#6:  The Road to Minna

April 11, 2008

School’s out! Vacation started for everyone who works at the Kebbi School for the Handicapped, thus beginning a three week journey to the Southern States surrounding Abuja for me. My plan was to take the public transportation to Minna, a city in the Niger State and visit a departing VSO volunteer, Aine, and celebrate her end of stay in Nigeria. Zach would accompany me during the weekend and then we would be off to Abuja to bid him goodbye when he leaves on Monday for the States.

Zach and I woke up pretty early Friday morning, what a mess it was – we packed, cleaned, made sure all windows and doors were shut before we left an hour late for the motor park. Once we got there, we found a station wagon that would take us to Minna. We weren’t confident that this beat up station wagon would survive the five-hour trip South, but thought we’d practice on our praying. Zach and I bought the back row (3 seats for the price of 6.600 Naira (55 dollars total) – a bit steep but it was better than having our faces be pressed against the window for the entire trip down. We then set off for what would seem like the longest trip we’d ever taken in Nigeria thus far.

One hour and half in, the driver ventured around several gas stations looking for the cheapest diesel, but he gave up and continued driving. Then, bam, in the middle of the hot desert with sizzling temperatures to 45 Celsius and 110 degrees Farenheit, the car sputtered … and broke down! The idiot driver didn’t fill up on gas so the car ran on empty quite dangerously and gave up. It was just so uncomfortably hot, Zach got out of the car for some air and tried calling VSO on the cellphone but there wasn’t any signal. The driver hailed a kabo-kabo (motorcycle) and left us – we assumed he was going to the nearest town to get a mechanic. Nearly three hours later, the driver came back to find two of his passengers left, and the remaining disoriented and thirsty for water. We were all trying to avoid the direct sun and drink water sparsely, who knew when the driver would come back? The men worked on the engines for a while before we were able to get it started and we started off for Yauri, the nearest town.

We weren’t quite on our way to Minna, because the driver said that his car was in no condition to make the rest of the trip to Niger State, so we had to stay in the shade, drink more water and wait for our next ride. Finally, an hour later, another station wagon arrived and we were on our way late in the afternoon. Zach and I were supposed to arrive in Minna around 1-2pm but we ended up in the city around 7pm when it was getting dark. What was supposed to be a five hour trip turned into a ten hour trip down the road of hell. I muttered ‘katati lahira’ – hausa for Go To Hell – to the driver several times during the road trip. It sure felt that way!

We were greeted by Aine and guided to her house on the campus of the Government Secondary School where she was a volunteer. Her house was pitch black, the electricity (NEPA) had gone out, so there was candles on the table when we got in the living room. It was so good to see the other volunteers – Thessa, Helen, Glenn, Kristal and Aine. We were all pretty worn out from a long day of travel so we hit the sack early – for our long day at the Guaro Falls Reserve Park and for an evening of fun hosted by Helen with an Ann Sommers theme – think Passion Party!

I’m so glad to be safe in Minna. And amongst good friends and good times. But it’s starting to hit me – Zach is leaving in two days, and Erin is long gone. Some of you asked who Erin was – she was the other half of the intervenor team that accompanied me to Nigeria on March 1st – and interpreted my training courses and came to Birnin Kebbi for a week. Her stay was three weeks long, and she departed on March 22nd to return to the States. She is sorely missed.

Off to Guaro Falls! More adventure stories to come.

Tactile love,
Coco