A few days, or possibly weeks ago, an alumna from my high school emailed me, wanting to know more about going into the Peace Corps. I wrote up this summary and figured it would be a good way to get back into posting on my blog as well.

When our alumni director interviewed me, she asked me whether our high school had influenced my choice to go into the Peace Corps. I had a hard time articulating that in the moment, but it certainly did. Choosing to serve requires an immense amount of self-confidence and a belief that one single person CAN make a difference. I know that the supportive environment, both teachers and other students, at our high school nurtured those qualities in me. I'm not surprised that another alumna is looking for a way to 'give back.'

Let me just say, if you are considering doing service in international development, I believe that Peace Corps is the best option available. The training and support you receive and the huge emphasis on project management, cultural integration, and community-initiated work is a unique blend. Too many other volunteer opportunities focus on one thing - like cultural exchange, where they send volunteers to an area, they do a cookie-cutter project like building houses, eat a few meals with a host family, and then go home. In the Peace Corps, you arrive in your village and spend the first six months doing a participatory needs assessment, learning what your community is good at, how they celebrate grand occasions, how they mourn loss, and what they want to do to improve their own lives. Then you develop ideas and projects hand-in-hand with your local counterparts. It's slower and you will work harder than in other projects, but in the end, you have personally learned a huge number of skills in project management and design, skills that you wouldn't have had exposure to in the workplace in America for several years. And your unique integration with the community, positive identification of their resources (human, plant, animal, financial) allows your community itself to find the strength to not only be successful with you, but also to continue the work after you've left.

I spent three years in Togo, in West Africa. I went in as a Small Enterprise Development volunteer with an emphasis in Non-Profit Development. The following summary is only the bare bones of the work that I did, I recommend you take a look at other entries on my blog: theadventuresofrose.blogspot.com for a fuller picture. I spent most of my first year doing projects in my tiny no-electricity-no-running-water village, working with a local seamstress to build up her business and then, through her, teaching apprentice seamstresses and tailors basic business skills. My second year, I took on managing and running a national youth leadership camp, recruiting camp counselors and young people from all over Togo to learn skills from the personal - self-confidence, to the practical - puberty and adolescence, to the social - how to prevent HIV/AIDS and teach others to prevent it too. I took on a third year of service (service is normally only 2 years) because I had the opportunity to take on a leadership role in the volunteer community, helping to improve training and support for volunteers. In addition to supporting volunteers, I was able to continue the community projects I'd taken on, bringing them to the next level - re-establishing a scholarship program for girls with a US-based foundation to support them, and starting to put together monitoring and evaluation techniques for the youth leadership camp that would enable us and our funders to better attract donations.

As you can see, I did a lot of interesting work - from grant-writing to building a gigantic walk-through uterus to help kids understand how menstruation and pregnancy work. I participated in tons of community events - from a convoluted traditional engagement ceremony that started with a 45 minute hike up a mountain to joining the local church choir (trying as best I could to sing along in the local language Ewe).

It was at times tough and tear-your-hair-out frustrating, but I am so happy that I did it. I am very proud of the work that I did, blessed by the friendships I made, and profoundly changed by the challenges I faced.

I strongly encourage you to apply to the Peace Corps - keep in mind that the application process itself took a year for me, and that's pretty typical, so go into it with patience and flexibility.

I'm in San Francisco.

Yes, that's right. I'm back in the United States. If you don't know this already, then you don't know me, at least not personally.

Or possibly it's just that I'm a bit rubbish about getting in contact and I've been a hermit for the last month.

In any case, I'm in San Francisco, housesitting for my friend L's sister. L is here as well, also recovering from completion of service in Togo. We keep trying to set ourselves up to apply for jobs and grad school. But all we accomplished this past week is watching the entire second season of Glee. http://www.gleethemusic.com/us/episode/audition

That's not entirely true.

We've done some exploring.

We went down to Fisherman's Wharf http://visitfishermanswharf.com/

and walked up Pier 39 http://www.pier39.com/index.cfm

We wanted to find some seafood and were very nearly seduced by the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. But luckily L had brought along a box of Wheat Thins in her enormous over-the-shoulder bag. So we pushed off our hunger and hiked up to Little Italy to check out a fantastic little restaurant called "Sotto Mare" http://sottomaresf.com/

This place is fantastic. The fish was fresh and delicious; they adapted their menu according to what they'd been able to catch the day before. Service was quick and friendly. We sat outside in the lovely sunshine and didn't realize how popular the place was until I wandered inside after the meal for the restroom. Every booth was full, and people were sitting at the counter. From the banter between waiters and patrons, I'm sure this place has a lot of regulars.

