Back to Abuja

22 October 2010

Wednesday was another delightful day visiting our USA friends who serve in Jos, Nigeria. While the ELCA churchwide staff visited with Dorthea Hamman, I spent time with the Oyebade family (who live right next door) and Mary Beth’s parents, Rick and Sandy, who are here visiting. It was great to catch up on news and brainstorm about future possibilities. On our way to their home this morning, we stopped at the Mashiah Foundation Women of Hope shop in downtown Jos. The shop is filled with many wonderful items, quilted and sewn, as well as several wedding gowns. By Nigerian standards, the prices are a bit high for most people, but the products are high quality, so women who stop by begin to save up for the items they wish to purchase.

Mary Beth prepared a delicious taco salad lunch for us, which really hit the spot. We had had French toast that morning at the Dogon Dutse, a real treat for everyone, so one would think we would have still been full from that feast, but alas, we consumed the luncheon meal with zeal and enjoyed the homemade oatmeal cookies that Dorthea baked for us.

Following my time with the Oyebade’s, I spent two hours visiting with Dorthea and seeing their new home on the missionary compound. I learned more about Dorthea’s extended family in the USA. Both the Oyebade’s and Hamman’s will be back in the USA from May-July for their annual leave time and Dorthea is hoping her family can travel to Minnesota in order to meet their partner congregation, University Lutheran Church of Hope in Minneapolis. Her family is having a family reunion in River Falls in July, so making stop in the Twin Cities would be wonderful.

Back in 2006 we met another missionary family, Andy Horlings, who has lived and served in Jos for over 30 years. He used to be the business administrator at Hillcrest School (the ex-pat school) but left that position after a number of years and now runs a transport company. We have hired his services on the last four trips. He graciously invited Jim, Viking, Anne and I for supper at his home where we had a chance to see photographs of their five children and grandchildren and learn more about their ministry in Jos. Linda translates the Bible into Hausa and is currently working on Lamentations. They served pounded yams (which are very much like our mashed potatoes) with Agusi soup. I have seen this soup before but have never tried it. As many of you know, I am NOT an adventurous eater, but Linda coaxed me to give it a try, which I did. It was okay. My colleagues really enjoyed it; it was a bit spicy for me, but did taste good. The base is similar to spinach (which I actually like) with spices, sauce and some meat. We enjoyed a fruit platter for dessert.

When we travel to Nigeria each year, we usually do not experience rain. However, it has rained each day that we have been here. The rains do not last all day; rather, it will pour rain for 10-15 minutes, then stop for 15 minutes, then begin again. Yesterday, our drive back to Abuja was met with one shower. I believe it rained again last night, but I didn’t hear it. Upon arrival to Abuja, we said our goodbyes to Viking who had to depart for Ghana, where he serves as an ELCA missionary. Jim, Anne and I then made our way to a new restaurant called The Salamander Café, which Anne had heard served European food. The menu was great – quite a big variety to choose from and it was, indeed, western food. The prices were high, but we all agreed that one treat along the way was okay. By our standards, having a steak dinner for $20 is not all that unreasonable, but by Nigerian standards, that was very expensive.

Anne and I shared a room/bed (over sized king beds) and happened to find on TV the Masterpiece Mystery Theatre, so enjoyed watching one of the Detective Lewis movies, in between two power outages and a phone call home. For some reason I left my Nigerian cell phone on, which was a good thing, because Jim phoned to say he had left his backpack at the restaurant. I phoned our driver, Anari, and he immediately returned to the hotel to take Jim back to retrieve it. As soon as the van pulled up, the restaurant personnel ran out with his backpack, which had his glasses, contact lens case and money in it. They had been waiting for us to return and probably wondered why it took so long for us to notice it was missing.

Anne was up at 5:00a this morning in order to be driven to the airport to catch her flight to Lagos, and then on to Cameroon where she serves with her husband, Willie, as ELCA missionaries. For some unknown reason, I again decided to turn my phone on and sure enough, a call came in just as I was dozing off to sleep again, saying that she was at the domestic terminal, but that she should have gone to the international terminal. Thankfully, Anari keeps his phone on at all times, so he immediately turned around to retrieve Anne and get her to the correct terminal.

Meanwhile, we learned that the little café here at the ECWA Guest House had closed, so there was no place for Jim and I to have breakfast. We headed down the block for a nice walk at 7:30a and stopped at the Valentica Hotel, a lovely 4-5 star hotel just at the end of our street. The prices were high, but we enjoyed a nice breakfast and then stopped at a local market to purchase a few snacks for the rest of the day. The coffee was quite strong (usually not a problem for me as I like it black and strong); it had a different sort of flavor to it and Jim and I deduced that it tasked of molasses. Anne left me a European coffee warmer, so I have asked Bishop Ben to lend me a coffee mug so that I can heat up my instant Starbuck’s tomorrow morning.

Jim and I ventured out to an Italian restaurant for lunch – he had a pizza and I had spaghetti with meat sauce, all very delicious but expensive by Nigerian standards. Returned to the room to try internet again – no luck, so worked on other items before bidding farewell to Jim at 4:30 for his return flight to Amsterdam. Bishop Benjamin Fuduta arrived at 5:00 and we traveled a short distance to the Pope John Paul II Guest House where we enjoyed a nice supper of chicken, rice and fried plantanes.

The Zane wireless internet has been down since last night. However, the Pope John Paul II Guest House has an internet café with high speed computers, so if all else fails, I may go there tomorrow morning to update this blog.

As always, we are greeted warmly by everyone we pass along the way. It will be good to have a day of rest today and catch up on some paperwork. I wish my USA travelers a safe journey here – their Nigerian friends are anxious for their arrival!

Blessings on your day!