It was a fantastic journey from Togo across Ghana, Morocco, Spain, Germany, and China, but it feels great to be in Hawaii with Chris and Carolina. See the photos here!

This week brought 33 female apprentices together in Pagala, Togo for the annual Camp UNITE, an American style summer camp for Togolese youth. The girls sung, danced, and learned about issues affecting young women. The photo above was taken at the candlelight ceremony that concluded the week. More photos can be found by following the link on the sidebar. "UNITE! Oui, Oui, Oui!"

Nearly two years of service complete for Small Enterprise Development Volunteers in Togo. Just a few months and we will be saying the bittersweet goodbyes to other PCVs and especially our Togolese friends. My date: July 30th!

This is Desire. He is a young boy in Kindergarten that lives next to me and never hesitates to come over for a visit.

More new photos online!

An innocent young man entered the microfinance bank the other day, hoping make change of his large bill. The credit agent at the bank responded harshly...

"Change?! You want change?! This is a bank. We don't have change. Go to the boutiques."

Lotion is actually pretty easy to make and it has a big profit margin.1 bar of soap1 liter water1 liter oil

A friend of mine is getting married on Friday, but he isn't in love. Sadly enough, he gave kola nuts to a local girl last year symbolizing his desire to marry her. Unable to retract his gesture, the wedding will proceed as planned. I'm the photographer.

It is remarkable how much information we absorb as children from our

surrounding environment. I can't remember the first time I turned on a

computer or moved the mouse to see how the cursor would react on the

screen. For those of us born in the past 25 or even 30 years, we have

taken our computer skills for granted. Even those who didn't have

computers at home would see one being used in a workplace or at

school.For many of my Togolese friends, the computer reflects a complicated

and humbling mystery. Not just why it works but how to use it and what

it does. A good friend of mine, an English teacher at a local middle

school, came to my house tonight to begin training sessions on my

computer. He's a very bright man, but one who never had a chance to

use or even observe a computer previously. To him, it was a new world,

a new language, and a new field of study. I didn't know it already,

but English isn't my only native language. There's also computer.He started by trying to move the mouse. Something so simple to us, but

the cursor darted all over the screen, miss clicking on windows and

dragging selection boxes all over the desktop and he could only wonder

why nothing else was happening. Before coming to Togo, I had never

seen this before. A child in the United States will likely just start

off and running due to hours of watching a parent or a friend do basic

tasks like opening windows or clicking on this so-called 'start-menu'.I orally helped him navigate to MS Word to practice using the

keyboard. He entered each letter slowly and carefully. I would guess

he managed about 2 gwam for his first sentence before being tired and

ready to finish the lesson. We had spent about 45 minutes reaching

this point. Explaining the idea of windows and basic navigation took

time and each task brought a new wealth of options. "Why do you click

once on that icon, but twice on that one to open?" "When do you use

the right mouse button?"The computer is difficult because it's tough to learn little by

little. One can introduce a language with "hello" and "how are you",

but sitting in front of a computer throws the user in head first.Just sit back in your chair and think about all the steps it took just

to read this article. Even the most basic parts take time and patience

to understand.

Kassie and I climbed into our bush taxi to head back to Kara. It was supposed to be a bus taking us north, but we had been informed that morning that something was wrong so they arranged these Toyota vans to go instead. It felt good to be back in Togo, but it was also easy to forget that we even went home.

While we were waiting for the car to move, a man jumped in the front seat holding a large calendar in his lap nearly the size of a standard piece of poster board. It was held close because it represented honor and respect to this young Togolese man holding it closely.

There is an annual search by Togolese every January to secure a most dear calendar from as many organizations, businesses, or associations as possible. Concurrently, Togolese businesses are competing annually to offer more and better calendars to the public. It’s a glorious, yet simple, example of competition and the fight for a larger consumer base. The calendars vary in size, quality, and of course accuracy; all of which appear to be directly proportional to the health or wealth of the business. Any legitimate or well-respected business in Togo must make these calendars and give them free to their most valued customers. There are calendars from banks, the post offices, microfinance institutions, the Port Authority of Lomé, the LK bus company, the Togolese Water Society, Togo Cell, Togo Telecom, and many, many more.

This man in the taxi was holding his BTCI bank calendar dear because it was evidence to him that he was a loyal customer to the bank, worthy of receiving this tribute to the New Year. He would be transporting the calendar home to Kara where he could place it with his BTCI 2006, 2007, and 2008 calendars. They stand all in a row; all of great importance. Previous years will not be removed. The only cost is the chance referencing the wrong year. There have been numerous times when I have consulted a calendar with a host only to realize that we were looking at the wrong year. This isn’t a major problem though because the large posters are more used as trophies than actually referring to dates. A small cost for such a great souvenir.

When one enters another’s home in Togo, the walls may be covered with fabric, framed photos of relatives, and more than likely they will also be partially covered by these calendars. Previous years hang high above, covered in dust, with memories of that great day when the manager decided to give this person a calendar. Greeting guests in a room covered with calendars from a variety of years and organizations adds quick prestige to any home.

