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This conversation began the exploration of gender differences in leadership in the Delta. These young people are representative of a man and woman who will inherit the responsibility of leadership here. We discussed everything from relationship roles to the ongoing question of whether women make better leaders. They were also quick to point out the U.S. has yet to have a woman President – good point.

Meanwhile, a second film crew covered a meeting at the library. Ryan, who is a teacher in the U.S., and Mary Ella met with Job (teacher and Nigerian delegate from the November GCJ trip), and two other teachers, Jonah and McCallie. They talked about the challenges they face here. These are government schools that don’t pay teachers very well, sometimes not at all. Transportation to the village is expensive. Teachers assigned to work in the riverine areas of the Delta don’t always accept the assignments or accept and then don’t show up due to the poor conditions and bad pay. Job told his story about choosing to teach in Oporoza in order to help improve life here. They talked about how to use the library more, bringing children in to learn research and library skills and helping the community as a whole get comfortable using it. A system will be created to track the impact of library, e.g., literacy, retention in school, etc. so they can demonstrate the positive effects of the library in the community.

Ibiba Don Pedro came to the library to donate a copy of her new book, “Oil in the Water: Crude Power and Militancy in the Niger Delta.” She talked about the importance of people in the area learning the truth about their region and what is really happening. NAGS showed up and saw Ibiba’s new book. They sat down and started to read it. Children were reading as well, sitting at the surrounding tables.

A camera crew, some volunteers and one or two NAGS students accompanied Sandra’s mother, Janet, on one of her two daily fishing trips. Assisted by two of her kids, Janet did the hard manual labor required to gather her catch and cast the net for her next outing—in 12 hours (about 3:00 in the morning). Fishing here as elsewhere is dependent on tides. The fish are washed into the nets and will wash out again if the tide turns before they are harvested.

Back at home, a fire was started to smoke the fish. They are intended to be sold, but almost as soon as the process started, hungry relatives lined up at the door to receive a portion. There is an intense commitment to taking care of extended family here–if you are asked, you give. There was not much left to sell.

While the crew was out fishing, Leslye got a tour of some parts of the village she hadn’t been to before. In the company of four sweet girls, ages 10-13, she was taken to Zion. This is a “neighborhood” of Oporoza where members of the Zion church live. Decades ago, they formed their own community within a community. Many of the houses are newer here, but life is basically the same as in the rest of Oporoza. Leslye got to meet Oporoza’s three midwives, who each have a special house where women deliver their babies and then rest for about a week. At the last place, there was a five-day-old newborn with her mother. In addition, she spoke with women making fishing nets, a pastor cutting his baby’s hair, many other families and a furniture maker, who was planning planks to make a door.