Salam Allah'eku

I am back from my most recent mission…all the way to the far north of Nigeria and southern part of Niger (country). West Africa has this month planned an integrated polio campaign in most west African countries (particularly Niger, Nigeria, Cameroun, Burkina Faso, Mali, Ghana, Benin), as polio is spreading beyond belief at this point. So, I was sent up north, to the very muslim, sharia law part of the country, as well as into Niger, to help supervise the process! As a female I am sent to the north, because only women are allowed into the homes of local villagers, so even though I speak maybe 7 or 8 words (including the above meaning, “hello, kind greetings and regards” of Hausa (local language), I still had to go and try!

It is beyond hot up here…daily temperatures are as high as 49 degrees…did I mention I am walking around the Sahara desert from 6am-3pm daily trying to convince families to immunize their children? Also, meeting with heads of households, religious leaders and village leaders to explain the importance of vaccinations. I have prayed more in these last few weeks than I have ever in my entire life. As I am not a muslim, it was interesting, as I have never picked up the Koran, nor do I really know what it says, but I mentioned Allah and Mohammed as often as I could in order to get them to approve! Iit is shocking just how many families still refuse vaccinations, of the 34,000 or so children we were supposed to immunize, we probably did about 14,000 or so, for various reasons like the husband wasn’t home, so women not allowed to do anything without husband’s permission, to Allah saying vaccinations are not allowed, to the vaccination being unsafe (sterilization, HIV/AIDS), and many, many other reasons. I myself took the vaccine at least 9 or 10 times to prove that it is in fact safe, so I think I am safe for a while now! Great experience, with lots of really sad, but also encouraging incidences. In one settlement (a settlement is where a group of women live together in one compound all married to the same man – in the muslim religion, men can have up to 4 wives, but up here, they have many more), all the 11 children under 5 had died the previous month due to the meningitis outbreak, heartbreaking as it is one of the vaccines we give children on our rounds, so really had they accepted in previous rounds, the children would still be alive. But, this is normal here – they have many children, knowing that they will lose at least 50% of their kids before the age of 5! I also went to a wedding, and besides the bride, I was the only female. The traditional ceremony is only for the men of the village to attend. In this case, it was the Local government area chairman’s daughter who was being married off (I think she was about 15 or 16, and the husband at least 40, and his third wife)!! And she was crying, not tears of happiness as far as I could see, so can’t say it was an enjoyable wedding. I also along the way of my 7 days in the field started an animal farm! The village heads were gifting me with live animals, to thank me for coming all this way – so I collected 3 chickens and a newborn lamb! As I was living in a hotel, and my compound in Abuja isn’t quite animal friendly, I just gifted it to the local villagers! I was also offered a newborn baby boy – he had been born 3 or so days earlier and the woman gave him to me to hold or so I thought, and then she just walked away! So, I vaccinated him and then tried to give him back, and the translator said she wanted me to “take him back to my country and give him a better life”…crazy, but really, she would have rather have done this then keep him knowing that he would probably die within a few years! Crazy shit! But, we did convince some families that refused, and for me that is a big win, even if we didn’t reach our target.
It was actually nice to come back to Abuja. I was exhausted from being woken up daily at 4.40am by the call to the mosque right outside my hotel window, and then having to drag my very tired body out of bed to wrap myself from head to toe in my burka and head and body scarves! Did I mention I was outside walking around the Sahara desert for 8-10 hours a day dressed like this?! And, then I would come back to my hotel late at night, for the nightly dinner of rice, semovita and cow tongue or cow tail! Delicious!!!

The good news this week is that after almost 7 months of no rain in Nigeria, we had our first rain storm…and I do I mean rain – it was a downpour for about 5 hours. Rainy season will soon be starting, as we will no longer be faced with the daily high 30’s, low 40s weather! It will still be warm, but at least the rain helps cool it down a bit! It also means fruits and vegetables will again be available…no more potatoes, carrots, and yams only!!
I am off to Sao Tome (the second smallest country in Africa), which is a former Portuguese island in the Atlantic Ocean for the Easter holiday! A friend and I from the office have a need to get out of Abuja for the long weekend and just sit on the beach for a few days, so we are off on Thursday for 4 days of mojitos and fresh seafood, swimming and sitting on the white, sandy beaches!! I can’t wait! Once I get back, I will have exactly 2 months left in Abuja! Crazy how fast time flies! As is typical of the UN, plans are always changing here, so while I had a new role planned for July, it looks like it might be changing slightly, but won’t say too much until everything is all settled, but looking like New York may not be happening : (, but who knows really?!?!

So, enough for now. I have quite a bit of work to catch up on before I leave for the weekend, but once back I will start on organizing where I will be off to next! I will be home the first weekend of June, although heading to Winnipeg for my very good friend Heather’s wedding!! Can’t wait for the Roma reunion! But, I will spend at least a night or two in TO…I must meet Ella, and all the other babies my friends will have or have had while I have been away! For those I don’t see in June, I will be back in early July for my brother and Maggie’s wedding, and will stick around for a couple of weeks then!

See you all soon,
Andrea