This 2008 post is my favorite because it talks about a great solution to the village's problems and the silly yet very serious obstacles in the way of that solution...

Originally posted on TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2008

Beekeeping is a highly viable money making venture in our area. Village members owning forested areas where bees can find flowers and water sources and yet where conditions aren't too wet, keeping bees could support a large portion of the population.

We are working on extending and organizing the beekeeping activities in our area and I am very hopeful that in 2 years time the number of beekeepers could jump from 3 currently to 20 or more.

One obstacle we have encountered that has until now hindered the grassroots growth of beekeeping is interfamilial distrust and grudges. It is quite incredible that the potential saving grace of a population could be held back by such trivial but deepseeded feelings. And it is not the individuals themselves but a certain prevailing social climate that just stamps out trust and hope. It is difficult to understand but it can be mediated. Who knew that you could encourage beekeeping by being a family counselor. I just found that out.

Another obstacle was brought to my attention by the man in the adjacent photo. He says plainly that "people aren't serious. If folks were serious about becoming beekeepers or animal breeders they could learn all of the necessary skills." Indeed people lack a certain spark that scientific knowledge gives you. The man in the photo has that spark but he didn't have it until his family sent him to a trade school where he learned beekeeping skills. More folks should be sent to trade school. At the same time, the man is right, "vouloir, c'est pouvoir," "To want to, is to be able to."

Gingari Kumuka (Eid ul-Fitr)

Originally uploaded by parisdelhiAs I was discussing capitalism and US culture with a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer friend, he noticed that there was a larger theme motivating my discourse and my ideas. As he began to inquire about what might be motivating my point of view on US culture and my over glorification of the very positive aspects of African culture, he uncovered a fact that I already knew but that I hadn't stated clearly enough to myself or anyone else.

When I lived in Togo and in my village for almost three years, I put my whole soul into being a part of the local linguistic and social fabric. I prayed regularly in the mosques, I voraciously learned Kotokoli, I did my best to spend my time exclusively with Africans, instead of becoming a part of a group of expatriate Americans, and in general I would attempt to live like and with the Togolese that surrounded me as much as possible.

My strict integration did give me insight into the thoughts and lives of the Africans with whom I lived and I believe that those insights have rendered the effect of my ongoing work there more sustainable, appropriate, and community owned. In addition, however, the fact that I became so engrossed in the ways of those that surrounded me in Togo has meant that coming back to the US marked the beginning of a period of loss and grieving. All that I had worked to become and to be in Togo, was meaningless and misunderstood or not understood on arrival in the US. That is where my sense of loss and grieving began. It was particularly harsh and depressing and I am not completely over it. I don't know if it would be good to be completely over it but thanks to an RPCV friend I am more aware of it.

ruches - beehives

Originally uploaded by parisdelhiReconciling life in Togo and life in the US hasn't been fun. Contrary to what one would think given how the whole world is trying to train Africa out of its supposed backwardness, I have more or less come to the conclusion that the culture, eating habits, amount of physical activity, societal structure and the general way of life of my village in Togo are much healthier than those of the US.

In the US we have plenty of money but we no longer know how to live, for the most part we are unhealthy and lost in modern life, and what is worse is that the rest of the world is trying to copy us. In Togo, for the most part people know how to live well. The only thing that is missing is a bit more money. That is where beekeeping becomes useful...

One could very well argue that in the end money will manage to strip Africa of its knowledge of how to live well. In that case money is the culprit.

pitching in

Originally uploaded by parisdelhiTo conclude TV or Radio news stories about climate change and the declining livability of the planet, the same message is often repeated: that scientists agree that recycling and more efficient cars and equipment will not suffice to improve the prospects of maintaining a highly livable planet and avoiding the worst consequences of climate change.

What is truly needed to improve our chances, scientists conclude, is for humans to fundamentally change their behavior.

While I hear talk of more effecient power plants and more recycling centers, that help us to comsume more with less or allow us to pollute less or as much while consuming more, I don't hear anything about the more effective idea of societal behavior change.

In very many ways, I find village life with its hard work, basic foods, and rudimentary entertainment, to be much more healthy than life in the modern desire-driven world. I am fully aware that clean water, good sources of nutrition, and health care are necessary, but how much more than that is NECESSARY? And to what extent does having MORE than that actually have a NEGATIVE impact on our mental and physical health, and on the health of our surrounding world?

It is my belief that we spend much more money and resources solving problems created by modernity's attempt to satisfy desires than we spend solving the problem of fundmental needs. Finding fulfillment in the satisfaction of those fundamental needs and foregoing our 24/7 all you can eat "desire saticiety," is a road that interests me.

What does humanity want? Health, happiness, and the fulfillment of fundamental needs or the fulfillment of unending fleeting desires, less happiness, and declining human and environmental health?

I'll end with a quote from Thomas Merton:

"No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire."

Humanity must decide what it wants and then make a conscious effort to pursue what it wants...

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Originally uploaded by parisdelhiWhile I was in Togo I had many personal debates taking place and some of them made their way onto this blog. Some debates encouraged external help coming to Africa and others would seem to discourage external aid. I am happy that I had all of those debates because they allowed me to explore international development, Africa, social change, and more, but I want to make clear that there is a place, a lot of places, for well conceived external help that responds to real needs. I will do my best to meet a few of those needs on a small scale where I can be competent.

In the photo you see a young veterinary technician in his rural pharmacy.

Man-animal symbiosis (Fulani excursion)

Originally uploaded by parisdelhiFirst I will acknowledge that advances have been made in medicine, that in principal today's world of airplanes and internet allows us to be more aware and thus less ignorant, but do we really think that this US SUV lifestyle that the other five billion humans are now racing to join, is an advance? Do we really think that becoming "green" will be a drop in the bucket when a fraction of the other five billion achieve the US SUV life?

I don't blame individuals in particular. I blame unquenchable greed masked in nationalism and economic growth that sweeps the average human, who merely wants to provide for her or his family, into an untenable, unprecedented, and fundamentally unquestioned lifestyle. Now the rest of the world is entranced by that US SUV lifestyle and the first nations' lifestyles are tossed aside unflinchingly by the very children of those first nations' lifestyles.

