By Kate Henshaw
I received a call that I was going to be on a movie set. I had not shot a film in the past one year . My script was emailed to me, I read it, studied my character, outlined my scenes and got ready to leave on  March 20,2012, for my location which was in Enugu.

Thankfully the planned closure of the airport for renovation had been postponed, and I was saved the stress of having to go through Owerri. I went online to the Aero contractor website and booked my flight, paid, printed out my booking confirmation and started to pack my suitcase.

I got to the airport at 11am on time for my 12:45pm flight to Enugu. Checked in my luggage, picked up my boarding pass and went to the lounge to await boarding. At 12:55pm, passengers bound for Akanu Ibiam Airport in Enugu were asked to proceed to gate 8 for boarding at the MM2 airport. We boarded, stored our hand luggage in the lockers above our heads, and fastened our  seat belts   and waited to take off.

Few minutes later, the pilot was slow in his announcement,and I sensed something amiss. The pilot informed us that he just received a word that the visibility in Enugu was bad adding that  the aircraft may not land safely and he could not risk taking us to our destination.

He told us to be patient, but he had been informed that the visibility was not improving. Air Nigeria had earlier announced a 30-minute delay to their scheduled flightdeparturetoEnugu.

The pandemonium began. Passengers had many questions to ask. Could they change their tickets for the Owerri flight which was leaving in an hour? what about their checked in luggage? Could they get a refund immediately if they chose not to continue? I wanted to collect my luggage and head back home to try again tomorrow. I called through to my director that I would not be coming in again on the day.

I did not fancy going through Owerri and then travel by road to Enugu. I received a refund but retrieving my luggage from the aircraft was another herculean task. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise . As passengers rushed around trying to adjust to the change in their plans, an hour later we were told that the flight was going to Enugu again.

Those who had boarded the Owerri flight, got off and made it back on the Enugu bound flight. One gentleman though in the whole melee had forgotten his hand luggage on board the Owerri-bound flight and was not pleased when he landed Enugu without it.

He was promised it would be retrieved. We made a safe landing into Enugu despite the hullabaloo. I took a taxi to my hotel which was, thankfully about 15 minutes drive from the airport and checked in. Shoot could not commence on Tuesday any more as I was quite tired. It would now start the next day, Wednesday 21st March, 2012.

I got up at 6am the next day, showered, had my breakfast and got ready to leave for location which was in Ugwuaji village, a quarter of an hour away from my hotel. It was unbearably hot indeed and having to put on make up and walked through the bush was not comfortable. Indoors too was no different as the sun bore down with vengeance. Getting cold drinks to cool one’s body temperature was impossible in the village as there was no electricity.

The bane of living in Nigeria. Hmmm. The first day of shoot went well, so did the second day, but the third day there was a problem with the camera,and  the shoot ended at 4pm. I headed back to my hotel for a cold shower. I had taken to having a cold shower at least twice a day as it was needless to have the water heater on. It was that hot and my sun screenwasalwayshandy.

Coming back to Enugu after so many years of it being the preferred location for film shoots was not too bad. The town has changed considerably. Good roads had replaced the dusty red roads in town, street lights adorned the roads, traffic lights functioned and new taxi cabs were in abundance.

A lot still needs to be done about the cleanliness of the town though and I guess the terrain which is quite dry and dusty with its characteristic red sands does not help matters.

My hotel (ASCOT RESORT) has its walls and everything on the outside defaced with this red, dusty film. Though the hotel rooms are in need of a new coat of paint, it is kept clean with bed and bathroom linen changed daily, I did not care much for the cuisine though.

I had taken to eating mostly plantain and eggs or chips and chicken. The hotel (another hotel in town) had better well prepared meals. I visited the new Shoprite at the Polo Park which is considerably bigger than the one in Lekki, Lagos.

It is just a few months old, four months to be precised and not all the shops are fully occupied but those that were, did brisk business. I do hope they maintain it, as we generally have a bad maintenance culture in Nigeria. This was evident while driving past the Ministry of Finance, Works and the High Court in the state. All in all, Enugu has received a welcome change and seems much safer than the last time I was here.