School Improvment Project

It has been a busy few months here for me in Togo. I have just finished up several “Men As Partners” projects and have been out of my village a lot. I am back in Asrama now and we have organized a community committee to develop a fundraiser for a school improvement project through the Peace Corps Partnership Program. I feel strongly about this project because I know without a doubt that it will help my school and especially my students. Working the past school year as a teacher allowed me to see the realities and challenges facing the school. Asrama is a poor community and struggles to do the best it can for their children’s education. What this project strives to do is create an ideal learning environment for the students, giving them the opportunity to expand their knowledge and improve their lives through education.

The project’s goals are to obtain funding for math, English, science textbooks and the purchase of six quality chalkboards. The other aspect of this project is the community contribution. For example, the Parent Teachers Association is in the process of purchasing fifty new student desks. In addition, plans are in place to utilize volunteer carpenters to build bookshelves to house the new textbooks and repair broken student desks. The students themselves are heavily involved and will be growing and planting trees that will provide shade to the school’s courtyard as well as conducting a school wide clean up day, and covering the new text books to protect them.

This project will greatly improve the condition of our school. These children are tomorrow’s leaders of Togo and my village is committed to giving them the best possible education. I hope anyone reading this will consider making a donation. If you decide to donate you will be investing in the students, the “Future of Togo”. I am so excited and thankful for all the people that have so willing contributed to our cause so far. I just heard that my elementary school I attended, Saint Mary’s Star of the Sea in Hampton, Virginia has organized a candy fundraiser to help. Wow! On behalf of my community, I thank you!

To donate follow this link or if you would prefer to send it by mail see below:

Donate Online:

https://donate.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=13-693-002

Donate By Mail:
Send a check to: (include project number 13-693-002 in the memo)

Peace Corps Headquarters
Office of Gifts and Grants Management
1111 20th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20526
Please include the following form with your donation: http://files.peacecorps.gov/multimedia/pdf/donors/Peace_Corps_Donation_Form.pdf

Men as Partners

 

So I’ve just completed my first big project as a Peace Corps volunteer. I organized and implemented a formation for the teachers of my canton on the concept of Men as Partners. It was at my PDM (a week long training for volunteers and their homologues) back in April that I decided one of the projects I wanted to do was a Men as Partners (MAP) formation.

So, what’s MAP? Basically the concept is that you cannot implement change without first having the men onboard. I could talk to girls about going to school or women about the importance of self-confidence, but if their fathers and husbands are against it then you’ll get nowhere. Men as Partners does what the name says; it trains men to be partners to their wives, mothers, daughters to improve their lives and the community.  

My predecessor did a MAP formation with another volunteer. There were not that many people from our area who were trained since the participants were divided between the two areas. When I first arrived to village I spoke with several of the attendees and none of them had done anything with their MAP training.

I think the biggest obstacle from them was that they were unsure how to actually use the information they received. They came from so many spears (farmers, patrons, teachers, health care professionals, and businessmen) that it was impossible to give them concrete ideas on how to use MAP in their sectors and community. I chose to train teachers because the school system is very organized and if the higher ups are involved then the teachers are obligated to utilize the information they received. So, I concentrated on teachers from the various villages of my canton. 

First, I planned the program alongside my homologue Mr. Hankpada. I developed a budget and filled out the SPA (Small Projects Assistance) grant. I received approval for my project in July and from there it was go go go to plan this huge event.

I had to negotiate with the hotel, plan the schedule, write invitation letters, choose trainers, make copies of the manual, buy all the supplies (folders, pens, flipcharts, tape . . .), and print certificates. I also made trips to each village I was inviting to my formation to speak with the Director. I explained what MAP consisted of and how it would beneficial to their school. Additionally, we discussed that as a part of sending a teacher to this formation I expected upon their return that they would instruct the others teachers on MAP.

(Each participant recieved a folder, notebook, pen, name tag, program, and a copy of Leve-toi la jeune fille (a magazine made my Peace Corps Gender and Development Committee)

 

 

(Certificate for one of my organizors. All the formateurs and participants all recieved certificates)

 

My canton is made up of 42 villages with Asrama as the center of the canton. I invited every school in my canton to send two teachers (seven villages in total). I also invited teachers from the four schools in Notse the city I held my formation. There were a total of 15 participants and I had six trainers. Also, since I am now considered a second year volunteer I hosted two new volunteers (Emily and Kelsey) who were observing my formation as a part of our shadowing program.

We did the following sessions: Learning about Gender, Act Like a Man (concerns how society dictates what we view as the proper “behavior” and concepts of what it means to be a man and woman), Looking at Oppression, Caring for Oneself: “Men, Gender, and Health”, Effective Communication, Sexual Consent, Sexual Harassment, Healthy and Unhealthy Relationships, HIV and AIDS Myths and Facts, HIV and AIDS Prevention, and What is Violence?

