Gone to Togo

Because I am a Girl

2012-02-24T22:08:00.000Z

I'd like to preface this post by saying that at no time in my service have I ever felt that my personal safety was at risk and that there most certainly are men in my community that treat me with respect.

Plan Togo puts out an annual report titled "Because I am a Girl" discussing the obstacles that girls face regarding their personal development and reading it got me to thinking how living it Togo has mad me feel as a woman. The life of the female Peace Corps Volunteer is not an easy one. We are sexually harassed verbally on a daily basis, asked for our hand in marriage on a regular basis, physically harassed fairly often and generally disrespected all the time. The funny thing is, once you start talking to the local women about it, they feel the same way. However, living in this culture, people don't see much of an alternative.

Just this afternoon a teacher from the primary school in front of my house came by to visit my landlord. He reeked of alcohol and stopped by my door first to ask me about my sex life and whether or not I was being fulfilled in Togo. I told him that I have come here to work and not to fall in love, so its not an issue I want to discuss. Not catching onto my signals he continues to ask me why I don't have a Togolese man to spend time with, someone who could come over and eat my dinner (i.e. I cook, because I am a woman), watch tv, spend the night... I told him that I am perfectly happy alone with my cats and my garden and I don't need a man to make me feel complete. Still not put off by what I have to say he offers his services. This dude has a fucking wife and kid!!!!!! I say no again and tell him that I am the chief in my house and I do not want to share that with anyone. To this he responds "I understand, you are afraid that if we are together in the night and we are crying out that people will hear." At this point I tell him the conversation is over and that I do not wish to talk to him any longer and walk back into my house, careful to lock the door should he think he needed to come talk to me again. Ugh!!!!!!

I have a very hard time having friends in my village because of this mentality. All the women my age have gender assigned duties that do not allow for free time to hang out with me and the single men tend to creep me out, sometimes the married ones too. I would give anything to have someone to hang out with where we don't discuss whether or not we will get married and I will take them back to America, or just offering to have sex with me, wanting to know how I survive without having sex?!?!? Its none of your fucking business!!!! There is a common belief here that if you don't engage in intercourse on a regular basis you will fall ill. Riddle me this: how do celibate nuns live as old as they do without being constantly ill?

Don't get me wrong I love the students, the women and my work, but certain men here turn me into such a man hater. At least once a day I tell someone "I'm sorry, but I don't do things just because a man has told me to do them." A typical invitation to hang out goes something like this:

Man: You should invite me over to eat sometime.
Kim: I don't cook.
Man: You should cook me a nice American meal.
Kim: I don't have any more gas.
Man: What day can I come over?
Kim: I'm just going to eat street food.
Man: I'd love to come to your house to see how you live.
Kim: Can we talk about work?
Man: Where do you live again. Can I get your number?
Kim: So about this project I'm proposing.
Man: Will you be around tonight?
Kim: Sorry, I got to bed at 8 and I don't accept guests after dark, in fact I need to leave right now.

And then I stop talking to them about anything including what ever work I was hoping to do in their community. If it wasn't for the students and the women I probably would have left a long time ago. The students get it, even the boys, but they still need some reinforcement. Thus in the vein of being proactive I am planning a training for villagers called Men As Partners that helps them to rethink how gender roles adversely affect the development of the community as well as increase the risk of STDs and HIV for their wives and partners. Next month I will be participation in a Women's Wellness and Empowerment conference where we tell women they are awesome and to treat themselves that way. I'm really excited about leading sessions on the importance of talking to you daughters about sex and Womens' rights.

In other news I just had the opportunity to travel a bit for work in Togo. I went all the way to the Nothern most region where I saw some really interesting caves that groups hid in during ethnic conflicts, the drive through rock in Kara, the waterfalls of Badu, and the Danyi plateau. Togo is so much more scenic that I had realized. If they could just fix the roads they might be able to become a viable tourist destination. There are things to see here and they are beautiful! Come visit me!

We're on a Odyessy of the Mind!

2012-02-02T09:21:00.000Z

In December I spent two fabulous weeks in California seeing all my friends and family that I could pack into that time. I ate so much good food and was lucky to hang out with my niece who is the most adorable child on the planet. It was a much needed break from my isolated life here, but now I'm back and pushing ahead at full steam. One thing I'm really excited about now that I'm back here is our first Maritime Region Odyssey of the Mind competition. For those of you who have never heard of OotM, its a national competition in America that encourages creative thinking, spontaneous problem solving, and team work. OotMs philosophy is that creativity can be learned through practice just as much as any other skill and that's what I'm trying to teach my students.

Students try to find a way to drop an egg without it breaking.

Some of the volunteers in my region have formed teams that will compete this April performing spontaneous hands on tasks as well as a long term problem requiring the the team create an apparatus that can help someone who is handicapped and then perform a humorous sketch demonstrating how it works. My team, which meets for two hours every Monday, has been practicing hands on challenges, some verbal challenges, and team work problems. You really start to see how much creativity and critical thinking is lacking in the students lives. There is a lot of forcing of solutions and mocking of all new ideas, so I think what we are doing is going to have a huge impact on the problem solving abilities of the students we work with.

Students trying to turn over the fabric without stepping off.

The biggest challenge I'm facing with my team is to incite original ideas. So far the things they have suggested as an aid to the handicapped are crutches, canes, a motorized wheel chair. I can't answer the problem for them, so I just have to keep encouraging them to try harder to think outside of the box. Can we think of some humorous task or something more non traditional than limited mobility which would affect someone with a disability? Their homework is to come up with something super creative, but so far we're stuck on crutches. However, I'm not worried. Once the students start feeling confident in expressing new and potentially controversial ideas, I am confident they will come up with something creative.

In other news, I've got cats coming out of my ears. When I returned from Morocco I realized one cat was pregnant. When I came back from America to five new kittens, I also found that my other cat was pregnant. I am now the temporary owner of 2 cats and 7 kittens. While cute, its a bit much and so I'm hoping to find them all homes where they will be loved and not eaten. I'm really not sure how easy that task shall be...

My Life Today

2011-12-07T21:11:00.002Z

I woke up this morning to the sound of women sweeping their dirt courtyards around 5 AM. Life in Togo doesn’t need an alarm clock, because like clock work the work of the day starts just before sun up. I drank my coffee, ate some breakfast, then went to visit a villager that is the closest thing I have to a friend. She is suffering frequently in her health, but today I found out that she is upset because one of her adopted daughters has run away. This girl is a blood relative, and both of her parents died of AIDS. I have also been told that at the age of 12 she has already been raped twice. I’ve never asked the details of how or when that happened, but I can understand that this girl is living with grief that most people will never understand. Her “mother” can be a bit harsh in giving advice for life, but only because she wants the best for her. I also see how that is likely not the approach that will work to help this girl find joy in her life and want to move forward. My friend was so sad that I found myself crying with her.

After lots of “if god permits” and other gossip, I set off for Tabligbo where I ate lunch and shopped the market with two new volunteers. I love to spend time with the new volunteers because it really shows you how much you have learned but also helps you to remember your optimism and motivation to work from when you arrived. It is hard not to become cynical at times. I worry about whether or not I will have an impact or whether I will ever achieve anything in my time here. However, I just need to remember the Huffington Post article about what PC teaches about failure to feel like I’m doing exactly what I should.

