The “real” African experience

I definitely got spoiled by being in the well-planned Abuja with its nice roads with little traffic, nice restaurants, and relatively low population density for my first week in Nigeria. My second week was definitely more “African” than the first. The agenda for the week was to visit several state offices of the project that we are evaluating and meet with the data entry teams. Unlike the Kaduna office last week, that was air-conditioned and well-furnished, the offices that we have gone to on Monday and Tuesday were without A/C (and it is 90F outside), with little furniture, and one didn’t even have an available electrical outlet. The drive to Lafia, the capital of Nasarawa state, our Tuesday destination, was long and typically African: two-lane road, with lots of bumps, potholes, and broken-down trucks, passing through numerous crowded market centers with people coming up to your car trying to sell stuff, creating traffic jams…and the office driver driving like a maniac. Lafia is basically an upgraded village with a million of street vendors lining the main road and trash everywhere (even our driver, who is from Nasarawa, lamented the surroundings). People were speaking only Hausa (local language) so I was lucky that the driver could get us to the right place.
Our trip to Lagos, the former capital, was also adventurous. The domestic terminal in Abuja is quite a zoo: lots of people; one gate for all departures; no ID shown at any point; water and other liquids can be brought in; you walk to the airplane and on the way identify your luggage, then get patted down before entering the plane; and the best part…the seating is not assigned! It’s like taking a bus in Bolivia---you just pick a seat. The flight was over an hour late, but they did give us a snack, a drink, and a mint (take that, US-based airlines). Lagos is so unlike the Abuja---some of the worst roads I’ve ever seen, tons of traffic (think Bangalore), and generally dilapidated surroundings. The work, as always, keeps it exciting and energizing. Oh, and I got to try panded yam with goat stew, some of the spiciest stuff ever---I ate about a third of it though not to offend the hosts, while my tongue was going numb:)

More impressions from Nigeria

I am back in Abuja after a 2-day trip to the northern state and city of Kaduna. Again, I'm continuing to be pleasantly surprised at how much I have been enjoying myself here. Kaduna is a big city, but much quieter than Abuja. The northern area is predominantly Muslim, so you see men in traditional dress, and today we even had to take a "Mosque-break" for some team members to go to the Mosque to pray. The dry deserty climate was perfect for me as the heat felt so good against my skin. Overall, I have been very well received everywhere I have been so far and have enjoyed the lively discussions of work and non-work related things. A few specific observations:

1) Nigerians are very lively, fun-loving, and optimistic people. The fun-loving quality and animated manner of conversation remind me of people in Russia, but unlike the Russians, who are by nature on the pessimistic side, Nigerians are quite happy and have a positive outlook, even though, similar to my countrymen, they complain about the government, prices, traffic, lawlessness, etc, but they do it in a funner and more optimistic way.

2) From what I can tell so far, the roads are quite good, and the traffic is not very heavy---nice change from the rest of Africa and Asia.

3) I am still amazed at how peacefully Christianity and Islam coexist in this country. In the meetings we have had people from both religions, and I have yet to witness any tensions. Christians and Muslims live in same areas, go to same schools, and work on same projects quite well. The collaborators today told me that in the very North of Nigeria, in very Muslim areas, there are more tensions, and there are religion-based politics everywhere in the country. However, both religions are respected and accepted in all areas of life. Interestingly, between the Arabs coming from the North and the British Christian colonists coming from the South, the traditional religions have been almost eradicated, unlike most other parts of Africa where these religions are still commonplace.

4) Nigeria is rich in oil---our driver spent 3 hours looking for gas in Kaduna. Corruption is definitely omnipresent.

Nigerian experience: first impressions

Even though I was sort of dreading coming to Nigeria because of all the bad publicity that country gets and the somewhat scary stories of working with local collaborators I have heard from colleagues, so far it has been quite a pleasant experience. Yes, it is definitely a unique country, where many things don’t go the way you expect (I even felt that I was being solicited for a bribe at the immigration and customs). However, despite the poor infrastructure, inefficient services, and other things that initially get on your nerves, I have been enjoying time time here, especially considering that it is 90F here and probably around 30F in DC. Abuja has pleasantly surprised me---it is a well-planned city with nice roads and not a lot of traffic (nice break from traffic jams in India, Uganda, and Kenya). The best part of all has been the work. I don’t want to get into all the nerdy details of what I’m doing here, but I have been in very intense animated meetings with all men (professors) for the past two days, and feel very rejuvenated and excited about the work, even though the discussions revealed plenty of challenges. I realized that even though I like the polite discussions of colleagues from East Africa, I also quite enjoy the animated and heated (almost to the point of yelling at each other) debates here in West Africa---they actually remind me of debates between Russians. One cultural thing I learned today---silence means “yes.” At various points during the meetings, everyone around the table would be silent after something I said, and I would start getting nervous---they just laughed at me and reminded me of their cultural rule:) Tomorrow I’m traveling to the Northern part of the country for more meetings.

Russian New Year's

Before I post my Nigeria impressions, here are a few more tidbits about my time at home. Beside the fact that it was REALLY cold (around -5F for a few days before I left), I had a great time, and the reason for it is that I really love celebrating New Year's in Russia. It is the biggest holiday there, and there are certain common tradition in addition to family-specific ones. My family usually cooks and cleans during the day, then takes it easy in the late afternoon, and then sits down to eat around 10, watching various holiday programs on TV. The celebration culminates at 11:55 when everyone watches the President's Speech, and the Kremlin clock chimes midnight--at this point, you raise a Champagne toast and then continue eating and watching TV until you fall asleep sometime between 2-5am. The meal includes very typical dishes, which I truly miss, so it is always fun. This year, it was just my parents and myself (since my brother was vacationing in the Philippines), so we followed the usual routine, except that we ate so much that I was feeling unwell, so my Mom and I decided to talk a walk around the neighborhood. Even though it was relatively cold, the streets were jampacked with people. We went to bed around 5am. The only negative part about New Year's celebration in recent years is the ridiculous amount of fireworks that people shoot all through the evening---it really sounds like a war zone. The "battle" intensifies around midnight and then dies down slowly.