moments…

January. We were happy to discover an ice cream bar from our new neighbourhood Wuse2.

February. Point and kill fish became my favourite dish.
Picture from City Park, also called as our livingroom.

March. An awesome trip to Yankari national park.
Firestarters & the Muses in action!

April. The usual bushbar night

and the usual Sunday pancake breakfast.

May. Finnish girls & Goodluck on the way to Xtacy lounge…

Celebrating National Day of Norway

The rainy season with its fierce storms started.
I admired the dark clouds covering all the sky from the porch of sauna.

June. The Ambassador hosted us a beautiful goodbye party

This picture just brings me so many good memories!

Swedish national day celebrations with Stuart

Finnish midsummer with beer, barbecue, sauna & drizzle.

Sleep deprived & in hangover at the International Day against Drug Abuse on Midsummer day morning, that is working for the UN.

July. Nigerian wedding party with my Canadian-Nigerian friend and work colleague Tolu.

A perfect day – a trip to a fulani market on one of my last Saturdays.

On my last day of work at the UN my closest colleagues took me out for a lunch.

Farewell to the Ministry

On Thursday I had been five months in Nigeria.

On Friday I said goodbye to the warm work atmosphere of the Finnish Embassy, and was touched by the beautiful goodbye party the Ambassador hosted for me and Anna.

On Saturday I cheered for USA in the British village, and was happy for finding some Magners cider.

On Sunday I had a very relaxing day with the usual amazing pancake breakfast.

And on Monday I started as an intern at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

I will be working with issues related to anti corruption, cyber crime, anti-human trafficking and smuggling of migrants. Especially, I will be involved with a project improving the communication between West African airports in order to combat cocaine trafficking. The project and my new boss were featured in one of the Nigerian newspapers.

So I changed the small embassy work environment for a grand UN house that hosts all the UN agencies of Nigeria. Our office of about 20 people is beside UNESCO and UNICEF. I changed the easiness of working with Finns for working with a handful of international staff and a number of Nigerians. And I changed the embassy mindset on trade promotion for a global perspective to crime and drugs.

On my first day I took ‘basic security in the field’ and ‘advanced security in the field’ courses in order to get the appropriate security clearance. Besides learning on spotting suspicious envelopes, the language of radio communication and the planning of a convoy, I was told what to do in an earthquake, how to find water in a desert, how to read North from the stars on the different hemispheres, and how to wear clothes in layers in the cold. So, I should be now properly equipped to work with the UN in Nigeria!

Suurlähetystö 2.0 – teekkarin kokemuksia Abujasta

An article that I wrote to the Ministry’s intranet about my experiences in the Embassy.

Mitä syntyy, kun 19 Länsi-Afrikan maata kattava Abujan suurlähetystö valitsee ensimmäiseksi CIMO-harjoittelijakseen teekkarin?

You are welcome, toivottaa lentokenttävirkailija, suurlähetystön autonkuljettaja ja monumentti matkalla Abujan lentokentältä suurlähetystöön minulle tammikuussa 2010. Saan ensimmäisiksi päiviksi kodin suurlähettilään vierashuoneesta, eikä minua ympäröivä kotoisa Suomi-design sovi alkuunkaan ajatukseen, että olen pahamaineisessa Nigeriassa.

Ensimmäiset päivät ahmin sähköpostini vallanneita raportteja komiteoista, kokouksista ja tapaamisista. Tunnen olevani maailmanpolitiikan kulisseissa! Kännykkäni jaksaa vielä muistuttaa syksyn osa-aikatyöstä: luen Köpiksen ilmastokokouksesta kun suomalaisessa IT-yrityksessä pidetään Product management weekly meetingiä.

Puhun broken englishiä nigerialaisten taksikuskien kanssa, ja opettelen puhumaan suurlähetystöä. ”The Embassy of Finland avails itself of this opportunity to renew to bla bla bla the assurance of its highest consideration”, vau! Tulostan tiistaikokouksen esityslistan kaksipuoleisena ja herätän hämmennystä, ai pystyykö suurlähetystön tulostimilla tekemään noin? Voitko näyttää?

Maaliskuussa vastaanotamme Ministeri Väyrysen ja monikymmenhenkisen yritysdelegaation. Selviämme hiekkamyrskystä vastaanottoillallisella, saamme salin täyteen pyjamapukuisia nigerialaismiehiä ja jännitämme Lagosin turvamiesten brutaalia liikennekäyttäytymistä. Nautin joka hetkestä!

