The volunteers meet up in Abuja. All together for the first time. We are Bode Ladele, Dayo Ajayi, Funke Osinaike, Tony Yange and me - Abiola Ogunsola. Yomi Oloko the programme manager has arranged for our 'In Country' induction at the offices of Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) in Nigeria.
We have an informative meeting with Kayode Akintola who is Programme Manager for Secure Livelihoods, and because our placement is focused on education, we also met with Belay Addise who is the Programme Manager for Education.
Kayode began the induction by asking us what we already know about VSO. I was surprised at how little I know considering how much involvement I had had with VSO over the past year.
After the induction, we return to the Crystal Palace Hotel where we are spending the night before leaving for Yola. Unfortunately we do not manage to have dinner together and miss an important opportunity for the kind of bonding experience that made the last placement to Yola in January 2010 so successful. Despite this, the team members are all very smart interesting people who are keen to be of service to Nigeria by supporting education development in Adamawa State. Because Adamawa State won first prize for their Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme, they are a model for other States in Nigeria.
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