Banjiram Village Survey, April 29, 2011

When Kiri Dam was built in the late 1980's to provide irrigation for the Savannah Sugar Plant cane fields the villages of the Banjiram District had to be relocated. The Federal government constructed a new village with blocks laid out in a grid pattern with raised roads of a firm gravel. What they did not give the people was water. The map shows the main village of Banjiram and Old Banjiram near Lake Kiri. Much of old Banjiram is under the lake. Now that Old Banjram is at the edge of the lake the Malaria and mosquitoes are a problem.

(Click on the map or double click to make it and all the images larger. The hit the back button on your browser to return to the blog.)

 These two boys will rent a cart for 200 naira a day and take 8 - 25 liter jerry cans to the river at the bottom of the map from the church. The trip is a little over 5 kilometer round trip. They can make two trips in a day. The push the cart with 200 kilograms (440 lbs) of water. The cost is 0.5 naira per liter. The older boy is 10 and the younger 9. They are students in Primary 3 and 2. The other choice is to buy from the people that go to the river for you. They charge 1 naira per liter. (In Jimeta I pay 0.4 naira per liter.) In the Chanhassen the first 6000 gallons is $1 per gallon and there is a $5.01 quarterly billing fee for sewer and water. For 6000 gallons water in a month you pay $6.84. That caluclates to 0.045 naira per liter. They pay 11 to 22 times as much for water as we do. They also use a lot less.

Collecting warm water from Banjiram borehole.

The School near the top of the map is a large residential secondary school. Currently, school is in recess so the people of Banjiram are at the water source 24 hours a day. When school is in session the student get the water first. The water from the borehole is artisan. It flows to the surface at a very slow rate. Women sit here for hours waiting to fill their containers. Currently, the borehole has a 220 volt 3 phase submersible pump and is wired to a generator over at the school. The gen is run by an old diesel engine that also operates a grain grinder. The problem is that there is no budget for fuel. Problem number 2 is that the pump is not working properly. The pump mechanic that installed it told them it was bad. We were told that it was donated by the Guyuk Local Government and it was the only one they were going to get.

In 2004 the Ministry of Education had a deep borehole drilled at the school and an overhead tank. It is over 1000 feet and the water that come out is feww flowing at a very slow rate and hot. Probably around 100 degree F. Originally, the pump was a Gundfos Solar with a bank of solar cells. That had a box that the people call a converter that was stolen a few years back. Some NGO brought in a different pump and wanted to use different solar cells. They installed the pump and they moved the solar cells to the roof of the tank. That pump worked for a while and quit. The water may be too hot for the pump. The people went back to getting water from the overflow pipe. We did not measure the flow but it looked like maybe 5 to 10 liters a minute (1.3 to 2.6 gallons/min).

Then the people went to the local government and the setup of the diesel motor that can be used for grinding or for generating power was arranged and the Guyuk LGA gave them the defective 220 volt three phase pump. The cost of fuel to run the generator to run the defective pump is not budgeted for the school.

They still have the first Grundfos pump that is reported to work if we can connect it properly we may be able to return the system to its original operations. This helps the school but does not do a lot for the community. To increase the water capacity of the system we many need to add more solar panels, batteries and store energy to continue pumping into the evening.

After we finished a the school we drove around the village and found this other broken borehole. Originally, this borehole had a diesel engine that powered a monolift pump. In 2007 the hand pump was installed. We did not get the story of why is was not working. In the background in a Mark II cylinder with some rods attached. I have been told that people install Mark II heads into these AfriDev pumps because they are only familiar with the Mark II. The AfriDev pump has a 225mm stroke length and the Mark II is only 125mm. It would not take long to destroy the piston or break a rod with this setup.


We are going to look at several short and long term solutions and then discuss them with the community. Then talk with the village about what resource they have to put towards the solutions. After that we will need to do fund raising to complete the long term solutions.

Sabon Gari "B" Borehole Repair, April 28, 2011

Sabon Gari "B" is a district on the edge of the city of Mayo Belwa. It is actually, not in the Mayo Belwa Local Government Area (similar to our Counties, but they do not have any lower formal government.) It is in the Fufore Local Government Area. The town of Furfore is probably 2 hours away. They get little services from Furfore and nothing from Mayo Belwa. Their biggest benefit of their location is that the Governor is from Mayo Belwa. Mayo Belwa and the surrounding area get a lot more hours of power each day than most of the rest of Adamawa.

History of Bad Contractors: The people of this area got together and formed a water committee, raised money and hired a contractor to drill a borehole. He was not an good contractor. He drill down and told the people that he had drilled 150 feet and could not drill any more. They talked him into drilling more. So he did a little. Now he told them his pump was not strong enough to take the drilling mud out of the hole. So he put in casing and screens and left a pump behind. Of course nothing he did was correct or true. We found the bottom of the casing at 112 feet. The pump stand was not buried in 16 inches of concrete but just in loose rock below a thin slab. He never install the pump. Later the committee had another contractor come and air lift the borehole to clean it out and they installed a pump. The second contractor only did a little airlifting and went away. He did not know how to install the pump the first contractor had left behind so he got an old India Mark II from Jimeta. Because the pump stand installed by the first contractor was not properly aligned with the casing the second contractor cut a large hole in the bottom of the pump head for the pump rod to go through. This eliminated the seal between the pump head, tank and rising main. The pump worked poorly giving a muddy water. The concrete slab broke and the pump rocked with each pump stroke. In 2009 I gave the water committee $800 from profits for fair trade sales made by Citizens Into Action to repair the pump and start a fund for a future overhead tank. I recommended that they flush the borehole again but for a longer time, replace the entire pump with completely compatible parts and rebuild the pad with a proper foundation using Adams from the LCCN Projects Office to supervise. Unfortunately, I am told that the chairman of the committee got the money from the treasurer and left town.

Global Health Ministries provided some funds. Adams brought out a contractor we trusted an flush the borehole, reinstalled the existing pump with a proper 16 inch deep foundation and a much better reinforced concrete pad. They did not have the funds to replace the pump head. The stand still has a little misalignment with the casing. The misalignment is mostly caused by the casing not being vertical.

The new flushed borehole and re-installed pump worked for a while. Then it jammed. Someone, as adults we suspect children, had pushed rocks into the drain opening for the pump head, through the hole and fell down the riser pipe into the cylinder. The rocks jammed the piston in the up position.

Yakubu, Adams and I got to the borehole about 9 AM and got a man to find some young men to assist us in removing the pump and the pipes. Adams and Yakubu had not been able to contact anyone to tell them we were coming. We just showed up. Around 10 we had a crew together. Including a young strong motorcycle mechanic that will make an good borehole mechanic in the future. Adams has his name an phone number.

Yakubu holding the riser pipe.

We were hoping that what had been dropped down the riser pipe had jammed a rod near the top. So we would only have to remove one or two pipes and rods. No such luck, The rocks were small and had gone all the way to the cylinder. With the cylinder jammed in the up position  the junction of the pipe and the rods were not the same. We had to have someone stand on a barrel holding the pipe high in the air and some standing and overturned grain mortar to unscrew the rods.

