On Sunday we went to the Statoil Beach. Halvor's family had arrived the night before and it was nice for his daughter, Stine, Erik and Daniel to be able to play together.

The waves were not too big so it was possible for the children to play in the waves. Daniel also enjoyed himself catching small sand crabs and putting them in a bucket.

The sun was really strong and, despite the sunblock Inger-Lise and I got a little sunburnt. It was nice to lie in the sun, listen to my ipod and read my book. Inger-Lise bought some watches, a nice necklace of black and blue beads and some nice table decorations. I bought some pearl necklaces.

Jeremy

On Saturday Daniel had his last Baseball match, which was followed by an award ceremony where the coaches gave them all trophies and a team photo. Afterwards there was a party by the pool.

On the way to Manuela's Residence to gte our Saturday pizzas, we stopped to give Erik and Mathilde haircuts at "The Nail Place". I left Inger-Lise to have her hair cut and had lunch with the children. Inger-Lise got her hair cut nice and short and arrived in time to let me go to the cinema with the boys.

Erik, Daniel and I went to see Nim's Island at the Silverbird cinema across the road from the Pizza restaurant. Jodie Foster was good, but the plot was rather weak. While we watched the movie, Inger-Lise went back to "The Nail Place", where they BOTH had their nails done! It was the first time Inger-Lise has had some real girl's time together with Mathilde.

In the evening, we went to Dieter & Diane's leaving party at Chevron, which was hosted by Peter & Paula Grootelaar. They had rented a marquis outside their house with lanterns everywhere. This was not just for the atmosphere as Chevron has been having serious power problems. We had a really good time, not only due to the big coolers of Marguerite and Apple Martini cocktails!

Jeremy

Visiting Dorcas
On Sunday we went to the SOS Children's Village Isolo to visit the Nigerian girl we are sponsoring. Her name is Dorcas Hodonu and she will be five years old on 2nd May. She came to the village in the Autumn of 2005 with her brother Israel (6) when her mother died in childbirth. Her father visited occasionally for the first two years they were in the orphanage, but they haven't seen him for the last 2 years.

The SOS Childrens Village Isolo is just before the airport in a rather poor area of town. We left the Statoil compound at about 10:15 with a police escort and were there shortly after 11am. On the way in the car we explained to Erik and Daniel that this is the way we help people, not by giving money to beggars on the streets. I have felt bad about going to Cub Scout Den meetings every Saturday morning and ignoring the beggars we pass, so I got Erik to say his Cub Scout Promise on the way to make the point!

We were rather sceptical when we turned off the main road, but when we saw the walls of the village with the SOS Children's Village logo, we were very pleasantly surprised. The gates opened and we could see that the grounds were spacious, clean, organised and well maintained (this is definately not the norm in Lagos). The lawns were well cut and there were several playgrounds.

The director of the village met us and showed us around the village while we waited for the children to come back from church. The village is home to 101 children in 10 houses. Each house has a "mother" and an "aunt" looks after two adjacent houses. The village has 35 staff in total.

There are three small schools within the compound: a nursery, primary and a secondary school. Other children from the area around the village also attend the school. While we were waiting we looked at one of the houses where they were busy cooking a big birthday dinner for one of the girls on an open fire.

Shortly after noon, Dorcas's "family" arrived back from church. The main room, just inside the door in the middle of the hoise was the sitting room and dining room. Down two corridors were the bedrooms, kitchen, common bathroom and the mother's bedroom. Dorcas was waiting for us in the sitting room.

She was very quiet and shy, as you would expect. We gave her a birthday present - a doll, a pushchair and some doll's clothes. She didn't recognise the pushchair - she called it a car - but she loved pushing her doll around in it. Another girl about the same age as Dorcas wasn't so shy and kept trying to push infront of Dorcas and get the attention, so we made sure we gave her some attention too. The other children ranged in age from a baby (7mths) to a couple of children in their early teens. This is done so that the older ones can help the younger ones and it gives the house more of a family atmosphere.

It was interesting to see how our children reacted to the visit. Mathilde was really clingy - she kept wanting to be carried and hugged me, pointedly to show that I was hers! Erik played with them, but was obviously conscious that he did not fit in; he was the one asking to go home. Daniel, on the other hand, fitted right in. Outside, he was swinging around with them on the climbing frame. Inside, he sat down to draw, while all the other children gathered around and repeated him each time he said something about his drawing.

Inger-Lise had made a birthday chocolate cake for Dorcas and everyone had a slice. Dorcas was still looking overwhelmed, as well she might with suddenly getting so much attention.

We then brought out lots of old clothes and toys we had brought and piled them on the dining room table. It was heartwarming to see how much pleasure they gave to the children. The mother was a really nice lady; the family unit seemed to be very strong and they all seemed to care for each other which was fantastic to see.

