HIV/AIDS Development Fund, Widows Self Help Training

Today was an interesting day. Extra food continues this week. I will probably put on weight this week. Sunday after the Ordination Ceremony I attended two receptions and had take home food for a couple of day. Tuesday Yakubu was hungry so we stopped at Friendship Cottage Guesthouse for a large plate of spaghetti and fish. Wednesday Pastor Ruth wanted to out to eat so we went to Tastey Menu and I had a big plate of rice and Spanish Chicken. This evening I went out to see what the Widows Self Help group was learning and they were baking corn cakes in a charcoal oven and frying donuts in a pan of peanut oil over a wood fire. (What I call 3 rocks and a pot cooking.) Their training is organized by Devine Comforter's Ministires Intl.

Widows in Nigeria and many other African countries have difficult lifes.  Many tribes to not allow the widows to inherit their husbands estate. Many had never been trained for earning money but only for the life as a wife. Life as an African Women is hard. Go out early to collect fire wood and water. Cook pound some corn or other grain to make a porridge for breakfast. Swipe the sand in their compound and start lunch, wash clothes, help with the planting, etc,.

When a man looses his wife he usually remarries. But widows are not seen as someone to marry. Also many of the widows lost their husbands to HIV/AIDS and themselves have HIV/AIDS.

They are here behind my house. I stopped over to see what they were doing and got to sample their donuts and corn cake. The charcoal stove is hard to regulate the heat and they used too much charcoal. The outside of the corn cake was a "burnt offering". The corn cake is very much like cornbread you get Alabama but a little sweeter and firmer.  The organization is going to donate 10 charcoal stoves to the widows in Northeast Nigeria. Each stove is just under $100 (15,000 Naira). This is a lot on money for these women.The training includes soap making, jewelry making,  cooking and money management.   But when you are worried about where the money will come from to buy food tomorrow, it is hard to think about saving a few Naira to help you make more money in the future.

We discussed the concept used by Heifer Project with animals and farming. That a group 15 to 20 of women would get organized as an association. The would decide who will get the first 5 stoves based on who was most ready operate a baking business. The other women would know who will be 6th and 7th and so on. When the first 5 pay back enough to buy another stove the 6th person gets a stove. When the first six pay back another $100 then the 7th stove is bought. All the women in line for a stove are watching the others and making sure they are paying back the loans and not out buying new wrappers. They were interested in the idea.

The organizers and I were talking and I mentioned my solar cooker. They said the poor widows could not afford a cooker. So I showed them my cooker made from waste boxes and aluminum foil. Tomorrow I will have to put it out and heat up some ramin soup.

Tomorrow they will be making soap. I have never seen the process, except on TV. The Spring of Hope HIV/AIDS Support Group was trained last year but have not been able to raise the money to buy the equipment. They asked me to find them $400 in America. I offered to arrange a Development Loan the Spring of Hope but the women that were doing the soap project wanted a gift that they do not have to repay. I told them that they did not want to start a business they just wanted charity.

Farah James the Director of Spring of Hope told me that they have a development fund that is a rotating loan fund but it is too small for the soap project. They have collected Naira in small bills from members of the group and those who contribute can submit a proposal to a committee to get a loan. If the committee agrees that it is a sound proposal and the member is in good standing then the money is loaned.

 The LCCN Deaf Centre is also talking about starting a development loan fund. So I suggested that Farah get with Pastor Ruth to explain how their fund works. The amount of money is small so they cannot keep it in a bank account. The banks here charge fees for everything you do in your account. You can easily use up much of your money in fees if you only have a few thousand Naira. They have a locked box. The box is in Farah's possession as the custodian of the money. Three other people have the three keys for the three padlocks. To get any money out you need all four people to be present.

Most of my day today I was either working on Yakubu's Visa Application or drawing illustrations for the pump repair class we will have before I leave. Going out to talk with the widows, Farah and getting some free food made for nice breaks in my day.  Drawing in a 95 degree room is a challenge to keep the sweat off of your paper. I bought a student drawing board, a tee-square, and a set of triangles. Now to remember back to my drafting class from 1972. At home I would just do it on CADD and take it to Kinko's to print on their large format printer. This is my sketch to show that the underground geology in this area can be complex and not like the simple drawings in the Lifewater manual we will be using for our class.

It is already past 11 PM and I have probably used more than half a tank of fuel in my little generator. Time to shut down the electricity and hope the Power Holding Company turns on the power tonight so I can sleep under a running ceiling fan.

Drivers License, Deaf Centre and other things

The last few days have been interesting. Sunday was the ordination of two of my friends. Pastor Ruth Ulea is now the first and only Deaf pastor in the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria and Pastor Adama Isa Raymond is going to be an instructor at Bronnum Lutheran Seminary. Adama spent two years at Luther Seminary in St. Paul. At end of her first year she came home and got married. Nine months later her daughter was born in St. Paul. While she is a Minnesotan and has a US Passport she still does not want to get too close to that Batura (White Man).