Did we ever think that there could be a middle road? Did we ever think that humanity could pursue advances in medicine without the, until now, concomitant US SUV lifestyle? Could progress happen for the sake of the pursuit of truth instead of the pursuit of economic growth?

I don't think we even know what a middle road would look like. The "developed world" is so far removed from the stark and bland but fuller meaning of the lifestyles of many of the other five billion. I don't think "green" is a middle road. I think a more fundamental shift would have to take place.

When the world was coerced into following the European path to "development" is when the world took its first step towards an untenable lifestyle. Collective consciousness has largely now forgot the insanity of fishwheels on the Columbia river, the destruction of perpetual and natural well-springs of food, and the ungrounded untenable pillaging nature of European style development. The world has no idea where it is going and those who have a glimpse at where it is going have no ideas, acceptable to the masses, to steer the world back to sane lifestyles based on real supply and demand. Dogs in the US are better cared for than most of the other billions of people on this planet. When will the US SUV lifestyle be reunited with the realities of natural resource use?

The world will go where consumers with money want it to. Therefore, the world is destined for apparent growth and fundamental poverty.

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Originally uploaded by parisdelhiComing back to the US can be damn hard. Once you are in the States, some wonderful feelings are felt but, no doubt, with the lack understanding ears, one can certainly become mildly and temporarily depressed.

Finding the cultural continuity that I described in an earlier entry can be very helpful to recent Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs), but in the interest of fellow RPCVs I would mention the possibility of doing a small project in your home country, after your arrival back in the States. As we know, one must have some very effective ways to insure correct use of funds but in a world of cell phones and western union I have found that possible. Designing and providing funds for a small beekeeping project has given me the opportunity to do something meaningful. I planned this project with two overseas community members and did not launch it to keep my emotions up. I helped plan it because I believed in it. I believe that this project will be effective, and that it will not create dependence, given the way we designed it. Because I believe so strongly in the effectiveness of the project and that I am doing the right thing in implementing it, it has given me a mission when my overseas Peace Corps mission has just officially ended. This project has also made me feel present in my overseas community and happy to still be a member of that community and an active participant in its welfare. I may no longer be a Peace Corps Volunteer but I am still and will always be an Affem Boussou community member.

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Originally uploaded by JCTownsleyI just heard Cornel West say "Fetishism of commodities." He said "It is also among the destitute because the destitute have a fetishism of commodities, a fetishism of success [and think] 'all I need is success, and then somehow I am a better person.'"

I think it is hard for Togolese to escape the "fetishism of commodities" as they peer out into the world through TVs and Radios and I think it is very connected to what the Ugandan Farmer Said in my last entry. He said "They shared a lot of things together...But now things have changed. Each person is on their own. A few people who have acquired material wealth are very scared of sliding back into poverty. They do not want to look like us." It is hard to not be a commodity fetisher in Togo as you learn of the rest of the world. And I believe the young generation is going to be a bunch of commodity fetishers but I also saw a lot of spiritually learned Muslims in Togo refuse commodity fetishism by emphasizing how fleeting and ephemeral earthly life is and how useless that makes attachment to money and things. A nomadic herder, himself a muslim, asked me, as I handed him money for taking me and my friends out in the bush with his cows, "Do you think the prize is down here [on earth] Kabirou, forget about the money." That came from a man that can live on 20 dollars a month and to whom I was handing 30 dollars. His photo accompanies this entry. I have seen less of that mysticism and refusal of worldly goods in the Christian areas of Togo, but I spent less time there. It is hard for Togolese to escape the "Fetishism of commodities," in the the Commodity Fetisher Gala that is our world. That is sometimes hard to deal with as a Peace Corps volunteer who may have been able to join the Peace Corps in part because you have rejected commodity fetishism. You find that you and the Togolese are going in opposite directions, them toward and you away from commodities...

The following two points of view get at a very sociological and anthropological aspect of "Development": How have Western fueled development and westward emigration affected home-grown development in Africa? Togo led me to ponder this question more and more as time went by.

"Poverty has always been with us in our communities. It was here in the past, long before the Europeans came, and it affected many - perhaps all of us. But it was a different type of poverty. People were not helpless. They acted together and they never allowed it to squeeze any member of the community. They shared a lot of things together: hunting, grazing animals, harvesting. There was enough for basic survival. But now things have changed. Each person is on their own. A few people who have acquired material wealth are very scared of sliding back into poverty. They do not want to look like us."

- Ugandan farmer cited in Voices of the Poor, by Deepa Narayan; Oxford University Press: 2000.

On a very similar note, In a 2006 article entitled "OPEN THE BLINDS", now RPCV Dan Mueller tells us of a fictional African village that was developing at its own pace before the world started trying to develop Africa. It would seem that Mueller is saying that organic grassroots development is made impossible or improbable by the promise of the developed world driving up in a 4 x 4 and magically developing the village with money. That prospect drastically changes the rules of the game of getting ahead and tears apart the fabric of the developing society. Mueller continues, saying that the prospect of emigrating to the "developed" rich world and living the good life blinds Africans and leads them to forget the organic development that their ancestors, like ancestors all over the world, were engaged in. Mueller sees this state of affairs as being quite obvious to the observant development worker.

Eid al-Adha in village Life back in the US has offered two highly satisfying moments of needed Togolese and Muslim cultural continuity.

The first moment was meeting two Togolese men who are originally from the area of Togo where I lived. They speak the language of Kotokoli that I learned to an intermediate level while in Togo. Speaking Kotokoli, with all of the cultural importance that is placed on certain subjects and moments in communication, renders unto the last two and a half years of my life the richness that those years deserve, a richness that, with no fault to anyone, like fog dissipates in the US context.

The second moment of cultural continuity came when I went to Friday prayer at a mosque not far from my house. There were small differences, none of the Muslim rosaries that were ubiquitous in Togolese mosques, folks were Middle Eastern and Eastern European instead of African, and the sermon, that spoke to God's view on interest or making money off money, made reference to the Western cultural context of being Muslim in the US, making reference to the credit crisis, Plato, and the Catholic church. Not only did I agree with the sermon's message, that had many finer points, that we must refuse to make money our first priority, but again unto the last two and a half years of my life was rendered the richness that they deserve. A fog of comforting cultural continuity and meaning again surrounded me.

