Nigeria Summer 2002 Journal

Starting Point - Lagos State (Local Language Yoruba and Pidgin English)
English is the official language of Nigeria. However, sensitivity to local languages and culture allows one to communicate better with community members and ultimately to get more done in a given amount of time. Lagos State was chosen as our operational base for many reasons. It served us well in terms of being able to find necessary resources in a city that we were most familiar with. It allowed us to visit with family members and to conduct personal business during down time.

Our goals for this trip included continuing service to current partner schools, monitoring their progress, enrolling new schools, consolidating new partnerships with various likeminded organizations, expanding our volunteer base and following up on old business.

First Stop - Imo State (Local Language - Ibo)
We started our 2002 tour in Nigeria in Imo State. Our flight to Port Harcourt was rather uneventful. Mr. Casmir Ihegworo (the founder and head of West African Advanced School of Theology-WAAST) who is resident in Owerri met us at the Port Harcourt Airport and drove us to our hotel. The Ugorjis made our hotel arrangements. Between picking us up from the airport, getting us to our hotel, loaning us a computer, having us over for dinner and getting us back to the airport for our trip back to Lagos, we had gracious and accommodating hosts in Ifeoma and Casmir Ihegworo! The Ihegworos and ourselves shared the vision of our respective organizations. We also enjoyed swapping some rather interesting field stories. Their light heartedness brought a lot of humor to some otherwise disconcerting experiences and observations. We were taken on a tour of the theology school and the affiliated hospital. Casmir and Ifeoma made Owerri seem one of the friendliest places on earth.

We arrived in Owerri on the evening of June 26th. Benedict Ugorji, the brother of Dr. Ugorji Ugorji (the gentleman who invited us to Imo State) picked us up the next morning to begin our work at Lorji Community School in Mbaise. First, we went to the Ugorji household to meet the older Mr. Ugorji (father of Ugorji Ugorji and Benedict Ugorji) and some of their friends. They welcomed us very warmly. Breaking kolanut with them marked the true beginning of fieldwork for us in Imo State.

Our next stop was Lorji Community School. Other members of the community who were already assembled in the headmistress' office prior to our arrival welcomed us. After introductions, preliminary discussions and negotiations, we were able to complete the documentation and data collection necessary for us to begin work at the school. We were not able to observe modes of instruction due to the length of time spent in negotiation and clarification of our intentions in Lorji with the group that awaited us in the headmistress' office.

We learned a lot about local thought and perception in Mbaise. We experienced first hand some of the effects of the complexities associated with bids for local leadership positions. I also now appreciate the importance of kolanuts in Ibo culture. We could not have had a more caring and patient guide in Mbaise than Benedict Ugorji. He made the travel over sometimes rather challenging roads seem smooth as he told us about some of the idiosyncrasies of the people in villages we passed through. Benedict's efficient nature ensured that we had all the pictures taken during the day developed and in our hands the same evening ready for our trip back to Lagos on the first flight the next morning.

If our flight to Port Harcourt was uneventful, we experienced a long enough delay on our flight back to Lagos to make up for any previous quiet. This airport experience seemed like a conspiracy between airlines. All other planes except the one we had a ticket for arrived and departed promptly. By the time our plane finally arrived, we had complained, napped, eaten snacks, drank our share of sodas, shopped at the airport stands and even contemplated buying tickets from one of the other airlines.

Even in these difficult times in Nigeria, there are many incredible people…seemingly ordinary people, who are very rarely in the news, doing incredible things on a daily basis. It is the likes of the Ugorjis, the Ihegworos, the beautiful bike-riding strong Ibo women and their families who come together with others to make Ibo Land and Nigeria a beautiful place. Imo State was an excellent beginning for our 2002 tour.

Second Stop - Abuja, Federal Territory (Local Language - Hausa)
Our first call of duty in Abuja was to meet with Alhaji Ahmadu Yaro, who is also a member of the Eduwatch Board of Directors. As always, I was glad to see him and was again impressed by his typical humility and hospitality. We were greeted very warmly with tea and its accompaniments. Once necessary discussions were completed, we reviewed our plans for the Abuja tour. Alhaji provided us with a car and a driver (Mr. Labaran) to help us get around town. We went to Fou'ad Academy and Sunrise International School to visit friends from last year in order to find out how things were progressing at each respective school and to find out how we could help.

