Calabar Festival

          We have one week left before our month long winter break.  Our school is taking a month off so families may attend all the events for the Calabar Festival.  This is the 12^th year of the annual festival.  There are activities every day for the entire month of December.  Friday night was the first event.  We were given VIP tickets to attend the tree lighting ceremony.  It started at 9 pm with live music, dance and comedy acts.  At 12:01 am the tree lights came on with a backdrop of fireworks.  We were on the main platform with all kinds of local and State government officials.  There were even some representatives from the UN.  It was a big deal.  We received our tickets because the founder of our school is the Governor’s wife.  She loves to show us off as a marketing tool for her school.  I believe we are the only private school in town with expats, teachers from other countries.  We were given polo shirts for the AIDS Awareness campaign and cold beverages during the show.

Take a look at the matching knit hats.  Clint wondered if it was gang clothing. LOL

I snapped a quick picture of the Calabar Festival queen.

My camera is having issues.  I hope it lasts the school year.

          Saturday morning we went on a trip to the countryside to visit where Mary Slessor lived and worked as a missionary in Creektown.  Mary Slessor was from Scotland.  She came to Calabar in the mid-1800s.  She is well known here as a humanitarian who worked to improve the lives of woman and children.  She adopted many orphan twins and her political involvement helped end the ritual killing of twins in this region.  We saw her home and church.  We also saw the spot where she first stepped off the boat when she arrived.  Our principal’s wife thought she was also buried here so we visited a local cemetery but when we did not find her grave we asked a local for information.  He said Mary was on a trip when she died, as a result of an attack by a dog in 1915.  She was buried in that community.  One of the events in December is a dramatization of the life of Mary Slessor.

          Her home was 55 km north of Calabar so it was a long hot ride in a school van.  We were required to take two guards with us so the van was full.  The road was pitted with huge potholes the whole way.  Where ever the potholes were the worst, the sides of the road were full of people selling produce, dried fish and beverages.  We saw a lot of corn-on-the-cob cooked and ready to eat.  They were husking it and cooking it right on the side of the road.  Many of the homes were made from branches and mud.  We saw a lot of children and most were only partially dressed.  Toddlers were running around with no clothes on.  I didn’t see any with diapers.

Many people make it their job to sell things along the road where cars have to slow down for potholes.

Pineapple growing along the side of the road.  I was pretty excited to see it since I have not been to Hawaii.

          We were able to get out and walk once we arrived at our destination.  Many people said hello to us.  When we were looking in the windows of Mary’s home, someone came with a key to let us go in.  The sign on the house said it was Mary Slessor’s “Hone”.  Spelled just like that.  The porch was so rickety and high off the ground.  After everyone else came up the stairs and onto the porch I went back down.  It looked like it could easily fall.  I felt really anxious so I just got off.  With my luck my foot would go through a board or something and I would have to go back to see Dr. Oscar.  I did snap one picture through a broken window on the porch but I did not walk around inside after the door was opened.

Mary Slessor's Home still stands in Creek Town, Nigeria.

This is statue is of Mary Slessor.  It is in front of the church where she attended.

          There was a statue of Mary in front of the church.  I was able to get a picture of the inside by walking along a cement ledge to another broken window.  Next to the church was an old school house.  There was no glass on the windows so I was able to see everything inside.  I asked a little boy who walked by if kids go to school there but he said no.  I don’t know if he understood me.  He could have said no because it was Saturday.  The condition of the school made me feel very blessed to have what I have to teach with.  My principal was looking in the windows with me.  I told him I felt bad about complaining about teaching in the dark and heat during the two weeks we had generator issues.  He is also from the US and he said it was frustrating to him too.  He knew how hard it was to keep the students focused.  I think if this was what you had to work with from day one than your students would be used to it and it wouldn’t be that difficult.  It appears many of the kids live in homes that are this way too.  Normal conditions are relative.

School Bathrooms

Inside the School - the chalkboards divide the classes

          When we returned to Calabar, we visited the Festival fair which is located on the grounds of the Cultural Center.  Even though it was the first day of the fair the booths were still setting up.  We had hoped to purchase some authentic African crafts but all we saw were cheap imported junk and more of what we can get at the open air marketplace.  Our principal’s wife had pre-ordered lunch for us so we sat and ate.  We had barbecue chicken, pasta salad and French fries.  It was some of the best food I have eaten since I have been here.  The trip was really expensive because we had to share the cost of the driver, gasoline, two guards, and the lunch.  The total for Clint and I was $60.  It was fun and interesting but you can do a lot more here with that amount of money.  We are looking at a whole month off of school in a week with a lot of time to fill.  We were quoted originally just $30 and the night before the trip the cost was doubled.  If we had backed out the rest of the group would have had to split our portion. Clint asked one of the guards why we have to have them with us.  He said if we were kidnapped it would be an international incident and they don't want that kind of publicity or problem especially during the Festival which brings a lot of money to Calabar.  The only thing they helped us with on the trip was to get rid of a drunken man who kept touching us.

It makes me laugh to think this trip was planned because our principal’s wife was really set on seeing Mary Slessor’s grave and then we got out there and found out it wasn’t even there.  It never occurred to me she didn’t do her homework.  Oh well, we saw a lot of interesting sights.  Seeing the school made the trip for me.  I wish I was well off and could teach for free at a school like that.  It just doesn’t give you the same feeling teaching the privileged kids at our school.  

The School Playground