I’ve been to two different birthday parties here in Jalingo within the last few weeks. Birthday parties in Jalingo are much different from the birthday parties that I am used to back in the US. Let me describe my first experience to give you an idea of the differences.
My friend Gloria who works at “my” internet café informed me weeks in advance that her birthday was approaching and she would like me to attend her party. I promised that I would be present. It was held at a big meeting room above the café. I went upstairs to find the room decorated in cloth, streamers and balloons and lined with chairs. I took a seat and pretended not to notice that everyone had stopped talking to stare at me. I was graciously introduced to her family seated around me and was told that “the program will begin soon”. I thought, program? What will this program entail? I soon realized that there was an MC who proceeded to welcome, “family, friends, supporters and well-wishers of the celebrant”. Then, Gloria henceforth referred to as “the celebrant” also formally welcomed everyone. Everyone was then asked to introduce themselves and state where they were from.
Next, the “cake baker” was introduced and asked to say a word about the cake. I had NO idea what to expect this to entail, but before I could wonder any further, my friend Ezekiel, the cake baker, called ME up to say a word about the cake from a chemists perspective! Oh my goodness…first of all, I don’t like standing up and speaking in front of groups in the US…it’s even worse here in Nigeria because people are really all listening to hear what the white girl is going to say. Secondly, I had NO idea if I was truly supposed to talk about it from a chemist’s perspective or if he was joking. Since I was able to come up with something chemical to say about it, I took a chance after deliberating for the entirety of 5 seconds that it took me to walk up to the front of the room. I settled on “the purple frosting reminds me of potassium because potassium has a purple flame test” and “the white frosting reminds me of a white precipitate”. People seemed to readily accept that with smiles and applause. I took my seat as quickly as possible.
The ceremony progressed with a cake cutting ceremony, dance, formal pictures and food provided to her guests by the celebrant. It was quite the occasion. However, I was told by many that this was a very “low key” event. I’m not sure I could handle a fancy one! In support of this comment, I attended my friend Laura’s birthday party this past week and found a very similar program to be followed! Oh...I forgot, there was a lot of praying too. Praying is a good thing, but I was simply unaccustomed to so much praying at a birthday party! Faith here is something that is truly integrated into every aspect of their lives.
Here is the link to some pictures from the event as well as a random assortment of others:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43972&l=d8541&id=501312909
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
HIV in Nigeria
Today, I was informed (by way of memo being physically walked around to all the teachers) that there was going to be an HIV Educational Seminar this afternoon…not for the students, but for the teachers! I was kind of surprised but interested. Since coming here, I’ve noticed that there are billboards, seminars and events all related to HIV prevention, but I hadn’t personally attended anything. At the onset of the program, I was reflecting on the fact that I don’t remember ever having any formal and specific HIV/AIDS education after 4th grade when the nurse came in to talk to us about Magic Johnson being diagnosed with HIV and explaining the condition to us. Certainly, it has been covered in various health classes amongst other STD’s in health classes but never again in isolation.
After some conversations, I was able to correlate the prevalence of HIV/AIDS here in Nigeria to the prevalence of cancer in the US. They were shocked that I didn’t personally know anyone with HIV and equally surprised when I said that I easily know 20 people who either have or have had cancer. They couldn’t find a single person that had been formally diagnosed with cancer!
I learned SO MUCH! I was definitely taking notes! Here are some of the tragic facts that I learned:
*Nigeria has the 5th highest prevalence of HIV in the world with at least 10 governors and senators living with the disease (only surpassed by India, South Africa, Uganda, and Botswana).
*Taraba State (my state) has a 6% rate of infection, and “in Jalingo it’s running rampant!”
*Barber Shops are a common place of transference because the clippers are rarely disinfected sufficiently.
*HIV is not automatically passed from an infected woman to her baby. If the baby is delivered by C-section and she doesn’t breast feed, they baby can be safe!
*If the breast milk is heated at 67oC, the HIV will be killed, but the important nutrients will be saved (I question the feasibility of “exactly 67”, but found it interesting nonetheless).
*HIV is anaerobic meaning it lives in environments depleted of oxygen. This is one of the prime reasons that it isn’t typically transferred through saliva and sweat…there’s an abundance of oxygen around!
