Friday April 1st

This was a driving day. We left the house at 6:00 a.m. to go to Jos, however we did make one brief stop to get introduced to aq friend of Bitrus and Monica who was seeking election to the House of Representatives. We were soon on the road but had gone less than 100 km when the truck died. We were in the middle of the road. Bitrus hiked to the village in the south (only a short distance) and found several men who accompanied him back to the truck. It was obvious to us that they were not skilled mechanics. Bitrus then flagged a motorcycle and travelled north about 30 minutes to find a mechanic who hopped on the bike and came back to the location of the truck still sitting in the middle of the road. The roads are so bad that everybody just drives wherever they can find a path, regardless of which side of the road one should be on. We thought this man was a skilled mechanic and he was an answer to prayer once again. He gathered a small group of assistants. Nigerian people are very kind and willing to help those in need. He did many things over the course of 6 hours (remove gas tank, empty fuel into jerry cans, clean the filter and put everything back). His only tools were simple wrenches and screw drivers carried in a small box about half the size of a loaf of bread. While he was working on our vehicle another car with a family (Mom, Dad and 6 kids) pulled to our location. At this point in time we had pushed the truck to the shade of a large tree. Our mechanic never left our vehicle but one of his helpers kindly spent about an hour helping this other family. A testament of their willingness to help others. The owner of the property where we were located brough out a wooden bench for us to sit on while we waited. After all of the parts were put back together we were ready to be "on the road again" but alas that was not to be. The battery was now dead. What to do? The mechanic flagged down a passing truck loaded with bags of grain and carrying 7 men. He explained the situation and they allowed him to take out their battery, install it in our truck, start our truck and return their battery to their vehicle..........would this happen in Canada ?????...........another example of the kindness of these people. Unfortunately when the battery was placed back in the grain carrying truck it would not start. The vehicles here are all very very old. Anyway, with some manouvering the truck did go and these men were on their way. We were at this road side from 8:00 am until 2:00 pm. As we continued we knew we would not get back to Jos before dark.
Shirley had a fall while searching for a suitable outdoor washroom but we were thankful she did not get a concussion on her head and only has a few scrapes and sore spots. She fell backwards trying to descend a cement block wall.
continued....................