apparently i have a lot to write about

Pigeon eating and a pending cross-country adventure

Last night Adam and I went to dinner with YZ and CITAD board member Dalah. We went to a place called Kano Club, which is a large membership-based center with a sports complex, restaurant and bar. We sat outside drinking beer and eating roasted pigeon with our bare hands. It was pretty amazing. So were the incredible amount of kittens who were running around everywhere and eventually swarmed around our table when they realized we had food. We chucked the left-over bones to them, and it was pretty amusing to see a swarm of cats jump on them wherever I threw it. I think it’s the second highest amount of cats I’ve seen in one place, the first being this bizarre little shed that my friend in San Diego took me to where there had to have been at least 30 cats.

But I digress. Dalah was really friendly and fun to hang out with and invited me to come along with him to Lagos if he goes within the next couple of weeks. I drunkenly excepted the offer, but, I would definitely consider it. There is no way I could go there without being guided by someone who knows their way so this would definitely be a good opportunity to go and stay relatively safe. I’m very eager to see the rest of the country and already may have places to stay and people to show me around in Jos and Abuja (I totally missed Usher, Rhianna, and Mary J Blige there last night, hah). I also NEED to go to Yankari National Park and would love to visit Calabar where there is a Drill Monkey sanctuary! I’m hoping to go on cross country trip in September, that would give me time to plan things out and be a bit more comfortable being in Nigeria.

Internship things

Today I did my first training (that I led by myself). It was on the CMS/blogging tool WordPress, which I use to make this site although my training was focused on using the software for your own domain, rather than the free hosting version that WordPress.com offers. It was a difficult start with the slow internet connection in the office and a lot of confusion on very basic tasks like creating a log-in name and checking e-mail to confirm registration. I forget that simple things that I’ve become really accustomed to from using the internet are pretty new for CITAD, even if their profession is IT. But by the end everyone seemed very interested and were playing around with it a lot. You can see what they made at wordpress.citad.org. They just made silly entries as examples but you can get a feel for what they were doing and what they learned.

I’m very excited/nervous about my move on Monday. I’ll be staying at Mambayya House, also known as the Centre for Democratic Research and Training. I met with the director, Dr. Haruna Wakili on Thursday and was taken on a tour of the facilities.

I didn’t know what to expect before I got there, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out how quiet and clean the place is, in addition to learning about all the amazing work they are doing there. Their purpose to be a bridge between the ivory tower of Bayero University and the rest of the town. To meet that goal, they hold workshops and trainings to increase the political awareness and tools of citizens. Right now they are trying to collect information related to elections by asking questions like: what is the experience of voters at polling places, what are the issues that citizens vote on, where do political parties get their campaign money from, etc. Adam does a lot of work with voter engagement in the US and it was really interesting to hear him and Dr. Wakili relate their experiences and overall strategies, despite the obvious differences between politics in the US and Nigeria. Some issues, like engaging voters and increasing their political power, are true to democracies everywhere.

Anyway, Mambayya House is where Mallam Aminu Kano used to live. His house is now a museum and his burial site. The compound also has a library, restaurant, conference hall, and guest apartments in addition to a large administrative building. It’s all very green and open, not to mention quiet which will be a really amazing break from Tahir’s Guest Palace which seems to have a billion people running around it at all times of the day. I’ll be working with a couple of people there as well as someone from Bayero University to teach them how to create functional and easy to update websites (probably with WordPress, also).

The first time I drove past Mambayya I was coming from a different direction than yesterday and I think it was considerably more crowded and “crazy”. Coming from a different direction on Thursday I saw that Mambayya is near really big markets, some that looked more modern and others very, very old. From the car everything seemed so alive and vibrant, and I would imagine it wouldn’t be too difficult to navigate the area by myself. We’ll see.

There is a lot to do this summer, and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to accomplish everything I would like to in a couple of months, but, I’ll give it a shot. I’m hoping to have more of a concrete action plan in the next few days.

CITAD

I posted this on the official GIIP blog. It’s probably the most coherent (although that’s not saying much) thing I’ve written since coming here:

Today was our fourth day of website design training with the staff of CITAD, the Centre for Information Technology and Development. It started last Thursday with a not so shocking but certainly annoying occurrence: the diesel generator that powers the office blew out and set on fire. This meant that nearly half of our planned three-hour training had to be run entirely without electricity until a new generator arrived the next day.