They all followed us to the car and waved goodbye when we set off back to Lagos with our Police Escort. It must be strange for them to have us suddenly appear from nowhere and then disappear again. Perhaps I will visit again, though.


I hope that the visit made an impression on Erik and Daniel, so they can see what they have compared to other, less fortunate children. Also, not least, that they understand that just because we ignore the beggars at the windows of our car every day, it doesn't mean that we don't care.

We think this is a very good organisation to give money to. If you would like to sponsor a child, you can find more information here

Jeremy

On Sunday morning, the boys slept in while I got the breakfast ready. Sometime after 8am, I started to hear voices from their room and they all wanted eggs when they got up. We had the full "range" of eggs - fried, omelet, soft boiled and hard boiled.

As I was clearing up, they decided they would go down to the pool and ran out the door before I could stop them. I then got a phone call from Albrecht asking if I wanted to go to Agogoro beach (again). I got one of the drivers, Adeola to watch the boys while I prepared for the beach. At 11:30 we met up and by noon, Dan & Margaret, Albrecht & Marieke and myself had reached the beach.

Between us we had managed to rustle up a feast for the barbecue. I had made kebabs. Albrecht had brought sausages and Dan had brought king prawns. In the middle of the afternoon a large black cloud made us start to move bags under shelter, but in the event it just missed us - the rainy season is about to start down here.

The boys played on the beach or in the surf the whole afternoon and had a great time, while we adults drank lots of red wine, dined and talked the afternoon away.

Jeremy

This morning, Daniel had Baseball as usual. I had to postpone the Den meeting until 5:15 pm due to a conference going on at the school, so that meant that I could watch Daniel playing for a change. Erik played right after Daniel and he played quite well but the team didn't do very well - too many of them got 3 strikes.

After the baseball, I left the boys with David & Gina while I went to change money & shop at the expat shop, "La Point". Afterward, I went back and picked up Erik & Daniel along with Brandon & Jacob and took them for a pizza at Manuela's. Afterwards, we went back to "Base" and they played by the pool for a couple of hours before we went back to the school for the Cub Scout Den & Pack Meetings

In the Den Meeting the boys painted their Pinewood Derby cars (using Inger-Lise's acrylic paints) and added leaded weights to bring the weight up to the max of 5ozs. The boys loved to add their personal touches to their cars.

In the Pack Meeting there were lots of scout "cheers", run on jokes, etc. The main event was the Arrow of Light ceremony where the older cub scouts graduated to become boy scouts. Afterwards, the boys roasted marshmallows on the bonfire. I brought Petit Beure biscuits (as a substitute for American Graham Crackers), chocolate and marshmallow as was supposed to be a great combination. It was incredibly sweet but, yes, it was good!

After the Pack meeting, Jacob & Brandon came back for a double sleep over. Also Marieke, Uli and Axi were stuck without transport, so we gave them a lift back. The car was pretty packed. I gave the boys a snack and then let them play PlayStation until late. At around 11pm, I left them playing in their room and Daniel and I put Daniel to bed in Inger-Lise's bed. At midnight, Jakob Rainbolt woke me with a green IKEA battery light under his face, asking for a sleeping pill; it was quite surreal!

Jeremy

The next morning, they were up playing Playstation again at 7:30 am while I got ready for the beach. For breakfast Axi showed Daniel how to cook a fried egg, which was nice. Both Uli and Axi make their own eggs for breakfast on the weekends; perhaps we should teach Erik and Daniel to do it.

At 11am, we left for the Yacht Club to go to Agogoro Beach. They had all their plastic Star Wars figures with them and they played non-stop all day with just a brief break for a barbecue lunch. Marieke and I drank lots of wine then, while she went for a sail, I had a snooze in the shade.

In the evening, Erik and Daniel had.... Beans-on-toast again! followed by popcorn with the film "Family Robinson".

Jeremy

While Daniel played Baseball, Erik and I had a Cub Scout Den meeting. This week we had a Nigerian police officer to come and talk to the boys. He had been a detective in Port Hardcourt and had some exciting stories to tell the boys.

Afterwards, Daniel went to Connor's house while Erik had his Baseball game. Without Mathilde to look after, I actually got a chance to watch him play for a change. Afterwards, Erik played with the other children while I had a Cub Scout Leaders meeting to plan the two Pack Meetings we wuill have on the following two Saturdays.

We went straight back to Base, where Debbie was bring back Daniel at 1pm. We went to the GQ for lunch and Marieke, Ulie and Axi met us there at 3:30pm. The boys all played together while I did an hour of training and Marieke lay by the pool.

At 6pm, Erik went back with Uli and Axi came back with Daniel and I for a sleepover. They were both really excited. After beans-on-toast à la Jeremy they played Playstation until late. They talked, hid under the duvet etc. long into the night and at 11:30 I think they finally fell asleep when I did!

Jeremy