It’s impressive that something so simple can have such a strong affect on the Togolese and also the marketing strategies of businesses. A tailor arrived at ACM Microfinance in Kabou the other day to accept his calendar gratefully, but he did not hesitate to admit that ours was far inferior to that of Alafia Pharmacy of Kabou. Being half the size and made of cheap cardboard is nothing compared to the large, glossy, and colorful calendar of the pharmacy. So which organization has a better standing in the community?

The same occurrence exists for day planners, but only the top businesses can offer these more expensive prizes free of charge to customers. The large enterprises, such as Togo Cell, will give them to those who may have monthly contracts or are close relatives of management. Similarly to the calendars, they will not be used as day planners, but rather folders for paper or simply a notepad as if the days weren’t already inscribed on the pages.

Togolese aren’t really sure how this phenomenon got started, nor do Americans know why beanie babies got crazy or Hard Rock Café t-shirts. It’s just a different product for a different culture and people will continue to collect them for years to come. If a company stops distributing them, the customers would complain harshly, feel unloved by the company or even unloved by a suspected brother or sister that didn’t come through with his or her New Year’s duty. Who would want to break such a pattern?

I'm heading back home to Virginia in just 2.5 weeks! I'll be around

from December 16 until January 5. Call my house in Winchester and we

can catch up.Also, here are photos that my brother Chad uploaded from his trip to

Togo this October:http://picasaweb.google.com/cganske/WestAfrica

I'm beginning to grow rather anxious because my brother is arriving in Accra in about an hour and a half! He will be coming to Ghana and Togo with a friend, Mike, to experience West African culture. Kassie and I just got to Accra this afternoon from a few days in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire where some locals we met in the taxi gave us a whirlwind tour of Ivoirian nightlife while we were clearly culture shocked by their glistening iPhones and riding in their private cars. The city was much bigger than we expected and the skyline on the waterfront reminded us a little of Pittsburgh. Very clean, good public transportation, and very friendly people - we barely got hassled at all... On the way back we stopped at a beach "resort" in western Ghana and stayed in a tent for $3 a night on the water. The entire scene was simply breathtaking. We met some cool other PCVs from Niger, Brits, Germans, and even a married couple motorcycling from England to Alaska via Africa over three years of travel. I think my future is sealed in motorcycle adventures!

Thanks to all of you who donated and supported this project! We successfully completed the business skills training seminar the first week of September and disbursed loans to the participants the following week. The young women are using their loan capital to start income generating activities ranging from selling soap to preparing local beer.

Please see the following PDF report for more information: Project Report

My Togolese clown car record thus far has been 13 people and a goat in a five-seat hatchback taxi. This is pretty impressive for a car so small and even more impressive to the driver when he collects his fares at the end of the ride, but is this feat actually good for the driver in the long run? More revenue equals more profit, right? And more passengers per taxi always mean more money for the drivers. This simple assumption, however, is not the case and is misunderstood throughout Togo. These taxi drivers think they are being more efficient by using less fuel per passenger, but they may be mistaken. Crammed, overfilled vehicles strip profit margins by overweighing already decrepit automobiles, delaying potential departures, and deterring the public from using stations or even using a ridiculous form of public transportation altogether. All of these costs are further exacerbated by the high social costs to the public from road collisions and damaged goods which are more likely when cars are pushed to the limits. Filling the car to the limit is not economical because extra weight actually lowers the efficiency of the vehicle, i.e. gas mileage, and increases the frequency of accidents. Simply put, if the chassis and the engine were designed to accommodate eight passengers instead of five, the car would have eight seats. Optimal speed can be discussed as an analogy to this concept. Each vehicle has an optimal speed that allows for the most miles traveled per gallon of fuel. A standard five-seat sedan with a four cylinder engine usually travels best at about 55 mph, or around 3500 RPMs in the highest gear. Below this speed, the car is not reaching its full potential, while it surpasses this optimum above the target speed to actually be counterproductive. Most any driver is aware of this, but will push the vehicle anyway; usually to save time. This "greed" is also evident in Togolese taxi drivers as they add more and more weight to their cars in the form of yams, chickens, people, and so on. They surpass the target weight and lose fuel efficiency. Therefore the relationship of profit per passenger, or pound to be exact, actually represents diminishing marginal returns. Secondly, drivers that cram their taxis with extra weight actually lower the demand for their own services. Over cramming vehicles makes waiting times unbearable and deters clients from going to stations. This problem is further compounded by the spawning of multiple departure locations per town because passengers consistently try to outsmart the system to find taxis that will depart in a timely fashion. These individuals bypass stations and jump onto taxis already en route to the destination, or at least in the right direction, because moving is preferable to sitting and waiting. A five-seat car with four passengers would fill quickly and drivers could serve multiple journeys each day, instead of the all too typical go-return trip daily for a taxi driver.Furthermore, who wants to ride in a taxi when one will share half a seat with someone sweaty and irritable at the end of a long day? It is also a direct insult and simply rude to expect a client to sit in the trunk or on the roof. All of this is to the benefit of whom? It is surely not the passenger who pays the same fee, but for the greed of the taxi driver, albeit a misconceived greed…

The public response is apparent through the abundance of motorcycles in Togo. It is not difficult to notice all the Chinese and Indian motorbikes on a street in Lomé or a village on market day. The zemidjan, or taxi-motorcycle, has become a staple of Togo's inept automobile taxi network and a direct consequence of the taxi drivers' misconceived greed for more passengers. More Togolese seek their own motorcycle and use taxi-motorcycles to cry foul toward the taxi system. One hundred CFA across town hardly seems comparable to an automobile taxi, but passengers are using taxi-motorcycles increasingly often for longer distances.

