29 March 2008 - Homesick

Saturday the 29th of March
Today was set aside for visiting the War Museum; we went to collect emails first. I was not really in the mood for going out. I did not sleep so well last night because I was missing home. I was not really missing any of the people (sorry all!) but more things that I like to have when I am feeling low.
1. Tea & biscuits with GOOD milk
2. A cold glass of milk
3. Chips
4. A cold Old Rosy (with Indigo & whoever else is about, on the apple possibly with a slice of brie cheese, chutney and bread)
5. My saggy sofa that lets me lie with my head and feet raised when I am watching TV
6. Good old processed meat like hamburgers, chicken burgers and spaghetti bollanyse & lasagna
7. Music (I am cursing that EPC for wiping my Ipod so much now the honeymoon period of loving Nigeria is fading)
8. Eating vegetables and fruit with every meal
9. Being able to feel the cold and sleeping under two duvets
10. Safe roads and organised traffic where a car has the correct amount of people in. Road markings. Traffic lights. Zebra crossings. Speed limits.

Things I have taken too well:
1. The shower room. It is very large and cool. Showering is quiet and refreshing. I put detol in the water like everyone else. Detol’s market is staggering over here! There are loads of adverts on TV and all around the place. They market their cleaner to be used in your bath water, clean the house with and disinfect things. They also have Detol soap so you can be extra safe when washing.
2. Garri, when the soup is sweet and not very salty I am learning to enjoy it. Rev Timothy’s wife makes it very well. I can even finish the whole meal.
3. Nigerians don’t have the same marketing problems where every problem needs a different product. Why would I buy fairy washing up liquid if the powder I have bought to wash my clothes in works just as fine!
4. Okada bikes. I enjoy them because they are better at avoiding bumps in the road and can go round potholes. You do not get squashed unless you are riding with more than two people on the bike. The breeze is refreshing and it cools you down before you get to where you wish to be

Some Nigerian phrases
- Onyeocha/ Sister – a greeting for white people, ‘sister’ is used by people that know Ros Colwill and by the children of those who knew her
- I am Coming - when walking away from you so that they are quite clearly going but will be returning later on
- Snapping - Photographing and anything to do with cameras
- What of my own? This my own? – This talks about something that is for you or is belonging to you. “Your orange is green…my own is orange in colour and is sweeter….I miss my own”
- Food is Ready - Fast food, not the way we think of fast food, so no chips and burgers it is just food that is cooked with speed
- Ease myself - Go to the toilet
- Picking - this word is used for getting anything. Be it picking food from the market, stealing something, or taking a homeless person from the street to carry back to Amaudo
- Fine - here fine means better than very good and better than fair. Fine is the highest marking of something so excuse me if I call something fine when it is actually very good and liked a lot

The war meausium was closed so we went to Adukuwe bunker instead. It was an underground hide out for Adukuwe where he lived in the war. It was very cold inside and I was embarrassed to think that it was a fine place to live although I half wished I could spend the night there. We were taken about on a tour with some navy men who were dressed up very smart. I wanted to ‘snap’ them and their security guards that were in helmets and had guns. To leave we had to exit via a ladder that was made of rungs up a tunnel. I was a bit annoyed to be having to wear skirts the whole time but Rev Timothy felt a lot worse because he is afraid of heights. This made up my mind about us leaving via the ladder. He asked me how could he could climb and carry his bag in his hand? I said to him if you can drive me safely whilst eating and drinking then you should be able to climb and carry. I gave him my shopper bag so he could hold all his things about his neck. It was the first time I have been better than him/ Martha at anything before so I felt pretty happy. He was such a drama queen when he got out the top.

I told Martha I wished to photograph the navy men because they look so smart but was worried they would think I was silly. I then realised that several of them were taking photographs of me. So I said “I am admiring your bright white uniforms and you are admiring my bright white skin why don’t we all stand together and it will make a fine photograph.” Then everyone was happy.

The navy men

Later we went to the market to collect my clothing I had measured. I was very excited to pick up a lovely green dress with a matching skirt and shirt. They were rather tight but the tailor assured me that they would grow with wear. Rev Timothy’s birthday had been on Thursday and none had done anything so I wanted to find him a birthday present because he has been so good at caring for my needs.

