L to R: Me, Manasseh Olupete (Greg's father), his wife, Greg/Tolu 
Greg/Tolu's family home in the village of Epinmi.
We were up on Monday morning by about 7am and Jonathan joined us for breakfast at the hotel before leading us to the edge of Warri town. It was pouring with rain when we left as it had been when we arrived and indeed it had been wet most of the weekend. These downpours can apparently last for days without ceasing but being tropical rain it is never cold. We stopped to say goodbye to J: it had been very good to see him and his family. He was the only reason that we had ventured as far east as Warri and it had been well worth it. We were soon on the very good road to Benin City where Femi met us to guide us through the town.
(I find it fascinating that nobody but nobody has a map. I have tried in vain to buy a road map of Nigeria in numerous bookshops: no way. You simply head for a town in your general direction and when you get there you ask directions to the next town.)
We were heading in the direction of Auchi and from there in the direction of Ikare – both somewhere in the highlands of South West Nigeria (neither of them mentioned in my excellent Bradt guidebook). It was a long way round but we were determined to avoid the catastrophic hold ups on the main road from Benin that we had encountered last Friday. We were most of the day on the road and about 4 arrived at Epinmi which is Tolu’s family home, a village on the main road. His father Manasseh, aged 89, still lives in the family home which I would have guessed was built around 1850. In fact it was built around 1950 – hard to believe indeed and I can only guess that absolutely no maintenance has been done on it since then. The reason is simple –there is not much money swashing around in the family: if there were I am sure that they would also have done something about their father’s cataracts which have left him virtually blind. The old man (who has all his marbles) lives with his much younger second wife, obviously the key to his longevity. We wandered around the village observing many local customs which I would guess have been unchanged for centuries. One of them is the practice of burying your dead immediately outside your walls if not within them – so that each house has its own mini cemetery. Tolu showed me his mother’s grave just outside their back gate. It would make resale of the house pretty complicated if such a thing were ever contemplated – but of course it isn’t. It is just assumed that each home will remain within the family in perpetuity.
I asked Mr Olupete whether he thought the coming of the white man had been good for Africa (secretly hoping for an anti-colonial tirade); I was disappointed. He was adamant that the white man had brought entirely good things to Africa and equally clear that the problems of Nigeria were the fault of his fellow countrymen. He was similarly positive about the advent of Christianity which he saw as being vastly superior to the traditional African beliefs. My questions were partly provoked by the fact that I have just been reading THINGS FALL APART by the Nigerian author Chinua Achebe – about the arrival of Europeans in southern Nigeria in the 19th century. It is a brilliant but tragic story.
We carried on the rest of our journey as far as Ikare where we were to spend the night with Awe – a friend of Tolu’s. We stopped in town so that I could visit a cyber café and by the time we left –about 7pm- it was pitch dark. I have no idea how Tolu managed to find the way but he did and Awe was waiting outside to meet us. Even in total darkness it was apparent from the walls and gates that this was a substantial residence – but there was still no electricity and so after a dinner in semi darkness we had an early night.
On Tuesday morning we were up around 7 and after a breakfast of yams and eggs we crossed the lane to view Awe’s farm. It was a large enclosed field, mostly devoted to yams being grown in the traditional way. It is remarkable that this method of farming has remained unchanged for centuries – possibly much longer. On our way into Ikare we visited two local Anglican churches –both very large buildings testifying to the historical importance of the Anglican church in this area. Our next stop was Victory College – Tolu’s alma mater – and one which has sadly seen better days. It was salutary to observe the decrepit classrooms.
We headed next to the market, firstly to meet Tolu's brother-in-law who has a shoe shop there, and then to wander around the narrow alleys where many items found in British museums are still being sold and used today. The most remarkable section was the traditional food and crafts section which included giant snails - a common food here - and a festish stall selling wooden dolls for ancestor worship, dog skulls, and kinds of animals carcasses and skins - fascinating and terrifying!
When we left the market, we went in search of the Oba of Ikare whose palace was just opposite. He was not there, but the large open compound under an enormous and ancient tree was a welcome change to the chaos outside.
We headed next to find out more about the ETERNAL ORDER OF THE CHERUBIM AND SERAPHIM - an indigenous church which began in Ikare. A young man from the house where their founding prophet St. Moses had lived offered to take us to the main pilgrimage sight on the edge of town. It was an enormous field and rocky outcrop on top of which stands the tomb of St. Moses who died in the 1930s. I would love to find out more about this church which is quite enormous in Nigeria but here is what little I do know:
- They are heavily influenced by the Old Testament
- They all wear white
- They have an order of prophets and prophetesses
- They have communion only once a year
The return to Akure took no more than two hours and we were back home about 5pm. I went straight to the Cyber Cafe where I failed yet again to post any photos. It is proving extremely difficult and frustrating to upload many of my wonderful photos which I am desperate to share. I came home about 730 having made little progress and after supper it was time for bed.
Well - that leads me on to say a little bit about noise. Gregory (ie Tolu) had warned me that this country is addicted to noise. I can cope with it in the streets and in the markets where music shacks all play local sounds at an impossibly unappreciable level of decibels (spelling please). But in the middle of the night? That is a different story. On Tuesday night I had gone to sleep about 1030 having finished THINGS FALL APART and read Compline in bed. I was content. At about 1230 I was awoken by a charismatic prayer meeting taking place in a chapel not 200 yards from our house. They relay the meeting by loudpeaker to the surrounding area. It lasted for three hours by the end of which I could very easily have committed any act of violence that was open to me. It beggars belief that local people put up with it. It is apparently excused on the grounds that they are sharing their faith and to oppose them would be seen as unchristian. WHAT NONSENSE!!!!!! I keep having to remind myself that I do not live here and that this is not my problem. However, wait for it, this very morning at 5am I was awoken by a local lunatic at our very gate with his own loud speaker spouting random texts of scripture. I jumped out of bed and on to the balcony from where I started shouting at the man much to the amusement of my hosts and neighbours who seemed to think that my efforts were futile even though I was throwing scripture back at him which included HE GIVETH HIS BELOVED SLEEP which seemed particularly apt on this occasion. As on the previous night I could have done him violence and I am already planning the bucket of cold water that I will throw on him if he dares turn up again. I will probably be arrested and this whole sabbatical thing will end in disaster all for lack of a good night's sleep. Kyrie Eleison!
Yesterday morning we were all somewhat drowsy after our broken nights sleep. (See previous post). We had breakfast and headed off to Idarne so that I could lead assembly at the primary school where Lucy (Tolu's wife) is Principal. It is about half an hour from Akure and considered more of a village area. Consequently the children are very unused to seeing an Oyeebo (white man) and they were almost at fever pitch by the time that we arrived. I led the assembly on the story of Zaccheus..............(continued in next post).
Local people put with noise because they do not know better. Also, from my childhood experiences, they simply get used to it.
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