A journey from Kabou to Bassar, for example, is 23 kilometers on a decent stretch of dirt road and costs 700 CFA in a typical taxi. That is, if a passenger can find one on a non-market day. Travelers are instead opting to pay 1200 to 1500 CFA and sometimes double price of an automobile taxi to reach the same destination. This proves that the Togolese will pay more money for convenience. As a result, being a taxi motorcycle driver is now the hot new job for young men and some women as they can earn up to 5000 CFA of profit daily. This lucrative enterprise has won the interest of middle school dropouts to university graduates, although now the Togolese market is showing signs of oversaturation and incomes are falling.

These overfilled taxis are also costing the Togolese public through healthcare expenditures and damaged goods from traffic accidents. This effect is difficult to measure because it is not a direct consequence to the driver, but the driver is a member of the community nonetheless. Healthcare costs, human capital loss through death, and physical damage to goods could be reduced if drivers exercised more prudence. Furthermore, the abundance of motorcycles on the roads escalates this social cost because motorcycle passengers involved in accidents are more likely to suffer from severe injuries.

So, are overfilled taxis better for the driver? Do the drivers actually see more profit when the car is occupied beyond its max?

Cost-Benefit Analysis of Two Opposing Taxi Driver Strategies

Let's analyze a typical taxi journey from Kabou to Kara. The fare for each passenger is 1200 CFA to travel 57 kilometers. The fuel necessary for a five-seat hatchback, in this case a 1980s Toyota Corolla 4WD, is about 8 liters (15.4 MPG). Given 600 CFA per liter currently in Togo, this represents an expense of 4200 CFA for fuel. We can assume that the driver will wait until he has seven passengers for the journey. This is an average estimate because there are occasionally fees for baggage for which we will not account while also not all passengers make the full journey. This provides revenue of 8400 CFA. Upon leaving town in each direction, the driver must pay the syndicate a fee of 200 CFA. Along the journey, the driver must also pay a fee of 1000 CFA to a patrolling officer for having six passengers. He must also pay 100 CFA for a taxi-motorcycle to take the seventh passenger to a rally point after the controlling officer's field of view. This process costs 1100 CFA. In summary, the revenue is estimated at 8400 CFA and the expenses amount to 5500 CFA, leaving a profit of 2900 CFA per journey. This profit, however, does not account for car loan payments, maintenance, insurance, or unexpected problems along the route. Since many five-seat taxis only make one go-return journey daily, that allows for 5800 CFA of profit before including vehicle costs. Is this the most efficient strategy for a taxi driver? Now we can analyze the alternative strategy of having one passenger per seat. This means four paying passengers. We can estimate revenue of 4800 CFA. Without breaking any laws, there is no need to account for fees along the route, but the driver must still pay 200 CFA to the syndicate upon leaving town in each direction. Keeping gas mileage constant at 4200 CFA, the profit per journey is now only 400 CFA and 800 CFA daily. However, if all taxi drivers apply this strategy, they will make many more trips daily and increase their revenue. During a typical day, there are about 8 five-seat taxis between Kabou and Kara. Including both directions, this means 112 passengers. Now divided by four passengers per car, this now means 28 journeys instead of 16. Keeping the number of drivers constant, this allows for 3.5 trips daily instead of the typical 2. The 400 CFA profit times 3.5 trips with the new strategy allows for 1400 CFA of profit daily. The result is 5800 CFA overfilled versus 1400 CFA with one passenger per seat of daily profit. So the overfilled taxi must be more efficient. The analysis cannot stop here. The number of passengers necessary to make the new, legal strategy of four passengers per five-seat car equally profitable is 464. 5800 CFA / 400 CFA = 14.5 trips 14.5 trips x 8 taxis x 4 passengers = 464 passengers Would a simple strategy increase the demand for five-seat taxis to Kara from Kabou enough to accommodate 352 more passengers? This is difficult to measure yet certainly doubtful even if certain qualitative variables would likely increase demand. Demand would increase for several reasons. Wait time is now nearly cut in half so people would not be as deterred from traveling. Comfort has also increased making the journey more enjoyable per passenger. Some may even opt to ride in a taxi instead of using their private motorcycle. (57 kilometers using a standard 125cc motorcycle, such as a Haojin would consume about 1.75 liters or 1050 CFA worth of fuel per journey) With the new strategy, the automobile would also travel 75% more distance daily holding the number of passengers constant. This would increase maintenance cost, although it may be at least partially offset by the decrease in repairs due to excess weight. Social externalities of health care and damaged goods must also be regarded as a heavy cost on overfilled, unregulated taxis. Accidents are rampant on Togolese highways and having two people in the driver's seat, a rear bumper sagging to the ground, and a load twice the car's height on the roof obviously do not help prevent road collisions. The society definitely gains from the new strategy. The best driver strategy is up for discussion, but it is clear that the current strategy is not convenient to passengers and it exerts a high cost on the economy in terms of social externalities. In conclusion, regulating drivers' desire to overfill their taxis would be better for the country as a whole, although there does not seem to be any motivation for a taxi driver to change strategy. The increase in demand necessary of 414 % for passengers to make the new strategy feasible is doubtful. Any change of strategy will, therefore, not come from the drivers' syndicate unless a substantial increase of fares occurs. That seems unlikely given the recent increases in the cost of living worldwide. The drivers obviously have a direct incentive to continue overfilling their vehicles. In order to address this issue, a solution or an incentive must come from elsewhere.