Speaking of being cynical, I was asked for food by the children that live behind me this evening. Almost every day that I am in village they children come to my door, scan my living room, and then proceed to ask “Afi, give me ...insert what ever they see...) The children look fairly healthy, no distended belly or misshaped head. However it pulls at my heart strings wondering if they do or do not have anything to eat. My cynicism wont allow me to give them anything because when I do they just keep coming back like I’m the food bank (or stuff bank, because they are typically more interested in my things than food). We have these uneducated ideas in more developed countries that children are all starving and what a pity that they do not have pants or shoes. One thing I have learned in Togo is that these kids have shoes. They just choose not to wear them. I think they know that “white” people think of them as needy, so they play the role to a T. Togolese make excellent actors. Which is not to say that there is not real poverty and real need in my community. I would just say that it is more cleverly disguised than a lack of pants. There is very real gender inequality. There are pressing and urgent sanitation issues, and people suffer. However, they don’t suffer the way we think we they do in our imagination because they don’t have washing machines.

Right now, as I am about to get ready for bed, there is an all night funeral just getting underway. I can expect to hear music for the next two days while this family spends most of their annual income to properly honor the death of a loved one. This is just a day in my life in Togo.

All for a root canal...

2011-12-01T11:58:00.006Z

I felt out of place from the minute I stepped of the plane. I was wearing one of my most comfy pagne dresses in a demure florescent green with not even remotely matching, equally bright, batik "melange" purse in a sea of very Euro looking people in black pants, black boots, black sweaters, black bags. I felt like I had been dumped in Paris. It was my first glimpse of how hard I have tried to fit in in Togo, and how much that makes me stand out everywhere else in the world except West Africa. I would like to think of this as training week for the inevitable culture shock I'm going to feel in two weeks when I land in California. Possibly wearing the same outfit. Cultural exchange is fun. I look ridiculous every day and I love it. However, coming to Morocco is a good reminder to not go to crazy with the local clothes, because in a year these clothes will probably be useless.

I spent my first two days wandering the media and the ocean front of Rabat by myself. Daily surf checks that amounted to nothing worth renting a board for. I was much relieved when a volunteer from Liberia arrived a few days later, just as interested as I was in turning this medical evacuation into a vacation. Thank you Peace Corps!

Thanksgiving we spent at the house of American expats working in Rabat. I almost cried when I saw their kitchen as it was the most western thing I've seen in months. We stuffed ourselves on all the traditional fixings and it almost felt like I was in America.

The next day we went to our dentist appointments and then boarded the next train to Casa Blanca to visit my friend Thierry and then headed to Marrakech the next morning. In Marrakech we wandered the old medina, saw some interesting old architecture and stuffed ourselves some more on couscous and Tanjine. Moroccan food is delicious.

The real adventure was when we returned to Rabat and decided that we should go full local and get washed up in the hammam. This is a traditional communal bathhouse where women go to scrub themselves raw a couple times a week stemming from a time when hot water, or maybe even running water was not commonly found in the home.

Upon entering the hammam we were led to an area to undress and we were asked if we wanted to get scrubbed. After an enthusiastic yes, two older women, who spoke zero french, stripped down to their black undies and escorted us into the steam rooms. This was a fairly confusing process, not knowing where to sit or what we were supposed to do with the bowls handed to us. As I looked I around, I saw that we surrounded by a handful of middle aged women using a hand mitt called a kiis to scrub their skin like they were stripping the finish off a piece of furniture. Everyone but me was wearing black undies and I felt like I had missed some important instruction on hammam etiquette.

Our scrub ladies instructed us to go sit in the far corner and the brought over buckets of water and stools and that started a scrub down that made me feel like a toddler getting washed down at tub time. Through a lot of charades and tapping we were told to lay down, sit up, roll over, arms up, arms down. This is no gentle scrub, the hand scrubber feels like they are using a piece of sand paper and about as much pressure would be necessary for my furniture analogy. After a full scrub down from head to toe, my lady asks me "two?" by a show of fingers. I have no idea what she means so I say yes, and the whole process starts over again. She finishes by taking off my underwear, washing them, and handing them back to me. I think this might have been her cue that we were done, but I really had no idea what was going on. So as I sat there enjoying the steam, she refilled the buckets and came back to give me another scrub down. I guess she took my staying as a sign that I did not yet feel clean? After round three I decided that I felt sufficiently scrubbed and that I better follow my intuition and get out there if I don't want round four.

I don't know if I have ever been so clean in my life, and certainly not since arriving in Togo. Natalie and I both agreed that we wished such things existed in our villages and that we would probably go every week if we could. It certainly made for an interesting end to the trip. Tonight I fly back to Togo, and I've been here just long enough that I'm ready. Morocco is wonderful, but its not home, and I'm really happy I feel that way about Togo.

more pictures here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150979996645032.771587.842270031&type=1&l=fcddb883e0

Hellooo Ladies...

2011-06-11T16:23:00.000Z

I love that people wear t-shirts that clearly have no idea what they say. And complete miss the social reference for that matter. Like how many people in Togo watch South Park?

Another Day, Another Poop Story

2011-05-15T13:48:00.000Z

When you sign up to live in a developing country, one with quite low standards for sanitation and waste management it is pretty much guaranteed that you are going to have diarrhea. And lots of it. I have spent the last three months suffering from Giardia, Amoebas, and I'm almost certain that my last bout of nastiness was Dysentery. I'm just going to admit for everyone's humor that I have in fact pooped my pants living in Togo, and so have most of my friends. I am happy to say that my last stool sample tested negative for nasty bugs in my GI track, but the reality is that water borne sanitation related diseases are a problem that we are all seeing in our communities as peace corps volunteers and I thought this article was pretty intersting.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-seiler-peace-corps-20110515,0,4003465.story

I have tons of latrines in my village, I can't say that we necessarily have enough to meet the needs of the population. What we don't have for certain in the entire region is an efficient way to empty latrines. Word on the street is that only one vehicle in all of the Maritime region is capable of emptying a latrine. So what do you do if you can't afford to contract this truck? Well you either resort to not using your latrine anymore and pooping in the bush like you always did, or apparently you hire someone to scoop out the contents of your latrine with a bucket. Tell me who wants to do that? Not many I'm sure. So latrines sound like a great idea and sanitation is hugely important but what about the kind of services that support the maintenance of such a thing. I've mentioned before that I've got one of the village poop piles outside of my where I live, so I see first hand that our latrines are not being used all the time.

So here is my thought: composting your waste! Its not new, its not original, and it doesn't require you to build much either!

http://pickupamerica.wordpress.com/2010/03/02/start-a-revolution-start-composting-your-poo/

And you know what, while were at it, it doesn't even need to be restricted to areas of the world lacking sanitation. You can say screw it to the obsence waste of water that occurs in urban fecal processing by making your own poop composter too! I know its unlikely, but I thought I would put it out there that people in America are doing it...

http://www.humblepilechicago.blogspot.com/

I just went on vacation and tons of stuff going on in my life. I promise to tell you about that soon, but for now I wish you happy pooping and I hope that you should never have to suffer the ills of contaminated water and resultant fecal sample preparations...

Everyday is an Adventure!

2011-03-09T17:57:00.000Z

March 8, 2011

Friday and Saturday: I’ve got girls coming to basketball practice! They are pretty bad right now, but they are starting to improve their dribbling and shooting. Their biggest problem is traveling and double dribbling. The boys have been very helpful in coaching them and explaining things far better than I can in French or Ewe. I try, but I just do not have the vocabulary.

Sunday: I biked 12 km to Tabligbo to meet the counterpart of another volunteer. The counterpart raises animals including goats and I want him to start making goat milk. I don’t know if it is worth his time or if anyone other than me would buy it, but I like the idea of having real milk and being able to make my own butter, cheese and maybe yogurt. Powdered milk just isn’t the same.

