From: BENJAMINA <baduba54@aol.com>
Date: 22 July 2011 17:02
Subject: NigerianID | THE THIRD NIGERIAN MIRACLE
To: NigerianID@yahoogroups.com
THE THIRD NIGERIAN MIRACLE
The stories told below are all true stories of what happened in Nigeria in the last one month and a source of great joy to me. There is hope for Nigeria even though a good number of people in these fora would retain their doubts. The story from the Holy Book reports of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah which occurred because not one upright man was found in the cities. Nigeria will not be destroyed because many upright people would be found, so long as the search is not limited to the elite.
The background. I am a Rotarian and a board director of the Safe Blood Africa Project (SBA) which is affiliated with Rotary Club of Carmel Valley, California. For many years now we have been soliciting funds to supply blood banks to Nigerian Hospitals, as a means to fight HIV/Aides; anemia, and to help accident victims, malaria patients and women in labor among other people in need of blood. We have blood banks installed in twenty-one hospitals across Nigeria. Each blood hank is accompanied by its own generator.
Recently SBA moved the project a notch up with collaboration with several technical partners. We established Blood Transfusion Training Center at University of Uyo Teaching Hospital for the training of technicians to be involved in the donor recruiting, donor bleeding, blood testing, transfusing and storing of blood and blood components and products. It was a train the trainer program. We had experts from all over: from WHO, from Blood Source, from Nigeria federal ministry of health, from Nigeria Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS), Safe Blood for Africa Foundation, from Akwa Ibom ministry of health, Rotary District Governors, University of Uyo and many others too many to name. It was dynamite.
But none of this is part of the miracle that I want to talk about even though they are miracles each by itself. The miracles I want to talk about are miracles made possible by ordinary Nigerians. They are miracles not just because they happened in Nigeria but would be anywhere else in the world.
Miracle number 1. The foreign team (the entire team is made of foreigners, mostly white Americans) landed in Lagos via Delta Airlines. As one of the members needed a wheel chair to get around they waited for all the passengers to depart before they left. The cleaning crew was already on board before their departure. One of the team members without knowing it had left in his seat pocket, an envelop containing $US3, 000.00 in crisp one hundred bills. They did not realize the loss until they were in their hotel in Uyo having flown across the country. They called back to Delta Airlines and told their story. A few hours later they received a call back that their $3,000.00 have been found and would be returned when they again passed through the airport on their way home. They got all their money back after passing from hand –to-hand, telephone messages from one person to another. Remember, the money was found and turned in by Delta Airlines Nigerian cleaning crew.
Nigerians are not all thieves or looters or 419ers
Miracle number2. One of my colleagues left his very sophisticated cell phone in his hotel room in Lagos. The phone could fetch a few dollars if sold. All a person needed would be to change the sim card and it is all one's own to enjoy. The hotel housekeeper turned it in and the hotel staff returned it to its grateful owner.
Miracle number 3. I will let my colleague Mr. Warren Kaufman, President Safe Blood Africa Project; tell the story in his own words except that I have left off the names of involved parties for their protection.
· Below is the 3rd miracle that has occurred during our team's humanitarian expedition in Nigeria. After flying across Nigeria from Uyo to Abuja and then back to Port Harcourt, arriving at night. After collecting our checked baggage we stepped OUTSIDE the airport to wait for someone to pick us up. We set down our luggage in a pile and waited about 20-30 minutes. When the driver showed up and identified himself, X and I grabbed our luggage, loaded it in the car and drove in the dark through congested traffic about 2 hours to reach the welcoming party for District Governor XY at Past District Governor ZZ's home. Later we departed the party and headed for our hotel. While unloading our luggage I noticed that my computer case with my computer (and all of the charging devices for my computer, i-phone, 2 cell phones, and camera + voltage converters) was missing. It was the end of the day and my phone and i-phone were discharged. I was most concerned about having to travel from city to city across Nigeria and make my appointments without anyone's contact information and no way to call or be called. To the best of my memory I had left that plain black (ubiquitous) computer bag standing in the public area outside of the Port Harcourt airport in Nigeria in the dark of night. Port Harcourt is a city about the size of Chicago in the heart of the troubled Niger Delta Area. That computer could be used by anyone, the charger; voltage converter and mouse were all there as well as the software and all of my data. It was almost as negotiable as 10 US $100.00 bills. Had I left it at any large city anywhere in the world it would have been gone forever. We returned to the airport today two days later and security had it...everything in tact. District Governor XY negotiated its release to me and plans to launch an investigation to determine who picked it up and turned it in...and see if that person can be publicly honored for their example of the Rotary 4-way test. For my part I am both surprised and delighted to be sitting here typing out the dimensions of this Blessing while all my devices are again feasting on their life blood, electricity. - Warren Kaufman
After this story third miracle I wrote to them that there is a three strike rule and that they would not be so lucky after this. The above are not my words but the voice of the party, a foreigner involved. I must mention that this narrator, my partner, is a well travelled gentleman who knows what he is talking about. He has been all over North America, Europe and Africa.
The purpose of this article is to show that while some Diasporas, our politicians and the educated elite are all out to diminish Nigeria's image, the ORDINARY Nigerians are doing their best to uphold our dignity and show the world that we are an honest hard working people.
I was not part of the trip but was learning of these incidents from my sick bed and believe me, it made getting well and rejoining them in their efforts to save lives a "task that must be done."
My thanks and gratitude to those who risked their lives given the much publicized dangers of travelling in Nigeria to help a sustaining free blood transfusion program develop and grow in Nigeria. And also to those Nigerians who proved that Nigerians are among the most honest and considerate people in the world. It is by working together, and knowing each other, that progress would be made in this world. When people get to know each other, ignorance, the source of all stereotypes, would be eliminated and man's humanity to man becomes a reality.
Benjamin Obiajulu Aduba,
Boston, Massachusetts
July 22, 2011
Nigerians In Diaspora Organization. Our mission is to promote the spirit of patriotism, networking, and cooperation among Nigerians in Diaspora....
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