The taylor

Diane had a stream of visitors all day long. She is loved so much and had been given lots of gifts like mango, oranges and bread.

28 March 2008 - The burial of Deaconess Oyiri

Friday the 28th of March
Today was the burial of Deaconess Oyiri. Burials here are a very big occasion and everyone who has had their lives touched by the person all make long journeys to come to the funeral. There was a service first here at Amaudo because of her long term involvement and love of Amaudo. The coffin was two hours late and arrived in an ambulance with flashing lights. The Chapel of Peace was packed full with three people on each bench instead of the usual two. Rev Timothy’s wife came and she brought their daughter Marvellous so it was the first time I met his family.

It took about four cars and a bus to transport everyone to the funeral. Nigerians are not as worried about road safety as we are in the UK, so pack people into cars so close you do not need to wear a seatbelt. I wanted to sit in the back of the pick-up truck so I could enjoy the breeze and not be squashed but they insisted on me entering the front cab in case I fell out or came to any harm. I thought this was a bit unfair because I now ended up squashed in the back of the cab with two good adult sized men and Martha. The journey was much further than I could manage and I felt very hot and a bit travel sick. We came to a road where Very Rev Timothy said if we did not close our glass (windows) we would be eating dust like food. Being subjected to a feast of sand and dust was a good description as the cloud engulfed our car for a good few moment reducing visibility to almost zero. I was slightly concerned by Rev Timothy’s cowboy driving and was very glad to reach the church. The Church was massive with rows and rows of benches outside with tents up to shield those who sat there because they could not enter the church. At burials everyone who belongs to one group will all make clothes from the same cloth to identify themselves as a group. The service was several hours long and almost totally conducted in Igbo. The booklet printed for the service was all written in Igbo so I probably should not have been surprised. The temperature was very hot and half way through the service the weather broke and we had a fabulous thunderstorm with lots of thunder and pelting rain. I felt relived because rain cools the temperature down. Having a camera is very rare so if you own one you are automatically given the right to get up whenever you want and go where ever you wish to take a photograph. It felt a bit weird being asked to go and ‘snap’ (photograph) the service and I kept being worried that people might mind.

We had an offering for the family. I don’t know if I have written it yet but when you have an offering in church everyone stands up and waits their turn to dance to the front in a long queue and dance all over the church before returning to their place to dance some more. Although I think it is nice that everyone dances all around the church I find it a bit daunting and try to make my circuit very fast. Being white there is no way to hide because there was only two other white people in the church, Sister Ros Colwill who gave life to her vision of Amaudo and Sister Diane who had been the welfare officer of Amaudo for five years. I got some photos of the coffin being lowered into the ground.

The coffin being lowered

Everyone gathered outside after the coffin was in the ground and we all ate lunch and then departed. On the way back a careless driver pulled out onto the main road without checking for oncoming traffic and despite braking hard and swerving we crashed the car. The man was aggressive and did not want to accept it was his fault. I took a photograph of his number-plate, face, and damage to his car and damage to our own. He ran away before Rev Timothy could reach him. We went to the police station and showed them the photos. They said they would arrest the man but asked for a bribe. We then went to pick up Diane because she is staying in Amaudo for a few days. Diane has a very English soothing voice and has a warm glow to her, it may be because she is pregnant, but I am enjoying her company a lot. Its funny how someone putting on the kettle to make tea after a long day can make you think of home. She told me stories about Amaudo some were new and others were old but had a different take on them because they were not being told by a Nigerian.

27 March 2008 - The School for Wonderful Children

Thursday the 27th of March
Today I went to the 'Wonderful School' again. It was quite a hot day. The pupils were happy to see me because they knew I would have balloons. This balloon giving has been becoming a bit tiring because everyone wants their own and they pop them too fast. I wanted to get to school so I could play with the wonderful children. There is one woman who likes me so much she runs to hug me. She has a lazy eye like I had when I was 4 and had to go for an operation so we have something in common. When she is in church she likes to dance a lot, which brings other people to dance and gives it a colourful atmosphere. There is another very outgoing women who has a small beard. She is very good at taking care of the smaller children and will carry them around and play with them.