About 10 km into the trip I got a flat tire. I had stopped for some water when I heard a hiss and immediately assumed that I heard a snake. I saw one while biking to another village last week, so I was being a bit reactive. The last thing I want to do is get bit by mamba! I quickly grabbed my bike and moved it to the other side of the path. Some children gathered around me and I tried to explain to them via charades what I thought had happened. It wasn’t until I had gotten back on my bike that I realized what the hiss had really been.

One of the children, none of whom spoke French tried to explain to me that there was a mechanic nearby. I had no idea what they were saying, but they took my bike and started to push it in the direction I came from. We passed a man who asked what was happening and told me that there was in fact a bike mechanic a bit up the path. The timing of this flat was incredibly lucky because there is no other village for the first 9km out of my own.

The hole was where the intake is attached to the inner tube. I had no idea if it could even be fixed and I sat by the mechanic really stressed out while he went to work. I ride my bike everyday to get to school, basketball practice, or to travel to neighboring villages. Not to mention the fact that I was pretty far from my village and don’t know what I would have done if it hadn’t been repaired. Carry it on a motorcycle? I hear it has been done. In fact people here seem to be able to carry almost anything on a motorcycle including dining tables, goats, my surfboard, you name it. I was incredibly relieved when we put the tire back on and it held air. He had taken the old intake off and glued on a new one that won’t work with my pump, but will work with the pumps they have here so its really no big deal.

The rest of the trip went without a hitch. Daniel is very interested in the goat milk idea, he’s already got the goats. We just have to figure out how to milk them, and then how to pasteurize and store it. I’m looking forward to more sources of protein. I can’t imagine that eating as many eggs as 10 eggs a week can be good for me.
Monday: Back to Tabligbo. I heard through some volunteers that my cellphone carrier has a usb key modem that is pay as you go. Another 12km each way on the bike to go to the Togocel boutique. I make sure to ask if the key will work on my Mac and the sales people assure me it will. “Very easy to set up, very easy! This will work great in Kouve!” So I buy it. The whole way home I am soooooo excited to have internet access, to be able to email whenever I want to, to possibly skype if the connection was fast enough.

You can imagine my disappointment when I got home, turn on the computer, stuck in the key and realized that the software would only work on a PC. The user manual claims it should work, but doesn’t have any directions or trouble shooting info. I called their customer service line and asked how this thing is supposed to work with my Mac. They told me that I would have to bring the key and my computer back to the store and they can help me configure it there. My hopes are still up at this point.

I wasn’t up for a third trip on my bike, so I motoed back to the store. The sales guy and I tried to figure it out, but couldn’t so he said that the “chief” would be able to. I waited an hour and a half for this guy to show up and then even he couldn’t help me, because it plain and simply wont work on my computer. It took us another 30 minutes to confirm what I at this point had already assumed. The chief called the store in Lome, they told him to do a whole bunch of stuff that wont work on a Mac. I kept telling him to ask them specifically if it will work on a Mac, which he doesn’t. Then he wants to know what my operating system is, which I tell him is Mac OSX 10.6 which he relays to the person over the phone and finally the lightbulb goes on. “Well you have to have Windows.”

I can’t entirely blame them. These people had probably never even seen a Mac before, they probably thought all computers ran Windows. However, it does get frustrating that it feels like no one ever listens to what you are asking or gives you a straight. No matter what you ask, it seems like the answer is yes. Sometimes this results in your taxi getting lost, because he doesn’t actually know where you have asked him to take you or they try to take you somewhere else because they have decided in advance that it is where you want to go. And it happens in my English class where if I ask if they have understood, they almost always say “Yes, Sir!” I will blame all that on ineffective communication.

Tuesday: This morning was the final exam for my English class. These tests are downright ridiculous. They are written by the regional inspectors and are full of mistakes and words that the students have possibly never studies. The students were asked to write an essay, which is really just a paragraph, on the prompt “Talk about a journey you made to a village. This will help you: by foot or by car? with your friends, brothers, or parents? what is the name of *his village? what did you do/eat? Did you like the journey?” *typo

The students did not understand the incomplete sentences and no matter how many times I explain it, they seem unable to understand what an “essay” really is. For example one response was:
-by car
-parents
-village name is Lome
-I sees the food
-Yes I like because he is verry good.

I get really frustrated because I want my students to be successful, but I have no control over how they are tested. Frankly the directions are confusing, especially for someone in their second year of learning this language, and it is unfair to use things on the test which are not taught to them. However, this is the system and what I really need to teach them is better reading comprehension and test taking skills so that they can do their best to guess when they have no idea what something means.

This afternoon I finished a book, baked some Foccaccia, tended to my tree nursery and fetched water from the pump. And I’m also suffering through this nasty medication called Fasigyne because I’ve got Giardia. Now I’m hanging out with my crazy kitten who is zooming around the house and eating bugs. I think I’m in love.

Its amazing how much one can complain about and really be very content to be where they are. Aside from the trash, my village is really pretty, and when they are not yelling “yovo” the people are super nice. I’ve got all these ladies that speak no French who just talk about me in Ewe like I understand and I just stand there looking bewildered saying yes whenever it seems appropriate and then we giggle and go our separate ways. Me with a 25 gallon “bidon” of water strapped to my bike, they carrying basins of the same volume of water on their heads.

the big one!

2011-01-14T18:20:00.000Z

December 18, 2010
Three months in Togo today! Adjusting to village life has been challenging in ways I never imagined. For the first three weeks I could not use my bike because of a flat tire, so I walked 30 minutes to and from school five days a week. Being white, being foreign, I felt like everyones new plaything. Children and adults alike would yell "yovo," the word for white in Ewe, and giggle profusely when I would respond that my name is not whitey, it is Afi. That is my village name, meaning I was born on Friday. People here have names of Monday through Sunday, although those who have been baptized often go by a christian name. The walk would some times feel torturously long, like submitting myself to harassment for other peoples entertainment. The reality is that I have no idea what people mean by it. Sometimes I feel like they are just trying to say hi, other times I feel like they are making fun of me. I understand them about as well as they understand me, and how harshly I take it is a result of how stressful any day has been in other terms of work or cultural integration. Are they laughing at me or with me? Maybe it is up to me to decide. I don't need to tolerate being called Yovo, but maybe I shouldn't take myself so seriously.

Going to the market has been one of my biggest stresses. There is a little market everyday and big market every Thursday. The last two weeks that I have been to the big market have felt like a complete disaster. Last week I was so stressed out by the yovoing and the attention that I ended up leaving without buying anything. This past week I decided to give it a try again. I wandered through the stalls with fabric, not finding anything I liked and feeling like I had pissed off the people selling stuff by coming to look and not buying anything. Maybe window shopping doesn't exist here? Then I decided to buy some fruit. I asked for a quantity of oranges that turned out to be double what I wanted. Lost in the miscommunication I decided to just take the whole lot and will not need to buy oranges again for some time. I know that given time my interactions will cease to feel so foreign, but right now it is pretty frustrating.

Now I'm back on the bike. It has felt extremely liberating to be able to fly by the attention and go about my merry way without having to think about it. Sometimes, for my own sanity, its just easier to put on my headphones and get to where I'm going without being harassed. It has also given me the opportunity to explore my area a bit more. Every day this week I have gone a bicycle adventure to find out what lies at the end of a new road. Tuesday I biked 6 km South to the market in Ahepe. Wednesday I headed towards the fields behind my house to the North. I rode downhill about 5-6 km. People kept asking me where I was going, perplexed by my destinationless journey. There are only a handful of people who understand the concept of exercising for the sake of exercising. Turns out that there is not much more than fields of yams and manioc and corn before it eventually turns into the "forrest," so I after a while I turned around and headed home. Thursday i biked 8 km East to the village of Gboto. Friday was my favorite trip yet. I believe I was headed North West and ended up biking up and down hills past a village called Live (no idea how it is pronounced). The road is by far the best one out of my village, the only one that is not riddled with pot holes the size of VW beetles. As I travelled I saw hills and valleys and enormous Boabab trees. My area is really quite beautiful. As I continue to get into better biking shape, I hope to be able to conquer further distances and see more of my neighboring villages.

