Sunday 30th March - Eze

Sunday the 30th of March
The weather has been too hot. I have felt pretty crap. I did not sleep in as long as I had enjoyed last Sunday. To tell the truth it is the worst night’s sleep I have had since coming to Amaudo. I had many weird dreams. When I first came I was dreaming of England and waking up confused to be in Nigeria. Last night I dreamed I was on an army training camp with Catherine and some other residents sleeping in a small house sharing bunk beds and spending all day doing assault courses. I think this must mean I have fully accepted Amaudo into my heart as my home even at a subconscious level.

Diane told me about the Eze of the village of Okopedi in which Amaudo has made its home. An Eze is like a local King, they sort out problems with in the village and people go to them for advice. This Eze is the one that allowed Ros to get the land. There is a lot of stigmatism and fear of mental health here in Nigeria so it took a lot of time and trust in the Eze for the villagers to give the land over and allow the building of such an institution so close to their homes. Unfortunately the Eze had a dispute with the government about boarders and land. The government took his salary away as a punishment and now he has lost his official status and he has lost the respect of his community.

Diane and Ros valued Eze even after he lost his title. So we decided to go and make a visit to him. It was the first time for me to break Kola and do it properly. I have eaten Kola nut before so I know I do not enjoy it. We first prayed for the Kola and then took chalk. The women put the chalk on their necks to represent surviving the war that is childbirth. Childbirth is likened to a war because it is a hard struggle and it claims the lives of many women. Once a woman gives birth she marks her neck with chalk to show her neck has been saved. Men put the chalk on their wrists but I have not been able to get much of an answer to the significance of this. Only that for both men and women when you see the chalk marking their skin it identifies them as a friend of someone in the village. If there is no chalk marked on a stranger then they will be seen as an enemy and driven away. The white chalk does not show up on my white skin! We then took Kola and bush meat that included liver, kidney, and chunks of skin and delightful things. I did not fancy eating it so I only ate one piece of kidney to show everyone I was accepting the food and gave the rest to Martha in secret so as not to offend him and we drank Guinness with lemonade. Methodist Reverends are not allowed to drink here so Rev Timothy and Rev Peter left their Guinness but I enjoyed mine. Drinking here is not considered to be Christian and women especially are not supposed to drink.