AFRICAN VISIT
In my third week in Calabar many things happened----The project in which I worked with my colleague from Poland, became more and more interesting for me---I become aware that in spite of the enormous gap that separates the Nigerians in this community and the rest of the world in terms of resources, and education--it is possible that with some good leaders they can approach modernity thanks to the use of technology---I will comment on a couple of examples---
In Calabar there are no telephone lines---that infrastructure was never built--nevertheless--today everyone communicates thanks to cellular phones---on the other hand their schools and universities that have the great challenge of actualizing their studies an prepare them for a reality and urgent impact, give witness to their students ability to start an education in an independent manner thanks to access to the internet.
This week we are invited to spend a weekend in a tourist complex made by the government on top of the nearby mountains….so the whole group got ready for the trip that took eight hours by road…the trip…was something extraordinary…I never imagined what I was to encounter…and so…to start…I’ll tell you that the group a total of ten persons were at all times escorted by armed soldiers…who aboard a 4x4 vehicle were in front of us at full speed through the narrow potholed streets…sometimes with the sirens at full blast without the least (or so it seemed to me) care of how they drove…thus our vehicle (which we later named the sardine can) squeezed through traffic following the escort truck which passed constantly without bothering to see if they could see on the curves or see if people were walking on the side of the road carrying all kinds of things on their heads.
It was on this trip that we were able to appreciate the real Nigerian community…the small roads, the huts, the small towns teeming with young people…there is no infrastructure for energy…many generators powered by diesel fuel could be seen in the doorways of shacks and small businesses…hundreds of motorcycles are seen in all communities…they are the only means of transportation for the majority of the people…in spite of our vehicle’s crazy race…the people were able to see that it was about a bunch of “whites” and not slow or lazy offered greetings with their hands and their smiles…
Throughout the trip I saw tens of unique scenes…views colored with unique local landscapes…people walking on the road carrying all kinds of things on their heads from bowls of fruit, firewood, buckets, nets, tools, water, etc, etc, etc…it is impressive their ability to walk erect with all that weight on their heads….everybody does it…men, women and children…they look like ants in line…everybody carrying something…I ask myself if that could be the reason why they normally walk so straight even when they are not carrying anything on their heads…
Due to the great speed of our vehicle it is difficult if not practically impossible for me to capture with my photographic camera the quantity of images that parade before me…
Yet, something even more surprising awaits us at the end of our journey…something that when it was before us…was difficult for our minds to process…
About 7 o’clock p.m. we arrived at the tourist center on the high mountain (about 1800 meters)…the first thing that I noticed were some young people bundled up in sweaters and with hats…the outside temperature was probably 15 C. (?) but obviously for the Nigerians who were accustomed to the high temperatures almost equatorial…this must have seemed an intense cold!!
The vehicles parked in front of a modern building…which turned out to be the reception area for the cabana complex of the OBUDU ranch…a first world tourist complex…air conditioning, wooden cabins, constant energy, impeccable roads, gardens…luxury…luxury on a mountain…when we were assigned our cabins for the weekend…we all started to express our enormous surprises…this was..something…almost unreal…absurd…inconceivable…below at the foot of the mountain…a mere 2000meters away the people lived in pauper conditions while here…everything is as if we were in a grand super hotel for tourists…the rooms were huge, with fine furniture, running water, cable TV, all the construction and touches were fine…everything…everything…felt unreal….
And that is how the weekend passed…in this paradise of a place…in my mind I kept thinking over and over again what the people in our respected countries assumed we were doing…people who perhaps imagined us in extreme conditions…surrounded by poverty and diseases…without resources, without food…working shoulder to shoulder under an oppressive heat, with hose who have brought us here to help…and instead…here we are spending the night in luxury vacation center…something is not right…something is broken…I could not understand…
The place like any mountain in the world offered a spectacular view, surrounded by waterfalls, forests, clouds that move fast through us…We spent the day walking through the surrounding area and enjoying the views…ahhhh what is that???? It looks like…yes..in fact…it is a….a teleferico…the only thing we lacked!!!! I decide to walk to the place where the cables transport the modern gondolas to the place of embarkation…I am stunned…it can’t be…the installations were huge, modern, all imported from Germany and Sweden…piece by piece…brought here and assembled by foreign engineers…what are they doing here…on this mountain…Later we learned that it was about the longest teleferico in the world (?)…and that next to it there is a heliport!!! My head hurts…My stomach feels a strange feeling of anxiety…all this does not fit…all this is almost a nightmare!!!
Ahhhh but wait…the best is yet to come…the next morning…after coming down from the mountain using such sophisticated technology…at the foot of the mountain they showed us an aquatic park…with toboggans…an Olympic swimming pool and marvelous gardens…diving pools…everything…absolutely all the pool covered with aluminum…the mirror like water in the pool perfectly maintained…no doubt…German engineering…is the best!!!
Fifteen minutes later we were traveling on the dusty and destroyed roads on our return trip to Calabar…”Back to reality” The shacks, the poverty, the people…I never felt this close to the “twilight zone”…!!!
This experience…would later make us understand The huge challenge that the actual directors in order to “equalize” the doings of the past…and understand that that enormous disparity has a beginning and has a presence against which many struggle in a desperate race against time….and again time…time…passes in a very special way here…
The last week of this adventure…is about to come ..I promised myself an unusual farewell…and certainly…it was that way…I did not suspect in the most minimum way…what destiny…prepared me for…
Greetings to all