*There are two types of HIV…Type I is more aggressive while Type II is more gradual which is why it’s important for those who are infected to continue to take caution. They could contract a more aggressive strain.
*HIV tests here in Nigeria (and most of the developing world), PCR and ELISA, don’t give instant results but instead give you your status as of 6 months ago and one has to get retested to confirm their negative status.
Then, at the end of the program, we were given the opportunity to be tested for free! I think that I was the only person who was being tested for the first time. Everyone was surprised that I’d never been tested. I tried to explain to them that since I wasn’t engaging in high risk-behavior I had never even considered it. Here in Nigeria, regardless of life-style choices, everyone is strongly encouraged to get tested on a regular basis.
In a private room, a man asked about any high-risk activities that I’d been involved in which I expected, but then I was surprised by the next question. What will be your thoughts if the test comes back positive? I hadn’t even considered it. It was harrowing to contemplate, but my initial reaction was that I would be shocked and confused. Then, he pricked my finger quickly returning my thoughts to the present. 5 minutes later I thankfully found out that I am officially HIV negative and will receive a certificate to prove it!
I've added some new pictures recently to some older albums. Here are the links:
UMCN Nursery Primary School; College of Education; Wedding Attire
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37892&l=661e1&id=501312909
JSS Faculty House Dedication Ceremony
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=35471&l=4f4c3&id=501312909
After some conversations, I was able to correlate the prevalence of HIV/AIDS here in Nigeria to the prevalence of cancer in the US. They were shocked that I didn’t personally know anyone with HIV and equally surprised when I said that I easily know 20 people who either have or have had cancer. They couldn’t find a single person that had been formally diagnosed with cancer!
I learned SO MUCH! I was definitely taking notes! Here are some of the tragic facts that I learned:
*Nigeria has the 5th highest prevalence of HIV in the world with at least 10 governors and senators living with the disease (only surpassed by India, South Africa, Uganda, and Botswana).
*Taraba State (my state) has a 6% rate of infection, and “in Jalingo it’s running rampant!”
*Barber Shops are a common place of transference because the clippers are rarely disinfected sufficiently.
*HIV is not automatically passed from an infected woman to her baby. If the baby is delivered by C-section and she doesn’t breast feed, they baby can be safe!
*If the breast milk is heated at 67oC, the HIV will be killed, but the important nutrients will be saved (I question the feasibility of “exactly 67”, but found it interesting nonetheless).
*HIV is anaerobic meaning it lives in environments depleted of oxygen. This is one of the prime reasons that it isn’t typically transferred through saliva and sweat…there’s an abundance of oxygen around!
*There are two types of HIV…Type I is more aggressive while Type II is more gradual which is why it’s important for those who are infected to continue to take caution. They could contract a more aggressive strain.
*HIV tests here in Nigeria (and most of the developing world), PCR and ELISA, don’t give instant results but instead give you your status as of 6 months ago and one has to get retested to confirm their negative status.
Then, at the end of the program, we were given the opportunity to be tested for free! I think that I was the only person who was being tested for the first time. Everyone was surprised that I’d never been tested. I tried to explain to them that since I wasn’t engaging in high risk-behavior I had never even considered it. Here in Nigeria, regardless of life-style choices, everyone is strongly encouraged to get tested on a regular basis.
In a private room, a man asked about any high-risk activities that I’d been involved in which I expected, but then I was surprised by the next question. What will be your thoughts if the test comes back positive? I hadn’t even considered it. It was harrowing to contemplate, but my initial reaction was that I would be shocked and confused. Then, he pricked my finger quickly returning my thoughts to the present. 5 minutes later I thankfully found out that I am officially HIV negative and will receive a certificate to prove it!
I've added some new pictures recently to some older albums. Here are the links:
UMCN Nursery Primary School; College of Education; Wedding Attire
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37892&l=661e1&id=501312909
JSS Faculty House Dedication Ceremony
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=35471&l=4f4c3&id=501312909
Popcorn!