Houkuttelen isän ja siskon Etelä-Afrikkaan pääsiäislomalle, ja tunnen itseni Afrikan-konkariksi kun näen miten heitä hermostuttaa Port Elizabethin tummaihoisten suosimassa keskustassa. Viikon matkustelun jälkeen minun onkin jo ikävä tiistai-saunaa, lattarileffailtoja, pienen lähetystön kodikasta tunnelmaa, sunnuntain leppoisaa lettuaamiaista ja Abujan tiivistä expat-yhteisöä.

Kevään lopulla askit ja nootit ovat jo arkipäivää, ja kaupallis-taloudelliset työtehtäväni saavat seuraa minulle tutummasta aihepiiristä. Korjaan satelliitti-internetin, asennan Skypen lähetystön kannettavaan, opetan suurlähettilästä kuuntelemaan maailman kuulumiset kävelylenkeillä BBC:n podcasteista, haravoin lähetystön nettisivut ja puhun IT-tuen ympäri antamaan meille paikallisen verkkolevyn tiedostojen jakamista varten.

Innostun Stubbin Facebook- ja Twitter-puheista: mehän voisimme tavoittaa kaikki Nigeriassa olevat suomalaiset vaivattomasti Facebook-ryhmän avulla! Lauri voisi kirjoittaa blogia Nigerian liiketoimintamahdollisuuksista ja tarjota kaksisuuntaisen keskustelukanavan suomalaisyrityksille Länsi-Afrikassa. Miksi meillä ei ole netissä ajanvarausjärjestelmää viisumiasiakkaille, ja miksi konsuli tuhlaa kiireistä aikaansa matkustusilmoitusten hallitsemiseen kun se voisi olla automaattista?

Joskus sekavalta kokoelmalta tuntuneet poikkitieteelliset opintoni piirtyvät suurlähetystössä mielekkääksi kokonaisuudeksi. Kuka voi enää väittää, että todellisuutta voisi katsoa vain yhdestä näkökulmasta?

On kesäkuu ja tuntikirjanpitoni väittää, että ylityötunteja on pitämättä kolme viikkoa. Ei voi olla totta! Kuin tilauksesta saan kuitenkin jatkoajan Nigeriaan: YK:n paikallistoimisto kysyy, jäisinkö heille harjoittelijaksi vielä kesäksi. Tiedän anti corruption, cyber crime, anti-human trafficking ja smuggling of migrants -aiheista suunnilleen yhtä paljon kuin tiesin Nigerian taloudesta joulukuussa, mutta suurlähetystöharjoittelu on antanut minulle ymmärrystä kansainvälisistä instituutioista, varmuutta hypätä uusiin tehtäviin, ja ennen kaikkea herättänyt palavan kiinnostuksen oppia ymmärtämään maailmaa paremmin.

Olen hyvin kiitollinen Abujan suurlähetystön henkilökunnalle, Ulkoministeriölle ja CIMO:lle upean, antoisan ja opettavaisen harjoittelujakson mahdollistamisesta.

Life on the other side of the fence

There is an empty plot beside our compound. It’s fenced but our top floor apartment has a nice open view to it. The plot has nothing but a few basic constructions.

In January, when we moved in, we thought they operated a small kiosk. Once we tried to go and buy some drinks, but they wouldn’t sell. Later we understood that they sell local food, and it’s too local for them to accept us as their customers.

Now I’ve developed a habit of checking every morning when I leave for work, and every afternoon when coming back, what’s happening with our neighbours. It’s a good reminder of the other Nigeria.

Here’s some documentation of what the other Nigeria looks like.

A typical afternoon. Women are cooking and taking care of children, with chicken running around the plot.

Boys are playing with a rope while their father is cutting grass.

We thought this was a kiosk.

Laundry day! Doing homework while mom is cooking.

Washing moment

a night out

As I was requested: a Saturday in Abuja. This time as a photo journal!

afternoon
We hang around in the Millennium park with our new Nigerian friends, who I had met in the climate change meetup event. We talk a lot about Nigeria and the Nigerians’ reputation abroad. Here’s a message to the Europeans from these young Nigerians: come to see Nigeria for yourself, rather than just judging the whole country from the distance!

at Millennium park. I got credits for wearing an African dress.

early evening
We hop on a taxi for the 2nd Abuja suya festival. A huge field has been converted to an open-air restaurant, with small booths selling food and drinks. The popular Nigerian music is played in the background.

