Weekend through Tuesday.

Click on picture to make larger.

This is the first time I have been in Jimeta in August. August and September are the two rainiest months. They get about the same annual precipitation as Minneapolis. The difference is that they have no rain in November through February, traces in March and April, the majority of the rain in Jimeta is from July through October. As you go south towards Taraba State the rains start earlier and last longer. As you go north the rains start later and quit sooner. A friend said they had heavy rain on Thursday here in Jimeta. There were a few light sprinkles Friday night and Saturday. Sunday was hot and humid but no rain. Monday morning we had a couple hours of rain with some heavy down pours. The crops look good here on the Jimeta Mission Quarters. The area I usually drive through to get to the old mission house I live in  is now okra, peanuts, maize, melons and greens. I am usually here at the end of the dry season when there is dust in the air. The picture shows the annual flooding of the Benue River. You cannot see the Benue it is farther north past the line of trees you see the other side of the flooding. Yakubu told me they will plant sorghum in this area in October when the water recedes.  

Saturday: I spent most of the day setting up housekeeping. The towels and the large pillow I stored away had the odor of mildew. The large pillow may not have been all the way dry when I left in April. I have two pillows and prefer the smaller one. I will probably soak the bigger stinky pillow in chlorine and water and set it out in the sun. Saturday afternoon I washed the shirts I had worn during my four days of traveling and the stinky towels that were under the pillow. It took till Sunday afternoon for things to dry. I have strung two ropes inside the house as small clothes lines.

The carpenters were busy building rafters on Friday and Saturday. By the end of Saturday they had the main parts of the rafters finished. I am assuming they will add more cross bracing. Currently they just have a big triangle with a center support. All of the rafters are braced from the floor. After they left I took my little 12 foot tape measure and measured the floor sections to compare with the plans. The original design had called for three raised seating level. They had built four that looked like they were around the same size as in the drawings. Theoretically this would have reduced the lowest level by about two meters. Somehow, the lowest level seemed fairly large.  I put my measurements into the sketch I had made on my computer of the floor levels and it did not make correlate with what was on my sketch. The sanctuary was almost 2 meters longer than the design. I checked my sketch against the Architect’s plans and they correlated. I must have written down the wrong numbers. On Sunday, I re-measured and confirmed my measurements. I decided to measure the outside of the building. The building as designed was to be 15 meters long and 9 meters wide. It turns out that it was built 17 meters by 9 meters. The pastor’s office had gained a little and the sanctuary had gained almost 2 meters. This is how they were able to build the fourth raised seating level. This has increased the seating capacity.

During my time here I will work with the building committee to design the Altar area of the church and the electrical plan.

Sunday: I attended 8 AM English service at the Cathedral and then left after the sermon and went to the 10 AM Deaf service at the Deaf Centre. Some of the youth were doing the bible readings as I showed up. Pastor Ruth was helping them with the religious signs that they do not use in everyday life. Pastor Ruth used a chalk board as a part of her sermon and made the sermon interactive. She asked 20 mostly young adults questions and incorporates their answers into the sermon. The women sit on the left and the men on the right. After the service they stay and talk with each other (or as the Brits would she the boy were chatting up the girls).

Deaf Church Construction Aug 24

After the Deaf Service Pastor Ruth and I went over to look at the construction of the Deaf Church. Due to the help of the people of the USA and Denmark the construction has gone quicker than most churches here. Usually, church construction here is slowly progresses as money is raised by the congregation. Since, there is not an established congregation, the construction has been dependent on money from donors. This is an evangelism project. The theory is, “If we build it, They will come. “  We hope that the building will help Pastor Ruth create a new congregation and also be a cultural and informational center for the Deaf Community of northeast Nigeria.

Monday: This morning started with rain from around 7:30 until 10. After the rain, Regina gave me a tour of her garden. They had planned on just planting corn. Yakubu advised them to plant cash vegetable. They have a large patch of Okra and several patches of soup greens, peanuts, and melons. People come over and buy soup greens or orka fresh off the plant.

