One day more in Nigeria.

I have come to the end of the trip and as usual all the work piles up at the end. I spent the last three days mostly working on a Power Point presentation for Pastor Ruth Ulea to use when goes to Germany and Denmark next week. I put it into my Drop Box. You can download the presentation at the following link.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rnpiik5ffelkb0c/Pastor%20Ruth%20Ulea%20Show.ppsx?dl=0

Tomorrow I will fly to Abuja and stay overnight. Then Wednesday I fly on Ethopian Airlines to Addis Ababa and on the Washington D.C. I am scheduled to have an overnight layover but instead I am going to stay in DC for awhile. My wife is flying in and we are staying at our son's house and playing with Sydney our granddaughter.

My trip had three purposes. Lutheran Partners in Global Ministry paid my airplane ticket. They needed someone to have a face to face discussion with the Demsa Health Centre Renovations Building Committee about the plans to renovate the Inpatient Building and add a surgical theater. That was a one day meeting and then a few days of reviewing the notes and writing up what was decided at the meeting. Pretty technical and boring stuff. Basically, the expansion for the surgical Theater will need to be a little bigger to make the flow of people, equipment and supplies work.

The second project was to carry a DrawTite trailer hitch for the Toyota Hilux truck, get it installed, teach some trailer backing lessons, train the water team on using the compressor for cleaning out boreholes. My previous posts have had pictures of my traveling with it. Thhitch fit perfect. Only had to hit one part with a hammer once. DrawTite made an excellent product and E-Trailer.com provide me great service. 

The backing lessons have not gone as well. Yakubu had an accident and he burned his right hand. With a manual transmission it is difficult to try to back up and not use your right hand.

We took the compressor out to the Fulani Centre at Bronnum Lutheran Seminary. We were told they had a broken borehole we could fix their pump and train on flushing the borehole with the compressor. Unfortunately, the pump was not on a borehole but was mounted on a hand dug well. We fixed their pump but did not get to use the compressor.

On Friday we went out to the village of Mabakaure on the road to Numan. They did have a borehole. I was deeper than we expected and to get the air jetting tool to the bottom we had to lower 15 feet of air hose down the casing.

The flushing went well but we had gotten a late start and could only flush for 90 minutes. The water repair team wanted to quit after only 30 minutes. The water blowing out of the borehole looked clean. But when you put the water in a bucket you it was still a little brown so we continued.

My last project was to continue working on the Deaf Church. The money for the roof was transferred the day before I left on the trip. When I arrived on Friday August 22nd they were already installing the rafters. By September 11th they had completed the roof. The roof came in under budget. There was enough money left to pay for the exterior steel doors and the aluminum casement windows.

Getting Ready to Return to Nigeria

On Tuesday morning August 19th, I will depart on the first leg of my longer than usual journey to Nigeria. Previously, I have flown Delta, KLM, Air France and Lufthansa to and from Nigeria. The flights have always arrived in the early evening and only once have I been able to catch a flight Abuja down to Yola the same day as I arrived in Abuja. This trip I am flying United to Washington D.C., Dulles Airport. Staying overnight and flying Ethiopian Airlines Wednesday to arrive Thurday morning in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. After a short layover I fly on to Abuja. The plan was to catch the late afternoon flight to Yola. However, it turns out that the late flight is scheduled to leave at 2:20 pm. I have less than 2 hours to go through immigration and customs and get my luggage over to the Domestic part of the terminal. Normally, this would be adequate. I have read that immigration is doing health checks on incoming passengers to check for Ebola symptoms. Customs may be curious about the over-sized box I am bringing with me.  It contains a DrawTite trailer hitch (It is called a tow bar in many parts of the world).

Global Health Ministries provided a trailer mounted air compressor to be y\used for cleaning a re-developing boreholes (drilled water wells). However, the Toyota Hilux truck they bought for the Pump Repair Team does not have a hitch. During my last trip we spent many hours trying to find a tow bar in Yola. Unlike Minnesota nobody have a boat that they trailer. There are no camping trailers and no trailer parks. There is no market for tow bars. We found that Toyota South Africa lists a tow bar as an accessory on its internet site but there is no information about the size or capacity.

We emailed and called the Abuja Toyota dealers and the Abuja Toyota parts distribution center and got no responses. A staff member of the Health Services Board visiting Abuja went to the dealer and they told him that they did not carry tow bars but it is "probably" available in Lagos. If it is available they can have it shipped to Abuja and we would have to drive to Abuja and they would install it. After over 4 months of looking, phoning, and emailing we gave up and I bought one over the internet from Etrailer. The first one that arrived was bent. The second only had a couple minor paint chips but it was poorly packaged. It was just in an over-sized box and have ripped through the box in several places. Adequate packaging for shipping on a truck but not for a plane trip. I wrapped it in bubble wrap and cardboard and packed it into the box with three layers of cardboard, foam panels and 7 small toy soccer balls as cushioning.