Some more friends join us

A Nigerian journalist insists on taking a picture of us, the only foreigners around, for his story on the event. I’m never really happy for being noticed because of being from abroad, but I guess it’s just impossible to blend in.

Posing for a journalist

around 22:00
Karl’s work friends had invited him for a Cameroonian party, and we decide to take our changes of crashing it. The event, advertised as a crazy party, turns out to be more of a peaceful dinner.

at the Cameroonian party

to Cameroon!

chilling out just outside the party venue

A Cameroonian wants to take a picture of us. Just before taking the picture below he wants to put his arm around Anna, and accidentally spills my drink. “You should not take drinks outside”, he tells me, turns around, and says nothing more to me. Was he in a bad mood (did not seem like, anyway we were at a party?), should we not have taken drinks outside (come on, this is Nigeria, why not?), or are men just never wrong in Cameroon (because it’s the women who are wrong)?

it's nice to meet you too

after midnight
We feel a need for a bit more exciting party, and head to a party by a friend from the US embassy. It is a chilled out party as well, but with a lot of people we know, so it is fun to catch up with them. The picture looks a bit uneventful, but this is how middle aged diplomats like to host their parties.

party by the pool

around 2:30
Time to go for the clubs!
We decide to split up: I’d go to see what was going on in our usual night club Eden with my new business men friends, and Anna to the Basement with an embassy crowd.

We drive to Eden in Asokoro, but to our suprise, the place is closed! As my new friends describe Basement as “an instant attack of your wannabe husbands”, we go to Soho instead.

around 4
When the party slows down in Basement, Anna and our Nigerian friend Akins join us!

with Akins & Anna

I really like the weekends in Abuja!

it’s Monday again

What’s my life like in Abuja? Here you go one Monday with me:

7.10
I wake up just before the alarm (I always wonder how accurate one’s internal clock can be!), take a shower, and have a slice of bread for breakfast.

7.30
Esther arrives. She’s our new maid who comes over 3 times a week, for about 25 euros per week. I ask her to do some laundry and prepare some food, besides the usual cleaning of the house.

7.40
Me&Anna leave for work. We stop the first taxi and offer 1,5e for the trip to the Embassy. After short negotiations the driver agrees to the price.

8.00
We arrive to the Embassy, and have a little chat with the guards and other staff. I check my email, and skim through the reports that have arrived since I left on Friday: a report from United Nations conference on Trade and Development, a ministry briefing on the political situation of Denmark, a conferece report on the dialogue between EU and Latin American countries on climate change, and meeting notes of a meeting with a high level representative from the Egyptian government. Then I read the news summaries of what’s happening in Nigeria and Africa.

9.30
I write an article to the Embassy’s web page. We send one of the drivers to exchange some euros.

10.00
I start working on an internal lessons learned -report of the trade delegation that we had here in March. I wrote a draft of the report a few weeks ago, and it has been now commented by the Ministry staff in Helsinki, as well as the Ambassador and the Deputy Head of Mission here in Abuja. Some  of their comments are contradictory, so it’s a bit of a challenge to put it all in one document.

12.30
Mia, who works for the Norwegian embassy, comes over for a lunch break. I heat the food Esther did for me last week: rice and vegetables with a spicy Nigerian sauce, delicious!

14.30
The tailor comes by to show the two dresses, skirt and a top I had asked him to do with the beautiful African fabrics. I get another lesson of the Afican easy-going mentality: the top is black instead of being white, and the dress has an extra part, but one of the dresses is just brilliant, so I’m happy. Anyways, how can you complain when the four pieces were less than 50 euros together?

16.15
The work day is over. We pay the rent for our apartment. The biggest note in Nigeria is one thousand nairas, equal to five euros, but this time I only got notes of 200 nairas from the bank. This means that I pay my rent with a 15cm pile of notes. Counting them takes a good while. After, we catch a taxi back home.

17.00
We arrive home and let Esther leave. I eat some salad and omelette that she prepared for me.

17.40
Me&Anna hop on a taxi to go to the Silverbird shopping mall: The European film festival is taking place and the Germans are showing Goodbye Lenin. The movie is beautiful and touching. A few of our Nigerian friends join us for the movie, and drop me off at home afterwards.

21.00
Fabrice, a French guy working at UNDP, arrives home. We’re subletting him the extra room we have, and we chat about the global economic crises, how society enables economic growth, and the great inequality between different countries. Our evening hang around time has got a lot more sophisticated with him.

23.00
I plan to try out running with the sunrise and with the more bearable 25 degrees of the morning, and go to sleep early.