Last Week November 20 to 27

Last week was a lot of office work and strategizing. The week started with the first Deaf service in the Church For Deaf. On Sunday November 20

Singers before the service. It is traditional here to have singing before the formal service begins as people come in. At the Cathedral I can hear singing up to a half hour before the 8 AM service.

Pastor Ruth Ulea rings the bell three times. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, to start the service. As mentioned the Dedication posting. The bell is an exact replica of the bell used at the Copenhagen Deaf Church to start their service.

Pastor Ruth's Sermon

 Following the service they make the announcements. If you make them at the beginning you will have some people not arrived yet. Just like in the US there are people arriving late. During the announcements she told the congregation that they have been invited to participate in the Annual Thanksgiving/Harvest service at the Cathedral on December 4th. The Committee organizing the event has decided that the Church For Deaf should contribute 100,000 Naira for the festival. When they do not have visitors the weekly offering is under 1000 Naira. So the committee has decided that they can afford 2 years of offering.

When I saw the letter I just laughed. I told Pastor Ruth that the comma after the 100 should have been a period. They were only asking for 100 Naira. She just rolled her eyes at my joke. 

After the service is a chance to socialize before they head their separate ways.  

On Tuesday we went back to Demsa to visit with Doctor Stanley to discuss the placement of the proposed Training Hall and Accommodations Hall and where to put the demonstration latrines. We started with the latrines.

 Doctor Stanley wants renovate the existing two hole open pit squat latrine into a Ventilated Improved Latrine. Currently it is an open top latrine with two sections over a large diameter pit.

 It is getting full and the holes are too small to be used for pumping out. The walls and slab will be removed. They will hire a truck to come and vacuum out the pit. Then they will build the pit walls higher by a meter and build an new foundation and slab, that will have proper sized and shaped holes for a person to squat and defecate and urinate at he same time. Since this is suppose to be a demonstration of what could be built in a remote village the walls will not be built of concrete blocks but could be built of wood and galvanized metal with a galvanized metal roof. The other half may even be walls of cornstalks tied together or weaved grass mat walls. This will end up being a raised VIP Latrine, demonstrate what you do when there is hard rock and you can not dig a deep pit or a high water table.

Another demonstration latrine will be built a little closer to the area for the families of the people in the In-Patient Ward. It will be a double vault composting latrine to demonstrate what has to be done when you cannot dig a pit at all.

Doctor Stanley then showed us the area that he thinks will be the best place with the least interference with clinic operations. It is on the east edge of the property.

The site will need a road made which it major disadvantage but the road will also service the generator building and might be built with funds from the renovation project. There are items of construction that will benefit both projects. The drilling of the new industrial borehole will free-up the current borehole to have a hand pump installed and used as a day use pump and used to training pump repair technicians. The VIP latrines are to be used by visitors and families of the patients. The center needed a road to bring fuel and service the generator and it can pass by the training and accommodations halls.

 

 After finishing discussing where the building would be located Yakubu and I went up to the new borehole site. 

View from the borehole back to the water tower and In-Patient Department. Sometime in the future water tanks will be built near the pump to provide additional water pressure. This is near the highest point on this section of the property.

This is a panorama from south to north. You can see the water tower over Yakubu's head on the right side of the picture.

 That evening I started water boiling and went back to the bedroom to type up notes. When I went back to the kitchen the big bottle of gas for the stove had run out. I got out my 2 Kilogram bottle and attached the burner to finish dinner.

I still had some of the chicken left that I bought Saturday. So I cooked up some chicken ramen noddles added some extra spices and some chicken parts.

The next day I took a walk and went by a dealer or stoves and told him I would like to connect my small bottle to the big stove but the fitting were different on the regulator for the big tank and the where the burner screwed into the little tank. He said no problem the dealer next to him has the solution. He had a regulator that screw into the little tank and I just move the gas hose to the new regulator. The Batura price was only 3000 Naira.($7.50).  Of course the following day the little bottle ran out of gas too. But the dealer had told me where the cheapest price for gas was so I got it filled for 1000 Naira. Now I have enough gas to probably last me through the next trip.

