Mana Shah - Facilitator

Its not everyday you hear about three generations in the same family being born on the SAME DAY! My family can boast of this coincidence! My Grandfather, Father and Sister (Pinks) were all born on 15 July! So we need to give only one party but get three sets of gifts:) Happy Birthday to the three Shahs!

The city of Lagos is the first to have a BRT system in Nigeria. Given Delhi's recent experience I was curious to investigate the Nigerian experiment. Lagosians, unlike Delhites, are absolutely happy about their BRT, the only complaint being that it runs only on a couple of routes and not across the whole city. There was even BRT: People's Parliament for feedback and discussion, unfortunately at the same time as my talk at the IPPA. As you see in the photos, the first need for a good BRT is space, a lot of it. The Mile 12-CMS BRT route is actually more than 10 lanes wide! 4 lanes for the Expressway, 2 for BRT and 4 for the service lane. The BRT lane and the bus stop is in the middle of the expressway and service road. Passengers have to cross the service road to get to and get out of the bust stop. Since the service road has slower moving traffic, it is possible for passengers to cross it, though not without difficulty. The vehicles on the expressway can cross the BRT lan...

Mana's new colleague Nike (the lady next to her in the photo) invited us to a performance by the University of Lagos student theater group. The theme was of human sacrifice--an old custom that still seems to have relevance leading this play to further discussion and raise awareness. A tribal chief has died and by custom his son-in-law has to be sacrificed, the play focuses on the Western educated son of the son-in-law challenging this custom in the court of law as well as of public opinion. Nike's friendship got us a chance to be photographed with some of the lead actors. The play was engaging with a fabulous one-man orchestra, but had made an impossible promise of being the "orgasm of creativity" (the last line on the banner). The same English can be used in different ways! While on the campus we found amusing signs and notices too. Enjoy!

Susan works as a teacher trainer with the State Universal Education Board in Kano. One of her projects is the " Sustainable Classroom " where she trains teachers is making innovative learning resources from locally available materials. We saw one of her classrooms with ABCs and numbers painted beautifully on the walls. She also made a small shop where students learn maths through trading! She is also training local women in providing basic first aid. She takes care of the local youth called " Almajharees " who have been sent away from their homes by giving them house work. We were overwhelmed to see the warmth, care and protection they showed towards Susan! All the children in the area know and love Susan. You can hear them shouting "Susaaan" from a mile away!

Kano has been the "Centre of Commerce" since a thousand years as it was a main conduit for trans-Saharan trade. The remnants of 15th century Kano City Wall can be seen across the city. Hausa architecture is absolutely beautiful and replicated in the British Council office. We stayed with a fellow VSO Volunteer from UK-Susan who was a fantastic host. She gave us a grand tour of the city starting from the 15th century traditional indigo dye pits , the vibrant Kurmi Market (where we saw whole spices including saboot dhania and methi), the Kano Museum (the only museum where the guide allowed us to take pictures). The Museum had preserved few of the 15 original gates along the Kano Wall whose condition matches that of the Iron Pillar in Delhi! Kano has a huge Lebanese, Philippino and Indian community. We had delicious shawarma and zarta (special bread with olive oil, thyme and sesame seeds)! Here we also saw the traditional art of ironing with a very heavy wooden tool which...

After a 14-hour long albeit safe AC bus ride through refreshingly green landscape, we arrived in Naija's capital city-Abuja! If Abuja is your first stop in Nigeria, locals are very quick to tell you that Abuja is NOT Nigeria...open space, wide roads, functional street lights, regular NEPA, cheap taxis, no danfoes, great weather...all make Abuja a cosmopoliton global city! It has a huge central Mosque and national Church next to each other which resonate with its state motto "Centre of Unity"! We stayed with our very hospitable and loving friends Dele, Nike (my landlord's daughter!) and their lovely dog Eva! They have a lovely home on outskirts of Abuja with small hills and greenery all around. Nike cooked lovely vegetarian food for Parth which restored his faith in the otherwise all-NON VEG Nigerian cuisine! Dele has an interesting background, he studied in Spain and worked with the Friedrich Naumann in Lagos (our connector) until the office closed down and is now w...

We have become really wonderful cooks. I made this amazing dal with aloo, tamatar, pyaz, ginger and garlic and it was moong dal of all the dals. We have had wonderful culinary adventures and experiences including sarson ka saag, rajma chawal with kachi aam and pyaaz kachumbar, sev batata puri, pita bread and hummus, khichdi, bhindi masala, patarwalia, thepla, dal makhani! I never thought I would be able to make the perfect rajma chawal that too at the first attempt! But with Parth around, nothing seems impossible.....