(Madame Rose talking to the participents about the importance of Men as Partners)

 

(The session for Learning about Gender which Emily the new volunteer did with one of my Togolese formateurs. This game demonstrates gender inequality. So you form two teams one representing women and the other men. The "women" carry a baby on their back, a bucket for fetching water, a book for school, and a broom to swep. These things symbolize all the work grils have to do. The boys have a machetti to farm and a book for school Its a relay race to show to inequality of work distribution).

 

(Emily and Bikore leading their session Learning about Gender. Bikore is a teacher from my Lycee who was just moved to Wahalla)

 

(Kelsey and my homologue Hankpada doing their session called Act Like a Man, which discusses how society decides the ideas of what men and women should do and how they should behave themselves. It also coveres how that could possibly lead to problems)

 

(Participants doing group work. The formateur standing on the left is Sama and was a homologue in Glei for a COSed volunteer Jes)

 

(Me and Mr. Perry who was a hologue of Jes from her village. He was a great formateur and has done a lot of work with PCVs. Right now we're singing a song to get people moving a little before starting our sessions)

 

 

 

(Alphonse s the one in green. He's one of my friends and he also teaches English in Notse. Next to him is Bikore. They are leading a session about the Mythsand Realities of HIV/AIDS)

 

(Sama and Hankpada leading a session on sexual consent and sexual harrassment)

 

 

(Im teaching a session about animation techiniques to the participants)

 

The formation went wonderfully. There were no problems and I had wonderful participants who were really engaged in the formation. My trainers also did a fabulous job preparing for the formation and preparing their séances. I couldn’t be more pleased with how everything turned out. I had each school make a concrete action plan on how they are going to implement MAP in their schools. I will be doing follow up to see how they are progressing with their work.

(The formateurs for my left formation. Top left to right: Akpo, Hankapda, Bikore, Sama, and Alphonse. Bottom: Perry and Me)

 

Hobbies

It’s not uncommon for Peace Corps volunteers to pick up a new hobby. Some people learn to play the guitar others taking up biking or trying to reach a certain number of books read. My new hobby came to me out of sheer desperation. I’d been in country for about five months. I was in Atapkame doing banking and enjoying some time with the finer things in life (aka electricity). I’d been craving cookies, chocolate chip cookies to be exact.

I’m no stranger to the kitchen, and I’ve been a good cook for a long time. Baking, however, just never interested me. After all, I could buy delicious baked goods practically anywhere in the states. Sweets are just not something Togolese like very much. Chocolate can only be found in regional capitals in what we call “yovo stores”.  Still, it didn’t mean I couldn’t bake my own cookies.

When I first was sent off to my village Peace Corps gave out these cookbooks. They are from scratch recipes created by volunteers with ingredients that are possible to get a hold of in Togo. The cookbook is called “Where there is no Whopper”, and have been a good friend to me.

I’ve enjoyed learning to bake in Atapkame and sharing the goodies with my fellow volunteers. I’ve made cookies of all kinds (peanut butter, oatmeal raisin, and chocolate chip). In all I’ve also made pizza, cinnamon rolls, brownies, mango bread, pineapple upside-down cake, and poppy bread.

Below are some photos of the goodies I’ve made over the last year.

Poppy Cake

Pinapple upside-down cake

Its amazing what having a toaster oven and a dry goods blender can do to make things easier. As you can see from time to time I get to make yummy treats to enojy. So I'm not suffering too bad here in Togo.

Camp Unite

I’ve talked about Camp Unite before in the past and on facebook. So . . . what is it exactly?  Camp Unite is a camp that Peace Corps holds during summer vacation. Volunteers nominate apprentices and students to attend a week long intense training where they learn subjects like gender equality, self-confidence, facts/myths about HIV/AIDS, relationships and abstinence, income generating activities, sexual harassment, puberty/adolescence, and child trafficking. 

I was so excited to have had the  opportunity to nominate some of Asrama's high school students and apprentices. The students/apprentices fill out an application which included an essay. Then myself, the school principal and the syndicate president reviewed the applications and sent out nominations  Asrama was fortunate enough to have a total of 8 kids accepted to go to summer camps.  We were thrilled!

 Here a few pictures that highlight the week of the  camp I worked in.

In this picture I am answering questions in a class teaching the boys about Sexual Harrasement.

 

Paggie is a sorceror who challenges the boys and interrogates them on the days  lessons.

 

We divided the participants into teams of colors and they complete a challenge (think challenge course at American camps).  

First Challenge: Cross the river in the same boat.  The boys were given two boards with string and they had to figure out how to  travel from one side to the other with all nine of them.

 

 

Second Challenge: Fire and escaping through a window

Third Challenge: Removing the bucket from the fire ant circle without touching the ground.

 

We have a culture night where the participants performed local songs and dances that are traditional to the different ethnic groups.  This is me and my building dancing a traditional EWE dance for Culture Night.

