Tues 28 Oct 2008 - The Crystal Palace & Cars

Advertising 'posh rooms at affordable prices', the Crystal Palace Hotel on Port Harcourt Crescent does everything it can to meet its claim of being 'the Buckingham Palace of Abuja'. Nestled between other hotels, bars and ladies of the night, this has been our home for the last three days of in-country training for the new volunteers now accompanied by their future employers from all across Nigeria.

Almost 24/7 electricity and internet connection and really wonderful staff - the Crystal Palace Hotel has it all!.

The week (or, for those whose visas arrived in time, fortnight) of in-country training has been fantastic giving us the opportunity to not only meet each other and to learn about VSO but also to meet other current VSOs from around the country at the patch meeting and VSO's partners including NGOs, foundations, academic institutions and government departments. The lively debate from all sides has been fascinating and led to fellow VSO and prospective room-mate at the Pink House, Laurie, to exclaim "that's so good I think I have to dance"..

Tomorrow Laurie, Dori and I accompany Matthew from Fantsuam on the two hour journey to Kagoro and the Pink House. .

Travelling in Nigeria is probably my greatest concern: although the driving skills are perhaps not as questionable as in parts of India where mirrors and indicators seem to be just fashion accessories, Nigerians somehow don't have the laid-back attitude of the Indian roads preferring to drive at the fastest speed the car will allow, as close as possible to the vehicle in front..

A fairly typical Nigerian roadside.

On our return from Jos, nine of us newbie volunteers bottled out of going truly 'public' (we'll save that for another day...) and hired a couple of taxis to ourselves. The shiny Opels were a sight for sore eyes, and our spirits were lifted as Sam, our driver, admonished us for not knowing how to use seatbelts in the back seat, only moving off once they were securely fastened (although I'm led to believe this is not typical of Nigeria....). The first half of our journey was conducted at a leisurely 120kph however something went amiss with the exhaust as we entered the village of Forest so Sam pulled over to a nearby roadside mechanic whilst we bought bananas and nuts from the local children whose sales skills would put Del-boy Trotter to shame!.

Waiting for the car to get repaired

This however delayed our journey by 40 minutes which then needed to be made up on the remaining part of the journey, with the two Opels travelling 140kph, bumper to bumper on a less than perfect road surface. We did luckily make it, however not without a small altercation with an equally shiny Skoda as both drivers vied for ownership of the outside lane as we went through a township on the approach to Abuja. It was a bit sobering. I would have been tempted to say 'public' would be a better option, however seeing a small, heavily laden minibus passing both of our 130 kph cars in a single overtaking manouevre leaves me feeling not so sure. Luckily though Kafanchan is literally the centre of the universe being about two hours' distance from Kaduna, Jos and Abuja which means we won't have to spend 5-10 hours in a bus to get anywhere like some of our fellow volunteers..

On the subject of cars I would also like to take this opportunity to try and introduce some new adjectives to describe car ownership, currently used in common parlance in Nigeria..

Second hand = second hand.
Belgian = second hand car from Europe: it does not actually have to be Belgian as these cars are usually adorned with characteristic European nationality stickers such as CH (Switzerland), D (Germany), NL and occasionally B (for Belgium).
Tear-leather = a brand new car i.e. where you have the priviledge of tearing the plastic covers from the leather.
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Apparently Belgian is not only applied to cars but also mobile phones and other second hand consumer goods.. How the Belgians became to be associated with second hand goods is up to your imagination!.
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So - I must leave the blog for today in order to prepare for our fancy dinner out tonight. I will need at least 40 minutes to get spruced up. Next instalment from Kafanchan.

VSO Nigeria Welcome Dinner Group Photo


And to follow the Adventure - go to the full Nigeria blog at Cicely In Nigeria!