Week 4 - Back to Lagos

Back to Lagos

My dad had a function to attend in Lagos, so I decided to catch a ride back with him. The day before our trip, the car suddenly went off and wouldn’t start. After multiple attempts to start the car and some troubleshooting, we determined the alternator had gone bad. It was dark and we were setting out for Ijero from Ado. We ended up loaning a generator battery from a nearby office to drive the car to a hotel close by.

The next morning, we drove the car to some mechanics ‘workshop’ to replace the alternator and fix an issue with the shaft. We then had someone return the generator battery to the office we loaned it from. The mechanic was expecting us since we had called the night before. In a few hours, we were on our way. We had a one hour journey to Ijero to pack what we needed then a four hour journey to Lagos. Usually, we try to travel during the day so we had to rush in and out of Ijero which meant I didn’t get to see my grandmother before I left. She would have held us up at her house.

Ekiti is a farming state. The state is the largest producer of Yam, a local staple. Farmers also grow bananas, plantains, and cassava. As we headed out of town, we came across farmers selling their harvested products road side. We stopped to buy a ‘bunch’ of bananas. It probably had five or six bundles on the stalk. The woman was selling each bunch for the equivalent of about a dollar and fifty cents. We negotiated it down to the equivalent of a dollar and got on our way. The plan was to leave some at home and share the rest with family and friends. I am told bananas are not sold by the bunch in Lagos. They are sold in smaller quantities with one layer/ring being sold for the equivalent of three and a half dollars.

The next day, my dad dropped me off at my cousin’s house, the one I spent week 1 with. We spent most of the day discussing her foundation – Dzuels Foundation. Her foundation gives scholarships to underserved kids, helps with the building of schools in small communities and organizes an annual health check-up program in Ijero, Ekiti. We talked about her vision for youth development in Ijero. She wants to build a community center to address the gap in computer education in most public schools. In the evenings, adults will attend computer skills training. She tasked me with designing an environmentally friendly off-grid power system for the community center. Her plans for the community are exciting. We discussed a variety of issues over lunch we got from domino’s pizza.

A few days later I took an uber to meet up with my cousin for the weekend. She is a sister to the one mentioned above. I met up with her at a music school she takes her kids for lessons. These are the moments that make me really appreciate my time here. I got to watch her kids in their element learning how to play the sax, drums and piano. While the kids were busy, my cousin and I went for lunch at a place called Jevnik, known for their huge portions and tasty dishes. I had ‘semo’ with bitter leaf soup (called edikaikong). The next day, we picked up a cousin of ours and took her out to lunch for her birthday. I don’t think in all the years we have known each other, we had been in the same place on her birthday. When we left the restaurant, we dropped her off and went to visit my cousin’s older brother and his family. His only child, who is nine years old had no idea who I was. She stared at me until she found out how she is related to me. She wouldn’t let me go after that and she kept singing my name. This week was very fulfilling. I am glad I got to spend quality time with family especially the younger ones.