Yola Yammering

Well the countdown is ending and with the decline in days comes an increase in anxiety and stress. In the past two or three days we have managed to rent our house, replace a dishwasher, fix a fridge, fix two garage doors, have a yard sale plus much much more. Wednesday morning all is done and we head south to Jersey and Pennsy for some time with family before flying out. Will still have alot of work between now and then, but just like everything...it gets done. I can't sleep right now because I have a thousand things running through my mind and dripping sinuses from trying to dive to the bottom of Highland Lake (I always love creating adolescent challenges). Anywho, I thought writing may help ease my mind and help me sleep...so I will chose a topic, Yola related, and try to pull as much together from what I know and can steal from the world-wide web to share.

Before that though, we have great news...yesterday our visas arrived. Always a worry in any bureaucracy. We each have the following stamp:

We also received a nice booklet concerning Yola, which is linked below.

Yola Handbook

I still get questions concerning where exactly we will be, so perhaps I shall talk about it a little more.

The Skinny:

Continent: Africa (you all knew that!)

Country: Nigeria

State: Adamawa

Town: Yola

Below is west Africa with Nigeria in green.

If you look on the map below, Adamawa state is on the far east (right of the map) and is beige in color with Borno state to the north and Taraba to the south.

You can locate Yola on the map below of Adamawa state. It would be better if it had the Benue river for reference.

And the gates to Yola.

As for climate the following should give a good indication

So perhaps this gives a better indication.

It is interesting why I post this, especially after the first post this seem redundant. I guess I am trying to make others feel at ease, but perhaps maps and climate data are inappropriate. Nothing is going to make anyone feel at ease due to the simple fact that we will be strangers in a strange land far away from those that we know and love. I harp on this because I know that many of our friends and family don't know why we are doing this and can not fathom the idea, and to be honest I have trouble formulating a concise answer for them. So here goes an effort.

Q: Why are you doing this?

There are many reasons, on the top of my list is:

-This is a wonderful opportunity to live and work abroad and raise our children with a better sense of the world and for them to learn and develop in ways that just are not possible in the US. When I say this I do not mean in any way to denigrate what we have here, rather to highlight the point that there is an entire world out there and experiencing it makes us and our children more insightful citizens of the US and the world. As both Jess and I have lived in parts of Africa in the past, we understand what a rich experience this is and what it brings to our lives on every level.

-Another reason is the opportunity to be part of something that may effect some real change. I mean this not only through the opportunity to teach young minds that will bring about real change and development for the region, but also the opportunity to work with a community and apply our skills so that it may improve by their standards. Many of my skills are much more suited for this environment as well as Jess's.

Q: What about safety?

-This is a probably the isssue that Jess and I worry about most, and have investigated to the nth degree. Safety includes our health and access to healthcare, but also safety from violence that has been known to occur in the country.

-In terms of healthcare, we will be covered by the universites healthcare plan and by some supplemental insurance that will include medivac and coverage when we travel to other countries including the US. We all have our vaccinations up-to-date and have a stockpile of meds we are taking with us. There are several hospitals in Yola/Jimeta and the university has its own clinic as well. We have been in touch with some expats who have been in Yola for some time now and they speak well of the availability of healthcare.

-In terms of protection from violence, we have been in contact with those on the ground who consistently avow to the safety of Yola. We will live in university housing (see attached pamphlet above), which will have 24 hour security. I will also refer you to our first post, which should give you an idea of our proximity in relationship to some to the more volatile areas of Nigeria.

Well there is probably nothing we could research or say that would convince some of our friends and family that we are going to a safe and quite lovely corner of the world. It is our hope that over the next several months that we all keep an open mind and explore together.

Cheers

-Harvey

What we are reading

The countdown moves along and we are packing, arranging, fixing, filing, and reading when we can. I wanted to share with everyone some of what we have been reading to prepare/inform us about Nigeria.

I believe that when anybody reads about Nigeria they should probably pick up the classic Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.

This book is widely held up as an example of Nigerian literature. Written in the 1950s, it is a story about Okonkwo a strong successful man of the village. The novel provides some insight into some of the traditional structures and practices of pre-colonial Nigeria (southern Nigeria) as well as the conflict between indigenous religions and christianity.

Another book that provides some insight into everyday Nigeria was also written by Achebe. The book The Trouble with Nigeria. The frustrations with the government and Nigerian society is harped on in this book, which though written about Nigeria struck a chord with me as it resonated with what I have experienced in other African nations.

A History of Nigeria is a very nice and comprehensive history book that starts around the iron age and works through all the way up to the 2007 election. This is dense reading, but can be digested in parts and chapters can be read a la carte as they stand alone pretty well. This book really put things into context for me and having a nice hold on the history should aide in my understanding of Nigeria's current state (I hope). This book was published in 2008 and was written by Toyin Falola and Matthew M. Heaton. Very informative.

As the Niger Delta is always in the news and plays such an integral role in Nigeria in terms of economics, politics, and civil unrest I wanted to read about this region. I am currently on the last pages of Where Vultures Feast by Ike Okonta and Oronto Douglas. This book is an expose of Shell oil and the Nigerian Government and how both have brought (or are bringing) about the ecological destruction of the delta region, enriched themselves, and left many communities disenfranchised. The book is definitely in opposition to the actions of both Shell and the Nigerian government, and seems to lack some balance. I believe it is hard to write from a balanced perspective on this topic, but I need to inform myself some more on this issue which will take some research on other perspectives. This book provides some nice background on the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) and Ken Saro-Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa was a non-violent activist for the rights of people in the Niger Delta who was executed by the Nigerian government in 1995 after an extremely flawed trial. Many believe Shell orchestrated much of the Nigerian governments response to MOSOP and other activists.