At the school

I decided that today was washing day and all the toys needed to have a bath. The toys in the school are quite old and have been donated from people. Almost all of the jigsaws are from the Early Learning Centre (ELC) where I had been working in the lead up to Christmas to get money for my trip. I bathed the walker and the pull along telephone. It made me wish I had brought another suitcase of donations just to equip the school because they appreciate and love these toys so much even when they are getting ugly and broken.

Amaudo 2 Residents

In my drinking flask today I had juice. I made the mistake of drinking in the classroom. When I left, the Reverend’s children, who are very sharp, came to find me to share the juice. I was a bit surprised but children here are not use to drinking anything other than water. Even lots of adults are interested in my juice and like to come to my house to have a cup. When I say juice its not even good fruit juice it is only squash.

The cook was not around so Happiness had to cook lunch on her own. I offered to help her and the pupils though it was very funny that the white woman thought she could help their teacher to cook garry. Garri is quite a funny thing to eat. You mix up cassava (a root vegetable) with hot water until it makes dough not dissimilar to play dough. You then mould the dough in your right hand and use it to eat bitter soup made from leaves, fish, pepper, sometimes melon and something yellowish, which may be the palm oil.

Back at Amaudo 1 I have been tidying up and sweeping a lot because I know Diane (the previous Welfare Officer of Amaudo) is coming to stay in the guest house with me and I am worried she wont enjoy sharing a house with such a messy person. I have swept it twice and my friend Rose, the daughter of one of the cooks, also came to sweep and fetch water to help make her feel at home.

Catherine was not at dining tonight so I was worried she was sick or had left. She is not one to miss meals and always tries to push to the front because she does not like standing in line. Martha and I went to look for her and found her sleeping in her bed. We woke her up and got her to go to the kitchen were the kind cook had saved her some dinner. I like the cooks they are funny people and always joke about my meal sizes and how I am getting on with their Nigerian meals.

By the evening Catherine had already changed her clothing the right way round and was sleeping well. This is good because it means her drugs are taking effect and she will soon start getting better.

26 March 2008 - The Residents

Wednesday the 26th of March
Evelyn sang through the night. I was woken up at 5 by her singing, I am worried she is disturbing her house mates if Martha and I can hear her from our own rooms! I asked how they were finding their new friend (the resident that we ‘picked’) and they all agreed that they like her. I suppose it is nice to have some music in Amaudo because it is a very rural and quiet area.

I am getting to know the residents in the house next door to me quite well. Catherine and Innocent often end up eating my leftovers. They are becoming like my children - they both seem to take it in turns to sit/sleep outside my house and wait for me. It’s quite sweet.

Today I went to ‘Repatriation’ (a meeting) to discuss the problems faced by discharged resident living at home. It seems that the root of the problems are coming from the fact people are not educated about mental illness in the same way as people understand it at home in the UK. When families are paying for drugs they expect instant recovery and for their relative to be as strong and able as any other person. Unfortunately the drugs used are often cheap ones which have some side effects such as to make the mentally ill person sleep all the time and make them feel hunger all the time; the drugs can also cause tremors. In some cases families decide to give up the treatment and send their relative away to a prayer house. This is a cheaper way of ‘helping’ their family member because there is a one off fee to take them away and they are going to be with people of the church who will drive the evil out of them. Prayer houses chain and beat mentally ill people and they try and starve evil spirits from them. Nothing constructive happens in prayer houses, in fact quite a lot of residents we picked up from the streets to bring to Amaudo had escaped from the prayer houses.

In the afternoon I went to Ward Round again. Now I have been her for a while I was able to know which resident they were talking about. Sunday is a boy who likes to sniff things. He tried to enter my house to find bread the other day, I asked him to leave and later found him sniffing my washing. Behold is the middle-aged man who believes he is a soldier from the civil war. He likes to march and salutes people he likes/ respects by flapping his arms up one after the other. The doctor is worried about his delusions about being a soldier and insisting he is 21. It shows he has very little insight into real life but he is a nice man and very sociable to a younger resident called Chinyere. They always walk around the compound in step enjoying each other’s company and they always eat in dining together and sit close at chapel. I hope his increased medication does not make him too tired to enjoy Chinyere. Catherine my ‘daughter’ was also in the group. I was glad to be able to discuss her case and raise some concerns, Catherine is an ex-resident who has been home and was doing very well, unfortunately for whatever reason she disappeared and was found back on the streets again.

