Calabar Festival Village

Sunday, December 9

          We walked about 5 blocks to a local church.  The building was very large and had a balcony.  The sign said it was The Redeemed Christian Church of God.  We arrived about 10:45 but we learned the service started at 10:00.  After the sermon a newly married couple came to the front followed by a dancing entourage of friends and family.  It was just like the other church where the couple was blessed by the congregation; however, this bride did not sing.  The couple had their matching Nigerian marriage clothes on too.

          After the service, I discovered one of my student’s parents attended this church.  We were asked to complete a visitor form and were given crackers, a soda, and devotional book.  We didn’t hear much of the pastor’s sermon so we will have to attend again before we decide whether we like the church or not.  It was nice not having to get a ride to attend church.

          After lunch we walked about two miles down to the Calabar Festival Village.  According to the website the Village is open 24 hours a day.  It is located on the grounds around the Cultural Center.  We had already been there the first day it was open but it wasn’t really set-up yet.  When we arrived there was hardly anyone there.  The booths still didn’t have the authentic African crafts we were looking for.  It was all imported junk.  Clint ate lunch and I just had some water.  All they were serving was chicken and rice which I have eaten enough of to last a lifetime.  I did find some ice cream as we headed to the Cultural Center.  It tasted like frozen milk so it had no flavor but it was cold.

          At 4 pm the last showing of the Prince of Egypt play was going to be on.  This time the show was free.  I had paid 5,000 Naira ($35) the first time I saw it.  Clint didn’t go and I told him it was worth seeing.  We went inside a little early to get good seats.  Only a few people were around and the stage was not set-up for the play.  We sat there for 3½ hours before it finally started.  While we were waiting a couple girls came and sat next to us in the big empty auditorium.  They wanted us to meet their moms.  We went outside just long enough to meet them but it felt awkward.  We thought the girls recognized us from our school but they do not attend there according to their moms.  Back inside they sat next to us again.  They kept asking if they could get something for us.  We said no each time.  They left before the show started.  At 5:30, I reminded Clint it would be dark walking home if we waited any longer.  He wanted to stay and thought it would be fine.  We were in the neighborhood we were told to stay away from.

          Sadly, the play was not the polished performance I had seen but Clint at least got to see it.  When we left the auditorium at 8:45 the Festival grounds were really full of people.  It was not the friendly quiet place we had seen at 3:30.  I had a borrowed tazer in my hand while Clint called our school director.  We realized we had again gotten ourselves into a dangerous situation.  She called our driver who was on vacation and he called us.  We walked out to the main entrance to the festival park area.  Within 20 minutes our driver arrived on a motorcycle he had borrowed.  He knew if he had taken a taxi it would have taken a lot longer to get to us. 

          I was ready to jump on the back but Clint would have been left behind.  He told us to wait right where we were because it was a busy place with cars and people on foot and he thought we would be okay for awhile.  He quickly drove to our compound and switched the motorcycle for the school van and came back for us.  We saw him stuck in traffic a block away and started walking towards him.  It felt so good to get into that van.  Back in our compound, I gave him a huge tip even though he was not expecting anything.  He really smiled.  I told him he saved us from a stupid mistake and we were really thankful he came so quickly.  We called our director and promised to be more careful and not go out after dark unless we stayed in our own neighborhood.

          Inside our flat, I sat down and looked around and felt differently about things.  It was such a relief to be safe at home again.  I had not seen our flat as a safe haven before.  We must not ever get ourselves into a situation like that again.  Calabar becomes a different place at night and especially with the Festival going on, it can be a dangerous place.  As we passed the sidewalk we would have walked home on, I realized there were not very many street lights and the farther we got from downtown the fewer people we saw making it even worse.  The drainage ditch runs along the sidewalk with no barrier and it is 8 ft deep in some places.  Several places along the way the sidewalk has deep holes and lots of things to trip on.  This is all in addition to the dangers of people desperate for money.  I didn’t sleep very well thinking about all those people staring at us.