In honor of February, the month of LOVE, I thought I'd turn my attention to the things I LOVE about our life here. (Deep breath as I start to think ...) There's no particular order to this but I'll go for an even dozen!
When it comes to life in Nigeria, I LOVE:
1. Michel's ironing: Okay, he irons more than is necessary, but how can I complain about that!? I've never had anything so perfectly ironed before!! (And Jim's never had ironed underwear before!)
2. Michel's washing: This guy can get any stain out of anything!
3. Sunshine streaming in my office window as I sit at this laptop!
4. Being able to communicate with my family with relative (no pun intended!) ease and no cost! (Well, sometimes we can't get phone or internet connections but at least we're blessed to have the company pay for it when it does work!)
5. Seeing my dear husband so many hours of each day. (We're about the only friends we have left as, slowly, our friends of the past three years get transferred out. So, even though I'm not working just down the hall from him anymore, we still seem to manage to be together a good share of each day thanks to his flexible office hours!)
6. Cooking only when I really, really want to cook!
7. Green leaves on trees all year long! And flowers on many of the trees, too!
8. Our beach hut; a sanctuary in the midst of "it all!"
9. My new, custom-made bistro table and chairs. (Now I can sit out on the balcony to write on my laptop. Wellllllllll, as soon as it's fully dried. It's taking many days! I'll take photo of it soon -- it's got it's own, slightly imperfect charm!)
10. A lovely swimming pool that is classy even if I don't often use it!
11. Our driver, Jide -- an amazing guy who takes initiative, problem solves, networks (he found us the guy to make the furniture and negotiated a good price), is fully committed, is eager to learn, loves to talk politics, loves Jesus but is not sucked into the Nigerian version of the gospel,
... and is the best driver! We put our lives in his hands each day and we're grateful for his careful attention to the "roads" and other drivers/walkers/animals that share the path with him!
12. Perch -- "my" dear bird! I'll post more photos of him soon. He's been back quite a few times in the past two weeks!
God is good -- even in this place that is not very! And so I have much for which to be thankful!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Okay, so I looked up Nigeria. I'm assuming you are on the southwest coast somewhere. Can you tell me your closest city or town? I don't have a clue to the political situation you live with, or what exactly Jim's company is, although I am guessing something to do with oil? Are you guys in a pretty volitile situation? I think I'll Wikipedia about it!
We're in Lagos. It's the largest city in Nigeria with around 18 mill. folks! Nigeria holds 1/6 of the continent's population, I believe.
We were in Port Harcourt until mid 2007 when 4 co-workers were kidnapped and we had to make an emergency relocation move. Yes, oil. That makes us valuable targets, so to speak! :-) Our guys were released after 24 or 27 days, can't remember, I think I blogged about it. Seems so long ago now.
Our little world is on two islands. We can't go to the mainland without armed escorts. And we can't go to our beach hut without armed escorts. The island area is about 5 km by 7 km. But the traffic is so bad in this little space that it can take 1 1/2 hours or more to get home from the office -- a 7 to 9 minute drive on a Saturday morning!
Most scams originate from here. If you've heard of "419's" -- that's what they're called due to the criminal code label. Nigerians are hated by every other country due to their notorious laziness and tendency to lie and cheat. Our experience has been that though it is the trend, there are wonderful exceptions!
So, most expats wouldn't stay here and those who do either leave quickly or seem to stay forever. There's trash absolutely EVERYWHERE! But flowers bloom amidst the trash! I tend not to take photos of the typical stuff so you have to look hard in the photos to find the trash. At our beach hut, we pay a guy to clean the trash out anytime we will be arriving.
And I give treats to the local kids but they're not allowed to throw the rubbish on the ground (of course, they do that very thing when I'm not looking!)
All-in-all it's an amazing experience. One that has stretched us, for sure! It's caused us to re-think much of our Christian traditions, missions, etc. Because this is a place that evangelists describe as a hot revival location but they don't realize that it's all part of the scam-based society.
'hope that helps!
Hey, it's nice to have someone respond to my blog! I've got a lot of people who read it but don't want to put their thoughts out there into cyberspace!
So, for anyone else reading this --- take the plunge and write a comment! :-)
That is fascinating stuff, Sharon. What a very incredibly challenging life. I wonder how Chrsitianity has figured into the history of Nigeria - I would think maybe not a lot. What a shame all that energy and thought going into the scams etc isn't channeled into productive creativity, yeah? Think of all the good that could be accomplished!
Do you live within the city of Lagos? I saw an island called Ikoyi on the map - is that near you?
It would be so interesting to be able to talk, but this is better than nothing. I have a hundred questions, like - are you able to attend church? If not, where does your spiritual nurturing come from?What do you do with your days? What became of your last ministry in Colorado? Didn't you co-author a book? I'm really very nosy! ;-)
Well, I need to cownload some photos from my trip to the coast and maybe have energy to post on my own blog! You certainly have sobered me and reminded me to count my blessings in my cozy little life in Oregon.
So glad you're writing again! Your stories are just what I needed to read today.
See, you make an impact - still. And even when unintended.
And no fair that you get to be a great writer AND photographer too. Thank you for sharing your gifts!
Thanks, Susan! Your words have perfect timing!
Zona,
Quick recap of life -- did get the book published. Not too happy with the results 'cuz it's less meaty than I would have liked -- a Bible Study for women on Philippines called "Joy Ride" published by Group. But the experience with an editor and all was valuable and I've begun a book that deals with the many faith questions I've had while being here.
No, we don't attend a church here. We did in Port Harcourt until it got too dangerous. Here, the only churches we'd want to attend are in the off limits zone. We live on Ikoyi. The office is on Victoria Island.
Brief missions overview -- first reached with colonists; very fundamentalistic approach with a lot of rules and no joy in Christ. Then came the pentecostal movement. The people were very open to signs and wonders -- having seen many wonders from evil spirits/witch doctors, etc. But they translated their animistic beliefs to God and didn't experience transformation, either. Now the two options are basically a rigid holiness approach with sooooo many rules, especially for the women, and the health/wealth prosperity doctrine that appeals to the masses. There are some sound Bible teachers here but very few. It's hard for anyone to stay pure when corruption and hypocrisy surround them. There's a church that we would have loved to visit on the mainland -- a place where a friend attends. She's sure that we would love it and I think she's right. However, that is not to be! So -- fellowship is Jim and me with occasional edifying visits with a local. And teaching is DVDs such as The Truth Project. And worship is personal with lots of great music on CDs. It's the corporate worship that I miss the most!
Post a Comment