The Ebola crisis in West Africa hit Nigeria a couple weeks ago with the
death of a Liberian man. This was around the same time I left to visit South
Africa. Unfortunately in the time since I left Nigeria several cases of Ebola
have appeared and late last week 21 people were being held in quarantine in
Enugu, which is the city I live in. On
Saturday the organization that sent me to Nigeria requested that I come home
and if possible directly from South Africa. So after five months in Africa I
will be returning home. I’m sad to go, but happy to see my friends and family
again. I would be lying if I said it has been an easy five months, but I still
was not quite ready to leave. I will miss the young students in the elementary
school, the girls in the boarding house, the teachers that have shown me great
kindness, and the sisters that have welcomed me into their home. I wish I could
have said goodbye, but the risk is just too great. Before I go I have included
a blog post below that I wrote and never posted.
The school year has come to a close and with that comes graduation. The
nursery 3 students, primary 6 students, and high school seniors celebrate
graduation. The first to graduate were the nursery 3 students and primary 6 in
the same graduation ceremony. My body has the worst timing and decided to come
down with Malaria and Typhoid on the day of graduation. Fortunately a doctor
happened to be the head of ceremony and scribbled down a prescription for me on
some scratch paper (a bit different than the United States). Graduation was a full day event. Every grade level did a presentation and the entire school compound was filled with parents and friends of the school. I wish I had been able to take more pictures, but I had to rest for a lot of the ceremony.
The little graduates in their caps and gowns.
The compound was filled with tents and every chair was taken.
They wanted their photo taken, but I couldn't get them to stop getting so close to the camera. The little girl in the center frequently finds me at school and tries to mimic my American accent.
There were photo booths like this one set up all over the compound. The little girl is Ijeoma. She is one of the dancers in the Cha Cha Slide that I taught some of the Nursery 3 students for graduation. Unfortunately, the teacher that I asked to record the Cha Cha Slide for me didn't really understand my instruction as to how the camera works, so I have a couple short video clips. The kids did a great job! All of their hard work and all my yelling paid off.
While we were dancing, parents were throwing money at the children. This is a common custom in Nigeria anytime someone is performing a dance or a song. I have seen it done in church, school, and at a funeral. The money is a donation to the school.
I didn't get to see any of these students perform at graduation, but I did get a few photos of the rehearsal.
This set of photos are from the secondary school graduation. I didn't stay for too much of this graduation, as I was still sleeping off the malaria. From what I could see it was quite the event. There was dancing, a fashion show, guest speaker, a cake cutting, and I'm sure many other things I missed. All of the teacher and staff were given fabric to make into an outfit for graduation, so Kaitlin and I are seen above in our new Nigerian clothing.
I look forward to seeing you all soon. I'll be home in just a few short days. Thanks you for your letters, prayers, and support throughout this journey!