When I went to check on  my solar cell for my lamp that was outside recharging on a plastic chair on the porch. A tiny Praying Mantis jumped off the chair. I got my camera and this is the best shot of him or her climbing back up the leg of the chair. The picture to be true would be rotated 90 degree. 

The main activity for the day on Thursday the 24th was the election of the new Archbishop of the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria. The General Council Meeting was happening at the Cathedral in the adjacent compound. The delegates had been seated, accredited and nominations had been completed before I made my way to the balcony to watch.

 The top three nominees would move forward to the first vote. The top nominee was Rt. Rev. Dr, Musa Filibus the Bishop of the Mayo Belwa Diocese and former Director of Development for the Lutheran World Federation. In second was Most Rev. Dr. Nemuel Babba current Archbishop. In a distant third was Rt. Rev. Amos Bukata the Bishop of Arewa Diocese.

 The vote and counting took well over an hour. They were two votes short of the accredited delegates count. Finally, the decided two people had left. The first vote eliminated Bishop Bukata but neither Bishop Filibus or the Archbishop had the 2/3 vote of the delegates to win. Bishop Filibus had a large lead. During the second vote I went back to the house and got on Facebook. I noticed that some people were congratulating Bishop Filibus before they could have counted the votes.

When the votes were counted it was Rt. Rev. Dr. Musa Filibus that had been elected the next Archbishop. He will be consecrated at the next LCCN Convention in February.

The Archbishop graciously congratulated the Archbishop elect.

This was Thanksgiving back home. Tradition is turkey, second helpings and leftovers. I followed tradition.

 One exception to traditions. I was cooking in the dark with the light from my Ikea solar lamp. The flash photo makes it look a lot lighter than it was. I have two burner going. One with rice,onions, peppers and spices. The other with the leftover beef ramen for the previous night. This is not the leftovers that are traditional.

 When the rice was nearly cooked down I added the water from the can of turkey I brought from home and then when that was boiling added the turkey and cooked it down.

The only thing I forgot was to have the Crasins I brought with for desert. I had them in my oatmeal the next morning. I had plenty of leftovers. Friday night was the same meal but with power and light.

Saturday night I was thirsty for a Schweppes Bitter Lemon and went out to the local stores that sell beverages. I did not find any to I bought some Malta. As I left the second store I saw a vendor with a pushcart filled with plastic sandals or flip flop. I bought a pair that said Nike for 500 Naira. I love it when they start to say one price realize they are talking to a batura and a higher price emerges. But at Only 500 Naira ($1.25) I did not haggle. The flip flops I had been wearing around the house were several years old. They had broken last year and I had sewn them back together. The first week I was here the left foot toe strap I had sewn back on broke again. I had been flopping around with these for a couple weeks.

Well that was my week. It is now late Sunday Night. I have 10 days left in Nigeria. We will be getting copies of the plans for the Training Hall and Accommodation Hall out to contractors this week and hopefully get the design of the VIP Latrines to the review point. Time for a cool shower and bed.

Pictures fom November 14th to About 19th

My last big post was on November 14th just after the Dedication. I sat down last Saturday and wrote a post while the internet was down. A few days later I read it and it was bad. Now it is the following Saturday. Most of the day I spent reviewing plans and getting plans ready to go to contractors for bids. Then as evening came I decided to look through my pictures and select some to share with less words. I will be mostly chronological.

This is 1,520,000 Naira. One of the companion churches asked me to bring $3800 to give to their companion church here. We had it converted to Naira at 400 Naira to the dollar. In May I only got 305 Naira to the dollar.

This is the 14380 Naira from the Fair Trade Fair held in October at Mount Calvary. It was donated to Pastor Ruth to use in support of the Deaf Community. Her church weekly offering is so little each week it does not cover much. This will give her an emergency fund.

