no more a volunteer...

I came to Nigeria as a volunteer to work for charity and to make an attempt at helping a few people. Some 18 months later I didn’t exactly succeed in saving the world or changing the lives or millions (the secret hope of all charity workers?) but I did fall in love with this fascinating country and decided to stay in a “proper” job context.

Life has changed a lot since my volunteer days. Some ways in which I can tell my life has changed:
* My wallet contains more notes of 500 than 5 naira;
* My feet are clean now that I have a car and don’t have to wade through the mud to work;
* I can be really annoyed when there is no NEPA whereas I used to celebrate every second of light as a miracle;
* To some, I have turned into a walking ATM machine;
* I can sleep during the entire night without shouting churches or loud neighbours waking me up;
* Cheese is affordable, as is going to the gym (those two are somehow inter-related);
* I can speak my own language without stuttering now that I practice it every day again;
* I haven’t had malaria and/or typhoid for months now, and
* I can walk more than 3 steps in my own house without bumping into a wall.

I fell in love with Nigeria because of the people, the warm-hearted, resilient, intelligent, loud and funny Nigerians. I also fell in love with “wahala”, the –let me say- challenges of every day life here. Living in Nigeria effectively means an end to boredom ;-)