                                        

The boys also go to a nearby community and do skits for them teaching about the various subjects they learned throughout the week.  My group's skit was the importance of girls education and unwanted pregnancy.  The boy doing the skit on unwanted pregancy is wearing the pregancy pad. Throughout the week every boy had to wear the pregnancy pad for one hour

 

Another picture of my group performing their skit.

Here is a picture of the four apprentices that we sent from my village, Asrama (The boy behind me snuck in the picture. He is not from Asrama.) 

Our goal was to motivate the youth here so they will go back into  their communities and share their knowledge with others. We encouraged them  to be good role models . Basically, we empowered the boys to make positive change in their lives. Peace Corps Togo had an impact!

Unity is one of our most successful endeavors in Togo. I have seen a noticeable change in the students I sent. They have returned to Asrama ready and excited to work and pass the message along. The girls especially are full of confidence. I am really proud to have taken a part in  it!

 

Not Like Most Days

Most of my days in Togo are rather boring. I know what you’re thinking, “But you live in Africa!” However, when there is no work to be done (school is out for summer break) and your options are reading, cleaning, hanging out at the bar slow slipping a coke, or sitting with my Chief de Canton; then life can be pretty boring. The day I’m about to describe is not one of those days.

It was a Tuesday, so I had plenty of work to do (actually right now because of school being out Tuesdays are the only day I have work). First I had my meeting with the Apprenties at my tailor/coutiere syndicate. My homologue who translates my French into Adja never showed up, but I conducted the meeting anyways. I had all the apprentices I sent Camp Unity stand before their peers and explain all that they learned at Pagala. It made me so proud to watch them speak with confidence and be so enthused.

Next, I went to the baby weighing/vaccination at my clinic which happens every Tuesday in Asrama. I mostly help with the recording; registering new mothers and babies, writing in their pamphlets what vaccination they received as well as the babies’ current weight.

After that I thought the rest of my day would involve me hanging around my house reading and maybe if I was ambitious enough maybe going to the bar and drinking a soda. After taking my afternoon nap I got up and decided to go into town and spend some time with my Chief and give him an update on all my projects.

The second I left my compound I ran into my host mom. I had just been with her at baby weighing since she works with the Red Cross. She ran up to me and explained that there were eight new babies but that four had already died. I was of course horrified because I thought she was talking about human babies.

Confusion ensued until I realized she was talking about piglets. My host family raises pigs and apparently while I was taking my nap their newest additions were born. Everyone gathered around and we watched the new piglets squeal and explore their new home. Though I’m not fond of their parents (pigs are extremely loud and obnoxious even more so than goats) the piglets were pretty adorable.

I enjoyed the time talking to my host family and explaining what pigs are like chez-moi. My host mother asked me if I wanted a singe. That one threw me. I searched my French vocabulary for the meaning of the strange word. It sounded familiar, but it wasn’t until my host mother said it was an animal that it clicked in my head. Do I want a monkey?!? I exclaimed in English.

My host mother then told me that a monkey would be an excellent pet and that we had monkeys deep in the Asrama forest. She could have my host brothers capture one if I wanted. She called my young host sister in string of Adja and she came out the house carrying a bucket with a cloth on top.

I’ve been in Togo long enough that I watched that bucket draw near with a little trepidation. “What is that?” I asked in French. My host sister stopped with a big grin on her face and pulled off the cloth revealing a rather large dead monkey.

The monkey was a light grey with darker grey around the eyes and tail. Though I didn’t ask I assumed they were planning on either eating the monkey or selling the meat at my host mother’s pate stand. Momma took the monkey by the arms and made it dance. I was one part curious and two parts really grossed out. Apparently my host brother had caught it that day in the forest and killed it with rocks. Momma assured me that they are hard to catch, and if I ever wanted one to let her know.

So even having lived in Togo for ten months . . . life here occasionally still throws me a curveball.  

Looking Back

May 20, 2012

Togo has been my home for the last eight months. I have been living in my village, Asrama, and an official Peace Corps volunteer for six months. I wanted to wait to talk about the experience of the first few months at post after having gained some emotional distance. They say that the first three months of your service at your post is when you are most likely to drop out or Early Termination (ET) from Peace Corps because they are the most difficult months.

Having survived those first three months and beyond I have to agree that the first three months at Asrama so far have been the hardest. Training was a stressful, but extremely structured time period. We were told where to go and what to do, and everything we needed was provided.

All to soon training came to an end and it was time for the Swear-in Ceremony. It was an immensely emotional time for all of us. We had to say good bye to our host families, the stress of giving speeches in local languages before cameras, buying everything we would need to set up our posts, the joy of finally officially becoming Peace Corps volunteers, celebrating, and then saying good bye to go off alone to do what we came here to do.

