what to bring

This is a list of some of the stuff i have found useful, someone may find this of use in the unfortunate circumstance they find themselves heading to nigeria for VSO and have taken to reading my blog for inspiration. Also i suppose it highlights the daily issues of living here.

This is based on being placed in a city and also includes some things I wouldn’t bring and discussion on other aspects of life here. I am a bit techy so this may be reflected in some of the things I suggest.

The main challenges (outside work) are lack of power, water and things to do in the evening. Power can be managed through excessive battery purchase, water through really really big buckets and entertainment through books, dvd’s, scrabble, internet and excessive battery use.

Wind up Lanterns - Some of these work really well and some are complete rubbish, if possible try and get wind up lights which also charge from the mains as you can leave them to charge over night and can only resort to winding after a couple of days without power.

Rechargeable batteries - These are useful to go in head torches etc, bring lots along with a really bright led torch, some come with magnets on the back so they can be put strategically on doors/fridges etc

Solar chargers (Don’t bring)- I can see how these could be useful if you have your own compound. I brought a phone charger, which i’ve not used enough to justify the expense. The main problem is that as they take a while to charge during which you have to leave your shiney charger out in the open, which is just inviting it to be borrowed.

If you have a bit more cash or a birthday present/Christmas to use up consider a power gorilla. Its basically a giant external battery which can charge your phone and laptop (depending on size it gives 2-5 hours of extra laptop use) which can be quite useful for playing movies/music in the dark, powerless nights.

External hard drive and flash drives (lots). The hard drive is useful to back up all your photos etc and for borrowing movies from other volunteers. Make sure it runs off the usb power (i.e. doesn’t need to be plugged into the mains). Flash drives are super useful as emailing is slow, if possible get a flash which has the option to be locked, this means the drive is turned to read only and the computer you put it in cant load viruses onto it, very useful for getting things printed etc. Flash drives also make good presents.

Internet access is possible via numerous mobile networks, although only MTN currently supports ‘broadband’ which allows skyping (and occasionally video skyping) which is very handy and gives you something to do in the evening. If you have a smartphone which can be “tethered” bring it if you are planning to get internet access, as it will save you having to buy a dongle here (also if you have an unlocked dongle you could bring that too).

The internet is costly, at £32 a month for 24h access, so you might want to decide before you come to bring extra cash to cover this if you think you will need this. It is now possible to buy one day plans, which will cover you if you want to simply to skype once a week/month.
Check here to see the MTN mobile broadband coverage in Nigeria
http://www.mtnonline.com/index.php/broadbandaccess.html

There are internet cafes, access is normally slow (outside Abuja) and expensive but can be used to pick up emails etc (ideally not from the same email account to which your bank is registered, but I haven’t heard of anyone actually having their login details stolen).

If you don’t have a camera and are considering purchasing one, it would be a good idea to consider ones which are dustproof or better fully waterproof. Most of the volunteers in my group’s camera’s broke within the first 3 months, we think because of dust.

Amazon kindle (3G version) - If you live in the MTN coverage area (see above) and bring no other bit of technology this should be it. Apart from the endless supply of books, it gives FREE internet access, with which you can check your emails/facebook/news etc, the battery lasts for about a month of reading and about a week if your using the internet a lot. It is amazing and I love it.

Surge protectors have been suggested, we used these religiously until a transformer problem gave us about 400V, which happily fried our laptop chargers which were plugged in through surge protectors. They may be of some use, but they are not infallible

Dark coloured clothes - there are no (or few) washing machines in Nigeria, so its hand washing only, dark hides the evidence of the dirt which didn’t come out in the wash.

For boys a few shirts are useful if your work is formal or you need to smarten up occasionally.

Lightweight raincoats are useful in rainy season (pac-a-mac etc) as they can be carried in your helmet bag (which if you live outside Abuja you will carry everywhere with you).

Cheese - Cheese is either difficult or too expensive to buy here. If you think you will miss your cheese hit we have found that the supermarket pre-grated parmesan doesn’t melt, and lasts long enough to be worthwhile. Also if you have space, bring some cheese for the in country volunteers, they will love you forever for it.