Life in Togo as a PCV

December 6, 2011

 My wonderful Dad figured out why the blog site wouldn’t let me on so now I can occasionally update this blog and let you all know how I’m doing. The 14^th, I will have been in Togo for three months. It’s hard to believe. Right now I’m in my regional capital Atapkame (a-ta-pa-me) at the transit house for a couple of days. I have to come here to do my banking and it’s nice to have electricity, showers, and internet. Plus, the food is awesome here (by that I mean street food). There are a couple of nicer restaurants like George’s (who apparently has grilled cheese) and then there is the street food. The most common of which is beans and rice. I can get that in my village. Then there are the meat vendors. Your buy a loaf of bread from the bread girl and give it to the meat guys and they’ll make you a sandwich. I personally don’t eat these since I got sick that one time after eating one when I was in Tsevie. Then there is the egg-sandwich guy not far from the transit house. They are amazing. Finally, there is street salad. The woman here in Atapkame has her system down. Its made up to spaghetti noodles, lettuce, onion, beets, bell peppers, hard boiled egg, tuna, and to top it all off mayo and vinegar. Delicious, and more veggies than I’ve had in weeks. Its enough for two meals all for 500 cfa (about one dollar us).  

Enough about Atapkame, I’m sure everyone is curious about my village. Asrama is great. I live in a medium sized village without electricity or running water. There is a lycee (high school) which smaller villages don’t have. There is also a marché day (Monday). Though even on marché days what I can buy for food is pretty lean. I can get onions, tomatoes, okra, bananas, oranges, rice, eggs, and pasta. Notsé is my closest big city and it’s a 45 min motorcycle ride away. There are two bars in ville where I can buy cold soda, which is amazing after a long hot day.

I have a great homologue Mr. Akpo. His English is very good so we end up speaking a lot of franglais (French and English). We talk about America and the differences between here and the US. It’s strange some of the misinformation there is in Africa about the United States. For example, most people here think that New York is the capital. My host family (the family who lives next door) are great also. I pay their son, Fumiko (not sure if that’s how you spell it) to get my water, which I keep in a huge trash can. I’ve started going to the lycee and watching English classes. Right now I’m getting to know my village and will start adding work over time.

In January, I have IST, more training for technical information. Stage was an introduction and language intensive. It’s important to get a firm base of French in order to communicate. My French has come a long way, but it’s still difficult to communicate. I will be getting tutored in village by my homologue’s wife who knows French and English. I’ll be learning Adja, the local language, with my homologue. So far I only know a few phrases in Adja, but I would like to by the end of my two years be able to communicate in local language. There are many languages in Togo and they correspond to ethnicity's. The people of my village are Adja people. It’s actually a language mostly spoken in Benin. The big languages are Ewe (spoken in the south), Mina, and Kabyé (spoken in the North). Adja and Ewe are in the same language family so there are a lot of similarities between them. Similar to how French and Spanish share the same roots and some words are the same.  

My house in Asrama. The two small tubs are my dish washing station (I know super fancy) and the trash  bin is where I store my water. To the right towards the back is my latrine/show area.

A different angle of my house. You can just see my bathroom. As you can see I have a tin roof. Its not huge, but its home

My dog Swarley

Swarley again. He's too cute for words. 

Asrama? (Oct 5)

Asrama

Oct 5

What’s that? Asrama is my home for the next two years. It is in the Plateaux region of the country. It’s a medium sized village with a lycee (school). There is no running water or electricity in my post. I will be living in a family compound with my own house, which is provided for by the community. The house also comes with a dog, which makes me ecstatic. The current volunteer, who is leaving in November, is not bringing his dog back to the states so I don’t have to look for a dog. There is a weekly marche (Market) in Asrama on Mondays so I won’t have to travel for that, which is great. For everything else I would have to go to the next large town for mail and such, which is Notse. The main local language is Adja. The best thing about this village is how committed the chief is to Girl’s Education.

Typical Day in Stage (Sept 30)

September 30

So what’s a typical day like for me?

Well I wake up at six every morning and then take a bucket bath. What’s a bucket bath? Well you have a bucket, fill it with water (cold) and take a sort of sponge bath. For a “sponge” the Togolese use long color fabric in a fishnet design. It works as a great scrubber and this is what I use. Then I dress and eat. Breakfast is either eggs with diced tomatoes and onion on top or oatmeal.

Language is typically first thing in the morning and starts at 7:30 and lasts until 9:30. I get an half-hour break followed by another class starting at 10:00. This class is typically technical (i.e. doing my job like learning about teaching life skills etc) or bike. Lunch is from 12:00-2:30 and we always eat at our host house. Then we have the last session which might be more technical training or a TDA. What’s a TDA? It’s a teacher directed activity such as going to the market and buying something. This lasts from 2:30-5:30.

After we’re finished with our formal training those of us who need it get extra one-on-one tutoring. If we don’t have that then most of us go to the local bar, “Albetros” or “Merciful God Bar Dancing”, for a coke or sportactif (a lemony drink with electrolytes which is great when you’re dehydrated). Dinner is typically six or sevenish. Once I finish eating I typically watch TV with my host momma (usually French soap-operas, but I was able to convince her once to watch the show Castle with me). She loves to watch the obituary channel a lot. By eight I’m in my room studying French under my mosquito net (or watching a movie . . . okay usually watching a movie).

I go to sleep at 10:00 or 9:30. Its difficult falling asleep because there is no sound barrier and its so noisy. I always put in ear plugs or it’s impossible. Plus, it’s really hot at first. It takes a while to cool down to where it’s comfortable.