I remember the ride from Lome to Asrama. Peace Corps had bought out bush taxies to take us and our belongings to our new home. I was in the van with two other new volunteers in my region; Rad and Alex. My village was the first stop. I was filled with fear, excitement, and worry as the van bounced along my horrible dirt road. The closer I got the higher my anxiety rose. We unloaded all my stuff onto my porch and the taxi drove away.

That first night was the hardest I’ve had in Togo so far. I don’t know what I would have done without my dog Swarley that first night. I felt so alone and overwhelmed. The Togocell tower in village was out that night so I was unable to call anyone for moral support, which made things so much worse. My homologue, Akpo, who was the only person in village that I really knew at the time was in Benin. I laid on my bed wondering what I had gotten myself into. Doubt clouded my mind. Could I really do this? Live here? Was I strong enough?

Togocell continued to be out for the next few days. My first conversation back home was to explain to my Dad not to panic, but that I was on my way to Lome having been bitten by the Chief of the Gendarm’s dog.  I’m so happy for that dog biting me now. Going to spend three days at the Med Unit in Lome was really wonderful. It allowed me to have a moment to mentally process everything and talk to my Dad, who has always been good at getting me to move beyond my fear and encourage me to do my best.

Things got better after that, but were full of disappointments and challenges. Getting projects started was painfully slow. The first three months I concentrated on integration and setting up my home. I went to marche on Mondays, hung out with the Chief de Asrama, talked to Akpo, made visits to the school, and drank coke at my buvette. Integration is full time job when you arrive in village, but it doesn’t feel like you’re accomplishing anything. It’s frustrating learning to navigate a community whose first language you know nothing about and second language is only spoken by the educated.

Then there was the constant sickness, which thank God has finally seemed to calm down. For a while it seemed every two weeks I was horribly and violently ill. The med unit kept telling me it was probably food poisoning, but that sounded like such a mild and an unsatisfying diagnosis for what I was experiencing. I was worried something really bad was wrong with me that the tests were just not catching. I expected to be sick joining the Peace Corps and living in a third world country, but not that sick. However, my health seems to have leveled out.

When I began teaching at the lycee is when life in village really improved drastically. People stopped calling me yovo. Now wherever I walk I hear people shouting my name. Teaching not only gives me something to do, but it also gives me a sense of accomplishment. Makes being here worth all the initial heartaches. Plus, I honestly love working with the kids. They are great and make me laugh. This is why I joined Peace Corps. I wanted to make an impact.

So what am I trying to get at with this entry? I know there is a new stage arriving in Togo in July and that there are other future Peace Corps volunteers waiting eagerly for that departure date searching the internet for any tidbit of information about their new life. I want to say that yes, those first three months are going to be filled with heartache, illness, challenges, and overall adjustment. However, if you stick it out Peace Corps can be so rewarding.

I can’t imagine leaving Togo for anything. I truly love it here. I’m looking forward to teaching again in September. I have Camp Unite this summer. I have plans for future projects like a Homme Comme Partener (Men as Partners) formation in October, a Mothers Nutrition Day at my CMS, and Take Our Daughters to work the following spring break.  I think that joining Peace Corps has been the best decision I have every made for myself. Sure, I had moments of doubt and I’m so grateful I was able to persevere past them.

Lost in Translation

A week ago I was in Atapkame for Easter/Passover weekend to spend the holiday with volunteers and to go to the bank. I decided while I was there that I wanted to do some baking since we have a toaster oven at the maison and I had been craving cookies. So, there I was in the marche looking for the needed ingredients. I knew where to find all but one, flour. I entered the building and went straight to the women who sell dried goods (like rice, beans, and gari) thinking they were my best bet to find some flour.

After asking the first woman how she was doing and how was work and the family I asked her if she had “la fleur” and proceeded to describe flour as white powder used to bake bread. Her blank expression told me clearly she had no idea what I was asking for. However, Togolese people are extremely helpful so she called over another marche momma (this is a term volunteers use to call women who sell at the marche). I repeated the process to the new comer who also did not know what I was searching for. The two women conversed in local language for a few minutes before calling over a young man and I explained again that I wanted “la fleur” to bake with.

Somehow he thought I wanted bread (since I said flour is used to make bread) and he escorted me to the bread ladies. I told him that I wanted to prepare the bread myself. He was very sweet and offered to walk with me until we found someone who knew what it was or had it. I thanked him and said that it was not a big deal that I would look for it another day. Still, I was very touched at the lengths the women and the young man were willing to go through to help me.  

As a final last ditch effort I went to the local yovo store, Parmare’s, which is run by an Indian couple who speak English. I asked the woman if she had flour and luckily she did have a bag in the back. All the hard work had finally paid off and now I could make my chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. I purchased all the other ingredients and went back to the maison to start baking.

It wasn’t until much later that I realize that I had been asking for “la fleur” which is the French word for flower as in a rose is a pretty flower. What I should have been asking for is “la farine” which is flour that you bake with and what I should have been saying. I wonder if any of the Togolese thought it strange that I wanted to bake bread with pretty flowers.