We finally, got all 10 pipe removed and disassembled the cylinder to remove a few rock and peanut shells. Before we reassembled the pump suggested that we make something to cover the hole. We decided to take the pump head into Mayo Belwa to the shoe repair and sandal  maker to have him make a large rubber gasket with a smaller hole to make it more difficult for the kids to jam the pump. While Yakubu was off on that task we asked one of the young men to go to the plumber and get tape for the pipe joints. He came back with electrical tape. So one of the men told another young man where to find tape. I jumped on the back of his motorcycle and we drove to the auto repair area where they had electrical tape. I explained to the owner we wanted tape for plumping like toilets and pipes. He told the young man where to go. We drove to a small shop that sold hardware but not plumbing. They told him where the plumber was. We drove over to the plumbing shop. It was closed. The called the number on the board in front of the shop. He said he would come right over. A half hour he walked up. He first showed my electrical tape and then in the back of the shop he had the expensive stuff, teflon tape. 300 naria ($2). Off we speed back.

I got some people busy taping the the pipes and getting ready to re-install the pump. The retired pastor who lived near by had his wife and daughter fix us some rice with red sauce and meat. We went over to his house and had some lunch. Before we reassembled the pump I took out the plastic bailer I had made last year and sent it down to the bottom of the borehole to see if there was any more mud. It came out clean. So we sent the camera down with the long light hoping to see how many screens were in the borehole. The water was too cloudy to see anything.

We re-assembled the pump with the new hole greatly reduced by the piece of rubber that the shoemaker had made for us. We taped all the joints and choose the weakest pipes to go on the bottom. We were are the beginning able to pump 25 liters per minute. As we pumped the level in the borehole dropped by 20 feet. We stopped pumping and waited 5 minutes. One pump and we had water. This is the first pump I have seen in Nigeria that held its water. We will see how it is doing next year.

While we were there we saw that two compounds had outside taps where people were fetching water. I forgot to ask if the homeowners were charging for the water or if they were giving it away. The area currently has a lot of hours of electricity. The homeowners had boreholes with electric pumps and overhead tanks. From the reactions of the people in the area to the hand pump being fixed I suspect that they have to pay.

Yakubu spent a while with the Treasurer of the old water committee. Telling her that now that the pump is fixed they need a new water committee to oversee the operations and to raise money for maintenance and repair. Also to establish rules for the use and cleaning of the area. We also met with a local Community Health Worker that lived next to the pump. He is the unofficial pump supervisor. If he spots people washing their dishes or clothes at the pump he chases them away.

We headed home after a long day and a lot of sun. On Friday when we go to Banjiram I am going to take my wide brimmed herder hat.

Thought we were going to Jada, Ended up in Ganye to Buy Honey

Goat Droppings on my porch.

After breakfast of cereal and coffee and cleaning the goat poop off of the front porch (some goats found my front porch a nice place during last night's rain. From the amount of poop I think there were a couple hundred goats!), I went over to say good bye to the people that were at the Easter Camp for the Deaf. They were having their last program (Hidden Realities), to be followed by breakfast (tea and bread). After the program I told them that I was happy to met with them and made new friends. The I had a cup of tea with Ruth and Pastor Raimi. Pastor Raimi is the pastor at the Christian Mission for the Deaf Church in Lagos. He had been preaching here each night usually after a local hearing pastor has spoken through an interpreter.

We were talking about getting copies of the pictures I had taken when Ruth said she and Pastor Raimi were going to Jada to see the school Ruth used to teach at. I said I would like to see the school also. So they said come along. The also talked about the Pastor wanting some honey before he went back to Lagos. I did not put the two together. Ruth speaks pretty good and lip reads as well. Her Hausa is much better than her English. She was 15 when she lost her hearing.

We headed over to get on Adamawa Sunshine Express. Fairly nice van (they call them buses here). It had four rows of seats behind the driver and two beside him. We had lots of room only 3 people per row and the driver's helper. Pastor Raimi was fascinated with the cattle and was asking Ruth lots of questions. They do not have cattle herds in Lagos. It is a huge urban center. Seeing people fetch water from wells and pumps seemed to interest him also. I do not think he has spent much time on the farm.

We got to Jada and stopped at the market where a few people got out. Ruth pointed to the school. I asked if we were going to get out and walk over to it? I knew the bus was headed on down to Ganye. She said no. It is a holiday there is no one there.  Now I am confused as to why are are making this trip. I had assumed we would be able to go in even though I knew it was a holiday. The would have security guards at least. We headed down to Ganye.

Pastor Raimi arriving at Ganye Honey Market

As we continued south, I pointed out Dashen Bible College I have visited several times. Ruth reminded me that she had graduated from there in 1987.

Ruth inspecting bags of honey

We arrived in Ganye and got on motorcycles and headed through town to a compound. I found out this was the Ganye honey market. If I had known that they wanted to buy honey I would not have come along. When the white man shows up all the prices rise. If you are going shopping for a car for your kid you do not show up in a new BMW, if you want a good deal. If you want to buy something in Nigeria at a good price do not show up with a White Man. They wanted 7000 naira for 20 liters of honey. We tasted some and I thought it was weak. Then they took us out to some large sacks and opened them up. Inside were large plastic sacks filled with honey. The first bag we stuck everyone's finger into was really sweet honey. The next bag was not as sweet. They started talking price it was way high. I told the Pastor the it was the White Man Price. He said Ruth had just said the same thing. They decided to go to another part of the compound. I went over by that gate and sat in the shade of a shelter by the Mosque and they went to honey sellers who had not seen me. They found some honey at a better price but it was not as good and sweet as the first bag of honey.

I napped under the shelter by the Mosque and watched as the Call to Prayer was blasted out of the loudspeakers. The older men showed up first at the Mosque and slowly the younger men made their way their. After the call to prayers was over Ruth and Pastor Raimi came back and told me that they now have come down to 5500 Naira for each 20 liter jug of honey. But will take 15,500 for three. This is just over $100 for 60 liters of honey. Actually, not a bad price. $1.70 per liter.

This is wild honey. It is dark and has bits of honeycomb and beeswax in it. Also a slight smokey flavor as they burn the tree the beehive is in to harvest the honey. They gave him a bonus of an extra 5 liter jug. We got back on motorcyles with the 20 liter jug in front of the driver and headed back to the place near the Ganye Cathedral where there were now 2 Sunshine Express buses sitting. Since I knew I had increased the price of the honey I paid all our fairs back (mistake #2). Then I went across the street where I was a light on and a freezer to buy some cold Malta and water for us. In the store I saw a volt meter, solder and other tool of the trade of an electronics repairman. The owner was also a repairman. We talked a bit about electronics repair and I headed back across the street and he continued his rice and chicken meal I had interrupted.


