beyond the roadblock she became aware of an unusual rattling noise, so she stopped the car and opened the trunk. Three AK-47s were piled in the trunk, left by the guards as they walked off admiring their name tags. When she appeared again at the roadblock, the young men were visibly relieved; with their weapons returned, their supervisor wouldnât discover that they had been disarmed.
On one occasion when I was traveling, the driver discovered just as we approached a roadblock that the brakes were not working, nor was the emergency brake. No one would even consider running a roadblock, so the driver jerked the steering wheel to the right, our van hit the ditch hard, proceeded up the other side, knocked down a small tree, and came to rest against a mud hut. A crowd began to gather around us, and soon the area chief arrived. Once he had sized up the predicament, he spoke through an interpreter, telling a story in the powerful oratorical style prized in Africa. The story went on for some time, but the bottom line was that our truck had hit a sacred juju tree. This had offended the juju gods and would require the sacrifice of a chicken, which cost 10 shillings, and he expected me to pay. My initial emotion was relief. Ten shillings was a small price to pay, and we could be on our way.
However, something perverse invaded my thinking, and before I had thought it through, I began to respond. I had every intention of paying the 10 shillings. I also knew from experience that the chief was very likely taking advantage of the situationâthe tree was probably not a juju tree, but as a visitor I had no option but to pay. I explained that in my culture,the van had some of the characteristics of a juju god, and the truck was offended that the tree was in its way. I would now have to sacrifice a goat, which cost 20 shillings. I pulled 10 shillings from my pocket and asked who would receive my 10 shillings and who would give me the 20 shillings. The silence was so heavy that I immediately knew I had made a big mistake. But then one man broke the silence with a laugh. It was contagious and soon everyone was laughing. No money changed hands, everyone joked about who was the biggest storyteller, and we were off in low gear to find a place to fix our broken brake line.
ACQUIRING CRUCIAL SUPPLIES
The political tensions at times forced us to take risks just to accomplish our job. The Nigerian federal health authorities now questioned everything being done in the Eastern Region, including the rapid start of its smallpox program. This was evident at a meeting called in Lagos in early 1967 to discuss health education for Nigeriaâs smallpox eradication program. The meeting was disintegrating into a full-blown attack on the posters, methods, and plans in the Eastern Region, when a young professor from the University of Ibaden, Dr. Adetokunbo Lucas, commented that a prime objective of health education is to get the attention of people in order to transmit a message, and that the Eastern Nigeria materials had just attracted more attention than materials from any other region. That simple observation by a person of distinction from a nonâEastern Nigeria tribe brought the meeting back to its purpose. Lucas would go on to have a distinguished career, with posts at WHO, the Carnegie Corporation, and Harvard University.
The federal authorities nevertheless decided it was time to rein in Eastern Nigeriaâs smallpox effort. Explaining that the country must work in a unified way, the federal government cut off smallpox supplies to the Eastern Regionâuntil the other regions had caught up. We were now faced with the serious matter of inadequate suppliesâeven for a new strategy that was based on a shortage of supplies. Such difficulties were not just bothersome; they threatened the very existence of theprogram. Moreover, lives were at risk if we had no means to stop existing outbreaks.
In March 1967, as supplies were running
On one occasion when I was traveling, the driver discovered just as we approached a roadblock that the brakes were not working, nor was the emergency brake. No one would even consider running a roadblock, so the driver jerked the steering wheel to the right, our van hit the ditch hard, proceeded up the other side, knocked down a small tree, and came to rest against a mud hut. A crowd began to gather around us, and soon the area chief arrived. Once he had sized up the predicament, he spoke through an interpreter, telling a story in the powerful oratorical style prized in Africa. The story went on for some time, but the bottom line was that our truck had hit a sacred juju tree. This had offended the juju gods and would require the sacrifice of a chicken, which cost 10 shillings, and he expected me to pay. My initial emotion was relief. Ten shillings was a small price to pay, and we could be on our way.
However, something perverse invaded my thinking, and before I had thought it through, I began to respond. I had every intention of paying the 10 shillings. I also knew from experience that the chief was very likely taking advantage of the situationâthe tree was probably not a juju tree, but as a visitor I had no option but to pay. I explained that in my culture,the van had some of the characteristics of a juju god, and the truck was offended that the tree was in its way. I would now have to sacrifice a goat, which cost 20 shillings. I pulled 10 shillings from my pocket and asked who would receive my 10 shillings and who would give me the 20 shillings. The silence was so heavy that I immediately knew I had made a big mistake. But then one man broke the silence with a laugh. It was contagious and soon everyone was laughing. No money changed hands, everyone joked about who was the biggest storyteller, and we were off in low gear to find a place to fix our broken brake line.
ACQUIRING CRUCIAL SUPPLIES
The political tensions at times forced us to take risks just to accomplish our job. The Nigerian federal health authorities now questioned everything being done in the Eastern Region, including the rapid start of its smallpox program. This was evident at a meeting called in Lagos in early 1967 to discuss health education for Nigeriaâs smallpox eradication program. The meeting was disintegrating into a full-blown attack on the posters, methods, and plans in the Eastern Region, when a young professor from the University of Ibaden, Dr. Adetokunbo Lucas, commented that a prime objective of health education is to get the attention of people in order to transmit a message, and that the Eastern Nigeria materials had just attracted more attention than materials from any other region. That simple observation by a person of distinction from a nonâEastern Nigeria tribe brought the meeting back to its purpose. Lucas would go on to have a distinguished career, with posts at WHO, the Carnegie Corporation, and Harvard University.
The federal authorities nevertheless decided it was time to rein in Eastern Nigeriaâs smallpox effort. Explaining that the country must work in a unified way, the federal government cut off smallpox supplies to the Eastern Regionâuntil the other regions had caught up. We were now faced with the serious matter of inadequate suppliesâeven for a new strategy that was based on a shortage of supplies. Such difficulties were not just bothersome; they threatened the very existence of theprogram. Moreover, lives were at risk if we had no means to stop existing outbreaks.
In March 1967, as supplies were running
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