Updated Packing List

Now, I posted my packing list and said that I would update after I had been in country for a while. Instead of going line by line listing what was useful and what was not. Instead I’ll give a general discussion. I will list the items I have found are absolutely necessary as well as the items I wish I had brought more of with me.

I remember packing and preparing for Peace Corps. It was a stressful experience to say the least. I was entirely convinced that I needed to bring everything. I kept thinking “I’m going to be in Africa and won’t be able to get any of this stuff.” I also think that obsessing over packing was a coping mechanism. Preparing for Peace Corps was scary and packing was a way to control the situation and way to funnel my fears into sometime productive.

Looking back now having been in country for seven months now, I realized that I over packed. It wasn’t like I didn’t read the journals from other volunteers cautioning about over packing. I believed them, but was unable to make the tough decisions on what to get rid of from my bags. Everything seemed important and something I couldn’t live without. There is a big chunk that I haven’t even touched since getting here.

Though it is true that I can buy most things in the capital, I have found some items to be difficult to find or very expensive. Here is a list of things that are hard to find, impossible, or expensive:

-Conditioner (shampoo is easy enough to find, but conditioner is next to impossible)

-Disposable razors (can find by they are not very good quality and are expensive)

-Deodorant (I have never been able to find any even in Lome other than the spray kind . . . bring plenty)

-Sauce packets for pasta

-Unusual Spices (you can get the basics here but any unusual spices you like bring plenty)

-A good quality but small book bag (I’ve bought two marche bags and both have broke)

-Maple Syrup

Here are items that have been invaluable to me here:

-Solar charger

-Battery operated fan!!!! (There is a small one called O2 Cool that uses D batteries)

-Solar battery charger

-Good frying pan

-My two good kitchen knives

-External Hard drive

-Headlamp (love this thing)


-Nokero Solar light bulbs

-Bug Hut 2

-Exficio underwear

-My Eagle Creek Bag

-Nice pillow

-Fitted queen sized sheets (you can get the flat sheets, but not fitted easily)

Things that I didn’t bring that I wish I had:

-Hammock

-Nail polish (You can get it in marche, but it’s not the same quality

-More cotton tee shirts

-More Capri pants (you can have pagne skirts made really easy)

Things that didn’t work out as planned

-Nalgine bottles (I got two with wide mouths and they don’t work for bush taxi rides. Love them but buy one with a smaller mouth unless you want to be wearing your water).

For any perspective volunteers, remember to not over pack. Your back will thank you.  Don’t wait to the last minute to pack your bags. Pay attention to the weight of your bag (you’re going to be lugging it around).

Update on life

Probably one of my favorite things I’m now doing in village is teaching at the high school, or lycee. I am teaching four grades: 6eme, 2^nd, 1ere, and Terminal. The 6eme is the first grade at lycee and terminal are the seniors. I’m teaching roughly one hundred and fifty students and have been given free reign from their principal, or provisor, to arrange the class how I want. The course covers the two manuals that are the bread and butter of the GEE program, which are the Life Skills and MAP (Men as Partners).

It’s a bit of a rush for me to stand in front of forty students and teach in French. It gives me a lot of pride that I am able to keep control of high school kids in a language that is not my own (trust me it’s not easy). It makes me realize how far along my French has come since my arrival at Lome six (almost seven) months ago, and also how much I’ve grown as a person.

The students are great and eager to participate and learn which I find remarkable. My 2^nd class can be a bit high energy and hard to rein in, but overall they are great. The boys can be bit of a handful too (I’ve had a lot of proposals from them). I plan on continuing next school year as well with teaching this class at lycee. 

Life in village is finally starting to pick up for me. Asrama has been a challenge and full of bumps along the way, but that’s pretty normal. I feel that I am well integrated with my community. People now know my name, which is a vast improvement from being called yovo everywhere I go. I’ve come a long way and am eager to meet this to the finish line.

This summer I am going to be a part of Camp Unite up in Pagala. Unite is a Peace Corps operated camp where volunteers are trainers and nominate local students and apprentices to be a part of a weeklong Life Skills crash course. There are four sessions in total: girl apprentices, boy apprentices, girl students, and boy students. I have nominated several apprentices and students and hope that several of them will be selected to go to Pagala this summer. I will be a trainer for the apprentices boys week.

I’ve got more training coming up as well myself. I will be going to Pagala with the lycee teacher I work with Mr. Bikore the week after the next. I will be going again in June for Mid-service training (Peace Corps loves training). I also would love to be a trainer for the new stage coming to Togo this July.    

As hard as it is living here, in Africa, I think making the decision to do Peace Corps and to come here was the best decision I’ve ever made for myself. Here I  learn so much and experience so many remarkable things.  

