NIGERIA 7TH - 15 FEB 2007

Lagos! Just a quick transfer to Abujah, but everyone seems friendly.

Living in the house of a candidate for the govenorship of a state in Nigeria is quite an experience. We enjoyed our weeks stay with our friends Hannah and Jimmy. We stayed in Abuja, Jos and Langtang -a village in Plateau State. All the houses we stayed in are walled compounds with other smaller dwellings for relatives and visitors. The gates are always locked and manned by security guards 24/7. In Jos two armed guards and 5 dogs were present at night, hired to guard the politician in his compound.

In Ghana and Nigeria our hosts were worried how they would manage cooking English food - well their cooks were! They need not have worried we both got stuck into the local food - sometimes literally if it was fufu, a dough made from yam and eaten with stew using your fingers.

It was great visiting the COCIN hospital where our friend Helen had worked over 25 years ago!