My most ridiculous adventure happened last Sunday. After many text messages trying to arrange a surf day with a frenchman living in Togo, we set a time and place to meet. I spent Saturday night watching a surf film, Dear and Yonder, with some of the members of my new host family while my "sister" Esse helped me wax my board. She didn't really understand where the wax went and why and everyone thought that I was one of the women in the film. I guess my haircut does give me a fair resemblance to Belinda Bags.

The following morning around 6 AM I hopped onto a motorcycle with my surfboard and headed for Ahepe where I transferred to a bush taxi, a van meant to fit 12 that might get in as many as 20 if people don't mind sitting on eachothers laps. Some men quickly took my board and strapped it onto the bush taxi and then proceeded to drive away with out me. While I was fairy certain they were just going to go up and down the road looking for passengers, there was a part of me that was terrified that I just lost my board, or that I would find it returned to be broken in half. A man near me could see the anxiety written on my face and tried to assure me that the car was coming back and not to worry, I had no idea that he was actually the driver who would take us to Lome and it was his apprentice who went joy riding for passengers. 15 minutes later, the bush taxi rolled back to us and much relieved I was on my way. After an hour and a half of being crammed in the back of this van I arrived in Lome. I then walked for about 20 minuts with my board to the beach road, where I was picked up by my new friends (until this point still virtual strangers) and wisked off to the beach. In that car was the surfing frenchman and his wife and another american from Manhattan Beach whose wife is teaching at the American school in Lome. When I informed my mother that I intended to embark on this adventure, she was terrified of me going off anywhere with people I don't know, but really I found the idea far less terrifying than hopping onto a motorcycle or into a bush taxi with a total stranger. Its all relative, and everything is relatively dangerous here. I find myself having to keep a constant balance between supreme vigilance and blind faith in strangers.

Cristal Plage is a beach break, and it was about as good as high tide, head high and closing out can be anywhere. However, after three months of no surfing, I'm not going to be picky. I was just happy to get in the water. The two men, Stephane and John, went to surf inside the jetty at the port and left Aurelie and I at the beach break. I spent about two hours being sent through the washing machine before calling it a day, salty and satisfied that I had already managed to get to the beach in my first month at post. There is talk to beach day in Anecho next month to surf the point break at the river mouth. I have driven past it twice, and it looks like with any kind of size, it would be pretty fun. However I have only seen it about knee high and it doesn't look powerful enough to surf at that height.

While I'm working towards community integration in my village, it is nice to feel like I have other communities to be part of as well. I have the community of volunteers in general, the community of my cluster mates, and now the community of my fellow surfers. What is even better is that I didn't expect that I would have women to surf with in Togo. Aurelie was a huge surprise, and though I didn't meet her, I have now been in contact with a german girl named Danika working in Lome who is starting to surf as well. It is nice to feel grounded in activities which are familiar when the rest of your world feels as if you have just walked through the looking glass.

December 18, 2010
Sickness

Just when you think you are adjusting to life, that a cold bucket shower isn't that bad, and that a hot one is pretty fantastic, you get food poisoning. I ate beans and rice for lunch yesterday and two hours later, in the middle of basketball practice, I start throwing it up. I had to bike home, worried the whole time I would puke on the ride and then laid down and did not get up again except for intermittent vomiting until the this afternoon. I fraught over the idea of sleeping on my clean sheets covered in sweat and dirt from basketball, but I just did not have the energy to shower, and by shower I mean continuously pour water over my head. All I wanted in the world was to be able to sit in a bathtub under running water and not move for at least 20 minutes.

Now all food that I have been eating here sounds repulsive and I would give my left arm to be able to go into an american grocery store or restaurant and pick out what ever I would like to eat. It reminds me a bit of after my tonsillectomy when I kept seeing ads on television for fast food or I would drive by KFC and begin salivating over the idea of fried chicken. When I finally started to eat solid food again, I never did end up going and eating that crap. It was probably more a frustration over not having a choice in the matter. I do currently find myself salivating daily over the idea of real ice cream or smoothies and every time I read a mention of food in any of the novels I'm reading I stop and repeat it with a sigh, just trying to imagine what eating it would be like now. Hot dogs. Deli sandwhiches. Filet-o-Fish… The list goes on. The funny thing is that I have had no serious problem cooking very delicious things for myself here. I make a delicious Alfredo sauce, curry several times a week and have even learned how to make Thai peanut sauce. All thanks to the PC issued cookbook "Where There is No Whopper," a joke in reference to the old medical guide volunteers received titled "Where There is No Doctor."

However, being sick was the first time since I arrived three months ago that I began to feel like I was missing the conveniences of home. The physical labor of everything we do here really started to feel laborious. On the bright side, my host family was charmingly worried about me and one of my basketball players even stopped by to see if I was doing any better than yesterday. I spent the entire day in bed, so I must have looked a hot mess when he showed up at my door. Then the girl who "cleans" my house, although I'm not really sure what she does beyond sweep and mop, showed up to work, but it was too much of a disaster here for her to clean anything. I asked her to come back next week. Funny how you have to clean before your house keeper comes. Thank god I don't have to do my laundry before my laundry girl comes!

December 22, 2010
In some ways I'm pretty bored, and in others this past week and a half has been the best vacation I could ask for. Before coming to Togo I was working 6-7 days a week, and often had mentoring commitments on my only days off. I loved both of my jobs and mentoring, but it had really begun to wear me down months before it ended. Then I got here and was thrown into 6 days a week of training and the never ending excitement and drain of meeting new people and trying to navigate my way in a new culture. This is the first time in over a year that I feel like I have had time to breath. I have read six books, taken numerous lengthy bike rides and have played basketball several times. Once I start teaching in January and figure out what the hell else I am supposed to be working on, all my free time may come to an end, but for now I am just going to soak it up and appreciate every carefree minute I have.

I can't remember what I've said about my house. I live in a village of maybe 10-20,000 people. I live in a concession of maybe 15, if not more. My building is two stories, though in true third world fashion, the second story is a work in progress. The floor plan of the second floor is a complete mystery to me. I can't tell which rooms are meant for what, and what is ultimately intended to be a water closet or an actual closet. As I have seen in Mexico and Costa Rica, Togo is littered with unfinished projects. Someone gets enough money to start something, so they start it, but it may be several years if ever before they come up with the money to finish it. When my predecessor moved in, the second story had walls but no roof so when it rained the water pooled on the second floor, seeped into the walls and leaked into the first floor everywhere. It also caused the ceiling to sad which in turn caused all the closets to smoosh down enough that none of the doors close properly. The old volunteer insisted that the landlord put a roof on, and I am ever grateful to him that I will not have to deal with the leaks. I am however inheriting a house full or water marked walls and what looks like mold in the bathroom. I intend to have at least some of the rooms repainted, but for now am living with a pepto bismol pink livingroom and kitchen that reminds me of the color of my old carpet in my last apartment. I mean this both in terms of the dusty rose color and the dirt. Along with water marks on the walls, ants are a constant presence here. The last volunteer thinks they have taken up residence in the walls where the cement may have degraded due to the constant moisture. I have no idea, what I do know is that controlling them seems virtually impossible and eradicating the will probably never happen. My mefliquin dreams haven't been too bad, but swarms of ants are a constant theme.

