Day 16: Back in Akure

Collecting water from the garden well - every drop comes up this way!

Saka, our neighbour in Akure, brushing his teeth the tradional way

Three Hausa gentlemen in traditional dress

This poster caught my eye - though no one has yet offered me a gin and tonic!


The ever busy streets of Akure

Wednesday afternoon (October 21) passed quickly with a visit to the cyber café and in the evening Tolu and I went for dinner at some friends of his - Dr and Mrs Alaba Omotola. He is a retired surgeon who is spending most of his retirement working on his land like a traditional African farmer (rather like Awe in Ikare); she is a Principal of a secondary school. They live in very comfortable circumstances in the GRA – government regulated area of Akure. It was an interesting evening as I was able to question the doctor about the health of Nigerians. The two biggest killers are road traffic deaths and malaria. Cancer and heart disease have not been big killers traditionally but he joked that they are importing those diseases now as their lifestyle becomes more westernised. He was particularly critical of the passion for bread which is very prevalent here and is always western style bread. I was surprised to discover that there was no traditional form of bread (in the way that the Arabs for example have flat bread); Nigerians had yams and they were enough. He said that bread makes you constipated and that was the beginning of the end as far as he was concerned!

We came home about 9 and I slept well until the latest prayer vigil got underway about 3am and we were visited by my preacher friend about 5am. I resisted applying the bucket of cold water treatment. “This is not my problem; I do not live here”.