The 322nd good thing about Lagos: New sights of odd things in the Abeokuta market

 Last April I had an opportunity to visit Abeokuta with a group of girlfriends.  I had been there before (blogged here, here. and here.)  But I like the place, and it's always fun to have a day trip with friends.  We had a great day and I ended up having some new adventures. 

We started out visiting Olomu Rock, and the area where people hid out for years during various wars.

 We greeted the women at the shrine behind the rock and gave them a financial offering.

This time, instead of taking the easy stairs to the top of the rock, I took the ancient route, which began with some ladders between the rocks.

 It had some walkways,

and a final scramble up the side of the rock.  Fun!

 Made it to the top!

Some kids who were up on top looking for opportunities to "help" knew how to make an effective pose for photos.

Some fun dancing with one of the children up there.

 

One friend had family visiting from the States and so they took a picture on top with our entourage for the day.  Along with the policemen, I thought it was cute how the company security guys dressed up for the day looking very dapper in suits and ties.  Ladies don't travel unaccompanied in Nigeria!

 

Down from the rock, we headed to the market. 

 

There was normal stuff on the street, but then we headed back  into a different market.  I had never been to this part of Abeokuta before.  We found the ju-ju market! 

There was  some normal stuff, vegetables, gourds,

 some stuff that looked kind of normal, but I wasn't sure what this was....

 and then lots of weird stuff.  These are things that are believed to have some magical powers.

 

 Dried lizards and other animal parts,

 rocks, powders, natural soaps,

 bells and blades,

 and lots of rats on sticks.  Not sure what they were used for.  I failed to get a picture of it, but I have a good mental image of a little girl standing in a doorway holding a cellphone to her ear, with her other hand holding a rat on a stick.

 skulls of monkeys and who knows what else,

 

 lots of animal skins and parts,

 and then there's onions and other normal stuff right next to the strange stuff.

 

 Need some dried frogs?

 They had this pan covered up with the cloth, smoking something and the woman lifted the cloth to let us see what was inside:  rat on a stick!  Yum!  We declined to purchase any.

shells and horns

 not sure what these spiny things are -- we asked them, but I didn't understand what the guy said.

 and then some normal looking dried fish

 and gourds.

Ready for a nap?

 We decided to take a quick peek back at the fabric market.  This is my favorite building, the maternity center with the anatomical painting on the wall.  Of course we had to buy some fabric -- can't go to Abeokuta without fabric shopping.

 

And on the drive back we stopped along the road at the place where they sell yam pounders.  I've already got a couple of these.  They're kind of fun decorations -- never pounded yam in them, though.

 Some serious bargaining going on.

 Successful negotiations!  And then back to face the traffic back to Lagos on the drive home.

Fun day!

The 321st good thing about Lagos: organizations that help girls in trouble

During my time in Nigeria, I have been blessed to associate with a great group of Christian ladies.  We meet for Bible study each week.  This last spring our group leaders organized an opportunity to put our Christian values into action.  We had previously done some support and fund-raising for Genesis House, a shelter and rehabilitation home for young girls who had been involved in the sex trade.  Their stated mission is to "re-orientate, rehabilitate, educate and empower displaced women and enable them to fulfill their potential."  It is a really good thing that places like this exist.  We had earlier watched a video that had been produced about Genesis House, and it left us all in tears as we saw the depths that these girls had come from and the way their countenances changed when they were able to live in a place where they had some hope for a better future. 

 

 

 

,

We decided that our efforts this year would be to do some remodeling and painting of a room that was going to be used as a study room for the girls.  My husband's employer was downsizing their offices about this time, so I was able to get some donations of office furniture and shelves and assorted storage furniture for the facility in general.  I hope it has come in handy for them.  On this day, we traveled to Genesis House to do some painting.

This sign was taped up in their entryway.  A good reminder!

 Here's a "before" picture. 

We said hello to the girls, who were in a classroom next to the room we were painting.  I didn't take pictures of them to preserve their privacy.

 We moved the wall shelf and table leaning against the wall,

 and got to work cleaning and scraping the walls.

 We painted the room a bright green.

 I always enjoy painting a room because it's such a quick and dramatic transformation of the space.