I know that I’ve already written extensively about food, but it’s a big part of my world here! I’ve recently made banana pancakes, cinnamon rolls which were quite yummy. I’m pretty proud of myself considering I have no measurement tools…I’m not sure what they would be officially called in the culinary world. I’ve decided that my plastic mug is similar in diameter to a cup and my small cup is similar to the half-cup diameter and therefore estimate the heights that would be equivalent. These estimates would be easier had I cooked at all prior to coming to Nigeria, yet I seem to be faring quite well!
Upon suggestions from a friend, I brought some popcorn. Sadly to say, I had never cooked popcorn in anything but a microwave. Since it was popcorn from the US, it had instructions! I heated what seemed like an excessive amount of oil then popped what looked like a small amount of kernels into a surprisingly large amount of popcorn! I was shocked to see the excessive amount of oil was almost all gone! I know about the law of conservation of mass…that oil went into my popcorn. I decided to ignore the fact that I was consuming an obscene amount of cooking oil, added some salt and enjoyed some decadent popcorn!
As I was savoring each kernel, I began to think about the 100 calorie bags of butter flavored popcorn I used to eat back home. How can they make it pop with so little oil? What strange chemicals was I consuming to have it taste so good yet only cost 100 calories? This is the second time the question of additives, chemical preservatives, synthetic food has come to the forefront of my thinking. Back home, tomatoes would last for a week or so before starting to spoil. Here, if you get 2 days before spoilage it’s a victory! Maybe it’s the superiority of the tomato genes in North America, but I venture to bet that it has something to do with some artificial chemical added along the way. I’m not sure how I feel about this. I definitely enjoyed the fact that I got a bigger widow than 36 hours to use my tomatoes, but at what cost? It’s a quandary.
My final food reflection (for now) is that food that I consumed in the US must have significant amounts of sugar and salt and flavorings added to it because I feel like I add copious amounts of these condiments to everything!
Upon suggestions from a friend, I brought some popcorn. Sadly to say, I had never cooked popcorn in anything but a microwave. Since it was popcorn from the US, it had instructions! I heated what seemed like an excessive amount of oil then popped what looked like a small amount of kernels into a surprisingly large amount of popcorn! I was shocked to see the excessive amount of oil was almost all gone! I know about the law of conservation of mass…that oil went into my popcorn. I decided to ignore the fact that I was consuming an obscene amount of cooking oil, added some salt and enjoyed some decadent popcorn!
As I was savoring each kernel, I began to think about the 100 calorie bags of butter flavored popcorn I used to eat back home. How can they make it pop with so little oil? What strange chemicals was I consuming to have it taste so good yet only cost 100 calories? This is the second time the question of additives, chemical preservatives, synthetic food has come to the forefront of my thinking. Back home, tomatoes would last for a week or so before starting to spoil. Here, if you get 2 days before spoilage it’s a victory! Maybe it’s the superiority of the tomato genes in North America, but I venture to bet that it has something to do with some artificial chemical added along the way. I’m not sure how I feel about this. I definitely enjoyed the fact that I got a bigger widow than 36 hours to use my tomatoes, but at what cost? It’s a quandary.
My final food reflection (for now) is that food that I consumed in the US must have significant amounts of sugar and salt and flavorings added to it because I feel like I add copious amounts of these condiments to everything!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Central Market vs Super Wal-Mart
I feel pretty confident getting around Jalingo (that is my little area of Jalingo) on my own. However, I had yet to conquer the central market independently. For those of you who have been dedicated blog followers, you’ll remember one of my first market excursions with my friend Laura where we bought a live chicken. I have been back a few times since but always with a friend leading the way. It always seems so daunting while I’m there that I had decided to try to avoid it by going to smaller little markets that are closer to my home. However, there are certain things that are unavailable at smaller markets that I really wanted such as Diet Coke, knitting pins, and wheat (to make whole wheat bread). I decided that the only way to conquer my apprehension regarding the market was to face it head on. I figured that maybe by going alone I would be able to learn my way around it better as opposed to following a friend blindly similarly to how you can better remember how to get somewhere when you’re driving car versus when you’re only a passenger!