After the ordination I got in the borrowed Toyota Land Cruiser, Prado and headed for Jimeta with two members of the local Deaf congregation. This is the first time I have called it a congregation. Since there was no pastor I had been referring to Sunday Services at the LCCN Deaf Centre. Now I think I can call it a congregation. The Prado is Yakubu's mechanics car. What a piece Junk. At 60 Km/hr it just about shakes off the road. The brakes are soft and the tires bald and hard. Whenever you brake softly or make and easy turn the wheels squeal like you are pushing it to the limits. The three second rule is more like 6 seconds. But if you have a 6 second gap here it will be filled up with cars immediately. The transmission has to be double clutched for most gears and first has to be jambed in. The radiator cap is missing the internal parts so when the engine heats up the water just boils away. I now carry water with me when I use it. For short trips around town it is ok. This morning I will run to the filling station for get fuel for my generator and a few liters for the Prado. We will probably be giving it back to the mechanic today or tomorrow. Maybe, if we keep it he will actually work on the Land-ota that he has had for over a year.

The past couple of days I should have been making drawings for the pump repair class but instead I have been making a drawing of possible patio modifications for the Deaf Centre to make it a better place to hold services and better as a school.This is just a concept to get conversations started. To the immediate left (west) of the center is a public school pit latrine. The smell is not good. They had proposed a wall to block the smell a little, a new higher and more pitched roof over the existing patio and a gutter system for the existing roof.

I took this a few step further and made a storage room on the west end. I extended the patio to the east end of the building and excavated the east half to make stadium style seating. There are only three levels and they are wide enough for benches and desks for school or two rows of benches on each level for services. Foru services this is about 50% more seating. Currently, the Pastor stand in front of people who are seated on benches at the same level. To read her sign they have to always be looking up. This makes for sore necks. The wall on the east end is to block the morning sun during services. High contrast lighting is also hard for reading sign. Black boards can be installed on both walls for outdoor classes. The roof overlaps the existing building roof and a large gutter is added to the existing roof to take the water to the west and into the existing stormwater culvert. I just thought of one more improvement as I was writing.

Yesterday I drove to the Federal Road Safety Office to get my eyes tested, photographed and digital fingerprints taken for my Drivers License Renewal. The system in concept is good but the implementation is bad. You first go to the internet to start your renewal. They have entered all the old drivers licenses in the system and you just add the new information they are asking for. Then you go to the bank and pay your fee. Take the application and the fee receipt to the Federal Road Safety Office where they verify your information, do the biometric data, and issue you a 60 day temporary renewal. Then in 60 days you go back to the office and pick up your permanent license. That is the concept. The reality is that the website had my name as Edward Johnson Jay. Yakubu's name was Linus Bulama Yakubu and his birthday was also wrong. You cannot change your name or birthday online and once you pay you cannot change it at all. The online instructions is to go the office and they will make changes. I tried to do this but they did not understand and they went online and made me a new application and printed it out for me. I did have one advantage, I went to the head of the queue as a Batura. They printed out a new application for me and I went to the bank and returned. They told me they would process it and to return tomorrow. Of course I was not going to be available so I actually returned a week later. I then went back. I had been approved. The gave me papers to to the next office where the manager, initialed it and sent me back to the first office for the eye test. It is similar to the device we use in Minnesota except it has road signs at the bottom. I could not read any of the characters at the top but they asked about the signs which I could easily read. They gave me an 80% and sent back to the second office. Here he approved again and sent back to the first office to get picture, finger prints and they issued the 60 day renewal. When I leave here in 3 weeks I will give Yakubu my 60 Day license and a letter requesting that he can pick up my permanent license. I did not have to pay anymore than what I deposited at the bank. Three years ago I had to pay cash at the office and had to add an extra 1500 Naira to pay the driving tester not to give me a driving test. This was not my choice. It is what the manager said the extra 1500 was for.

Yakubu was with me at the office to renew his license. The internet network was down so they could not go online and change his information. He will have to return again.

We had the plans for the Demsa Health Clinic Improvements and our next stop was to give them to an estimator to see if his construction costs will be as high as the estimate we got from the Architect that designed the buildings. Yakubu was talking to him as we were driving towards his office. He was out and would return in 30 minutes. About that time we were passing Frieneship Cottage Guest House and Yakubu said we should have lunch there. They have good food but are slow. I got to the Police Barracks Round-About and went all the way around at headed back to the Guest House. Then Yakubu told me we would have lunch after the meeting. But since we were here he would call the man and tell him we would be and hour. When we went into the Guest House Bishop Ben was just signing into a room and the man we were to meet was having lunch in the restaurant. Yakubu explained the project and gave him the plans and Bishop Ben joined us for lunch. He had just been to my house looking for me and to Yakubu's office. Instead we enjoyed the air conditioning and a plate of spaghetti (spicy) and fish. We think they had to go to the river and catch the fish.

Today, I will drive to get fuel for and start drawing illustrations for the pump repair class. At 4 we have a meeting with the Deaf Centre and the Cathedral. With Pastor Ruth now having a call from the Cathedral and the LCCN Deaf Centre under the LCCN Headquaters we have some questions. Some people think that the Diocese will take over responsibility for the Deaf Centre and some do not. Church politics and get messy. Simple things can have complicated relationships.