A poster of Barack sold in Togolese markets

Originally uploaded by parisdelhiThe morning following the election of Barack Obama, I heard two themes in the reactions of Togolese:

1) This election is a lesson in Democracy. This shows that meritocracy and truth can triumph.

2) This election represents the official removal of the glass ceiling that many assumed would always differentiate the place of blacks and the place of whites in the world.

The election certainly proved everything that I had said to Togolese about my experience of America and about what I believed that America was. It was very nice to walk around an American in Africa for that reason and for the reason that my country had just accomplished the feat of making an expression of love and humanity be heard unmuffled. I was proud. I was disappointed, however, that many assumed that I would vote for John McCain but I understand that assumption. While giving a class in a Togolese middle school on the US election process and on the 2008 campaign, I was asked who I would vote for and I joked with the students that "of course I would vote for John McCain given my race." They understood that I was making the point that race or ethnicity should not determine who one votes for and we had a good laugh.

Though I was not completely aware of it at the time, I believe that the true challenge that I faced during my service was the challenge of refusing to believe in the easily constructed "culture of poverty" theory or "COP" theory. It is a theory that posits that certain behaviors found in a given culture impoverish the people of that culture. The "COP" theory demotivates those who could work to alleviate poverty by convincing them that cultural change, instead of equitable treatment, is the key to "solving" poverty.


Here are few of my blog entries that show me becoming aware that I had bought-in to the "culture of poverty" theory and then show the result of my realization. The result of my realization was that I rededicated myself to serving my community. The fact that I rededicated myself to service after unearthing my belief in a "culture of poverty," supports the idea that the "COP" theory discourages serving the poor.


I would add, as I did in the first entry below, that my belief in the "COP" theory was supported in large part by the ideas expressed to me by Togolese. People can believe that their own culture is a "culture of poverty," and many Africans do.


-http://togowestafrica.blogspot.com/2007/09/first-year-blues.html -http://togowestafrica.blogspot.com/2007/10/battle-and-understanding-dust-settling.html -http://togowestafrica.blogspot.com/2007/11/debate-and-consequences-of-its.html -http://togowestafrica.blogspot.com/2007/11/i-get-it-i-know-what-to-do-i-know-how_23.html -http://togowestafrica.blogspot.com/2007/12/contentment-and-joy.html


How could we think that a "culture of poverty" could exist? As good Marxists, we know that a culture is born of the means of production of a given area. Culture does not create the means of production, the means of production create culture. So if we want to go fishing for the causes of poverty, we should look to the "poor means of production" instead of a "culture of poverty."


But one can understand how some people who serve poor communities fall into belief in the "culture of poverty" theory. If you are a highly motivated worker that enters into a community in order to help that community, and you observe counter-productive behaviors, you will ask yourself "if these people aren't doing all they can for themselves, why should I do all I can for them?" This is why it is so difficult for some social justice/ development workers to keep up their optimism. But you cannot blame them. I too was just trying to get to the bottom of it all. We in fact want to fight poverty so we ask "why are these people suffering?" That was the question that I asked myself and the Togolese. Many answers to that question suggested that the main cause of the suffering was a cultural problem. To put out a fire you put the water at the base of the flames, so if the main cause of suffering is the culture, then let's try to change the culture. A very logical road leads to that pitfall. The fallacy is in the idea that poor communities do not deserve an equal playing field, and that is the illogically logical conclusion of some development/ social justice workers who see many counter-productive behaviors in the communities that they serve.


I am not claiming that counter-productive behaviors do not exist in underserved communities. I think counter-productive behaviors exist everywhere, but probably are more numerous in rich areas than in poor areas. That discussion is, however, beside the point. The point is that if social justice workers/ development workers believe in the "culture of poverty" theory, then they will be discouraged and perform less well in the communities for which they work. If policy makers are trapped by the theory, then they will be less likely to support poverty alleviating policies. It would be very unfortunate if we lost momentum in the global fight against poverty because we had fallen victim to a fallacious theory.

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Originally uploaded by parisdelhiIn the interest of accountability I would like to share just a couple of the projects that I worked on in my 27 months.

In the adjacent photo you see, from left to right, a well technician, the Secretary of the County Development Committee, and a local chief.

A concerned individual came to me on behalf of his small village. His message was that there is no potable water in his small village and that worse, during the dry season there is a critical shortage of even non-potable water.

After that initial contact we worked with the county development committee, the village chiefs and inhabitants, and a local NGO to submit a project plan to build wells in two villages that have a critical need.

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Originally uploaded by parisdelhiI hear that in at least one Spanish-speaking country the Peace Corps is call the "Trip Corps." In other words, the Peace Corps is seen as somewhat of a two-year vacation.

In the interest of accountability I would like to share just a couple of the projects that I worked on in my 27 months.

In the adjacent photo you see a man proud of his nursery of high-yield palm trees. In Togo a plantation ensures a stable long-term income to farmers. Having a couple acres of cashew trees, grafted mango trees, or high-yield palm trees can provide piece of mind to an aging farmer.

This man asked me to find him a provider of high-yield palm seedlings and plastic tree seedling sacks so that he could establish his own plantation and sell seedlings to other farmers who wish to establish plantations. We studied a failed attempt to do the same carried out nearby and believe that our attempt will be successful.

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Originally uploaded by parisdelhiHad I known about all the styles of hut that were available, I would have chosen the style you see in this photo. I would call it the low-round Fulani model of hut with bubble porch. It would be a simple, practical home. I've never seen a hut like this in danger of caving in due to rain nor have I seen, on these round huts, the anti-erosion foundation reinforcement often necessary on rectangular houses. Coming from a culture of rectangular homes, I enjoy the curved form of the hut and porch.

