In 2004 as part of the celebration of the centenary of the last great Welsh revival, Nigel and I were on a committee that organised a number of initiatives. Nigel talked for about 10 minutes at a small ministry training course and encouraged an Overseas student, Emmanuel Jonah to attend "Ignite the CIA" a youth event I organised. The event had a stellar line-up including Luis Palau, The Tribe, YFriday, Andy Hawthorne and the much missed actor Rob Lacey. As part of the programme Nigel also talked about the Ignite declaration. Emmanuel, unbeknownst to anyone to Nigel or I felt a prompting from God that this was something that God could use in the war torn sub-Saharan African nation. He returned home, discussed it with his wife and they prayed about it before contacting Nigel by email to ask if they might partner with us. We were delighted to oblige and sent him a few resources including our Ignite Africa, cards, a few books and some t shirts. With these meagre offerings this young man began to share the vision with pastors, ministers and youth workers throughout the nation.
Today, Ignite Liberia has a presence in 8 of the 15 counties of country impacting thousands of lives. It was into this climate that Nigel and I attended as the keynote speakers at the 1st Ignite Liberia National Conference.
Attending the conference turned into a huge logistical nightmare. In order to get reasonable priced flights, we decided to fly through Nigeria. This meant that we had to stay over in Lagos, one night on both ends of our trip. This in return required Nigerian visas as well as Liberian visas. What initially seemed a simple task required multiple visits to both high commissions and ridiculously high fees! Never the less we never lost the resolve that this was an essential trip. So it turned out to be
Following an uneventful flight to Lagos via franfurt, Nigel and I arrived into Lagos early evening. The journey between the airport and the hotel in the friday rush hour was much more of a challenge! What should have been a simple 15 minute trip took over 2 1/2 hours. We were kept entertained by our the hotel receptionist who assured us that we were staying in the best hotel in Lagos. It also had the best restaurant. We asked for his recommendation of some quality, typical Nigerian fare. His initial suggestion of fish and chips was instantly rejected and I decided to try the goat pepper stew. It was the simply the spiciest thing I ever eaten! The venue had dim lighting, which maybe just as well as well as the picture taken with a flash makes it look not very appetising. This was nothing next to his main course recommendation. A dish we had never heard of before called "grass-cutter". As we tried to question him we all decided it was actually antelope on something similar. There is a picture below. Both Nigel and I decided to rip the hide off it before we ate it. A good move I think. In Liberia we were given a hint that it may not have been Antelope. In fact it turned out to be something less savoury. Below is a picture of what we actually ate.
To be continued.......
Amazing about Ignite Liberia so encouraging... Grass cutter and goat curry do not look appetising....they are so wrong!
Posted by: Rufio | 09/07/2009 at 09:29 PM