On the 16th we drove to Demsa with the Geologist and his geo-tecnical survey team to perform a resitivity/conductivity test for ground water at Demsa.

If you look closely or double click on the picture to make it bigger you will see that a 100 meter tap measure on the ground. When they get set up they will pound metal rods into the ground and force a current through the ground. When the rods are close to the meter it will measure the resistance and conductivity or the soil near the surface. As the rods get further apart the path of the current goes deeper, They record all the readings at put them through a computer program to make a map of the earth resistance at various depths. The lower the resistance to current flow the more water. Even without the computer the geologist said a borehole 45 to 75 meter deep will produce water.

 While the test was being performed and after I had shown Ernest all he wanted to see I walked around taking pictures. This is the new covered walkway between the buildings. Above is taken from near the surgery theatre down to the corner of the building and angle to the left to go to the Out-Patient Deparment.

This picture looks back to where the last picture was taken from. You can also see the water tower we relocated on my last trip in May. They now have two tanks on the tower.

 From the same place you turn the corner for the walkway to the In-Patient Wards and waiting area.

Turning around further is the walkway to the Out-Patient Department with a drive through. They could have made the drive through wider and higher.  This walkway is a great improvement over trying it push a wheelchair or trolley (gurney) through the mud in the rain season. In the dry season walking in the shade is nice, too.

This panorama shows the two building and the covered walkway. The In-Patient still has a few items to complete before it is ready to use, The electrical design was changed so now a junction box has to be added where the power comes from the generator to the two distribution boxes and on through the covered walkway to the Out-Patient Department. Also the connection to the power grid needs to be completed and the UPS system installed. Besides those major things there are a series of checklist items to be fixed. One problem yet to be solved is that the LCCN donated a large generator to the center. It is a 75 KWA and they probably only need a 20 KVA for the near future. If a major surgical ward and other specialty wards and housing for staff is every completed then they could use this large of a generator.

When the facility was originally built in the 1990's the road to the facility was to the East. The two buildings are oriented facing a central courtyard and in the far background of this picture a gate to the old road. The local Chief expanded his palace and blocked the road. The Local government with foreign assistance built a new road to the West of the buildings through the property. It cuts the property in two large pieces. Now the main entrance is to the back of the building.

On Friday the 18th we drove out with the drill crew and Ernest from Ernest Networks to look at installing a Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) system at the Demsa In-Patient Department. While Yakubu showed the drill crew where to drill I gave Ernest a tour of the In-Patient Department. He will be installing a system will have 4 large deep discharge batteries and a charger/controller/inverter. When the power from the grid goes out this system will keep light on in the surgery and two delivery rooms and essential equipment. While someone walks up to the generator house to turn on the generator. At night it can be used to keep some lights on all night in the in-patient wards. At first we were also going to have solar panels to charge the batteries. But when connected to the grid and generator the solar would rarely be needed and not cost effective.

The drillers realized that they had not brought the correct drill bit with them. They called back to Jimeta to have the correct bit brought out. They got the rig set and then went to the town for lunch while waiting for the bit.

The construction committee held a meeting at Demsa while the driller was drilling under the watchful eye of Adams our drilling supervisor. While we were meeting and planning the remaining items that needed finishing Adams came up and said they had hit clay and stopped. The hit water between 15 and 20 meters and had lots of water down to 56 meters when they hit clay. The driller say when you go south from here the clay is closer to the surface and not water above the clay. You have to drill to over a 100 meters to get water. We stopped at the clay and added in graded gravel filter pack and set three 5 meter screens then 6 inch casing to the surface. They filter packed to near the surface and then added cuttings. After this settles they will return and grout to the surface and install a pump.

 Saturday afternoon I walked up the street mostly for exercise and found a vendor with cheap multi-band radios. I bought one for 2500 Naira and extra batteries for 500. Less than $10. I could not find my nice radio before I came, I like to listen to BBC at night on short wave. On my way back I passed a vendor who was just taking some chicken off the fire. I did not have a camera with me. The whole chicken was 1500 Naira. Just under $4. But these chickens have little meat. He cut it into pieces and wrapped them in a plastic bag. This made three meals for me. The first was rice and mixed vegetables with the neck, back and a leg. Then I had raman noodles with three more pieces added. The last day I just heated it up and had it with some bread.