There was major construction at the mosque beside Fou'ad Academy. The principal, Mr. Haruna M. Makusidi was very gracious as he recalled the details of our visit last year to the specifics of the document he was working on at the time of our visit. We agreed we would visit again next year.

Sunrise International School has a new principal, a fine gentleman and educator from Sierra Leone, with whom we were able to make some plans toward our next visit. I was particularly delighted to see the previous headmistress, Mrs. Aishatu Suleiman, again. She had charmed me with her warmth and excitement about education and life in general the previous year. I had become quite fond of her and had adopted her as my little sister. She is now planning on taking courses in education to improve her professional knowledge. I hope she is able to find convenient times for classes especially since she has relatively young children of her own. I recommended National Teachers' Institute (N.T.I.), one of our partner institutions. We had an opportunity for a brief visit to her nuclear family at her home in Karu Site at the end of the school day. We enjoyed our time with her and returned with gifts of farm fresh ogbono (apon) still in the shell and a gift for me from Mecca. We look forward to seeing the progress at the school and the level of Aisha's professional and personal development.

Our third school visit in Abuja was to Narai School at Karu Site. It was such a pleasure to see Mr. Paul Umeji, one of the head teachers. Mr. Umeji and another head teacher, Mrs. Laraba Tamaiko, had faithfully kept in touch with us in the States as we encourage partner schools to do. Due to budgetary and tactical constraints we have not been able to get the books that we acquired for their school to them yet. We promised to make some funds available for some instructional materials before the end of this summer. Mr. Umeji in turn promised to make sure our process of documentation and accountability is followed. I can't wait until they receive their new materials.

Our final stop in Abuja was the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Program office in Wuse. We learned that Pius Osaghie, a very helpful gentleman that I had met last year had been transferred to the Benin office. However, we were able to meet and have a very meaningful dialogue with Dr. Sokun, the current director of the Teacher Training and Curriculum Development Unit. I was particularly impressed by the direction the UBE appears to be moving in. The thrust of education policy in Nigeria is beginning to be more student centered. It will be interesting to see how policy is implemented in classrooms across the country. I hope funding for UBE projects and programs continue to be distributed, managed and appropriated, as should be.

After our school visits and the Universal Basic Education (U.B.E) office, we returned to Alhaji Ahmadu Yaro's for a delicious sampling of Hausa and European cuisine served up by Alhaji himself His hospitality and generosity continue to impress me. We left for Lagos in the morning with Alhaji's blessings to use his Abuja and Kano offices for Eduwatch work.
It is the hospitality, kindness and genuine love of fellow man that sets most of the people that we have met apart from the crowd. It seems that we are enveloped in love and kindness everywhere we go. We had planned to go to directly to Ibadan once we arrived in Lagos on Wednesday morning. We were tired but the heavy rain and poor visibility was what actually stopped us from making the trip to Ibadan. The delay in the Ibadan trip actually was a blessing although I was somewhat disappointed at first. It gave us time to reflect individually and to make adjustments in plans while realistically reviewing the work we had done and still needed to do. We set up other planning days for the end of the week.

Third Stop - Oyo State (Local Language -Yoruba)
We finally set out for Ibadan on Thursday. We had to adjust our plans to visit Abeokuta the same day. We had to be prepared for possible delays in Ibadan bearing in mind that night travel is unsafe given road and weather conditions and typically high speed on the roads. We focused our attention on visiting Bola Immaculate School at Orita Challenge in Ibadan. We were initially directed to the pre-school section of the school. One of the employees escorted us a few kilometers over to the elementary arm of the school that houses the proprietress' office. Aunty Bola, as everyone fondly calls the proprietress of the school was not in her office when we arrived so I decided to run a personal errand hoping she'd be back by the time I returned. Weak phone signals made it impossible for us to reach her by phone.

Aunty Bola had arrived when we returned. After a brief overview of our purpose we were able to visit classrooms and to document our observations in form of pictures and notes. We were also able to complete the necessary paperwork promptly. Several things were really interesting about instruction in some of the classes we observed at Bola Immaculate. The level of mathematics being taught in some of these classrooms was more advanced than what is generally found in similar grade levels in the United States. However, in terms of pedagogy, the "hows" were being taught in the classrooms we observed but the "whys" were not. All the same, students appeared to be quite engaged in the learning process. Repetition and rehearsal were frequently used methods in several of the classrooms. We frequently observed the use of choral reading during reading instruction. We were not able to check for comprehension, but we did notice that some students appeared to have rehearsed the reading primer to the point of having it committed to memory. When we inquired about student performance on tests that determined entry into secondary school, we were told that these students performed relatively well.

