Nigeria

From Touchdown to Today! Time is just flying on an amazing experience!!

Submitted by Ceire on 3 August 2011 - 9:47am

Apologies for my delay in this blog! It's all thanks to a dibble of malaria and 5 million lost blogs in one dodgy internet cafe!!

Week One: Orientation in Ibadan

Submitted by Aine Carroll on 9 July 2011 - 10:45am

Hi folks, just wanted to give a quick update on how myself and Ciara are getting on in Nigeria, almost a week in. We have just finished orientation with SYTO Nigeria in Ibadan and we have settled in nicely to the pace of life here. So much to see and do and think about - Nigeria is an unbelievably diverse, complex and friendly place. Yesterday we were taken to the mosque by our guide who is a Muslim and we prayed with the congregation, having done the ritual washing before we entered the place of worship.

Global Awareness Pre Departure: why I can't stop pinching myself...

Submitted by Aine Carroll on 28 June 2011 - 12:40pm

This is my first blogpost ever, one of the many new things I am learning thanks to winning a travel award from EIL. Just one more week now before I depart for Nigeria to complete the second leg of the programme, having just completed the first. I am nervous and excited in equally healthy doses and can't help but feel compelled and inspired by the work that EIL have put into developing this incredible programme - the Global Awareness Programme.

Watch this video

My Nigerian Experience

Submitted by maevegalvin on 23 September 2010 - 10:36am

One of the greatest and most unexpected pleasures that I have derived from my Nigerian experience has been annihilating the misguided myths that people have about the country. At the beginning of June when I told people that I was going to spend two months working on a HIV/AIDS project in Nigeria the reaction was often one of misguided admiration, why would I want to go to such a place? Jokes were made about my alleged saintly nature, concerns were raised about my safety. One rather direct friend said: “God, that sounds horrible”.

My time in Nigeria (2)

Submitted by Brona Higgins on 16 September 2010 - 2:29pm

Brona volunteered with EIL in Nepal (2008) and Vietnam (2009). She is now just back from Nigeria where she volunteered for 2 months and she shares with us her experience.

Different perspectives

My time in Nigeria (1)

Submitted by Brona Higgins on 16 September 2010 - 1:00pm

Brona volunteered with EIL in Nepal (2008) and Vietnam (2009). She is now just back from Nigeria where she volunteered for 2 months and she shares with us her experience.

The Power of Naija (2)

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.

The Power of Naija (1)

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.