Other ethnicities in the area used to build round huts but have adopted "modern" rectangular styles in the past 30 years. Today, only the Fulani or Peul ethnic group builds huts of this sort in my area. Maybe that is a reason more to like the style. Most Fulani are foreigners in Togo and it is easy for me, as a foreigner, to identify with their cultural estrangement and its resultant watchful attention-deflecting behavior.

Just behind and to the right of the round house is a series of boards planted vertically in the ground to form an enclosure. The enclosure is a shower. The large earthenware jar in the courtyard contains drinking water. The green plastic kettle sitting on the stool is used for performing ablutions before Muslim prayer.

The chief's secretary (left) and the development committee's secretary give each other a hard time, as their subtle sarcasm and dry humor have a habit of making them do.


The chief's secretary is a social straight-shooter, worked at a Chinese-run sugar factory in Togo, speaks 5 languages, has 20 plus children, is an expert in yam cultivation and smokes cigarettes.  Douna, the man on the right, is a farmer and liaison between NGOs, including PLAN, and the village inhabitants.  His son has a Master's in Accounting and wants to launch an NGO to help students in his home village.  Unfortunately he hasn't been able to land a job, a common problem for graduates.


Don't know if i've ever felt as laid-back, light-hearted, and schmoozy, as when I spent time with these two. Don't know when I'll be seeing them again. They do have cell phones. Hopefully those cell phones will allow us a few moments more...

The motorcycle taxi driver, whose head and shoulder you see here, is nicknamed Senghor after Leopold Sedar Senghor the former President of Senegal.  The other mototaxi drivers say they gave him the name Senghor because his hair has the same texture as President Senghor's. You can see the dryness of the dry season in this shot and the Nere trees of the savana...

From my first year at university I studied African, specifically Francophone, literature and film. After two years living not only in Africa but in its depths, the village, the experience of that once exotic literature has now become three dimensional, been given color, smells, and emotions.


Of the authors I have read recently, I would mention Ousmane Sembene, Camara Laye, Bernard Dadier, Cheikh Anta Diop, Amadou Hampâté Bâ, Boubacar Boris Diop, and Emmanuel Dongala.


To the right is a photo of Cheikh Anta Diop. I commented on Nicolas Sarkozy's Dakar speech given ironically at the University that bears Diop's name. As I read Diop and his fellow African intellectuals, a thickening dew of ignorancy and pretension forms on Sarkozy's speech.


Read an entry concerning Sarkozy's speech

A study picked up by chance, "Misreading the African Landscape," has questioned the foundation on which my work in Togo is based.


The study questions assumptions of the natural resource establishment of Guinea, in West Africa, which has held since colonization that the land management techniques of peasants in the studied zone are destroying forest and are generally leading to resource depletion. To the contrary the peasants’ complex system of natural resource management has been converting grasslands into forest lands, increasing the forest cover, and the quantity and quality of their local natural resources. In the meantime policy makers, natural resource professionals and the development community have spent large budgets on criticizing the peasants and funding projects intended to counter the believed destructiveness of the natural resource management of those peasants.


The erroneous assumptions all stem from the outsider perspective, held by many “highly educated” Africans and non-Africans alike and probably originating from colonization that draws its conclusions without sufficient knowledge of local history and culture which themselves are deep, fascinating, and humbling.


I believe that this study may have been applicable to my work zone in a not so distant past, though Togo specific history has made the geography of my work zone and that of the study's zone in Guinea bifurcate. My area is in the same vegetation and climate band as the studied zone. I do believe, however, that I, my work, and the natural resource community in which I work has suffered from a similar outsider perspective and lack of local historical knowledge that have probably led to other erroneous assumptions and ill-conceived work plans. Those erroneous assumptions and ill-conceived work plans have probably been in place so long that they have become self-realizing prophecies or have altered their objects of study (land and inhabitants) to such an extent that those objects no longer resemble their former selves. Though of course the land and its inhabitants have been greatly altered by a great number of influences over the course of the past 300 years in addition to the Natural Resource Management policies in place. I very much appreciate the authors' dedication of the book that reads: "This book is dedicated to Mr Oury Bah and professor Rowland Moss, and to their confidence in the ability of African farmers in the transition zone to manage their own environments."


Read the study:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Z4qSmRydtDUC
Read two blog entries that are interesting in light of the study in question:
http://togowestafrica.blogspot.com/2007/09/natural-resource-history-songs-and-news.html
http://togowestafrica.blogspot.com/2007/11/debate-and-consequences-of-its.html
http://togowestafrica.blogspot.com/2008/01/lost-between-tradition-and.html

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Originally uploaded by parisdelhiDuring an afternoon rain storm I took refuge at these young guys' house. Wanting to check-up on the effectiveness of our school library project I asked the tallest boy, in the back on the right, whether he had read "Soundjata Keïta ou l'épopée mandingue" that is obligatory reading for his 8th grade class and that our library had provided. That boy then spent nearly an hour, outlasting the rain storm, recounting from memory the story of Soundiata Keita that he had read with his classmates. I leaned against a wall and listened to his narration that became quite theatrical at times. What a beautiful performance it was. "Ah! So that is one of the reasons why I am here," I thought to myself. I am here in part to help strivers do more and to incite others to strive.

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Originally uploaded by parisdelhiAs his foot and leg swelled more and more, this dude did not have 5 cents to send a message to a friend in order to obtain the 20 dollars necessary to cure his infection that could have led to amputation. He is not alone. Some die at the doorstep of a cure, lacking only the 10, 20, 50 or 100 bucks necessary for treatment.

beekeeping

Originally uploaded by parisdelhiBeekeeping is a highly viable money making venture in our area. Village members owning forested areas where bees can find flowers and water sources and yet where conditions aren't too wet, keeping bees could support a large portion of the population.

We are working on extending and organizing the beekeeping activities in our area and I am very hopeful that in 2 years time the number of beekeepers could jump from 3 currently to 20 or more.

One obstacle we have encountered that has until now hindered the grassroots growth of beekeeping is interfamilial distrust and grudges. It is quite incredible that the potential saving grace of a population could be held back by such trivial but deepseeded feelings. And it is not the individuals themselves but a certain prevailing social climate that just stamps out trust and hope. It is difficult to understand but it can be mediated. Who knew that you could encourage beekeeping by being a family counselor. I just found that out.

