Thursday, March 31, 2011

It is Hot in Yola

Monday morning at 8 AM we headed From Jos through Bauchi and Gombe and down to Yola. Originally, it was to be me and a driver. At the wedding on last Saturday I met Mori's cousin David and found out he was going to take public transit down to Yola on Monday. I invited him along. Monday morning the Daniel the cook at Dogon Dutse asked if we could give his daugter a ride. David showed up with a puppy. We arrived around 2 PM. Due to a lot of road repair this is about half the time it took in 2006 and 2007.
Yakubu Bulama, the LCCN Projects Coordinator was surprised that I was here this early. Yakubu office is in a missionary mud brick house at the front of the LCCN compound adjacent to the Jimeta Cathedral. This is the house the Elisabeth lives in and has been well maintained. In 2009 I stayed in one of the bedrooms in that house. Last year we cleaned out the long vacant and nelgected one bedroom missionary house further to the back of the compound. Elisabeth was visiting from Denmark and living in the front house. Last year we convinced the Yola Bishop to connect the back house to the Jimeta Cathedral power system. Whenever the NEPA (nick name for the national power system) provides power or when there is something going on in the Cathedral I have power. Last year the refrigerator at the back house was working better than Yakubu’s. I could actually get ice in the freezer when we had power for more than 6 hours at a time.
The back house had not been cleaned since I left last April. A group of women had stayed there during a convention and did not clean-up after themselves. Surprisingly, my the spices, can of sardines, dish soap and flip flops I had left last year were still there. There is no budget for security in this compound. The Jimeta Cathedral has 24 hour security men. A few years back, Yakubu offered one to the security men to use the round hut between the two missionary houses for his family. Now they have the back porch, an attached room of the front house, in addition to the round house. Quite a few people sleep on the porch by the bedroom window. I think they have six kids. Usually, there are more than that around. When I stayed in the front house, they start rattling pans, pounding grain and getting the breakfast fire going well before sunup. In the back house I get to sleep until sunup.
The security man and his and his two oldest daughters came over with some brooms and started cleaning. I checked the water barrels and went to the street water venders and asked for 240 liters of water. By the time we had most of the house swept the water man showed up with 12-20 liters jerry cans of water on a push cart. The water is 10 naira per jerry can. This is does not sound like much but after all the conversions it is over $12 per thousand gallons. Check your water bill at home and see how much you pay. In the Twin Cities the average is less than $1.50 per thousand gallons of water.
We used all 240 liters cleaning the floors, screens, window sills, kitchen and furniture. We pretty much flushed the floors from the bedroom to the bathroom drain and from the living room and kitchen to out the front door. We had the place cleaner than I had it last year in about two hours. I paid them a 1000 naira ($6.46). I little later I saw the youngest girl and the two year old boy running around with 5 and 10 naira bills. They got paid by their Dad for mostly staying out of the way. The mother was in class. She goes to school each afternoon at the Cathedral school. The children have primary school there in the morning and the women have primary school in the afternoon. I pay the mother 1000 naira a week to come in twice a week and clean the house. Then I pay her to wash my pants and shirts. This little bit goes a long ways here. Later in the evening I went with Yakubu and bought some basics. Powdered milk, bread, serving sized cans of baked beans, canned vegetables, chlorine bleach, more sardines, canned tuna salad, tooth paste, noodles, a box of breakfast cereal, and a case of drinking water. The street vendor water is only for washing. I drink bottled water and then boil the street vendor water, filter the boiled water through a ceramic filter system and refill the empty water bottles. The bottled water is around 50 naira per liter. About 100 times the cost of the street vendor water. About 1000 times what I pay in Chanhassen. I drink a lot more of it too.
 I tried a can of tuna salad in tomato sauce for dinner. Forked the tuna fish out of the salad to made a sandwich and then eat the salad. I have eaten worse stuff, probably won’t buy it again. The next evening I walked over to the area on electrical shop on Hospital Road and bought a couple fuses for the refrigerator plug. Then went over to the food venders by the Specialty Hospital. Got oranges, bananas and three hard boiled eggs. The venders sit outside the hospital to sell to the families of the patients. The hospital does not provide food, your family and friends have to bring you food. Had a boiled egg sandwich for dinner. Replaced the fuse in the refrigerator cord and plugging it in. Fuse blew immediately. It looks like the relay is fried. I got the repair man over thursday morning. The compressor,capacitor and control relay are fried.It will cost 20,000 naira to fix or 3,000 to 5,000 for a good used small refrigerator. Next week we will buy a small used refrigerator. Until them I have a plastic wash tub with waterin the bottom, a 2 liter bottle of water in the water and wet cloth over the bottle. I set the tub under the ceiling fan when we have power. The evaporation cools the water down into the low 80’s. 80 degree milk from powdered milk is not nearly as good as making it with ice water.
Another women’s convention starts Thursday through the weekend. Power will be running most of the weekend. Too bad I do not have a refrigerator.  Next post will talk about the day I spent up in Shall-holma Diocese with the medical team.
The title was it is hot in Yola. According to the thermometer on my shortwave radio it was 93 degrees at 10 PM and down to 83 by 6:30 the next morning. Last night it was even warmer.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