It will cost me an extra $200 to get it on the plane. United Airlines has told me that they will not check it through to Abuja because my layover in DC is more than 10 hours. I will have to get it at the United baggage in DC and see it Ethiopian Airlines will take it Tuesday evening for my Wednesday morning flight. If they take my luggage I will catch the Metro over to my son's house. If they do not take it, I get to spend a night in Dulles Airport with a trailer hitch.

I have brought along a torque wrench and the required sockets to install the tow bar on the Hilux. After it is installed I will be giving trailer driving and backing lessons and we will be testing the compressor on a couple of poorly functioning boreholes. It will not be hard to find a poorly functioning borehole. The majority of them were not properly installed, developed and need to be cleaned out.

My primary reason for this trip is to represent Lutheran Partners in Global Ministry during the final design of the Demsa Health Centre Upgrade and Renovations. In the picture below the building on the right is the outpatient building. It will get a new higher roof, upgraded electrical system, new plumbing, and ceiling fans. The building on the right have an addition added to it and will have wards for males and female patients, a maternity suite with two birthing rooms, and a surgical suite. The costs of the renovations and upgrades are going to be over a quarter million dollars. The funding is coming from the Minneapolis Area Synod Nigeria Health Care Campaign. They have a goal of $450,000 to of which Mount Calvary Lutheran of Excelsior has matched the first $200,000 that the synod has raised. This fund will go to several Health Care projects. These projects include the Demsa renovations, renovations and expansion of medical dispensaries, the Malaria prevention and treatment rpogram, expanding the Community Based Public Health Program, and funding the Water and Sanitation/Hygiene (WASH) Program. Most of my time on my last nine trips has been with developing the capability of the LCCN to operate its WASH Program. The compressor and trailer hitch are parts of that program.

 The other major project I will be working on while in Nigeria will be the construction of the LCCN's first church for the Deaf. Construction started just before my last trip. The foundation, floors and walls are complete. I will be making a wire transfer of $9,360 to the Deaf Church Construction account before I leave.  Along with what they have in their bank account, they should be enough to construct the roof. So far over $20,000 has been raised for this project from the United States and Denmark. I have coordinated grants totally $7,000 from the Mill Neck Foundation, the Mount Calvary Foundation, and the Evangelical Lutheran Deaf Association. Bread of Life Deaf Church has made two contributions and First Lutheran Church of Crystal had made two contributions. One member of Mount Calvary has donated $2,000 and a family donated $500. A Dioconal Minister who has traveled to Nigeria many times has raised $1,000 through her sales of products purchased from Women of Hope of Jos, Nigeria.  I have even had one ELCA Pastor donate. Most most of my brothers, sister, cousins in-laws, friend of relatives and a few Facebook friends have donated.

I will be updating this blog with pictures and other stories over the next month.

Marriage and Blessing of Their Children of Mr. & Mrs. Godopwa Hakiyina, Guyuk, Nigeria

Click to Enlarge

On Palm Sunday I drove up to Guyuk with Pastor Ruth and nine of the Deaf that normally attend her services at the LCCN Deaf Centre. We would have had several more but when I showed up with the truck, a few had decided to go for some food. We were late so we did not wait for them. We added a bench to the bed of the truck and headed north at a little faster speed than I normally drive.

When we arrived at LCCN 4, Guyuk, they had already started the Sunday Service and were at the Annoucements. The announcements at churches can last a long time during the wedding season (April-May) and Holy week. All the local and regional weddings, prayer services, inter-faith services and much more are announced. The printing of bulletins is not affordable.


The church is relatively small but is located on a large compound. On the right side is a shade structure for the overflow crowd. I am sure they are in the process of saving to build a larger building. They have piles of concrete block along the front wall and areas where sand is being stored to make more blocks. The normal way new churches are built is to save some money until you have enough to make a batch of blocks. You then buy cement, collect sand and make the blocks. They may make and store the blocks for several years. When they have enough blocks and enough money to buy the cement for the foundation and walls they will build. Then when they get enough for the roof they will build the roof. The next stage would be to buy windows and doors. Finally, they will add the electrical, plumbing, plaster, paint and furnishings. The entire process can require years. But rather and putting the money in the bank and letting inflation and fees eat it up they make concrete blocks.