One of the ways I judge vibrancy of the culture and economic freedom is by availability of local brew (alcoholic drinks). In Nigeria, as elsewhere, in a local shop you can buy the choicest wines and spirits from around the world, but nothing really customarily local. Given the abundance of palm and coconut trees, their customary drink has been 'palm wine' or what we would call in India toady. More surprising though that is the only customary drink they have, at least from the people I talked to in Lagos. With more than 250 tribes with their spoken languages, how could there be only one type of local brew? The local Star beer is quite good, lager beer like Kingfisher. I have been rather taken by the flavory concoctions of Gin and Vodaka with about 5% acohol content--Gordon's Spark and Smirnoff's Ice. We only have Bacaardi Breezer but Spark and Ice could give any good beer run for its money. (Investors: get out of beer and get into gin and vodaka companies. You read it f...

Parth and I had known about the slave trade, but we felt its gruesomeness for the first time at Badagry-which is the oldest slave port in West Africa. The slave trade here was at its peak in between the 16th and 18th century. European traders would bring new goods like tobacco, wine, gin and barter them for men, women and children who would be bonded in slavery for life. One bottle of gin would buy two abled men or five women. These slaves would literally be piled in ships and taken to the Caribbean where they would be forced to work as domestic help or plantation workers. Chains of various dimensions were used to restrict their movement and punish them. In the sugarcane plantation for instance, their lips would be sealed with a nail so that they would not eat the sugarcane! The finished products were brought back to West Africa to be traded for more slaves, thus completing the Atlantic Trade Triangle. Badagry is a small town just 45 km from Lagos which has successfully preserved...

One of the two things for which Badagry is known for is the "first two-storey building" constructed in 1845 by the first missionaries in Nigeria. The first storey was used as the first western school in Nigeria which started with 40 men. It was in this building that one of the bishops translated the Bible into Yoruba. The building still stands solid even today with a functional well, a safe, floors and roof! The guide also showed us a rare collection of coins dating back to the 19th century.

I am a compulsively organized person (AKA a milder version of Monica in "Friends"). I like things to be neat, clean and organized in some logical manner. I don't like a mess including cluttered desktops! Well this is a trait I am quite proud of and one which I have acquired from my Dad! His properly labelled files to a well stocked stationery drawer all inspired me to be like him. And today if I can boast of being a fairly organized person, all credit to him. Thank you also for showing me the world! I feel so lucky to have been able to travel all over the world which has not only given me a diverse perspective but helped me to think out of the box. Thanks for making me love tennis ! I remember I was so young but I still knew Steffi Graf, Edberg, Samprus (in fact I was so proud when I won a quiz in school with a question about tennis to which only I knew the answer!) . Thank you for bringing the best food home after a tiring day. I still remember the yummy kebabs a...

Classes IX-XII, I would call the "formative" years of my life...the time I think I really "grew" and there is one person who played a n invaluable part of that growth- Ms Nidhi Bajaj ! Nidh and I were in the same school since kindergarten but somehow our paths never crossed untill class IX when we were together in the Student Council. I think the magnet was our different personalities- my "easy going, what ever you put in is what matters not the outcome" and Nidhi "I have to be the best and the outcome does matter"! And if today I have the urge in me to do the best I possibly can, its all because of Nidh! The four years of school were the most invigorating and creative years of my life. Many things happened then that have shaped the life I have today. One of them being the conference I went for in Geneva. I still remember I was not the first choice for the team that represented our school, but somehow I became part of it. Once I was selected...

When Thomas (a passionate Nigerian liberal) asked if I wanted to go for a play at the famous MUSON centre (Musical Society of Nigeria) on VI (Victoria Island: the so called "happening" part of Lagos), I was obviously quite excited. My first evening out in Lagos since I arrived on 27 March! We picked up our dinner in a nearby mall-creamy ice-cream and strawberry pie. Though it turned out to be a production concert by an artiste called "Olufunmi" and not a play, the performance was quite electrifying especially with the "talking drums" that give the music the uniquely Nigerian flavour! Eku se o (Well done!)

My colleague, Ike, volunteers with a non profit called Volunteer Corps on Saturdays to teach senior secondary students in public schools. Like India, Nigeria faces a crisis in education with ailing government managed/ run schools and mushrooming multi-range private schools. Volunteer Corps works with in 30 public schools across five local governments. They make a pitch to the schools, parents and the kids and those interested sign up for their program. Besides english and maths, they do extra-curricular activities (dance, drama, writing..) and life skills education. Today I accompanied Ike to an "Open Day", an event that gets all stakeholders to come together to celebrate the success and share concerns. Grateful parents, confident and aware students, satisfied volunteers all painted an optimistic picture for the future of Nigeria!