We waited and waited and waited some more. There were more than enough people to fill one of the buses. Then a small car arrived and people piled in. We amused ourselves watching a large lady trying to get in the front seat with one other large person already in there. Finally, she gave up and a smaller lady got in. Then they said they were ready for us. We got up as headed for the buses. But they said no. We were getting into a little car and since it was a private car we had to pay for luggage (White man pricing) another 100 Naira per container of honey. We said fine and gave them the 300 Naira for the honey. Then got into the back seat cheek to cheek and shoulder to shoulder. This was a small car. A thin lady with a baby got in the front seat and then the large lady got in beside her. The thin lady was now on a thin cushion between the two bucket seats. Now another man came up and said 4 people in the back seat and a young man got in the other side. I was now seating on the doors armrest and so was the young man. We protested and said we cannot fit 4 people in the back. We said we have already paid 400 Naira each for Adamawa Sunshine we want to ride in those buses. They said Sunshine is not going back to Yola. If we wanted to go to Yola. 500 Naira each, 100 Naira for each jug of honey, and 4 people in the back seat. We gave them another 300 Naira but said only 3 in the back seat. The head man of the area finally said ok.

If you have ever driven around Nigerian Highways you have seen drivers in a hurry to get to Heaven and take all his passengers with him. Usually, they are cars for hire with young men as the drivers and people and packages stuffed in everywhere. This was that car. Potholes were targets to hit at 130 kilometers per hour (80mph). NASCAR tactics in a car with no suspension. Drafting 5 feet behind the slower car until you do not see any oncoming traffic. Usually, because you are on a curve and you could not see them anyways. The horn blowing at anything that moves or does not move. We made the trip from Ganye to Yola in less time than I have every made it and we stopped for fuel.

Many time we have prayed before journey. This was a time that I believe a higher power was watching out for us. For most Nigerians that take public transit it is just the way it is.

We did have to slow down a couple time. The military had a checkpoint on both sides of Jada. The first check point the soldier wearing American BDU (battledress uniform) only stuck his hand in the driver window to get his payment from the driver. The military check points I had been through recently north of Yola had been professional. They had asked where we were going and looked through our vehicle. They did not ask for money. They were there doing their job due to the election related violence. This was not professional. Their only purpose was to take money from the driver. He never looked inside the car. Just a open hand. A man with a gun demanding money. I shame for all Nigerian soldiers. On the other side of Jada the soldier at least made it look like he was inspecting us as he stuck his hand through the window. We had three suspicious jerry cans in plain sight (honey). But they did not look in the back or ask us what was in them.

As we got to the Yola city gate the Police had a check point. This I thought is good. The day before an election. The Police Officer leaned over and looked in. Then he looked at the luggage and saw the three jerry cans of honey. We told him they were honey. He motioned the driver to pull over for inspection. I thought this is good. This is what should be done for good security in a time like this. Then the driver started forcing naira into the officer hand and he waved us through. So much for security.

In all it was an interesting day.

Update on Violence, Good Friday, Deaf Camp

On Friday I took a long walk up to Luka Shopping Complex by City Cyber Cafe. The worker there is from a village north of Kubi near the northern boarder of Adamawa. He told me that there was much worse riots in Mubi and north of Mubi. Homes were burned and people were killed. I will have ask Yakubu about this. He is from a village in the Mubi area. But here in the middle of Adamawa things have remained calm for a week. I have no problems walking out in the Jimeta area of Yola. Friday's walks covered over 4 miles.

We had power for a while today. I am about out of battery now and will head over to the Deaf Centre to be with them during their Easter Camp. I spent most of Good Friday evening there last night. After sundown I saw that they only had four kerosene lanterns for the area. Ruth told me the other day. For the deaf "No light, No Talk". I took over my largest borehole camera light. It put out twice as much light as one of the lanterns. The pastor from Lagos was having a discussion with two young men. The light made the conversation much easier.

Later the Cathedral turned on its old generator for their Good Friday night service. The service went from 9 PM until after 1 am. They had a Good Friday morning service from 9AM to Noon. With the generator working I went back to the house to plug and recharge my computer. Instead, I decided to take it back to the Centre and show the video of the camera going down the borehole. I had tried to explain what the light was used for but some of the young men did not understand. So I showed them the video and they understood better. Then I turned on the Galludet Dictionary and we spent the next hour looking at signs until my battery ran dead. We went to plug it in but found that there were people sleeping in the office where the only plugs were. The old generator is not as powerful at the new generator. With all the amps and lights at the Cathedral the voltage is too low to run the refrigerator. The compressor starts and runs. But does little cooling before it overheats and shuts down.

Today I got a ride to the big Luka Market over by the Police round about. I bought enough AA batteries to make a 12volt battery pack and connected it to the three 12 volt Ikea LED lights I brought with me in hopes of connecting them the solar cell at Bali.

This afternoon the Deaf Camp had a lesson on Marriage. Most of the participants are young 20 somethings and only a few are married. The pastor from a local Lutheran Church was giving the message with an interpreter. He was also using some sign as he spoke. As the deaf pastor was speaking as the next speaker I realized I was hearing sounds from the church sound system so I returned to the house to finish this blog posting. I will go over to the deaf camp this evening and will attend Easter Services with them tomorrow.

The Cook and her daughter preparing the Okra for the Good Friday Evening meal.

I have been overeating yesterday and today. I had dinner last night at the Deaf Centre. For lunch today they sent over a huge plate of food while I was building the battery pack. Now a bowl of boiled yams with a sauce just showed up. Between the chicken and rice Thursday in Dingai and all these meals this is more than I have been eating in a week. When I have been going to restaurants with Yakubu he would order the traditional Nigerian meals and I stuck with rice and chicken or spaghetti. Now I am eating the traditional meals.

CBPHC Trip to Dingai April 21, 2011

Sarah & Jay in Dingai

The Community Based Primary Health Care team went to Dingai on Thursday April 21^st. We were a little late starting as Dr. Chidama was a little late and we were having trouble finding ice for our cooler. This trip there were four of us going. Yakubu Bulama, Dr. Chidama, Mrs Safiya I. Thomas and I. We drove from the compound over to Police Round About to meet Dr. Chidama. As we were waiting we got a call from Fidelis  Anansu that he was almost in Yola and wanted to come along. Now we were five. Fidelis is the Secretary of the Medical Board. Yakubu is the Project Coordinator in the Office of Projects and Development. Dr. Chidama is the Head of Adamawa State Disease Control and a consultant to the CBPHC. Safiya is a retired nurse and will be the Health Development Officer at Dingai. She is married to an Appeals Court Judge and is from the Gombi area. We eventually, got everyone together and headed north for Gombi to meet with the Bishop from Shall-holma Diocese.