This is Kano. With no real infrastructure, every individual home and business is responsible for their own electricity, spending astronomical amounts of money on diesel and generator repairs for what is an entirely unpredictable power supply. Combine this with the open sewers and poverty of the old Kano city viewable from their second story balcony, the CITAD offices might seem at first glance an unlikely place for web design trainings.

But at the end of four days the staff had put together impressive and functional sites made entirely with HTML and CSS. A feat, I reminded our fearless leader Adam Thompson, took weeks for UCSC students to master in our GIIP lab course. Their enthusiasm and thirst for IT knowledge was incredibly motivating.

The amount of work that CITAD is able to accomplish in the community awe-inspiring. A large computer lab (although only qualifiable as such by Western standards by the sheer amount of monitors in one room) hosts software trainings and exams day in and day out. Outside of the office, the staff makes visits at schools, villages, and mosques, informing individuals and organizations about the importance of computer technology in the economic and political development of their local and national communities. On a wider scale, they observe elections and advocate for better governance and public participation in politics. Their gender officer, Fatima Ibrahim, focuses her efforts on the implications of ICT for women. To accomplish this all in such challenging conditions for over a decade is a testament to their commitment and strength as an organization.

The web design trainings will be followed this week by classes on office networking, managing excel databases, content management systems, and more. All of this with the intention of CITAD staff repeating the trainings with other civil society organizations in Kano. On Monday, Adam Thompson will return to the states and I will continue working with CITAD to increase their skills and capacity to include ICT in their work. I’m convinced that we learned just as much about teaching technology in Kano as the CITAD staff learned HTML and CSS. There is no doubt that the challenges of these trainings, not limited to just power and language barriers, will continue throughout the summer but I’m confident of the lasting impact this technology can bring to their work and the importance of GIIP’s partnership with organizations like CITAD.

-Scott Reed

pictures, finally

My internet is fast (for now) and I can finally upload some pictures! They are all at this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/ScottBrReed. Many of them were taken by Eugene, you can see his flickr page at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eekim/

I wish I could write the story behind each picture…but, that would take forever. Hopefully I can be better about uploading pictures a little bit at a time.

things

Maira had the great idea of writing down things that she is and isn’t getting used to in Malaysia (you can read her blog at newsfrompj.blogspot.com) so I think I’ll try a list of my own….

Things I am getting used to:

-The loud prayer at 4:30am
-Trash everywhere
-The overwhelming amount of men who work at the hotel, and everywhere for that matter. There really is a surplus of labor.
-Open sewers
-Not understanding what most people are saying
-The crazy streets
-Watching Al Jazeera English! It’s seriously the best news channel I have ever watched.
-Seeing people with polio.

Not getting used to:

-Secret service and being afraid of the police.
-Not remembering everyone’s long, complicated names.
-Feeling like people think Adam and I can solve all their tech problems, or that we are more important than we actually are.
-Sweating all the time, everywhere.
-The ridiculous amount of service we receive at this hotel
-Walking places
-A man’s world/man talk…I need to get used to communicating and engaging with mostly men.

treats

Last night I had goat’s head soup.

Everyone has their “school” where they go for what, in their opinion, is the best version in town. Yahiya and Judith took a couple of us to a part of town we hadn’t been to in the past week, and one that I never would have expected to exist. Because Kano is predominantly Muslim and under Sharia law, alcohol is either not available or illegally sold, usually in restaurants and hotels. Judith told us of a time when a previous governor walked into a hotel with a group of thugs and smashed all the beer bottles they had.

Most if not all the restaurants we’ve visited in the past week have been in the hotel district and serve beer, and most were more or less what you would expect of a restaurant anywhere (except one Chinese place served Cow Penis Soup, not really sure how that is possible or what it really is, but there you have it).

