Word: makeshift
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...never a safe or simple job. But even for case-hardened veterans, the Nigerian civil war presents one of the meanest assignments yet. Merely getting in and out of Biafra is a dangerous and doubtful proposition. The irregular airlift from Lisbon flies through Nigerian antiaircraft fire to reach a makeshift airstrip that is only open at night. When correspondents finally manage to get in, they are shuttled off to quarters in the Progress Hotel in Aba, the country's provisional capital. When they are not in the field, they face the hazards of the Progress menu. This consists...
...Crowded into hardwood forests and mangrove swamps that cannot possibly support them, Biafrans are starving to death, by a conservative estimate, at the rate of 1,000 a day. Most of the 4,500,000 refugees from all corners of Nigeria who returned to the Ibo heartland live in makeshift camps, totally dependent on scanty government and missionary rations. The price of staple foods has risen fantastically (cost of a dozen eggs: $4), and salaried work is almost nonexistent. Biafra's chance of survival shrinks with each day; yet its resolution seems unwavering. Ojukwu himself has guessed that his fate...
Landing on the makeshift "flight deck" is a ticklish operation demanding split-second timing by pilot and boat crew. As a UH-1 chopper hovers over the mini-carrier, the landing area is invisible to the pilot, who must rely on hand signals from one of the boat's seven-man crew. Meanwhile, the boat's captain maneuvers his vessel under the skids of the descending helicopter. The air-sea mating has become a smooth routine. In more than 2,000 landings, there has yet to be a serious mishap...
...airliner. Nor did the Russians at Iturup seem unfriendly. When food aboard the airliner gave out, Soviet military rations of bread, cheese, butter, weak coffee, bully beef and noodles were provided, as well as cigarettes. During their second night, Flight 253A's nine air hostesses were given damp, makeshift beds in an airport building. During short respites, the imprisoned Americans were allowed to leave the aircraft to stretch knotted muscles, smoke and use Soviet outhouses. These interludes and the dreary view from the airliner's ports afforded a rare peek at the Kuriles, which Russia has guarded with xenophobic jealousy...
...return with their parents, and still fewer poor adults come in alone. To open their eyes, white administrators are now taking art to the ghettos with branch museums or art-mobiles. Often, they find whole streets in Harlem covered with murals by amateurs. Near by are apt to be makeshift art schools set up by residents. Although desperately in need of funds and technical assistance, such homegrown facilities suggest that underprivileged areas want art and are willing to do something about getting...