Highly recommended.

After lunch, we hoofed it back to the car and decided to check out the Scenic Route http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/49-Mile_Scenic_Drive, or at least as much of it as we could stand before falling asleep. (Amongst all of the Gleeking and sight-seeing, naps have been another common activity)

My friend Jean, the local traditional healer and the first guy in Atakpame to invite me to share a meal with his family, just died.

Here are a few pictures of him, in memory.

23 July 2011

So the boy students all left this morning. I got to be a counselor this week! This picture is of my cabin counselors – Irenee and Peter. Irenee just finished his first year at university and he has been involved in Camp UNITE since 2008, when he was participant. In 2009 and 2010, he played the role of “Pagi”, a character that dresses up in bizarre clothes and incites the participants into explaining the things they’ve learned each day so that they can win back a plank on the “bridge to a healthy life.”

Peter is our “Young Leader”, a former participant who has done a lot of work in his village with a peer educator club who has come back to tell his story and encourage the current participants to keep working when they return to village.

We were the counselors for the cabin Anaconda. We made up all sorts of songs and dances as “king of the river”. Brilliant.

I also facilitated a session with another counterpart, Honoré, on Adolescence and Reproduction. It was awesome because I got to do the tour of the walk-through female reproductive system. (The second picture we’re inside the uterus) What started out as a crazy idea has really proven its worth. Both the participants and the other counselors (several of whom are science teachers) loved the model. They found it really easy to understand. Plus it’s fun!

Hello all my friends and family,

We've got one week left to raise money to afford Camp UNITE

If you can even spare $10 dollars, that would help!

To make a donation, please send a check to:

The UNITE Foundation

P.O. Box 57378

Washington, DC 20037

Checks Payable to: The UNITE Foundation

(we're working on an online donation button - hopefully next year!)

Fridays are always a busy day for the organizers in charge of logistics at Camp UNITE.

One of the best things about camp is the chance to get young people and Togolese professionals together from all over the country.

But it can also be a logistical nightmare.

Trying to figure out how many cars we need to rent, bargaining with the taxi trade association, handing out extra transportation money…

With our budget constraints we can’t rent whole cars, we pay per place in the cars, which means we have to rely on the drivers to be nice and willing to be flexible. This takes some convincing (and sometimes extra t-shirts to make them happy).

And the participants and counselors that go all the way north… They have the toughest time. The drivers pretty much refuse to go north of Kara (which is the capital city of the region of Kara). It’s another 3 hours to get to the capital city of the region of Savannes, north of Kara, and we have to figure out a way to get everyone all the way there.

Transportation in Togo is not like transportation in the developed world. There is literally one 2-lane highway that runs up the center of the country. With the lack of infrastructure and capital, the government has never made the investment to ensure the durability of the road. Someone explained to me that major highways in the states are about 3 feet thick- layers of gravel and asphalt that getter finer as they reach the surface, with a final layer of tar to get it all to stick together.

In Togo, they wet the dirt and press it down.

Okay, there are some places where there’s a few inches of gravel and a layer of asphalt and tar. But the rainy season seeps through those few inches, erodes away the dirt, and creates potholes larger than the overloaded trucks.

It’s a tough road. It requires patience, good humor and a strong commitment to arriving at your destination.

Today we talked about objectives and leadership. An apprentice who participated in camp last year came back this year as a jeune leader. He explained that when he arrived back home, he had a tough time explaining to his community what he had learned at camp.

“My mother asked me for the money that I had gotten at camp. I tried to explain that I didn’t receive money, I received information. She didn’t understand. So I set my alarm for really early in the morning and I got up before my mother and I started sweeping the compound. She woke up and saw me and she laughed at me. She thought that I was just really excited about camp and would give it up soon. But I didn’t. I set my alarm early every morning and I get up and I sweep. She understands now that what I received is more valuable than money.”

Trying to change gender roles in Togo is very difficult – girls and women are in charge of sweeping, cleaning, cooking food, gathering water. This means that girls have less time to study for school, are late going to their apprenticeships, and don’t have the time to do income-generating activities.

This is why it is so important to get young men to take responsibility for gender equity. Without the buy-in and active participation of young men, young women cannot succeed.

The young men who participate in the camp for boy apprentices emerge as young leaders. With patience, good humor and persistence, they can start down the road to change people’s ideas and behaviors.

Want to try out some activities that engage men in gender equity and community change? Check out Engender Health’s Men As Partners curriculum. It’s a fantastic resource that we’ve integrated into our work at Camp Unite.

Donate to The Unite Foundation – we’ve still got $3000 more to raise before student camps in July!

