In our new appartment

05/02/2010

We have been here for a month now!!!!

The strangeness is starting to wear off. Familiarity comes with knowing where you are driving (or rather being driven) and where you can find stuff on the shop shelves, and knowing that your choice of stuff is limited and the brands unfamiliar.

It is also not so hot anymore. The rainy season has officially started. We have not seen much of it, but apparently it is raining elsewhere and is cooler. We are 6 degrees north of the equator and theoretically we are going into summer now but our cooler season is a blissful possibility.

But I have spoken too soon, we went for a hike (me)/ run (Nick) with the Abuja Hash yesterday in the outskirts of Abuja and it was incredibly hot. But we enjoyed meeting expats from all over the world on an informal base, and went to a restaurant afterwards with the crowd. It reminded us very much of our Johannesburg hiking club days.

We have moved into our flat, still without most of our own personal stuff (which could arrive anytime now to about 3 months from now), but we have enough to survive fairly comfortably until then. The flat is spacious with big rooms, 3 ensuite bedrooms, study/family room, lounge dinning room, a kind of store room, laundry space and guest toilet. However it is very gloomy due to a kind of film they put onto the small glass planes of the windows and the lights are quite dim. The aircons, (8 of them) drone noisily when they do work. I’ve ripped of all the shear curtaining that adds to the gloom because they are not white as we are used to, but dark green and yellow ochre. It is interesting that not only does the entire SA population here have the same problem with the light and lack of colour in the in interiors, but many of the other expats complain about the dark interiors as well. Probably meant to keep the heat out, but it does not help, just make it very depressing.

Enough of the depressing. Some interesting things we have noticed here: there are no car guards and no beggars. Petrol is also less than half the price than in SA (subsidized). Nigeria is the biggest oil producing country in Africa, but now the irony: over Christmas and January they had to queue for petrol because of a shortage. Some say it is because of the absence of the president. He is sick and has still not returned into office. At least they had installed and acting president just after we arrived….. So petrol is now available again???. (Not sure what is the logic here)

I’ve been to a few galleries, here and in Lagos. Still however, too little to get a clear idea about the Nigerian art. There is some inspiring stuff but also some awfully commercial stuff.

I met an amazing woman called Nike (pronounced Neekay) Okundaye. She is a batik artist whose motifs have their origins in Yoruba religion and folklore. Her first experience of business was at the age of six when she lost her mother and had to go and work selling banana leaves. Over the years she learned the traditional Yoruba art forms of adire and embroidery from her grandmother and great grandmother. At the age of 16 she defied her father and ran away to join a traveling theater group rather than marry the old man her father had selected for her. Later she went to work as an art apprentice for one of Nigeria’s well-known contemporary artist. Nike became one of his 15 wives and spent 16 violent, abusive and deprived years in a polygamist marriage.

Today she is one of the most well-known and respected contemporary artist not only in West Africa but also in Europe and the U.S. She has been incredibly successful in promoting Nigerian art forms all over the world via the many workshops she teaches in Europe and U.S. At her Art centers in Oshogbo, Lagos and Abuja she trains men and women free of charge in Nigeria’s various art forms. She is also an active and committed opponent of the economic slavery of women through the practice of polygamy.

I was awed when I reached her gallery to find a brand new 4 story building with beautiful decorated gates (she had painstakingly done herself). See attached photo. The door flew open and this woman (Nike herself) came flying out and gave me a big hug. After introductions she lead me inside, introduced me to other people and offered me coffee, then let me explore the amazing space on my own. It was an experience, four stories of white walls with perfect natural lighting to see the huge beautifully textured and colourful canvasses, drawings, sculptures etc. She is a business woman with big visions.

I have found out about a small frame shop not far from here, selling art materials. As soon as I can I am going to buy stuff and get starting with my own art again. I cannot wait for my own stuff to arrive from SA.



Shopping here is .. different. Not at all so user friendly as in SA. Our groceries shops come close to the Tweedy “Everything shop”. Nick says it reminds him of what shops were like in his childhood in Zambia. Most of the shops are run by Lebanese and most of the brands on the shelves are Lebanese. There is hope in sight and the entire expat community as well as some Nigerians is waiting impatiently for South Africa’s Shoprite and Game to arrive… maybe next year. You can already get the two shops in Lagos and it is a must when anybody goes to Lagos.



We came home yesterday (Saturday) evening at about 9h30 after our hike and dinner, to find that our electricity was off. All the other flats had electricity and we could find nothing wrong on the electrical board. Frustrated Nick phoned the caretaker/manager to complain and we had a shower in the dark and went to bed, not expecting anything. Just to be woken up with the arrival of the electrician to come and fix the fault …10.30pm on a Saturday nigh!!!. There are surprises in Nigeria.



There are so much more to tell but that is for a next letter. We miss you all a lot and believe me good old South Africa looks more and more like paradise. Appreciate it!!