Another interesting thing about my home is that even the first floor has the distinct air of not having all been constructed at the same time. I don't know if they only decided to paint the terrace, or if my kitchen, bathroom and second bedroom where a later addition. Based on the size of the rooms, my bedroom and living room would have been a respectable size for a volunteer or Togolese home all by itself. Tthen there are the doors. In what I suspect to be the older section of the home, the doors all match. They are big and the one in the hallway doesn't open all the way. The rest of the doors are smaller and seem much cheaper. I understand doors in the bedrooms and bathrooms, but why the hallway and kitchen need doors that have locks with keys is beyond me. Maybe it is just how they do things here.

All in all it is a good house, especially since there is the roof! I may not have running water, but I do have space. Once I get some fresh paint on the walls and some new fabric on the sofa and windows I think it will really feel all mine. I certainly would never find an apartment in Los Angeles with two bedrooms and separate living room and kitchen for $40 a month! That value is a lot more fun if you don't evaluate in terms of my monthly income living here compared to there.

January 11, 1011

What is work?

This past weekend I was invited by my proviseur to a village meeting to celebrate and announce the new members of canton development committees. I showed up 30 minutes late only to discover that next to no one had arrived. Two hours later the representative of the chiefdom showed up and things got started. First lesson learned, never show up that early.

I took a seat in the back as I watched people trickle in, not really sure what was going to happen at the meeting. I said hi to the few people I know in village and then was hunted down by one of the committee members because they had a special seat for me on stage. In this seat I was essentially stuck for the whole meeting. Second lesson learned, a place d'honneur can be a cursed place to sit.

I was at this event for over 6 hours, stuck on stage, lost as to what was going on, but i guess fulfilling my duty of being the token white person. My biggest fear was that they would make me say something, but that fortunately didn't happen. Since most of the meeting was conducted in Ewe, I really had no idea what was going on at any given time. I did know that about 4 hours in I started to get hungry and thirsty and that made me pretty antsy for the last two hours.

Part of my job here in Togo is to be a representative of America. I never would have thought about that before coming here. I signed up for Peace Corps purely thinking about sharing technical knowledge and having an adventure. Really it only makes sense that by coming here to do that, I am also shaping local opinions about what Americans are like. Thus I am in fact working just by being here and being the American, and I will be successful at my job if they think that Americans are hard working, adaptable, helpful, respectful and openminded. So by being patient enough to sit through this meeting, I was being a good volunteer. Every time I leave my house to do anything is considered work.

The following morning, celebrations continued with catholic mass. I donned my most ridiculous pange and showed up at church, again too early, terrified at how long this one was going to last, but secure in a spot that I could get up and leave at any time. I made it through about 3.5 hours before I had my fill of cultural exchanges for one weekend. When you don't practice a religion, and you don't speak the language it is being conducted in, mass can be very very long. And the benches are so amazingly uncomfortable! I don't know how anyone manages to sit on those things for hours on end.

The experience wasn't entirely without enjoyment. I do enjoy getting up for the singing, even if I have no idea what is being said. Best of all there was a point when girls wearing loin clothes of pange with traditional paint on their shoulders danced through with offerings of yams and pineapples. It was the first time I had really seen the fusion of traditional customs with christianity and it certainly was interesting. However, around noon, with a broken butt, I hit my fill and snuck out. I went on a two hour bike ride to decompress and thanked god for exercise because endorphins really can make everything alright in my world.

I have to say, and no dis to my catholic friends, but mass is just weird. Maybe its just really hard to get into church after almost an entire life devoid of it. They light stuff, burn stuff, eat stuff, drink stuff, it all seems like a lot of ceremonial nonsense to an outsider. Next weekend, if I'm not in Lome I may go to Assembly of God. I hear there is lots of singing, dancing, and talking to god. I wouldn't expect a conversion any time soon, but it is pretty interesting to take it all in, and in the end I'm putting in hours at "my job."

Ranting in my village

2010-12-03T17:42:00.002Z

November 30, 2010

I live in Africa. I live in Togo. It still hasn't sunk in, it is so bizarre how normal my life seems to me that every now and then I stop and remember: "this is my life now, this is different from america in almost every way." Its amazing how quickly a person can adjust to new things. When I first arrived in Togo, I found it a little challenging to take a cold overhead shower in our hotel room. The last time I was in Lome, I was so excited to take any kind of shower that was overhead it could have had ice in it. That being said, transport of water has put an entirely new cost on my water use. Running water is so inexpensive and convenient, that we use it without thinking of how much we are wasting. My water efficiency here is something I've always wanted to achieve, but now its a necessity, not a choice. I take a shower in a basin, and use that water to flush my toilet. I feel so green.

Some of my favorite things, since arriving in village, are the sunrise and sunset from my house, walks out to the fields, the sounds of birds and drums, and being surrounded by flowers. There is limited light pollution, so the stars on a dark night are pretty fantastic.

One of my least favorite things is black plastic bags. Everything is sold in some sort of sachet, salt, sugar, beans, veggies, you name it. You can buy sacks and be sent home with them in a sack. I would be willing to say that they could be one of the worst things to happened to the african environment. There is absolutely no education as to the ills that these bags cause in the ground. There is no trash service or recycling here, what ever you consume you must either burn or find a way to reuse, or more often than not throw is on the ground and walk away.   After you throw it on the ground, the plastic will then leak all sorts of nasty stuff, like phthalates and bisphenol A, into the ground and probably contaminate the fields that food is grown in and ground water.

Speaking of contamination! The kids that go to the elementary schools refuse to use the latrines nearby, so everytime I walk out of my concession during the school day there are a number of children in the field outside my house squatting with their pants down pooping. The last volunteer tried to educate the students about disease transmission and fecal related diseases, but i hear that latrines are dark and scary places for kids, so I guess I sort of understand why one wouldn't want to go in there. Still it is soooo wrong. The road next to my house and one that passes by the other elementary school in village smell like port-o-potties.   I guess you can build a child a latrine, but you can't necessarily make them use it…

To bring both of these issues together, with a third one, there are tons of animals that roam free here all the time. I have no idea who owns the goats, sheep, chickens, or pigs that can be found on my property at any time. I don't entirely mind. The goats eat my food scraps so they are fine by me. The problem is that these animals are often seen rooting through the piles of trash and black plastic bags that the kids have been pooping on. So we have pretty global food contamination. Michael Pollan likes to say that you are what you eat eats. Well, if I'm eating meat from my village, then I am eating trash, plastic bags, and little kids' shit. Who knew that moving to Togo would make me consider vegetarianism.

All that being said, I am a girls education volunteer… I have been going to school most days to watch an english teacher in preparation for having my own classes come January. I will be teaching two 6th grade classes totaling 120 students. I have counted a total of about 35 girls. I watched my counterpart teaching english to 11th graders and there were about 7 in a class of 50. Furthermore, there are no female teachers in my school. I don't even know if there are any in my whole village. I met a girl named Delphine on the way to school today who is in her final year of high school and wants to go to university to study medicine, if she can find the means to do so. I told her if she wants to go, she can find a way to find the means. Where there is a will there is a way. There are so many challenges to getting as far as she has, that I don't see why she should let money get in the way of studying medicine. This is the contrast. There are girls who are succeeding, its just such a small number. How do I make sure that all 30 of my students stay in school, how do I encourage more girls to continue their education? I guess we shall just have to wait and see what happens.

I'm alive

2010-11-06T15:45:00.000Z

I knew coming to Togo that internet would not be the same as in the united states, but really its worse than i thought. At least where i am currently living. Wireless internet exists in Togo, but not in my village nor in my training village.