Confiance en soi

Self-Esteem and Confidence

Through Camp Unite, I learned many new things that have transformed me into a new man. Why do I say that? Because at the training of trainers for the Camp, I doubted that I could succeed at the theme “Gender Equity” because it is so complex. But after we were introduced to the theme “Self-Confidence”, I became determined and my doubts disappeared and with courage I was able to present this difficult theme from start to finish successfully.

And so, I encourage all of you readers: men, women, boys and girls to have confidence in yourselves in all the circumstances in the world. There is nothing that is impossible.

Paul, Counselor at Camp UNITE - farmer from Zafi in the Maritime Region

I noticed in my community in Gando that many young people don’t have confidence in themselves, the key to success. Because we think that the best things will come to us if someone else gives them to us. But if we have confidence, we ourselves can succeed because there’s nothing in this world that is difficult impossible. It’s especially our girls that don’t have confidence

Seraphin, apprentice tailor from Gando in the Savannah region

Self-confidence is a good thing that every individual should have in their life. Without self-confidence a woman cannot accomplish a goal. Without self-confidence there isn’t a healthy life. All things are possible in life, ‘vouloir c’est pouvoir’ (‘where there’s a will there’s a way’). For that, I will encourage my fellow apprentices to hold on to their self-confidence in order to accomplish their objectives. In life, you have to face problems before you can win.

Brigitte, apprentice dressmaker from Tigbada in the Central region

You must practice self-confidence to speak in groups. I was too embarrassed to even speak at the dinner table. But Camp Unité made me get self-confidence and I know I can cross the bridge to a healthy life.

Factors of self-confidence:

Speak in public

Take strong decisions

Courage and concentration

Repeat each day “I can and I will”

SATSI Videva Tchifama

I speak to you about “self-confidence” which is to have the courage that your yes is yes and your no is no. You should share your ideas with others. I participated in Camp Unité 2011 in Pagala and I learned many things that I found interesting, especially “self-confidence.” I like that theme because before I was ashamed to speak in public. If you are in the same position as me, you must have self-confidence and have the courage to speak in public. Don’t lower your head. Thanks to the US Embassy.

DOTSE Kokou Ali, EPP Lonvo

We hung on to the side of the truck and the girls were inside. After three days one of the boys fell off the truck and was crushed by the wheels. We buried him under the leaves but couldn’t stay for long.”

Every week at Camp UNITE, the participants get to meet a young person from Pagala, the village where we hold camp, who has been trafficked. It is devastatingly easy to find a speaker.

Today’s speaker’s name is Kossi. He was first trafficked when he was still a student, in about 7th grade. A man from Nigeria arrived in the village, driving a new motorcycle and offering jobs to strong young men and women. The man handed Kossi a 1000 FCFA bill (worth about 2 dollars, more than the average daily wage). Kossi didn’t like that he had to share a room at home and that he couldn’t afford to buy jeans and t-shirts like his friends. So he snuck out of his house and lied to his friends and family so he could join the bus of Togolese young people on their way to Nigeria.

The quote above describes only the journey. The months Kossi and his other companions worked in the fields were worse. They walked 15 km in the dark out to the fields to start work at 3am. Field work continued until dark at 6pm when the workers were allowed to make themselves food, many of them had not eaten all day.

“When it rained, we had to keep working. We didn’t have anywhere to take shelter or any way to get dry, so we just took off our clothes and buried them in the ground to keep them dry. And we kept working.”

As awful as his experience was, Kossi went back the next year. And the year after. He explained that the money was addictive. He would return with a lot of money, nearly 200 dollars, but then spend it all in a week as he made his way home.

And so he would go back, telling himself that this time he would find a way to save the money. Each time it was like Russian Roulette, he never knew whether he would survive the journey or die like the 4 friends that he buried.

The participants at Camp UNITE for apprentice boys are not young. Some of them are even older than me! They make decisions for themselves and have responsibility for their own homes. We are not worried that they would be sold by parents to unscrupulous traffickers.

Trafficking in persons is not that simple. Sometimes the person makes the choice for themselves. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act defines severe forms of trafficking as:

a. Sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age; or

b. The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or slavery.

To the tune of ‘Down by the Bay’

Au Camp Unité

Pour les jeunes togolais

Au Camp Unité

Je veux aller

Et si j’y allais

Ma mère dirait :

Tu deviens jeune leader quand tu es …

au Camp Unite !

It’s the 10th anniversary of Camp UNITE !

We’re already having a fantastic time. One of the most exciting things for me is that I have internet while I’m here!

