Terminus!! - Oct 22, 2008

Monday I had my first experience using public transport and going to Terminus (the main market area) all by myself!!

The first thing I had to do was walk about 10 minutes to a junction called Secretaria Junction as this is the best place to try and get a taxi from. The taxi’s are not clearly marked so you need to wave your arm out and hope that the car that stops for you is actually a taxi. (Once I got home from this whole trip I did find out that a law was just passed last week that all legitimate taxi’s need to be painted green and yellow and these are the only ones you should take as there have been problems with kidnapping and things like that. I definitely did not ride in a car that was green and yellow – oops.) Anyways I crammed in the back of my not green and yellow taxi with three other Nigerians and we headed off. It costs 30 Niara to get to Terminus and 40 Niara to get back! Oh and it is definitely the African way to cram as many people in one vehicle as you can!! It was good times!

Once I got to terminus I had to plan my attack on the market!! Here there is definitely no way to get everything in you need in one easy place. There are two super market type stores in the area and they sell more of the packaged stuff that is imported plus things like soap, tooth paste, towels and chocolate!! Then everywhere else along the way there are tons of stalls selling everything else! There are stalls that sell appliances, pirated dvds, phone cards, phones, fabric for clothes, soccer jerseys and of course vegetables and other food that is in season as well as random foods that I don’t entirely know yet! Then there is the frozen meat store where we buy our meat and it just happens to be on the other side of the road.

Crossing the road sounds simple enough but in Jos crossing the road is quite an experience. You must look in all directions just in case some motorbike is doing something crazy, you must be careful looking for anyone pushing a wheelbarrow full of sugar cane or other randomness all while watching out for the other cars that are basically just playing a massively huge game of chicken that you become a part of when you attempt to cross the road!

Okay so here was my plan of attack: First I would go to one of the supermarket stores called Onigbinde’s to get the pasta, oats and canned stuff that I needed then I would go and get the vegetables. This usually takes a bit of effort because you can’t just shop around and pick which veggies are the best because in the market all the stalls with tomatoes are together and then the ones with carrots are all together so as you are looking at one persons stall the lady next to it is trying to show you her tomatoes while the person with cucumber is calling you to come look at their stall so you have to know what you want and not be too picky. Eventually I will probably know some more people who sell things and then I can just go to them each time but for this day I just had to go in green! After getting the vegetables I will go get the meat so that it won’t defrost too badly by the time I got home. Then before attempting the craziness of getting a taxi home I will stop at this little café that has ice cream and treat myself to mint chocolate chip ice cream and a little rest!

My shopping plan at the market was a success, I got everything on the grocery list and learned a little bit more about doing life in Jos!!

The taxi ride home went fine too! I did have to talk to quite a few drivers before finding one that was going where I wanted to go but once I found one I piled in the back of the car along with a man and a fairly large Nigerian women! It was a cosy ride home!

So ya that was my trip to Terminus all by myself!!

Well work wise this week and next I will be with an organization called Grace & Light (http://www.a-m-e-n.org/grace&light.htm). They are an HIV/AIDS organization that partners with churches to do testing and education about HIV. Grace & Light focuses on openness about a persons HIV status. They also help churches to put together life support groups consisting of people who are both HIV positive and negative to get away from the idea that HIV positive people need to be separated from everyone else. The staff and volunteers of Grace & Light go to different churches each Sunday, teaching the congregation about who they are and what they do, following the service everyone is encouraged to be tested.

There are staff and volunteer counselors who assist with the event. This weekend I will be able to go along with Grace & Light to one of the vision and testing services to observe and help out a little bit. Next week I will go through the counselor training so that the Sunday after, I will be able to help with the counseling of those being tested. Please pray for the churches that are connecting with Grace & Light, that they would be willing to support and encourage those in their midst who are affected by HIV.