Sunday February 3rd. The Obvious is hard to see.

I have been staying in this house for the past three trips. It gets a little more habitable each time but also less structurally sound. The lack of electricity made cooking a little hard. The little  950 watt generator I bought last year is not strong enough to run the 1200 watt countertop oven. It main purpose is the little fridge, ceiling fan and the computer in the living room. The house is connected to the Cathedral power grid. They have two generators for when the national power is out and they have need of electricity. In past years the power has been out most of the time. Last year it was on about 4 hours per day, usually coming on at 2AM. I would get up and boil some water and put it in a thermos for hot tea and oatmeal in the morning. Last year I bought a little one burner stove to heat water and cook on. I have not gone to by cooking gas yet.

We got the house reconnected to the power on Saturday and have had almost continuous power. National power went out for a while but the Cathedral turned on their generator for the two services today. They shut down their generator at around 1 PM and the national power came back on at 8 PM.

 The morning showers have always been a chilling experience. Not too bad when in March and April when overnight temperatures are in the 90's. Currently, we have cool weather with a mild Hamattan. Enough dust in the sky to keep the temperature down but not enough to stop the planes. Thursday was the worst. It was a brown haze day that you could taste the air and the shadows were not very distinct. Today is very light. I could probably heat water in my solar box. Back to the morning cold shower. This morning I got up and boiled a pot of water for tea and oat meal and poured the rest in a bucket added cold water from the barrels and had a warm shower. I could have had warm showers all last year with the propane burner. I just did not think of it until this morning.

For those of you who have not seen my previous blogs I have included a pictures of the old missionary house. If you click on the picture or for some people double click they will get larger. Built in around 1950 of mud brick. The concrete that used to plaster the sides has mostly fallen off, the rafters are rotting and there are signs that termites have made their way up to the rafters. The roof leaks and water is washing away the mud brick in a few places. In the kitchen, the sink is not connected to the outside anymore. If I use it I have to put a tub under it to catch the water. I mostly use the blue tub in the picture as a sink and then when the water is dirty I store the dirty water to use to flush the toilet.  The large refrigerator does not work. The light on top of the refrigerator is hooked to the power line before the Generator cut-off switch. It comes on whenever there is power and I can shutdown my generator. The bedroom is just two beds. I moved a little round table and a chair it there from the living room. I use the refrigerator box for an end table by the other chair in the living room.  I have the net up over one bed and my suitcases on the other. It is a spartan existence but I am only here for a few months at at time. I did not show the bathroom. There is no running water just two barrels. It cost about 87 cents to fill the two barrels and bucket when I by water from a water pushcart vendor. The water point is just over the wall from where I took the picture of the house. Unfortunately, the only unlocked gate is at the opposite corner of the compound and uphill from here. The vendor has to push his cart with 13 jerry cans of 20 liters each (572 pounds of water) up the hill and back down to the house. I am less than 100 meters from where he starts and he probably travels 600 to 700 meters to get here. For 87 cents.

Went to English service at the Cathedral today. I got an obstructed view seat. There was a large post between me and the Pulpit and another post with fans mounted on it between me and the video screen. They announced last week's service attendance at 3670. That was the monthly combined service with communion. After I went forward for the first offering I went to the Deaf Centre in time to catch the end of their service and their offering. Today they had 11 people at their service. When the Deaf Service was over the Cathedral was just finishing the second offering and starting the closing prayers. I got back to the Cathedral to greet a few friends as they left the service.

James from the deaf center stopped over this afternoon to ask the definition of a word he had received in a text message. We spent the afternoon together writing out messages and him teaching me a little more sign. ASL was brought to Africa in the 1960's by a Deaf African American professor. Dr. Andrew Jackson Foster. It appears that the form of ASL he brought was signed English rather than the native language of the American Deaf. This is used in schools and colleges in the US because they are taught in English. Signed English uses all the same words as English with the same grammar and sentence structure. English words that do not have an ASL sign are finger spelled. In technical fields there is a lot of finger spelling. ASL signs can convey the complete concept in a single or a few signs while signed English will add the signs needed to make the sentence grammatically correct. "Throw the blue ball to me." Is six signs in exact English. In ASL it would be "Ball-blue-throw" and you would be prepared to catch. The person would know that you wanted him to throw the blue ball to you. The word the has no meaning or use in ASL. For a person like me who is grammatically challenged I was hoping to avoid the complex grammar of English. But not here. The simplest example is the I and Me. In English and signed English these are two different signs or words with a bunch of rules on when to use which one.  As I understand ASL I and me are the same sign you point to yourself.

Enough blogging for tonight. Tomorrow will the first work day. I think we are driving to Maya Belwa. It is dependent on if the truck is working better. Yakubu was going to take it to the mechanic Saturday evening. It has been hard to start and is blowing a lot of black smoke. If it makes it to Maya Belwa and back we will risk a longer journey to Pella on Wednesday. I have to apply for the renewal of my driver's license sometime this week.