So that’s the basics on a typical day for me!

Talk to you later!

Some Notes on Togolese Culture (September 28)

September 28, 2011

Some notes on culture observations:

Never use your left hand in Togo because it’s used for other things. This is especially hard for me being left handed. I have to relearn how to do everything with my right hand (especially eating).

When entering a house for the first time you always share a drink of water. Upon entering my host families house this was the first thing my host mother did with me. Its good luck.

Togolese do not look at each other in the eye when talking to one another.

Hold your right hand out palm facing down. Then snap your fingers down until they touch the bottom of your palm. Repeat this process a few times very quickly. You just made the universal Togolese sign for “come here”.

If you want to compliment someone’s clothing ask for it. For example “Give me your skirt!” This is a compliment in Togo. However, you have to be careful on this one because sometimes it’s not a compliment, but they’re actually asking you for something.

Children will call you yovo (White person) where ever you go and sing a wonderful song to accompany it. Also, babies who can’t even say “Mama” know how to mumble the yovo song. I’ve witnessed this a few times.

Togolese during the afternoon break will sleep everywhere and anywhere. I’ve seen several people sleep on top of their motorcycles like a bed (horizontally). It amazes me that they can balance like that.

There are no rules of the road except get out of the way.

Togolese hate to give change. Coins are more precious than bills here. Not sure why.

If you’re stopping by for a visit and they are eating then the Togolese will insist you eat with them.  

Togolese love to say “eh-hen” while in American we say uh-hum.

Every morning at 4am the Togolese women wake up and immediately sweep their house with a bali (broom). Their broom is not like our broom at all. There is no stick and it’s just a bundle of thin bending twigs of the same length tied by string.

When you are new everyone in the community looks out for you. I’ve had strangers help me so much here. The Togolese are just so happy to go out of their way to help you if they can.

Salutations a very important to the Togolese. Most of the time when I’m walking people greet me with “Bon arrive” or welcome and also welcome home. Not everyone greets each other on the street (it’s not necessary. Just the people who you make contact with). I say hello to everyone, “bon jour” or “bon soir” and it makes people’s whole face light up. 

I will post more cultural observations later.

Tsevie Photos

Photos from Tsevie

View from main rue in Tsevie

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This picture amuses me especially the goat at the top

Where we have class

Women wearing pagne. The clothing here is pretty colorful

Picture (a bad one) of a nicer togolese school

Austen trying to feed the super-pregnant goat leaves. Pretty common sight here in Togo. This picture is at Albetros the bar we went to after a long day of classes.

Marche (September 26th)

Monday September 26^th

Today we went as a group to the marché (market) as a learning exorcise and to get our feet wet so to speak. Our language professors came with us as a safety net, because the marché is intimidating at first. The marché is an outdoor market comprised of many open stalls in a maze without rhyme or reason. Women are mostly the sellers in the marché. The men who are venders are selling electronics, hardware, or sunglasses. Women sell everything else.  

We split up into small groups with our trainers to buy some things. A few of us wanted to get pagnes (cloth) so we stopped at a small stall where the woman sold a wide variety. They were arranged by quality and color. The bottom row is the cheaper pagne and the top row is the most expensive. I’m looking forward to having some traditional clothes made so buying pagne is the first step.

The woman first wanted $8,000 CFA per pagne and we knew this was way expensive (about $14  US dollars). This is what is known as the yovo (white person) price. Luckily we knew better. Three of us (Bryanna, Justin, and I) negotiated with her back and forth until the price was $3500 for two pagnes (which is an excellent price). I love the patterns of the cloth here; bold patterns and colors.

After that Bryanna and I went with my language teacher, Christian to buy buckets. Buckets are extrememely useful in Togo. There are few showers so you take bucket baths (Sort of like a sponge bath). You also use buckets to wash clothes (I already had one so now I have two). I paid $650 CFA (about $1.30).

When I was at the marché I made an interesting observation. When the Togolese are talking to each other they do not look directly in each other’s eyes. After returning from the marché I asked the language trainers about this. They said in Togolese culture it is rude to look someone directly when speaking to them. This is something that we should keep that in mind when we get to our posts or are at the marché.

It was a great day! marché  

Photos From Lome September

Some photos from Lome when I first got here (Sept 17-19)

Here we're walking to the Bureau from the Hotel Galion

Hotel Rovita enjoying a meal together

Hotel Galion

Chickens and goats, oh my (September 25th)

September 25^th

There are a lot of chickens and goats in Togo. They go where they please. When riding my bike I have to we watchful to swerve around goats since they’re not always quick to get out of the way.

 I still love being in Togo. Its just so different from anything I’ve ever known.

So I survived my first week here in Tsèvie. Today we had the day off, which was nice. In town there is a hotel called Hotel Melissa that has a pool that you can swim in for the day for 1,000 CFA (or 2 US dollars). We all had a blast (and got burnt to a crisp despite putting on globs of sun-block). It was great to be able to sit and talk and just relax (and cool off).

After the pool the owner of a local night club invited us to come check out the place for free. It’s interesting going to a club at four o’clock. I love dancing so I had a ton of fun. The Togolese dancing style is much like the people here (anything goes). There are very loose and fluid in their motions. Overall, it’s was another fantastic day in Togo.

Tomorrow, we’re going on a field trip to le marche (market). Some of us have already been, but I haven’t. There is a lot I need for buy for my post visit. During week five we stay at our post to get a feel for the place, find out what we need, and meet our counterparts. I can’t wait to find out where my post will be.