Choir Convetion, Kids, Demsa Health Referral Center,, Seminary Housing

(Note to new followers: Click or double click on the images should take you to a larger view of the image.)

I have power this morning. I think it is from the Cathedral. They are having two wedding there today. There is one group set up for a reception here in the Mission Quarters. When I went through my pictures I was surprised how many I had that were somewhat interesting (at least to the right audience). I will try to upload as many as I can while I have power. Maybe the power grid will come on today.

Choir week was last week. But on Friday I had a group of women practicing traditional music in preparation for Mother's Day on Sunday

I attended parts of the Choir Convention and Competition. But my main purpose was to recharge my laptop and by cell phones.  

One part of the convention is the Friday night quiz. The were told to have three members study Romans and general knowledge of the LCCN. Then each choose a number that represented a question. Some were ridiculously hard. And some easy. Most were moderately hard. Mostly multiple choice, some true or false and a very few were you had to fill answer a question.

Long after my batteries were recharged they were still on the first round. At the end of the first round. One team had 50 point (10 points for each correct answer), one 40, a couple 30 and a the rest 20. I figured that round 2 they would take the top three and continue. But they took all nine teams into that round. I went back to the house and went to bed. I guess the quiz went past midnight.

Last Saturday morning (May 7) was the last day of the Choir Convention.  

This is also the Marriage Season (April and May). There was a group setting up for a reception in front of the house and kids playing when a short storm came through. The kids built a shelter. The workers setting up the reception, dropped all the canopies before the wind blew them away and then looked for a dry spot. Later that night the crew dismantled the canopies and loaded their truck. It is a wonder that it could move. See the tail gate on the top. Kind of reminded me of the Beverly Hillbillies.

One of the three main projects I am working on is the Renovation and Expansion of the Demsa Health Referral Center. The facility is two buildings. We have been renovating and expanding them one at a time. The Out-Patient building was completed last August. While it was razed and re-built all the work was done in the future In-Patient building. Since, September the In-Patient has been razed and is approaching completion. The Out-Patient building is being used as both In-Patient and Out-Patient. The waiting area is now an In-Patient Ward and the consulting rooms are wards. Other than the Pharmacy and the Lab most of the rooms have been re-purposed. However, operations here are much better than when they were in the In-Patient Building.

Over at the Cathedral the Choir Competition was started. Choirs from each Diocese will sing the same songs and a song of their choice. They will sing English Hymns and also traditional African Hymns. 

When I first saw this little girl she was being chased by her mother. She wanted to play with the water faucet over by the Cathedral Academy. Her mother caught her and used a piece of clothe to tie her to a friend. She was not having it and was soon untied. 

The area between my house and the Cathedral is filled with cars and vendors. You can buy clothes, books, have you phone charges and each choir has its own restaurant (I think I had pictures in the last blog).

 The Taraba Diocese Choir was performing while the Mayo Belwa Diocese Choir was waiting outside for their entrance and some watching through the windows.



By the end of the afternoon the English songs had been performed and they took a break for dinner. Today I am recharging my batteries at the Cathedral Offices. I got lucky and when dinner time came they brought me a plate, also. This is what is considered a small portion.

Chapman is a carbonated soft drink, like a non-alcoholic sangria. It has 2.5% black currant juice and "natural flavours". The main ingredients are water and sugar.






The Choir Convention draws large crowds. People are sleeping everywhere. When I went to the balcony to take pictures of the choir I found these kids in the bell tower. We had Brats in out Befry. Actually, nice kids.



Mothers Day

 Mother's Day service started with several songs by the Women's Fellowship all mothers dressed in white with red head scarves. They almost filled the center section. After the song they had some announcements and then a Mother's Day skit. A mother praying and being interrupted by people calling cell phones, coming over, and I could not follow much of it. It was in Hausa and English but even without knowing what was said you could tell it was a commentary on the busy modern life and the importance of taking time to thank the Lord for you Mother.

 After the Skit we had a mass Baptism. Followed by some more special songs by various groups. Church started at 8 and by 10 they had not made it to the announcements. I gave my friend William my offering envelop and went to the Deaf Service that started Sunday School at 9 and then Service. I arrived in time for the offering. When the Deaf service was over I could hear the Pastor at the cathedral just starting his sermon.

On Tuesday evening we had another storm. This year the early rains are late. Their first rains were not until May. Normally, they start in April and some years even late March. They do not get consistent until June or July. The early season storms usually start with strong winds blowing the done dry dust everywhere. Tuesday morning Regina can cleaned and dusted the house. After the dust storm came it was dirtier than when she started.



Demsa Health Referral Center

Renovation and expansion of the Demsa Health Referral Center is one of the main projects I have been working with for the past couple years. First as a member of the Review Committee for Lutheran Partner in Global Ministry and now as their Project Manager.