It has become apparent that Play-Dough has the same consistency as

Togo's staple food: Fou-Fou, a mash made from yams. After many

repeated explanations, people still feel like it should be edible.

Some great finds in the Kabou market recently:

1. BVB 09, Dortmund Football Club Hat (80 cents) From when they won the Champion's League!

2. Spiderman sheets for my bed ($2.50)

3. Authentic Hugo Boss Jeans ($3)

4. Random Communist Hammer and Sickle T-Shirt (80 cents)

5. Guitar Hero T-Shirt (80 cents)

Kassie and I decided to start podcasts to share our lives, work, and Togolese culture. We would love any recommendations or questions. Please email anything to me or Kassie!

Podcast 1 - 1.4 MB

I guess I've neglected information on my actual work here in Togo. Here's an update:

I'm still teaching English at the high school every Monday and Tuesday. The students are well-disciplined and eager to learn more. One actually asked me for an exam! Hopefully the course will make an impact on their performance taking the BAC in June.

ACM, the Microfinance, and I will be launching a grant proposal to fund our Girls' Student Enterprise Loan Fund. The project will include a week long training "camp", followed by the opportunity to receive a loan without prior savings to start their proposed small income generating activities.

At the bank we are also looking into adding a basic Student Loan service to help those who cannot pay their school fees at the beginning of the year. We will pay the school directly while students and their parents reimburse the bank.

ACM Kara, the PCV in Kara, and I are looking into a large loan to help solve the credit shortage at the bank. There are many clients who want loans, but there isn't always enough to lend. With the new solidarity group method, more capital is needed to fund credit without savings services.

Monthly meetings with those infected with HIV/AIDS in Kabou will continue. This month we will discuss family budgeting. Last month we discussed nutrition and adding Moringa leaves to sauces. Each person took home seeds to start their own Moringa nursery. My six trees are about 2 feet tall after about a month!

On Saturdays, I met with a group of about 10 students interested in learning business skills. After about 10 meetings it is still going strong. The kids are very motivated and are now writing a project plan to bring computers to their high school.

Those are the main things going on in Kabou. Every day is a little bit different so volunteer life is great. I might purchase a TV and antenna so I can watch Champions League matches, EURO 2008, and the upcoming Olympics!

Do you think an outdoor bucket bath with your significant other sounds romantic? That means one bucket and two cups. Let me know what you think. There does not seem to be a clear consensus among PCVs...

Sorry for the delay on the blog, but I was gone for "in-service" training and the All Volunteer Conference in Pagala last week. Before that, Peter and I went on a long journey via bicycle from Kabou to the northern capital of Dapaong.After getting a little off track and some minor bike problems, we didn't make it to our goal of Mango (about 110 km from Kabou) so we stayed in a small village called Tababou. The chief was welcoming, giving us some yams and gari for dinner and allowing us to sleep at the local primary school. The catch was of course that they would like another potable water source. If anybody can install a pump somewhere, go to Tababou!The next day we got back to the old German colonial road, beautifully lined with large Kapok trees outside of Koumongou. A little later we fjorded the local river and finished the ride to Mango. The next few days, we relaxed a bit and only did about 35 or 40 km each day so we could see the Mango hippos and visit our training-mate Amanda in Barkoisi.From Dapaong, we took the Peace Corps bush taxi south to Atakpame and continued our bike journey another 90 km to Pagala for training. Training was fun, seeing some other volunteers for the first time since "swear-in" last August. Following the week in Pagala, I went to visit my host mother in Akpare where I feasted every meal for two days and saw the large hydroelectric dam in the neighboring village of Nangbeto. It provides electricity for southern Benin and Togo.Now it's time to head back to Kabou and start working again! A nice break from life in Kabou.

Mice 0; David 2. Last night a mouse actually tried to just run past me

while typing on my computer. How did he think that would turn out? I

quickly found a heavy book, followed him into my bedroom, and shut the

door. I shook the furniture and he ran to find a door blocking his

only escape route. Just 10 seconds later I managed to smash him

against the floor with a solid hit from a book. I must be improving…

this kill only took 10 seconds versus the 20 minutes of the earlier

"battle". This time it was more like a rout.

Emmanuel and Mousfadatou came over tonight and we finished discussing

the specifics of the girls' loan fund project. I'm getting pretty

excited because it looks like it may just work out as planned. A Peace

Corps Partnership fundraiser may be online within the next month or

so…

This past weekend I went to Bitchabe, another town in the Bassar

prefecture, to visit the funeral of their former chief who died a

month ago. What a time! We danced, drank, and ate till we passed out

laughing and tired that evening. If only we celebrated someone's death

like this in the states. Why do funerals have to be so sad?

