Positive and Negitives of the Spring 2011 Trip

This trip had some positive and some negative results. That is to be expected.
Positives:
1. We did get the Sabon Gari pump near Mayo Belwa working again and found a young man that could become our repair person in Mayo Belwa. When we came back a week later the women said the pump works good but as they pump the pumping gets hard (heavy) and the flow decreases. When they stop for a while and it is easier.

2. We got the Danish borehole pump working in Dumne although it does not work continuously. They have to stop pumping and wait "one hour" to recharge. Few of the women have watches and almost every pump that is slow to recharge the women have told me they have to wait "one hour". Adams is considering adding some more pipes to the pump to increase the amount of water pumped before recharging and decrease the recharge time. However, the problem may actually be similar to Sabon Gari where they are stopping because the pumping is getting harder because the water level drops as they pump and they have to lift a heavier column of water further up the riser pipe.


3. We got to know the water situation in Dumne better by visiting all 13 boreholes. Only a small area of the town is involved in this project. The exact boundaries need to be better determined.

4. The bailer I designed in 2010 was finally tested and worked. This could be a useful tool for future work.

5. I was able to help Yakubu on several non-water related projects he needed help on.

6. I have a better idea on how to build a machine to deepen these slow recharge boreholes without spending $3500 to $5000 to drill a new borehole.

7. I am more convinced than ever that we can produce fire wood from waste paper and sawdust as a revenue producing project for the urban poor. I was able to design two different prototypes and hope to build and test them over the summer.

8. I am encouraged that the Women's Fellowship may become the vehicle for implementing the Sanitation and Hygiene parts of the WASH Program even without a formal funded program from the LCCN.

9. I got to visit two villages in the Jos mission field and seen that there is as big of a need here as in Adamawa.

10. I got more practice driving on roads where drivers pay no attention to rules.

Negatives:
1. There has been little movement toward the LCCN forming a WASH Program.
 
2. I was not able to meet with the Archbishop. He was traveling to the USA and several other countries and returns as I leave.

3. I was not able to travel to Taraba State to visit the Bali Project Mission Field to start a water evaluation.

4. I was not able to return to the Abuja Diocese for my first meeting with Bishop Ben and to fix a couple pumps and discuss the future of WASH in the Abuja Diocese.

4. The School pump at Dumne works as good as when we arrived. Once Adams "fishes" out the 7 pipes and 8 rods we dropped down the hole they will have a slow recharge pump at the school. Which is better than no water.

Dumne Second Trip, Fixed One Pump, Started Second, looked at 11 More.

Teaser. What does fish have to do with Dumne.

   On Thursday, Cinco de Mayo (May 5^th) we prepared to go back to Dumne to complete the repairs of the Danish borehole, to start work on the borehole closer to the church and school and to look at the borehole scheduled to be replaced. Yakubu has meetings all day so Adams and I will buy the parts we need. I have the Toyota Hilux pick-up. We need new rods, new pipes, a new pump tank, a new pump head assembly, and two new pump cylinders There are several dealers that sell the pump parts and pipes. There is only one dealer that sells the correct pipe, of the correct length and correct thickness. I parked the truck short of the area where the pump and pipe dealers are so that Adams can go and negotiate without the “White Man” pricing. The prices go up if they see a white man. The dealer with the best pipe had raised his price from 2500 to 3000 naira per pipe and he only had 4 pipes left. Adams did not want to pay that much for the pipe. He found another dealer who said he could get the pipe from his warehouse in Yola Town. The dealer originally wanted 92,000 but this included the pump base which we did not need. So we asked for a price without the base and he said 60,000. Adams said deal quickly because he knew the base cost much less than 32,000 naira.

  When we went to pick them up I read the specs on the side of the pipe and found that they were 5.8 meters long. They had cut the pipe in half and threaded them. With the coupling they end up being about 2.91 meters long. Three inches short of the 3 meters. This is why we have been having trouble with the connections of the pipes and the connecting rods being misaligned. We plan on installing a total of 14 rods. The connection for the connecting rods will be 39 inches up the riser pipe from pipe joint. We had no choice at this point but take the pipe and make due.