Pastor Ruth changed into here robe and stole and joined the local pastor at the Altar. She will not be officiating at this marriage but will assist the local pastor.  Being Palm Sunday the Women's Fellowship, the Gospel Singers and the Youth Band had prepared special songs.

The marriage and blessings was worked in to the service. This is the second marriage as a part of the Sunday Service that I have seen here. It saves the couple a lot of money. This is a rather new procedure. I was told at the first one I attended in March, at the Cathedral that is was the first anyone had seen. The Yola Diocese Bishop happened to be scheduled to officiate at that Sunday's Service so he performed the marriage.

The local pastor performed the rites of marriage and blessing of the children with the help of an interpreter. Part of the ceremony was mixed with various parts of the service. The couple and wedding party had to get up and move to the front several times. At one point the wedding party performed a song in sign. This is an adult version of 'Jesus Loves Me". I edited it down to the last verse. The interpreter was a little behind until he figured out the song.

Toward the end of the service they had the offering. The offering box had two holes one for the men and one for the women. It is a bit of a competition as to which group gives more. They walk and some dance up to the box while the youth band sings. When the men have finished, their offering side is covered and the women come forward. Next week they will announce the totals during announcements. After the regular offerings they had a special offering for the couple. The couple stood by the donation baskets on top of the offering box and shook hands with everyone as they came by and put money in the baskets.

During the second offering I went outside to get some water. The truck was parked in the sunlight. The one sachet of water that was in the truck was will over 100 degrees F. I moved the truck to some shade and used some of the water to cool of the dark bench that was in the back.

 Instead of going back into the church I joined a group of young ladies at one of the windows. All the windows and doors had people standing at them. The view from this window as not bad, but you could not read the sign from the interpreter or see much of the pastor when he was kneeling before the Altar. 

After the service the best man organized everyone for pictures. I did not know the couple. I was just the driver for the people from Jimeta and tried to stay out of the pictures. It is hard to do when you stand out in the crowd the way I do you. I always seem to end up in the picture. 

After the first picture a successfully avoided the rest of the pictures. I will have to go and buy a flash drive to put all their pictures on give it to Pastor Ruth to get to them.

After the pictures at the church we drove over to the mother of the bride's compound for a snack, soft drink, and reception. The best part was the half frozen sachet of water that I was given. We excused ourselves after about a half an hour and thanked the family. 

We drove over to Retired Archbishop David Windibizri's house. He was in Jimeta at a meeting. We greeted his wife and spent a few minutes then headed back to Jimeta. This time at a more reasonable speed.

On the way back, we stopped in Numan at the LCCN Headquarter's Compound to pick up a package for Archbishop Babba's son Paul who lives in Mississippi. I got a chance to see the compressor that Global Health Ministries had purchased for Water Program. I had been working on finding a trailer hitch for the compressor but did not know that it had a very specific hitch and ball requirement. I had been told it was a two inch ball. But the trailer connection specified that it must be a 25/16 inch Class IV ball. The chances of finding that ball and hitch here is slim to none. Now we have to create a plan B. 

Waiting in Numan for the package.

Click on picture to do the the donation site.

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Water Project Hosere Wandu, April 5th.

Click to enlarge. Fried Yams.

(Updated April 16th and 18th. Clicking or double clicking on the picture will make them larger)

We got a pretty early start on Saturday Morning April 5th. It was before breakfast so we stopped along the road to get a bag of water sachets,some fried yams and fried corn cakes. They are cooked in peanut oil and then tossed with local spices. Not exactly sure of what is in the spices. Last year I purchase some at a shop and used it in most of my dishes. This year I have been using curry. We are traveling early so Yakubu Bulama can get back to Yola for a wedding. He is the Chairman of the reception. Like a MC.

Corn Cakes fried in oil.

Hosere Wandu is out the old back road to Mayo Belwa from Yola. It is in the Yola Diocese. They have an existing borehole with an electric pump in it. It was another that was installed with the help of a politician seeking re-election. According to the community theirs was the only one that had water. It was used only a short time before it broke. We never get the complete story the first time we ask. You have to continue asking different people, in different ways and getting different stories. Eventually, you get a pretty good idea. The current story is that the pump has always had water but only works for a few minutes and then no water. From the looks of the pump we removed, it appears that it was either a used pump or it had quite a bit of use.

