I wasn't going to blog tonight but since I have the gent (= generator) on and am among the privileged few that can enjoy both light, the internet and air conditioning right now, I really have no excuse (except perhaps laziness).
Today, everyone was under curfew and was only suppose to leave their homes to validate their voting starting at 8 AM and then to return to vote at 12 PM. Unrestricted movement started at 4 PM. Since there isn't a TV in the guesthouse, I rely on the internet to get my latest news and of course, headlines pertaining to Nigerian elections would talk about the bombings that had occurred the eve and today while the elections were occurring. Reading the online articles about the elections to Nigeria just brought to light how little I knew about Nigeria (and Africa for that matter) before my stay here and just how fascinating on what and why Nigeria is the way it is.
Three of the new friends I made this week visited me today at the guesthouse as they knew that I had no where to go and was living alone in the guesthouse. All three did not vote today but were planning on voting next week for the president. All voiced common themes of hope that the new government would foster effective change. All did not vote today for a variety of reasons including work (there is no absentee voting given the widespread ballot irregularities in the past), feeling unwell and safety (Muhammed's parents were concerned about his safety and didn't want him to travel to the voting poll). Apparently, the presidential and the national assembly elections are not the elections the country is most concerned about regarding violence. It is in fact the governors' election happening on April 23 where most of the concern about violence exists. Election leaders are hoping that once the president is selected, this will help guide voting for the governors of each state. This will be interesting to see how it unfolds.
Invariably, my conversations with Nigerians also somehow loops back to this whole electricity thing. Ayo, a family medicine resident who is from Odun State and did some other work before ending up in medicine, had laughed at me earlier this week when I was gleeful when the electricity returned in the hospital while we were seeing patients in clinic. He had mentioned how as a child, he would yell NEPA Oooo! once the electricity had turned back on. (NEPA = National Electric Power Authority, now known as Power Holding Company of Nigeria). He said that my reaction to the return of electricity (and subsequent air conditioning as I was sweating through my layers of clothing including my white coat) reminded him of that. He also mentioned that given the power goes out at least once daily or indefinitely (up to a week or so in some areas), this joy to have the return of electricity soon abated and became a fact of life.
For me not to have electricity is an inconvenience (i.e. I can't go online to surf the web) and completely temporary but for many others, it is something they have known all their life. It means studying with a flashlight or candles for those not fortunate enough to have a generator or living with dependence on light from generators that are shut off at midnight (as they are at the medical student dorms) to conserve electricity. Tola, another family medicine resident, described times in her childhood when her family would just turn on the gent for 4 hours a day (7 PM to 11 PM) as that was what they could afford (as the gents require gas or diesel to run) just so they could have some light during the night. This also means that many sleep without air conditioning (if they can afford one) let alone fans during hot and humid Nigerian nights. I read an article online about the current Nigerian president's plan to solve this electricity crisis with the goal to have one continuous day (and then one continuous wk, etc) of electricity by December 2012. I do hope this can be achieved sooner with the leadership being elected this month.
In adaptation of the unreliability of electricity, I have learned several things:
* When you have power, charge everything that has a battery because you never know when the power will go off or come back. I made this mistake last week and my cell phone went dead and people couldn't get a hold of me and had to send others (or will call others) to come make sure I was okay.
* Bring a flashlight (or at least your cell phone) with you when you are roaming the guesthouse just in case the power goes out. I learned today that my Nokia cell phone has a built in flashlight component that is good to help one navigate in the dark and also a great substitute on the wards as a penlight.
* Once the electricity turns back on, turn off the gent. This is to conserve the fuel for the gent. If the gent is on when I go to sleep, I have asked the night guard stationed at the guesthouse to turn off the gent and turn back the central power source.
I also learned a bit about what Nigerians do when there isn't any running water as I've learned that some people, at baseline, don't have running water consistently. They might have running water from the tap once a week or so. They live on water from jugs that are filled from a reservoir and they pay $50 naira for day workers to fill and deliver these jugs of water. I also learned that when your toilet doesn't flush (because you don't have running water), there is a way to pour a bucket of water into the toilet to simulate a flush and push all the contents of the toilet down the drain. I was pretty impressed by this and will ask them to show me how this is done.
After learning all this, essentially, the guesthouse I'm staying at is like a 5 star hotel. I have air conditioning, a substantial generator that can support air conditioning, light, internet and the fridge, and for the most part, running water. The new friends I have made have been so kind to offer to show me where they live so I can get a better sense of how Nigerians live.
One common theme I noticed through these different conversations today was the strong faith that they all had, as a Christian or as a Muslim. In Yorubaland (Ibadan is part of Yorubaland where the Yoruba tribe primarily lives), most are either Christian or Muslim. All three of my friends today made reference to how they will pray for Nigeria to be stronger, to soon offer its citizens reliable modern life necessities like electricity and water and lastly, for a robust democracy.
My pictures to share today is the flashlight component of my Nokia cell phone (very useful I have to say) and a small banana I enjoyed today (my first fresh fruit in Nigeria!).
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