Arrived safely into Abuja, Nigeria on Canada Day, 2013. Needless to say, I didn't see many Canadian flags but the VSO-Cuso Nigeria staff gave me a very warm welcome. The 6-hour flight from London was smooth, flying due south over France, the Mediterranean, Algeria, the massive Sahara desert, Niger and Nigeria. Fantastic British Airways 777 journey, with great 3D interactive mapping tool ! Would love to explore the desert sometime...
Have checked into the Crystal Palace Hotel, in Abuja for a few days. Modest, safe and has the basics.
Wonderful music playing nearby with strong African rhythms, which may partially explain why I'm awake 'blogging to the beat!'
Thank you to all family and friends for your bon voyage wishes, travel advice, gifts and support for this crazy mission of mine. It's truly appreciated.
Being this is my first blog post, I'll sign-off now and see if it works.
Warmest regards to all,
Jennifer
I am volunteering at the Lady Mechanic Initiative training school to help young ladies graduate as fully certified 'auto-mechanics.' Each year, dozens of promising young women from across Nigeria enrol in this school to learn new skills so they can get good jobs. As a Cuso international volunteer, I will work with the 'LMI' team in Lagos and focus on business development using my fundraising and communications skills. They are determined young ladies who are truly inspirational!
Good to hear you made it safely to Abuja Jennifer. Looking forward to hearing of your adventures as you get your sea legs (maybe that should be desert legs in Nigeria. Take care and enjoy the adventure.
ReplyDeletePaul
Good day, my name is Angela Efros, a master's candidate at Xiangtan University in Hunan, China.
ReplyDeleteI'm writing my dissertation about international volunteering and I want to invite you to participate in my research survey.
I'm donating $1 to charity for each completed survey so this is definitely for a good cause! (You get to vote for the winning charity in the survey!) Follow me on twitter to see which charity wins @alefros
Here is the survey link :
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/K9W8BLG
I would be so grateful if you would share this survey with fellow international volunteers and on your social media outlets. Thank you so much for your help!
--Angela