Triperation.

Greetings, all!

I’ve set up this blog in anticipation of sharing my trip to Nigeria, Jan. 23-Feb. 1.

Ten days isn’t nearly enough time to experience an entire country, even less so when much of our time will be taken up by meetings with various government officials. Anything I get to see, however, will be a new experience for me.

The express purpose of this trip, via the International Reporting Project, is for American journalists – specifically those who oversee international coverage – to learn more about Nigeria’s presidential election process. The election, slated for April 22, would be the country’s first transfer of a democratic government.

We should have wifi access at our hotels, so ability to post shouldn’t be a problem. Time to post – that’s another issue. The preliminary itinerary shows a pretty regimented schedule. But I hope to share updates and photos as often as I can.

See the links to the left if you’re interested in reading more about Nigeria.

I leave Sunday for D.C. After a day of debriefing (prebriefing?), we depart Monday evening for Abuja via Frankfurt – nearly a full day of travel time. I’m armed with Xanax, eyeshades and, as always, plenty of reading material.

Check back here regularly for updates.

And I look forward to your comments -- just follow the directions to quickly get your own screen name. Alternatively, you can comment anonymously, but add some kind of identifier so I know who you are.

Or I'm beckijroberts in AIM/iChat; or beckiinnigeria in Gtalk and Adium. (I think. I'm really not understanding the whole IM thing.) FYI, Nigeria is seven hours ahead of Nebraska time.

Or just send me an email -- rebeccajeanroberts@hotmail.com.

Hope to have something to share soon!

becki