Another obstacle was brought to my attention by the man in the adjacent photo. He says plainly that "people aren't serious. If folks were serious about becoming beekeepers or animal breeders they could learn all of the necessary skills." Indeed people lack a certain spark that scientific knowledge gives you. The man in the photo has that spark but he didn't have it until his family sent him to a trade school where he learned beekeeping skills. More folks should be sent to trade school. At the same time, the man is right, "vouloir, c'est pouvoir," "To want to, is to be able to."

Aliou and kabirou

Originally uploaded by parisdelhi What can I say about the autumn of Peace Corps service? It is the most work filled period of service. One has more host-country friends and is more fluent linguistically and culturally than at any other time during service. As a result one feels more at ease and more at home than at any other time during service, though certain frustrations persist. In the face of all this, anticipatory nostalgia grows as the close draws near. Maslow's peak experiences are more numerous as are doubts about the effect one has had. Pondering and planning the future occupies more and more mind time. "Should I become a teacher, a nurse, or a nomadic muslim" one thinks. Hmm do I look like a nomadic Muslim? I guess I kind of do, kind of...

Douna

Originally uploaded by parisdelhi Meet the UN's hardest worker. Unpaid, unthanked, this man takes the UN's message from the offices in Geneva and New York straight to rural Africa.

Whether it is the millenium development goals or women's rights Douna will get on his rusted-out rickety bicycle and peddle in the intense sun many kilometres to spread the good word. He has just completed a series of trainings throughout the county concerning the Avian Flu. While many chuckle at all the theory, coming out of the UN's air-conditioned offices, aimed at poor African peasants, Douna takes it all very seriously and makes all that theory have a real effect on the ground.

He isn't that different from anyone else, just a bit of high school education under his belt and a powerful source of perserverence and patience.

I am lucky to be able to tag along with him and add my own messages after he has completed his presentations. Today I came to town in a vehicle because my body was tired after biking with Douna to his meetings mornings and afternoons for a week. In the vehicle we passed Douna on his bicycle, peddling to town, amazing...

3pm prayer

Originally uploaded by parisdelhi a friend's question: what was it in Islam that made you join IF you weren't born into it??

my response: Indeed I was not born into Islam. I was born into Unitarian Universalism, a religion whose defining belief, as I understand it, is that "the only legitimate authority on religious matters is the individual." This religious heritage left me with a lot of freedom, which would make one ask why I would practice such a strict religion as Islam but the reason is that I believe that there is a golden logic behind good spiritual practices and that one can find that golden logic through a book or through trial and error. In fact I think that many of Islam's practices follow that golden logic and could be adopted by a man living by himself in the forest never having seen the Coran because there is a logic behind good spiritual practices that the quiet and attentive mind can discover by itself. To answer the question then, I chose to practice Islam because of the regular praying habits, i find praying at least 3 times a day, as the nomads do here combining the 1 and 3 pm and 6 and 7 pm prayers, is essential to developing healthy mental habits and I believe that healthy mental habits are the basis for an intentional and rational existence and I believe that an intentional and rational existence is key to allowing what is in your heart and mind to healthfully enter into the world in a controlled way that allows what is in your heart and mind to become a constructive force and not a destructive force (as comes with uncontrolled emotions). This is the primary reason that I have chosen to practice Islam: the ability of a regular prayer schedule to create healthy mental habits key to leading a good existence.

my response cont'd in a later discussion:

I must say, that I have attempted to surrender my heart and mind to the truth and I must say that I am above all attached to the truth and I see that Islam can guide well toward the truth, but above all, above any given religion I am attached to the truth.

"Malam Kaolo"

Originally uploaded by parisdelhi OUKPEDJO Seïdi Mouhamed (Malam Kaolo). Naturopath, Coranic and traditional healer, Arabic literature teacher, Arabic-language author, President of a bureau of the Union Musulmane du Togo, President and founder of the NGO ABOU BABA for traditional medicine and development, founder of a Franco-Arabic school... among yet more titles he is my Arabic professor and prized spiritual councilor...

On this day Kaolo was giving a lecture on "Rouqya: the prevention and treatment of witchcraft of "djims" and the bad eye." I retained best Kaolo's preventions and treatments that are, it seems to me, very practical, both coranic and non-coranic, positive thinking techniques.

contacts:

B.P. 4

TCHAMBA, TOGO

WEST AFRICA

+2289096015

aboubaba8@yahoo.fr

cashew bi-product: juice!

Originally uploaded by parisdelhi In the past Cotton was a source of cash for families in my area but with the fall in the sale price of raw cotton and the costliness of fertlizers and pesticides, cashew production is looking like a better source of cash income, the 100 kilo sack of raw cashews currently selling at almost 50 US$.

What is more, cashew apples, as seen in the adjacent photo, can be rather easily transformed into juice, chutney, jam, wine and liquor. For the moment some of the apples are eaten by children but many just rot in the field, becoming unused bi-products of cashew nut production. We're attemping to change that.

Another notable way folks are finding important sums of cash income to help out their families is through emigration to Nigeria, Ghana, the US, Europe, or elsewhere abroad.

Kofi Annan on migration to the developed world:

"the evidence on migration’s potential benefits is mounting. With their remittances reaching an estimated 167 billion dollars last year [2005], the amount of money migrants from the developing world send back to their families exceeds the total of all international aid combined. And money is far from being the whole story. Migrants also use their skills and know-how to transfer technology, capital, and institutional knowledge. They inspire new ways of thinking about social and political issues. They form a dynamic human link between cultures, economies, and societies. As a result, we are better positioned than ever to confront the challenges of migration, and seize its opportunities.” ADDRESS TO THE HIGH-LEVEL DIALOGUE OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT, NEW YORK, 14 SEPTEMBER 2006.

Suddenly pro-French...(7/6/2006)

Originally uploaded by parisdelhi My interest in Africa was born out of my thirst to learn the French language and discover all of the countries in which that language would allow me to communicate, known as la francophonie. That interest in Africa has now grown and eclipsed my interest in the French language and in la francophonie, for reasons that I will discuss here, but I thought that the "francophone situation" in Togo deserved a blog entry.