So I’m able to put up a blog. My goal is to give you a little update every day, hopefully with a picture, but I’ll post the text and then add the picture – it took me 90 minutes to download an 8MB email attachment today. Very very slow.

Here’s my blurb for today, it’s about our camp last week:

Camp UNITE is known affectionately as ‘peer educator boot camp’. For six weeks each summer, a team of Peace Corps volunteers and Togolese counterparts organize a camp to train young people in life skills from self-confidence to goal-setting. The initiative began in 2001 as a camp for girl students, addressing drop-out rates and unplanned pregnancies. Evolving from the original Life Skills manual to include sessions from EngenderHealth’s Men as Partners program and USAID’s Mentoring Guide, the program at Camp UNITE expanded to include both boys and girls, focusing on empowering and equipping the next generation’s leaders with the knowledge, skills, and support to influence their peer in a positive way.

Around the world, most camps cater to students who, being already in the educational system, tend to be easily managed and are more obviously leaders in their society. In Togo, where only 58% of young people continue beyond elementary school, the population of young people who are not in school is very large. Therefore, Camp UNITE also works with apprentices – young people who have left school to pursue a certification in an artisanal profession such as carpentry or dress-making

On May 16 2011, Camp UNITE began its 10th anniversary of camp with a week working with female apprentices. For many of these girls, Camp UNITE is the first time they have ventured outside of their region. The 30 apprentices come from all over Togo, a country with approximately 45 ethnicities and a corresponding number of languages. They arrive shy and soft-spoken, embarrassed by the mistakes in their spoken French and unsure of how they should act. By the end of the week, though, the 30 apprentices put together an hour-long presentation for a nearby village, teaching valuable lessons about the importance of girls’ education and how to prevent HIV transmission.

On the final day of camp, after the abundant joy of the public presentation, the girls revealed how Camp UNITE had changed their attitudes. Many explained how they had never before stood up for themselves, how difficult it had been to say ‘no’ to men, and how dependent they felt. “Before I was very timid and embarrassed. I couldn’t speak in public and I thought of myself as a nobody, but Camp UNITE taught me that I’m a girl with gifts. So I need to get up and show those gifts… Unite showed me my value. The world needs me.” Viviane, an apprentice tailor from Tsevie.

Dear incoming 'stage' of Peace Corps trainees to Togo,

As Peace Corps volunteers in Togo, we will inevitably be compared to the other international volunteers who pass through the country. We have a unique mandate and training that create a specific kind of daily life. As business development extension agents, we do not come in with loans, grants, or even ready-made trainings. We analyze the actual needs of the community and create change through engaging and empowering local partners.

It’s slow work and based more on individual relationships than on obvious changes in revenues and profits. Take the time to do participatory needs analysis (PACA) in your community and focus on learning before doing.

Peace Corps volunteers have been in Togo since 1962, filling the roles of development workers in many different domains. Of the four main programs in Togo (Natural Resource Management, Girls Education and Empowerment, Community Health, and Small Enterprise Development), SED is the youngest. SED grew out of an expanding awareness of the agricultural industry. As agriculture volunteers improved farming techniques, they discovered that no matter how well the crops were growing, if the farmer did not have a good business sense, they would not succeed. Over the years, SED has grown to include NGO management, artisans, and computer technology work, but it’s very important to remember its origins in agriculture. Everyone in Togo has a field. PCVs who take the time to learn about planting and harvest seasons can discover the rhythms of their community and be more effective – both in preparing training and in cultural exchange.

Being a PCV is also unique in the development world because we place a huge emphasis on cultural exchange. PCVs are representatives of the United States in their host countries. As individuals leaving their home to live inside another community, PCVs have a special opportunity to learn new customs and embrace new traditions that they can then bring home to share. Facilitating this cultural exchange is an essential part of being a PCV.

There is no other job quite like being a Peace Corps volunteer. The freedom to set one’s own schedule and objectives is as liberating as it is frustrating. Goals should be set early, but must be modest in ambition and generous in timeframe. It is important to recognize as well that the involvement of work partners, from local counterparts to the program APCD, will depend on the motivation and communication of the PCV. Develop the skill of ‘managing up’ and learn how to best make use of the resources that your supervisors and counterparts can provide.

Above all, PCVs have to be humble and able to laugh at themselves. Leave behind your grand ambitions to discover what the community really needs. Stumble your way through local language in order to really communicate with women and other marginalized groups. Try ‘weird’ foods and wear local styles. Enjoy yourself!

Bonne chance.

