EIL Intercultural Learning

I went to feed the deer and clean their pen with one of the guides a few days after arriving. That's when i saw my first ever snake in the wild! I was like a child at the zoo! It was a venomous snake though so I was very careful of where i walked for the rest of the day! We then went to pick coconuts for the little restaurant on the island and I attempted to climb my first ever coconut tree (attempted being the key word!). I let the guide do the climbing while I worked the rope from the safety of the ground! It's tough work but the reward of drinking the fresh coconut water afterwards was well worth it!

Jack Hamilton, from co.Down, volunteered in Nigeria during the summer 2010, on return he shares his experience with us.

I found that it was immediately impossible to put the experience into a concise article as ‘Nigeria’ itself refuses to be categorised.  The people identify themselves primarily through their tribe rather than nationality, the international press fails to account for the complexity of the country and therefore any stereotype of Nigeria is doomed to be extremely limited if not entirely false.

Jack Hamilton, from co.Down, volunteered in Nigeria during the summer 2010, on return he shares his experience with us.

The fact of the matter is that Nigeria is an incredibly vast and complex nation, most of which is not represented by newsworthy stories that seep from the problematic Oil Delta Region and in more recent times, the Middle Belt. 

The majority of this article was written while on my way to the airport to leave Nigeria.  The bus bounced and cajoled its way from Osogbo to Lagos as I sat with my head out the window, as far as common sense would permit.  Dust battered my face as the sun set over the forests of palms trees and the reckless driver veered between potholes and oncoming tankers as if the two were equal obstacles.  This, for me, was Nigeria.  A complete barrage on the senses but in an utterly addictive way.