On the taxi ride home, I was likening a trip to the market with a trip to Super Wal-Mart. The market is probably the size of 4-5 square blocks, hence larger than a Super Wal-Mart. Both contain nearly everything you need. However, in Wal-Mart items are organized categorically. One may not agree with the particular section that a particular item was placed, but they’re all together. At the market, there seems to be some sort of organization, but really everything is mixed together. I’m not really sure what the difference is among the 35 (probably a significant under-estimation) different tomato vendors or whether it is better to buy tomatoes from one of the vendors that is clustered together in a group 10 or to buy them from the person that is placed amongst the fabric. I’ve yet to get a definitive answer about that. Back to the comparison…both places are jam packed with people. However, in Wal-Mart the aisles are indoors, tiled, level, and about 6 feet wide. The market walk-ways are outdoors, rutted dirt and sand with puddles and just wide enough for one wheel barrow to get through. Never mind the challenge that is presented when the wheelbarrows try to pass by throngs of people!
Wal-Mart claims to have a helpful smile in every aisle (okay…I’ve later realized it’s not Wal-Mart, but good old Hy-Vee in Iowa…nonetheless…), but I’m confident that the Jalingo market has them outclassed in customer service. While the market is significantly deficient in adequate signage (none exists), it compensates by having many friendly people who are willing to struggle through the language barrier in order to understand what I need and then often personally take me great distances through a congested labyrinth simply to help me find what I’m looking for.
At Wal-Mart, large carts are provided to ease your shopping burden. This is not so at the Jalingo market. I have my arms and my large canvas HEB shopping bag, which has proven to be invaluable, to carry all items from the market to my house. Due to a weight limit that I am able to carry, I am forced to thoughtfully weigh the benefits of buying certain things with the costs of having to carry them for the rest of the shopping excursion. There are certain things that can only be purchased at the market and therefore those are non-negotiable, but other things that they may be cheaper at the main market are not cheap enough to justify carrying them around all over creation.
Wal-Mart, as you all know, is set up so that one collects all desired items and then brings them up to the check out to pay one grand total of a bill typically by debit or credit card. At the market, each item is purchased from a different vendor as a separate cash transaction. Nigeria, as a country, is still very much a cash-based society. That was quite the change for a girl who has purchased everything on a credit card for her entire adult life.
The final hurdle is finding my way out of the market, back to the main road, securing a taxi, and adequately communicating where I want to be dropped. As I was riding home I was considering whether or not I had conquered the market. I came to the conclusion that I had. The main market is not my favorite place in all of Jalingo, but I am now confident that though I will never know my way around the prodigious place of commerce known as the market, I am able to navigate it with a reasonable degree of success. I managed to get all necessary items and a few bonus ones that I didn’t even know existed let alone know that I needed!
On the taxi ride home, I was likening a trip to the market with a trip to Super Wal-Mart. The market is probably the size of 4-5 square blocks, hence larger than a Super Wal-Mart. Both contain nearly everything you need. However, in Wal-Mart items are organized categorically. One may not agree with the particular section that a particular item was placed, but they’re all together. At the market, there seems to be some sort of organization, but really everything is mixed together. I’m not really sure what the difference is among the 35 (probably a significant under-estimation) different tomato vendors or whether it is better to buy tomatoes from one of the vendors that is clustered together in a group 10 or to buy them from the person that is placed amongst the fabric. I’ve yet to get a definitive answer about that. Back to the comparison…both places are jam packed with people. However, in Wal-Mart the aisles are indoors, tiled, level, and about 6 feet wide. The market walk-ways are outdoors, rutted dirt and sand with puddles and just wide enough for one wheel barrow to get through. Never mind the challenge that is presented when the wheelbarrows try to pass by throngs of people!
Wal-Mart claims to have a helpful smile in every aisle (okay…I’ve later realized it’s not Wal-Mart, but good old Hy-Vee in Iowa…nonetheless…), but I’m confident that the Jalingo market has them outclassed in customer service. While the market is significantly deficient in adequate signage (none exists), it compensates by having many friendly people who are willing to struggle through the language barrier in order to understand what I need and then often personally take me great distances through a congested labyrinth simply to help me find what I’m looking for.
At Wal-Mart, large carts are provided to ease your shopping burden. This is not so at the Jalingo market. I have my arms and my large canvas HEB shopping bag, which has proven to be invaluable, to carry all items from the market to my house. Due to a weight limit that I am able to carry, I am forced to thoughtfully weigh the benefits of buying certain things with the costs of having to carry them for the rest of the shopping excursion. There are certain things that can only be purchased at the market and therefore those are non-negotiable, but other things that they may be cheaper at the main market are not cheap enough to justify carrying them around all over creation.
