Oneuwaghe

Tonight, as Turner said at dinner, this house is fully deployed. If we haven't mentioned it, the house is expansive...7 very large bedrooms, an office for Turner, 7 bathrooms, big foyer, large living room, large sitting room, large dining room, huge commercial sized kitchen with big pantry, and several screened in rooms and and a couple of outer rooms and a lush set of yards complete with a neighborhood pet monkey and mango trees.



Todays activity, after our breakfast of pepper soup, boiled yam, plantain and fresh fruit, was to drive about 1 1/2 hours to the Gurara Waterfalls. The ride over was as interesting as the destination. Again, we cannot express our amazement at the number of cars, motorcylcles, people, goats, cows and roadside entrepreneurs. The ride is pretty scary because Nigerians, it seem, do not have to go to driver's education classes...actually the education is at the school of hard knocks...both literally and figuratively. Passing on the right or left is optional it seems as is driving in the oncoming lane...we're not kidding. You'd better be alert for sure. 15 people in a phonebooth, that's nothing...try putting a family of 5 plus parcels on a 50 cc motorbike...without helmets with the 4 year old perched over the back wheel hanging on for dear life...you get the picture...now multiply that by hundreds. We passed Zuma Rock on the way. It's a massive black stone at least 50 stories high visible for miles. A hotel was under construction nearby and local superstition has it that there shouldn't be anything that is nearby, so we think that construction has been halted several times.



Again the scene going down the road was filled with miles and miles of thrown together huts made out of a variety of building materials from tin to cement block to homemade bricks and wood sticks. The one issue that is apparent is that there is an inadequate system for getting rid of garbage. We were traveling in Diseye's car and asked him about it and he agreed that it was a big problem, but because of the lack of government support, there wasn't the infrastructure to manage it. It probably wasn't a big problem before plastic packaging. Also we talked about taxation and how the government got it's operating capital. Most of the common folks do not pay any taxes, live on next to nothing, yet because they pay for everything with cash and are not in debt. Okay...listen up all you Americans...there is no system of credit, so if you don't have the money, you don't buy it...novel concept, eh?!...probably a little extreme for us.



Enough of the soapbox...the Guarara Falls were about 200 feet tall cascading into a pool where we were able to swim and loll about after the steep climb down into the canyon. As we out of shape Americans struggled down the path, two Nigerian porters carried the full size packed ice chests on their heads... barefooted. We are a bunch of slugs! Once again Ilse provided us with a lovely picnic of salads and this time she brought along purchased Indian somosas, vegetable rolls, chicken curry rolls, and bread an cheeses...to drink we had a variety of drinks including Nigerian Star beer. Most of us went swimming and the water despite being warm was really refreshing...several in our party jumped off a rock about 15 feet high and Matthew dogpaddled one arm aloft across the lagoon so that he could take another 200 pictures...okay we exaggerated a bit. It was a really lovely afternoon that gave us time to relax before we had to make the 200 foot high hike back up the path, again with the porters making us look pathetically out of shape...then back in the car for the eventful ride home.



Back at Miriams, several of us folded the programs and put the decorative ribbons on them and spent the rest of the day planning for tomorrows activities...the rehearsal dinner. We are going to be helping out with food, and flowers and set up and expect about 40 at the house.

So, guess that's all for tonight, but we leave you with the title of this edition which is the Nigerian expression for , "Well Done!"... Onneuwaghe pronounced ON-WHY -AY. Usiakimi, an "adopted nephew" of Turner and Miriam gave us that one today when we were working, so to all of you...Oneuwaghe... and regards from Abuja...more tomorrow.

Melinda, John, and Matthew

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