The roads to Gombi are nice paved highways with few pot holes. We are able to keep the Hi Lux cruising around 120 KPH when we are not behind an overloaded truck or one of the many “Lazarus” cars. The Bishop was not feeling well and decided not to come with us on this trip. We drop off the pavement in Gombi and headed west on a dirt road. At the edge of Gombi the road becomes a wide compacted gravel road. The road is being rebuilt from Gombi to Fotta (about 45 kilometers). Yakubu had not had breakfast and had brought food along to eat. We switch and I drove while he had breakfast of rice and spaghetti with red sauce and chicken. I drove at about 80 KPH along the new gravel road. When the nice road stopped,  a bit short of Ga’anda, Yakubu took over for the rough road over the rocky trail. The area east of Ga’anda is a hilly area with more rock than dirt. Ga’anda is in a valley between two sets of rocky hills with an area capable of farming to the west of the town.  





Dingai Church



A ways after Ga’anda we pass through Boga the home village of Bishop Benjamin Fuduta. Then we turn off the rough road unto a smooth farm trail leading to Dingai. Dingai is the home village of Sekenwas Briska a Ph.D candidate at Luther Seminary. We meet his Uncle and proceed down to the Church to meet the District Pastor and the other member of the Mobile Leadership Team. Emmanuel Kumso will be the Community Development Officer. He has made several visits to the village and is already becoming a part of the village. (Emmanuel was my guide and interpreter during my 2008 visit to Shall-holma Diocese.) This is the first visit for Safiya to Dingai.

Dingai Church

We hold our meeting in the Primary School room. At the back of the room is a pile of wood planks that used to be the desks and benches. Most of the schools are converting to steel framed desks with wood tops and an intergrated bench. (The UNICEF school desk program. I have seen 3 or 4 welding shops in Yola welding the frames together and several trucks piled high with the finished desks. I am only guessing that this is same project that I saw on Public TV about school desks in Kenya. These are the same basic design but not quite as sturdy as those I saw on the TV show.)

The meeting was all in Hausa and the local language. Everyone in the room introduced themselves and where they were from. I told them I was glad to be in the village of my good friend Sekenwa. One your lady, Sarah (I did not catch her last name) introduced herself and said she works for UNICEF in Gombi.

Dingai is the largest village of a cluster villages. There are 9 smaller villages around Dingai. Google Earth has a high resolution aerial photo of the area. The next larger town is Fotta.

After the meeting we had rice and chicken at Catechist Briska’s home. As we were leaving Sarah the young lady that works for UNICEF asked me to give her brother Sekenwa greetings from her and the family. We sat down and had our picture taken. I posted it on facebook.

We drove back to Gombi with three people hitching a ride in the bed of the truck. We let Fidelis off at the Gombi Dispensary and went on the car repair park where we were going to tow the Arewa Diocese Bishop’s Land Rover to Yola.Dr. Chidama and Safiya both got out here to go to their villages for Easter Holiday.

Yakubu had been driving the Land Rover the previous weekend when its engine mount broke. The mechanic at Gombi welded it back in place. But then the transmission would not shift out of first gear. While we were at Dingai the mechanic found out that a pin was missing. He replaced the pin and now it works. I drove the Land Rover back to Yola. The Land Rover was purchased in Abuja as a gift from members of the Diocese that live in Abuja. There are no Land Rover repair people in Adamawa. When the engine failed the estimate to fix the engine was ridiculously high. Yakubu instead took it to his mechanic and he replaced the V6 with a Toyota 4 cylinder and a Toyota transmission. No air filter, no PVC valve but it runs. This little 4 banger in this large SUV has no acceleration but eventually get cruising above 100 KPH. It is a smooth riding vehicle but you smell exhaust and fuel as you drive. Most of the warning lights are lit and the temperature gauge is always maxed out. At least the fuel gauge works. The mechanic that changed the engine is yet to be paid. He has a few more things to do it get it working good. (Air filter would be nice.) I have the feeling this car will be spending as much time at the mechanic at it will on the road. The way people drive here and the lack of maintenance is a real problem.

On Wednesday I met Bishop Amos Yakubu the new bishop of Yola Diocese. He has a newer Jeep. We discussed the need to keep the air filter clean and change the oil. Also to keep antifreeze coolant in the radiator. I told him that dust, heat and dirty oil are the things that kill American car engines. We took out his air filter and it was already in need of changing.

GPS Coordinates:

Yola House: N9.280456, E12.448382

Gombi: N 10.15615, E 12.73609

Boga: N 10.13184, E 12.39765

Dingai Church:  N 10.127197, E 12.339342

Power is back :), Riots, and Happy Birthday Christina

Happy Birthday Christina.  This makes three years in a row that I have been in Nigeria for your birthday.

I have not had power since 7 pm Sunday night. It is now Tuesday at 4:30PM as I was about to walk to the market where I can buy some cold water the power came on. Sunday night the wire that feeds electricity to my house came loose from the cut-out (fuse) over at the pump house. Power was on Sunday night due to the riots and stayed on until after midnight. Then there was power again Monday morning for a few early hours. If the wire had not come loose I would have had two bottles of ice in my frig and about 6 bottles of cold water on Monday and cold water today. By Monday afternoon there was no ice and the water was cooler than the house. The pump house operator fixed my line Monday morning when I told him I had no power. He grabbed the line feeding my house to show me that I should have power and discovered it was not connected. Monday evening the Church generator  was on long enough for me to boil one pot of water to fill my Thermos. Today I put a bottle in a pan of water and set it in the breeze coming out of the bath and bedroom area to bring the temperature down a little. Now it is under the ceiling fan. Evaporative cooling. Monday night the Governor ordered a curfew to prevent further riots. Church activities were cancelled. So, the generator stopped early. At about 12:45 this morning as I was tossing in my bed when I saw a flash and heard a loud bang. The power had come on but the lines along the street had shorted out. The people on the other side of the street had lights on. We were dark.

Riots?  I just mentioned riots twice and continued to talk about my comfort conditions of wanting a few hours of ceiling fan, refrigerator, computer power, and being able to boil water to drink my tea. The riots here will not make the news compared to the riots further north. Nobody killed, no churches burned, no houses burned. Lots of tires burned at various intersections. Two journalists had reported that Adamawa State had voted for General Mohammad Bahir a former military ruler. When the actual results were announced the General had only take 7 of the over 30 local government areas. His supports went from celebration to protest. Youth from the church came here and took up stations around the church and the compound to help protect the area. The police and army responded and a few shots were fired in the air. The protestors here are not armed. Up north the protestors were armed and killed two policemen including an Inspector. The only count I have heard is that Kano capital had two people killed. I heard it was worst in Kaduna and mostly southern Kaduna which has a high Christian population. The BBC “Africa Have Your Say” program had a lot of people call in to express their opinion. The largest opinion is that the poor education, lack of jobs have created a large amount of poorly educated unemployable youth that can be bought to cause trouble for a few dollars. The leaders in these northern states liked to have a group of thugs like these youth to do their bidding. Some expressed the opinion that there was a culture of IMPUNITY. That they can do whatever they want and the rules only applies to the others. This may partially, come from years of military rulers, years of rigged elections, and years of people doing what they want. The rulers in the northern states are going to have to reduce the money they put in their own pockets and start educating their youth and improving their economy.

