Location, location, location.

We have been here for almost a week which is hard to believe.

Before arriving, I was under the impression that we would be staying in thatched huts on the site. As with most things construction, there were delays. The huts and the staff quarters are not finished. So instead we are bunking in the Chife's house. It is really more of a mansion, a Trasarco McMansion, and we are really more like squatters. The house is brand new, almost completely finished, with floors and fixtures from Ikea and romanesque columns everywhere, and absolutely huge. Someone said the other day, "Nigeria is like Texas. They like everything to be bigger."

It is common in Nigeria that when someone from a community makes it big, becoming a Big Man, they build a large house in their village. Right now this white semi-Mediterranean style house stands out amongst the waddle-and-daub huts that dapple the countryside. Dr Chife grew up near here and his community raised money to send him to college. In addition to the New City Project, he has created programs, such as scholarship programs, that help to repay their support by reinvigorating the future of Anam. He models the principles that many aspire towards: success, generosity, vision. I look forward to hopefully meeting him this summer.

Anyhow, as far as where we are...Ebenebe is one of the eight Anam Communities located in Anambra State near the Ezichi and Niger rivers. It is primarily a farming settlement and some people live here permanently, while others just live here when they are farming. The landscape can be described as a forest-mosaic. What this means really is that it is part jungle, part forest, part farmland, part flood plane.

I share a sleeping room with two other interns, one from Spain and the other from Oregon. We all have foam mattresses and that are draped in mosquito netting each night to protect us from the mosquitos and their potential diseases. The room is part of Dr Chife's future office for the times when he is here. My suitcase is my dresser and I am grateful to be able to hang my toiletry organizer. We take bucket showers because although there is indoor plumbing, the electricity goes off for about six hours per day. The state put up power lines in the area years ago, but there is no power coursing through the wires. Instead, everything is run by generator.

Our office is the future living room and we have three large tables with various models of computers available for usage. Everything is open and studio-esque. The ten-week program has been reframed as a workshop, which emphasizes the nature of our work and the collaboration of everyone here because certainly everyone here has a lot of insight and knowledge to share. There are seven other interns total, six of whom are here. Five of us are American, one spaniard, one ghanian. I am really grateful to be a part of such a visionary and educated group.

All in all, it is a pretty good set up. We sleep, work, and eat in the house. We are close to the river and it is easy to explore the site. Things are off to a good start.