We had a bunch of other ideas and plans for furnishings and decorations.  I'm not sure what was done later in the spring, as I left town shortly after this work day.  I'd like to return for a visit to see how the room looks now.  I hope as the girls in Genesis House spend time in the room, they are able to feel our love, concern and hopes for a better life for them.

The 320th good thing about Lagos: visiting a master's studio

Bruce Onobrakpeya is probably the most celebrated living Nigerian artist, and likely one of the best known and respected in all of West Africa.  So I jumped at the chance to visit his studio when the outing was organized by the Nigerian Field Society last spring.   Meeting Bruce and hearing him speak of his life and his artistic philosophy was a wonderful opportunity.  He was very generous with his time and the access he gave us to his studio.

 Bruce's son Mudi welcomed us as well.  They were getting ready to ship many artworks to Dakar, Senegal for an international exhibition.

Bruce just turned 80 years old, but he seems much younger, mentally and physically.

 Above is one of his prints that he was going to bring to Senegal.  Many of his very famous works are sculptural relief works similar to the one below.

The bottom floor of his house was chock full of works by Bruce, as well as cultural objects that possibly he uses as inspiration in his artwork.


 We would have loved to buy one of his works out of his home, but they're pretty pricey, and this visit wasn't really intended for shopping.

 Quite a variety of objects in every corner.

 

Bruce gave us a catalog from one of his previous Harmattan workshops.  His foundation runs a workshop in Delta State where each summer artists come to study and work together, learning from formal presentations as well as from creative collaborations.  Onobrakpeye is an artist who gives back to others -- he has contributed much to the development of art and artists in Nigeria.

 

 

 

Lots of art on the stairs up to his workplace on the top floor.

 

The studio area upstairs is a jumble of art tools and materials, old works, works in progress, pieces from old prints, drawings, casts from relief works.  He uses many varied techniques in creating his art, and the studio reflects the array of different materials.

 a printing press

 lots of  areas just looked like an artist's still life....

 Onobrakpeye actually developed many innovative printmaking and sculptural relief techniques, requiring a variety of tools, chemicals and materials.

Group picture at the end of the visit.  Thank you Bruce and Mudi!  It was great to see where the master does his work!

The 319th good thing about Lagos: girls can play jazz

Last April, just looking for something to do on a Saturday night, we went over to the Muson Centre (The Musical Society of Nigeria) for an advertised concert. We knew nothing about the groups, but the bands were advertised as 5YZ Men and Girls Rule. We learned that most had been students in the Muson's music school.  We heard some some quite good jazz, as well as R&B. My experience has been that the majority of jazz groups, especially in Nigeria, are made up of men playing the instruments, sometimes with a female vocalist. But it was a nice change to hear a jazz band that was all women -- girls really -- just out of school. Yes, you could tell they were young, but they really showed some promise and had some quite talented musicians. 

 

 

Ok, you could tell the girls were female -- the "look" was important to them.  For their second set they added wigs, changed the clothes and came out singing some covers of Jackson Five and the Supremes.

The guys in 5YZ Men were older and had more experience.  They had even played at a Jazz Festival in Ohio.  The program said that they had all received acceptance and partial scholarships to the Berklee School of Music in Boston, which is a great jazz school, but, as of yet, none of them had been able to raise the funds needed to attend there.

 

 Nigeria is a place with some great musicians!

The 318th good thing about Lagos: experience Pecha Kucha

Have you ever heard about Pecha Kucha?  I hadn't either.  That is, until last April when the Goethe Society was sponsoring a Pecha Kucha night and we decided to see what it was about.  For those that won't bother to follow the link to the Pecha Kucha website, I'll quote what they say about it:

"PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public.
It has turned into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide. Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace."

You may have heard about TED  -- well this seemed like some mini-TED presentations, but with an emphasis on the artistic or creative, and not on technology.  And it went so fast -- with each presenter showing 20 slides, each for 20 seconds and talking about their work, there was never time to get bored by anyone.

It was a really fun idea and a really fun evening. One thing that was neat was the venue. We were on the roof of the city hall.  They said they didn't really have approval to be up there, so hopefully no government busy bodies are reading my blog and no one will get in trouble.  Because it was a really great place to do this:  a big open flat roof with a view of the city around, a nice breeze and removed from the noise of the city.

 This is the lobby of the City Hall -- it has some pretty neat wood carvings decorating the walls.

