The next day, we were up early as we wanted to do some grocery shopping before going to Dakar. Everyone was looking forward to seeing the capital city, at last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the supermarket (Carrefour), we put tomatoes, peppers, onions, beef, chicken, okro (okra?), vegetable oil, salad leaves and other ingredients into our shopping cart. I looked for jute (ewedu) but was unable to find any.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As soon as we got back to the Airbnb, I took over the kitchen. We all have our likes and dislikes, our strengths and weaknesses. I love cooking (food o), especially traditional Nigerian dishes. However, I don\u2019t like baking. I enjoy working in the kitchen, washing dishes and cleaning. But I struggle with making my bed and arranging clothes in my wardrobe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a meal of sorghum swallow with fresh okro soup mixed with chicken stew, we were ready to set off. We had arranged for a taxi that was big enough to carry all six of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I settled myself in the seat directly behind the driver and connected my iPhone via Bluetooth to the vehicle\u2019s speakers. Gradually, the houses, shops and cafes of Saly gave way to the countryside. Baobab trees were visible all over the landscape, reminiscent of the scenery in many parts of northern Nigeria. I was happy to see that. Kuka is made from the dry leaves of the baobab tree. So that meant, I assumed, that I could get the kuka I\u2019d need to make miyan kuka, a soup that also goes very well with sorghum swallow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The road to Dakar was well-marked and the traffic orderly, with all the vehicles keeping to their respective lanes. Any drivers that needed to change lanes would first signal before making their move. As there was no need for our driver to swerve here and there in order to dodge potholes, the ride was smooth, and we were all feeling happy and at ease as we listened to songs from Wizkid\u2019s album, Made in Lagos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But then suddenly, about an hour into the drive, we heard a series of loud bangs. The van had broken down. The driver slowed down and parked at the side of the road. We were in the middle of nowhere and immediately thoughts of kidnappers and armed robbers flooded my mind. My companions and I looked at each other with fear in our eyes. When I told the driver that we were afraid of bandits coming out of the bushes and attacking us, he laughed and said that such things did not happen in Senegal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The driver got out of the car, went round and opened the bonnet. We were still nervous as he started tinkering with the engine. About ten minutes later, seemingly out of nowhere, a policeman on a motorbike pulled up beside us. He was smartly dressed, his uniform clean. As he dismounted, I started getting apprehensive. Was he about to extort us? To ask us \u2018wetin we carry\u2019? To my relief, there was no sign of aggression or hostility on his part. He said something to the driver and then he began to speak on his radio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few minutes later, a mechanic, well-equipped with the tools of his trade, arrived. He did his job, our driver paid him, and soon we were on our way again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Me: What a coincidence that a policeman and a mechanic happened to be nearby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Driver: It\u2019s not a coincidence. There are cameras all along the highway. The people at the control room saw that we were in trouble and sent the policeman to check up on us. The policeman called the mechanic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Me: Something like this can never happen in Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Driver: Ah bon?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Me: Never. And any policeman that comes would want to exploit the situation, anyway. And he\u2019d most likely be stinking of alcohol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Okay, Kemi Badenoch, that\u2019s enough!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That came from Naija Defender. This woman would defend Nigeria at all costs. She\u2019d make excuses all the time. It\u2019s strange, really, considering that she started her career as a prosecutor, not a defender. I don\u2019t know if she\u2019s overly patriotic, unreasonably argumentative or just plain delusional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Me, I love Nigeria with all my heart. But I\u2019m a realist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To be continued\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The next day, we were up early as we wanted to do some grocery shopping before going to Dakar. Everyone was looking forward to seeing the capital city, at last. At the supermarket (Carrefour), we put tomatoes, peppers, onions, beef, chicken, okro (okra?), vegetable oil, salad leaves and other ingredients into our shopping cart. I looked for jute (ewedu) but was unable to find any. As soon as we got back to the Airbnb, I took over the kitchen. We all have our likes and dislikes, our strengths and weaknesses. I love cooking (food o), especially traditional Nigerian dishes. However, I don\u2019t like baking. I enjoy working in the kitchen, washing dishes and cleaning. But I struggle with making my bed and arranging clothes in my wardrobe. After a meal of sorghum swallow with fresh okro soup mixed with chicken stew, we were ready to set off. We had arranged for a taxi that was big enough to carry all six of us. I settled myself in the seat directly behind the driver and connected my iPhone via Bluetooth to the vehicle\u2019s speakers. Gradually, the houses, shops and cafes of Saly gave way to the countryside. Baobab trees were visible …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9,10,11,12,26,13,14,16],"coauthors":[17],"class_list":["post-5071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mirth-and-miles","tag-choices","tag-headline","tag-highlight","tag-popular","tag-recent-stories","tag-top","tag-trendy","tag-whats-new"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hadizaelrufaiblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hadizaelrufaiblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hadizaelrufaiblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hadizaelrufaiblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hadizaelrufaiblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5071"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hadizaelrufaiblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5072,"href":"https:\/\/hadizaelrufaiblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5071\/revisions\/5072"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hadizaelrufaiblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hadizaelrufaiblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hadizaelrufaiblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hadizaelrufaiblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5071"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hadizaelrufaiblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}