Weekend and Ibadan
Trip Start
Mar 24, 2008
1
17
20
Trip End
May 25, 2008
Abuja,
Nigeria
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Next day I woke up at nine, and guess what the service was on, and the same procedure as last Sunday. Screaming, shouting, and hallelujahs were flying and I was thinking: Will it ever end? It did end, only after 2 and a half hours. I actually snuck a peek and I was surprised that there were only six-seven people. In addition, around 12 the next service started some hundred meters away in the hotel next to us so I decided to call Egghead and seek refuge. So I went to egghead and this time I found my way on my own. It was supposed to be electricity in Eggheads area that day, but they had not had a blink of it the whole day, so it was pretty hot. We had some good conversations about politics and I got to explain my theories about Nigeria, which is really useful for me. After a while, we decided to sit outside as the neighbours had a party. It was a 'one year after my husband died' party and it was mainly women from a minority tribe in the east. They were dancing and shouting, as African women do. It was very nice and we had much fun watching them. Off course we had beer and the kids were running to the small local place had picking them up for us as we went along. Around seven, this other guy was going home so I joined him. It had started raining so when we took the bikes we got pretty wet, but as it was 25 degrees it was not the end of the world. The poor biker was shivering and he did not find it amusing at all. Back at my place, I watched 'who wants to be a millionaire' Nigeria. The funny thing was that when people asked the audience for help, the audience had no idea the three times they asked for help, and this were pretty easy questions which I knew the answers to, but it was pretty funny.
But the most important thing that happened was that Egghead's friend Kelvin wanted me to come to Port Harcourt, in the Niger Delta. It is a large city with around 5 million people (or more) and known for its hard environment. He said he could get me to a meeting with Prof. Okoko, who is the leader of the biggest organisation in Nigeria, consisting of hundreds of different groups in the Niger Delta. He is a political scientist, and it would be very beneficial for my thesis. The embassy and my family are not as exited as me, but then again I know what I am going to and Kelvin has arranged to take good care of me, and I am sleeping at campus, even if that is not as safe as it sounds, as Nigeria's universities are ridden with gangs and clashes. But I'll stay out of trouble. The Niger Delta is actually one of few places in the world the Foreign affairs recommend not going to, together with Iraq, Colombia, Southern Afghanistan and Darfur, but as long as I stay with the locals, I will be fine. Oye, Egghead's friend also said he got get me a friend of his to be a kind of bodyguard for me, but hopefully I won't need it. However, it is always good to have the option Firstly I am going back to Ibadan and I am going to meet some professors at the university there. As this was decided yesterday I don't have any where to sleep or I don't know where I am going, but I guess I'll find my way. I've been in Ibadan, which is around 7-8 millioni people, but then again that is a pretty straight forward city, known for email fraud and not violent crime. If you ever got an 'Nigeria mail asking to give away your bank account number, I can bet you it was coming from Ibadan. So I have some interesting days ahead, and I hope I will meet some interesting people and .not any bad guys. I'll take the 8 hour bumpy ride as last time and hopefully I will get a better seat than last time. Time will show, so stay tuned for more happy days☺