Wal-Mart, as you all know, is set up so that one collects all desired items and then brings them up to the check out to pay one grand total of a bill typically by debit or credit card. At the market, each item is purchased from a different vendor as a separate cash transaction. Nigeria, as a country, is still very much a cash-based society. That was quite the change for a girl who has purchased everything on a credit card for her entire adult life.
The final hurdle is finding my way out of the market, back to the main road, securing a taxi, and adequately communicating where I want to be dropped. As I was riding home I was considering whether or not I had conquered the market. I came to the conclusion that I had. The main market is not my favorite place in all of Jalingo, but I am now confident that though I will never know my way around the prodigious place of commerce known as the market, I am able to navigate it with a reasonable degree of success. I managed to get all necessary items and a few bonus ones that I didn’t even know existed let alone know that I needed!
Friday, November 7, 2008
Africa's Reaction to the Election!
The United States has elected a new president! After months and months of endless campaigning, Barack Obama will be the new president. On Tuesday, afternoon I tried to find a radio station that was talking about the polls opening. The English stations weren’t talking about the election yet and the Hausa stations were definitely talking about it but all I could understand was blah blah blah Obama blah blah blah McCain. It was torture for a person like me who loves political commentary! Radio coverage on the BBC didn’t start until 11pm here. So, I went to bed and asked my friend back home to please text me as soon as there was a winner!
Now, over the past few weeks I had begun to recognize how interested the people of Nigeria were in the election, but nothing compared to the response on Wednesday. Everyone in Jalingo was “watching” to see who would win, not just the educated, well-off people but people who hadn’t finished high school and had never left Taraba state were aware and interested in the results. The people of Jalingo, Nigeria and all of Africa are ecstatic to have Obama, a person of African descent in the White House. It was the first time I fully understood what an effect the president of the United States of America has on the entire world.
Around 4am, I received a text saying that Obama had won! While I was getting ready for school Wednesday morning, I listened to numerous reports on the radio that gave snip-its of both McCain’s concession speech and Obama’s victory speech. I was so encouraged to hear Obama’s call for unity that people of all races, religions, economic backgrounds. I hope and pray that we, as a country, will be able to move forward in a positive direction amongst the many national and international challenges.
My friends and co-workers here were all congratulating me on a good election. Some of the comments I heard were, “It was such a civilized election!” “I can’t believe McCain simply conceded defeat!” “What a blessing to have such a free and fair election!” “I can’t believe a white country would elect a black man to be president!” After listening to these comments, I realized in a new way what a unique and special government and political system that we have in the United States. I guess it made up for feeling a little homesick that I was missing out on the election excitement and election parties back home!
Now, over the past few weeks I had begun to recognize how interested the people of Nigeria were in the election, but nothing compared to the response on Wednesday. Everyone in Jalingo was “watching” to see who would win, not just the educated, well-off people but people who hadn’t finished high school and had never left Taraba state were aware and interested in the results. The people of Jalingo, Nigeria and all of Africa are ecstatic to have Obama, a person of African descent in the White House. It was the first time I fully understood what an effect the president of the United States of America has on the entire world.
Around 4am, I received a text saying that Obama had won! While I was getting ready for school Wednesday morning, I listened to numerous reports on the radio that gave snip-its of both McCain’s concession speech and Obama’s victory speech. I was so encouraged to hear Obama’s call for unity that people of all races, religions, economic backgrounds. I hope and pray that we, as a country, will be able to move forward in a positive direction amongst the many national and international challenges.
My friends and co-workers here were all congratulating me on a good election. Some of the comments I heard were, “It was such a civilized election!” “I can’t believe McCain simply conceded defeat!” “What a blessing to have such a free and fair election!” “I can’t believe a white country would elect a black man to be president!” After listening to these comments, I realized in a new way what a unique and special government and political system that we have in the United States. I guess it made up for feeling a little homesick that I was missing out on the election excitement and election parties back home!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Daily Musings
These next blurbs are things that I think about or encounter on a nearly daily basis that I take note of or giggle about in my head but due to a lack of any American companions they don’t really come up in conversation. I thought I’d share them through this venue!
