SLC31-W2 | The Curious Explorer : Offbeat Landmarks.

Ever wondered if there's a place of worship that doesn't make noise and cause a nuisance to residents living close? A 23-year-old place of course worship that stood the test of time with good maintenance and an environment proper for the worship of our creator is the one I'd be reviewing today. It's not a church. It's called the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, an organisation of worshippers.

This kingdom hall is the place the organisation usually worships God, and it's scattered around different lands, one of which is situated at **Ibiaku Issiet, Uyo LGA. In the course of my review, I'll tell you why this place of worship is different from other places of all worship.

So I'm @bossj23, the curious explorer and I decided to explore the famous place of worship offbeat landmarks which is the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses at Ibiaku issiet. The introduction is categorized below.

This Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses is located at Ibiaku Issiet before Bafill fuel station if you're coming from Ibiaku Junction, but if you're coming from the airport or Ekpene Ukim, it's after Bafill fuel station, which is a popular station in Ibiaku Issiet.

The kingdom hall is isolated, so it can be very visible even if you have no landmarks. This is the Google Maps location. It doesn't have any signboard to show that it's the hall, but there's a visible JW board in front of the hall that's blue, and it's opposite a church that's way distanced from the hall.

_{picture of the hall}

And note, you're to enter Ibiaku Street and not use the airport road, as you won't see the hall from there. The road is very much accessible and can be reached by anyone. It's along the road, and the road is tarred.

The hall is a place of worship, and this place of worship doesn't run like a business centre where we'll have someone who manages it in a business sense. The hall was built by the JW organisation because they saw the need for a hall to be situated in that area so that those who belong to this organisation and those who love the teaching of this organisation based on the Bible, finds truth in it and wants to belong to it can do so without having to go to a far-off place.

The hall is being maintained by a group of people called the operating committee, who oversee the smooth running of this place of worship in terms of light, clearing the lawns, painting and others. As for maintenance, members of this place of worship are organised. They don't just wake up one day because they have the money and start renovating the place.

Little maintenance can be done when the committee sits down and decides on what is to be done, but for the major maintenance which involves renovation, a further step is done to make this done in an orderly and organised way. They don't just do things on their own because they are a united brotherhood, nationally and internationally, and if you notice, they have one style of building, and these buildings follow a pattern. So for this hall, it has its own operating committee which runs based on the congregations using the hall. That's how far I can say.

Talking about the structure, I'll start from the size of the hall. The hall sits on a very big area of land, and the building is in the middle of this piece of land. It just sits in the middle, leaving spaces in each corner, front, side and back.

It's a bungalow, and its roofing system is structured in such a way that there's a dividing in the middle while each side has roof sheets that make rainwater fall to their sides.

	Roofing style

The fence was done in such a way that it covers or protects the building. If you are looking using a drone, you'll decipher that it's a rectangle in size, the same length and width. These are the things you can see in the exterior of this place.

	Fence

• Parking Space: This hall has a very big parking space both inside the building and a little outside. The parking space inside can accommodate over 20 cars. It has in front, by the sides and behind. So if it's that one, it's big on parking space but not as big as you may expect.

	Outside parking space
	Inside parking space

• Trees: Trees that retain water are planted on the premises of the exterior and outside the gate. There are about 6 trees in this exterior, and they serve as windbreakers, tall enough to control violent windstorms.

• Gate: There's a gate in the centre of the hall's exterior before you get to the interior parking space. This isn't a rolling gate. It's one that has locked and is rooted in the ground. It's painted in a somewhat ash-brown colour. I don't know the colour name. The gate is a normal gate with metal openings that enable you to see the interior from outside.

	Gate

• Washhand stand This washhand stand is located close to the gate and close to the hall. This was made available for after the COVID-19 era, and it's still being used till now.

	Wash hand stand

• Walkways: This is a prominent feature in most of their halls. You'll always see walkways embedded close to the hall because that's the standard, and these walkways are made firm and do align with the roof in case it rains.

	Walkways

• Exterior design of the hall: The hall is painted in maroon and grey. These two colours just have a striking combo, and since it's an old hall that's yet to be renovated, the use of Lovas is seen, and glasses are used as windows for ventilation and for protection as well.

The hall has a board with the name 'JW.org' written in blue and the name of the place, which is **the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses. It usually shines light at night. Lighting is made outside for visibility during days' meetings held late in the evening.

	Exterior decor
	Walls painting
	Windows

• The lobby area of the door: There's a small lobby close to the door. The walls are painted with a light yellow colour and one that's more striking and bold. The door of the hall is like those used **in Jerusalem in the ancient days, where a strong log of wood is used to bind the door together. This was what made wooden doors in the past very strong and difficult to break in.

	Lobby entrance and door used

That makes me a curious explorer because the use of a 100-year-old window pattern and a 3000-year-old door pattern is what makes the place historical, and it's just 23 years old. It's not as if it were following any pattern, but that was the design used in building most structures back then, in the 1900s.

The interior is well ventilated. You can see windows in every corner, and it's not really big but sizable and can contain people. Its walls are painted with light yellow and bold yellow up-and-down designs, and if you notice, the ceilings are also painted with white, and there are bulbs and fan machines to reduce heat in the hall.

	Interior
	Electricity

The interior has a lot of facilities which I'd share in my second question. It's actually a sacred place, but you don't see symbols everywhere or some sort of ritual place or an office space for a group of people or even a section where a different class of people sits.

