N is for Nigeria

 

Nigeria's flag is green for its agriculture and white for peace.

I’d long wanted to do VSO. (Voluntary Service Overseas)   Sometime in my early teens I heard about it and from then on it was something I dreamed of.

In the early days VSO was mostly for teenaged boys taking a gap year before university but by the early seventies the old “cadet” VSO was giving way to “graduate” VSO when young graduates and professionals were offering skills which were needed and, in return, the volunteers got a unique experience. 

And mine was certainly unique.  The Nigerian Civil War had been fought in southeastern Nigeria between July 1967 and January 1970. By the time my service started in September 1973 the immediate reconstruction had been done.  Hospitals and schools had been rebuilt, roads patched up and the starvation of the people was over although there were still signs of disability and malnutrition as a result of the war. 

A Nigerian School Library 1974

I was a qualified librarian and was assigned to the South East State School Library Service.  School libraries had been looted but there was a determination to get things going again.  We ran a model library so teachers could come in and see our books and decide what to order for their schools.  We trained library assistants to run the school libraries.  We visited schools and advised them.  In my first year after leaving Library School, I got wider experience than many librarians get in a whole career. 

I soon joined in!

And I had fun!  I mixed with people from Nigeria, Canada, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Russia and many other countries.  We worked hard all week and partied all weekend.  We lived alongside Nigerians and were enriched by their culture.  Our beliefs and attitudes were challenged. 

For me, sadly my tour ended abruptly when I was in a motor cycle crash and needed medical repatriation.  I still reckon VSO was one of the best things I have ever done