Given that the school is located within very close proximity of a market, we were quite impressed that the teaching staff was where it needed to be -with children, doing what it should have been doing -teaching. Physical conditions in the school were comparable to those in many similar schools we had visited over the last two years. The main difference between this school and other similar schools is the level of the proprietress' participation in the daily running of the school and her high level of interaction with the students. Students seemed very accustomed to her engaging them in different ways and were not hesitant or confused when she approached or directed them to do various things.

We gained perspective into the plight of albino children in the community through discussion with Aunty Bola. Albino children, we were told, are not considered desirable by some parents and community members and consequently are subject to neglect in some cases. Albino children are welcome at Bola Immaculate School.

Our time in Ibadan was very productive. Finding out that one of the elderly staff members, Mr. Folabi, fondly called Baba, had taught the proprietress in elementary school was a great human-interest story. It is encouraging to see that a good teacher can inspire students to greatness no matter the social conditions of the community. We salute the Mr. Folabis and the Aunty Bola's of the world.

We were at Bola Immaculate much later than we expected and we were not able to make contact with two other board members we were hoping to meet with that day. We left Ibadan late in the day. The road back to Lagos was covered in deep fog.

Regrouping Stop - Lagos State (Local Language - Yoruba and Pidgin English)
We were getting road weary by now. Friday and Saturday were intended for planning the week ahead but we saw it best to take Friday off. We needed a break and spent time with our respective families.

Sunday was my day to meet with the editor of an education quarterly published in Nigeria. I had not seen the editor, Juyin, and her siblings since she was about eight years old so it promised to be an interesting meeting. I was not prepared for the fact that the earlier part of our meeting would be held at a social function! We continued our meeting at another location. It was wonderful to see young people in the process of building a business.

Fourth Stop - Ogun State (Local Language -Yoruba)
Monday was our time to get back on the road. This time we headed to Abeokuta and then Ago-Iwoye. Our visit to Abeokuta was for two main purposes. We wanted to make sure that Owu Baptist Day School (one of our partner schools) had received the books we had donated to them and we also wanted to visit the local branch of one of our partners - National Teachers' Institute (NTI). We had been invited to Ago-Iwoye to explore the possibility of enrolling King's Gift School, a private primary school founded by a lecturer at the nearby University, in our program.

Our first stop in Abeokuta was Owu Baptist Day School. I am particularly fond of the school because it is one of the first schools we enrolled in our program. We were able to meet with Mr. Ogunleye, the head teacher, who acknowledged receiving the books. He showed the books to us and was very proud to report that the school had begun to receive some positive attention. A new toilet block was in mid-construction in addition to the new 3-room unit that had recently been constructed on the school site.

Granted there is still so much work to be done at the school, but it is incredible what positive attention and improvement of the physical surrounding has done for the morale of the students and staff. The staff appeared livelier than they were at about the same time last year. They showed us improvements to their school- the things in progress and things they still need help with. We were just as excited as the staff as to see the changes that were beginning to come to Owu Baptist Day School. We are proud to note on this visit that every classroom had a teacher in it and there appeared to be learning going on in every classroom we visited through out our unannounced visit. I can't wait to visit Abeokuta again next year! Perhaps our conversations can begin to really focus on the art of teaching and learning for both staff and students.

We made our way to NTI in Abeokuta next and found it had a new director. The previous director, Mr. Durodola, with whom I had spoken last year had been transferred to the Lagos office. Despite this change, it was nice to see some familiar faces from the previous year. We agreed to continue to maintain contact with the office and to make concrete plans for how we would work together.

By the time we arrived in Ago-Iwoye, school was out. We did, however, have an opportunity to begin the documentation process with the proprietress of the school.

Regrouping Point - Lagos State (Local Language - Yoruba and Pidgin English)
The weather and other unforeseen circumstances caused us to make changes to our plans once more. We would no longer able to return to Abuja to present the check to Narai School that week as planned. We would have to cancel our trips to Kaduna, Kano and Jos on this tour. We also would have to find another way to relay funds designated for Awosika Elementary School in Ondo to the school. We still needed to catch up with our missed appointments in Ibadan from the previous week and we had scheduled a visit to Awaye Egbeda for 10:00 a.m. the next Monday morning. I was responsible for the completion of documents due the same Monday. Inconsistent availability of electricity and the software I needed had already caused me to have to work at various computers in about 5 cyber cafes, in our office as well as in every other office that was available to me. The time crunch was making me somewhat nervous. Coupled with this was the fact that we still had quite a few things we needed to accomplish in Lagos. Being accustomed to working with deadlines, we realized the need to be highly flexible and quick thinking.