 There was quite a nice variety of presenters at this Pecha Kucha night:  painters, sculptors, dancers, a film-maker, photographers.  We enjoyed getting acquainted with the work from some new artists and creative people.  There was some nice visiting time, too.  Most of my photos ended up too dark to share, but here are a couple.

 To put on an official Pecha Kucha night for a city, you have to be an approved leader by the Pecha Kucha organization and probably receive some kind of training.  But it seems like a simple enough idea that if you have a powerpoint projector and some creative people who want to talk about their work, or even people who want to show off their photos from their last vacation, or their recent crafting projects, or their unusual collection -- how about just getting together to "chit-chat" or "Pecha Kucha."

The 317th good thing about Lagos: Meeting the First Lady of Nigeria



In April I was able to go with some women from the American Women's Club to a special dinner and event celebrating the women of Nigeria at the Eko Hotel, where the honored guest was the First Lady of Nigeria.  It proved to be quite an interesting cultural experience.

 

It started before the event when we showed up at the time requested on the program and the doors to the venue were still closed.  No surprise here -- I am always caught off guard when things start on time here because it happens so rarely.  There was a long line of impatient women crowding the steamy lobby and things were getting kind of heated in the crowd in the hour or so we were waiting.  The women were all dressed to the nines, but that didn't mean they were acting with decorum.  There was pushing and shoving and shouting at the guards.  It was a relief to finally get inside and find our table.

There was a lot of preliminary action before the First Lady appeared, of course.  Lots of live, loud music.  An opening prayer that was, as is typical here, very Christian, even with a call and response kind of "Thank you, Jesus" thing that made me feel very uncomfortable for the many Muslims that were a part of the crowd.  It was a prayer that wouldn't have been politically correct in many places.  I couldn't help but wonder that if the intention of the gathering was, as stated, to bring women together in advocacy for peace and unity in Nigeria, that it was a little insensitive to have such a blatently Christian prayer that excluded so many in the audience, especially in light of the prevelence of Christian/Muslim violence in the country.

Below is a photo of the room.  It was a packed and beautifully decorated ballroom and, though this picture doesn't really showcase it, the bright colors of really dressed up women made for a very vibrant scene.

Here's the women moving to the music:

 

One really big eye-opener for me was that when Dame Patience Jonathan was speaking, the ballroom didn't quiet down.  People continued their conversations, their phone calling, their eating.  The room was noisy!  I was so surprised!  I know if I was at an event where Michelle Obama was speaking, there would be respectful silence while she was at the podium.  It was difficult to hear her and especially to focus on what she was saying with so much noise in the room.  I was able to shake the hand of the First Lady when she walked by our table.  She had quite a fancy outfit on...

After she finished her speech there were many of us who needed to leave, as it was quite late by that time.  We got to the door just as the guards slammed it shut and said that we couldn't leave.  By the time I got there, there was quite a crowd of women behind me.  I asked the guard if there was another door where we could exit and he said that we just needed to wait until the First Lady left.  Many of us said that we needed to leave and we couldn't wait and would he please direct us to a door where we could exit.  By this time, the guards were holding back a crowd of angry women who were going to exit the room no matter what the guards said.  They pushed their way through the security guys guarding the door and forced the doors open.  I said something to the security guy next to me about how there's no stopping a crowd of empowered women.  I guess it was a show of unity, though not quite one of peace....

The 316th good thing about Lagos: they tell it like it is.

Hi!  I'm still alive!  I've been on an extended blog-cation.  I went back to the States for the summer with a list of my spring blog posts and I intended to use some of my free time to do blog catch up.  Well, when away from Lagos there are plenty of pleasant diversions and I never got around to blogging.  So now I'm faced with some very old news with my lists of posts, but I'm going to try to be diligent about writing about this old stuff so I can eventually get more current.  This blog is my journal of my time here, so I don't want to leave out months of activities.

So I'll start with an easy one.  My previous post was of the Lagos carnival.  As we were leaving the carnival, we saw this tank truck that would be servicing the outhouses lining up outside the stadium grounds.  I blogged about this company before, with the slogan "Sh__ business is serious business."




























The sign on this truck is certainly blunt, but my favorite one is in my other post:  "To you it may be sh__, but to us it's bread and butter."  You just don't see this stuff in the States.