	Chairs used

Looking at the chairs, you'll see they're an old pattern of chairs with wood. The new pattern is way beautiful. The chairs are rather ancient, and it's actually a type that was used in most places of worship in the 1900s and is still used now.

Let me talk about the facilities first before talking about their activities and services done here. The facilities, to me, are like sections, as there are no outright facilities other than the hall, toilet and parking lots. These sections are

• Sound department and literature stand: This is a section where those that control the microphone, television and sound are seated, and these pieces of equipment are just there. The section has a stone deck that allows these things to be placed on top, including the literature and magazines their members use in preaching to people. There's someone who heads this department, including that of the sound department as well.

	Sound and it's equipment
	Literature stand
	Generator pavement

• Store section: The store section contains literature that is shipped to the congregation for use and also the cart used to contain this literature for display. Other things are kept in the store, but these are the most noticeable.

	Cart in the store section

• Noticeboard and voluntary contribution box: This section is where information is clipped or pinned on the board, and you can see the division, which means two congregations are sharing this hall to worship God. There's a contribution box kept at the far end of the hall and not in front. This made me curious. Like the question I asked at the onset? Is it by choice, or is there a reason for this? Because most people keep their offering boxes or basins in front of the church for money to be contained there, but in this hall, it's kept behind this section and not even used when their meetings are ongoing. I'll tell you what I learnt from this in comparison to others.

	Noticeboard
	Contribution box

Clock	Used to help the speakers adjust their time on their platform

• Stage: The stage is another section with two microphone stands and a demonstration table with chairs. This demonstration set-up is for people who are trained to carry out the preaching work, and they are trained in the form of a demonstration, using the seats and the stage. The speaker does make use of the middle microphone. It was then I set up the television so it would look attractive.

Meetings are held in this hall on Sundays and midweek days. During meetings on Sundays, a talk on certain topics is given, and then the question and answer section is done. Both young and old sit together, and there's no class distinction in the congregation. There are microphone rovers who help echo the voices of those answering questions, and they make sure they are focused to see who's raising a hand to be asked for an answer.

Attendants are on standby to welcome members and non-members into the hall and even offer them a comfortable seat.

• Hall servants: These are people responsible for ensuring the hall is opened and closed, the generator is turned on and that the meeting in the hall goes well.

During the midweek meeting, demonstrations are done, which is essential training, teaching young ones how to do public reading and how to teach effectively when out in the field for preaching. These activities are done every week.

Songs and prayers are offered as an integral part of their worship to God. And as a command, they follow Jesus' pattern of teaching and preaching to people from house to house.

They usually meet at the hall, pray to include everyone they preach to, take out literature and start the preaching work. I think I've mentioned the services offered by the attendants and those in the sound department. These are a few of the services members in this hall offer.

They also offer a free home Bible study. You can invite them to your house, and they teach you the Bible for free, truths found in the Bible, truths you may be looking for.

This place is tied to the organisation which came into existence hundreds of years back, starting from a group of Bible students who discovered the truth found in God's word, the Bible. This hall has been in existence for 23 years, and it has held to certain things which define its members. People say a church defines a person.

The place is a place of worship, and in this place, offerings aren't made publicly because it's embarrassing to actually announce a public offering and only offer blessings to those who give. What about those who don't have? That's what's done in most denominations, but not here.

In this place, for the past 23 years, giving is made voluntary, and you won't have to know what another person gave because it's not done in public, as Jesus said it should be done. This made me so curious. This is one of the reasons most people don't go to church: because they may feel embarrassed by the announcement.

• Another thing is that for the past 23 years, the residents close to the church have always thanked its members for not building a place of worship that would be a nuisance to them as done in other denominations. For the record, it hasn't disturbed anyone with noise. You won't even know praises and songs are sung in this place. How? Because the voices and songs are contained in that environment alone and don't spread out to affect others, which constitutes noise.

• Another thing I learnt from the history of this place is that it's not poorly maintained. It is 23 years old, and if someone tells you this place is 23 years old, you won't believe it. For the record, it has the history of being maintained and cleaned to represent the clean God they worship.

• Books and literature that date back to the 1900s are stored in the store. Others that need to be discarded aren't discarded or burnt but are shipped back to where the printing of this literature is done for recycling purposes, which helps manage waste and reduce costs of getting new printing sheets.

A curious explorer asks questions. It's quite fortunate I'm a member of this place of worship, and my experiences are quite great. Though I didn't explore the place on a day meetings were held, I have good experiences because it's a place I go every day to worship God, and I can tell you a few facts or observations from what I've seen happening here.

• There's no class distinction. Everyone are addressed as brothers, and no one is addressed with a title or a position. Elders in the congregation sit with the congregation and not on the stage or pulpit to show they are different from the congregation.

• Offerings aren't forced on anyone or announced, and I discover that the members in this hall work together when doing things, including those in positions of authority. They don't do they supervision. They lead by example.

• They are dressed modestly, and they welcome everyone that comes in, whether a member or non-member. Do you know that I know the names of everyone in this hall? That's because I had a personal interest in them, as do other members.

The reason why I refused to explore other places of worship is so as not to give a bad review of these places because the noise alone in the name of singing praises to God is a turn-off. If the noise is disturbing on the outside, how much more in a hall with a lot of echoes?

When exploring this place on a normal day that wasn't a meeting day, I took my time to admire the serenity of this place and how clean and well-fit a 23-year-old building is.