Concerns about Catherine:
- She is restless and always walk around the compound all day and all night
- She is stubborn and refuses to take her bath and wash her clothes
- She always likes to wear her clothes back to front and inside out and gets changed into a different outfit more than an English man drinks tea
- She has hurt her foot and the wound is looking sore & starting to swell
- She has a large stomach which is possibly a fibroid so is being put forward for an ultrasound when she is feeling more stable
- She knows I like her too much to be cross at her so has started snatching from me even if I have given her some for herself e.g. Slices of bread or drinks of juice
- I found her naked outside my house this morning scratching all over her body quite distressed

Nurse said she has seen to wound and will make sure it is dressed twice a day, the only problem is Catherine walks so much the bandage comes off and because she does not like to wear her flip flops sand can get in the wound. Martha too has been bathing the cut. As for the itching they feel it is probably a case of bed bugs so they will go to the market and get some insect killer and treat her bed. I feel if it is bed bugs this may be why she does not like to sleep in her house so this will help the problem of restlessness. It is also quite hot at the moment so I have been lying down on the concrete benches outside. I feel much happier about Catherine now I know all her problems are being taken care of.

The doctor came to see me in the early evening. He called me ‘Onyeocha’ and told me I had too many bites all over my arms and face and small facial wounds. He wanted to know if I was taking care of them. I told him that the bites were freckles made from the same melanin his own skin is coloured with and that the wounds were not paining me because they are only spots. My face is red because this country is uncomfortably hot and that I found him to be a very rude man.

The doctor came to dining in his boxer shorts. It made me laugh.

25 March 2008 - 'Picking'

Tuesday the 25th of March
Today Martha and I were up very early to prepare for going out to pick up some new Residents from the streets. Steve the House Parent and the Amaudo driver, James, were arranged to take us. Steve is very experienced and has been with Amaudo from the beginning. According to Steve it is best to ‘pick’ Residents up in the early morning hours as they tend to be calmer and easier to talk to.

It took us a while before we could find anyone to approach. We saw several people that Amaudo has tired to help on more than three separate occasions but they were determined to return to live on the street.

How ‘picking’ works is that first you have to interview the homeless person to asses if they are mentally ill. Then if they are mentally ill you have to try and persuade them into the vehicle. Once inside they are usually happy. Then the Resident is brought to Amaudo and offered a shower, given new clothing, a new hair cut (often their heads are shaved due to common head-lice) and shown to their new home.

Then they are fed and introduced to every day life at Amaudo. There are no fences surrounding the centre so residents are free to leave if they wish. If a Resident leaves and is found on the street again the staff often bring them back to Amaudo two or three times before eventually leaving them on the street. This hardly ever happens and there are plenty of stories of Residents leaving for a short while but bringing themselves back here because they know they will be fed well and cared for. There was even one woman who ran away to her home but returned to Amaudo because the food was better and more plentiful!

Anyway we spotted a man sitting in the middle of the road with some sacks. He was smiling and waving at the vehicle so we went to interview him. He said his job was collecting scrap to sell and showed us the items in his bag. His speech was good and clear and he seemed to know what he was doing. The only odd thing he said was that he was not wearing his sandals because they were too heavy so he preferred to carry them in his hands. We decided he was doing fine and was not yet in need of Amaudo’s support.

Steve with the man we decdied was not in need of Amaudo's support

Next we spotted a very dirty man wearing an old hat with a pony tail attached to the side of it. He was carrying a bag and walking through the traffic. I was pretty excited because he definitely looked mentally ill, we even tired reversing round a round-a-bout. (the traffic here in Nigeria is pretty crazy, I have only driven on two marked roads since moving away form the airport. I can’t recall seeing any traffic lights and there does not seem to be any speed limits!) Luckily we were able to find him again crossing a car park towards some shops. Steve went to go chat to him and found him to be mentally unstable. A crowd was building to see what we were bothering ourselves with the ‘mad man’ for. When they saw we wanted to take him with us they were laughing so much. I filmed the scene so I hope I can get up on this blog soon.

