Ruban Workshop Begins.

After a full day of travel on Tuesday, we began our workshop on Wednesday.

I would like to start by describing our travel from Lagos to Ebenebe. Here's the plan: leave the hotel at 10am, fly from Lagos to Benin City at 11:40, drive for 2 hours to Anam, begin orientation. Sounds like a full day, but nothing too strenuous. I don't ask a lot of questions and I am up for anything, which is lucky. After breakfast at the hotel, we all load in the car and leave the hotel by 10:30am. Wondering if we are going to be late for check-in, we drive all of 100 yards to the airport. Realizing that we could have walked this far, we check in for our flight without showing any IDs. I wish I had taken a photo of the situation because well, it was unique. I have some photos from the arrival in Benin City (courtesy of Isabel). Anyhow, we make it through security with full water bottles. We were asked to take a drink from our bottles to make sure that it wasn't acid or something dangerous and then we proceeded to the boarding area. I think TSA could take a clue and follow this strategy instead of throwing out useful things all the time and banning water.

Inside the terminal, there were kiosks selling sundry goods from books to watches to edibles. Interestingly, the books mostly focused on bettering yourself in business, like focusing on management strategies or being a better consultant, or self-help/religious topics. I think I saw a medical dictionary too. We waited and our flight was delayed 30 minutes. Then 45 more minutes. When I asked our kind guardian and shepard Emmanuel if they gave a reason for the delays, he looked at me and laughed saying, "It is delayed because they are Nigerian!" I should point out, he is Nigerian and lives in Lagos. We eventually boarded the 40 minute flight and were greeted in Benin City by cars armed with police officers to take us to Ebenebe. The police officers are our security. They carry large personalized guns and scan the streets and onlookers for possible perceived threats. I feel extremely safe, but like a fish in a fish bowl.

Everyone I have encountered thus far is extremely nice and hospitable. It is hard for me to imagine anything going wrong. And at the same time, we drive for almost four hours and there are innumerable checkpoints where police stop cars and want money from vehicles that don't have security. So better safe than sorry. We stop at a market to pick up some mosquito nets and while a couple of people venture off, all of the new arrivals (the seven interns) stay in the van. We quickly become a spectacle. White people in a car in a town that may never have had a caucasian visitor. Kids run and tell other kids until there is a swarm of kids looking and watching. It is a little like we have paparazzi sans cameras. Thus the feeling of being in a fishbowl.

Our final destination is Ebenebe in the Anam region of Anambra state. We made it to our final destination after dark, perhaps around eight at night. This is one of the last days the road will be passable by car. Soon the rains will start and will flood the road making the river the only way to access the area. Already the road is rough and the vestiges of inadequately funded state road make themselves apparent as we pass from smooth developed road to mudholes that could swallow a car.

A feast awaited us upon arrival: greens, yam, casava, plantain, and fresh fruit for desert. We were exhausted and hungry after our day of travel and gratefully inhaled the deliciousness prepared for us. After dinner, we had brief introductions and watched an inspiring video from Dr and Mrs Chife welcoming us to the project. Then after settling into our rooms (which I may describe more later), we went to sleep.

The next day, the Rurban Workshop began.

When someone tells you that they are designing a new city that can serve as a model for African development, you know that it is going to be a big project. You assume that the project has immense potential to make a difference in the world and the lives of the individuals who will live there. But you don't really know how large the project is until you grapple with the master plan and the topics and concerns that have been discussed for years leading up to this moment in time. This project is especially wide in scope because it is so unique in evolution. The people in Ebenebe are building this city from the ground up, with every factor being weighed by the community elders. Our first day of orientation was all about understanding the Master Plan and the evolution of this project. After one day, I have a lot yet to understand.