The woman scowled at me, the multitude of wrinkles furrowing into deep ridges on her forehead as she queried, “What are you going to do with those? Are you going to sell those?” I choked back a laugh as I glanced down into the bag full of smelly muck I held in my hand and answered her solemnly, “No madame, I’m going to bring this to the trash heap.” I paused, then continued thoughtfully, “ If you would like to take it to sell, you can do that.” She squinted at me, peered into the bag, and then looked at the woman on my right, a young female volunteer from the local clean-up association. And luckily my companion got the hint and started explaining what we were doing in Ife, the local language. Trying to explain why we were out in the middle of the city picking up garbage (and worse) was an unexpectedly amusing challenge. It was a perfect way to spread the word about the work of the Peace Corps-- the unique way that American volunteers interact with their local communities to do the ‘mud-between-the-toes’ development work that requires more shared dinners than donations, more conversation than construction. About 60 Peace Corps volunteers and 15 Peace Corps staff participated in regional urban clean-up days between March 19th and April 4th. But even more importantly, about 150 Togolese volunteers led the way: identifying key urban areas that would most benefit from the clean-up, accompanying PCVs to approach local authorities and mobilizing friends, relatives, and associations to wake up early and pick up trash. The regional clean-up days of course had their own frustrations as well as joys as PCVs navigated the personalities of local authorities or ran out of gloves and found that some ‘volunteers’ drifted away when they realized they weren’t going to receive a cadeau. But this single day of trash pick-up sparked new collaborations between volunteers and their regional capitals as PCVs encountered city authorities, developed radio station contacts, met regional representatives of the ministry for the protection of the environment, and found local associations already doing clean-up work. Suggestions to volunteer on how to keep the momentum going: · The Ministry for the Environment and its regional directors were particularly enthsiastic about promoting this type of work and would love to collaborate with volunteers hoping to pursue waste management projects. Speak to APCD Paul or PCVL Rose to get the names and phone numbers of the prefectoral directors. · Associations like Jeunes Voluntaire pour l’Environnement (JVE) and/or small non-profits who work for the environment exist in most cities, although they may need some new energy. · Speak to your village chief about organizing a Journée de Village Propre. You may be surprised to find out that they already have regular clean-up days. · Get involved with the local group of women who clean the market; it can be a great way to intervene and encourage them not to dump waste into local streams. Good luck and don’t forget to wash your hands after picking up all that muck!

I have just uploaded this from my brand-new at-home internet connection.

This is a completely bizarre feeling. It’s not terribly cheap, and certainly not unlimited, but it’s amazing to have it at my fingertips. Especially after last week.

I restored my computer to factory settings last week. I’m not sure whether it was viruses, bumping over terrible potholes on a moto, or what, but my computer had been fully Togo-ed.

By which I mean it was completely out of commission. The large majority of my files are backed up, I may have lost a few days’ worth of work, but by that time my computer was moving so slowly that that work is negligible.

In any case, my newly virgin computer was quite exciting. As I reinstalled Microsoft Office and iTunes, etc. I enjoyed the speed of the process and the chance/obligation to re-organize from square one.

After the reboot, I went to a local internet café and I started up my Outlook, only to be crippled by the years worth of emails trickling in 1MB every 90 seconds. Literally. I realized that I needed to seriously address my information possibilities. As I head into a serious career search, not to mention location search, I’m going to need a lot more information. Hence the USB key modem.

This is really exciting.

But at the same time that I revel in my newfound information access, I am reading a Bloomberg Businessweek Technology article discussing Kinect. A piece of hardware/software that I’d never heard of before picking up this 4 month old magazine.

I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.

…Yet democracy is impossible without a great deal of altruism and idealism. One a strictly realistic basis, it would be hard to avoid starkly Machiavellian conclusions, accepting democracy in the same role as communism before it, that of an ideological smoke screen of crass calculating egotism. There is certainly enough of that all around, and perhaps has always been. The Founding Fathers knew it well: the elaborate system of checks and balances they built into the American Constitution attests as much. They were, though, willing to hope that humans are also capable of responding to ideal motives, of finding self-fulfillment in self-transcendence. Not the brash young graduates making their first million as advisers to post-Communist governments but the young women and men serving in the Peace Corps are the bearers of the democratic ideal. From an article entitled “The Faces of Democracy - Looking to the Twenty-First Century” by Erazim Kohák in Kettering Review, Fall 2005.