Here in Yola the government built a new market. With a 4 lane divided street in front of it. Vendors set up in the street and blocked all but a narrow lane. This was an easy choke point for the protesters to stop traffic on one of the busiest streets in town. On Monday the police made them close down and get off the streets. We heard there was trouble there as we had just turned to drive that way. We made a U-turn and took another route back. That is when the Governor (A retired Admiral) called for the curfew. Tonight it does not start until 8 PM.

Tomorrow will be a long hot day. We are driving to Dingai, the other sight that the CBPHC will have their pilot project. The P in that is Primary not Public. I spent much of my Army career in Public Health I naturally say Public. Community Based Primary Health Care is the correct name. Dingai is about a four hour drive from here. We will go there have meetings with the people and then get back here. Friday and Monday have been declared national holidays for Easter. Tuesday is the last of the three elections. This is for the Governors of most states and for the state legislators. These are real important elections.

Until I was here for a while I did not understand why they had three separate elections. At home we have one big one. But here to make the elections fair and transparent, the people who want to vote arrive in the morning and get accredited. Then they return at noon and all have to stay at the polling station until the voting is over.  Then the votes are counted in front of the voters. The voters go home knowing who won in their ward. Eventually, the wards will be combined at the Local Government Authority level (like our county) and then at the State level and finally at the National level for the President. The first election was for the Federal Senate and House. It was test for how it would work for the second week for the President. The first election was delayed a week. The pushed third election into Easter Weekend and then on to Tuesday after Easter.

These elections are important to the people because it directly affects them. If they elect a representative to the State Legislature and that candidate’s party becomes the ruling party they will get more money spent in their ward. If they elect a minority candidate they may not get much. This being the first “free and fair” election that was run by a college professor rather than former military officers the minority parties have a chance. Since, the number of people voting in each ward is known and counted in front of the voters the ballot boxes cannot be pre-stuffed with the ruling party votes.

With every election things get fairer. Four years ago the courts threw out several Governor elections due to massive fraud. That was a first. The courts went against the ruling party. Now they have a cumbersome lengthy but mostly transparent election system. Still a few ballot boxes went missing. But not the massive fraud of the past. With fair elections the elected officials have to be concerned about the electorate to get re-elected. They may not have as much government money going into their own pocket but more to the people. We pray that this is the result.

I just heard an announcement that one of the candidates in Tuesday elections wants everyone to know she has not dropped out of the race. She blames her opponents of starting the rumor.

Got to stop now and make some chicken Ramon like stuff while I have power. Maybe I will have cold powdered milk in the morning the frig has been on for an hour and a half. The water in freezer is down to  70 degrees.

Communuty Based Primary Health Care Program, Wakka Leaders Meeting April 14

The plan was to leave by 6:00 AM. We did pretty good. We got off by 6:30. Yakubu was driving the Hi Lux. Dr. Chidama Barka (local Consultant to the CBPHC Program) got the front seat, Albetha Yakubu (Community Health Extension Worker who is going to be assigned to Wakka as one of the Mobile Leadership Team) and I were in the back seat. We drove from Jimeta/Yola to Numan where we picked up Manzo Gaji (Community Development Officer to be assigned to Wakka as the other member of the Mobile Leadership Team), some cold bottle water, some fried bananas and some bean cakes (Yakubu did not have any breakfast). He squeezed into the backseat with Albetha and me. From Numan we headed west on the Numan to Jalingo Highway to near the border of Adamawa and Taraba States.  Driving this highway you have to choose which pot holes to hit and which shoulder to drive on. 

 

Just before Mayo Lope we turned onto the dirt road leading to Wakka and waited for the  Bishop Denhem Abba (Todi Diocese) and Fidilus (the Secretary of the Medical Board and a Community Health Extension Officer for the LCCN). From here we headed into the bush on a dirt road (one lane but wide enough for two vehicles to pass in most places). Crossing 4 dry river or stream beds and bouncing up a trail between two large hill, we arrived in Wakka new District Church a little before 10 AM.

This was not a “Water and Sanitation Hygiene” visit, I tried to blend into the background so the Community Based Primary Health Care Program would get all the attention. Of course being the only white person in town running around like a Japanese tourist taking pictures, I did not blend well. The purpose of this visit was to meet with the leadership of the area and introduce the CBPHC team. The concept of community based development is to have a bottom up program where the community is responsible for developing their own community. The CBPHC team is there to help them. This is a slow process. The team spends a lot time meeting people, gaining their trust and learning about the area and the people. During this time they are making notes about resources, talents, leadership, and needs. After a time they will start having meetings with different groups to see what the people think their needs are. They will not just meet with the leaders but will seat with the youth, with the women, with families, with clans, with business people. Most villages have formal and informal leaders. The school headmaster is a formal leader. But the women may consider a woman teacher as a more important leader for them. There may be a village member who is a businessperson in Yola or Lagos and is the person that provides much of the financial support to the village. It is these relationships and more that the Mobile Leadership Team (MLT) will be seeking out during the first month they are in the village.

The meeting was mostly in Hausa and also in the local tribal language so I clapped and laughed on queue. The meeting was held under the shade of a group of Neem Trees in front of the primary school. The temperature was in the upper 90’s with a nice breeze. The local leaders included the Lutheran Pastor, Lutheran Evangelist, Baptist Pastor, 4 Imams, the local chief (pictured standing in green), the women’s leader, the youth leader and various other people. The Women Group from the church sang a song. After many introductions and song the concepts of the CBPHC were explained and that this visit was to meet with the leadership to get their input and answer the best we could their questions.  The next meeting will be for the whole village to meet the MLT. We closed with a prayer from the pastor and from the senior Imam. Followed by more singing from the women.

After the meeting I went over to the primary school take a picture of the sign saying it was a polling place and I found this black board on large tree.  

A new larger LCCN church was being built at Wakka. When we arrived the walls were up and the steep rafters had been built. A truck load of metal roofing arrived just after us. When the meeting ended half on one side of the roof was on. By the end of the day the roof will be complete. The church sung at the meeting were standing in the shade signing praises to the new roof.

We had lunch at the District Pastor’s compound and then left by the trail to the north and east to Mayo Belwa. This was a one-time experience. Everyone in the truck agreed that as bad as the road was leading to Wakka from the Numan-Jalingo Highway. The trail to Mayo Belwa was much worse. Coming to Wakka we crossed 4 streams or small river beds (this is the end of the dry season). I quit counting the streams beds and rivers we crossed at 8 on our way out to Mayo Belwa (most with steep drops).  The route may have been a little shorter but is was much longer in time and bruises as we bounced through the deep sided stream beds.

 

The only interesting thing on our way out were three balanced rocks. I asked “Who put those rocks up there”? Everyone laughed with me and said God put them there.Then we stopped to take pictures.

For the Google Earth users. 

