Abuja: The Nigerian National Christian Center

January 24, 2009

To learn more see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_National_Christian_Centre

The HSPH African Cohort team, from left to right: Michelle Holmes, Hans-Olov Adami, Clemente Adebemowo (Nigeria lead scientist and host) Michelle Coleman, Doug Dockery, Shona Dalal, David Havelick, Juan Jose Buerza, Adejumo (IHV Nigeria colleague)


A little video of the exterior (sorry I don't know how to orient this correctly).

A video of the interior.

Abuja, Nigeria Third Day

Wusi market butchers.

Foreground: dried shrimp.

Curlicues: dried cow skin

Black rings are dried fish (a wire is run thru the fish and its dried in a circle so that the fish looks like its swallowing its own tail (first imported from Iceland during the Biafran conflict to provide much needed protein supplementation in the local diets. Now it's a delicacy)

Live chickens with proprietor taking a break on top of cages.

January 24, 2009
Today, our last day in Abuja (day three), we visited the Wusi market. The scientific justification I think was to get a sense of local customs, diet and culture. And did we ever. I'm sort of starting at the end of my Abuja experience but it was pretty fascinating.

Imagine a market packed with stalls with bags filled to overflowing with snow white millet, sunshine yellow ground cassava, black eyed peas, red orange and yellow scotch bonnets, ripe plum tomatoes, tiny dried caramel colored shrimp so strongly scented they made your mouth water, periwinkle colored snails the size of your thumb pad, huge grey/brown snails the size of a small foot, canned goods stacked 10 feet high, cages packed with live auburn feathered chickens with bright red combs, cages of rabbits and guinea pigs and pheasants, bunches of spinach, bottled water, pineapple, plums, green and red grapes, tiny apples, fruits with the skin of papaya but the size of a lime, drums of palm oil (a red very viscous oil that's used in abundance in local food preparation), canola oil, tubs filled with live catfish the size of carnival baseball bats and very little water and more! Not to mention the people...brown faces everywhere!

Everything was in close proximity to everything else -- only enough room for two adults to pass one another. Children followed us as if we were the pied pipers. Some watching the mysterious whites, other trying to sell us stuff and some just asking us to "snap" them (take my picture).

I "accidently" wandered into the slaughter house section of the market where I was met with headless skinned goats and piles of blood and entrails and other recently hacked animal parts. It was revolting but I couldn't turn away. The air was thick with the sweet metallic smell of blood and rotting meat. I had to sip the air to breath. There was no mistaking this was local at it's truest and purest. It's permanently changed my perception of the farmer's market.

The vendors, as you can imagine, were an enterprising bunch. When they realized we weren't there to buy but to watch and snap. They angrily said "no buy, no snap!" I couldn't blame them. I have so much more to say about the day but there is a queue for the one computer in this hotel (I am now in boogie down Lagos -- it has a well deserved reputation but that's another story). I'll write soon to tell you about my first time veiling , visiting the national mosque, the Lagos highways and more!

Did you know that Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa boasting 14M? One in every black in the world is of Nigerian descent?

E'che. Yoruba for thank you, for reading my story.

Abuja, Nigeria First Day (Impressions and Street Scences)

January 22, 2009
Arrived in Abuja (love the ripeness of this word when it rolls off my tongue) this morning about 5:30 AM. We had a little excitement at check-in -- our rooms weren't ready. This wouldn't have been so terrible had not the desk person tried to jack up the price of our rooms by ~100% when she saw we were foreigners. We'd been warned in advance that credit cards weren't accepted. But we weren't prepared to pay 565 for a two night stay).

Given my jet laggedness I seriously considered yeilding and bunking with David (Hans-Olov's assistant). I was in desperate need of ZZZZs. We called our host who quickly settled everything. Our room rates were reduced to ~$150/night and we got free breakfast. Hans-Olov, who is usually slow to anger, was pissed. He kept grumpbling about Nigeria's corruption souring the deal. I was assigned a room about 11 AM. I slept until about 1 then was off to my first meeting at the Institute of Human Virology.

I site-visited the facility solamente (which I wasn't prepared to do but hey, it felt good to fake being a grown-up). I met their COO, CFO saw all of their core facilities, met their internal auditors, IT team, media relations team and senior managers. It was pretty interesting. I discovered a small flaw in their operation which is that they're an entity of University of Maryland. Any project we would propose would have to be vetted by their scientists and administrators. Not sure anyone on my team knows this). Also, like in the other African countries we visited all the resouces flow HIV/AIDS. The CFO assured me, when I asked, that the Institute was prepared to take on other initiatives. As an example he cited they were able to "drop everything" to manage an Avian Flu crisis in 2007. He told meother health priorities were managing non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes. I like I earned the trip gleaning these simple facts.

The CFO divides his time between Baltimore and Nigeria. I'm a little like a fish out of water without Pam and now without my team but I'm enjoying this unsettled feeling. It's challenging to walk in this new world. And to be able to speak admin speak with surety. I even took notes!

The city is modern what little I've seen of it, very 70s. With small industrial complexes everywhere. It's not unlike other African metropolis' (signs of agrilife are everywhere). It's very brown. Lots of bad drivers who toot their horns non-stop for no apparent reason. You're just as likely to see veiled women with black chadors as women in colorful native turbans with matching dresses as women in tank tops and skin tight jeans. On the way to the Institute I saw two huge edifices -- the national mosque and the national church, side by side. The visual symbolism of the balance between Muslims and Christians is very interesting.

Barack does "Single Ladies" spoof

New Year's Resolutions

It's that time of year again -- resolutions.

I'm incredibly blessed with health, love, purpose, employment, family and friends. Barack Obama's win helped me to realize that I have power as an individual and its spurred me to make the world better. To this end, my year end donations have gone to Wesleyan University, The Greater Boston Food Bank, WBUR (my local NPR radio station) and fulfilling the wish list of a family in transition. I remember this was one of the earliest lessons I learned from grandma Alice. She gave to e'rybody. She sheltered and fed many needy people.

Have taken a scan (physically, emotionally and spiritually). Am thinking that my intention for 2009 is to stop imposing my script on others. Everyone has their own unique set of challenges and experiences. I will work to let others walk their own path without my judgement.

Behind-the-scenes video of Barack & Michelle

The Love/Avon Army of Women

I saw Dr. Susan Love on the Today Show yesterday, talking about her next focus: identifying the causes of breast cancer so one day, we can have a vaccination like exists for cervical cancer. Dr. Love is committed to enrolling 1 million women who are not breast cancer survivors to participate in clinical research. Leona & I just signed up...thought you all might be interested too.

Here's the official blurb from the organization:

The Love/Avon Army of Women offers women the opportunity to partner with the scientists who are conducting research that will end this disease--once and for all.

Breast cancer has been around for decades, but it does not have to be our future. We can be the generation that stops breast cancer once and for all by figuring out what causes this disease and how to prevent it!

Sign up for your sister, mother, daughter, granddaughter, best friend, and the woman you met last week. This is YOUR chance to be part of the research that will end breast cancer.

It takes a just a minute to join. But the impact we will have will last a lifetime.

Please Join Me in Being One in a Million!