Day 23: Aww. That Is So Precious.

I was glad to wake up feeling nearly back to normal and ready to enjoy my Friday. We walked down to the Clinic for devotions with Uncle Thomas, which were focused on the need for power. He spoke of a person’s desire for strength and control in their lives, especially for men. There is an undercurrent in their culture that men should be more powerful than women not only as the head of the household but also as the decision-maker all across the board. Thomas capitalized on that and reminded his group of listeners that God wants to be the power-source behind all of his creation. It is interesting to hear a message I hear all the time in a new environment. God can teach you a lot when you hear from different voices.

 

            My system is working out well and I am plugging along on the government book. I am in the middle of February 2005, patient number 987. I honestly believe that this project will take me the rest of my life to complete...

 

            To loosen up a bit after lunch Adrie I decided to join Jon and Kristen in their daily power-walk excursion rather than heading back up to our flat to get things together for the rest of the day. I got to see some new pieces of our neighborhood and, as usual, had a wonderful time saying hello to our neighbors. Near the football (soccer) stadium we turned into an oyibo choir and belted Bohemian Rhapsody to get the song that had been playing in the office out of my head. Adrie is in desperate need to good walking shoes so we decided to cut our walk five minutes short of the half-hour in order to get her a band-aid before heading back to the Clinic. As we were walking home a group of young girls leaving school (in their matching uniforms) decided to walk with us. I held the youngest one’s hand and she did a great job of keeping up with my long-legged pace. They needed to cross the busy intersection before we reached home so I insisted we wait a couple extra minutes to make sure they got across okay. Adrie reminded me that they did this every day, but I have a pretty loud maternal instinct. They waved to us from across the packed two lanes and we headed home for a quick shower before going back to work.

 

            The rest of the day went smoothly and we were exhausted once we walked back to the apartment for dinner. Biana made the executive decision to have girl’s night in so we each grabbed a bowl of trail mix topped with peanut-butter m&ms, kicked off our shoes, and watched Love Actually. I don’t know if it was hearing Aurelia speak her broken English to accept Jamie’s proposal or the sentimental value peanut butter m&ms hold for me but by the end of the movie I had tears running down my cheeks. Definitely time for some hard-earned sleep. Nigeria is turning me into such a girl!