Why was I first interested in the French language? It was because French allowed me to take part in another culture and exist in the medium of that culture. Well, French only allows me to take part in Togolese culture to a limited, but sometimes suprisingly great, extent. When you speak French in Togo you aren't speaking French as much as you are speaking, what is and what is perceived as, a "white" language. So when you speak French in Togo you don't really get the feeling that you are participating in someone else's culture, rather you may feel that you are just grazing the surface of their culture incapable of fully participating or worse reinforcing French culture at the expense of the local culture. Those facts do not fuel my enthousiasm about the French language, or my ability to speak it, that I have when elsewhere in the francophonie. On the other hand, you are, I fave found, highly regarded by Togolese who have attended school if you speak a French well.

Senegalese writer Boubacar Boris Diop describes la francophonie so well when he says that it is divided into two parts, the areas where it is imposed and is not the language of hearts or minds, and the areas where it is the native language of the inhabitants. That division weighs heavily on my perception of la francophonie now, not because it is bad to impose a language on others, afterall the major european languages like French were only regional languages until being imposed on whole countries, but because a language is really interesting to learn when, as I have said, it allows you to truly participate in another culture, and a language can only do that if it is the language in which that culture dreams and thinks and feels...so bring on Hausa and Kotokoli and Ewe and Tchamba and Ani...the local languages that surround me...languages that inhabit the hearts of the people I live with in Togo.

Maybe one day French will become the language of the hearts of the Togolese, like spanish seems to have done in Latino America and afterall my ancestors surely didn't have English flowing in their vains as I do, but I think a majority of Togolese would say that French will never be the language of their hearts and minds. What is interesting is that when Togolese or Francophone Africans travel away from areas where their native languages are spoken, French quickly sounds much more like the language of their hearts. I believe this is because when they travel away and speak French, they are just trying to transmit their feelings as sincerely and accurately as possible in the language that can be understood. If they were to speak French in their native languages' areas of dominance that would not be the case, they would be speaking their second or third or fourth language, IE French, and thus their words would not be as sincere or as accurate as they could be if their words had been spoken in the languages that their hearts and minds operate in. Outside the areas of dominance of their native languages, French becomes the most sincere and accurate way available for "francophone Africans" to make themselves understood.

La Francophonie is still interesting and French is still an important language to learn, as was proven to me last evening as I translated between two Senegalese and a Ghanean customs officer, but la francophonie and the French language aren't as rich as I had thought them before...

2006-2008 has been an period of change for the Francophonie, in France Jacques Chirac, a mainstay of the old school Françafrique leaders influenced by Jacques Foccart, has left power. In Africa, the African intellectuals that brought French Africa into independence are quickly passing away, both Ousmane Sembène and Aimé Césaire have been buried, and Léopold Sédar Senghor preceded them by a few years in 2001. A few old school Françafrique leaders remain in power however, among them Omar Bongo and Paul Biya. It is also worth noting that Radio France International, a key entry point of France in Africa, expanded its FM coverage in Togo during the period 2006-2008. I am a die-hard listener of RFI and I am not proposing that it has a negative effect but one can be aware of its influence in Africa.

manou

Originally uploaded by parisdelhi This man can teach you to read and write arabic. He can teach you the Hausa and Fulani languages. He can introduce you to Muslim paths to enlightenment. He can show you how to be a nomad. He can teach you to laugh more often and be light hearted. He is a wealth of knowledge, life, and love, and everyone in the world is. We will soon become dust again my friends but the world is such a precious and beautiful thing, let us be interested in it! May our interest in it lead us to love it, and may our love for it lead us to care for it.

The big picture agricultural situation (as I understand it) in Africa can be rather simply summarized:

In the past folks burnt patches of land to clear them and farm on them. When any given patch became less fertile it was left fallow for a period of time in order for it to regain its fertility. Population growth has made land more scarce and has shortened or eliminated the fallow periods, thus soil fertility has suffered. Overfarming, or under-fertilization, has been the result of population growth and it has left soils poor, less able to produce good yields, and less able to feed people. Thus, new ways of fertilizing the soil must be invented. There are many very effective economical agroforestry and manure fertilization techniques that have been researched by many an African agronomist. But until now expensive chemical fertilizers have been the 'solution' pushed on African peasants. Soils have become even poorer with the use of chemical fertilizers. Many soils have become dependent on chemical fertilizers in order to obtain even a half decent yield. That expenseive chemical system, which is out of the financial reach of many farmers, is failing. Soils are becoming dangerously poor..........

ousmane

Originally uploaded by parisdelhi This is Ousmane. Ousmane, Manou, and the herd owner that they work for are Fulani from Nigeria. They have walked to Togo with their cattle in search of good forage for the herd. Ousmane and manou each recieve one cow for every five months that they work for the herd owner. The herd owner himself obtained his own herd by working for another herd owner for 9 years. The herd owner's family is in Nigeria where they will wait for his return when the rains and fresh vegetation arrive in June, July and August. Since he does not have boys old enough to herd with him he is forced to hire other young Fulani, in this case ousmane and manou, to help him. Majirou and I spent two nights and one full day in the bush with ousmane and manou. We had a great time and since they will be our the area for a few months we will surely spend more time with them, god willing.

See more photos of our time with ousmane and manou:

http://flickr.com/photos/thompsoncw/sets/72157603729921135/

And then you realize that you cause your own suffering and frustration. There may be outside stimuli (and there are as many as we create) but in the end only you can decide to suffer or see through your emotional distractions. It takes a lot of learning how to be emotionally graceful to take jadedness and frustration, gain understanding and patience, and learn healthy ways of managing and transforming frustration and emotional distractions when they do rear their ugly, destructive, discouraging heads. The method to resolve suffering, as I understand it, is simple but very difficult to impliment well:

Observe your mind. As you observe your mind, observe your thought and emotion reactions to the world. Gain understanding of how and why your mind works, thinks and feels, the way it does. As you see and understand your mental pitfalls you can confront them one by one, knowing that you are on a sacred path. Be confident in that path.