My high school English classes are going well, although a few

students have started to mock me a little in the first few rows of the

class. If the girl continues, she'll have to visit the "principle".

That could be quite the experience. The first time I sent someone to

the office! Some of the students came by my house this evening and

asked if they could do some exercises on Saturday afternoon to

practice for the BAC exam. Exciting because it shows that they

actually care about moving on to "terminale".

This summer looks like it could be jam packed. In addition to the

girls' loan camp, it looks like Kenny could be coming for about a

month, followed by my parents for about 2 weeks. Then in October, I

may have my brother visiting. Kassie and I may do our own journey near

November and December will be my trip home for Christmas. In some ways

time is going by too quickly and my service as a PCV will be coming to

an end quite quickly.

As a Peace Corps volunteer, one normally accepts diarrhea as a part of life and something that may come and go every few weeks for the entire 27 months. One volunteer actually told us during training that, “You aren’t a Peace Corps volunteer until you shit you pants”.

I prided myself throughout training at the fact that I was one of the few lucky trainees to not fall victim to diarrhea, nausea, food sickness, weird rashes, or any of the other random things happening to people. Furthermore, I didn’t even get the weird dreams that some people experienced under Mephaquin before getting switched to Doxycycline. My health was superb; I ate what I wanted, when I wanted and even enjoyed “dangerous” foods such as fou-fou, a mashed yam dish, or tchouk, the local brew made from sorghum.

My long stretch of good health started to run out after biking the 20km round trip one Wednesday afternoon to Sanda-Kagbanda for a business skills club meeting at the local Lycee. After arriving back at my house, I was exhausted and could feel a mild rise in my body temperature. To quell the attack, I drank a lot of water and went to bed early, leaving my yam fries and spaghetti behind uneaten. The next morning I felt loads better and by 9:00 A.M. I managed to get an appetite so I ate the previous night’s food although stopping halfway to finished after smelling something spoiled.

The same day I left for Bassar, which later turned out to be a mild blessing because the volunteer there, Amy, has something like mini-America inside her hospitable three-room tile-floored home. Since I wasn’t feeling well the night before, Kassie and I took taxi motorcycles to her house and hung out for the day. Things were going well until about noon when my health gradually went downhill further. A few hours after eating the spoiled food, I threw it up leaving a nasty, rotten taste of yams in my mouth yet giving my body the satisfaction that one always feels after finishing a fit of vomiting.

That afternoon, I developed a very harsh pain in my lower right stomach and even made my back ache in an odd way unlike anything I had felt before. My temperature gradually rose again, this time around 102 degrees. My Dr. Mom for the moment, Amy the health volunteer in Bassar, gave me ibuprofen and Tylenol to control the pain and lower my fever.

At the same time, my diarrhea became something of an extreme level and showed no signs of stopping despite using Pepto-Bismol and drinking lots of water. I mean LOTS of water. I must have drunk at least 8 to 10 liters per day and two of those liters were mixed with Oral Rehydration Salts supplied by the Med-Unit in Lomé. Despite all of this hard work, four days passed without improvement while dehydration and weakness continued to progress to the point where I would get tired walking to the bathroom and I would begin to feel light-headed if I remained standing, or even sitting, for more than about 30 seconds. I simply could not rehydrate my body fast enough.

The Med-Unit officer told me that I would need a “stool” sample. In layman’s terms, I would need to have my crap analyzed at the Bassar hospital. This seemed like a simple task, yet I was unable to walk outside let alone across town. Amy would become my savior; my saving grace. She would do the favor that no one wants to do and she will hold it against for the rest of our lives. She transported my poop in a plastic bag to the hospital for the analysis while I continued to lie in agony on her living room floor.

After running around town to chase down the lab technician and waiting for the results, Amy came back home with my very own Carnet de Santé to prove my illness, prescribe a remedy for this perpetual diarrhea, while most importantly serving as one of the best souvenirs of my time in Togo. We were somewhat shocked by the results because I carried basically everything the parasites had to offer through poor water sources just shy of Dysentery.

A direct translation from my Carnet de Santé:

Specimen: Liquid Feces

Cool State: Presence of

- Numerous forms of vegetative cists of Entamoeba kistolyliea.

- Some vegetative forms of Giardia intestinalis

This was a pretty exciting moment. I had heard earlier from other volunteers that the stool samples rarely actually showed the evidence of something alive so one might have to just live it out without being prescribed medicine from the Peace Corps medical office. It was a relief that this wasn’t the case. After receiving this information, I was put on Fasogyne to kill off all those little critters in my gut. The medicine was a life saver. Within 24 hours, there was a great improvement in my health and I could finally pace around the room long enough to appease my usual habit before becoming light headed.

In retrospect, the problems weren’t too severe and didn’t give me much worry because I knew that the Peace Corps medical office was on my side. For a local person, lacking money, and especially a child, what happened to me could have very well killed someone without quality health support.

