Church and Chinese

 Sunday the leashes were cut and a group of 6 of us set out on our own. Of course we called Ann and Lawrence, our on-the-ground coordinators, so they could first okay our plan. Originally we had wanted to visit both the National Church and the National Mosque since both are supposedly open to the public. Unfortunately, what’s stated online is not always what should be practiced. Ann said we would draw too much unnecessary attention if we took pictures of the Mosque. Okay, so the leashes weren’t cut, but we were given a longer rope.

We taxied to the National Church of Nigeria where we were met at the front gates by two guards holding rifles. It reminded me of being in Cairo where there were armed officers at every national monument. We were led through the gates and were able to “snap” pictures of the outside grounds. We were then greeted by an employee who gave us a tour inside the church.

     

The church lies less than half a mile from Nigeria’s National Mosque, which was built in 1984. Construction on the church began in 1989 and didn't finish until 2005. It was built in a neo-gothic style as you can probably tell from the photos.

           

The church has pews on both the near and far ends and can fit up to 4,000 people on each wing. In the middle is a circular stage cut from marble on top of which the reverend stands to address the congregation. We were given a demonstration of how the stage slowly turns in a circle so that he addresses both sides of church.

         

 After touring the church, we jumped in two more taxis and went to lunch at the “best Chinese restaurant in Abuja” called Chopstix. Not surprisingly, it is located on embassy row which surprisingly, is called Mississippi Road. KeXing, the CSCer from Shanghai, demonstrated to some of the CSCers from India how to use chopsticks. 

  

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