Last Day in Abuja; United States Embassy, Business Advisory Member, Jibi School and Return to US

Thursday, July 31

If you have been checking in with us you know from our previous post that we are now home, ...safe and sound and filled with memories of our amazing journey overflowing with adventures, surprises, new learning opportunities, frustrations, a few “lows” (very few!) but many, many “highs”.

We promised to fill you in on our jam packed last day in Abuja so here goes, it’s time to play catch-up.

We began the day by walking to the U.S. Embassy for a 9:00am meeting. Walking was its own adventure because we had to cross a VERY busy highway and in Nigeria, pedestrians do not have the right of way!!!

When we arrived at the embassy, we had to go through two separate sets of security screenings and basically were only permitted to take in paper and pencil. When we finally entered the embassy, we met Major Price. Major Price is one of the people that Mrs. Jones had been communicating with about our trip to Abuja and he set up our meeting with the embassy staff. When we chatted with him we discovered that he is a middle school science and math teacher at a middle school outside of Sacramento. No wonder he was so very knowledgeable, helpful and reassuring about our decision to come to Nigeria to participate in the SAGE World Cup event.

During our visit we met with the Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) Ms. Lisa Piascik, the Counselor for Public Affairs Ms. Atim George and Information Specialist Sani Mohammed.

If you go to the link below, it will take you to the newsletter for the United States Diplomatic Mission to Nigeria. The top article and photograph is about our visit to the embassy. How wonderful to find us featured so prominently! The text of the article is copied below but if you go to the link you can also see the photograph since we were not permitted to take cameras inside.

http://nigeria.usembassy.gov/

SAGE Students Visit U.S. Mission Nigeria, Observe Foreign Policy at WorkAfter participating in this year’s Students for the Advancement for Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE) competition, the team from Santa Monica- who represented the United States made a special visit to the U.S. Embassy in order to experience the work of their government abroad. The seven students and their four adult supervisors keenly entered the Embassy gates, so as to walk on American soil in a foreign country. Meeting in the Rosa Parks Education and Information Center, the high school team discussed U.S./Nigeria bilateral relations with the Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) Ms. Lisa Piascik, Counselor for Public Affairs Ms. Atim George and Information Specialist Sani Mohammed.
Ms. George opened the event by sharing an African folktale reminding the SAGE delegation not to take short cuts, another important tool for the students to use as they develop their practice as entrepreneurs. Next, Sani Mohammed provided a brief history of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. To honor the visiting US delegation, DCM Lisa Piascik listened as the team explained their experiences and successes. She commended the delegation as admirable Citizen Ambassadors for the United States. Excerpt from the newsletter for the United States Diplomatic Mission to Nigeria.

Before leaving the embassy, Major Price got approval for us to have a photograph taken outside the embassy. The conditions for taking the photograph were that it had to be taken outside the first set of security walls, only an embassy aide who was accompanying us could take one picture and that Major Price had to look at it to be sure none of the embassy buildings appeared in the photo. Major Price gave us all lapel pins that have both the Nigerian and U.S. flags on the pin. The photo is above and you can see Major Price on the far left.

We walked back to the hotel and met Amaka Udojele, the SAGE team advisor for the Government Secondary School, Jibi-Abuja, who had arranged for us to join her SAGE team students and her school principal, Mrs. B.K. Amuga at the business of an active member of her Business Advisory Board (BAB). He runs a large printing facility (REGENT Printing and Publishing LTD) and has been very active working with her school’s SAGE team. His company also printed their team's annual reports. At his printing business we were joined by the SAGE team from Amaka’s school and by her principal school administrator. We started by meeting in his office and he shared how he had started his business from one very small printing press and how it has grown over the years. We then all toured his facility including the graphic design center (they use the same software as us; PhotoShop, InDesign, QuarkXPress, etc.) While we were touring the actual print shop, we discovered that one of the publications being printed had an article on Barack Obama. Back in Abuja, we had observed signs and posters advertising an event August 4th in honor of Obama's birthday.

After our visit and tour, both schools loaded back into their respective buses and headed out to the village school where Amaka teaches and coaches the SAGE team.

When we arrived at Jibi Secondary School we met the Vice Principal of Administration, Mrs. T. Ogbonna and the Vice Principal of Academics, Mr. Sule Mohammed Alhaji. The school is on a six-week holiday but the students and staff had come back for the day just to meet with us. Jibi Government School is a co-ed school. During the school year, students wear school uniforms so many of the students who came to meet us had their school uniforms on. The school colors for Jibi School are pink and white for both male and female students.

