Arrival of the wheelchairs!
on Julia in Nigeria (Nigeria), 28/Oct/2007 13:50, 34 days ago
Another blog entry without pics. So I will be brief, as I know it’s a tad dull to just read text! The problem is , my camera is still in Gashaka Gumpti National Park and no doubt the chimps have got hold of it and are taking photos as we speak….Well actually, not any more as it has been retrieved by rangers at the park but I thought it was safer to get a friend to pick it up when someone visits, rather than rely on the Nigerian postal system…I have spent quite a few weekends here in Jos recently and have decided it’s not a bad spot! I have had a couple of friends to visit so we went on the obligatory tour of the Museum shops, trips to the market for material (cheaper than Abuja!) and hiking trips to the hills near my house.I am happy that the rainy season is finally over so I have been enjoying getting back into the swing of swimming, cycling and hiking in the sun! I have also done my fair share of travelling too, mainly for farewell weekends in (Kaduna and Abuja) as it seems that there has been an epidemic of volunteers leaving recently! A new batch of VSO volunteers are arriving soon and an American girl is joining me at my school until December so that should be good. I have also found myself a very handy Speech therapy assistant in the form of a retired doctor who has some time on her hands. She has been very busy making extra PECS books and other visual aids, but the only down side is that we can’t locate stick on Velcro anywhere so are trying to find other methods!!The really exciting news is that the wheelchairs have arrived too! My boss is going to pick them up next week so the children are so excited. Meanwhile a friend of mine is trying to set up a Cerebral Palsy support group and we had the first meeting about it the other week, which was even filmed for the local TV network. Typically they turned up when I was mid speech and I just had to carry on talking as if a film camera hadn’t just been thrust in my face!! Unfortunately I didn’t get to see myself on TV as the electricity wasn’t on that night!It’s a short week coming up as Thursday and Friday are public holidays as it’s the end of the Muslim fasting period Ramadam. I am hoping to go to Zaria with some friends , to see the Durbar there. I will describe it in more detail when I have actually been!!!....Watch this space…