12:50 A.M. I’m awoken by a scratching coming from behind my dresser. On previous occasions, I had successfully made it through the night by listening to my CD player with headphone. If you can’t hear them, then they might not be there. At least that was the philosophy that I adhered to until my batteries all died and I was without any good method to block the noise. Using the headphones without music helped a little, but the mice (which actually turned out to be one mouse) can actually make a lot of racket. I’ve had enough; he is going to die.

My time in Kabou was nearly up to four months and I hadn’t had a single problem with mice or anything for that matter messing with my stuff, but apparently it only takes leaving town for a longer period of time and not closing all trash and food containers completely.

I spent the second week of December in Lomé to celebrate the “swearing-in” ceremony for the new Girls’ Education and Natural Resource volunteers, followed by a quick stint in Accra that made me bug-eyed for 48 hours. All in all, the trip amounted to about 8 days away from Kabou in which I had accidentally left my trash can slightly opened, releasing the odor of instant mashed potatoes packages and tomato sauce residue on the little baggies left-over after buying street food.

The first night back in my own bed was supposed to be one of immense relaxation following nights in hotels and on Peter’s couch in Kara, but in reality it would be haunted by the fear of a mouse crawling on top of my body. Maybe I shouldn’t have really cared, but it’s the uncertainty of the mouse’s actions that makes it hard to sleep. Throwing him off my bed sheet and hitting him off my forehead could be described as just two unlucky incidents throughout the night.

The next night, I decided to shut the door to my bedroom and contain the area containing the pests. It seemed like a good idea at the time because all evidence remaining was in my kitchen and spare room: half eaten tablets of Pepto-Bismol, Jolly Ranchers strewn across the floor, and feces in my magazine basket. Tonight, I would have wonderful Melphlaquin enhanced dreams uninterrupted by the shenanigans of a mouse. Little did I know, he was now trapped in my bedroom with me.

At 12:50 A.M., it became obvious we were in the same room and it definitely was not big enough for the two of us. This would need to be resolved right away. I decided to climb out from under my mosquito net, a.k.a. mouse net, put on my closed-toe shoes, and find a suitable weapon to bring tranquility back to my bedroom. The great battle, man versus beast, would last for roughly 30 minutes during which I chased the damn mouse all around my room.

The first weapon of choice was the Kabou site notebook, a quality hard-cover three-ringed binder loaded with quarterly reports of the two former inhabitants of this mouse infested home. It would have worked great if I had only managed to strike the little guy with my throws, but he was just too fast. Furthermore, he likely knew my room better than I did. I only slept there, yet he busied himself throughout the day and night as he pleased, munching on my earwax and simultaneously destroying the padding of my “earbud” headphones. The notebook failed miserably save the high level of noise I had created in the early morning.

I decided it would be easiest to trap the mouse under my hamper basket and then decide on an execution method when it came to that point. This method was destined to fail from the beginning because my basket was handmade from palm leaves, leaving plenty of escape routes even when turned upside-down.

At this point, I was at a loss for how to kill the little devil. He would even find the courage to stop on top of my clothes or on my shelf to look right in my eyes. He knew he would be dead soon. Shutting my bedroom door before crawling in bed gave me the advantage I needed to win this battle. We continued the duel onto my bed, under my bed, behind my guitar case, and among all my training materials until he stopped to hide between my official Peace Corps issue medical kit and the wall. When I slammed the plastic med kit against the wall, he managed to utter two quick squeaks before I squeezed all the air out of his lungs. My work was finished. I was victorious. Before crawling triumphantly back into bed, I took a quick photo to crown my achievement.

Sorry for the long, long delay. I've spent a lot of time in Kabou and have now recently had internet again for the first time in three weeks.

Things are going well and work is starting to pick up as I'm becoming more integrated and meeting more members of the community. At the micro-finance bank, we have submitted a report to the main office calling for recommendations to improve the security and marketing of the office. Also, we've started evaluating expenses and income by filling out monthly reports. Within the next few weeks, we hope to start meetings with local groups. Otherwise, I'm looking to work with the local radio station and schools.

I know that you all want to read for in-depth stories about my life here, but my time on the internet is a little pressed. I've been keeping a written journal and I'll try to get some more cultural things on the blog.

In other news, the elections are over as well as rainy season... New volunteers in Education and Natural Resources have also arrived, but they won't finish training until December.

I have just completed my first month at post and things are moving along. I've spent most of my time at my counterpart's micro-finance office. We've implemented a monthly report system and we're working on an analysis report to send to the bank's main office for recommended improvements. Within the next month, we hope to have started trainings with local professional organizations to talk about a bank's services, the benefits of savings, and basic money management skills. Some group leaders have shown a lot of interest... Other than that, I've been trying to meet people around the village, study the local language, while also reading a lot of books. Apparently I've read 12 in Togo so far! Thanks to Ashley and Steph who sent some awesome packages! CD's, Twix bars, magazines, etc.. (Letters and emails are great, too)

Just a quick update: I'm in Kara for a couple days to access the internet and visit my counterpart organization's main office. Things are going well in Kabou and I've been meeting with a variety of local officials and leaders. During the week, I observed a few meetings by my site-mate's Gender Equity Committee, which was holding talks with local professional groups about the importance of equality and what it really means. My work may begin with business skills seminars with the clients of my counterpart's microfinance bank. Other than that, I'm trying to make my house a home. I've already dropped a nearly 100 bucks on new furniture and I just ordered a coffee table and a cabinet to hold my food. The local carpenters do a pretty good job and its great quality for the money...