I've read it in books before and tried to apply it but never had to learn to apply it in order to be an effective worker...

This is not managing and transforming emotional distractions just for the sake of it but seeing through the emotional distractions because it is the only way to be rational and rational is a synonym for not letting your emotions control you. Being rational is the most important thing one can do because it immediately gives your entire life meaning. It makes your life intentional and it is the only way you can be truly effective. And why be effective when we are just going to die and head into a black hole you may ask? Well, because as the Gita states or as Jodie Foster's character states at the end of the film "Contact" in front of a congressional committee: Life, existence, and matter are infinitely unique, beautiful, and precious but at the very same time, life, existence, and matter are meaningless, ephemeral, and of no importance whatsoever. So important is the universe, that we must devote our entire lives to serving it faithfully and so unimportant is the universe that we should not for a micro-second be attached or give importance to even the slightest part of it. In the end in attaching or not attaching importance to the universe we are or aren't attaching importance to ourselves as egos. In the end I am saying that our place in the universe is an ever so important one but that we are also so tiny and insignificant that we should not place our egos at the center of that universe by trying to control it and place our labels on importances within it. Being attached, which means letting your emotions control you, is the same as placing your self at the center of the universe. Being rational is seeing your true place in the universe, as a conglomeration of mere molecules so insignificant and unimportant, yet so beautiful and rare. See through your emotions, be rational, be intentional, find meaning. Those are all synonyms.

Quote from Jodie Foster's character in the Film "Contact":"I had an experience I can’t prove, I can’t even explain it, but everything that I know as a human being, everything that I am tells me that it was real. I was part of something wonderful, something that changed me forever; a vision of the Universe that tells us undeniably how tiny, and insignificant, and how rare and precious we all are. A vision that tells us we belong to something that is greater than ourselves. That we are not, that none of us are alone. I wish I could share that. I wish that everyone, if even for one moment, could feel that awe, and humility, and the hope, but... that continues to be my wish." I feel the same way about my Peace Corps service.

In response to my proposals of sustainable agriculture methods like natural pesticides, wood saving cookstoves, agroforestry, natural fertilizers like manure and compost, how many times have I heard this: "Ah, our grandparents used to do that, but with modern times we have left all that for chemical pesticides and chemical fertilizers and the like."

It is almost as if folks have put all their faith in the "modern" chemical ways and are so enamored by those ways that they are surprised to hear that non-chemical traditional-type ways can work effectively. One man said "my grandma always bugs me, telling me to save ashes and manure for the garden but our generation, we've forgotten all that."

In so many different domains, from medicine, to latrines, to water wells, to agriculture, one remarks that the traditional methods that had worked have been left behind but that there is not enough money in the system to fully adopt the "modern ways."

This puts a whiteman promoting traditional-type methods in an ironic position. "Oh sorry, we were wrong go back to doing it the old way." Africa has in her subconscious the ways and the means to develop herself but she is lost between tradition and "modernity." Just a small evolution in the traditional methods of latrines, medicine, wells, and agriculture could give birth to low cost highly effective techniques.

In a 2006 article entitled "OPEN THE BLINDS", PCV Dan Mueller tells us of a fictional African village that was developing at its own pace before the world started trying to develop Africa. It would seem that Mueller is saying that organic grassroots development is made impossible or improbable by the promise of the developed world driving up and magically developing the village with money. That promise drastically changes the rules of the game of getting ahead and tears apart the fabric of the developing society. I believe Mueller is also saying that the prospect of emigrating to the "developed" rich world and living the good life blinds Africans and makes them forget the organic development that their ancestors, like ancestors all over the world, we're engaged in. This state of affairs is really quite obvious to the observant development worker.

DSC_0412.jpg

Originally uploaded by JCTownsley Have you ever experienced fulfilling the mission of your convictions by way of fulfilling your life's passion. It is with tears at the ready and full of gratitude that I tell you that I am living that. Feeling that you are doing what life has taught you is right to do through using your skills that are your life's passion, wow, what else can you want out of life? Maybe food, water, health, a wonderful family, and friends, and I have those too... Al Hamdoulila...Allah Akbar.

dancing 'Ridungo'

Originally uploaded by JCTownsley This final year of service promises to be fast and furious. Been in Togo for 17 months and I get it now. I know what to do. I know how to do it. I don't have much time left however.

An evolving list of objectives for my final year:

-improved cookstove campaigns targeting tchouk markets and middle school students (middle school improved cookstove contest)

-Continue Moringa powder distribution and trainings at baby weighings

-help feed 10 orphans in Sokode

-cantonwide Agroforestry conference with Bradoc

-Continue radio program-trainings on Radio Tchamba

-teach,assist and work with local middle school students as much as possible, continue penpalship

-Involve the sacred forest in my work

-Can and sell large amounts of mango jam as income generating activity with folks

-help put together a school library at local middle school

-participate in as many football practices as possible and use that forum to further my work

-animal health center project

-collaborate closely with a few select young individuals so that they become models for others.

-collaborate effectively with members of my village living in Europe or the US. Help them help their village.

-well projects/financed projects, possibly a bridge

-Hospital Moringa plantation

-Incorporate moringa Powder into egg-laying hen business

-mass production of Neem pesticide

-Weekend outdoor school among Fulani for village youth

-Continue to sell vegetable seeds but better incorporate non chemical production methods trainings

-Run computer classes with students and teachers at the local middle school where there is no power

-Do trainings by megaphone to the crowds on market days in my village

-Assist to the best of my abilities the birth of a beekeeping project

-Prove to people that Agroforestry and non chemical land fertilization is feasable in terms of required labor, to chemical fertilization

-Have an agroforestry demonstration field in place before leaving

-help provide medicines to a village health center

-help supply a blacksmith with tools necessary to continue and expand his business

- help a kindergarten to obtain needed supplies

-Pursue the other quality projects and opportunities to do good that I have forgotten to mention here and those that I will come across.