The road is under construction and according to Bulama it used to be a rutted single lane road. If a truck or car approaches you one of you had to turn off the road. Usually, the smaller of the two vehicles. Now it is a wide gravel road up to the village before a wide river crossing. It appears to be in the process of being made into an asphalt road. I say this because they are putting down material that normally goes under asphalt. I have seen roads like this stay gravel for years and degrade into washed out rutted roads before the asphalt is laid down. Mayo Belwa is the home town of the Governor.

Mayo Ine is the town before the river. It has a functional Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Water Project. One of the largest, best designed and functional we have seen. The vast majority of MDG water boreholes in Adamawa State are not functional. Turns out it is the home town of the mother of the  Adamawa State MDG Director.

View Up River

Just after Mayo Ine we crossed a wide dry river. In a few months only boats will be crossing. The route we cross is about a half kilometer long. The bridging of this river will be difficult.The road on the other side of the river was yet to be improved. The construction company PW Construction (We think PW stand for Poor Works.) is setting up a construction camp just uphill from the river.

When we returned on April 15th they were starting the new crossing down river of the existing crossing.

Bulama greeting the local elders.

We arrived before 9 AM and after the greetings we proceeded from the main part of the village to the existing bore hole and removed the pump. The wires for the pump were found
inside the casing. The borehole has a 4 inch diameter casing and a 3 11/16 inch diameter pump. Water was only 7.4 meters under ground and the bottom of the borehole was at 37 meters. The 1 horse power pump was installed at the bottom of the borehole. They told us that the pump had run but water would stop after seven buckets. Seven buckets is the local phrase meaning little water. We have heard seven buckets at several other boreholes.

We removed the pump and went back to the main part of the community. There we discussed the next steps in the program. We told them we would take the pump back to Yola to take it apart and inspect it. The other thing is that we believe it is too powerful of a pump for the borehole and it was installed to deep. It was at the bottom of the borehole where any sand and silt that comes into the borehole will settle and go through the pump. After the pump repair team and I had finished talking about the pump went to Mr Bulama and said we were ready to go back. He told us the

women have been cooking and out lunch is not ready yet. If we leave now the women will not be happy. The men agreed and that if the women are not happy the community is not happy.

Click to Enlarge

While waiting for lunch to be ready I walked over to the church and saw some chicks and a hen scrounging for insects in the roots of a tree. Before I got my camera ready they saw me and ran out of the roots. I think they know that when a Bature (white man) comes to town one of their kind becomes lunch.

Our lunch was chicken in a red sauce (mostly palm oil with spices, ground peppers and ground tomatoes). It was served family style with rice (no silverware, you grab the hot sticky rice and form an edible spoon). They brought and extra bowl for the Bature. Otherwise Bulama and I would be sharing a bowl of rice and a bowl of sauce and chicken. The ladies were also fixing food for the men but they were having a local vegetable based sauce. I was told it is real spice.

We took the pump back to Yola and on Tuesday the pump repair team dismantled it. The motor looks good but the pump section is shot. We could not get the impeller section open but from the parts that fell out I am guessing it was run dry too long. Most pumps have automation cut-off if the pump runs dry. Some the the less expensive do not.

Flushing and pump test set up.

Today (Monday the 14th.) the repairmen went to the market and bought a 1/2 horsepower pump and tiger pipes (a thick plastic pipe) to install it. Tomorrow we will return and use our 1 HP pump to flush out the borehole and try to get the screens cleaned out some. We will then install the new 1/2 HP pump in the borehole. I will update this blog with the results of tomorrows work.

Update. On Tuesday April 15th, we went back and used a 1-HP pump to try to flush the borehole. We pumped at over 60 liters per minute. At that rate the water was emptied from the borehole quickly. We waited 10 minutes and pumped again. We repeated

Pump Testing.

the process all morning and into the afternoon. We informed the women to bring their buckets to get the water we flushed out of the borehole.  We got a little dirt out but I do not think we achieved much. We installed the smaller 1/2 HP pump. It operates at just under 30 liters per minute and empties the bore hole of water in about 4 minutes. After resting for 10 minutes you can get another 4 minutes of pumping. This is a slow way to get water but it still works. In the future the Water Program will have a contractor drill a new borehole on the other end of the community. While they have their compressor there they will use it to clean the screens and then test this bore hole again. If it still runs dry when pumped we will either abandon it or install a hand pump. Installing a hand pump is the most likely. Until the final solution is reached they will manually operate the pump to prevent it from running dry and destroying it. Also, another chicken gave their life for our lunch.

Women lined up their buckets, pails, tubs, and
jerry cans when they heard we were pumping.

Local Church.

Round Hut at the entrance to the Pastor's
compound. This is where he hold meetings
and where we had lunch.

Graineries.The rocks stop the termites.