Swarley and Me

This is a little ode to my Peace Corps dog, Swarley. I’m the third volunteer to have this dog and he’s something else. What can I say about my lovable and slightly neurotic dog? The name originated from the TV show “How I Met Your Mother” and at first I wasn’t too sure about the name for a dog. However after spending time with him I realized how well Swarley fits him.

He’s a bit tall for a Togolese dog (about three feet to the top of his head) and he’s a skinny thing. I’m working on fattening him up a little bit. He’s red brown in color with some white markings. What does he eat? I make him rice and mix that with dried fish flakes and typically one raw egg. He loves the stuff.

Swarley is an excellent guard dog. He loves me and likes my host family, but he hates everyone else. I feel very safe with him. I always know when I have a visitor before they have the chance to call out my name since Swarley always alerts me to their presence. He’s a bit on the aggressive side, but I appreciate that because I know he will protect me and my home.

He loves terrorizing chickens and goats. Always great entertainment watching him chase them out of the yard. He’s also great about chasing children out of the yard as well. This came in handy when I first got to village and had children camped out at my house either staring at me washing dishes, chanting the yovo song, or asking for money. Now when I’m doing work in the yard Swarley always accompanies me.

Don’t know what I would do without him. He helps fight off the loneliness especially in my first few months at post. He’s always making me laugh with his crazy antics from eating stinging ants to sleeping in my latrine when I’m gone. I love coming home from a trip to Atapkame and getting off that moto and having him practically jump into my arms.

Chez Moi

My bed (I've just had a carpenter make the T for my mosquito net so that is finally up. Also, my pagne curtain.

My house, yard, latrine

My Lipico (woven cot good for hot season). You can also see part of my clothes cubby

GEE? Whats That?

So, what’s a GEE volunteer? What exactly do you do? I’ve written several blogs describing life in Africa and my life in general. However, I have not written anything about why I’m here: to work. Part of it is that as a new volunteer my main job the last two months at Asrama has been to learn about my village, set up my home, conduct a study of village, meet homologues, and general integration.

You cannot just walk into a village and say, “I’m here! Let’s get to work.” I’m a stranger and the first step to helping my community here is to get to know them. What are their needs? How are things done here? What resources are available? Also, just learning how to live (the day to day necessary stuff like food, water, clean clothes) in Africa is a full time job without adding on starting GEE work.

Another big part of the first few months at post is to shadow another volunteer. My closest fellow GEE volunteer is Jes. I was able to travel to a village called Mamakope where she co-conducted a local weekend camp for girls with Lisa the volunteer of Mamakope. These were local girls from villages nearby who got to take part in this camp. They had sessions covering topics like Confidence, VIH/SIDA, child trafficking, and relationship skills. It was great to have to opportunity to experience that.

After spending a couple of months in village Peace Corps sends us (everyone from my stage) to Pagala for In Service Training (IST). When I was in Tsevie we had what is called Pre-Service Training. Tsevie was mostly language based with an introduction to GEE work. Now, at Pagala we have technical training.

Which brings me back to what is a GEE volunteer. Girl’s Empowerment and Education is a rather abstract concept to promote. Gender roles are very rigid here in Togo. Women do domestic work and men go to their jobs or to the farm. The idea is to promote education for girls, empower them and women, as well as encourage gender equality. How do we go about this? Well basically we learn how to be a “jack of all trades” and often have a wide variety of projects.

We work with students, teachers, Patrons (the head of a trade skill who teaches apprentices . . . so hairdressing, tailor, bush taxi driver), apprentices, and men. We teach Life Skills, Men as Partners, form Clubs at schools, teach AGRs (Activities generatrice de Revenue), form village savings and loans programs, teach about HIV/AIDS, Take Our Daughters to Work, Women’s Conference, Camp Unite, Camp Espoire (for children effected by AIDS), Camp Girls and Science, and many other projects. As a GEE volunteer I’m very free in my options for projects to work on at village.   

I learned a lot at Pagala and it has given me many ideas for things that would be great in Asrama. So now I need  to take back the ideas and projects that interest me most and find out if the people of Asrama are interested in them or not. I’ll also need to find good work partners to aide me.  

When I get back the concrete game plan is to start teaching at the lycee. It’s been decided with the Provisor (headmaster) that I will take time out from classes to teach a GEE specific class with the help of my Lycee counterpart, Mr. Bikore, the science teacher. I plan on combining topics and lessons from Life Skills and Men as Partners (which is great for teaching gender equality topics). I will also be helping down at the hospital and in particular on baby weighing day. Eventually, I will teach GEE topics to the mothers there. I would like to start clubs at the Lycee as well. Right now I am thinking either a girls science club (girls are not encouraged to do science and it would be an excellent opportunity for them) or a general girls club with a free range of topics. I plan on getting input from my Provisor and counterparts. I am also interested in Village Savings and Loan Program. It’s a great way to help women fund small projects and is an extremely sustainable project. My predecessor did a MAP formation with teachers and I would like to follow up on that.   