-pray 5 times a day

-learn Arabic

-master Kotokoli

-learn Hausa

Africans want to understand why and how the gap between themselves and the rich world came to be. There are many that espouse behavioralist explanations of "under-development," under-development being a term that Africans who I know employ. This type of conclusion has as a fundamental principle the idea that Africa is "under-developed" because of Africans themselves, African behavior and African mentality. In the opposite camp lie what I will call the materialist explanations of "under-development," whose fundamental principle is the idea that Africa is "under-developed" because of its historical material conditions and its geography.

Sitting on the left in the adjacent photo is a professor who will tell you that Africa is "under-developed" because "Africans are too content with the little that they have, Africans are not driven, they are good at rejoicing, dancing and singing, but not at pursuing progress." If you try to dispute it, he will respond that you have to be African to understand. In addition he will tell you that under-development in Africa is caused by the jealousy that keeps Africans from uniting to achieve common goals. The professor would add: "if you were to tell Africans that their poverty is due to geography, then they would stop trying." Government functionaries tend to espouse behavioralist explanations and point to the villager mentality. A couple days back a functionary looked at a grapefruit tree full of fruit and said “look how lazy we are [we are too lazy to even create plantations of trees that would provide for us].” Does he have it right or is there more to it like tree diseases, too many short term needs, and the lack of a market for grapefruit?

A man from my village who is living and working abroad came back to Togo for a visit and had little hope for his village. He predicted that "Africa will never develop. Look at all the men sleeping on benches all day who wake up and say that they couldn't find any money." This man is echoed by another man from my village also living abroad who declares that "Africans are rich but don't realize it." He points to Leucena leaves, beekeeping, animal breeding, manure use, and fruit trees as some of the many unexploited money-makers in Africa.

In any case, the point of this entry is to introduce you to the debate that takes place among Africans about who or what to blame for historical and present perceived "under-development.” I would also pose the question: what are the consequences of this debate in terms of the outlook of Africans themselves? Afro-pessimism or chronic pessimism about Africa is often fed by behavioralist explanations for under-development. Afro-pessimism is a huge psychological obstacle blocking its development.

Anthropologist Dennis Garvey reminded me today that societies are like organisms. They are made up of many dynamic components, each of which plays a role in the functioning of the whole. Our organic societies also operate in given environments that contain other societies as well as different quantities and qualities of available resources. So why development occurred is a more complicated question than one may think but I am a firm believer in the geography explanation as opposed to the behavior explanation of the level of development of different peoples. It seems to me that Human behavior, while it looks very different as you travel, is more static than one would think wherever you go in the world.

Also see the entry about Sarkozy's speech in Dakar.

Moringa powder and its audience

Originally uploaded by parisdelhi The tree Moringa Oleifera has been my best received and largest (in terms of time spent) project.

The tree's leaves are veritable natural vitamin pills. They can provide much vitamin A, as well as vitamin C, calcium, iron, protein, magnesium, potassium, amino acids and may be eaten fresh or in the form of powder, as you see in the photo (though there is less vitamin C in the powder, the other nutrients a more concentrated in the powder than in the fresh leaves). Malnutrition can be combatted effectively with Moringa leaves. Moringa leaves can also be a great source of fodder for animal husbandry and the leaves are not the only useful part of the tree. The pods, the seeds, the flowers, and the roots also have important uses... Read some Moringa literature.

Moringa Activities at my post:

-We (my Togolese counterparts and myself) have trained the community health agents on the importance, production, and use of Moringa leaves especially for vulnerable folks like children, women having given birth, older folks, or anyone suffering from nutritional deficiencies.

-We have performed a Moringa planting campaign with the same health agents.

-We have sold Moringa trees, seeds, and literature at local markets and used that forum to get out the word about Moringa.

-We are putting in place a Moringa plantation next to the local hospital. The leaf production of the plantation will be dedicated to powder production for treatment of malnutrition.

-We are training mothers during monthly baby weighings about how to administer Moringa powder to their children.

-We have trained and or assisted numerous community service providers including nurses, agronomists, teachers, and development workers in Moringa production and use.

-We have broadcast radio show-trainings about Moringa.

-We have animated many formal and informal trainings and distributed seeds, seedlings, and or literature to many different individuals and groups in the region (informal trainings are probably the activity to which the most time is dedicated).

More 24

Originally uploaded by parisdelhi Working with youth provides a rich source of highly fulfilling work opportunities. I have been stepping-in to occupy students during periods of the school day when they are idle. We play large circle games, learn about subjects from the history of Blues (with a guitar in hand) to the environment and agriculture. We are continuing the penpalship that began last year with students at an American High School. We are also playing the "24" game (as you see in the photo), an engrossing math game that occupied me in middle school and that has been a hit with students here. In the course of these activities a couple students have come up with some promising ideas for other activities to initiate...

end of Ramadan holiday (Eid ul-Fitr)

Originally uploaded by parisdelhi My fondest moments here have been sitting with this man, Ticha, smiling and laughing with him, listening to him tell his life's adventures, from listening to Nkrumah declare the Independence of Ghana, to attending an Nkrumah inspired Teacher training college, to living through theft at gun point as a manager in Nigeria, but it isn't the stories, it is him, this father figure...


He is making his first pilgrimage to Mecca this year, May God accompany him.

the Africa misunderstanding blurred

Originally uploaded by parisdelhi In the entry "first year blues," I made reference to the internal battle that I have been going through during my first year in Togo. I believe it was, and is, a battle between misunderstanding and understanding. Misunderstanding and understanding of myself, of Africans, of Africa, of what I should do here, of what I can do here, of humanity, of life.

I thank God for helping me along in the battle, for giving me the idea to take breakfast with villagers during Ramadan, for putting wise guides around me, for helping me listen to and study my mind and its reactions to life, and for giving me just enough humility to attempt to identify my faults and mistakes and then correct them. I think if God gives me the chance, the battle might just bear some wonderful fruits.

It is interesting how much personal progress came during the Ramadan fast.

The battle between misunderstanding and understanding undoubtedly warped the image of Africa that I have been displaying to you. The battle blurred the courageous, patient, caring, joyful, suffering, successful, dreaming, thwarted, striving Africa that I see here in Togo. And though one can observe some very discouraging things here, it is the adjectives that I have just listed that best describe the Africa I have come to know.