It’s a bittersweet moment now. If I said that I wasn’t at all emotional, I would be lying.

The team has officially disbanded and have gone towards their onwards journeys. It’s sweet because I know many people are ready to begin their post-CSC experiences. For some that will be going back home to see family and good friends. For others, the adventures continue around Africa and around the world for a couple of weeks more.

It’s bitter because we started out as colleagues, but ended up as friends. And it is always hard to say good to those you care for.

I had the incredible fortune and honour to work with Leslie, Kelsen, Bouke, Cinthia, Minh-Hai, Bob, Sundar, Mithilesh, Christina, Bianka, Peter, Laura (hereafter known as My Little Sister), Bhuvana, and Mariana. Our bond was immediate from the day we all first met on location at the Sheraton Hotel in Lagos. Laughing and getting to know each other, if you hadn’t know about us and were walking past, it would have seemed to the casual observer that we were friends for a long time.

In our four weeks together we supported each other, learned from each other, tested each other, grew frustrated with each other, had our assumptions challenged by each other, grew as people from engaging with each other, and somewhere in between the first meal we shared together and the last team toast –  became friends with each other. This group has my greatest admiration and deepest respect. It’s hard to imagine that we won’t keep in touch. But I will miss having daily access to their thoughtful insights, their passion for the client and to make IBM proud, their wisdom and balanced judgement, their infectious willingness to go the extra mile and serve, and just plain fun. But I also know I carry a part of each of them with me.

I think I would close this entry with a group picture, a quote from Albert Camus, and a sense of feeling blessed and grateful for having 14 new colleagues friends to walk besides me in my life’s journey.

“Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead.

Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow.

Just walk beside me and be my friend.”

May you always be blessed, watched over, and looked after. May you know that my tears are not because our time together is over, but are tears of gratitude for the opportunity to be a part of my life. And finally, may you know that this is not goodbye; rather it is take care until we meet again.

<3

So after our final presentations, we were graciously invited by Mr. Governor to a dinner to celebrate the end of the assignment and as a way to say thanks to the CSC Nigeria 6 Team for their work. The night was filled with a sense of celebration, notes of appreciation from all involved, and a fantastic dance performance by the Ekiti State Troupe. The evening ended with commerative gifts from Ekiti State and some very nice words relayed to us from Mr Governor.

Pictures from the fantastic night!

So today the team took the long awaited trip to Osogbo in order to visit the sacred forest. It was the one thing that we had wanted to see and it was fantastic that we were able to finally see the forest and learn about it’s history and cultural significance. It was named a UNESCO World Heritage site. We were also equally fortunate to get a personal tour with by the Managing Director of the site.

After our visit to Osogbo we saw a dance troop perform traditional African dancing which was complete with acrobatics. They were a pretty interesting bunch to see dancing!

We also paid a visit to the Nike Gallery (not associated with the sports clothing company, but it is the name of a famous Nigerian artist) and her home and workshop, but more on that later.

After a great volunteer experience on Saturday, on Sunday we took a visit further into Ekiti State to visit Ero Dam in Ikun-Ekiti (to understand where the water comes from), and paid courtesy visits to the Onikun of Ikun, the Onigogo of Igogo, and the Oore of Mobaland.

The visit to the dam was really interesting. On the drive out to the dam as well as at the location itself, you’re reminded constantly of the natural beauty of Ekiti State and that even though it is land-locked, it has so much going for it in terms of natural resources that with the proper development could be used for renewable energy as well as some other things such as crop production, tourism, and economic development. Since I was lucky enough to share a car ride with the Permanent Secretary whose portfolio includes these areas, I was able to share some of my views and we had a really great conversation about opportunity and development.

The visit to the Kings was equally exciting. We paid a courtesy visit to the Onikun of Ikun (the dam is located in his village), and then we paid a visit to the Onigogo of Igogo (who is also American) and His Majesty hosted a lunch with traditional Nigerian food and palm wine for us at the community centre. Finally, on the way back to Ado, we paid a courtesy visit to Oore of Mobaland, who could be considered to be the “King of Kings.” In each of the cases we were grateful for their hospitality and making us feel at home.

At this point it would probably be helpful to explain the concept of Kings in Nigeria (at least as I understand it). In every town there is a King. In a sense we would consider the King to be something like a Mayor. However, they have no political powers and are not elected by the people. Like other royalty they inherit their position by birth or succession. But even without political authority, they carry strong moral authority amongst the people of the land that they have responsibility for. Thus they have pretty strong influence in their communities and therefore have a form of soft power. They are custodians of history and keepers of tradition. Where they live are considered to be palaces (however extravagant or modest they are). Furthermore, there levels of Kings. In addition to Kings of villages, there are also Regional/State Kings as well.

After our final royal visit we made our way back to the hotel for a quiet night – which was sorely needed after having such an active Saturday and Sunday.

It dawns on our now that in our assignment there are fewer days ahead than there are behind. One some level I am excited because my next stop is Kilimanjaro with Christina. On the other hand, Ekiti State has really grown on me. 🙂

(sorry for the sideways pictures..I’ll fix them before they go up on my Fotki website I promise!)