But last night we ended up in an area that has an unspoken rule of freedom to consume alcohol and have a good time. Beer gardens lined the streets and people, cars, and bikes were everywhere. This area brings in a lot of money and its off limits to police intervention. We sat around a small outdoor table with crowd of other groups around us transfixed on the final EuroCup game playing on a few small, old TVs. We ordered our beers (Gulder is Nigerian) and waited for our meals. Behind us a women smashed the cooked goat heads into small pieces before they were spiced and and made into a stew like dish. Apparently she is there every night, and her skill and smashing makes this “school” the best.

Luckily, it was dark out with little lights around us, so I couldn’t exactly see what was in front of me, but an entire (small) head was there every part, in little pieces mixed up in a spicy sauce. Of course you eat it all with your hands. So, I picked it up part by part, unaware of what it was exactly (but you could sort of guess by how chewy and how much cartilage was in each bite).

….I liked it! The taste wasn’t outrageously different than anything I’ve had before, and I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of an intelligible animal head that was sitting in front of me. YZ apparently has his own school, so I’ll definitely ask him to take me so I can compare and choose my own “place”.  It was really the entire experience that made it enjoyable, though. Everything is so ironic and contradictory here. There is so much rules and religion, but at the same time, so much chaos and freedom. I feel lucky that I have local connections here that can show me places that I doubt many tourists visit, not that Kano is much of tourist destination.

Until next time….

“are you egyptian?”

Let’s all take a second and laugh at my last post. This is what happens when you are dead tired, the internet sucks so you have to keep stopping and starting, copying and pasting from word to gmail and back, and are overwhelmed with everything that had happened in the last two days. Sorry it was so incoherant, but this one probably won’t be much better…. but I did meet the Emir of the state of Katsina….he’s kind of a big deal. So that has to count for something.

I also visited a very rural village near the Emir. It was surreal. I really wish we could have spent longer there. We were escorted by their local traditional ruler who received training from LDM, part of IIE who does leadership training for people in the field of reproductive health and rights. Before, he didn’t believe in AIDS. Now, the village has its own ambulance, a clinic with someone attendant 24 hrs, and they are currently building a a small maternal health center. I’m not really sure whether or not they have enough trained professionals to work there, but the point is that the community is coming together to make maternal and reproductive health a priority in their village, with the blessing and financial support of their leader. Before, if a woman had birth complications the best that they could do was put her on a donkey and take her to the nearest village. The chances of her or her baby surviving that are slim to none.

In addition, the state government is funding a huge modern maternal and early childhood health care center in the city. It was currently under construction, and they said it would be ready in a month. We toured the site, and it looks obvious that it won’t be ready by then. Some of the LDM leaders there were concerned that there would not be enough trained professionals. There is a lot of uncertainty with projects like this, but it is a really important first step.

Today I finally had the opportunity to see the CITAD offices, where I will spend the majority of my time this summer. They do trainings on computer software and hardware in their own computer lab, with satellite internet, which is very impressive. We were a bit confused after the meeting because after looking at their publications, it seems that they (their staff) wanted training in the skills that they have already taught in the community? We aren’t really sure how this can be, and want to look at their training materials to find out. I was impressed that they have a position for a Gender Officer, specifically concerned with issues of women and technology. I can’t wait to speak with her more about the work that she does.

This will be a difficult summer for me because 1) I may be a bit out of my league in terms of the technical knowledge I can bring to the table and 2) Many of the major issues facing these NGOs are a reflection of the poor infrastructure in Nigeria, not necessarily something that someone like me can address. How do you run a successful NGO (or any kind of business for that matter) based on IT when power supply is cut off multiple times throughout the day? It is SO expensive here to get an internet service provider as well as to power the offices and computers since generators are constantly running.

Food. Lot’s of it. I feel like I’ve spent 50% of my time eating. Mostly its been Indian, Lebanese, and Chinese. AND ITS GOOD. Definitely eating better here than I was in Santa Cruz. Haven’t really have any authentic Nigerian, although I did try a Nigerian beer. They serve alcohol at some hotels and restaurants, but only those that can afford to pay off the police.

