Ibadan!
Trip Start
Jun 02, 2010
1
11
15
Trip End
Aug 16, 2010
Ibadan, Oyo, Nigeria
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Right now, I'm struggling with research delays. Lola and my family friend/driver/occasional mechanic Kayode suggested bribing the local government staff to make things go faster, which sounds ridiculous…but then I talked to one of the guys who has been delaying my project for the past week and a half (!) and he mentioned needing money for gas so that he could go talk to leaders in Aba Audu. Bribe, gas money, two ways of saying the same thing. Anyway, tomorrow I'm finally going to meet with the community leaders in Aba Audu…long live corruption.
I'm also trying to get used to the fact that my research schedule is so much different from what I expected. I thought I would be able to spend more time in the communities, but with each being an hour away, and with me not actually living in the communities, I'm more of an occasional visitor who asks some questions. Much different from my original plan of really getting to know one community, and producing a really good case study of gender roles in sanitation work there. I think the project will end up being more about gender mainstreaming in sanitation policy across the state, since I don't really know enough about any one community to say anything worthwhile.
In non research related news, I went to Ibadan twice in the past week -- once last Thursday to figure out my visa extension and then again on Saturday to spend the weekend at my aunt's house and to pick up my newly extended visa. My cousins Dami and Lola, their friend Titilope, Kayode, and I drove all around the city -- we went to the University of Ibadan and saw the campus and went to the zoo on campus. The zoo was so unlike zoos in the US -- the animals were in cages of chain link fences, and the fences were really close to us. My cousins fed the monkeys crackers -- they reached out their little hands through the chain link fences to snatch the crackers. We basically could have touched any of the animals, except for the lions, so it was more of a petting zoo than an actual zoo. I was too scared to touch anything except the camel.
Then we went to the Premier Hotel, a hotel on a huge hill overlooking the city. It's owned by the Yoruba state governments, which is kind of an interesting idea -- they all manage it and share the profits. Then we went to Kokodome, a club/bar/restaurant next to Cocoa House, the tallest building in Ibadan, which looks like cocoa (the fruit not the bean) hence its name. It was a lot of fun -- I tried Star beer (Nigeria's brand), had a vegetarian meal for the first time in awhile, and enjoyed a sweet if brief reunion with running water.
Oh, and I went to the worst church service I've ever been to. The pastor said that all of his material successes -- money, cars, good job, etc -- were signs that God loves him and that he's a great Christian. As someone who spent twelve years taking religion class, his blatant misreading of the Bible got on my nerves. Especially since he had the nerve to take up four hours of my day with his nonsense. Then the next day, I got prayed over by yet another pastor, who made me kneel down and then used one sentence to pray that my research would go well, but spent a solid five minutes praying for God to help me choose the right husband. WTF. Needless to say, I feel like I've satisfied my obligation to go to church and I don't think I'll be going anymore after this.
There are a million other things that I should write about (such as the long, complicated, corrupt, and occasionally hilarious process of getting my visa extended) but I'm so hot I can't think and my laptop's about to die. I wish I were a better writer because some of this stuff would make for a really funny book.
Anyway, if you want to hear more, you should call me! +234 08162846285.
Miss you all!
p.s. Ibadan pictures at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2173926&id=300693&l=a543280474
Comments
Great pictures!!!
Just keep taking notes for your book! Can't wait to read it...