We took a group photo outside the administration building and then the students took us on a tour of the principal’s office, the school’s computer lab, science lab and woodshop. We discovered that classroom signs in Nigeria look just like signs in our classrooms at Samohi. The school presented us with a wooden bowl that contained bracelets and necklaces as a gift for each of us.

We then went back to the Principal’s office to spend time talking together to brainstorm ways the two teams could work together on social and global entrepreneurial projects. We came up with a number of ideas for consideration but will need to continue to work collaboratively to research and work out the viability and practicality of our intitial ideas.

Then it was time to say good-bye to our new team partners and return to the hotel to pick up our luggage and leave for the airport. Just like in Los Angeles, 5:00pm is major rush hour traffic and we wanted to be sure to be at the airport with time to spare since we knew the KLM flight was overbooked. The Abuja airport is not exactly an exciting bustling airport when you have to wait several hours for your flight to be called. Absolutely no cameras or photos are allowed in the airport but if you can picture in your mind, gray, gray, and more gray with institutionally bare, sparse furnishings (mostly gray), you won’t need a photograph.

When we passed through the Amsterdam airport the first time on our way to Nigeria from the U.S. we simply exited the plane and went directly to our next gate. When we arrived back in Amsterdam from Nigeria, we were met with passport control immediately as we emerged from the plane's exit passageway. Personnel seemed to be vigorously grilling many of the passengers but fortunately we were allowed to continue on with only minimal questioning which was good for us because we were on a mission to find chocolate before our next flight!!! Also, we stopped to sing Happy Birthday to Ms. Kemp since it was July 29th in Amsterdam even though it was still July 28th in the U.S. She had a birthday that lasted many more than 24 hours.

After shopping and filling up on chocolate we boarded our flight for Detroit. Though we weren’t looking forward to another long flight, we were definitely all looking forward to touching down in the United States.

After we went through customs in Detroit and re-checked our luggage, we still had two hours before our next flight. Our terminal was right next to a food court! We all immediately filled up on Taco Bell, Chili’s, McDonald's, Iced Mochas and our cell phones. It was great.

The last 4-½ flight home seemed to take forever but then we were back in LA, collecting luggage, calling friends, hugging each other good bye and hugging our families hello. There were lots of tears mixed with all the hugs.

This is now almost the end of our story but stay tuned for one last posting when we will all post a short reflection on our 10 day adventure.

Yea Golden Arches!

We're Home!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that yesterday, Tuesday, July 29th, we returned home, exhausted, safe and happy we missed the earthquake. (The pilot told us about it as we landed.) Our last day in Abuja before we went to the airport was packed with more great experiences including an appointment at the U.S. Embassy and a visit to a village school outside Abuja. We arrived home in the same clothes we had been wearing when we left for the visit to the U.S. Embassy which meant by the time we landed we had been wearing the same clothes for almost 44 hours!!!

We need time to adjust to the time change and the trip but then we will be back with more details of our last day and lots and lots of pictures along with a short personal reflection from each member of our team and advisors.

Thank you one and all for your love, friendship and constant support as we have embarked and returned from this journey. You are all loved and appreciated.

Shopping and American Food!

Note: You can click on any of the small pictures to see them full sized.

Sunday July 27, 2008

Today is our first full day without any SAGE planned activities. We were supposed to go on a tour of Abuja to replace the trip to Yankori National Park but of course, again, this is Nigeria so when it came time to meet for the tour, it had been cancelled. To be fair, it might have been because many of the teams were leaving today and the buses were occupied taking teams to and from the airport. In the end it worked out well for us because everyone slept in very late and got some rest.

Towards the middle of the afternoon the New York team asked one of the buses to take both U.S. teams to the “hut” village near the Sheraton hotel. This is an area that has a large number of tiny shops shaped like huts that sell African and specifically Nigerian trinkets and arts and crafts items. As you walk around the area the shopkeepers use all kinds of cajoling techniques to get you to come in and look at their wares. Some shops specialize in jewelry, others in African art, some in fabrics, and many in stoneware, baskets, wood, leather (often snakeskin) items. You must bargain for everything. Prince is a member of one of the SAGE Nigerian teams (not a competing team) and he went with us to to be sure we would get fair prices. Prince is 14 years old and displays maturity way beyond what we would expect in the U.S. When we would be given a price he would look at them and tell them to give us a “better or real” price and was a tremendous help to all of us.