These meals and the entire conference I’m getting to (kind of) be a part of is coordinated by DRPC, which is a reproductive health (RH) advocacy group here and is funded by LDM. They are hosting a meeting of all the country managers for LDM which includes the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and Nigeria. They all basically connect LDM funds to worthy local leaders so that they can recieve leadership trainings all around the world (and as you can tell from the example I gave above, it seems to really work). Now the managers are working on networking their local leaders and creating a community that can take action on a wider scale. I’m really in awe of all these people I’m around, they all are incredibly educated and experienced and I can’t help but feel very out of place. But I’m learning SO much from all the conversation and places we have gone so far. It reminds me of all the travel, learning, and people I need to experience in my life and it makes me confident that I am in the right place..

I’m pretty pampered here at the Tahir Guest Palace and I should appreciate it while I can, but I’m sort of anxious to really get out into the town, buy my own food, etc. They are all scary thoughts but it’s going to have to happen within the next week and a half, and I need to break the ice sooner rather than later.

Also, if you want to call me (yay!), my cell phone number is 0803 049 0745. I don’t know how you get connected to Nigeria or the best calling card to use, but if somone successfully figures it out, please e-mail me so I can share it. The best time to call me is after 9:30 pm Kano time, which is 1:30pm in California.

Sai an jima,

Scott

So, it’s been really difficult to write anything thus far because 1) I’ve been really busy…if I ever thought this would be a fun adventure/vacation I was wrong, this is an internship in every respect with no designated working hours and way too much to do. Paul Lubeck, my faculty advisor who sent me out here, wanted a detailed update on things, so I’ll put my REALLy long e-mail below incase you are interested.

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Paul, I tried to write you earlier today but the internet crapped out, below is what I wrote. In summary, I am HAPPY right now but I am very nervous. Nervous about feeling confident in knowing enough to GIVE knowledge here and nervous that people may not accept me. But it is only day two, so I recognize that these feelings are probably typical and I can work through them. I can’t believe its only been two days out of what, something like 80?
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Barka da asuba Paul!One important thing: At the airport,  I told them that I was actually staying for three months and which point they didn’t seem very happy, and asked to see my letter of invite. I forgot to print it out, and told them that it was from YZ Yau, from CITAD, and that I had submitted it to get my VISA. A man changed it to the 5th of August and told me to go to the nearest immigration office to where I am staying to get it extended if I want. I’m thinking I’ll do that once I’m settled at Mambayya House. Maybe I could have handled this situation better but to be honest it was around 11:00pm and I was scared and overwhelmed to be at the airport, especially after Eugene had a run in at our layover in Abuja where a security officer tried to grab a camera out of his hand forcefully, and made him follow him to another room (that all turned out OK though).Adam told me that you would like me to e-mail you my impressions. Here is a novella for you:

It feels like I’ve been here for a week, but it has only been a day and a half. That time has been very busy, meeting everyone, eating, eating, eating, meeting everyone, driving around town, and eating (it feels like I’ve done a lot of eating if you haven’t already noticed).You were right, there really isn’t words to describe this place or how I feel being here. The town is dirtier and more hectic than I imagined that it would be, I’m sure there are quieter parts of Kano but I haven’t seen them yet!Today Christopher (from DRPC) took Adam, Eugene and I around town to visit a few different organizations. I was very nervous and stressed because 1) we didn’t know we would be doing this until the night before 2) I had never done a technology assessment or had a business-like meeting with a Nigerian org before. I think everything turned out fine though.

The first org was CHR, the community health and research initiative and we met with Dr. Aminu Magashi Garba. He gave us a report that he made and I look forward to reading it. It seems that his needs are pretty advanced. One general trend that I have noticed is that many organizations outsource their technology needs, including data analysis. In the case of website management and hosting, they get taken advantage of and spend a lot of money on something that they can probably do themselves.The second org was the Centre for Human Rights in Islam which was part of a larger umbrella organization of NGOs in Kano who are also very concerned with issues of Budget transparency and hope to create greater social consciousness towards government budgets. I REALLY liked hearing from them. They have a very spacious building, each room has a nice computer still covered in its plastic…they have no power and no way to connect it to the internet, yet. Thanks to the EU, who donated them. How can they afford to give new dell computers but no proper ethernet cord, or a basic accounting software package? They hope to create an IT center soon, one where members of their coalition can come and take classes as well as utilize the technology. I really loved their attention to gender issues there, both on the micro and macro level. A women was sitting at our table with us who came in the middle of the introductions session. Halfway into our discussion, they became very embarrassed that as an org that promotes gender equality they had not yet introduced her as their computer specialist. Upstairs they gave us some posters and pamphlets that they produced. I really hope that we can find a way to work with them this summer. They were very encouraging and excited to collaborate. They are apparently very close in distance to CITAD.