First Weekend and First Trip to the Bush


(Note the videos are fairly large run them only if you have hi speed internet)
Saturday I was free and planning on studying ASL when Mori talked me into going to a wedding with her and Ladi.  We drove across town to attend the wedding at a Church of Christ then on to a school about 10 minutes down the road for the reception. The large multipurpose building was air conditioned. The bride is from Adamawa State and a geographer with the National Centre for Remote Sensing. The groom is an accountant from here in Plateau State. They had two MC’s for the occasion one from Adamawa and one from Plateau. Each state was represented by traditional musicians. When that traditional singers and dancers from Adamawa started to perform some of the guest joined in and danced with them. One tradition is shower the couple and performers with new money. By the end of the reception the floor by the stage was covered in new notes. The food was buffet style except they did not have enough plates and even less silverware. They just wiped them off and gave them to the next person. I should have gotten in line earlier. I got a clean plate but used spoon. I wiped it down with hand sanitizer.
   On Sunday I was picked up after breakfast and attended combined English/Hausa services from 10 to noon at Majami’ar Almasihu congregation in downtown Jos. It was mostly in Hausa. My Hausa vocabulary consists of a few mispronounced greetings. The pastor asked the youth band to sing a song so I started the video on my camera and then found out it was the “Your Welcomed” song where everyone greets each other. I had to switch hands but ran the video for the whole two minutes of greeting people. Made sort of an interesting video.
  After the service I met with the mission committee to explain that I was there to see the Waya Church because St. John’s Lutheran of Jamestown, ND was interested in helping them with their water problems. 
This was puzzling to them since Waya is no longer a mission outreach area but is a church under the district church. So we discussed their mission outreach congregation and how they hope to work with Our Saviour’s Lutheran of East Bethel, MN on water projects in their outreach congregations in Polchi and Gadabiyu. We
determined that Waya and Gadabiyu were close to each other so we would visit both. 