Numan Market area where we stopped N09.45654, E012.03530,

Wakka turnoff from Numan-Jalingo Highway. N09.24920, E011.68746

Wakka Church N09.15868, E011.81334, 

Wakka Primary School N09.15738, E011.81328, 

Three rocks N09.15063, E011.82450

Mayo Belwa where we entered from the bush N09.05858, E012.05044

Does anyone use the coordinates that I give? If you do please hit comment and tell me. Otherwise I might stop adding them.

Blog Stats

I thought this might be interesting. MY blog has been viewed 354 times from 10 countries. The majority is the US, followed by Nigeria, India, Denmark, Colombia, Angola, UK, Hungary, South Korea, & South Africa. The biggest source of referrals is from Facebook. Battery is running low.

Dumne Borehole, Camera Tests

Today April 11, Yakubu, Adams, and I drove to Dumne to see the progress of the water committee and to look at the two boreholes. First we stopped and talked to the LCCN Dispenser at the Dispensary. He had 5 patients this morning but now had time to work with us. The local water committee has done nothing in the way of planning for an improved sanitation in the area. I have the feeling they were told that they need to do it but not given any education on sanitation and the benefits of the Ventilated Improved Pit latrine or the need to have a latrine. The Dispensary and the Bible School do not have latrines. After we discussed sanitation we went to the borehole that has not worked for two years. It was originally, drilled by Danish missionaries.Between 30 to 40 years ago. No pump was attached for many years. A hand pump was later added. It broke and the local government fixed it . It then broke again. With only one pump of the handle I knew that a rod had broken so the handle was no longer connected to the pump. We decided to disassemble the pump to see what was wrong and to test my borehole camera.

We got some young men to come help us with the heavy work. We disassembled the head and tried to remove the tank we could not remove the tank. So we lifted the first pipe out of the bore hole with the tank attached. Then there was no rod joint found inside the pipe at the pipe joint. So there we stood holding a 3 meter pipe up in the air with the tank section of the pump still attached at the top. Where is my hardhat?  This picture shows us doing something you are not taught in pump repair school. We are cutting the rod. The rod joint was over a meter above the pipe joint. We could not hold the pipe high enough in the air to reach the rod joint. So we had to cut the first three or four until the joint was close enough to unscrew. When we pulled the second pipe we found the broken rod. It appears that the cylinder had become jammed and they pumped so hard that they broke the rod. It was not that hard, we managed to break a rod also. In total we removed 13 pipes for a total depth of 39 meters (128 feet). We found the water at only 27.5 feet from the base of the slab. An old man at the site said he was young when they drilled the hole. It filled quickly when they broke through a rock layer. The total depth of the bore hole was 200 feet. The water meter that someone donated to the LCCN did not work properly. We found the depth to water by watching the light of the borehole camera as I lowered it. When the light disappeared we pulled it out and measured the length to the water mark on the  camera housing.

The camera worked well above the water level. But the way I attached the rope caused it to scrap the sides of the iron casing and drop rust into the water. We also did a lot of scrapping while removing the pipes. when the camera went under water it was too cloudy to show much. The pictures of the pipe above the water were pretty good. Under water I could not see much. Initial conclusion. The camera may work better in dry bore holes or boreholes that have plastic casing instead of iron.

The governments last repair had used inferior pipes (they bent when we used a pipe wrench on them) and inferior rods. After sending three cameras down with three different lights, we decided to install the cylinder we brought with us and as many of the rods and pipes that we determined to be usable. This way the people in the area would have water until we returned with good pipes and rods. As we were installing the pump head I needed the young men to lift the rod and head a few inches so I could remove the rod clamp. Unfortunately, they lifted it up more than a few inches and snapped another rod. It was now after 4 PM and we did not have time to remove the nine rods we had installed. We cleaned up and left the community with the same problem they had when we arrived. Only now we know exactly what needs to be done to fix the pump. We arrived back in Jimeta/Yola at 6 PM. I was covered in rust, dirt, oil and whatever. I drank another liter of cold water showered with warm water and washed my hands about 4 times before making a sandwich for dinner. When I post this I will take another shower. (I pour a few liters of water over my head is what I call a shower.)

Video of 3 minutes of Sunday School at LCCN Deaf Centre (23 MB)

This is a three minute video of Sunday School at the LCCN Deaf Centre. I went to the Cathedral for English services after recording part of their Sunday School. Later they had church services. There were over 20 people for the service. Ruth has been holding Sunday School and church services for many years. She has finished Seminary almost 20 years ago but has not been ordained because she has to do her one year internship. Her's is the only Deaf place of worship in Adamawa State. She is married with 5 boys. The youngest is 7 years old. It would be difficult for her to spend more than a few weeks to a month at a time away from home. We will be exploring alternate ways for her to be credited for her internship. 

I think I should have made the video smaller. It is uploading at about 40 kbps which translates to 2 hours of continuous uploading. I hope power keeps up because I do not have a strong enough battery to go that long. NEPA held up for the hour and 44 minutes for the upload. Power ended about 5 minutes after the upload ended.

New Google Earth Aerial Photo of the Jimeta Compound

The new aerial photograph on the LCCN Jimeta Compound was taken Sunday December 26, 2010. Church is being held. Click on the picture to enlarge it. The Cathedral Church and primary school is on the west side (left). The LCCN Compound is on the east side. They park their cars on the LCCN Compound during church services.

I am living in the building called Jimeta House. If you want to explore on Google Earth the coordinates are N9.280456, E012.448382. The aerial view is much different than the view on the ground. The trees are tall and most have no branches for the first 10 to 15 feet. When you are on the ground the place looks more open. I can easily see the Deaf Centre from my bedroom window. These trees are called Neem Trees. They are also known as the medicine tree. Almost all parts of the tree is used for some kind of medicine. They are evergreens but with leaves not needles. As one of the few evergreens they are a major shade tree for Africa. They are currently dropping their fruit and seeds. Two women come by every day or two and collect the seeds. They will make Neem Oil from the seeds to sell in the market.

The only open gate is by the church. The LCCN Compound gate is locked except on Sunday. The people I buy water from are on the north side of the compound. They actually get their water from the borehole on the compound. The fill a push cart with12 to 14 20-liter jerry cans (528 to 618 pounds of water) push it around the east side of the compound. Up the hill to the entrance by the church and back down to the house. I try to order water on Sunday when the other gate is open and save them 1/2 of the uphill push. I pay them the going price of 77 cents for 240 liters. Which is much more than we pay in Minnesota.

First Week of April lots of little things happening.

We had power this morning from about 4 AM to 8:00 AM. I am on battery now. This week was not one of the most productive weeks I have had in Nigeria. I had a lot of time to sit and design things. Today is the postponed elections for Federal Parliament. Most of Nigeria will be going to the poles this morning. Some areas had errors on their ballot and their election have been postponed again. I am still trying to figure out their system. It appears that people come to the voting stations in the morning. They get authenticated in the morning and they come back at 12:30 to vote. Everyone that has been authenticated votes. I think you have to be at your voting station at 12:30. If you come late you cannot vote.  This way no one can go vote at two places. During voting the roads between cities are closed. On the radio I heard there were check points in the major cities where they were inspecting cars.