Yakubu stopped over at Noon to plan the next couple of days. Tuesday we drive to Numan and will use the LCCN Auto Workshop to attach the trailer hitch. I crawled under the truck and measured the frame. It appears to match the hitch. While at Numan we will meet with the Health Board staff to schedule meeting for the review of the Demsa Health Centre Inpatient Building Renovations. We will also look to schedule meeting with the Health Board Director and Accountant on developing the administration of the next phase of the water program.  With these items scheduled we will know when we will be available for trailer driving lessons and for training with the compressor for cleaning boreholes.

Deaf Church As Built Sketch with benches and Altar area added.

 It started raining again at 1:00. More of a heavy sprinkle to light rain. I updated my sketch of the Deaf Church on my laptop until the battery went dead. The sketch to the right I have added benches and an Altar and raised pulpit area,. I will prepare several variations of the Altar to present to the Building Committee for them to have an idea of the possible designs.

While waiting for Yakubu to pick me up to go to the money changer, I worked on the question list for the Demsa Health Centre design review. It was after 4:00 when we went to the money changer.  The exchange rate dropped one Naria to 168 naira/$. Last week it was 169. It was too late to go to the mobile phone store to buy a data bundle for the internet. The local shop only had 200 Naira recharge cards and I need 8,000 which is a lot more than he had. Etisalat is my provider mobile internet provider here. For phones I have an Airtel line and a Etisalat line.

This week the Lutheran Youth Fellowship is having a convention at the Cathedral every evening from 4 to 7. They will be running the generator so I will have power until 7 PM without having to run my generator. Tonight the power went out at 7:08. When power goes out the ceiling fan that blows the bugs away from me stops and my laptop screen attracts them all. I am sitting on my bed inside the mosquito net typing on battery power.

It stayed cloudy all day with off and on sprinkles. It should be a cool night to night. Could even drop below 70. At 8 PM the thermometer on my radio says 77. Glad I used a blanket as packing material in the box with the trailer hitch.

Tuesday

We left Yola at around 9 and drove to Numan to the LCCN Headquarters Compound. All the streams, ditches and rivers are flowing fast and brown. The flood waters from the Benue can be seen from the highway. The picture is a river that is I have never seen much water in. Mostly people digging sand into trucks, or digging holes that fill with water then they either fetch water or or wash their clothes. This is the same river I had in my April posting about our trips to Hosere Wandu. We drove across it without a bridge.
 http://jayinnigeria2014.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/water-project-hosere-wandu-april-5th.html

We stopped at the workshop and Yakubu explained to the workshop manager that we wanted the trailer hitch attached to the Hilux. He then walked to the headquarters building to conduct other business. I stayed and worked with the mechanics to attach the hitch. It took about 45 minutes for the hitch and wiring. One of the flanges on the hitch where the bumper re-attaches was slightly bent and needed on hit with the hammer. Otherwise it was a perfect fit. I am impressed with the design and simplicity of this Drawtite trailer hitch. After installing I drove over to the compressor and checked that all the lights work and the ball was a perfect match.

I greeted the Archbishop with Yakubu and then we met with the Fidelis the head of the Demsa Health Centre Renovation Committee. We arranged that we would meet the whole committee on Thursday and go over the plans for the Health Centre Renovation.  We decided that we will pick up the compressor on Thursday and move it to the Jimeta Mission Compound.

On the drive back to Numan I remarked on how clear I could see the mountains on the other side of the Benue River. During the dry season the air is dusty and you sometimes cannot see them. We stopped on the road and purchased some roasted corn from two girls to eat as we drove on to Yola.

In just three weeks I will start my long trip home. This is the shortest trip I have made here in the last seven years.

I almost forgot. I fixed the antenna on my shortwave radio. Now I can receive the BBC and Voice of America. Before the short antenna limited my reception. I got a lot of Chinese, Korean and various African language stations. The Chinese and Koreans broadcast in English. It is interesting to hear a different perspective on the world news. The Chinese station follows the party line.