A picture of Ken Saro-Wiwa with his famous quote:

I have a stack of other books that I hope to get to soon.

Besides books other good sources to read are Nigerian newspapers. I have been following The Guardian (of Nigeria). There are many others in Nigeria. I have been following this one because I found the web content better than others. Other newspaper include Punch, the Nigerian tribune, Vanguard, Champion, the list is long.

On the web I have found that All Africa is about as good as it gets for following African news from around the continent. As Nigeria plays a large role in the region, it is often featured on their front page. It is a great highly searchable site to find news about Africa. I have the RSS feed on the side scroll of this blog-->.

Radio news. I will learn more about this when on the ground, but I have always enjoyed listening to the morning program Network Africa and the evening program Focus on Africa both by the BBC. You can find the links to these programs here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/

Well if your up to keeping up with us and want to find out more about what is going on in our part of the world, I believe these sources will help...Enjoy!

Heading to Nigeria

Well the adventure begins. We are a family of four Jess, Harvey, Emma (5), and Addie (2), and we are heading to Nigeria in about two weeks...the countdown is on. We are traveling to Yola, Nigeria where Harvey will begin an assistant professorship at the American University of Nigeria in the Department of Natural and Environmental Sciences. We are leaving (for now) our lovely home in New Hampshire to pursue this opportunity, and though sad, we welcome the adventure.

We know many people think this is crazy and perhaps reckless, and in some regards it may be. However, where it counts, this journey is not as crazy at it may seem...let us give some background.

Nigeria..."Yikes!" would be a polite response from many of our friends and family (more expletives and colorful language would likely be a more accurate response). This is understandable. Our knowledge of Nigeria is based largely upon email scams, what (little) we hear of rebel activity in the Niger Delta, and more recently clashes in Jos, Nigeria. While these are causes for concern, we need to put them into perspective and relate them to where we are going to be, and our situation. So lets start by looking at some maps:

Nigeria is a Sub-Saharan African country located it what typically referred to as west Africa. It it stretches from the Gulf of Guinea north to Niger, and is bordered on the west by Benin and to the east by Cameroon. It is approximately twice the size of California and its population is nearly 160 million. These details and more can be found on good ol' wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria.

Lets talk about our situation in Nigeria...

We will be in the town of Yola in the state of Adamawa, which is considered to be in Northeastern Nigeria. We have highlighted it on the map with a green star. You can get a birds-eye view on google Earth, but if you type in Yola, Nigeria in the search box, it will mislead you, you need to search for Jimeta, Nigeria (the town to the north, which is commonly considered to be joined or inseparable from Yola) Basic details concerning Yola are here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yola,_Nigeria. Yola is a rural town located on the Benue river, closely bordering the country of Cameroon. The history of this town is quite interesting, and has been at the crossroads of muslim and christian influence for many years and the religions have coexisted in Yola peacefully, unlike some other regions. Though Yola is considered Northern Nigeria, it does not fall into the region of Nigeria that is mainly islamic and adheres to sharia law.

Above is a map with the states adhering to sharia highlighted in green, and Adamawa state highlighted in purple (Emma's favorite color). This being said it should be understood that Northern Nigeria (or the states, caliphates, etc... that existed before the berlin conference drawing the borders for african colonies) have been muslim for hundreds of years, and the sharia law has been interpreted in various ways. I will not go into detail about sharia law as I have not educated myself on the topic enough at this time. All I know is that it will not be the law of the land where we will be living. So hopefully that gives some perspective of our location.

Now, I have hightlighted some other areas that many people are concerned. I will start with the Niger Delta (red circle in the south on the above map), the oil producing region. If anyone has read anything about Nigeria (other than an email scam) it was likely about rebel activity and kidnappings in the delta region. Typically these more hostile activities have been carried out by an organization with the acronym MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta). It is important to note that there are also many other organizations fighting for the rights of the people of the Niger Delta peacefully. The problems in the Niger Delta are many, but many of the grievances revolve around the environmental degradation that has resulted from the oil industry and the lack of benefit for the region from the oil wealth. The story of the petroleum industry in Nigeria is fascinating and troubling. I recommend reading Where Vultures Feast by Ike Okonta and Oronto Douglas, to give some perspective on the situation. I am also eagerly awaiting the release of the documentary Sweet Crude (trailer below):

The Niger Delta region does have many issues that are of concern, but we will not be in or near this region. It is hard to explain, but small distances in Africa are huge buffers and issues in one region often do not affect areas further away.

Another area that we have highlighted is Jos (Blue circle in the middle of the country). Many have likely heard of clashes between christians and muslims in this plateau region. You can read accounts of these on the BBC website. Again, we cannot stress enough that we are quite removed from this area and the conflict in Jos has a history the goes beyond christian and muslim tensions. Here is an interview discussing the topic (Patrick Ukata is with American University and the AU of Nigeria):

Other areas that we have highlighted (in yellow) are the commercial (and former admin. capitol) capitol, Lagos and the admin. capitol since 1991 Abuja. People often worry about these towns (as in any big city) because of the elevated risks for theft and other criminal activities. As of now we have no plans to be in either of these bustling towns other than for transit to Yola and for short business related trips without the girls.

A couple of other links that will be of interest are of course the website for the American University of Nigeria. There are also some videos about AUN on YouTube:

Other sites that we have found helpful are blogs. One is called Nomads and Housewives, and though it is no longer updated, it does give you a sense for the area. The other is called This Nigerian Life.

We have started this blog in hopes of keeping in touch with friends and family as well as sharing our adventures with any who are interested. This first post was meant to give some background information, and though some of the information is scary, we will have taken precautions to be as safe as possible. We hope that over time and through our posts we all learn about Nigeria and hopefully we will develop a better understanding for this complex nation.