Happy 50th Birthday to the United States Peace Corps. I joined the 50th anniversary committee for Togo, which may help to explain my absence from this blog. I thank all my loyal (2) followers for cajoling me into contributing more frequently. I decided to share with you our plans for our celebrations. And invite you to check out other ways to celebrate, so there will be plenty of links in this entry. As the most software-savvy member of the committee, I’ve been putting together the announcements to volunteers and staff in our monthly newsletter, so I’ll just expand on that: Togo celebrates the 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps 26 February 2011 Interview with Peace Corps on TVT We’ve already begun celebrations, starting with an interview with Country Director Carolina Cardona and the Program Director for Girls’ Education and Empowerment, Rose Kpomblekou on national television on the 26th of February. My fellow PCVL, L, was featured as well, taking the reporter and camera crew to her village. She only received notice the evening before the visit, but admirably mobilized her community to welcome the crew and show off her counterparts and their shared accomplishments. 1 March 2011 Anniversary of President Kennedy’s Executive Order to establish the United States Peace Corps As I keep reminding myself with looming deadlines - oh wait, I already missed the 1st of March?! - it’s okay. Just because Kennedy signed the order, doesn’t mean Peace Corps is born. There still isn’t any money. And let’s face it - congressional appropriations are the lifeblood of government programs. So keep a look out for 22 September, when the US Congress signs up for the Peace Corps. Of course, I’ll be back in the states by then. Party in DC! 18-25 March 2011 Week of Service: Togo Propre PCVs will work with the local trash collection association in their regional capitals to pick up trash. Wearing bright stage and formation t-shirts, PCVs and their counterparts will attract a lot of attention. Take advantage of the chance to challenge stereotypes about volunteers, answer some questions about Peace Corps, and mobilize local associations to keep up (or restart) their trash-collecting work. Contact your regional coordinator for more information! I’m pretty proud of this one. The first meeting I attended of the 50th anniversary committee was in early January. Committee members told me of their plans to host a soccer match between Peace Corps and the US Embassy. They must have realized my confusion when I tilted my head sharply to the side, raised my eyebrows and asked, “What exactly is our objective with these celebrations?” They hadn’t found a venue yet for the game, or even contacted the Embassy, but, in my eyes, the key ingredient that was missing was a purpose. It sounded like a lot of fun, but how would this event help Peace Corps to highlight its achievements and reach a broader audience of Togolese? A veritable cyclone of searching ensued as they scratched their heads and tried to come up with the exact goals and objectives for using the funds that we’d received from Peace Corps Washington for our celebrations. A phone call to the regional security officer (presumably because he was the most experienced American staff member in the building), fumbling searches through paperwork and emails, then a lull. In the calm, I suggested we find those objectives and return later to continue the meeting. There is no point in taking action and making plans if they do not match with objectives. I quickly tracked down objectives in my email and on Peace Corps’ 50th anniversary website. I prepared a French translation of them and asked the Committee chair, S, to reconvene the meeting. Now we were ready to go: Utilize the 50th anniversary as a platform to support the agency’s mission and legacy by honoring our past, demonstrating our effectiveness, and inspiring the next generation of volunteers through education and engagement. Utiliser le cinquantième anniversaire comme une estrade pour soutenir la mission et l’héritage du Corps de la Paix en honorant notre passé, en démontrant notre efficacité, et en inspirant la prochaine génération des volontaires à travers l’éducation et l’engagement. One of the suggested ways to celebrate was by organizing a day of service, specifically to coincide with Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The deadline was too close for that day, but I presented the idea of having a day of coordinated service across the country. A service project that would not require volunteers to go far from their villages, but would be highly visible and effective: a trash clean-up. This is a huge problem in Togo, one that various volunteers have tried (with varying success) to address on a village level. From various anecdotes, I knew the publicity value of having a bunch of Americans go out and bend down in the streets to pick up discarded rubbish in front of the community. It would inspire endless questions - a perfect opportunity to engage local community members in a discussion about Peace Corps and its goals. Furthermore, as I developed the idea with the Program Director for Natural Resource Management, Paul Sinandja, he explained that he would not only help me equip the teams for the clean-up, but would also put each regional group into contact with a local association in charge of rubbish collection. He hoped that through this initial contact, he might be able to cultivate relationships with associations that would facilitate future placement of volunteer into bigger cities to work specifically on the problems of waste management - an area that Peace Corps Togo has yet to address officially. Well, this has gotten long, so I’ll leave the rest of the activities for next week. Enjoy some youtube video links: Peace Corps in Togo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI847emEu3U Camp UNITE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wps9HhkI1LE&feature=player_embedded Interview with an African-American volunteer who served in Togo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA42OVM51p4 The Many Faces of Peace Corps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A7WAMzj9Vs A volunteer’s experience in village http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNJNkGzgLRY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G-R116FNB4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xbS7qV2yCU

Last Wednesday, the 23rd was my 1000th day since arriving in Togo.

