Happy Birthday Mark!

Last Friday Mark celebrated his one and only birthday here in Nigeria!  They certainly know how to celebrate here in the church office building.  Just before noon our small little office was filled with well wishers singing their version of "Happy Birthday to You".  What a wonderful day to celebrate with all our new friends!

 

Of course, to celebrate Mark wore his "Hausa" hat--one of the many tribes here in Nigeria.  He has a traditional outfit as well but we haven't taken pictures of that yet!

We topped off the day with brownies and ice cream in the Meier's apartment after a good American meal of KFC (yes, they have one here--within walking distance!) and pasta salad!

One Stop Shopping!

Just a little pic for all the ladies out there--here is how we do one stop shopping in Nigeria!  Just take a little walk down the street to the heart of the crowded market and in between the open meat shop and the "barbing salon" you find the perfect boutique--bras, purses and shoes!  What more can a girl ask?

The Amazing Human Spirit!

A few weeks ago I met an amazing woman!  I don't know her name and I only spent a few minutes with her but I think she changed my life forever.  I am not sure I had ever really realized the strength of the human spirit like I did that day.

Here she is--and this is how she gets around--walking on feet and hands!

And this was her face when we presented her with a brand new wheelchair! 

This is another woman I met that day--another grateful recipient of a new chair and some new mobility!

What a lesson that day--no words can really express what I felt!  I can't imagine having that much determination to go forward and make the best of a bad situation.  Most of us would have laid down and waited to be taken care of but these two women were extreme examples of making lemonade out of lemons.  They both work for LAWMA (Lagos Waste Management Association) sweeping pedestrian overpasses with hand brooms--proud to have a job and earn their own living. 
These are amazing women!!

Jello Jigglers!

So--for "Cookie Friday" this week we decided to try something different--something really different for most Nigerians!  We made those yummy, layered, creamy Jello Jigglers!  We had quite the reactions from some of our friends!

President Karkari--down the hatch!

Richard loved them!

Cletus--not a fan!

Felicia--not sure!

Lyndia-had a hard time "catching" them!

 

Sunday--a little unsure!

Effiong--a smile no matter what!

Idika (who smiles just like Matt Godfrey)-looks it over!

Elder Oboh and Elder Brown--a new (and not really likeable) experience!

Just a little bit of color and fun to our friends in Nigeria!

Primary School Visit

Last week we had the wonderful opportunity of visiting a small "private" school that is directly behind the church office building.  We used to look out the window at the school while we were living in the large suite waiting for our small apartment to be repaired.

Here are some pictures out of our window:

President Cletus Martin, who works in our building and is in the Lagos Stake presidency, asked if we would like to attend the school and watch some of the Primary 6 (Grade 6) students "practice teach" their class as one of their requirements. He is the PTA president at the school. What an experience! The pictures really say it all--those of you at home just look closely at the facilities, the surroundings and the supplies you see---but look closer at the cute faces!

The front of the building:

The front door:

Classroom we visited:

3 to a desk:

 

Cute friends!

A picture with the "teachers"

We were then invited to the graduation ceremony that took place the next week where we were invited to sit at the "High Table" and be special guests at the ceremony (we think now that they thought we might give a large donation to the school because we are the "rich" white people).  What we thought would be an hour or so ceremony turned into 4 1/2 hours of celebration for 4 Grade 6 students and 4 younger ones--we were never really sure what the younger ones were graduating from!!  They do know how to party here!  There were many parts of the ceremony that were interesting........

Here is the outgoing Miss Fedamic--

And here is the new Miss Fedamic for the year 2011-2012!

There were many performances of poems, singing and dancing.  We just captured a few moments on video to share.  The first shows the students dancing to a current song--wouldn't you all love to have a teacher like that?  Notice the older man in brown who goes to the front and throws money to the dancers.  That happened all during the day...I guess it is how they raise money.  Just a note--these were only 5, 10 and 20 naira bills--and the largest bill they have is 1000 naira and it is worth $7.00!

Next is a clip of a traditional Yuraba dance as performed by the students:





Just a taste of another Nigerian experience! 

Great Gobs of Egusi Soup!

 Yesterday our friend, Lyndia brought us a Nigerian specialty and one of their favorite things to eat.  How nice of her to share such treats with us!  She makes it for special occasions in her family and wanted us to experience some real Nigerian food!

So, first you start with Eba--which is made of cassava.  Sort of tasted like cornmeal to me.  It is the carbohydrate of the meal.  

 The soup can also be eaten with rice or pounded yam or foofoo.

 Being served right in our office!  Hot egusi soup with eba!

 I needed a lesson on just how to eat such a dish.  First, break off a little piece of eba (kind of has the consistency of play dough), roll it in a ball and dip into the soup!

 Then enjoy!

 This is the bowl of egusi--not sure of all the ingredients but it has many kinds of protein--stockfish, crayfish and beef that I know of.  The green specks are a bitter leaf that Lyndia showed us yesterday--they just looked like regular tree leaves to me but she told me she would wash it very well to get rid of the bitterness and then use in the soup.  There are tiny white seeds that she called melon seeds (I think that is what she said)--egusi seeds.  And--the binding ingredient is natural palm oil.  Lyndia assures me that this is the perfect food--has all the food groups represented--and would make us strong and healthy!

 And so we ate...............

 and ate.......

 and enjoyed???? 

It actually had a good taste but not something I could eat a lot of.  Lyndia was very disappointed when she came back and we had not eaten the bone (not sure if it was bone--sort of the grisel or tendon on beef brisket) as that is something they treasure!  Look how wasteful we North Americans are--we think bones are to throw away!  We have been intrigued earlier that, when chicken is served, most Nigerians eat many of the bones as well as the meat.  Again--making use of every little piece!

All in all--another great experience and a good journal entry!

Canada Day in Nigeria

Since we weren't home in Penticton to celebrte Canada Day at the ward pancake breakfast followed by a day of boating and ending with the fireworks display down by the Sicamous we decided to celebrate in our own way here in Nigeria.  Since it was Friday and the traditional "Cookie Day" that we started here we celebrated with Canada Day cupcakes instead of cookies.  Since it was District Meetings we shared with the missionaries--quite a hit as you can see!

 

Thank heavens there was a few left for the offices in the Service Center.  Our homemade Canada flags on toothpicks look pretty good I think!

 

To end the day we invited everyone in the Mission home for a Canada Day picnic--food was yummy and the company was great! 

Happy Canada Day!