   Friday we returned to Dumne with a plumber and a drilling mechanic so we could make two crews, grab some young men to help lift and remove pipes and repair both pumps at once. As we approached Dumne there was a police check point. Then we realized it was market day in Dumne. Whenever a village has their market day the police and army will set up check points on either side of the town to keep the market safe and collect naira from the drivers. The police saw the “White Man” and the pipes and waved us through without asking for money. Vehicles without a foreign visitor will need to pay 20 naira or more to pass. Dumne road splits just outside Dumne with one road to the market and one road to the old part of town. The Army check point was set up after the split on the market road. We avoided that check point.

   We will have trouble finding help on market day, so we opted to do one borehole at a time. The old Danish borehole near the living quarters for the students at the LCCN Bible School was first. This is the pump that we thought we broke a rod while reassembling it a few weeks ago. We removed the head and pulled all the rods including the cylinder rod out of the riser pipes. The rod had pulled out of the piston. Without the misalignment of the rods and pipe to worry about we removed the pipes quickly. We reconnected the rod to the piston with a generous portion of Teflon tape and reassembled the pump. At 11 AM we tested the pump and had a strong flow of water. We packed up the tools and headed down hill. The women in the area had already formed a line for water and others were headed to their houses for their buckets.

   We were told a Chinese contractor came in drilled two boreholes and installed the pumps and built platforms and all in one day. This pump was reported to have a low flow, slow recharge and was hard to pump. The pump had a new problem since we last visited. The axle for the handle was missing. The Pastor showed up and told us the axle had come loose so he removed it to keep it safe. One of the bearings was in the head but was full of sand. The other bearing was not found.

   We removed the head and tried to remove the tank from the first riser pipe and could not do it. So decided that remove the first pipe with the tank attached. To our surprise the first pipe was only 1 ½ meters long. This was not our only surprise. We removed 9 ½ pipes from the borehole. The Chinese contractor had done a terrible job of casing and installing the pump. The pump stand was not close to being centered over the casing. The casing sections were not aligned properly when they were glued together. The one joint I could see down the casing was cock-eyed. We dropped a weighted tape measure down to find the water level but it kept jamming. We finally found that the water was about 49.5 down. I could not get the weighted tape measure to go to the bottom and switched to a string and the axle the pastor brought back. With a lot of frustration and many attempts I finally hit bottom at 94 feet. The bottom felt soft and the axle came back up muddy. The pump cylinder was only about 4 feet from the mud.With all the problems this pump has we decided to not try to fix it today. We would take the head back to fix it at Yola and consider bringing a compressor out to blow the mud out of the bottom. The mud could be an inch deep or several meters deep. We have no way of knowing since there are no records from when it was drilled. We decided to head over to the third pump that was proposed to be replaced rather than fixed.

   This pump was across the road and was working. It had a line of buckets waiting to be filled and some young women pumping but little water coming out. They say that they have to stop and wait for the borehole to recharge before they continue. By this time we had a crowd of people following use. I asked how many good pumps they have in Dumne. A young man said only one. Another man said three and another man said 5. I asked how many pumps that are poor like this one and how many that do not work at all. This started quite an argument. After watching them for a while I choose the two men with the highest numbers and the man that said only one good pump and asked them to take me to all the boreholes in town. The two men with the highest numbers turned out to be the local manager for the State Water Board in charge of providing water to all the people and one of his employees. 

We visited 10 more boreholes. Two we classified as good boreholes that had pumps and never ran out of water. Two were industrial boreholes with submersible pumps and diesel generators, that are run by the State Water Board. I asked how often they ran. The manager said every day from 6 to 9 am and from 4 to 6 pm. I asked when was the last time the powered pumps were run. The manager said “recently”. When further questioned, he admitted that one had run one day last week and the other is broken and has not worked for a long time.  It turns out that the operational budget does not make it from the State Government through the State Water Board and down to the local level. There is no money for fuel except when someone donates it. Currently, diesel fuel has spiked up to over $5 per gallon. The Hilux has a diesel engine.