I have spent the last 7 weeks in intensive language training and learning about the demographics and issues facing development in Togo. Last week i got to spend the week in the village where i will spend the next two years. My house has two bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, and bathoom with a toilet but no running water. I still have to shower with a bucket, and flush the toilet that way too. During the past week, i saw many of the schools in my village including the middle school where i will be teaching english. The last volunteer started an afterschool life skills program run by students and a boys basketball team that he hopes i will continue. In addition, i think i will try to start a girls team, because i am trying to work for girl's empowerment of course.

Last week also served as my initiation to Togo life. The road to my village is the worst road i have ever been on in my life; in french they say it is like stairs the pot holes are so bad. The bush taxis swerve back and forth accross the road narrowly avoiding the pot holes and eachother. The last stretch was no wider than our car and we got stuck in the mud. I waited in the van while 10 people tried to push us back out so we could try to drive back through the mud. Upon my arrival, I hopped on a moto to go to another town to watch a basketball tournament set up by volunteers. The Peace Corps team got cheated by the refs who didn't call even half of the fouls commited by the other team in the semi finals. In all Togolese basketball is a lot dirtier than I am used to.

My first night I got locked inmy bathroom. I am beyond grateful that the current volunteer happened to be there, because it was 9 at night and everyone living near me had gone to sleep. I would have been stuck there all night. As it was, we couldn't get the door open on our own and we had to find someone to come break the lock out of the door. I had visions of being stuck in there all night with the spiders and the cockroaches and our little mouse that is running around my house.

A few days later I made the questionable decision to bike 12k to our next biggest village to see the market. I would like to add that this was down hill in the sand. The whole way there I was marvelling in the beauty of the landscape and thinking how much i'm going to like living here. I realize on my way home, uphill in the searing midday heat that i have forgotten my water. I was super dehydrated and thought i might throw up everytime i started to pedal. i tried walking my bike for a while before i sat down on the side of the path. I had bought two pineapples at the marché, so i decided to pull out my leatherman and cut it open so i could suck the juice out of it. I can only imagine how crazy i must have looked to the togolese people biking by sitting in the dirt, drenched in sweat, and sucking on a pineapple with the juice running down my arms.

After a lot more walking, sitting, and the occasional bike riding, i finally made it home. i proceeded to take off all my clothes and lie down on the floor in front of the fan and cry like a baby. After about 15 minutes of that I had to clean myself up, get dressed and hop back on the bike to go sit in on an after school activity 5k away. The lesson i have taken away from this is that i need tyo start riding my bike a whole lot more if i'm going to be biking 25-35k every Wednesday. To further whip my butt into shape i will now be playing two hours of basketball every friday and saturday. Accra marathon 2011, here i come!

Please send me emails, i have tried to respond to the ones i recieve, but have been terrible about contacting those of you whom i love and miss that have to sent me messages. I'll try to update again soon with more rediculous stories!

Lomé

2010-09-22T11:25:00.000Z

I arrived in Lomé on Saturday after an extremely long and sleepless travel. I've spent the last 4 days with the my training group from 7AM until 10 to 12PM. I keep joking that I feel like I've joined a cult. In Philly, our facilitator kept saying that we are now with "our people" and the first thing we did when we arrived at the hotel was take a pill and pass it on. The pill is doxy, and its to prevent malaria, but it was still a bit un-medical in presentation. We met with the nurse practitioners the following day to receive our next month supply of malaria prophylaxis. I am now taking Mefloquine. I will also be continuing doxy until that medicine kicks in. No crazy dreams for me yet, but others in the group have had some wild ones. Coupled with the six vaccinations over the last couple days and severe lack of sleep, I am feeling quite loopy.

Training has been very interesting. We have learned all about Malaria, diarrhea, and general advise for staying healthy. The most entertaining thing is our book Staying Healthy in Togo, or more commonly referred to as the SHIT book. I have been assured that bowel movements will be a constant conversation for the next two years of my life and I need to have a sense of humor about it. I'm pretty sure I already know more about the bathroom habits of the people in my group than I do anyone else I've ever met over the age of 2.

No one has gotten sick yet, but I feel like it will start to happen this week. We leave Lomé for our training sites this afternoon. I will be stationed in Tsévié with fellow Girls Education and Empowerment volunteers. The natural resource volunteers with whom we arrived will be in the village of Gbatope. I will be staying with a Togolese family for the next several weeks and I'm really excited for this. The families have been instructed to not use any English (if they know any) and to help us integrate into Togolese culture. This however means that we will be eating the food that they cook and some of us may not take favorably to it right away.

I really like all the people in my group and the staff and our trainers have been really welcoming. I could not be happier to be in Togo right now. I'm actually shocked at how little culture shock I have had so far, but I also know that I have been shielded from a lot so far. The upcoming weeks of my home stay and my subsequent arrival in my post village shall prove to be a very interesting cross cultural experience. Right now I just feel like I am on vacation in Central America.

So much has happened in the last few days that it is hard to know how to describe where I am and what I have seen. Lomé is on the beach and the climate is quite similar to Costa Rica. It is very humid and very hot. We have been consuming liter upon liter of water each day and I never really feel like it is enough. No one really goes to the beach except for fishermen, but it is still pretty. The roads are mostly dirt and with the rain it is quite an adventure to be driven even three blocks away. Motorcycles are the most prominent vehicles on the road and it is quite common to see a family of three riding one together. Trying to avoid the puddles when walking around is even more of a challenge, some roads cannot be crossed after it has rained. I haven't taken as many pictures here as I would have liked, but hopefully I'll be able to attach a link to a blog of another volunteer that has done a better job. I will have electricity in Tsévié, so hopefully I will be able to blog again soon. I miss you all!

On my way!

2010-09-16T15:32:00.000Z

In case anyone is wondering what packing for 2.25 yeas is like, here is my interpretation. I have about twice as much stuff as the girl I'm now sharing a room with in Philadelphia. Typical. I must have looked so comical at the airport wearing my big backpack on my back, my little backpack on my front, pulling the two suitcases connected on my left and the surfboard on my right. Thank god for webbing! My mom kept telling me that I should get a luggage cart, but I was determined to be able to move it all myself.

What the hell is in those bags you ask?

Eton Solarlink500
Solar battery charger for rechargeable batteries
Thermarest sleeping pad
GSI Dualist
Yoga mat
Computer
Camera
Flat sheet
pillow
pack towel
running shoes
hiking boots
Chakos
flip flops
5 t-shits
7 tank tops
4 pairs of pants
3 pairs of shorts
5 nice shirts
3 skirts
3 light sweaters
socks
lots and lots of underwear
surfboard
surfwax
ding repair
books
headlamp
toiletries

I'm sure I'm bringing plenty of stuff that I will discover is useless, but what can you do. So as I mentioned before, I am now in Philadelphia. I start orientation today at 12:30 and tomorrow evening I will hop on a plane to Togo. I'm super excited. I have no idea what lies ahead and could not be more ready to find out. :)

More Information!

2010-09-14T14:23:00.000Z

When I arrived at my parents house I had this romantic idea that I would pack right away and spend a leisurely week visiting friends and enjoying time with my family. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I have a penchant for procrastination and am a deplorable over-packer. 11 days after I have arrived, and 1 day until I depart for staging, I have finally packed my bags. I am over my 80lb weight limit, but I am hoping that because US Air and Delta only seem to charge fees if any single bag is over 50 lbs that I can follow their rules and not the PC packing guidelines.

The last week has been full of emails and information from my country desk. I now know that upon arrival I will spend roughly a week in Lomé before spending 11 weeks in the village of Tsévié for training. It sounds like only volunteers for Girls Education and Empowerment will be training in this village, which amounts to 6 of us. My subsequent two years will most likely be spent as the sole volunteer in whichever village I am placed in.

