Post date: Aug 9, 2014 4:09:07 AM
22 October 1963
Friday was the patron's birthday, and the whole day was given over to celebrating and laying of the foundation stone of a new block of buildings, ostensibly to replace all the old classroom buildings. The new buildings will be in a quadrangle and two stories high. The festivities included a two-hour assembly of the live history of Dr. Aggrey and some poor singing. A ‘fun fair’ at which the Guides made lots of money from students and faculty on the usual and unusual assortment of carnival gambling tricks. A new one on me is trying to light twelve candles (out of doors) with only one match. In the afternoon there was a football match between boys and girls which was pretty good. Also “light” refreshments on the lawn at which I picked up a very minor intestinal bug which lasted only eight hours.
After Friday’s adventures, we traveled to Calabar. On the way, we met Jack Wilmore, Eastern Region PC representative, who gave me my medical kit and stopped by Arochuku to drop off my settling-in kit. Now I have towels, flashlight (torch), batteries, fly swatter, pillow, pillowcases, blankets, and clock. All I had was sheets— the rest was borrowed or done without. Anyway, we went to Calabar. We visited the PCVs staying there. They live very well in their colonial mansion. Three eat together, so they have hired a very good cook. They teach at Hope Waddell School, a missionary school, which has all the best facilities imaginable for a secondary school. It is the oldest school in the Eastern Region.
The starter has not been functioning on the Jeep ever since we arrived in Calabar, and the Jeep is getting harder to start with the crank. I shall have to get that fixed. I managed to get a few miscellaneous nuts and bolts in Calabar, so I fixed the choke and top. It has a few less rattles in it now. The fuel gauge has never worked and never will. It is broken beyond repair. I am toying with the idea of buying a motorcycle from one of the boys in Calabar whose tour is over soon. The cost for petrol just for tooling around Aro for a week can be a much as $3 for the Jeep. We shall see if I have enough money by the time he leaves.
Radio reception is not bad. About three-quarters of the stations are French [from Cameroon], and they talk a lot. A few stations are Spanish and Portuguese, one German. Voice of America has lousy programs and BBC is not always available. Almost no music. I have an antenna strung from a tree to a great bamboo pole then down thru my window. About 75 feet in all.
One of the boys in Calabar gave me a model ship to help while away the spare hours that I don't have. It was given to him by a PCV who likewise didn't have the time. But I have started. I also found that one of the fellows built a model airplane, using an engine he procured in East Africa which runs off of diesel fuel. The ship model is the chief reason I have done nothing else this week. Last week it was books.
I have done some more research on the water supply for the compound. Seems that the Principal has ordered a gasoline pump from UK which is now in customs. He never considered installing his ram pump at the waterfalls up stream where the government center gets water for the hospital. A ram works off of water pressure and requires no service or fuel. The water fall is a perfect place for the installation, and 100 lengths of 3" pipe may be cheaper than a gasoline pump. I must investigate. The water engineer from Aba is coming for a visit soon and he will know some prices.
VSO [Mick] came down with a kidney infection and went to the hospital. The doctor ordered a bunch of medicine and an injection a day for four days. The second day we went at two pm and the nurse said we should come at eight in the morning because they sterilize then, and don't sterilize again all day! The doctor is a young chap, and must he a bit discouraged, since he doesn't know if his patients take their medicine or not. He says many patients come, and the line is so long they don‘t get to see the doctor, so they return for a few days and then just die. It would be interesting to work in the hospital over a vacation period—maybe as a surgery nurse or something.
Did I tell you about the PC library which I received? It is 200 paperbacks, packed in a cardboard container which can be set up like a bookcase. Most handy. There are classics (American), dime novels, political essays, English readers with graded vocabulary, and some African books. Plus the usual dictionary, atlas, almanac, Info Please, etc. All very interesting and/or useful.
We travel to Umuahia with four or five of the twelve teachers at this school to stay with a PCV who was stationed here before she got married. The next day (Friday) we go to Enugu to get service for the Jeep, a haircut (my first in Nigeria), a few odd items from the store, and another vacation. This week will be as nothing, sandwiched between a three-day and a four-day holiday. The students know it, as well.
To bed, to bed, sleepy-head.