Given all the circumstances. We spent the next couple of days in Lagos. I was able to complete several school visits that Wednesday. Each school visit consists of sharing information about our programs with stakeholders at the school level; collecting data and other information that would help us determine the school's needs and how we can intervene. This was also a time for monitoring progress and updates. All of this had to be done with minimal disruption to the school day.

I had spent most of the day before, mostly unsuccessfully, trying to negotiate last minute appointments so that we wouldn't be too far behind schedule. Wednesday proved to be a great day despite my adjusted schedule. I was able to meet with Sister Monica of Our Lady of Apostles Private School in Yaba. I had heard the rumor that the computers we had donated to the school last year had finally arrived in Nigeria. They had not. However, I was able to ascertain the actual situation -some Dominican brothers in the United States were trying to help offset the cost of shipping the computers but had not been able to find sufficient funds so far. We would have to find alternate ways to make the arrival of the computers at the school a reality. Since my visit to the school was unannounced and did not allow Sister Monica to prepare needed paper work ahead of time, we agreed that I would leave paperwork for her to complete that morning and I would return later in the day to pick it up.

In the interim I attended to a previously scheduled meeting in Ilupeju and made my next school stop at Ladi Lak Institute before returning to Our Lady of Apostles School. All of this was done before the end of the school day despite the "go slow" that had almost brought traffic to a stop in some areas enroute to my destination. I did make it to Ilupeju and I arrived at Ladi Lak Institute at a fairly decent time. Last year's head teacher at Ladi Lak had been re-assigned and a new head teacher had taken her place. The new head teacher had limited knowledge of our organization so it meant a fresh start with all the current stakeholders. I was only able to complete the basic interview process for the school. More in-depth discussion about instruction at the school will have to be scheduled for the next trip.

I did make it back to Our Lady of Apostles School on time. Sister Monica had everything I needed ready for me. We are determined to get the computers to the school before too long. The next couple of days were spent catching up with previously scheduled appointments, planning the trip to Awaye and re-scheduling the meeting with the board members in Ibadan. On Saturday I had the most wonderful opportunity to complete the documents for the Monday meeting. Oshio Adams, the daughter of some friends invited me to use her computer. Oshio' s help allowed me to be prepared for Monday in Ibadan.

Fifth Stop - Oyo State Again (Local Language - Yoruba)
I had not anticipated making this Monday morning trip to Ibadan alone, but experience had taught me to be prepared for the unexpected and I felt ready this time. I had an excellent driver- a well skilled driver and particularly respectful elderly gentleman (Baba Segun). We arrived in Ibadan earlier than scheduled and for once I felt that I could take my eyes off the road while the car was in motion. We went directly to Bola Immaculate School to meet Aunty Bola who would be my guide to Awaye Village on the outskirts of Ibadan. Awaye is about an hour away from the town of Ibadan. We left my car at Aunty Bola's house and rode in her jeep to pick up a second gentleman who is a native of Awaye Village before continuing on our journey.

Once we got off the tarred road we drove quite a few more kilometers on the footpath that brought us to Awaye Village. We were well received by the village leaders, some of who were just returning from their farms. The pastor, who serves as the entire teaching staff for the village children's learning center with his wife, came out to meet us. He led us to the 85-year-old Awaye Egbeda Baptist Church, which was the previous location of the children's learning center. From there we were guided to the current location of the learning center an area between a shady tree and the traditional ruler's palace. A small crowd of curious villagers joined us. The children, ranging in age from toddlers to about ten years old, were convened. One child was obviously quite sick with possibly malaria and another we were told had died a few days before we arrived. The village has no medical facilities. Neither medical nor teaching staff from the town of Ibadan or the neighboring settlements wants to work in Awaye because of difficulty getting paid. Awaye appears to comprise mainly of corn farmers. We were told that the learning center typically consists of up to 75 children.

We got to discuss the needs of the community, our purpose and programs with stakeholders and community members who had gathered. Given the information residents shared about the recent fatality, Aunty Bola encouraged community members to boil their drinking water and to wash their hands with soap to reduce illness and transmission of disease.