   One church member volunteered his car, I volunteered the gas money and the church decided to buy snacks and bottled water at Mr. Biggs to eat for lunch on the way. We got two meat pies each and headed an d six bottles of water and headed out of town. We crossed out of Plateau State and into Bauchi State and drove on a nice highway for about an hour. Then we turned off onto a dirt road that deteriorated into washed out path. We were in an old Toyota station wagon. I kept looking behind us expecting to see the transmission as we bottomed out on rocks every few minutes. After 30 minutes we reached Waya where the Catechist was expecting us and a mess of kids were waiting. Waya is that the village of around 100 family compounds spread over a fairly large area and split in half by a stream. The stream is the main source of their drinking water for many of the 100 families in the area during the rainy season. A few families have hand dug wells, some of which have some water year around The stream dries up by January or earlier. Then they dig holes in the bank and ladle muddy water out of the six foot deep hole. This was similar to dozens of holes I have seen in Adamawa. I suspect that there is a significant perched aquifer that could be accessed by hand dug wells and a fairly shallow regional aquifer within the valley. A more detailed study of the village will need to be made later.
Kids at Waya
   After Waya we drove the ½ hour back to the road, went a few minutes east and then back into the bush for 15 minutes to Gadabiyu. The evangelist did not know we were coming and we surprised him. This is a much smaller community with only 20 households spread across both sides of a larger stream. The families on the north side have a hand dug well that is sealed on top and has a hand pump.  It was installed about a year ago by the LCCN Headquarters water man. It has a low flow now and needs to recharge after a few minutes of pumping during the dry season. It appears that the leathers on the pump are already in need of replacement. During the wet season the people on the other side of the stream do not have access to the well. During the dry season it is over a kilometer walk to the well so they walk down to the stream, dig holes in the dry sand and ladle out water. The need here is a clean water source on the south side of the stream nearer to their settlement.
We made it back to Dogon Dutse Guest house a little after 6 pm. Daniel had a bowl of noodles, sauce, cabbage/tomato salad and cold water waiting for me. I hope it was for me because I eat it. When I got to Lamurde cottage I was surprised to find water in the system. Eveyr evening they fill the water tank at the top of the hill with water and turn it off overnight. The water distribution system leaks. If they leave the water on then there will not be any left in the morning. I decided I better take a shower tonight just in case there was no water in the morning. I turned it on to a slight dribble and soaped up. That was all there was remaining in the pipe. Fortunately, I had put water in the emergency barrel when I got here.
Tomorrow I head for the heat in Adamawa State. 
Google Earth Coordinates
Dogon Dutse Guest House N9.93869, E8.89805
Majami"ar Almasihu Church N9.92205, E8.88661
Waya Church N10.14856, E9.36096
Waya Water Hole N10.14865, E9.36495
Gadabiyu Church N10.16894, E9.32692
Gadabiyu WaterHoles N10.16766,E9.33296
Gadabiyu South Settlement N10.16484, E9.33514
House in Yola N9.28042, E12.44845

Friday, March 25, 2011

There are two pastors named Emmanuel in Jos!


My contact here in Jos was Pastor Emmanuel. I cannot access my Mediacom email from here so I could not double check his phone number and surname when my calls did not  go through. I asked Mori if she had a number for him and she said the Pastor at St. Peter. I said, I guess so. She gave me Pastor Emmanuel Nanle’s number. I thought that the last name sounded different. But figured I was wrong. Boy was I wrong. Today I finally connected with Pastor Nanle and he seemed confused when I asked him about the village of Waya. He called a few people to help me and one was Pastor Emmanuel Mukailu. Who was on the road to Abuja. He was glad that I was here and knew what I wanted to do. So now I know that of the three pastors in Jos two are named Emmanuel. Between my problems getting my new SIM card registered for my phone and my confusion of the pastors I have lost a day. But I got a little tan on my face and hands from the taxi ride.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Arrived in Nigeria and on the Dogon Dutse


I have arrived at the Dogon Dutse Guest House in Jos, Nigeria. The trip was fairly uneventful. I found out that Immigrations at the airport will only stamp you Visa for 30 days and I will have to go into immigrations in Yola, pay 10,000 naira ($64.52) and request an extension.
   Auwalu met me at the airport in his old Peuget station wagon. We went to Maballa, north of Abuja to stay overnight at a guest house. It was closed so we stayed at the Maballa Hotel. I had forgotten how hard the beds are here. Softer than concrete but harder than grass in a city park. We got up before the Zuma Restaurant opened and headed to Jos in Plateau . For the most part fairly decent roads. We made it to Jos in just under 4 hours. On the way through town we stopped and exchanged my dollars for Naira. (155 Naira/$) Then on to Dogan Dutse Guest House. This is a Guest House and conference center located in Jos and operated by the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria (LCCN) for visitors and for conferences. I am in Lamurde house. All the buildings have names of cities from Adamawa State.
  After checking in Auwalu and I went back downtown to get a AirTel modem and a data SIM card and phone SIM card. On my first trip to Nigeria I got a V-Mobile SIM card. When I returned V-mobile, had been bought by Centel. A few years later Centel was bought by Zain from South Africa. Now AirTel from India has bought Zain. The data modem seems to work good. But the phone sim card is not working. At the store you buy the cards at they have to register your card. Type all the serial numbers and phone numbers into a laptop and with your name, birth date, addres, photo, digital finger prints. Then you wait for the registration to update.
   On Friday morning Moori a worker here at Dogon Dutse took my SIM card to the AirTel office and found out that it was not registered. So we got taxis (motorcycles) and went across town to the AirTel office and went through the registration again. This time they asked for nationality, passport no. and other info. I am fairly confident that it will work Saturday morning.