Technically, of course, I haven't BEEN here for 1000 days, what with vacation, etc. but still.

It's a number that the vast majority of Peace Corps volunteers don't hit. It's a third year number.

So I decided to celebrate a little. But first I moved furniture for our regional house all day and got really dehydrated, then the owner of the new boite de nuit (nightclub) in Atakpame invited my friend S to come to his restaurant and thanked him for DJing an American night by topping up our beers with Campari.

Not a nice combination, by the way.

Coupled with the delicious chicken burrito with fresh, right-off-the-tree avocado, the beer was a perfect celebratory meal. The chocolate cake with vanilla icing that J made entirely from scratch raised the border above perfection.

It was a lovely way to spend an evening and I'm glad to have hit this milestone.

Have a fun UNITE song to celebrate with me, sung by Club Unite of Datcha. Interested in supporting Camp UNITE this year? check out the Foundation

Le Roi et ses trois filles

Fiaa de kple evia nyonuvi etoawo

The King and his Three Daughters

Traditional story, written down by Yves-Emmanuel Dogbe in “Contes et Legendes du Togo”

Translated and adapted by Rose Lindgren

Once upon a time, there was a king who had three daughters. The daughters were very beautiful but very mysterious. No one in the entire kingdom knew their names. As soon as the daughters grew old enough to be married, offers of betrothal flowed in from every corner of the country from rich men. But the king rejected all of them.

One day, he had all his subjects gather together, both men and animals. “I want to give my daughters in marriage,” he declared to them, “to someone worthy. He who returns in three days time and can tell me the names of my daughters will become my son, husband of my daughters.”

Three days later, men, women, children, animals, all gathered in the courtyard of the royal palace. Beats of the tam-tam and chords of the balafons, the great African music, the true music of our ancestors, filled the air. The king sat down upon his throne, surrounded by his ministers and dignitaries. The three young girls were seated at the feet of their father.

The streets swarmed with crowds, it seemed that every person who had ever heard of the princesses had made the journey to the palace that day. The crowd kept flowing into the courtyard in a never-ending stream.

Once the sun rose to the top of the baobab tree on the horizon, a horn sounded, announcing the opening of the competition. Not even a fly buzzed. Every creature present had searched for three days for the names of the princesses. But no one had been successful. In their failure, they wanted to at least hear the winner reveal the names. Hopeful suitors waited impatiently to the right and to the left of the king, and began to pass in front of him to offer the names they had found or guessed. Each stole glances at the beautiful girls at the king’s feet, hearts bursting with hope of success. But all of the menl failed.

The chance was then given to the animals to try. But Lion, Elephant, Buffalo, Panther, all failed.

Then Hare approached the throne, his large feet padding soundlessly on the packed dirt. The crowd began to throw insults:

“All the respectable men and animals passed through without success,” they cried,”what can we possibly expect of a skinny little hare?”

Everyone murmured, expressing their indignation, ignorant of how sharp a mind the hare had.

And in truth, well before the eve of the trials, Hare had reached an understanding with Turtledove. This bird went and hid herself in a guava tree in the heart of the royal garden where the three sisters loved to play and tease one another, pulling each other’s clothes and long shiny tresses.

The Turtledove perched on a branch directly above them and shook her beak to let a kola nut fall in the middle of the girls. (The princesses were very fond of kola nuts, but they found them only very rarely or not at all.) The girls began to fight and bicker, calling one another by their names. Again Turtledove released a nut, then a third.

The oldest daughter, Lali, had gathered them. She took one for herself, then called over Meyi, the youngest, and gave her one, then called Batsi, the middle child, and gave her the last. The Turtledove noted the three names in the meantime and flew off to confide them to the Hare, who left her the rest of the pile of kola nuts he had gathered. Well, he left her what remained after he had munched on them while he waited, of course.

In front of the king, taking the ministers and dignitaries as witnesses, the Hare revealed the mysterious names. The king tried vainly to hide his despair that he had to take Hare as his son-in-law. But true to his word, he gave his three daughters in marriage to Hare that same day. But the blow to his pride troubled him so severely that he went mad and hung himself only a few days after giving up the throne to Hare and his wives.

The Council of Humans was also very disturbed by the situation. They could not submit to being ruled over by a beast. So they decided to assassinate Hare.

Drunk with the wine of kings and the joy of the marriage bed, Hare was oblivious to the machinations around him. And so, the daughters of the king began to disappear one by one from the household of the Hare who, in turn, was found dead one morning under the talking tree.

