{"id":411,"date":"2005-05-16T10:15:23","date_gmt":"2005-05-16T10:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.caboose.org.uk\/?p=411"},"modified":"2005-05-23T10:17:46","modified_gmt":"2005-05-23T10:17:46","slug":"party-in-kabba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.caboose.org.uk\/b\/archives\/2005\/05\/16\/party-in-kabba\/","title":{"rendered":"Party in Kabba"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This weekend I joined a large group of other VSOs and employees of various other organisations for a trip to Kabba, Kogi state.<\/p>\n<p>We left work on Friday at lunchtime.  The journey takes over three hours, the road from Abuja to Lokoja is known for accidents and the road from Lokoja to Kabba for potholes and armed robbers.  Luckily Marebec and I had managed to cadge a lift with Ronan and some others in an air-conditioned LandCruiser, much more comfortable than public transport!<\/p>\n<p>As you travel south from Abuja the landscape gets noticeably greener and just before Lokoja you cross the Niger river:<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/media\/Nigeria\/Kabba\/PartyMay05\/RoadToKabba1_w.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/media\/Nigeria\/Kabba\/PartyMay05\/RoadToKabba1_t.jpg\" alt=\"Roadside scenery about an hour south of Abuja\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"\/media\/Nigeria\/Kabba\/PartyMay05\/NigerRiver1_w.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/media\/Nigeria\/Kabba\/PartyMay05\/NigerRiver1_t.jpg\" alt=\"Crossing the Niger river\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The purpose of the trip was to visit Fathers Noel and Leo, both missionaries in Kabba.  They were having a party to celebrate Leo&#8217;s birthday at the centre where they both work.  Here&#8217;s a picture of the Diocesan Pastoral Centre and another of the house containing the infamous Hillie&#8217;s Bar.<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/media\/Nigeria\/Kabba\/PartyMay05\/Centre_w.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/media\/Nigeria\/Kabba\/PartyMay05\/Centre_t.jpg\" alt=\"Picture of the Diocesan Pastoral Centre, Kabba\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"\/media\/Nigeria\/Kabba\/PartyMay05\/PriestsHouse_w.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/media\/Nigeria\/Kabba\/PartyMay05\/PriestsHouse_t.jpg\" alt=\"Picture of the priests' house\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nHere&#8217;s Leo on Saturday night about to cut his cake.  Sue and Mary joined him because their birthdays are this week.<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/media\/Nigeria\/Kabba\/PartyMay05\/LeoSueAndMary_w.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/media\/Nigeria\/Kabba\/PartyMay05\/LeoSueAndMary_t.jpg\" alt=\"Leo, Sue and Mary about to cut the cake\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>There was a fair bit of drinking over the weekend, and the Fathers&#8217; collection of silly hats was brought out.<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/media\/Nigeria\/Kabba\/PartyMay05\/MarebecKarenAndGemma_w.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/media\/Nigeria\/Kabba\/PartyMay05\/MarebecKarenAndGemma_t.jpg\" alt=\"Picture of Marebec, Karen and Gemma in the bar, wearing silly hats\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"\/media\/Nigeria\/Kabba\/PartyMay05\/SillyHatGroup_w.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/media\/Nigeria\/Kabba\/PartyMay05\/SillyHatGroup_t.jpg\" alt=\"Group of people wearing silly hats, including me with a rather manic grin\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In this picture you can see the collection of photos and memorabilia that cover the back of the bar.  You can also see Noel and a pretty tired-looking Ronan.<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/media\/Nigeria\/Kabba\/PartyMay05\/NoelAndRonan_w.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/media\/Nigeria\/Kabba\/PartyMay05\/NoelAndRonan_t.jpg\" alt=\"Noel and Ronan in front of Hillie's Bar\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>During the day on Saturday a few of us went for lunch and a wander around Kabba.  At the restaurant we seemed to be fascinating a little boy there, although he wasn&#8217;t keen on being in a photo.  Also in the picture are Karin, Marebec and Karen.<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/media\/Nigeria\/Kabba\/PartyMay05\/KarinMarebecKarenAndLittleBoy_w.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/media\/Nigeria\/Kabba\/PartyMay05\/KarinMarebecKarenAndLittleBoy_t.jpg\" alt=\"Group at lunchtime with little boy who was fascinated by us\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"\/media\/Nigeria\/Kabba\/PartyMay05\/KabbaStreet1_w.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/media\/Nigeria\/Kabba\/PartyMay05\/KabbaStreet1_t.jpg\" alt=\"Street scene in Kabba\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We also wandered round the market, where both Marebec and I bought some fabric.  I&#8217;m getting mine made up into two pairs of trousers, I&#8217;ll put up some photos once they&#8217;re ready.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday it was time to pack up and head back to Abuja, with a few more people squeezed into the LandCruiser.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This weekend I joined a large group of other VSOs and employees of various other organisations for a trip to Kabba, Kogi state. We left work on Friday at lunchtime. The journey takes over three hours, the road from Abuja to Lokoja is known for accidents and the road from Lokoja to Kabba for potholes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vso"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caboose.org.uk\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caboose.org.uk\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caboose.org.uk\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caboose.org.uk\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caboose.org.uk\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.caboose.org.uk\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caboose.org.uk\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caboose.org.uk\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caboose.org.uk\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}