Dear friends,

I am now waiting at the airport in Lagos, Nigeria. Quite a nice airport.

Today we left early after Mass in the hotel room again. Five hours of drive, travelling back from Jos to Abuja, the capital city. I was attentive on the road to Nigeria’s agriculture. I think I have seen only two tractors during my stay, and they were not in the fields. Most of the agriculture is done by hand. I have seen quite a bit of men using some sort of shovel, but not really a shovel. It is a special instrument that they use with a great agility to plow the soil before planting. Stephen told me : you see all these fields everywhere? They were all plowed by hand. Nigerians have a different way of doing agriculture. They do not cut the trees and make a square plot as we would do. They plant as they go, leaving some of the trees. I have seen corn planted in an area with trees. Stephen explained that these are wild trees, but still fruit trees. I have seen corn everywhere and certainly planted by hand, not in rows, but here and there. Among other cultures, there is a lot of rice, potatoes, cassava, and many other things. It is very much a local agriculture, not yet taken away by the great NGOs. But the pressure is there. They are pushing their own GMO seeds over the local seeds. I think it is only a matter of time. More and more people, I was told, abandon farming because it is becoming difficult. That being said, there were plantations everywhere.

We had quite a bit of trouble on the road. An Islamic sect was doing a protest. They were all dressed in black and walking silently on the road, posing no obstacle to the traffic. But the authorities of Nigeria established a checkpoint, we think as a consequence of this protest, at the entrance of the city of Abuja. We spent at least one hour and a half in the traffic. Good thing we left early, because I would have missed my flight to Lagos. We were stuck in the car with no AC. I was sitting in the back and the windows of the car could not open. It was quite hot. But in the meantime, I was admiring the vendors who obviously took advantage of this traffic jam. They were selling all kinds of things. I have seen everything, including wool socks and mitaines… I don’t know what these are for in Nigeria. But the most amazing thing is their ability to transport things on their head. They walk between the cars with sometimes a huge load of things on their heads. During the driving, I have seen a lot of women carrying things on their head. They obviously walk with their head straight, which certainly gives them some majesty, but they do not seem to have to concentrate on keeping their load on their head. They speak and laugh. I found out that they put a piece of cloth wrapped in a circle between their head and whatever they have on their head, most of the time a plateau with things on it. This serves as a transition and probably provides stability.

We finally arrived at the airport in Abuja, where I said goodbye to Father Mbadugha and Stephen. I took my flight to Lagos. I was met there by Louis, the brother in law of Father. He bought plantain for me, that is a kind of banana that is not sweet, and also peanuts. This was the meal. It was good. Not full of sweet or salt, like Burger King, but natural, simple and probably very healthy.

Being dressed as a Bishop in Nigeria is very helpful for many things, especially at the airport. I was brought in the VIP line everywhere. Many, many people would immediately call me «Bishop». They still know here what a Bishop is. They ask for blessings. I found out that I needed a Yellow Fever vaccine card to go to South Africa and obviously, I did not have one nor did I wanted the injection. This was a stressful moment. They basically were telling me that I could not board. I told them to wait and called Father Mbadugha. He spoke to them on the phone, they went in the back and I was given a vaccination card. I like Nigeria, what a great place! If you pay a little, you get what you need. And here I am, waiting to board.

I will spend the night in the plane, hopefully sleeping. Arrival at 5am in Johannesburg. Please pray for me somewhere under the firmament. I am starting to really miss being with you, even though this trip was very interesting. I am not used to be away for too long. Another week and I will be home.

I don’t know if I will be able to continue my diary in South Africa with Father Kemna. We might be quite busy.

In any case, pray and don’t worry.

May God bless you!

Mgr Roy