The rest of this blog will be picture based. You can click on the pictures for a bigger view.

One of the purposes of this trip was to test the prototype borehole video camera I had developed. My biggest surprise was that the battery pack was my weakest link. I  made it by soldering two AAA battery holders together to make a 3 volt battery pack broke while I was using the light for the camera as a light at night. The wires on the Radio Shack battery holder were thin and broke. Pastor Peter Dagwa (a retired technician from the Adamawa State Radio came over with his soldering iron and we built the above battery pack. It is quite fragile. But works. I am glad I brought the Harvey Plumber's Epoxy with me that I molded the parts back together. On Monday we are now scheduled to go to Dumne to view two poorly working bore holes and go to the Yola Diocese Bible College site  that is under construction to video the dry bore hole there. (This is the third reschedule of this trip.)

 Last week I briefly discussed the concept plan I had drawn in 2010 of a proposed office, warehouse, training, and guest house building for the WASH and other programs based out of Yola with Dr. Thompson. He wanted to see the plan but he was staying out on the other side of town and did not come here before he left.  I had not included the Community Based Public Health assuming they would be based out of Demsa. However, there was interest from Dr. Thompson and some Medical Board members to be based in Yola. I spent the better part of Tuesday and Wednesday, when I had power or battery left, making the building a little larger and the warehouse smaller to add in some offices and storage for the CBPH program and writing an explanation of the concept of the building. The concept now has offices for the Projects Office, WASH, CBPH, Rural Development and Agriculture Office, Publications Office, and an office for the HIV/AIDS Coordinator. Several of these offices are part of the LCCN organization but have not been funded and have no staff or offices. The former staff have started their own not for profit organizations to provide services that they are passionate about.

 This is an aerial view of the portion of Jimeta/Yola that I am staying in. I am staying in the house under the place marked Jimeta House. It is in the north east corner of the LCCN Compound that is to the east of the Cathedral Church. My house was featured on the last blog. The north edge of the picture is the start of the flood plains of the Benue River. You will see a complex of large buildings to the south and west of the compound. This is the Adamawa State Specialty Hospital. I buy my fruit and hard boiled eggs at the market at the gate to the hospital. Families have to bring food for the patients. So various food sellers set up market there every day.  Fruit is probably a little cheaper at the market but this is a much easier walk. Speaking of the New Ultra Modern Market, it is the complex of many small buildings about a kilometer to the west of the hospital. To the west of the market you can see the edge of the Yola Airport. The City Cyber Cafe that I have been walking to use when I have no power would be about the center of the picture on the bottom edge.

 This is my new frig. With only 4 hours of power it will keep water a little cool. The Lutheran Youth Fellowship is having a conference at the Cathedral later today. I am hoping I can get an extra 4 or five hours of power while they are running the big generator. Right now the only perishable in it is my last hard boiled egg. On Wednesday I made some tuna fish salad for a sandwich and put the left over in the frig. Thursday we had no power all day. I used up the tuna salad for lunch and dinner on Thursday. The dinner sandwich may have been a stretch how long you should keep warm tuna fish salad.

This is Mrs. Bongi inside the recently completed Deaf Girls dormitory at the Remi Foundation School for the Disabled. They received a large grant from the Federal Government (7 million Naira) to build dormitories for Deaf  Boys and for Deaf Girls. The purpose of the facility is that the children will live in a deaf environment where the ASL they are learning in school will be their everyday language. When they live at home part of the day they live with ASL as their language and part of the day in a speaking world. They have trouble mastering ASL if it is not used at home. Remi Foundation with a grant from Denmark has held classes in ASL for parents of deaf children and interpreter classes. One mother was crying at the end of the parent's class. She said her son was a teenager. She has never been able to communicate with him. When he was bad she just beat him. Now she can talk with him. Another person went to a political rally and to his surprise on the side of the stage was one of the women that had taken the interpreter class signing in ASL. This was a first in Adamawa that the deaf were included in a main stream event.

Personal note to Barb. I gave the Gallaudet University Dictionary to Ruth Ulea at the LCCN Deaf Centre. She literally hugged the book and jumped up and down. Then when I told her that all the other books I brought were for her schools she danced.

The difference between the Remi Foundation and the LCCN Deaf Centre is that the LCCN Deaf Centre takes the poor children that cannot afford the school fees or did not get a scholarship to Remi. Also the Deaf Centre works with the whole Deaf Community (adults and children) while the Remi Foundation serve children with many disabilities. The LCCN Deaf Centre has Sunday School and Church Services in ASL and bible study in ASL. I will devote a future blog to the Deaf Centre and its needs. It does not have the national and international connections that the Remi Centre has.

Sunday Just after Midnight

I have been up since power can back on at 11 PM. I am boiling drinking water and charging the laptop. While I am waiting between pots of water I will do a few updates.

I am using a modem on the laptop to get into the AirTel Edge network. Edge is 2G but here in Yola it is more like 1G. I updated to Windows 7 before I left on this trip. It is now doing a big update in the background. I have shut that down. The AirTel charges by the kilobyte of use. At the Internet Cafe which is a little slower they charge by the hour. I will finish the update at the cafe.

I added some pictures to the previous post from March 27, First Weekend and First Trip to the Bush. They are pictures of the Church at Waya and added a post about my trip to the Shall-homa Diocese on Wednesday.

I hope to go to Dumne later this week and test the borehole camera. I had been using the light system for light at night and tested the enclosures in my water barrels. Good news is there are no leaks. Bad new is that the wires on the Radio Shack AAA battery holders broke. I did not bring a soldering iron.  I remade one battery pack using some Harvey's Plumber's Epoxy Putty I brought along. This one still has the thin wires from Radio Shack. I will have to find a cell phone repair place that will solder some thicker wires onto the remaining battery holder. Then mold it up. I would hate to drive to Dumne and not be able to test he camera because of one stupid wire. This is why you make prototypes. If it works and found to be helpful the next thing will be to reduce the size and create a dependable battery pack.

Below are pictures of the house I am living in.

Front of the house.

Living Room mosquito net drying on my indoor clothes line.

Kitchen, refrigerator is shot. I use an immersion heater in the black pot to boil water, then pour it into the ceramic filter system (tall silver thing on the right) and pour some in the thermos for tea. In the cabinet on left I have canned veggies, tuna, sardines, Skkippy Peanut Butter (That is not a miss spelling this PB has 2 K's), mix fruit jam, powdered milk, some canned salad (mixed with tuna fish makes a couple good tuna fish salad sandwiches and oatmeal.

The bathroom. The sink is balanced on the pipe going into the floor. Not connected to the wall. The blue barrel is one of  my water barrels. The can on top of the barrel is my shower. I use about a liter of water, soap up then about 3 or 4 liters to rinse off. If it is really hot the rinsing continues.

