Post date: Aug 11, 2014 11:22:25 PM
3 May 1965
I now have a new job. The Ministry of Education refused to let me transfer for only one term, so Mr Ziegler (PC Chief in Eastern Region) created a job for me. I will be repairing Jeeps and Hondas, etc. like I did last May. Only I may go to Cameroon to pick up five Jeeps there and may go to the other regions, too. I won’t spend much time in Enugu but I’ll probably share an apartment and leave my stuff there. Also won’t be in Calabar much, either, but I hope to find time to install their electric blower anyway.
Yesterday we assembled six bikes for the PC rest house so the kids could have transport around town. Today I pick up the Calabar VW and drive it to Arochuku to collect my belongings and bid Ikoku goodbye. Wonder what his reaction will be. Sold my Honda for £100. Collect today.
16 May 1965
I embarked on a four-day delivery trip of sea freight and books to volunteers over half the region. For four days l bounced on the hard wooden bench which serves as a seat in the trucks around here. We worked 12 hours a day and I had a hard time stopping the driver after dark. Supposedly this next week I will go to Cameroon to check out those Jeeps. While there I get $12 per diem! I won't know the details until tomorrow when I go into the office. Then l have to get a visa and my International driving license renewed. No telling how long that will take.
I am currently living with a fellow who terminates on Wednesday. After that I would like to have a roommate or live in the Peace Corps Hostel. Since there are no roommates up for grabs, I will probably live in the hostel. At least I can get a breakfast there. I am bicycling (when I can get a cycle) now, but after Don leaves I will get his small motorcycle, probably.
I still have lots of freight to deliver, as well as twenty bicycles. We are trying to give the volunteers cycles, which is fine. Out delivering them is a mistake, as they are for sale in every market, new, and carrying them all over the region in a truck spoils them, as we say in Nigeria. I met many of the group that came in January. A new group just came, but there were only six, and they left for bush before I returned from this delivery tour. Also we have book lockers to get out, so I will see most of the volunteers in the region before I go. It is fun except for the uncomfortable riding conditions.
One night I stayed over with Dave Pease, who is working with AID at the industrial Development Center in Owerri developing better furniture designs and trying to set up a motor mechanics school. He also wants to design a side car for the Honda 50 that can be built locally and used to haul small freight. Great loads are now carried on bicycles—up to five people or 400 lbs of garri. Morris Minor taxis are not very economical, and a side car taxi on a Honda 125 (now very popular) will be cheaper to operate, as the taxis often have only one or two passengers. Anyway I will try to help him by getting old parts. If I have time I will go there and do some work.
“Inventions help those cultures which do not exist to exist.“ Don is grading University exams.
One of my trunks was sent to Lagos yesterday. I am sending home two trunks (including Dad’s WWII foot locker) and at least one box. I have some Igbo masks coming from a carver in Afikpo so may have to pack another box. I hope I don't exceed my 25 cubic feet allowance. I have packed a box of pots, too. I do fear that if I stay in Enugu too long the Hausa traders will sell me more and I will have to find a way to get that home, too. I would like to get some of the beautiful leather hassocks from Bide at $11 for a set of three. Also If I go to Camaroon and go thru Bamenda again I will get some of the larger carved stools and plaques that I could not carry on my motorcycle last time. Anyway, I sent you the packing list and keys of the first trunk. Much of that stuff should get in duty-free as art works. If you have to claim it at SF, take the key and open it if the duty seems excessive. Don‘t worry about the $100 duty-free stuff. If I have to I can apply for a refund.
Next afternoon (evening here, which starts at 4 pm, British high tea).
Well, if there is an opening on the flight, tomorrow I go to Port Harcourt and Wednesday I fly to Cameroon. Today I got a new visa and tried to get my International Driving renewed. It will be useful in Europe, too.
Everyone is going home! The doctor [Rob Chapman] has spent about a third of his time this last term carrying people home. We had two very bad motorcycle accidents and a number of strange illnesses. Many of the people who have swum in the Hotel pool have contracted ear infections, one is in Lagos now with a burst eardrum. Another has migraines. But most are just going home because their tour is up. The University teachers are finishing up now and they are filing thru the office for Cholera shots and medical exams. I don't know how the doctor is going to do all the medicals and take care of routine stuff and emergencies as well. There are only two PC physicians for 650 volunteers in Nigeria. And when an emergency arises, if the kid cannot be treated in Nigeria, the Doc must fly out with him to Frankfurt or New York, usually taking a week each time.