Believe it or not, there is a connection between these three things - NC, dog training & military police from Nigeria, at least there was last week when the boys and I had an unexpected adventure.
We headed out in the afternoon to visit a dog training facility I wanted to check out. As we neared our destination I got confused about the misplaced street signs so I asked two men who happened to be walking down the road. They helped me out & I drove on, but I asked the boys, "Did those guys sound like they were from Africa?" So we stopped again & asked them. (Yes, we might be just a bit nosy!:) They told us they were from Nigeria & we all were delighted to have an African connection. They were so surprised that two of the kids in the back seat of my van were from Ghana & they both had to take a look to really see for themselves. :)
As we arrived at the dog training place, a van full of more Nigerians arrived so we all talked for a bit & learned that they are all police with the Nigerian military & are here for a course on how to train/work with bomb detection/protection/attack dogs that they are taking back to their country with them.
One of the men, who turned out to the group's leader, told me that some of them had been in the US since January & many of them have families so they were delighted to see my boys and were interested in how exactly they got here & how they came to be my kids & WHO IS DOING THEIR HAIR? Ha Ha! I think they may have been less than impressed with my efforts on Nathan's locks!
The leader of the group told me that they are training with the dogs because they have Muslim extremists (not the everyday folks!) in their country that are bombing their Christian churches. He explained that when the military confronted the attacks they were told that their leaders would now be targeted as well. Yikes. So, they are trying to become more equipped to detect the bombs with the help of some very handsome & capable looking sable German Shepherd Dogs.
Anyway, I thought the whole meeting was so interesting & now I am wondering if there is something nice we could do for all these police officers who are here away from their homes and families. I need to make some calls to see how much longer they will be here....any ideas?