I have just uploaded a lot of photos from training at picasaweb.google.com/david.ganske

Well its official, I am swearing-in this week in Lomé to start my two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo. We are all in the capital this week for the "swear-in" festivities. Today, we did some paperwork, but tomorrow will be the official ceremony and some of our host families will be attending. My host mother and her son will be coming from Agou to see the event! The Peace Corps gave us quite a bit of money to get our houses furnished and get started at posts as volunteers. The next few days will be nice as we relax, party, and enjoy the rest of our time together as a training group.

Here is my first photo from Togo. This was taken in late June during our climb up Mt. Agou.

I will add more photos this week.

Walking a quick one kilometer from my host family's compound to the Peace Corps training center and back might not initially seem like an eventful process, but each trip is encapsulated by the endless salutations and greetings among everyone on the street. Its no wonder that locals will be so late to meetings and events because they stop to discuss the latest status of each person's home, family, children, work, and journey. In local custom, everyone greets each other at all times of the day and of course multiple times even for the same person. It is expected to say something to every passerby. One is immediately intrigued by the Togolese friendliness and hospitality as some will offer food as well. Just this morning, I walked by a girl who was standing on her front doorstep, yet off the road. I didn't acknowledge her due to her distance from the road and the fact that she was already in another conversation. Assuming that she did not expect a greeting due to her position off the path, I neglected to give her a " bonjour" or "ndi" in local Ewe. After I passed, she yelled, "David! Il faut saluer!" or "You have to greet!" I guess there is no excuse for missing someone… On the way toward the training center in Akoumawou, I am expected to greet each person going the opposite direction with "wezolo" or "welcome" in Ewe. Keep in mind that Tomegbe and Akoumawou are two entirely separate villages about 1 km apart. To top that, I even pass through another third village during that 15 minute walk. On the way back home, I'm expected to say " abakabalo" or "come back quickly" to those leaving the village. Each way in and out of Tomegbe, I'm greeted accordingly as well by the other villagers. In addition to the greetings for the comings and goings, the kids and adults quiz my slowly developing Ewe skills. Although my vocabulary is limited to about 8 – 10 different phrases, they don't get tired of hearing me respond over and over again. The same people will quiz me at least four times in one day. Sometimes I get tired of answering the same questions roughly 20 – 25 times (estimate) during each 15 minute walk, but it also perks me up and satisfies me to know that the community is enjoying my presence. At the very least, they are benefiting from the amusement of my struggles attempting Ewe… So, I conducted a survey of exactly how many salutations occur on a single journey. The result was that I lost count at roughly 50-60 greetings! If someone is riding a bike or driving a car, they really miss the friendliness of the neighbors. I guess more reason to go on foot… The greetings really have made me feel accepted into the community. As cheers of "yovo" or "white person" get replaced by "fofo" or "brother", it really means a lot deep-down.

Sorry for the long delay since the last blog entry, but there hasn't been good internet access. If you haven't heard from me, I'm doing well! This past week, I've been checking out where I'll be living for the next two years. Kabou is a nice little town with a weekly market and paved road access to Kara and to Ghana. The villagers are very friendly like most Togolese and seem very happy to have a business volunteer in the town. Another volunteer, Katie, showed me around a little bit and even made calzones for lunch! The people in Kabou are mostly of the Bassar ethnic group, but there are many others in the village. Because of its location on a connector road to Ghana and Benin, there are many others including Nigerians. The majority of the population are Muslim with several mosques, while there are also Catholic, Baptist, Assembly of God, and animist religions. My counterpart organization, ACM Microfinance, is very motivated and can't wait for my return. They are a new branch that offers savings and loans services and tontine collection to its customers. To open an account, a customer must have 5000 CFA or $10, which is quite a lot. Most of the town can't afford an account. Of the 5000 CFA, 1000 pays for the account notebooks, 1000 goes as a non-refundable fee to the bank, and 3000 is the minimum balance. The accounts earn interest of 2-4% annually and they can borrow up to triple their savings at a rate around 17%. The structure works well for many of the people in Kabou, but after a week it already seems like the better off people are the ones using the service. My work will start by implementing a training aspect to their business. They banking side of their service is already in place, but they want to offer money management and business skills education to their branch in Kabou. We have discussed offering weekly seminars for banking customers and monthly sensibilizations for the entire community. Aside from work at ACM, the provisieur of the lycee and the director of the CEG (junior high) have expressed interest in working with me. The school year will begin mid-September and hopefully I can get started sometime around then with some sort of club or teaching. The first few months I'll be trying to get to know as many people as possible and assess what I can and should do as a volunteer. There are several groups already in place that I hope to visit such as the Taxi-Moto Syndicate, trade associations for carpenters, tailers, etc., and also women's and girls' groups. Overall post visit was exciting and I'm looking forward to returning and seeing my new furniture. I ordered a bed for 18000 CFA ($36) and a table 17000 CFA ($34). They will be handmade by local carpenters and ready when I return at the end of August. Tonight we are in Kara to celebrate the arrival of new volunteers (my group) to the region. I've already received a great welcome from others in the Bassar cluster around Kabou who made me a Lemon Marangue Pie.. thank you Netta and Amy! Tomorrow we'll head back to Agou and our host families to finish the last month of training. I better remember the bread for my host family :) (It's custom to bring a loaf of bread when returning from a trip outside of town.) By the way, I love phone calls! I don't have the best coverage in Agou, but when I'm back in Kabou I'll have full coverage...