I am both excited to embark on this journey that I started working towards over a year ago, stressed out by what I still need to get done, and a little nervous about what to expect once I am in Togo. I have already begun to find humor in the stress of leaving. I have filled out countless forms, spent more hours than I would have liked shopping for dresses and skirts that cover my knees and shoulders, and read every blog I could find by PCVs already serving in Togo. I have also dropped my phone in a cup of coffee and I need to go to the DMV to replace the title to my car, as I accidentally tried to sign it over instead of my last car when it sold. Apparently you can't use white out on an auto title. I can only imagine that in a week, I will be so overwhelmed and excited by my new life that I may even forget how worried I was about what to bring and what to get done prior to departure.

Letter to family and friends from the Peace Corps

2010-09-08T15:13:00.000Z

Dear Families,

Greetings from the Togo Desk in Washington, D.C. It is with great pleasure that we welcome your family member to the Togo training program. Over the years we have received many questions from Volunteers and family members alike regarding travel plans, sending money, relaying messages and mail, etc. As we are unable to involve ourselves in the personal arrangements of Volunteers, we would like to offer you advice and assistance in advance by providing specific examples of situations and how we suggest they be handled.

1. Irregular Communication. (Please see #3 for the mailing address to Peace Corps' office in Lomé the capital of Togo). The mail service in Togo is not as efficient as the U.S. Postal Service. Thus, it is important to be patient. It can take from three to four weeks for mail coming from Togo to arrive in the United States via the Togolese mail system. From a Volunteer’s post, mail might take up to one to two months to reach the United States depending upon how far the Volunteer is from the capital city, Lomé. Sometimes mail is hand carried to the States by a traveler and mailed through the U.S. postal system. This leg of the trip can take another several weeks as it is also dependent on the frequency of travelers to the U.S.

We suggest that in your first letters, you ask your Volunteer family member to give an estimate of how long it takes for him or her to receive your letters and then try to establish a predictable pattern of how often you will write to each other. Also try numbering your letters so that the Volunteer knows if he or she missed one. Postcards should be sent in envelopes--otherwise they may be found on the wall of the local post office.

Peace Corps Togo has established “The Lomé Limo” which runs up and down the country monthly, delivers mail, medical supplies, and sometimes volunteers or staff to central sites along the national road.

Volunteers often enjoy telling their “war” stories when they write home. Letters might describe recent illnesses, lack of good food, isolation, etc. While the subject matter is often good reading material, it is often misinterpreted on the home front. Please do not assume that if your family member gets sick that he or she has not been attended to. The city of Lomé has medical and dental facilities, and there is a Peace Corps Medical Officer there as well. Most Volunteers can reach Lomé in less than one day’s time. Many Volunteers also have access to a telephone so that they can call our Medical Office. In the event of a serious illness the Volunteer is sent to Lomé and is cared for by our Medical Unit. If the Volunteer requires medical care that is not available in Togo, he/she will be medically evacuated to South Africa or to the United States. Fortunately, such circumstances are very rare.

If for some reason your communication pattern is broken and you do not hear from your family member for at least one month, you should contact the Office of Special Services (OSS) at Peace Corps in Washington at 1-800-424-8580, extension 1470 (or direct: 202-692-1470). The OSS will then call the Peace Corps Director in Lomé, and ask her to check up on the Volunteer. Also, in the case of an emergency at home (death in the family, sudden illness, etc.), please do not hesitate to call OSS immediately, so that the Volunteer can be informed by a member of Peace Corps/Togo staff.

2. Telephone Calls. The telephone system in Togo has fairly reliable service to the United States. In the interior of the country, where most of our Volunteers are located, the system is less reliable. Most Volunteers have access to a telephone in or nearby their site.

When dialing direct to Togo from the U.S., dial 011 (the international access code) + 228 (the country code) + the number. Volunteers generally set up phone calls with people in the U.S. in advance, and have the distant party call them, which is much less expensive than calling the U.S. from Togo. Many volunteers decide to purchase cellphones once they arrive in Togo, but they may not always have regular reception at their site.

The Togo Desk in Washington, D.C. usually calls the Peace Corps office in Lomé at least once a week. However, these calls are reserved for business only and we cannot relay personal messages over the phone. If you have an urgent message, however, and have exhausted your other means (regarding travel plans, etc.), you can call the Desk, and the message will be relayed.

3. Sending Packages. Parents and Volunteers like to send and receive care packages through the mail. Unfortunately, sending packages can be a frustrating experience for all involved due the high incidence of theft and heavy customs taxes. You may want to send inexpensive items through the mail, but there is no guarantee that these items will arrive. We do not recommend, however, that costly items be sent through the mail. Even though many Volunteers sometimes choose to get local post office boxes, you may always use the following address to send letters and/or packages to your family member:

                Kim Garshol, PCV
                Corps de la Paix
                B.P. 3194
                Lomé, Togo
               West Africa

It is recommended that packages be sent in padded envelopes if possible, as boxes tend to be taxed more frequently. Packages can be sent via surface mail (2-3 weeks arrival time) or by ship (4-6 months). The difference in cost can be a factor in deciding which method to utilize. For lightweight but important items (e.g. airline tickets), DHL (an express mail service) does operate in Lomé, but costs are very expensive. If you choose to send items through DHL, you must address the package to the Country Director, s/c Corps de la Paix, 48 Rue de Rossignols, Quartier Kodjoviakopé, Lomé, Togo. The telephone number for the Peace Corps office in Togo is (228) 221-0614, should DHL need this information. If you send the item to the Country Director, no liability can be assumed. For more information about DHL, please call their toll free number, 1-800-CALL-DHL, or visit their web site at www.dhl.com.   Please be aware that there is a customs fee for all DHL packages sent to Volunteers. For each DHL package, the Volunteer will be taxed 10,000 CFA (roughly US$20).

Sending airplane tickets and/or cash is not recommended. Certain airlines will allow you to buy a prepaid ticket in the States; they will telex their Lomé office to have the ticket ready. Unfortunately, this system is not always reliable. Many airlines (e.g., KLM, Air France, Ghana Airways, Air Togo) fly into Lomé or Accra, but each has its own policy on pre-paid tickets. Please call the airline of your choice for more information. You could also send tickets via DHL as mentioned previously. However, Peace Corps will assume no liability in the event of a lost/stolen airline ticket.

Trying to send cash or airline tickets is very risky and is discouraged. If your Volunteer family member requests money from you, it is his/her responsibility to arrange receipt of it. Some Volunteers use Western Union, which has an office in Lomé. Volunteers will also be aware of people visiting the States and can request that they call his/her family when they arrive in the States should airline tickets need to be sent back to Togo.

4. E-mail. There is fairly reliable e-mail service in Togo with cyber cafes in most large towns. Connections can be very slow and time consuming as well as costly. E-mail, however, may become the preferred method of communication between you and your family member in Togo. Not all Volunteers have access to e-mail on a daily basis but they should be able to read and send messages at least once a month. As with other means of communication, do not be alarmed if you do not receive daily or weekly messages. Unless in Lomé at the office, Volunteers have to pay for internet time at cyber cafes and this can be a slow or expensive process depending on the connection at the café.

We hope this information is helpful to you during the time your family member is serving as
a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo

Frequently Asked Questions

2010-09-08T07:09:00.001Z

I've made it as far as my parents house in one trip. I spent this past weekend with my girls from Grenoble, celebrating the marriage of two wonderful people. I love all the new life changes going on around me as I prepare for my own. We are all on our own journey, just going different places.

So now that I am at home and less stressed out, I thought I would take this opportunity to answer some questions that I have been asked by most of the people I've talked to in the last week. In true Peace Corps style, I don't have answers to many of the questions I have been asked...

