CAMEL HUMPS AND CRIMINAL THUMPS

As we serve in the northern Nigerian context, we experience “mountaintop” moments, “the valley of the shadow of death”, and everything in between. Traveling within northern Nigeria is always an adventure as Dave Goolsby, Randall McAdams, and I witnessed on Saturday, February 23, 2008. We began our approximately 6 hour journey at 6:30AM from Maiduguri hoping to reach Kano at midday. Nigerian highways are a far cry from Interstate 40 with clearly marked exits, self-service filling stations, and drive-through restaurants. In fact, the Nigerian driver has to always be aware of: 1) uneven road conditions; 2) potholes; 3) slow vehicles traveling less than 30mph; 4) police checkpoints; 5) market days at roadside villages creating long traffic jams.

The long sojourn from Maiduguri to Kano has none of the scenic beauty of the Smokies, Rockies, or the mighty Mississippi. It is purely a redundant scene of sand, cows, scrub-brush, goats, and thatched villages. The only unique tree is the rugged baobab (“Kuka” in Hausa) that legend asserts were demons thrown from heaven landing upside down. As we stop to refuel, we are normally met by a line of vehicles forcing us to wait patiently to fill our tank. Therefore, the eyes of travelers are always gazing through the scrub-brush to find any unique image.

Fortunately, Dave, Randall, and I found such an “eye-popping” portrait in Bulkachuwa, Bauchi State as we witnessed a herd of camels. This caravan was beginning a 7 day journey from northern Nigeria into Niger at their village of origin. These Niger indigenes were extremely friendly communicating with me in Hausa. They even allowed Randall to ride a camel which led to him buying a local ax off of their leader. This was such an exotic experience for a couple of Westerners who have never been able to encounter a camel caravan in the open range.
From this “peak”, we entered Kano in the early afternoon sharing a nice lunch together. What occurred after this was absolutely unpredictable but entirely sensible to one having traveled Nigeria’s urban thoroughfares.

Randall was sitting in the back passenger side of my vehicle with his camera lightly resting on his right knee. As we were waiting at a major intersection, we shockingly heard someone screaming, “WHY DO YOU WANT TO SNAP ME?” From then, a crippled young man on a rectangular skateboard pulled himself through Randall’s window to swipe the camera. In the process, not only did he smash the camera but whacked Randall’s elbow and face. Thankfully, Randall understood how to handle himself in a third-world context and refused to be baited into a retaliatory scene. As the street hawkers gathered around the paraplegic, they attempted to calm him but he successfully dented my vehicle with one last swipe as we drove away.


In the second chapter of the second letter to Corinth, our Master reminds us to be aware of our adversary’s schemes. We are grateful to the Most Merciful for preparing Randall to handle himself with such grace in this ugly scene. This event merely reminds us of the darkness that prevails over northern Nigeria’s largest city (7 million). Our prayer is that the Holy One will prime us for attacks from the evil one that are yet to come. The light of the Most Compassionate shines brightest in the darkest corners.