incredible 50cent loaves of bread from the street vendors. These have saved us a couple of times when stuck in a go-slow with no food.  

The Nigerians that we work with are often in disbelief when we tell them what we have been trying. I think they expect us to come here and long for the food and comfort of our home country.  But then, why would we come here in the first place? If we wanted rice without stony grit in it, then we would have stayed home.

The streets

The streets. Have I mentioned the streets yet?  We’ve been here for 2 weeks now, and I still can’t get over them. Just the fact that we are in such a developed area, yet can they build a street??  One thing I should mention is that the area we live in, “Lekki Phases 1” is “reclaimed” land. To the best of my knowledge that means that, once, there was no land here, only sea. Now, they have somehow used topsoil and sand to ‘reclaim’ it.

The streets. The main roads are cobbled. These cobbled roads are often in better condition. Apart from where the sand has given way under the road, causing massive potholes. 

Every other road is dirt. Here, the potholes are even bigger. Yesterday, Caleb got out of our car to help push a car out of one of them… it’s exhaust had so filled with water that they couldn’t get the car going. Luckily my superior navigating skills means I know the right places to drive to keep it shallow (cross fingers!).  

Therefore, driving is slow, running is a total lesson in how to avoid sprained ankles, and even walking takes intense concentration.  The main roads have drains running down the side of them, which guys dig out, and by the time they are 50cm down, the drains are filled with water. You have to jump across the drains when crossing the road. That is, if you aren’t already walking on the road, because you never know when the pavement is going to cave in….(the sand foundation on which the pavement is built gets washed out into the drains).  And aren’t drains supposed to, oh I don’t know, drain??? Not here. It’s just holes. There’s an empty section we walked past today, for sale. It’s a pond, complete with lily plants and frogs. In the middle of town. I love it. The one across the road was also pond… but somehow they have built the concrete foundation. I guess they must be waiting for dry season to finish it… as swimming across that pond to work wouldn’t be that appealing!