Chicken, rice and vegetables. One pot less dishes to wash.

The power just went out which means the bugs will be attacking my computer screen and me. I just made a pot of rice with curry spice, jollif rice spice and a can of sardines in tomato sauce. I will publish this and go under the net for supper in bed.

Church For Deaf Video

Here is a video I put together of the pictures and videos I shot during the Dedication service for the Church For Deaf. It is a little long, 17 minutes but the service was over 2 hours.

During the dedication Bishop Amos Yakubu said it will no longer be the Deaf Church but the Church For The Deaf. However, when translated into ASL it becomes Church For Deaf. Because ASL is a language of its own and not English in sign. There are many parts of English that are not part of ASL. "the" is and example. It does not exist in ASL.

The Church For the Deaf, Jimeta, Nigeria Dedication and Consecration Service, November 13, 2016

View of The Church For The Deaf at the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria (LCCN) Jimeta Mission Compound the evening before the Dedication and Consecration Service. The old round hut that blocked the view of the church was removed because it was falling down and no longer used.

Altar prepared for the service. The chairs were borrowed from the Jimeta Cathedral offices adjacent to the compound.

 Rt. Rev. Amos Yakubu, Bishop of Yola Diocese, Pastor Ruth Ulea pastor to The Church For The Deaf and only ordained Deaf pastor in the LCCN.

Bishop Amos Yakubu blessing the entrance.

 Cutting the Ribbon

Filling the Church. Many of the local Deaf Community and many friends and family member. The total attendance is estimated at 200 with 135 inside and about 70 outside.

 Bishop Opening the service.

I did not get the names of all the front row guests. Joshua Abu is seated by the window, Bodil Trop wife of Retired Bishop William Lautai (with green wrapper skirt) and Rikka Vestergaard is on this end of the far pew. Mrs. Bongi is on the end of the near pew with the Andrew Jackson Foster wrapper.

 Blessing and Consecration of the Baptismal.

 Blessing and Consecration of the Baptismal.

Blessing and Consecration of the Pulpit by Rev. Theophelus Shadarch former Vicar of the Jimeta Cathedral and Chairman of the Construction Committee.

Blessing and Consecration of the Altar

Pray of Thanks for the Church

 Bishop declaring the Church has been Consecrated and Dedicated. He names the church The Church For The Deaf. We will no longer call it the Deaf Church.

 Three rings of the Bell to start the service in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The bell is a gift from the Danish Lutheran Deaf Church of Copenhagen and is a replica of the bell they use to start their service each Sunday.

 The service was started with several songs and special presentations. I took video of the Deaf Choir song and the Women's Fellowship song and other performances. I have not had time to process the videos.

 One of the presentations was a dance by these two deaf men and their camera man.

Yakubu Bulama read a speech written by Pastor Ruth. Copies were handed out to the front row. She did not mix her words when she expressed her disappointment with the Jimeta Cathedral for not participating more in the construction.

Lily Krarup who was the primary fundraiser in Denmark, former missionary to Nigeria, sign language interrupter with several languages gave a few words. 

Kaja Nemuel wife of Most Rev. Nemuel Babba, Archbishop of the LCCN, gave a few words for her husband who was in officiating at another service in the south part of the Adamawa State.

The two men on the right are pastors from other denominations for Lagos, Nigeria. They took public transportation for two days to come for the service.  The man in the suit is also with the Christian Mission for the Deaf Nigeria. 

 ECWA Pastor from Lagos give short speech in ASL.

Bishop Amos Yakubu gave the sermon. The just of the sermon is that it is the people of the church that are to be dedicated. The building is just blocks and materials. The people must be dedicated to Jesus.