Now with all my ideas and further technical training I’m excited to get back to Asrama and start getting the ball rolling.   

Package List

To everyone who has sent me a care package, thank you so much. Its wonderfully uplifting. Here is a list of things that I could always use:

Crystal Light (helps cover the taste of bleach)

Pasta sauce packets

Dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, pomegranate)

Trail mix (especially ones with a lot of nuts)


Walnuts, pecans, almonds

Tuna or chicken packets (the plastic saches are easier than the metal cans)


Freeze dried veggies (most of the time onion is my ony veggie and it doesn't really count)


Beef jerky


Velveta

Peanut Butter (The stuff available here is not even similar I like smooth and crunchy)



Grape jelly (for pb and j)

Deoderant (Lady Speed Stick . . . Togolese don’t wear any so it’s impossible to find)

Anti-bacterial (aka Purell)

Hand wipes (a wonderful thing to have on hand in Africa)

Disposable razors

Maple syrup 

Candy (hard candy or chocolate that has a hard shell like M&Ms)



Oreos



Vanilla extract (for baking at the maison we have a toaster oven)

Magazines (It’s great to get a glimpse of America) 


Pens (the pens here are poor quality and eally hard to write with. Plus it makes a gret gift for good students. They love love love American things even if its something small like a bic pen).

Letters!

Again, thank you to everyone who thinks of me out here in Togo. I can feel the love

Ten Things I Love About Africa

Favorite Things About Living in Africa

1.       Living in Africa: I know a bit redundant, but really still deserves its own shout out. The simple fact that I’m living in Africa is just incredibly cool. I’m also not in Togo as a tourist. Nothing wrong with visiting Africa, but because I live here I get to know the real heart of Africa. I can say I know Africans and that they are my friends.

2.       The land: Its breathtakingly beautiful. In rainy season its green and lush. There are palm trees, coconut trees, papaya trees, pineapple trees, and so many more. There are these massively tall trees with a light color back. The trunk of some are as big as a bus.

3.       People: Most people here are wonderful. Togolese people are giving and will go out of their way to help you. They are also some of the most interesting people I’ve ever met. They have the most genuine smiles. Life here is difficult and yet they can smile and find humor.

4.       “Star Showers”: This is a term used to describe late at night after a long hot day and you go to take your bucket shower under the stars. Get it? Star shower? Not sure where the term originated, but all volunteers know the phrase. It’s a poetic way to describe dumping cold water on yourself from a bucket. However, the view cannot be beat. Stars are so bright here out where there is no electricity. When I return to the US I will miss showering under those vivid and bright stars.

5.       Fresh fruit: Yeah, when you eat a pineapple just taken down from your yard it’s undeniably fresh. The fruit here is incredible and so much sweeter than what we buy in the United States. 

6.       Pagne: It’s the colorful printed fabric here that is then made into clothing from tailors. I love that my clothes are fitted for me and not some generic size. The colors are so vivid and the patterns are so unique. Though cotton is more comfortable. But you know what they say . . . ‘when in Togo wear pagne’

7.       Watching the creative, mindboggling, and sometimes downright dangerous ways Togolese transport things and themselves. From cars meant for five people holding nine to a moto having the zedman, two women and five goats laid onto of each other all on one motorcycle . . .  Togolese defy physics and the law of gravity. It’s amazing to see what they can carry on their heads. Just yesterday coming back from Notse a saw another moto coming towards us with a long object strapped to the back with bungee cords. As we got closer I saw that it was a coffin.  My first thought was “huh . . . it’s a coffin on a moto,” followed by “I hope nobody’s in there.”     

8.       Cold Soda: there is little better than drinking a cold coke on a hot African day. I love to hear that pop and fizzle after opening the top.

9.       Freedom of clothing: Labels don’t matter here (not that you can’t find name brands in Dead Yovo markets). You can wear anything in Togo (well . . . there are some stipulations if you’re a woman about showing your knees). You don’t have to match and often Togolese will wear with confidence some big fashion no-nos. If you want to wear a Halloween costume? Go ahead. Fur hat in Africa. Why not?

10.   Fanmilk: Togolese version of “ice-cream.” It comes in a sachet and is sold by men riding around on bikes with coolers in front honking their horn so you know they’re coming. For 150 FCA (500 is about 1 US dollar) you can enjoy your own fanmilk. My favorite is FanIce, which tastes like vanilla icing. There is also FanChoco, FnVanilla, FanExtra (like yogert and is a little tangy).

They Call Me Yovo

I love being in Togo in Africa. Every day I can’t help to think how cool it is to be here and what an opportunity I have. However, it’s far from perfect. It’s not easy being white in Togo and particularly a white woman. Most people here are wonderful and go out of their way to help, but there is another side of being an outsider here.