The Center consists of two building which were built in 1996 and financed by Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in Excelsior Minnesota. The renovations is part of a Minneapolis Area Synod project with a budget of $250,000 of which Mount Calvary had contributed $200,000.

The Out-Patient building was razed and rebuilt. It was finished in 2015 and the then the In-Patient was started. The Out-Patient had a small expansion to the front of the building for a patient waiting area. That area is currently being used as an in-patient ward. Both in-patient and out-patient services are being performed in the Out-Patient building while the In-patient building is being renovated and expanded.

The expansion of the In-Patient includes a surgical theater, two delivery rooms, a waiting area and restrooms connected to the male and female wards.

These two women are the local Snack Shop. They have bottles of Fanta and Pepsi in a bucket of water and bean cakes for sale. behind them is the side of the In-Patient building and the transformer that has been donated by the local government. The container is a storage unit. The In-Patient should be ready for commissioning in late June or early July. The biggest question mark in the project is when the Demsa Electrical Distribution Company will connect the transformer.


Bronnum Lutheran Seminary Women's Hostel

On Friday, we went to Bronnum Lutheran Seminary to see a project that the Lutheran World Federation is supporting. They used a different method of construction than used at Demsa. They used a professional construction supplier under the directions of a construction committee. At Demsa the construction committee was also the construction supervisor. This project was completed in three months. It is a lot less complicated but in general I would say it is of higher quality in workmanship.

It has six sleeping rooms each with a restroom and a central court yard. At the back is are two kitchens and an area for washing clothes.  Each room is designed to for three beds. The rooms are about 13 feet by 13 feet.


Most seminary students are men but there are an increasing number of women attending. The hostel is for single women and married women without children. Women students do not bring their husbands with them to seminary. I did not ask about children of married women.

 If the men are married they bring their wives in the second year and live in family housing area. The wives then take classes that teach them the duties and responsibilities of a pastor wife. If the pastor comes from a rural Diocese (which most are) they may be posted where their wives will be assumed a leader among the women. She may be the only woman in the village with a formal education past primary school.

Soccer Pitch with Trees, Barrels and Rocks -- National Choir Competition

 Most mornings and some evenings the open area between the projects office and the Cathedral Compound is used as a soccer pitch. It has rocks, trees and steel barrel filled with concrete within the pitch. I took most of these pictures one evening looking from the Cathedral compound across the pitch to the projects house. If you click or double click on the picture it will come up in a larger format. The Projects Office is the building in the trees to the left of the goal.


In the mornings it is a practice and when they scrimmage they have blue and yellow pull overs. This evening game it do not know how they keep track of who is on whose team. The referee is wearing an orange tee shirt and so are players on both teams.


The wall is out of bounds. If the ball touches the wall it is out. The white barrels are in the field as well as the tree near the barrels and the power pole. Over the years I have seen the ball get stuck in the trees and it has shattered most of the window on the field side of the house. From goal to goal is about 30 yards long and a little wider than long and it probably rises 3 feet from goal post to goal post.

On Sunday the area is filled with cars of people attending the Cathedral for services.

Over the years I have seen the ball get stuck in the trees and it has shattered most of the window on the field side of the house. From goal to goal is about 60 yards and it probably rises 4 feet.

Lutheran Church of Christ National Choir Competition


The soccer pitch is now full of cars, vendors and choirs from all over Nigeria for the Annual Choir Competition. Instead of having Youth Fellowship Loudspeakers blasting music I have choirs practicing church music beside the building, vendors selling books, CD's, clothing and lots of food vendors setting up small cafes. One lady has a large pile of fried grasshoppers. Since, I took her picture she said I had to try one. She normally puts them in a bag and adds hot spices. I did not get the hot spices. Not bad tasting but like a lot of small crunchy pieces.

At the end of the tent with clothing and  bags was this man with a small generator and very possible cell phone batter chargers. He had charger that you take the battery out and attach terminals to the battery and set the voltage.

 Most of the Cafes are set up on the north side of the compound near the borehole and pump houses. These were not at the youth site but the youth had the Women's Fellowship contracted to cook for them. I do not see that here as each choir is independent. It could be that each diocese has its own little area to feed its choir. Or these are independent operators who know that having this many adult people staying for a few days will buy a lot of food.






Every time I tried to take a picture of this lady she look away. After a couple tries she smiled and took a few seconds away from stirring her sauce.

I was tempted lather down with insect repellent and go buy dinner. Maybe tomorrow night. I have Indomie Instant Noodles, Chicken Flavored with chopped onions added and a can of fruit cocktail planned for tonight and have other work to do so it is eat in the house and listen to a choir practice.


My flip flop is coming apart so I have to sew it back together. I will never be a heart surgeon.