Post date: Aug 9, 2014 3:36:41 AM
11 October 1963
Last Saturday (5 Oct) the Jeep came. It showed up at 5:30, and the boys who brought it wanted to get to Uyo that night. That meant I had to drive them to Itu, where they could get a taxi. I could not take them all the way, as the ferry at Itu stops at 6pm, but they could cross in a canoe. So Sunday Mick and I went to Ovim to deliver the softball bat. We stayed a while and had a small game of baseball— with five participating (4 PCVs and 1 VSO). We had to go through mud up to the floor boards to get there and the four-wheel drive was very handy.
The Jeep was very muddy on return, so I decided to wash it to see what it looked like. It is pink. The canvas top is very ragged—fortunately the dry season is coming. It needs paint on one fender, a new windshield, several nuts and bolts where they have fallen out, a back-up light (very dark at night, and no telling what might be back there!), the fuel gauge, thermometer, and speedometer have to be fixed, and I need a Jerry can. The fuel tank holds only 8 or 9 Imperial gallons, and I ran out once already with no gauge. Mostly minor repairs. A week earlier the boys had started down with the Jeep, but when they got to Umuahia the clutch went out so they returned to Enugu (the regional capital). The Jeep has no back seat, so when more than two persons want to ride, the third is very uncomfortable. It looks very small next to the Land Rover, but it certainly gets through the rough spots. Oh yes, sometimes the starter does not engage, and I have to crank it! I am afraid the boys will not see me on weekends around Arochuku.
This weekend (tomorrow) I go to Umuahia at last to visit the bank and repay my debts. Next is Calabar, which is very convenient from here, only 75 miles. After that is mid-term break, with a four-day weekend, so we travel to Enugu and maybe out from there. My vice will be that Jeep, and my money will not stack up very fast.
I had two successful chemistry classes in fourth form this week. But I fear that the fifth form boys are disappointed. All they want is someone to pump the answers to the exam questions into them, and they don’t have the right man for that. [I want them to think.]
Arochuku is one of the most historic spots in Nigeria. Mary Slessor was a very famous missionary here. This was a center for slave trade, which went under the very clever guise of the “Long Juju” or medicine man. There is a shrine here which the colonial authorities broke up many years ago. There is a cave upstream (by the creek from which I get my water) where the slaves passed through to Ovim or Uzuakoli. It is supposed to be a very big cave, with manacles still in it from keeping the slaves. Also in Arochuku there are several museums and a few private houses where there are some gold, silver, and bronze manacles from the slave trade. The Juju shrine is also on this river. One of the boys tells me that when a very big man in the village died, he was buried with about four other men—alive. The principal has become a very big man in this village, and many of the bad practices which the authorities did not stop, he may have suppressed to some extent. He is a member of the local secret society, like the Masons in the States, which is the last of the slave traders.
I managed to get a fairly big order of chemicals and supplies and equipment through the Principal the other day. From the way in which he was talking earlier, it would be like pulling teeth to get any more equipment, thus this was so easy. I am going to try an electrolysis demonstration using the battery from the Jeep, as we have no other electricity.
My steward has been slipping in Nigerian dishes recently—not bad if you cut down on the [chili] pepper. They have a jelly made of corn flour and water which is filtered and pressed between paper. It is pretty good for starch. Most of the native food is carbohydrate. No wonder the kids have kwashiorkor. The health science course here teaches them that many people in the states who eat corn have pellagra. And beri-beri is cured by drinking lime juice. But they don't learn about deficiency diseases.
At the end of the month I will try to sack my steward and retrieve the boy who was here with the previous PCV. He should be better, is undoubtably smarter, and knows the area better. Henry Obineche, the biology tutor, says he would probably like to return, and that the Principal will let him, now that the squabble is over. I hope so, as my present steward has little imagination and can’t follow instructions very well.
The boys have asked me to sponsor a Science club. They gave me some info from the outfit which sold those Things of Science and I shall write for a free sponsor's guide for such clubs. I don't know what it will entail, except work, and I plan to keep that to a minimum. Maybe the school will subscribe to the Things of Science, both for the club and for class demonstrations.
I figured a way to hang my shoes on the coils in the refrigerator to keep them warm (and dry). The heel blocks were starting to mold, and the Peace Corps volunteers at Ovim said they all molded in a short while. We have no light bulb, but this should work. Maybe I can build a little ‘warm chest‘ for things like my camera, shoes, etc, over the fridge. All the packing cases from the chemical equipment are behind the chemistry lab, and they make nice cabinets—with the top for a door.
I toyed with the idea of building a pipe organ here, using bamboo for the pipes. have to try it. The raw material would be free, at least, tho I don't know when I could make time. The reed organ is always open here, but there are always kids studying in that room, and I don't like to bother them. I may try to repair the bad notes on the harmonium, probably just dirty.