   Due to the phone problems I have not yet contacted Pastor Emmanuel and do not know when we will go to the mission field. Currently, I am scheduled to have Auwalu drive me down to Yola Sunday morning.


Maballa Hotel 09.11138N / 007.22010E
Dogon Dutse Guest House 09.93869N / 008.89805E

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Got my Visa, Packed My Bags and off to the Airport.

I made it to the Minneapolis Airport with time to spare. I am wondering what I forgot to bring. I got two camera housing  and three battery enclosure prototypes made but not tested. At 5 hours before the flight I went to Harris Communications and they gave me 25 lbs of books to help start a library at the LCCN Deaf Center. My bags now weigh 48 and 44 pounds. I left two books behind. Pastor Amson from Jos has a driver meeting me at the Airport. We will go to Jos probably Thursday morning. There I will meet with Pastor Emmanuel to visit his mission area. Then on Saturday or Sunday I will head to Yola.When I get in country I will get a SIM card for my phone and send out the numbers. I should have Internet access in Jos.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Finally finished with one camera enclosure.


There is a Fedex package coming tomorrow from the Nigerian Embassy. If it is my approved visa then I will be in a plane headed to Amsterdam and then Abuja, Nigeria at this time tomorrow. I have just finished the first working prototype of a water proof (not tested) enclosure and underwater camera. The fatter short tube will hold the little camera shown in the first post. The other tube has two AAA batteries running half of an Ikea light bar that has been encapsulated in epoxy. I have two other light bars that can be screwed onto the battery enclosure. One has a full Ikea light bar. The other has the other half of the Ikea light bar mounted with a mirror.
   I am in the process of making another enclosure for the underwater camera (do not trust that it is really water proof) and two more battery holders. One battery holder will be attached to the enclosure for underwater camera. The other battery holder will be made to attach to the underwater camera without an enclosure. I am hoping that in this configuration I can raise a bore hole pump and slip the camera down the borehole without having to completely remove the pump. If it is in a 5 or 6 inch pipe it should be able to go past the pump cylinder. This will save us the time of pulling the pump.

Here is a video of testing the camera with the small light bar and the light bar with a mirror in a 4 inch PVC pipe with a piece of paper with squares and pictures taped at the bottom.

I better start washing some clothes and deciding what I will take with me. People have been asking if I am packed yet for about a week. I will be packed before I leave for the airport. Whatever is in my bags at 4:00 tomorrow afternoon is what I am taking. If I leave something behind then I will have to buy it in Nigeria or do without.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Jay In Nigeria 2011

I had planned to leave for Nigeria the first of March. But that was not in the cards. Instead, while making a waterproof enclosure for an prototype borehole camera, I lacerated the end of my thumb and removed two thirds of my thumbnail. While waiting for the thumb to heal I found several low cost components for my borehole camera idea. Now I will need a bigger waterproof enclosure. The delay has made pushed the trip past my current Visa. So I had to apply for a new Visa. I should get the new Visa back on Saturday the 19th or Monday the 21st. I have plane reservation for Tuesday March 22nd. I hope I have a Visa.

The purpose of the borehole camera is two-fold. The main purpose is to find out what is wrong with the many poorly functioning or non-functions boreholes in Nigeria. Probably 40% of the boreholes drilled in Africa well meaning people are not functioning anymore. There are many possible reasons that they do not function. They may be full of sediment. They screens may be plugged. The driller did not put enough screens in. But we do not know because these parts are 100 to 300 feet under the ground and we cannot see them. The borehole camera may be of help to document how the borehole was constructed, what is wrong and give us some clues on how we can fix it.

These two little camera shoots 1280 X 960 digital video and have micro SD cards that stores the video. To light the pipe I am taking some 12 volt LED light strips sold at Ikea and converting them to run on 3 volts. Two AAA batteries will be all I need to power the lights. I will be testing the cameras as during my upcoming trip.