Nigeria News

Belated Happy New Year!

Christmas and the New Year feel long ago, now that we’ve already passed the halfway mark of January. My last post was over a month ago! I’ve missed communicating with you and want to share our news from Nigeria. I have a few pictures, and Sam has promised a video next week!

I hope your holidays were as full of family and fun as ours and your new year is going well.

Christmas in Lagos

Clem and I had a wonderful family Christmas in Lagos with sons Chinaku and Sam, Sam’s wife Onome and their children Teya, 9-year-old girl, and Bruche, 7-year-old boy. Later in the day we all attended a party with old friends.

For the children it was all about the presents! They were thrilled with everything but each had a favorite.

For Bruche the Hotwheels Corkscrew Crash Set with remote control racing cars was a major hit. It was really noisy too which added to the appeal.

For Teya the Barbie Care Clinic vehicle was a winner. It had a siren for responding to emergencies, and then transformed into a full clinic with TV in the waiting area. There were lots of amazing accessories. I really wanted to play with it too!

Aig, Chinaku’s good friend, held the party later in the day. Clem and I sat with Aig’s parents Frank and Emily. I hadn’t seen them for a few years and loved the chance to catch up. We lived across the street from them for several years in the 1970s when our children were young.

Impounded Cows

We stayed with Sam. His TV was on frequently, usually tuned to CNN. I looked at it now and then. On the 27th, the day before leaving for Nanka, I noticed “impounds cows” in the scroll across the bottom of the screen. I watched to read it fully: “Benue govt impounds 105 cows over open grazing.”

I know conflict between herders and farmers over use of land is an important issue. But I had to wonder where the impounded cows were taken. Were the Benue State police or officials enjoying plentiful beef stew?

To the Village

On December 28 we drove the 300+ miles to Nanka with Sam. Seeing relatives is always heartwarming. I was thrilled when Sam took charge of arrangements – getting water delivered, buying drinks, checking on the generator, and sorting out the menus and shopping to feed the ten members of the security detail and our family. What a relief!

Also thrilling was having our daughter Beth and granddaughter Nkiru join us for five days! Nkiru was last in Nigeria four years ago. She was embraced by her cousins then. Now at 19 she loved the relationships even more and felt completely at home.

Chinaku, who had said he wouldn’t come, did! A great surprise and pleasure, even though his stay was brief.

Time with family members is precious and fun! Our New Year’s Eve party is always popular. Twenty or thirty people assemble around 12:30, after the New Year’s Eve church service has ended. By 1 we were listening to serious advice from several men, and when we’d heard enough, someone put on music and the dancing started.

Two experts showed us their fantastic moves. Nkiru and others joined them. Clem and I finally went to bed around 3!

Masquerades

Masquerades are the highlight of the holidays. January 2nd is the designated day for the masquerades in our village, Enugu Nanka, to come out. They were wondrous as usual.

For the first time I saw a masquerade transported in a vehicle! We saw him first when we were visiting friends half a mile down the road. An hour later he appeared at our house, coming out of the back of a pickup truck! He was gorgeous, with front-and-back facing mask, the front like an alligator and the back a man.

Black in Africa

Two nights later, on the 2nd in Nanka, we were talking with Beth and Sam, Isaiah’s wife Becca, her daughter Akaoma and Akaoma’s friend Jean. Jean was describing someone, and to show she knew who it was, Becca said, “She’s black.”

I said, “Isn’t everyone here black?”

Of course I know the range of skin shades among people of color. Still my reaction as the only white woman for miles around struck us all as very funny.

I wish we could talk about race so easily in the US. 

What was fun, funny, exciting, or heartwarming about your holidays?