Yovo. That’s my name here. Children and adults alike call me yovo. In Ewe it means white person. Other languages have other names for white people, but in the southern part of Togo its yovo. I’ve heard the yovo song a thousand times, “Yovo, yovo, bon soire. Ça va bien? Merci”. You can google it and find it on youtube. Put it on repeat for a few hours and you might begin to understand what it’s like here. Sometimes instead of yovo I get “la blanche” (French for white). I ignore people who call me “la blanche” (and its always adults . . . usually men). When in village I correct children and adults when they call me yovo. I tell them I have a name and it’s not yovo. My name is Jennifer.

I think the heart of the matter is identity. I’m seen only for the color of my skin. People seem shocked and amazed when they see me. They may even touch me (especially my hair) if they are bold enough. Most of the time I don’t know if they think I’m even human. Its gets tiring the same thing day in and day out.

Sometimes when I’m in my yard cleaning dishes or washing my clothes the children in my village will gather at my fence and just stare at me. I had one little girl sit down at the entrance to my fence and sit there staring for thirty minutes. I asked her what she wanted, if she needed anything. However, she didn’t know any French and I don’t know Adja. I’ve been here for two months now and every day the children gather to stare at me. I’ve taken to keeping my dog, Swarley, outside with me when I’m doing work in the yard since he hates children and they’re terrified of him.

I have a lot of patience for the children staring and calling me yovo and singing when I’m out and about. But it’s different when they come to my home and do it. It makes me angry when I’m in my house and I hear kids rattling my front door shouting the yovo song. Or if I see them peeking through the gaps in my wood fence and hear “Yovo, donne moi l’argent” which translates to “white person give my money” That really makes me angry. I usually reply with. “No you give me money.”

I understand the children can’t help it. They are just repeating what they are taught. Yovo is just a word to them and has no meaning to them. If you told them the work for white person was “nanana-boo-boo” they would use it. If you go to Atapkame, the Plateau regional capital, they children do call you yovo. However, they are just as likely to start singing “Party! Party! Party!” when they spot you. Party? Who taught them that? Peace Corps volunteers of course. Just goes to show you that the children have no idea what they are saying. Most of the time they are just so excited to see you. Is it their fault you filled your patience quota for the song after the thirtieth time that day?

Food, food, food

I had this mentioned many times to me from loved ones from the states, “You talk about food a lot.” I think I’ve worried people with the constant facebook chatter and letters about food. It is true that a huge chunk of my life now revolves around food. I think I need to explain the realities here so that maybe people can understand why.

In village the food available to me is quite limited. The marché is only once a week so everything I want to eat for the week pretty much needs to be purchased that day. Whats available daily? Beans, rice, foo-foo (pounded yams), pate (. . . corn mush stuff), tomatoes, onions, eggs, spaghetti, and okra. Day in and day out eating the same stuff gets boring. On marché day stuff is still pretty lean in Asrama. Pretty much I can buy the same stuff it’s just cheaper on those days. Fruits like oranges, bananas, and pineapple are sold on marché day. You can buy oranges any time already peeled from one of the ladies on the street (I don’t like Togo oranges. They taste a little bitter to me). If I want variation I need to travel to Notse where I can buy cabbage, carrots, potatoes, and good bread (the bread in Asrama isn’t very good). 

So, imagine eating the same thing day in and day out. After two weeks in village I’m craving variety and general nutrients. My daily diet is severely lacking basic essential nutrients. I have taken measures to help with that like putting Peak (evaporated milk enriched with all the needed nutrients) in as many meals as possible. I also take daily vitamins. Still, I feel like my body know the difference. I look forward to going to Notse and getting a chicken sandwich from my favorite restaurant loaded with veggies or eating yovo food in Atapkame.

Many volunteers when given the opportunity overindulge when good food is available. Before Swear-in ceremony we spent a couple of days in Lome buying everything we needed to set up our houses. One of the big stops we made was to Super-ramco, a grocery store. We bought essentials to start any kitchen, but we also bought some of the things we missed that just are not available outside of Lome. When we were all done shopping and waiting for the Peace Corps car to come pick us up we were chowing down some questionable food choices for lunch. Slices of cheddar cheese, swiss, and salami was passed back and forth. Sever types of Ben and Jerry’s also made the rounds among us . . . not to mention all the candy and different sodas (and some brave souls were chugging milk). Some of us were certainly sick later that day, but if you asked all of us we’d tell you it was worth it.

Then there is the sickness. I’ve been sick a good chunk of my service here in Togo (I think I’ve been ill more than I’ve felt well). I’ve gone two or three days without food simply because I can’t keep anything down. Sometimes the thought of eating the same meal one more time makes me lose my appetite.

So, is it any wonder why food is such a big part of my life here in Togo? It’s not easy getting good food here, so when I’m out of village and it’s bountiful I indulge. If you ask any volunteer they would tell you the same thing.