Monday, January 31, 2011

First Impressions

Jan 30
As the airplane approached Abuja from the north, I could see vast expanses of completely untouched land that was mostly forest.  As we got closer to the airport, there were a few small villages with perhaps 10 or 20 structures and livestock.   The airport itself is unremarkable.  It was a slow process at Customs, but once through, my suitcase was waiting on the carrousel looking a bit frumpier than 24 hours previously.  The driver, Bash, was waiting for me, and we drove to the Hilton. 

The Hilton, I’m told, is the largest hotel in Africa.  It’s the only place in Abuja, if not all of Nigeria, which regularly accepts credit cards.  Nigeria is otherwise a cash society.  The room is comfortable with excellent air conditioning and just a couple of small ants.

Jan 31 am
The breakfast buffet at the hotel was excellent.  Bash picked me up at 8:30, and it was a 5-minute drive to the SCMS Field Office.  At 9:30 I gave an “in-brief” presentation to a representative of the U.S. Government and the SCMS Procurement team, which went well.  I’m a little nervous about the cash situation: I’ve tried three ATMs and they only accept “smart” cards with a chip in them.  I have a “dumb” card.

Jan 31 pm
We missed our original flight to Lagos and ended up taking a later one.  This is a very different city than Abuja.  Whereas there is little in Abuja other than government, Lagos is about commerce.  It’s much more crowded, too.  Looking through the airplane window on the approach, there was quite a bit of “suburban” sprawl of one- or two-room shacks.  By the time we landed, the buildings were very densely packed.

The taxi ride to our hotel, the Parklane, was a bit of a free-for-all, but we made it safely.  I’m glad I wasn’t driving.


Saturday, January 29, 2011

Check, Please!

Passport – check.
Camera – check.
Noise-cancelling earbuds – check.
Laptop – check.
Chargers for iPhone, laptop, batteries – check.
Outlet converters – check.
Sunblock and bug spray – check.
Clothes for 9 days (since I won’t be able to do laundry until the second week) – check.
Baby clothes for Amaka’s new daughter – check.
Suitcase weighs under 50 pounds – um, hope for an updraft.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Meds and Scheds

Capitol Travel Medicine in Arlington, VA is where I go for the shots and prescriptions needed for trips like these.  I’m already vaccinated for yellow fever, hepatitis A and B, meningitis, polio, tetanus, and probably a few other things.  I gave them a call early in the week.

“Hi, I’m going to Nigeria on Saturday.  Can you call in a prescription for malaria pills?”

“Nigeria?” the receptionist said, “Oh, that’s the worst.”  Lovely.  “We have one drug, but that makes you photosensitive.  There’s another, but that can make you paranoid or delusional.”  Gee, I can take them both and be scared of my own shadow.  “We’ll give you Malarone.”

Malarone is what I expected.  No side effects on me.  You take one pill a day, starting two days before arrival and ending seven days after returning.


It looks like my schedule is firming up.  I leave Virginia Saturday night, January 29.  I fly via Frankfurt, arriving Sunday night in Abuja, which is the capitol of Nigeria and in the middle of the country.  Monday morning I check out of the Hilton, go to the Field Office, have some meetings, and then fly off with the team to Lagos.  Lagos is a big port city in the southwest.  We leave Lagos Thursday night, February 3, for Onitsha, which is near Enugu and directly south of Abuja.  There are no return flights to Abjua on Friday evening, so we head back Saturday morning.  I hope I’ll have a chance to do some touring on the weekend.  The second week will be in Abuja.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Almost Ready for Nigeria

I decided to try a blog this time with smaller, more frequent entries, rather than write one or two longer letters.  I hope it works out.  In case you're not aware, this upcoming trip will be my third time to Africa in a year.  I was in Zambia April, 2010, Namibia in August, and this coming Saturday I leave for Nigeria.  Each trip was/is two weeks.  I also went to pre-earthquake Haiti.  The trips are consulting assignments from a U.S. Government-funded project called SCMS, for Supply Chain Management System.  They buy pharmaceuticals and medical equipment with money donated by the Government, and distribute them to developing nations.  The Government wants the countries to become more self-sufficient as far as carrying out the purchases and deliveries, though, and I help them do that by working with small teams from the countries to evaluate local vendors.  We choose the ones that have the best value to offer, so the country purchasing teams have a well-defined and reasonable-quality supply chain for their products.  There are actually several other things on the agenda, but that's the work that's really getting me down there.


It's a lot of work, but the people have been great, and I've taken opportunities to get to know the countries a bit.  In Zambia, I traveled to Victoria Falls, on the border with Zimbabwe.  In Namibia, I went to game reserves and walked around the capitol city, Windhoek.  I also tried some of the local foods.  All in all: really good experiences.


Namibia pictures:  http://picasaweb.google.com/jg2adventures/Namibia?authkey=Gv1sRgCLGA1cOMotD85AE&feat=directlink


Zambia pictures:  http://picasaweb.google.com/jg2adventures/ZambiaMarch2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCInG-6PH7JuQ9wE&feat=directlink


Haiti pictures:  http://picasaweb.google.com/jg2adventures/Haiti?feat=directlink and http://picasaweb.google.com/jg2adventures/HaitiTrip2?authkey=Gv1sRgCPXNgMT70t2fuAE&feat=directlink


Weather and time in Abuja, Nigeria:  http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=742