THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOON

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOON
Excerpts from my Nigerian Diary

In as far as I was concerned Nigeria was like the other side of the moon. I didn’t have any idea what was there. The Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris was quite crowded with so many Nigerians going to Lagos where we were also going. I wondered where they all came from. We were together inside UTA Air Afrique. I was seated in between Boyet and a pretty French young girl about as old as my daughter Ibeth.

When we arrived at Muralla Mohammed International Airport in Lagos no one was there to meet us. We made plans for ourselves like no one would go to the comfort room alone and that we should all be very cautious about everything that we shall do. We just grouped together while waiting for our Team Leader, Dr. Nestor Reyes.

Later we were transferred to the VIP Hall where we were served coffee and waited long. I suggested that we do an impromptu program, a sort of joke session that somehow added life to all of us until we were finally picked at around 10:30a.m. We finally reached our destination only about 20 minutes past 12:00 noon.

We were temporarily housed at the Federal Government Special Guest House at Victoria Islands, Lagos. The accommodation was good, like that of a 5 star hotel in Manila. I stayed at room 305 with Dr. Delfin Cagampan. I received my first 5 Naira in exchange to my dollar. Two other groups of physicians arrived that night. They were not as lucky as our group because one group was allowed only 3 hours in Rome and the other, only two hours in Brussels compared to our two days and one night in Paris. Some who were not accommodated slept at the lobby of the Guest House.

Having nothing yet to do on August 13, 1978 we heard Mass at a Church, 5 minutes away from the Guest House. We met several Filipinos.
After lunch I went to the beach across with Dr. Florescio. After dinner I started Bible sharing with Doctors Florescio, Nasareth, and Angulunan. They like the format and wanted to invite other doctors next time.

The following day we scheduled to go to the Ministry of Health but nothing happened. Instead a representative from the Ministry came and oriented us at 2:00 p.m. My name and that of Dr. Montecer were not included in the list but we were promised not to worry. It seemed triple 8 was still working its magic. Without having started on anything yet, our salary was already increased from 8170 Naira to 8928, an additional 75 8 Naira. We were also tentatively scheduled to work in the vicinity of Lagos City. The post assigned to me was Massy Street Childlren’s Hospital in Lagos Island, a big Children’s Hospital similar to our National Children’s Hospital in Quezon City.

I found out that Nigerian officers were very unsystematic. Processing of our papers were not even 25 % finished. My room mate, Dr. Cagampan was already posted to Ikeja General Hospital while my friend Boyet was already moved to Ikurvov Health Center. I didn’t know yet when I would be pulled out from the Guest House.
That night I hypnotized Mrs. Vinka Osuntola. She came to know about it after Dr. Romero told the Manager, Mr. Sam of the Guest House what he saw when I hypnotized Dr. W. Palomar, who only submitted after I hypnotized Dr. Bagao, Dr. Florescio and Dr. Cagampan.

I could feel that my stay in Nigeria would be interesting. I was beginning to enjoy my days.