Looking into the bedroom. There are two beds, The frame against the wall is for the mosquito net. The hooks I put up last year are gone. I will have to walk to the hardware market and find some more eye hooks.

I think I am going to boil two more pots of water and call it a night. Oh I almost forgot. Just after dusk I was sitting in the green chair by the kitchen. It was too dark to read and too early to go to bed. All the sudden I started seeing bats flash by the window and door. Then one was flying through the room. Fast little buggers. I got this picture. The door is open to let it out. I am not sure how he/she got in.

1:50 AM 90 degrees F. I will take a 1 liter shower and sit under the ceiling fan before I go to bed.

Wednesday March 30 Travel to Gombi And Garkida

I am writing this on Saturday morning. Today is Parliamentary election day. I am going to stay in the compound. I will write info on how they are trying have their first free and fair election later. It is 9 AM and 93F in the house.(Update: Midnight. I ran out of battery this morning. Power is back on so I am now finishing. Elections were called off and re-secheduled for Monday. This is a big problem because it is a work day. They had all the election material printed out of the country so it could not be counterfeited before the election. It did not all arrive.)

   Wednesday  was a day of travel. The Global Health Ministry (GHM) team was going to the Shall-homa Diocese Secretariat in Gombi and then further north to Garkida, where the EYN (Church of the Brethren Nigeria) has their Integrated Community Based Development Program .I invited myself along. Gambo a driver from LCCN HQ was driving in the Water Department’s Toyota Hilux that Yakubu usually uses. He is staying back today to work on reports. Like many of us he likes getting things done but does not like the paperwork. This is a small pick-up that had been sitting at Numan, LCCN HQ for many years. GHM paid to have it towed to Yola and repaired. It is a 4 wheeled drive diesel powered with a 70 liter spare fuel tank in the bed,a tow hitch, and a front winch. It has a/c but the a/c stopped working on Tuesday. I was hoping a wire had come loose. But I discovered that the belt was missing. Fortunately, the A/C belt does not operate anything else.

   Gambo was my main driver when I was here in 2008 visiting the six diocese. Then we were in a Lazarus Peugeot, (Peugeot 504 that has been risen from the dead many times.) We drove over to the Adip Hotel to pick up Teresa Obwata , a nurse from Kenya that is working as a consultant to GHM here and in the Central African Republic. Next we drove to pickup Dr. Martin Bimba. Dr. Bimba is the Chairman of the LCCN Medical Board, a mostly autonomous organization of the LCCN. Dr. Bimba is over 6 foot tall and insisted that I was bigger than him and I should have the front seat. Maybe he was thinking of waist size and not height or total weight. From Dr. Bimba’s home we drove over to Ambassador Juta’s house where Dr. Thompson, volunteer consultant to GM, is staying. After about 45 minutes of collecting everyone we headed across the Benue River and north about 65 miles to Gombi.

At the Shall-holma Secretariat building Dr. Thompson briefed Bishop Amos Tenterbiu, his staff, the Deans of the five Division on the Community Based public Health Program that the LCCN Medical Board and GHM are starting as a pilot program in two villages. One village, Dinga is in Shall-holma Diocese. Two people have been selected to be the village coordinator. They were sent to India for almost a month of training at the Jamkhed Project. Jamkhed project was started by a Christian couple who after graduating from medical school pledged their lives to working with the poor. Over the next 40 years they created the Jamkhed Project. They did not look at medicine as treating illness but worked with villages to create conditions that minimize illness. They did not limit themselves to just traditional medicine. They observed the relationship between poverty and health, Improved farming and health, water and health, sanitation and health, education and health. Almost every aspect of village life has an effect on the health of the village. They also recognized that improvements that are made by outsiders are not sustainable. That when these type of improvements break or have problems the villagers would look to the outsider to come back and fix it. They work with the people to find out what they think their problems are and what resources do they have to fix their own problem. The Jamkhed does not solve problems for people they empower people to solve their own problems.

   After the meeting in the Bishop’s office we toured the Shall-holma Diocese Women to Women Bible School. The Women to Women Bible School had been envisions many years ago. The foundations and walls were built in 2006. About $45,000 is needed to finish the building.  Instead waiting for the money to complete the building, they decided to start the school in two of the wings of the secretariat building. They have graduated on class and have the second in place. The women have five skill acquisition courses in Home Management, Tayloring and Fashion Design, Industrial Design (making soap, cosmetics, and candles), Knitting and Weaving, Computer, and Christian Womens Study (Theology, Math, English, Health, Adult Education, and Marketing) . The aim of the program is to teach the women the skills they need to start a home based business, grow the business and become and employer and teacher. The school also has a nursery/Primary School for the children of the women. The women come from near and far.

Intergrated Community Based Development of the EYN Church (Church of the Bretheran Nigeria)

After having a lunch at the Diocese we headed further north to Garkida where the EYN (Church of the Bretheran Nigeria) has their Intergrated Community Based Development Program. Their program has three departments, Rural Health, Community Development, and Rural Agriculture. We meet with the Balami Yakubu Emmanuel the Director of Rural Health. They currently have 20 health clinics and 35 health posts mostly in northern Adamawa State and Southern Borno State. The health clinics are staffed by 10 to 15 staff. Most are trained Community Health Workers or Community Health Officers. Since, they are not hospitals with doctors they cannot admit patients. They only have observation wards. Most clinics will have rooms for Mobilization, Dressing, Injection, Dispensary, Consulting, and Laboratory. Each clinic has one person that is the Health Post supervisor for the area. They visit each Health Post once per month. The clinics refer patients to the Comprehensive Health Centre at Kwarhi near Mubi or to the local government hospital.

The project sends out Community Development Officers to work in the communities. When they determine that a community is in need of a health post the work with the community to prepare them for a health post. The community creates a Village Health Committee with at least a Chairman, Secretary and Treasure. They build a health post building with a couple of rooms and they chose a man and a woman to become the Health Post Workers. The people selected must be married (I do not think to each other.), be able to read and write, and are committed to living in the village. The village will pay 4000 naira each for tuition; provide food for the people to fix their own meals and some pocket money. They have one class per year for health post workers with 20 to 24 students, lasting 3 months. Two months will be in the classroom followed by working at a clinic for a month. The class is held from January through March during the dry season when there is no farming activities. (In contrast the Jamkhed model will have the students come for a shorter period of training followed by time at home to practice what they have learned. The students will return for another short class and return home to practice. This continues until the full curriculum is taught.) The workers are paid by from the money they collect. Each patient that comes to the health post pays for a patient card and for the drugs that he needs for what is ailing him.

Thuy have a supervisor from the nearest Clinic come once per month to provide a higher level of care, collect the money, pay salary, and bring the drugs ordered the previous month. Annual refresher courses are also given. When asked their challenges they said having enough money for salary and maintenance of the buildings. They are funded by EED of Germany. While we were there they were going through their mid-term evaluation.