Steve talking to the man who we ‘picked’ and took to Amaudo

He was very disorientated and resisted entering. However as soon as he sat down he was still and quiet and settled instantly so we decided that we did not need to return to the centre immediately and could go and look for anyone else who might need the support of Amaudo.

Next we found a woman singing and chatting to herself. Steve spoke to her in Igbo and she found him to be very funny and got in the car laughing. She chattered and sang all the way home, making jokes to herself and laughing lots. I got a lovely picture of them both in the car. I was surprised how well mannered they were. We stopped a few times and did not lock the doors so I knew they were happy to be coming with us.

The new residents in the car

Once at the centre the new residents had a sit down before having their hair cut and being sorted out. The women we had picked seemed to really enjoy getting a haircut for free and Steve even let me do a bit of the barbering.

Me giving the new resident a hair cut

After the hair cuts we sorted through their belongings. The man had lots and lots of ‘junk’ on him like lots of bits of metal and had on some strange jewellery. In his hand bag was the burnt-out part of a photo copier machine. His total money was 10 Naira. If one sterling pound gets you 235 Naira then you can see it is not a lot.

The woman had a sack containing lots of clothing, food and quite a lot of money stashed away in little bags and tied into the clothes. The money was taken from them and put into the safe to be returned to them at their discharge ceremony.

This is a photo of our new resident now she is refreshed and cleaned up

22 to 24 March 2008 - Easter Weekend

Saturday the 22nd of March
Today I went in to town to do emails. Reverend Kenneth drove us to Bende from where we got the bus. The buses are mini van size with benches going all across the van. They pack people in full to bursting so unloading the bus looks like some kind of circus feat. It’s very squashed and I felt quite unconvertible and hot. There are not any bus stop signs so you can flag buses down on the route, I do not really understand how you could tell which bus would go where but everyone else seems to get it.

When we had finished emails we went shopping in the market for food and wrappers so I could get some dresses made up by a tailor. I chose some fine cloth so am expecting very beautiful dresses that I can wear back home in summer, I also have got a skirt and shirt coming, It’s going to take 2 weeks to finish my order but I am pretty excited.

Sunday the 23rd of March, Easter Sunday
Today was Easter. To celebrate our friends from Amaudo 2 all came down on two trucks so we could have a joint service. All our Residents were tailored brand new clothes so everyone was dressed up very smartly and brightly. Everyone was in a good mood and it was a very joyful service. When we ate lunch everyone was given fizzy drinks.

Outside Amaudo's Chapel of Peace

Rose, her brother and her cousin came to my house after lunch to do drawing. It was a very hot day so we had been expecting rain. We had quite a storm so our power was cut of early in the evening but it cooled the temperature down to comfortably cool.

Monday the 24th of March, Easter Monday
I have not done a lot today, as it is a public holiday. I have mainly done typing and had another mini art class. Resident Adaze and Bro Philip’s daughter came today. I was especially pleased with Adaze because she concentrated so well and took a lot of care over her drawing of my toy chicken. Reverend Kenneth told me they are going out to pick Residents tomorrow and I am invited to come, I am pretty excited I hope we find some and that they are good tempered.

Mini art class

14 to 21 March 2008 - My first week at Amaudo

Friday the 14th of March
Today we went to get my bags from the airport. Cecil wanted to bring Christian from the local village because he said he had never seen an airport. He has finished his schooling for now and has to wait for money to restart; he also has to wait for his older brother to finish first. We dropped into the CPP office (Community Psychiatric Program) and called the airport. They said my bags were now in Lagos and would come the next day.

We then decided to stop for lunch at Bubbles the Nigerian equivalent of a fast food restaurant. Martha then met us and took me to the market to buy some cloths. The market was pretty busy and I got quite a lot of attention for being white. Lots of stall owners called “Onyeocha” to me which is a greeting meaning white person they also shouted 'white' and 'USA'. I bought a nice shirt for 700N which is about £3 and some bananas for under £1.

In the evening Martha and I go to Reverend Timothy's house for company, he has a fan and a television so we chat and watch films. He has stacks and stacks so I am looking forward to getting through some of those! We can also cook some dinner like plantain and yam.

Saturday the 15th of March
I slept better last night and was up at half 6 to be ready for church at 7. The service is half an hour and then there is breakfast. In church, men and women sit on separate sides and the residents sit amongst the staff. I was welcomed officially and introduced to everyone by his or her name and job title.