Once training is over, I'll be spending my two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in a small town called Kabou, located in the Kara region. I'm not sure exactly how long it will take me to get there from Agou, but it might be about 8-9 hours by bush taxi traveling north.

Kabou is located within the Bassar prefecture where they speak the indigenous language of Bassar. I've already started learning basic salutations from one of our language instructors from the area.

My work as a PCV will be very flexible, but I will be focused in microfinance and youth development. My counterparts are located at a freshly started microfinance institution and one is a professor at the local lycée.

We'll be making post visits the week of July 21 and I'll get a better feel of the area. I can't wait to see my new home!

I must apologize for not having written onto my blog already since leaving the United States. At this point, I've been in Togo for roughly one month and everything is going great! The people have been very friendly, Peace Corps Togo staff have been very helpful, and we are learning A LOT.

I'm currently living with a host family in a small village of about 100 people called Agou Tomegbe, which is one of many villages that comprise Agou. The area is about 90 minutes from the capital of Lomé.

My host family consists of Eugene (56/m), Abravi (21/f), Dovene (12/f), Apo (15/m), Cherite (6/f), Andre (45/m), among others in the compound. These are the people that I interact with the most. We have a very large compound for the average Togolese family with three main buildings of about 3 rooms each, a kitchen area, a well, and walls separating us from the dirt road running through town. In total, it seems that 3-4 families (in the American sense) are living here together. Another trainee, also named David, lives just nearby. Having the same names has caused a lot of humor and confusion for the Togolese.

Everyday, I wake up at about 5:30 or when the roosters make life in the morning too miserable to sleep. Then, I use a two foot long broom made from palm leaves to sweet the dirt from my floor and the steps leading into my part of the house. By this time it is about 6:00 and Abravi usually brings me some type of oatmeal, bread, fruit, or tea combination. It's pretty good and I always enjoy a peaceful breakfast in my sitting area. She prepares all my food for me and it is overall pretty darn good – a lot better than expected. It rotates around different recipes with yams, cassava, rice, beans, tomatoes, chicken, fish, and fruit (mangoes, bananas, pineapples, avocados, guava, apples, oranges). This assortment may be somewhat unique to this area of Togo due to the amount of rains and access to fruits here.

Time for my shower :) My shower is actually outdoors and I use a bucket of water and a cup to get myself wet, lather, and rinse. It is one of my favorite parts of the day because the air is quite cool in the morning and I have a great view of Mt. Agou while I'm showering. Sometimes I even use water heated up on the stove!

My water comes from one of many sources: (1) rain collected into buckets from gutters, (2) the well in the compound by means of a rope and bucket, (3) the town pump, or (4) from the “Marigot” or the local stream. To have safe drinking water, I run it through my handy Peace Corps filter and bleach it afterwards. Some prefer to boil water first, but I think it isn't necessary and a waste of time and effort.

Once I'm ready for training, I hop on my Peace Corps issued TREK mountain bike. This thing is awesome! Fellow volunteers and I have done most of our exploring via bike and it's a great way to get daily exercise. At the training center, we have sessions on French, local languages, technical or business training, safety and security information, and health sessions. We also have excursions to local businesses and other towns. Another trainee and I have already begun shadowing a local carpenter to see how is business operates. We've also visited a palm oil factory, a microfinance organization, and had a visit from a local savings group.

In our free time, we hang out together as trainees, but most of our time is spent at home with our families. Its fun seeing their reaction to a male helping in the kitchen or pounding fou-fou (a local dish). The kids are especially great as they follow us around, show us games, play cards, and help us practice French.

Depending on my internet access, I hope to add specific stories and more information soon. Please keep sending letters with news and photos from home. Its great to hear what's happening!

The time has finally arrived and I will be embarking this Wednesday on my journey to Togo as a Small Business Development Peace Corps Volunteer. The first three months of my time in Togo, I will be located near the town of Kpalmé, which is located about 50 km northwest of the capital of Lom é. At this point, I only know that my living situation will be with a host family. I'm sure they will be heart-warming people and very hospitable, especially according to previous volunteers and those who have previously traveled to Africa. Whenever I have internet, I will try and post recent updates on this blog and hopefully some photos. Next time I write, I will be in Togo!!

Tonight the University kicked off the Capital Campaign to raise a ridiculous amount of funds for the endowment. The evening even had a spectacular display of fireworks. Why doesn't UVA do this every semester?

Picture: This was one of my 250 or so photographs during the evening. More can be found on Flickr.