   After visiting all 13 borehole in town they now have 3 that are working “good” (including the Danish borehole we fixed), 2 that are working poorly, 1 that works when someone donates money for diesel fuel and 3 that have had their parts removed for some future repair, 3 that only works in the rainy season and the one with a broken generator and submersible pump.

   Now sunburned and tired I find out we are heading to the market. Things in Yola can cost twice as much as the same item in a local market. Yakubu wanted ground nuts (peanuts are a staple in Nigerian cooking) and everyone else wanted something. I wanted cold water, shade and a shower. I walked around the market and took pictures. Near the exit a man was selling slices of watermelon and there was some shade. I waited until we got back for the shower.

 

Solar Cooker, Canned Hot Dogs and Tomorrow to Dumne

 Hot dogs come in a can here. Refrigeration is not reliable except if you live where you have a good supply of electricity. Those places are few and far between. Since I do not have a regular kitchen I eat a lot of stuff from cans. They sell small cans of baked beans. I cut up a couple of the hotdogs and have beans and winnies. They sell a canned vegetable salad that I mix with a can of tuna fish and make a tuna fish salad sandwiches. It make about three sandwiches. The vegetables include potatoes, carrots, peas and other things. It is a different kind of tuna salad sandwich.

This year I took one box that large water bottles came in and opened it up and taped on some aluminum foil to make my solar cooker. In 2009 I took couple  boxes and cut out an intricate design from the internet for a solar cooker, carefully glued on the foil and it work pretty good. This year I took the simple route and about 15 minutes and made a cooker that may actually work better. The sunniest days have been when we were out somewhere cooking ourselves. Today the sun came out and I decided to move the cooker outside at 2 pm with some Ramon noodle like stuff in it. When I checked it at 3 the noodles were fully cooked and the water was gone I added more water and the spices. Adams showed up and it was time to drive to the shop that was making riser pipes for us to use tomorrow. I brought the cooker inside and later in the evening I had warm noodles.

Tomorrow we head back to Dumne with two vehicles and two pump teams. We are going to try to fix two pumps. The Danish pump that we worked on two weeks ago and did not get it done and the pump that is hard to pump and has little flow. It we are lucky we will get both pumps fixed and will be able to go see the third pump that has been recommended to be replaced.

We spent much of today trying to buy parts for the repair. There are few parts available. Most of the dealers had access to pumps and rods but the riser pipe was hard to find. The dealer we used most often has raised his price to 3000 naira per pipe ($20). Adams is not used to paying this much. His pipe appears to be schedule 40 and is actually 3 meters long. He did not have 10 pipes; Adams made a deal with another dealer and we saved around 20,000 naira. The problem is that he was making his rising main by cutting some lighter weight 6 meter pipe in half and adding threads. When I looked at the pipe I figured out why we have been having trouble with the 3 meter rod joint not matching the 3 meter pipe joints. The 6 meter pipe they are cutting in half to make 3 meter riser pipes are actually 5.8 meters long. So each section of pipe is about 2 inches shorter than the rods. When you get to 10 pipes the rod joint is more than 20 inches up into the pipe. We plan of putting in 14 pipes at the Danish borehole at Dumne. This means the last rod will be misaligned by over 2 feet.. We have a rod that has had about a foot cut off of it that we will use as we reinstall the pipes. We may have to cut the end off of another rod and cut new threads onto the rod. This will make the job a lot harder. in the future we should not use this substandard pipe. We the extra couple bucks to get the right stuff and make the work easier for us and for future repair people.

It is after 8 pm and they just shut down the generator. all the bugs that were flying around the light are on on my laptop screen, in my hair and otherwise being pests. I will not review this post. Until later this weekend, I have 8 days left before I return to Minnesota.

Yola Diocese Combined Choir Practice

This evening the Yola Diocese Combined Choir was practicing out my front door. Background music while I eat my tuna salad sandwich. They are practicing for a choir convention in Lagos this weekend.

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

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 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