Today we picked up Christian again and drove out to the airport. We were told to be there for half 11 but we got there for 12. They said the aeroplane was still in Lagos and they would not be able to tell us if my bags were on board until the plane arrived. We were allowed to sit in the VIP lounge for free to make up for the fact we had over an hour to wait. The lounge had comfy chairs and fans going and a television against the wall. A woman brought a book over for us to sign saying Name, Date, Business, Amount. Everyone else who had been in the lounge had to pay 1,000N for the privilege. This is only about £5 but is quite a lot of money; you could buy a small radio for 600N and then get lunch out for 400N!

We went and watched the plane landing and my luggage was there. I was pretty happy and spread it all around my house making it messy and homely.

Sunday 16th of March, Palm Sunday
Church is at 10 on the weekend so I got a nice lie in till half nine. Today was Palm Sunday so some people had picked palm leaves to bring to church. When hymns are sung there is a choice to sing in either Igbo or English, this happens at the same time so it took me a while to understand what was going on. People eat quite heavily here. For breakfast beans or rice is served, lunch is always garri and for dinner we eat rice with stew. Sunday meals are the other way round having garri for lunch and rice with stew for supper. Garri is white starchy sticky dough made from grounded cassava, which is fried; this is served with leafy vegetable soup with fish in. Rice with stew is pretty self-explanatory. The stew is quite spicy and the rice is boiled.

I haven't done a lot today just washing and organising. I walked around the Amaudo grounds. Martha, Rose and I went on a walk to see the sun set.

Monday the 17th of March
Today I got up earlier at 6 so I could shower before church. I had a meeting with Reverend Kenneth to talk about what I should do this week. He gave me Group 3 of the Residents to observe and get to know so I would be able to know what was going on in the clinical review, work shop review and WARD round on Wednesday. My residents are
1) Peter
2) Mary
3) Ngosi
4) Chibuzo
5) Friday
6) Goodwill
7) Innocent
8) Grace
I have also been asked to look out for:

Evelyn : to see if I can get her address for a home visit

Nathen: who was a teacher before he got sick and is now settling into shoe making before he can be discharged.

And I will be interested to meet the newest Resident who is suffering from delusions of Grandeur and believes she is Queen Elizabeth. She has a fancy scarf and has been keeping herself well enough to be allowed to keep her hair on entering Amaudo.

After the meeting I went to work shop from 10 till lunchtime (1 o clock). Workshop is where residents come to learn trade skills so they can support themselves once they are discharged and living back at home. There are currently 8 sections; Jewelry making, shoe making, carpentry, tailoring, barbering and hairdressing, a trading section and a typing table. There is a game table for those who do not feel up for working that day. There is also talk of bring back more traditional crafts such as basket and broom making. Residents also help work on the farm, planting and caring for crops; this too will help with rehabilitation.

The residents were happy to be in workshop and enjoyed the attention of me photographing them or snapping as they call it. While I was there a member of CPP came in to get her shoe fixed. Emmanuel loves mending shoes and I think he is doing well.

Residents in the Workshop

When a Resident comes to discharge they have a celebration service and invite people from the local and state government, board members, families and the local area. In the service the Resident is given the equipment needed to set up their trade they were taught at Amaudo. This means a tailor gets a sowing machine, hairdressers have all the little bits and a hair dryer and a trader will be set up with biscuits and drinks to start shop and so on.

Tuesday 18th of March
Today I was up at half 5 so I could follow House Parent Favor around on her morning routine. We had to wake up the Residents in her block at 6am and make them fetch water for their baths. Each House Parent is given a group of Residents all of the same sex and the House Parent themselves should be the same sex as the Residents they care for. It is the job of a House Parent to provide everything their Residents needs so help getting up in the morning, clothing, toiletries and special attention for if they are troubled or hurt. They are expected to get to know their Residents and do everything a parent would do for their own child. There are some Residents that need supervision to make sure they do take their baths because when they are not stable they do not bothered about keeping clean. Once everyone is up and dressed Favor gives out the drugs required by their psychosis and mental problems. Church is at 7 and breakfast is at half past.

