After umpteen pictures (always a delight!) outside, we departed for the hotel, had supper, and headed for our rooms. Early day tomorrow so we try to rest, though room temp is still high!
Sunday, March 17
Breakfast at 7:30 because flight to Uyo delayed to the afternoon. Shifted stuff around in ministry bags to balance those checked ministry bags for slightly lower weight limit/bag to avoid fee, making sure the blocks of Naira are distributed among four carry-ons, 750,000 Nigerian Niara (less than $500.00 USD) is about 10” wide x 3” deep x 8” high with the bills on end, wrapped in a small plastic bag, weighs about 5 pounds. Of the four people carrying blocks of stacked cash, the two Dons were the only ones to have their bags inspected by the airport-front-door scanner/Officer, who knew what the scanner showed, and then confirmed it. Don S. was first, he explained that we provide Humanitarian Aid to Inmates in Prisons through the Prison Chaplain, as PFC, to which the Officer expressed the usual surprise and eventually some understanding of that as a good thing. Chase’s bag was inspected and confirmed, and then the Officer didn’t ask any questions, after he checked Don’s face and it was not the face of a drug runner (?). Our best joke in some of the conferences and prison visits: “can you tell who the visiting missions team is?” The audiences all seem to enjoy it, and we were very eager and able to serve, such that all of us enjoyed each other’s “brother-and sisterhood”. The flight from Abuja to Akwa Ibom Airport in Port Harcourt was very quick, less than 45 minutes, but the flight crew had time to distribute a “snack bag” of Malt drink and bags of both fried plantain chips and boiled plantain chips, (you guessed correctly, similar texture, same taste) and then (first time ever) supervise an orderly
exit from a flight, even collecting the trash. The Ibom Airways flight crew would open the baggage compartments and step backwards, standing in the aisle at the back of the opened compartments, blocking people exiting from the rear until the seat rows in front of him/her were free. We had to clear out of the Airport quickly, as the bags were released, to get to Ikot Abasi Prison. Ron’s notes on the drive are: “driving in Nigeria is a cross between interesting, terrifying and wondering why I don’t have my seat belt on”; Chase suggests that larger bodies in the front seat will keep us in the car upon impact, sort of like air bags. After today, Pastor Edem (the
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