Showers
I realize that I’m incredibly blessed to have running water here in Jalingo and I really appreciate the fact that I can shower everyday! I feel like I have even adjusted to cold showers. In fact, on the mornings that I run, the cold shower actually feels good! It is a prime motivating factor that drags me out of bed in the mornings 3 days a week.
This past week there has been a marked change in weather. The nights have been refreshingly cool! So cold, in fact, that I have been sleeping in long pants and a sweatshirt, which is absolutely delightful! However, the colder nights, which produce much improved sleeping conditions, also make my shower water colder! It’s a quandary. This morning, I decided that some morning calisthenics were in order. That’s right, I was definitely doing sit-ups and jumping jacks first thing this morning for the sole purpose of getting warmer so that the shower would feel better…you may be laughing, but it worked! Next time you feel like laughing, take a shower with the temperature setting all the way on cold! :)
Moon
One thing that’s been interesting to observe is the changing phases of the moon. I can’t say that I’d ever really taken notice what phase the moon was in except on the rare occasions that the full moon looks extra pretty. Here, there is a significant difference in the amount of light at night depending on whether it is a full moon or a new moon. The extra light is welcomed when I’m walking at night because it makes the flash light, or torch light as they’re called here, nearly unnecessary. However, when it’s a new moon, the sky is so dark and the stars here are beautiful! Sometimes I just sit outside with my generator turned off and gaze up at the sparkling stars and the blur of the Milky Way…pretty amazing really!
Washing Clothes and Cooking
This past weekend I did my laundry for the second time by hand. It ended up being 3 weeks again since the last time I had done laundry. It wasn’t a good decision the first time I waited 3 weeks and it was an equally poor choice this time! Doing laundry the first time by hand was novel, this second time the novelty was wearing off. While it is a physically more demanding process to wring out every item of clothing once after washing and once after rinsing overall, it does takes less time! I was able to do all of my laundry in about 2 hours and have it all drying on the line for the day. At home, one must be around every 45 minutes or so to switch out the loads!
With cooking, I have developed a system and come to a few conclusions. I have figured out how to cook enough “soup” to last for 3-4 days and then I can fix either rice or tuwo of some sort to go with it each night. I much prefer cooking twice a week to nightly. I’ve also determined that my joy of cooking is inversely proportional to my level of hunger. That is, I detest cooking when I am super hungry! However, if I actually begin preparing food before being hungry, it’s not that bad. I grew up in a household where the household workload was shared. My dad cooked the meals and my mom cleaned up. My roommate and I had employed a similar system when I was living in
Band-aids and Neosporin
Since arriving in Jalingo, I have received and inflicted significantly more scrapes and cuts than I’ve ever had! Partly because I’m cooking more, partly because I haven’t purchased a can open yet, partly because everything is done with rudimentary tools and partly because mosquitoes love me and I lack self-control when it comes to itching their bites. These contributing factors equate to me having all sorts of skin impalements. Since I am avoiding infection at all cost, I am striving to keep these cuts covered with a band-aid and Neosporin! However, one day I cut myself at school and when I went to the clinic I was amused that they didn’t have any band-aids. Now, they were fabulous and able to disinfect me and put a piece of cotton over it covered by tape (essentially a band-aid)! But it made me giggle on the inside that something I take as common here is uncommon. I brought quite a few band-aids with me and now carry a couple in my purse. Live and learn! :)
Is it Tuesday?
Now, Tuesday was a special day for me in Boerne because it meant dollar mochas at Bear Moon Bakery, so I found myself asking “Is it Tuesday?” on a regular basis. Now that I’m in Jalingo, the question has been altered. Presently, I habitually ask myself “Is it malaria Tuesday?” Yeah, it doesn’t really have the same ring as “Is it malaria Monday?” a phrase that a friend of mine suggested, but the very first week that I was supposed to take my pill, I forgot on Monday and so I took the first one on a Tuesday. Thankfully, I haven’t forgotten since then! Sleeping beneath a mosquito net nightly is a pretty good reminder!
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