Later I sat in on the clinical review. The same questions are asked to each Resident from the group
How are you?
Are you happy?
Do you eat well?
Do you sleep well?
When you are alone do you sometimes hear voices but cannot see anyone?
Are you a special somebody?
Is anyone against you?
What would you do if the room were on fire?
What is this place?
What do they do here?
Why are you here?
Do you take drugs?
What are they for?

These questions are used to assess:

• Mood
• Hallucinations
• Delusions
• Insight
• Thought

From the interview process they also build up an information bank about the persons past; where they are from, family relations, what their occupation was before going to the street, how long they have been on the street...etc.

They also monitor the blood pressure and weight of the Resident. Once all the information is together they can then propose a plan of how to help the Resident improve up to the point of discharge.

Most of the Residents gave pretty normal answers, a lot can recognize they are in Amaudo a center that cares for and rehabilitates people with mental illness but do not think they themselves are mentally sick.

Papa Issacc is at times under the delusion he is God. Today he said that Jesus made man but he himself made everything in the world like clothing, paper and drugs. He said he was taking drugs for the sake of others that are sick like the nurse and when he takes them they will transfer to help those who need the drugs.

In WorkShop review they monitor how they are getting on at learning their trade. How motivated and skilled they are. They also make note of how well a Resident is keeping themselves if they have body odor and how they keep their clothes. An example of a Resident who does not keep her clothes well is Catherine, she almost always wears things undone and inside out, and sometimes back to front as well. She also likes to put on clothes upon clothes and can change her outfit every 20 minuets at times. She is not very settled and likes to walk around a lot. I am quite found of her and she can be a very funny woman.

WARD ROUND is where everyone meets up to discuss their observations of the Residents in that group for the week and talks about their problems and if they have got over any. At a typical WARD ROUND there will be a Doctor, the Nurse, WorkShop and the Chaplain present. However as it is Holy Week I only heard from the Nurse and WorkShop. Success is a psychology graduate here for his year of service, here in Nigeria every graduate has to serve a year of voluntary work before they can get a job, it is called being a youth corpa. They are sent far away from the state they grew up in so that they can experience a different culture to their own and learn that the South is no better than the North or whatever else people that have not traveled may think. Success gives his psychological opinions of what is going on with the person’s behavior and helps the Chaplain and Nurse to improve interview technique to coax more information from the Resident if they are closing up.

I also found my dominos today, I wish I had brought them to WorkShop. I tried the game out with cook and House Parent KC and it proved very popular which amused me a little because they are quite grown up men. I think I will use playing games as a way of getting to know Residents.

Thursday 20th March, Maundy Thursday
Today I went to Ntalakwu to visit Amaudo 2 and the Wonderful School. The Wonderful School is for mentally and psychically disabled children.

Today was also my first Okada ride. Okadas are small motor bikes and are the most common form of public transport, I was a bit scared as the bikes to me did not look too safe, sometimes you see three people on a bike at the same time and nobody wears any safety gear, but Reverend Timothy booked me his best driver and told him to carry me like an egg. It was actually quite fun because it is breezy and not so bumpy because you are freer to avoid potholes and bumps in the roads.

I got a very warm welcome and all the children rushed out to see me. When I say children I mean the pupils of the school, several could be in their 20s and there was another woman called Catherine who looks very old.

Nicolas the farmer took me around the Amaudo 2 center and showed me where they have their bakery and poultry farm, Both are now closed due to insufficient funding but are ready to start up again as soon as the money comes in.

Happiness

The teacher for the Wonderful School is called Happiness. She is young, pretty and very happy and caring for her children. The school is small and only contains one class, today there were 10 children and they settled to jigsaws well. The first thing I noticed about being there was how happy they all were, everyone was smiling at me and even though I could not understand what they were saying (they only speak Igbo and not very well) I enjoyed their company and their laughter. There were two children on the floor who were too disabled to join in jigsaw making, I decided to give them some balloons to play with that ended up with a big game of beach ball with all the students. I got lots of lovely photos and they were very keen to be snapped. They liked the camera and found it exciting I could show them photos of what they look like and videos of things I had seen. We sang songs of praise and broke up for relaxing time and then lunch. In the communal hall where lunch is eaten I got another game going with balloons. They are pretty into balloons and love blowing them up.

