Sounds of a Sunday

The sounds of a Sunday morning are different all over the world. This is what happens in Ilorin:

At 5AM the mosque is calling for prayer. This happens every day. There are two mosques within hearing distance of my bedroom. They both call for prayer, just after each other. Recently, they became louder, sometimes we can hear the entire prayer. Unfortunately it is all in Arabic.

Then, around 6 the first church starts. No bells like in the Netherlands, but the drums of the church and the enthusiastic singing and praying of the people are loud enough. I can’t understand every word, but I can easily recognise Amen and Hallelujah. On a Sunday morning, this all goes on till the afternoon, or even longer. There are a lot of churches close to my house, so you can always hear one.

Next is the family of the security guard who wake up. He plays his radio very loud, their little girl is crying (her name is Obedience, I can think about only one name which would suit her less than this; Patience). He might talk on the phone. The dog might bark.

Outside the gate, life also starts. You hear some goats, maybe a dog. A lady is passing selling groundnuts: ‘buuuuuy groundnuts!’  I can’t see her but I know she carries her business for the day on her head. Her change might be in the corners of her wrapper skirt.

In our house, life on Sunday starts later than in the rest of the street. But, you can still hear the sounds. In case there is light, you hear the fridge turning on. Power might be too low, so it also clicks off again. This can go on for hours. I can hear Stacey trying to make tea. As our stove is sometimes a bit problematic I hear the clicks of the stove when you try to light it without success.

As soon as you go out, you can hear the children: ‘Oyibo!’ and the other neighbours: ‘Happy Sunday!’. Maybe this is something we should try in the Netherlands, wish everyone you meet a Happy Sunday. I am sure you will enjoy your day much more!

Adventures on the road

Travelling in Nigeria is always an experience. Long distances or just within the city, you never know what will happen. The quality of roads, cars and driver is a guarantee for adventure. But, many more things can happen. Let me give you two examples from last week.

I spent last week in Abuja, the capital city. Contrary to Ilorin, Abuja has an expat scene. So after going out, we were invited to an expat party. (Yes, at a swimming pool). We as VSO volunteers do obviously not have our own transport. So the ride offered by some other people was very welcome. We were one person more than seats in the car, so one girl offered to sit in the trunk of the car. You see many Nigerians doing the same.

But of course, a car full of white people gets some attention from the police at various road blocks so in the end we got stopped. To sum up the long discussion in a few sentences, our driver got accused of treating his wife as an animal, putting her in the trunk. Some policemen were pretty relaxed and were making jokes with us. Others were more stressed and one of them jumped in our car and told the driver to go. In the end, people from the other cars, working in embassies and the marine, came and told the police we were together. The girl had to sit in the car, but putting four people on the backseat, or two in front, is no problem. So in the end we made it to the party.

This situation was a bit scary, especially as the VSO driver with who I came from Ilorin said at some point; if I see these people with guns and no uniform I feel safe, I know what they are doing. If I see police I feel unsafe because you never know if they are really police and what they want.

 

Second example is totally different. Nothing scary, but pretty annoying. Travelling back from Abuja to Ilorin takes 7-8 hours. At the moment we leave the car park in Abuja, the woman next to me (who claimed the seat in the middle of the car) told us we have to pray. This is nothing special in Nigeria, so she started praying out loud that the road to Ilorin was covered with the bloooood of Jeeeeeesuuuuus. This took about five minutes. But then, when we really left Abuja, she started talking about God. For 7 hours. The two ladies in the back were Muslims and she was telling that she did respect Muslims, but well, they don’t know the love of Jeeeeesuuuuus. I tried to sleep, but her voice was too loud. The lady at her other side tried to read her book, the two ladies in the back were just talking to each other. And she was just talking. I had a hard time not asking her if her husband was very happy every time she travels to Abuja so he has some rest for a few days.

I thought it was just me getting annoyed, but after she dropped the other passenger and the driver said; we have a headache! She is just talking talking talking! And so loud! And only about herself and her relationship to Jesus…  For seven hours, can you imagine! (Yes I can, I was sitting right next to her, remember?).

 

Big advantage of this trip, I was extra happy to arrive in Ilorin. Not only that we made it safely again, but also because I could finally escape the preaching lady!