Where will I live?

I will not find out what village will be my home for two years until part way through staging. I don't even know where my training village is located. I do know that I will arrive in Lomé, the capital of Togo, on the 18th of September. I will train for approximately 11 weeks before spending two years in my village.

As far as living conditions are concerned our handbook states:

Volunteers in Togo are provided housing as part of the community’s contribution to their work. Most Togo Volunteers live in villages in a two- or three-room house, most likely in a compound with a Togolese family. Some Volunteer houses have tin roofs; a few have straw roofs. It is unlikely that you
will have running water or electricity, although they are more common in larger city posts. Water sources in villages can be traditional wells, bore-holes equipped with pumps, cisterns, and natural water sources—in some cases, rivers. Whatever your source of drinking water, you will have to treat it
before use.

What will my job be?

YOUR PRIMARY DUTIES
The goals of the Girls' Education and Development project are:
1. Girls (students or apprentices) together with boys (students or apprentices) will increase their knowledge and will develop personal skills that contribute to their successful completion of school or professional training and will be empowered to participate in their communities.
2. Formal and non-formal educators will create positive environments for the promotion of girls' education in collaboration with boys.
3. Organizations will contribute to the development of their communities through the promotion of education and empowerment of girls in collaboration with boys and the development of financial and human resources.
4. The communities and community based organizations will be actively engaged in the campaign to increase the enrollment and retention rates of girls in schools and apprenticeship centers. Communities will use local and external resources to support gender equity in families, community organizations, schools and cooperative groups.

By the end of the first year, you should be collaborating with your counterpart(s) in implementing at least two of the following activities: Village Savings & Loan programs, to help families improve their incomes so that they could better support the education of their children, especially their girls; Training of families on gender issues to encourage them to provide the same opportunities for both boys and girls regarding their education; Tutoring and other activities such as training in study skills aimed at improving the performance of girls in the classroom; A teacher/apprentice supervisor training on gender equity and life skills; Organization and co-facilitation of at least one club; School vacation enterprise program to help girls to meet their financial needs during the school year.

Do I get paid?
Not a whole lot, but i've been assured that my $285 monthly salary will be sufficient to live comfortably by Togolese standards. :)

If anyone has any burning questions, feel free to ask! Also, please feel free to send me mail!

Moving Once, Moving Twice and Surfing in Togo?

2010-09-01T23:40:00.000Z

I'm down to two weeks until my departure for Staging, and subsequently Togo. However, because I am spending my last 10 days with my parents, I have to be move ready in three days. As I have been packing and repacking, I am most stressed out about what I'm going to forget and what I should be getting rid of. Will it all fit in my car? Thank god I've been able to sell most of my furniture. As much as reading packing lists helps, how can I really know what I need and what I want until I am there? So for now the boxes are piling up and I'll probably have to go through and thin them out if I don't want to have to drive back to Los Angeles next week.

I have managed to avoid thinking of most things practical to bring up to this point. I ordered a short wave radio, solar battery charger, and rechargeable batteries today. I'm hoping that they arrive at my parents house before I fly out for staging. I have, however, done a stellar job of thinking about frivolous purchases! I sold both of my surfboards and bought a new one, which then meant I had to think of things like spare leashes, an extra set of fins, ding repair, and how long 8 bars of tropical wax will last me. Let alone will I even get to surf?

I went hemmed and hawed over the decision to bring a board and it was finally decided after asking the question "Would it be worse to have a board and not be able to surf, or to be able to surf and not have a board?" When I surveyed my friends, the answer was unanimous that it would be far worse to be without a board. I also did some research into West African surf and found a surf shop in Ghana called the Black Star Surf Shop. I contacted the owner (a RPCV from Bolivia) and he agreed that I should bring a board and maybe find a way to teach Togolese people how to surf and offered to help anyway he could.

So in my aspiration statement I discussed what surfing means to me and how I think it has been a powerful tool for the youth in Stoked Mentoring. The Surf Mentor curriculum teaches a sense of community, trust, healthy risk taking, and fosters environmental stewardship. With any luck this could land me in a beach community, but for all I know I could end up 20 hours away by bush taxi. At the end of the day, I did not join the Peace Corps to surf, I joined to help make a difference in the lives of others. If I can share surfing through this experience that will be amazing, but I am certain that my time in Togo will be life changing regardless.

Endings and Beginnings

2010-08-23T03:00:00.001Z

Yesterday was my last day at ZJ Boarding House, Wednesday will be my last day with Stoked Mentoring, and Friday should be my last day working for the family. I can't believe how time is flying by! My furniture is making its way out of my apartment and into the hands of craigslistsers at a steady trickle and I've started to pack my stuff intp boxes. Trying to prepare to leave for 27 months is definitely a challenge.

Packing itself is going to be an interesting thing. I feel like I have no appropriate clothes for a place where I am expected to cover my shoulders and knees. Who cares about not having water or electricity, I can't wear any of my shorts? I think I am just going to bring a minimal amount of clothes and embrace my new home. Get ready to see me wearing lots of random African prints! The only thing I have purchased thus far for my trip is a surfboard. I don't know how irrational this is, but I've had a few people assure me that it would be worse to not have a board and be able to surf than the other way around. Then I had to start thinking about things like how much wax I need for two and a half years, ding repair, and extra leashes. It makes me feel like I have thus far neglected to think about what other things I will be needed for the time I am away.

Two weeks from now I am leaving Los Angeles and will be spending time in the Bay Area. It is so surreal, but it will be so nice to spend time with my family and friends before I leave. I am super excited that I have a few friends that want to visit me in Philadelphia for my final send off. Thank you Steve and Ashley! Its crazy to think that in less than a month I will be living in a village in Africa, but this is what I wanted and I could not be more excited for all the changes to come.

I accepted my invitation!

2010-08-10T06:18:00.001Z

Dying with anticipation, I knew all day that my shiny blue envelope was waiting for me at home. My suspicions were confirmed when I tore it open to find my assignment was for Girls Education and Empowerment in Togo, leaving September 16th. I could not be more excited!

I am now overwhelmed with all that I have to accomplish before my departure date. Packing, selling anything I can, spending time with friends and family, there will never be enough time. I feel as if I am going to blink and then I will find myself in country, surrounded by new people and immersed once again in French language.

Tonight I am fighting the urge to fill out all of my paper work and start packing immediately and just enjoy that my life will be amazingly different six weeks from now...

The Invitation is in the Mail!

2010-08-08T02:31:00.000Z

Its amazing how much patience one must exercise as a Peace Corps Nominee. I waited 10 months for medical and legal clearance. I was notified of my invitation when I had really lost all hope, and now I'm still waiting for it to come in the mail so that I will know what country I am going to and when I leave. The suspense is killing me!

I have a bad habit of trying to speculate what information will come my way. I changed my mind dozens of times in regard to whether or not I would receive medical clearance. For a while I had decided that there was no way I would be invited to a program until January. Then out of nowhere I've got medical and legal clearance. By the time I was finally notified of my invitation on Friday, I had ruled out the chances of a September departure, but lo and behold I am about to receive an invitation in the mail that could send me to Togo or Cameroon in September. It could also send me anywhere in the world at any time, but we shall wait and see.

I am delighted about the opportunity on my horizon, yet terrified of the work that has to be done before I leave, and very sad to know that I will miss out on so many important events in the lives of my friends and family. I can not yet begin to comprehend how different my life will be. I will be surrounded by strangers, speaking a language that is not my own, working to help those less fortunate that I am. And so the adventure begins. Its probably time to pack, sell, and donate the remaining fragments of my life here and open my mind for the craziness that will be the few years of my life...