Sunday morning dawned bright and fresh after a powerful tropical rain storm. The rain had pounded on the corrugated roof for about 20 minutes during the night; we were used to this by now just as we were preparing to return home. The air was cleared and the humidity dropped making for a very pleasant day. We had to be packed and ready to leave for 9.00am, Amadu and Peter were to pick us up and take us to Peter’s parish church in the south of Jos for Mass. We were really looking forward to this; Peter was very excited as we were to be guests in his home parish.
Just before we were to leave the Diocesan Centre that had been our home for almost 4 days a young man arrived from Archbishop’s House. Archbishop Ignatius had sent all of us a personal letter and inside each envelope was a chain and pendant of Africa. There was also a letter to bring back to our own Bishop Arthur. It was a lovely touch typical of the generosity we had experienced throughout.
We set off for the Church and enjoyed another wonderful welcome as we were literally shepherded into the presbytery. There we met the Parish Priest and Father Blaise. Father Blaise was awaiting his visa so that he could come to Bradford University to study for a Masters Degree in Peace Studies. He now stays with Father Pat Wall at St. Francis’s. The cliché “small world” comes to mind. He didn’t know that St Blaise is the Patron Saint of Bradford but he does now. He was really delighted and we have met up with him since, Kimi’s Mum and Dad invited all of us to a welcome dinner for Father complete with Nigerian fayre.
It was time to go to the Church, Mass started at 10.30 but it took us about 10 minutes to actually get into the Church as everyone wanted to welcome us. The Church was packed; there were three choirs and three sets of musicians as well as a massive congregation. When Father began the opening prayers he announced that the Mass was to be offered for us and for our school community. The Mass was a very joyful and lively offering to God. The singing and music was amazing and we joined in as much as possible, Peter translated and Father repeated some sections in English. It took 20 minutes to announce the banns of marriage that partly explains why at 1.30 we were still in Church, 3 hours is the usual length of Mass on Sunday morning. I must praise the girls here, they didn’t complain once even though they and Margaret, Tim and I were all flagging by 12.30!! The College must have received many blessings and I know we did. We didn’t actually exit the Church at 1.30 it took 20 minutes to get back to the Presbytery as we had to bid our farewells to these wonderful people.
Lunch followed (we were ready for it) and we spent some time with Peter’s family in the garden of the Priest’s house. In retrospect I am very grateful for this time. This family have been through a very traumatic time. The recent troubles in Jos have directly affected them; all except three houses in their street were burnt down in January. Peter and his family have had to leave the neighbourhood as it is now deemed dangerous. They have had to leave all their belongings and move to a small flat, their home is still standing but it is unlikely that they will ever be able to go back there. It is very hard to think that his two youngest children and his wife witnessed all the violence and saw the houses burning all around them. Many of the people who we met at the Mass will have lost loved ones and their homes too. It is hard to imagine how they must feel. We need to pray for these people as they so generously prayed for all of us.
It was necessary to get on the road as soon as possible; we had to aim to get to Abuja before dark and had a very long journey ahead. We were staying in another Diocesan Centre for our last night and had to be up at 6.00am for the short drive to the Airport. Abuja is typical of a city in the developing world. It is surrounded by shanty towns that sprawl endlessly around the city. The roads are chaotic and still deeply potholed; there are road side markets, few proper buildings and little in the way of amenity or infrastructure. Then all of a sudden, the showpiece of the capital arises. It could be anywhere, there is nothing to state that it is Nigeria, it has huge skyscrapers, wide avenues, plenty of greenery in a formal sense and hotels that can be afforded mainly by foreigners. It really is quite surreal and doesn’t seem to have any relationship with its surroundings; in fact it seems to shun them.
The Diocesan Centre was like a walled fortress with guards and guard dogs but we were made very welcome after our long journey. We really began to feel that our trip was coming to an end and it was with mixed feelings that we all gathered for the last time with Peter and Amadu for dinner. The Centre was very quiet and we had the huge dining room to ourselves. The girls and I had bought some gifts for Tim, Margaret, Peter and Amadu and this seemed like the right time to present them. Margaret and I had taken several things for all of the people we were to meet and we did a good job of taking care of everyone. We had heard enough formal speeches to last a life time, so our present giving session was very informal and funny but filled with love and respect for these amazing people. We sang and rejoiced in our friendship and thanked God that we had come through this amazing experience together safe and well. Happy in each others company and knowing that we would be friends forever, we now shared a common bond that was this incredible trip of discovery.
We were up at 6.00am and off to the Airport. It is a long process checking in at Abuja, all forms are double checked and there are lots of queues (very British). It was good to see that security checks were strict and it was absolutely mind-blowing to experience the effect our Chiefly beads had on everyone. At one point we were taken to the front of a queue and we told it was because we were wearing our beads! It was very hard to say goodbye to Peter and Amadu but I had a very strong feeling that this would not be the last time some of us would be standing in Abuja airport. Once we were there we were all looking forward to getting home. The girls had done remarkably well. It is hard to find the words to express what wonderful ambassadors they had been for their families, the College, the Diocese and CAFOD. They achieved more than anyone could ever have expected on this visit and we should never forget that they are the youngest representatives that CAFOD has ever sent on an overseas mission. The fact that they exceeded all expectations is something that we should hold dear.
I hope that in these articles I have managed to give you some insights into this experience. I thank you for your support and next week will be the last in the series, I think it is rather fitting that the last article will take us to the celebration of Holy Week and Easter. Elaine
Our return to England
Return to the menu