It started to drizzle heavily so shopkeepers magically produce umbrellas and hold them over you as you walk to encourage you to visit their shops. Ms. Kemp purchased some African art and asked the shopkeeper to hold it for her in exchange for borrowing his umbrella to walk around.

There was a beautiful and very friendly cat strolling the village. She was one of the African cats that are very sleek and trim with a small head and very large ears. It turns out she has five kittens that play and live in one of the shops. She was very friendly and let Mrs. Harrison hold her while she purred away.

After leaving the arts and crafts center, we decided to treat ourselves by having a late lunch early dinner at the Hilton Hotel so we asked the bus driver to take us before he returned the New York team to the hotel. The bus took us on a short cut to the hotel which was down a muddy, unpaved road. It was 5:00 pm when we got to the Hilton and we arranged for the bus to pick us up at 7:00. The Hilton hotel is a beautiful hotel and very much what one would expect from a “high end" hotel. Ms. Kemp felt right at home. Interestingly enough, unlike the Sheraton, the Hilton does not have metal detectors or screening when you walk into the lobby. After the bus left, we walked to the restaurant that we had been told served hamburgers and french fries but when we got there, we found out they were closed for lunch and didn’t reopen until 7:00pm for dinner. We were so disappointed but the ever resourceful Ms. Kemp, found out that we could order food out by the pool so to the pool we headed. IT WAS GREAT to have American style food again. We ordered hot wings, roasted chicken, penne pasta, and hamburgers with French fries, onion rings and sodas. It was so good!

When we got back to the hotel we mostly just relaxed but some of us spent time with team members from South Korea. They taught some of us a card game which is mostly a game of bluff. Now we understood why there was so much noise, shouting and cheering from the South Korean rooms. Turns out one of the team members is a magician so he dazzled us with magic tricks.

It’s time to say good night. Tomorrow Benedette’s uncle is taking us on a tour of Abuja. On Monday we have an appointment at the US Embassy in the morning, and then a bus is taking us to a SAGE team school just outside Abuja. This is the school that we began corresponding with a couple of months ago. The school is on a break but the teacher (Amaka) is bringing some of her students so we can share information and establish a closer connection so we can work together after our team returns to the United States. As soon as we are done there we will return to the hotel to pick up or luggage and head out to the airport. We want to be sure to be there very early because our travel agent has let us know the flight is oversold and not to cut our time too short to get there. We are going to err on the side of caution and be there 3 hours ahead of time.

Bye for now. We love and miss you all but we are still having an amazing experience in Abuja.

News Flash: Team USA Santa Monica Places 3rd in World Cup Competition

It is late and details will be posted soon but we wanted everyone to know that the Santa Monica team has received third place this evening. Team Nigeria placed 1st and Team South Korea placed 2nd with Team Singapore receiving 4th place.

The competition was very tough and many teams were deserving of a place in the final four so we were thrilled when our names were called. In addition, Team USA Santa Monica received the second place award for SAGE World Cup Environmental 2008 recognition for the team's efforts to ban plastic bags in the City of Santa Monica.

The closing dinner, competition and awards ceremony were held at the Sheraton Hotel. All teams had to go to the dinner prepared to present since the final four were not announced until after dinner. One team at a time was announced, they then had five minutes to set up and then it was ready, set, go! After the judges finished scoring that team, then the next one was announced. That way no team had the advantage of having additional time to get ready. It also kept the suspense going up to the very end.

Follow-up Details: Friday was a long day. Today was the 2nd set of national 1st place teams along with the two national 2nd place teams that qualified to compete with the 1st place teams. Fours teams are to advance to the final four; two teams from yesterday's competion and two team's from today's competion.

Again the day was running on Nigerian time so this last round of teams presented much later than scheduled. The teams that presented today were very strong teams. Team USA New York presented and had tweaked their presentation to an even higher level than when they presented the previous day in the national 2nd place round competition which advanced them to the 1st place round.. Team Singapore consisted of three young men almost as diverse as the Santa Monica team. One was from China, one from Malay and one from Nigeria. It was quite an interesting mix of accents when they presented. The Nigerian team was terrific. Yesterday we presented after Nigeria’s national 1st place team but we think this national 2nd place team is even better. It turns out that this “2nd place” team is last year’s SAGE World Cup Champions! They are so young!! They range in age from 12 to 15 years old. Because of the high poverty and low percentage of children attending school, their high school is more comparable to our middle school. Brazil and Ghana also presented. The Brazilian team speaks limited English and spoke from notes. During the judges questioning they were given additional time to use a translator to respond to the questions.