We also went to the British consulate. Wow! After visiting these offices that were really different from anything you would see in the US, it was odd to see such a comfortable, modern place. They have a very large computer lab, and for 500N you can spend the day there, watching news on the big tv, reading books, or surfing the web. Christopher said that he sometimes spends 1000N to go to Friends internet cafe which is not as nice. They do computer trainings twice a month. It would be great to draw upon their experience and knowledge but do we really want to work with the British gov? Weird

All in all, it is incredible the diversity in knowledge, experience, and applications of social enterprise within the city. The only common ground is that everyone knows Y.Z! Hah.It has been difficult connecting with Cheryl and Judith because they are very busy working with the LDM country leaders this week. Hopefully I will have an opportunity to get to know them better (and vice versa) sometime this week. My biggest fear at the moment is that they will not think my presence here is legitimate. We went to the prince hotel tonight for dinner, and it was great to have a lively conversation with everyone that included some risque topics like the red light district in netherlands, nude beaches, and sex workers. I don’t think I’ll be offending anyone.

Tomorrow we are going on our day trip to Katsina. Christopher and everyone briefed us on the dress code and the reality that they do not always like to see white faces there, as they expect us to be selling Christianity. I’m looking forward to the car ride so I can see some more of the country.My biggest surprise thusfar is my calm attitude when I am in a car, with no seatbelt, driving around town. The streets are INSANE but the drivers are obviously very skilled at getting places fast on roads with no rules and an outrageous amount of motas, baburs, kekes, etc. I just recognize that I have no control in the situation and that people do this everyday. Makes me laugh at the thought of beings stressed on Hwy 17.

Kudos to you if you read the whole thing and I’ll talk to you soon, sai an juma

Scott

if you were going to Nigeria for three months….

….would you bring a lot or a little? I recognize that less is more for most travel, but I’m going to a place where most things I’m accustomed to having just a quick stop at the store away and I’m afraid I’ll grossly underestimate my need for clothes, books, toiletries, etc. I’ll be living in the one of the largest cities in one of the most populated countries in the world, yet, I can’t quite put my finger on what it will be like and what kind of resources will be available to me when I get there. It’s going to be a crazy first couple of weeks.

I’m on draft two of the packing process right now. I’ve recognized that I likely will not need the pea coat, or hangers. In addition, it was recommended that I bring candy as a gift for children but I probably don’t need the two huge boxes that I got at Costco. Good thinking Scott.

I just need to recognize that I’ve never done this before and it probably doesn’t matter if I miraculously stuff my things in one tiny suitcase or bring two large ones (my current plan), it will be awkward and I’ll likely be embarrassed.

Aaak. I just need to be in Nigeria so I can finally stop thinking about going.

one more week!

Today I checked outside my front door and lo and behold….my VISA was there! I now have the holy trinity

1. Tourist Visa

2. Vaccinations with vaccination card

3. Plane ticket

I’ve finished all my classes and now I just need to focus on packing, buying all the things I need (medicine, luggage locks, deet, and much much more) but it should be a little bit easier now that I’ve finished my classes and the FMST newsletter. I also need to go over everything I’ll be teaching! I’m leaving in a week! MAKE IT WORK.

convergent interests report

http://www.ciponline.org/nigeria_summary.html

In its anxious search for energy security, the United States has embarked on a risky strategy to arm and train the militaries of oil-producing West African countries under the rationale of pursuing the Global War on Terror. Over the past 15 years, amidst widening crises in the Middle East and volatile petroleum markets, the U.S. has quietly institutionalized a West African-based oil supply strategy, closely focused on an “Oil Triangle” centered on the Gulf of Guinea. These policies are deeply flawed because they will serve to undermine America’s energy security even as they breed growing resentment and violence against U.S. economic and strategic interests.