Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Strike!


After such an amazing Christmas break it is great to be able to honestly say that it is good to be in Nigeria!  It was the most wonderful thing in the world to be back with family, dear friends and the comfortable familiarity of home!  I don’t know if I’ve ever appreciated those things more than I do now! =) Nigeria has been a very interesting place to live these days.  Here are some picture of so police officers going through one of the road blocks, and some of the people staying at home because they couldn't go anywhere.   We took it from the library window, looking just outside of our compound just over a week ago.  


Basically, the government lifted a fuel subsidy, causing gas prices to more than double overnight.  Originally, the government promised that the money would be put toward desperately needed improvements in national infrastructure, but corruption runs so deep in Nigerian politics that there was no chance of that happening.  So, the outraged labor unions organized a nationwide strike and the entire country held its breath and waited for eight days through the negotiations. We were so thankful that the majority of the protests remained peaceful! Moving around was impossible, there was one march that we saw, and they were burning tires in the road to block traffic. We got a front row seat to an event that began as an issue over gas prices and soon turned into a protest against governmental corruption, which was tagged “Occupy Nigeria”.
            For us at ACA, the strike really wasn’t that bad.  We were given enough warning about the strike to get all of the food that we needed, and we locked inside the compound with friends, our house, out classrooms, a tennis court, psych re-runs and the game Settlers of Catan. We were totally fine.  It also gave us a ton of time to catch up and do all of the little projects that we never have time to do during school! I am loving feeling on top of things, and I’m pretty sure this might be the only time that will ever happen in my entire teaching career!  
A week after it all began we were told that they had compromised on gas prices and school would begin the next day.  It was amazing how quickly the world returned to normal and we’ve been back to school since last Tuesday.  Unfortunately, the people that this hurt the most are those that could barely get by before the ripple effect price increases.  It’s just another layer on the picture of Nigerian corruption and politics, widening the gap between rich and poor.  We’re still working on some ideas of how to help, but there sure are a lot of hurting people here.  It’s amazing to live in a place where sin is so out in the open.  I don’t think Americans are any less sinful, but they are much better at hiding it!   
             Since I coming back for the second term, I am beginning to see how short two years really is.  I think my mind was so stuck in the fact that we were living in Nigeria and this was life now, and that my perspective was that I would be here for just short of forever!  I know the Lord is changing my heart because I’m beginning to see what an opportunity it is to be here and how important it is to waste a single second of this time.  It’s probably how we should be living our entire lives, but I’m learning to live with that urgency. He’s growing a love for Nigeria in my heart that better than I ever could have created for myself and I am so grateful.  It’s also been amazing to see my class begin to settle down.  I think I am settling down a little too, settling into teaching and all that that includes.  We have also started a Bible study with some of the high school girls that I am very excited about!


            Here is a picture of the kids in 1st through 3rd grade, and my kids are the ones in the front row!  Thank you all for being so amazingly kind and encouraging.  I couldn’t do this without you and your thoughtful prayers.  If you think about it could you please pray that I am aware enough to see where God is working around me, and wise enough to join him.  And that He would mold my heart to be more like his! 

Sending my love from Nigeria =)

1 comment:

  1. Wow! sounds scary! I know God is taking care of you and all of your fellow teachers, Kids, etc. I hope you are doing well Katie. Keep posting updates!

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