After the final teams presented, we finally had lunch. Originally we were supposed to be at the Hilton for the final four event, then we were told the finals would be here and dinner would not be part of the event, then we were told that we would be going to the Sheraton, have the finals and then have dinner. What can we tell you but that we are in Nigeria and “everything will be ok”.

Before it was time to head out to the Sheraton, our team got together and decided to amp up our presentation just in case we moved to the final four. This is something we wanted to do on our own so only students were in the room working on it. We worked hard and then asked the our teachers and Mrs. Harrison and Mrs. Strahn to see it. Mrs. Harrison gave each of us pins that said "Imagine, Believe, Achieve" and said that we had already done all of these whether or not we placed in the final four. She started to cry and then when we all held hands before we left the room, we shared what the experience had been for each of us and then we all started to cry!

The teams started loading up the buses at 4:30pm in the pouring rain which was the first significant rain we’ve experienced during the day. While we think LA traffic is bad, it will look pretty good after Abuja. Rush hour traffic, the pouring rain and Nigerian drivers combine into an exciting thrill ride. There are almost no traffic lights, lane markings mean nothing and it seems to be one long game of “chicken” with horns blaring constantly. Cars pass within less than an inch of each other. When it’s time to make a turn, there may be 10-12 “lanes” of traffic all weaving in and out of each in 4 or 5 directions, all daring each other to cross their lane. With all of that, we have yet to see a traffic accident or fender bender on any of our trips out on the roads. Since it was raining and our bus was packed we soon noticed the windshield fogging up and wondered if there was a defroster. Just as we were becoming concerned, the driver took care of it by wiping off his part of the window with his hand!

When we got to the Sheraton, all cars and buses were inspected and wanded before they are passed through the gate. As we entered the lobby all hand articles are put on a security screening belt and we must pass through a metal detector. The room was very large and set for a giant buffet. Turns out the food was pretty identical to the food at our hotel with the addition of lamb, roasted potatoes and roasted chicken. Dinner was now to going to be served first with the final presentations afterwards. It was hard to think about eating with everyone so nervous but soon the room was alive with the buzz of hundreds of voices mingling, celebrating, taking pictures with other teams, exchanging email addresses and business cards, etc. Again we are in Nigeria so there was lots of time before dinner. We would periodically think that dinner was about to start because the music would stop, we would be ordered to our seats, we would all return to sit for 5 minutes and then the music would start up again, nothing would be happen so we would all get up and start mingling and celebrating again.

After dinner and lots and lots of speeches, the finals began. They pulled the final four names one at a time from a bowl. Only 2 teams from each day would advance so when they announced on the first pull that South Korea would be presenting, we were sure we would not be making it to the final four because we were sure the national 1st place team from Nigeria would also advance out of our first day competition round. It was disappointing but we all began to relax. After South Korea presented they pulled the next team which was Team Singapore from the 2nd day. When they pulled the 3rd team they announced Team USA but didn’t say which one and we assumed it was New York since they presented on day 2. When they finally announced Santa Monica, we were so surprised that we shrieked out even though we had vowed not to do that because in many countries it is considered inappropriate to be demonstrative. We quickly set up and off we went with no power or equipment failures!!!! The judges questioning afterwards was quite challenging and one judge was critical because he insisted that our store and café were not a “continuing business” (one of the critical SAGE criterion) because it had been established before SAGE was in existence. He did not know that the criterion for creating a new business each year came about largely because in the original start up of SAGE, only already established school based business enterprises were part of the SAGE project. We saw the judging card afterwards and that judge and the judge sitting next to him gave us zero points in that category. Oh well, while it’s frustrating, with so many judges, one or two judges can’t really determine the final outcome. The last team called up to present was Team Nigeria, (last year’s World Cup champions and this year’s Nigerian 2nd place team). There was definitely a “home team” atmosphere of jubilation in the room as their team took the stage. They are amazing. The term "tiny but mighty" definitely describes them. After they completed, the judging cards were collected and we heard more speeches and special presentations and awards while the tally was being done.

You’ve already know the results from the earlier post above so we won't repeat them here. After a few more photographs and exchanges of congratulations and best wishes, it was time to quickly board the buses and return “home”. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the Sheraton and only about 10 minutes to return, the difference being no rain and no rush hour traffic since it was after midnight. We were all exhausted but caught our second wind when we got back and stayed up way too late on our computers in the lobby sending messages back home.