It is amazing to see how much some women are concerned about their appearance. Several women on the way back from their farms called out to our cameraperson not to take their photographs until they had put down their bags of corn and wrapped their head ties properly. They reminded us that they were not strangers to fashion. We obliged them and then photographed them although we had not originally planned to. I will make every effort to make sure they get copies of their photographs.

The needs in this particular community are overwhelmingly great. The physical needs of individuals very often can overshadow the desire for formal education in societies like Awaye. Yet, we know that education is a lifeline in any community. I hope that we are able to join hands with other interested parties to make a difference in the lives of the people of Awaye.

We returned to Ibadan to Aunty Bola's so that I could retrieve my driver and car and set out to my scheduled meeting with some of our board members at the University of Ibadan. It was Aunty Bola's persistence and tenacity that allowed me to arrive at the University of Ibadan only over an hour late. Although we navigated traffic with great agility, we sat in stand still traffic within close proximity of the University gate for the better part of an hour. I had to remain in the car with my crew because we could not afford to lose each other on the busy roads. Professor Obanya's humor and practical approach to life was invaluable to the success of the meeting. Going back to Lagos was marked by a light rain and poor visibility because of the fog.

Point of Departure - Lagos State
Time in Lagos allowed time for reflection. The last few days served as catch up days for both Eduwatch work and personal matters. It no longer mattered that the printer at my most regularly visited cyber cafe didn't work or that the drycleaners had lost my shirt. We accomplished most of what we had set out to do with the help of many wonderful and supportive people. Although we had to cancel our trips to Plateau, Kaduna and Kano States, we were often able to find alternate ways to accomplish many of our goals. All our experiences in Nigeria this summer reinforce the importance of our goals and affirm our collective belief that through the promotion of literacy, numeracy and ethical conduct, we can help move Nigeria and more Nigerians to a desirable place in the world community.

Mr. Laja Akindele was instrumental in getting the donated funds for school improvement to Awosika Elementary School in Ondo. He also brought back essential documents from Ondo notwithstanding the challenging roads between Ondo and Lagos …roads made even more challenging by heavy rains. Dr. Jegede, among many other things, made our Lagos office possible and worked tirelessly to make sure that many goals were met. Miss Oye Oladapo and Mr. Folorunso Williams held down the Lagos office and made sure our messages were appropriately passed along. Alhaji Ahmadu Yaro made the Abuja and Kano offices possible and taught us much about humility by living it. Mrs. Babatunde made sure that we stayed connected with Ibadan even when we seemed to be cut off by malfunctioning technology. Mr. Sete Akin-Olugbade risked his computer when he allowed me to insert my virus-plagued disk into his main office computer. (I had picked up the virus during one of my many visits to the various cyber cafes).

Mrs. Abbie Otoki of Abbie Fashion House made sure that I was appropriately dressed no matter the occasion. She also made sure that I was able to smile in the face of all odds and continues to be most generous with her resources and supportive of our work. Preston Mason held down the home front in Gaithersburg, moved mail from one mailbox to another to offset my inability to access a particular mailbox depending on where I was in Nigeria. He also kept me well informed about news in the United States. Tony Emoka, a local university student, joyfully and cheerfully drove me around Lagos when needed.

Numerous Aunties, Uncles, cousins and friends offered a kind word or provided us with directions, helped locate people we needed to find. They also suggested more practical ways to get things done. The families and friends of the Eduwatch team members continue to be supportive and to maintain their faith in us as we continue our work to help the children in Nigeria. The gentlemen at CTN Express Service on Ikorodu Road helped me remember that chivalry is alive in Nigeria also. They carried the box of books I was shipping to Aba into the shipping area with a smile, no prompting and with no expectations or demand for a tip.

Our apologies to the people we were unable to meet with on this tour for whatever reason. Our apologies also goes to anyone we failed to mention in this report. We hope that everyone keeps in touch through out the year; we will. We look forward to meeting and working together with everyone, including our volunteers and partners (old and new) as we work to prepare the children for the future.

Special Mention - Thanks to Mapa known widely as Mama "Bookworm" (the woman who founded the "The Bookworm" in the 1960's), whose unwavering faith in Eduwatch, impeccable record keeping, deeply rooted principles and relentless emotional strength continue to provide us with invaluable clarity of purpose and momentum.