After Wonderful School I was picked up and taken to Helping Hands School for the ceremony of the handing over of the new school bus. The Ceremony was a big affair, 6-8 Rotary club members came to it including the president and the past president. The bus was presented to Helping Hands School at the school. The local Governor and the Commissioner for Education attended and the commissioner gave an address. There was a welcome service, singing from the school children and the Rotary Club sang their Rotary song. The bus was blessed and the school was presented with a donation of books and pens from the Rotary club and they also presented the Commissioner and the headmistress with a plaque. Everyone went outside to be photographed with the bus with the important people at the back and the kids in the front, I was asked to be in the photograph too which was nice. The children then danced and gave a traditional drum display. The whole Ceremony was filmed for the news. I hope to see it on television soon.

Everyone snapped with the bus

Traditional dance by children, during the presentation of the bus

At our evening service for Maundy Thursday we had feet washing to Reverend Kenneth washed staff’s feet and they in turn washed the Residents feet.

Friday 21st March, Good Friday
Today, because it was Good Friday staff and Residents from Amaudo 1 were invited to join in the service at Amaudo 2. Everyone packed into the truck but Success took Martha and I on the bike together. It was a lovely service and was nice having small children around, Very Reverend Bernard has two sons and a daughter and Reverend David has four sons.

Catherine was walking around with a teddy bear today. She was enjoying playing with it but it looked quite sad and broken so I decided to mend it for her by sewing up his leg and body and giving him new stuffing. I enjoyed mending it because I knew she appreciated it. Later she asked if I could be her mother. I said I am too young please may I be your auntie

Fixing teddy!

Success, Martha and I went out in the afternoon to find some Residents on my list to teach Dominos to. We decided to find Grace and Ngosi because they are quite lively and in the afternoon is when most Residents enjoy a nap. Grace has made good friends with Behold so he joined our game too. They picked it up pretty quick, faster than House Parent KC who kept confusing it with Ludo, Whilst playing we asked them questions like how are they and where did they come from? They joked quite a bit.... Behold does persistently claim to be a soldier although judging on his floppy salute and his claim to be involved in the civil war that most likely happened before he was born we think it is a delusion.

Dominos

13 March 2008 - Getting to Amaudo

Thursday 13th of March
I have been pretty busy settling in. The journey was pretty hectic. My flight from Heathrow to Lagos was overbooked and they were trying to make people fly another day. I don't think they were successful so to balance the weight they left 150 out of 250 cases in London. We were not told until 20 minuets before arrival and they could not tell us which bags were left or whom they belonged to. Getting of the plane I was expecting the 'wall of heat' I had been warned of, instead it was more like entering the reptile house at the zoo; warm and damp so its harder to breath. I was still wearing my two jumpers so began feeling a bit funny but did not want to loose the rest of the passengers. I was sick at passport control, which was a bit embarrassing, but it meant I was taken to the medical room. There I got to sleep with a fan in a cool room and got a free cup of tea and had someone to fetch my bags, so really it was a blessing in disguise. I felt a bit weak so did not protest too much to being taken around the air port in a wheel chair, I was quite something to look at being the only white female and being wheeled around with my bags on my lap. The other white passengers were male and I think they must have come to work in the oil industry. On the flight to Owerri the man next to me was quite chatty. He gave me his number and insisted I called him to meet up...I tried to tell him it would be highly unlikely but told him I would as not to seem impolite. Martha says it is a way of begging. The runway was lined with palm trees and general forest, the earth was orange and people were cutting the bush. Friday the driver and Cecil the Assistant Welfare Officer picked me up from the airport. I was excited driving to Amaudo so took a lot of photos from the window.

Umuahia - the capital of Abia State and the nearest big town to Amaudo

The road to Amaudo !

Arriving at Amaudo everyone was sorry I did not have my luggage and Martha sorted me out with clothing and cooked me dinner. My house is rather big and the ceilings are high, I have a bedroom with two beds in and a wardrobe for my dresses. I have a separate room for my living and cooking area. The toilet and shower rooms are outside. You have to shower by scooping water out of a bucket but it’s very cooling so I like it a lot. It is also more relaxing than showering at home because you have lots of space, no noise and fresh sun light coming in through the window.