October, 7th
Lagos, Nigeria – Ibadan, Nigeria
Ready to drive to our main destination, we are meeting Professor Dr. Igboanusi a friend and colleague of our professor. First, he shows us the University of Lagos, where we have lunch together and then we head on to the University of Ibadan, where he works and lives.
Traffic still defines our schedule. A distance of 120 km like the one from Lagos to Ibadan consumes an incredible amount of time. Still, the impressions are magnificent. What you see along the road can hardly be described. Patches of wild beautiful jungle followed by market stalls followed by disabled people begging for money followed by hundreds of meters of dump. All these images leave you with a bittersweet taste in your mouth and you start to question aspects of your own life when confronted with this amount of poverty and pollution that co-exist with all these amazing experiences we have made so far…
The university campus is like a small city within the city which is surrounded by a wall and even has its own police. You can find book shops, mini markets, several churches, bars and restaurants here and most of the university staff live here. We spent the evening in one of the bars nearby. Ironically, the bar was called “Spices” - as if one needs more spice around here! The national team of Nigeria won a match against Zimbabwe (Zambia) earlier that day, and the dwellers of the campus were celebrating and enjoying themselves on a Saturday night. We had a few short conversation with them, and were especially glad to be approached by a girl from a German faculty of the university.
Nigerian tastes don’t cease to surprise - one of the favorite drinks is Guinness mixed with sweetened yogurt! Yet to try…
Text: Sandra Hesse, Anna Korneva und Valerie Pobloth
Online gestellt: Alina Grünky
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