Christmas - 2007

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year - for real.

I started on the previous entry and kept on going and going. It ended up so long that I wanted to end that entry and make a separate one to announce what is happening in the future.

Christmas in Beamsville was pretty mellow. Mom, Dad and I pretty well picked out our own gifts. We did wrap them and opened gifts on Christmas morning, but for the most part we each already knew what was in the packages we received. It was still nice to spend some time together, being thankful for what we already have and realizing that we are already so blessed that we don't really need to exchange gifts.

We went to my aunt's for a lovely turkey dinner. This is her Christmas tree, with Dad having a small snooze beside it. The meal was good, the company was good, and it was more about visiting with each other than about giving each other things we didn't really need at all.

Later in the day, Mom and Dad were able to have video phone calls with all of their daughters, many of their grandchildren and one of their great-grandchildren. We spent some time getting that set up but it worked out very well. Those that were not able to participate on Christmas Day will be able to hook up when they get the chance. And it will allow Mom and Dad to keep an eye on the growth of their great-grandchildren, especially, without having to travel from home.

Return to West Africa

I did not mention this earlier, but I did go to a Returned Volunteer Weekend in Ottawa for VSO. It was an opportunity for volunteers who have recently returned from their placements to share time and experiences together. It is a good chance to talk with those that understand some of what was experienced, because they have had similar experiences. And it is important for the volunteer to realize that what was experienced in Ghana, for example, was very similar to what another volunteer experienced in Guyana. There are similar joys and feelings of accomplishments - and there are similar frustrations - no matter where one goes.

Though unrelated to that weekend, I was able to do a lot of thinking and evaluating while I was away from my life in Canada for a weekend. I had already told VSO that I would be interested in returning overseas. My first choice was to return to Ghana and to the place where I had just left. My second choice was another African country for a different experience. What VSO presented me was an opportunity in Nigeria, which I hadn't really even thought about before. After a lot of thinking and soul-searching, I made the decision to accept the position.

I will be working at the College of Education in Akwanga, which is in Nassarawa State, and is located about halfway between Abuja, the federal capital, and Jos, a favoured destination for visitors to Nigeria. The latitude is very similar to where I was in Ghana, so I expect the climate and the environment to be similar. It is a more rural area of Nigeria so I expect the people to be similar to those I worked with in Ghana. The employment challenge will be different from what I have done before, but it seems to draw on my previous volunteer efforts. I am even looking forward to learning Hausa, which will be the prominent native language of the area. Hausa is spoken in many of the countries near the Sahel, so learning this language will be much more beneficial than I found the regional languages that I attempted to learn in Ghana and when I was in Nigeria before.

I will leave for Nigeria on 09 February 2008 for probably two years, though the length of the placement can still be negotiated. I am looking forward to meeting some of my friends from Nigeria who I left in 2003. I am looking forward to seeing how Nigeria has changed since 2003, realizing that I will be in a totally different environment this time. I am looking forward to working with Open Office, as the College of Education is interested in moving to Open Source software so that they will not have to deal with licensing issues, an effort that I find commendable and forward thinking.

You can find a brief description of the posting by visiting www.vsocan.org/display.aspx?pid=499&cid=926, where you will also find a link to make a donation to support my efforts. I encourage you to visit this site and to support VSO.

And I will close by again wishing everyone the best of 2008, which is only days away. 2008 will include another major change in my life. My hope is for peace and safety for me, and for each of you, as the year begins.

Pre-Christmas 2007

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.

Again, it has been a long time since I last updated this blog. My life in Beamsville has stayed pretty routine since returning from Ghana. I continue to help cut wood with a friend in Silverdale, when the weather permits and my friend needs to cut wood. I spent almost two weeks travelling with a cousin who is a truck driver. He had carpal tunnel surgery on one hand and needed someone to secure and loosen his loads. It was interesting to see the life of a trucker. My cousin works independently and does relatively local deliveries now, mostly steel.

His deliveries took us to some places in Ontario that I have never been. Of course, we went to Toronto and Brampton several times. We also went to Barrie and Welland. But I don't remember ever visiting the Amish country of Ontario - towns such as Wallenstein and others north of the Kitchener-Waterloo area. Since winter had started, we had some adventures getting out of parking lots, especially in Wallenstein where the driveway was a solid sheet of ice. For me, it was a good week. We picked up the loads and I spent 15-20 minutes securing everything. My cousin would then handle the hard part of driving to wherever we were going and I road along in the comfortable passenger seat making conversation. At the delivery point, we often had to wait for an hour or more to unload, so we would chat, drink coffee, rest, and otherwise occupy our time until the tow motor or crane became available. then I would spend another 15-20 minutes removing the chains, wait for the unloading, and then close the tarp for the return trip.

It was good to spend that much time with my cousin. We had not known each other that well before because of our age difference and because he had grown up in India. When he returned to Canada, I lived in other parts of the country and the world. We got along very well and I enjoyed our time together. I hope he did as well.


And then Christmas happened, as it seems to do every year. One event of the season was to join my friend, Mary, for her company Christmas party in Simcoe, ON. It was a lovely evening, even though everyone was looking out the windows for most of the evening, checking the weather. Beginning a few days before this event, the forecast had been for a major snowstorm to hit southwestern Ontario. It didn't happen exactly when it was predicted to start, but we were all watching.

The trip to Simcoe was uneventful. The roads were dry and I thought I could have ridden my motorcycle down. It would have been cold but it would have been clear. Even at the party on Saturday night there wasn't a hint of snow. I began to believe that the forecast was in error.


Sunday morning I woke up when I heard what sounded like rain on the windows. The roads were still clear at the time. I called back to Beamsville to see what the weather was doing there, in case I needed to stay in Simcoe another day. I found out that they had cancelled church because of the weather. It still wasn't so bad in Simcoe so I ate some breakfast and then decided I would head back to Beamsville.

By that time the snow had accumulated. Mary and I spent about 30 minutes clearing the ice and snow from the car. Then I had a bit of a struggle getting out of her driveway because of the slope of the road. After that, it was a slow but uneventful drive home. I never exceeded 60 kph, and usually travelled about 50 kph. The trip I usually make in about an hour took more than two hours. There weren't that many other "idiots" on the road, making it safer for me. I wasn't so worried about myself, but got concerned when people were following me - I wasn't sure they were keeping a respectful distance behind. And there was a good portion of the trip where it seemed that it had not even been ploughed yet. But I made it home safely - only to get stuck at the bottom of the hill (driveway) to our house.

So, after a tense ride home, I spent more than 2 hours clearing the driveway enough to get the car into the garage. Dad was having some problems with his shoulder so was not able to help. And I think that the pain of not working was more than the actual pain of his shoulder, later diagnosed as bursitis. He did drive the car up the hill and into the garage. About the time I was finishing all the moving of snow, our neighbours, who share (and own) the driveway decided they wanted to go out. So they were able to take advantage of all of my work with very little effort on their part.

The next day, Monday, I finished cleaning the landing meaning that I spent another 2+ hours moving snow. It was very tiring but also somewhat fulfilling to see what had been accomplished. There was about 40 cm of snow in all and it seemed like we would almost certainly have a white Christmas. However, the following Sunday came with rain and a temperature of 10C and almost all of the snow disappeared (except for the mound created by my snow removal efforts). We did get a bit more snow on Monday so Christmas was white, sort of.