I have been running around all over West Africa visiting volunteers and learning and sharing my own experiences. Being a volunteer leader is exhausted and exhilarating at the same time. After two plus years here I really do feel capable of being the ‘wise’ volunteer that can share experiences and enhance a new volunteer’s service.

I went to Senegal for a regional conference of Peace Corps volunteers. Senegal is beautiful, and Dakar is surprisingly well-developed. Dakar is the regional epicenter for all American mission projects. This means that if we need to be medically evacuated for issues that can’t be dealt with in country (anything from broken limbs to root canals) we are often sent to Dakar. It has paved roads! And beautiful expensive restaurants. And, probably most important from the US mission perspective, it has a large airport and excellent medical care facilities.

Luckily for me, I wasn’t there for medical reasons, so I got to explore the fun aspects of the city: taking a ferry out to Goree Island, a heritage site dedicated to remembering the atrocities of the slave trade. An old ‘way station’ where African were kept and breeded before being sent on the perilous journey across the Atlantic, has become a museum.

This picture is of the door on the ocean side of the building, it was known as the ‘point of no return.’ Slaves who crossed this threshold were loaded directly onto boats and either died on the journey or arrived in the New World, never to return to their home.

Many of the locals earn their living from tourism, leading visitors around the island to see the various historical points of interest. Because of its historically sad position, Goree Island was also chosen as a site for a statue that shows the positive moves forward since the days of the slave trade.

The island itself is very beautiful and has become a gathering point for many artisans. One of the artists we encountered made paintings with sand. The sand is not artificially colored – it has all been gathered from various places around West Africa. What a beautiful rainbow of colors!

I found some women artisans making necklaces on the Island and I bought several to send back to you to sell (I kept one for myself too!). The rainbow colors mean peace to the Senegalese. I hope that the students love them as much as I do.

After Dakar, I didn’t have any rest before heading straight up to the northernmost region of Togo. Well, that’s not true. I had an extra day to be in Dakar, due to the political violence and civil unrest in Cote d’Ivoire. We were supposed to have a layover in Cote d’Ivoire, but the elections proved to be very contentious and the former president, who has been in office for 10 years (he put off the election for 5 years) is violently trying to retain control of the presidency even though the United Nations supports the other candidate as having gained the majority of votes. In any case, the violence and instability made it impossible for us to keep our original flight plan, so we were rerouted through Mali and arrived in Togo on Monday.

On Tuesday, I headed up to Dapaong, the regional capital of the Savannah region, the driest and poorest region of Togo. It is currently the season of Harmattan, when the wind blows down from the Sahara, carrying along dust clouds that blot out the sun, making it dry and dusty and surprisingly cold, especially at night.

I was in the Savannah region for a couple different reasons. First, we had our quarterly Gender and Development committee meeting and, as a coordinator for the Karren Waid Scholarship Program, I am a member. I had great new for them: I sold all of the bags and aprons that I brought with me to Senegal and the volunteers there want more! The funds we raise from selling these items not only go to the artisans who make them, but also to fund small community projects that have to do with gender. For example, we helped a group of women buy 8 goats, so that they could raise them and breed them so that they could learn how to raise animals, manage money, and save money so they could send their daughters to school whether or not their husband wanted to. In Togo, many girls do not go to school at all, and many others only go to primary school. Once they reach the junior high level, their parents often want them to stay at home to take care of the babies or else help them in the fields or at the market, selling products. It can take a lot of convincing to get a family to continue to send their girls to school. It helps if we can support the mothers to make enough money to pay the school fees.

School fees are not very expensive in dollars – only 7 dollars per year. (3500 FCFA) but this is enough money to feed a family for a week, so it can make a huge dent in the pocket of a family that earns about a dollar a day.

I picked up some gorgeous napkins and tablecloths made by the weaver’s collective in Dapaong and sent some to California. They are all made by hand by a cooperative group, staffed mostly by women, who have been weaving since they were children.

As well as some necklaces and bracelets from a local artisan shop run by a man who goes around to tiny villages and buys the handicrafts made there and brings them into the big city where the handicrafts can find a better audience.

Another reason I was in the Savannah region was to visit the five new volunteers that have just taken up their posts. They had their ‘swearing-in’ ceremony in mid-November, so they had only been in their posts for a few weeks. I was stopping by to see how their community integration, language learning, etc. were going and answer any questions they had.

In visiting the various volunteers, I drank a lot of tchakpa, the local fermented millet drink. It’s like beer, and is a staple drink for everyone who lives in the Savannah region. I liken it to the pilgrims on the Mayflower, who drank beer because they couldn’t trust the water to be free of parasites. The boiling and fermentation process helps to rid the liquid of bacteria, etc.

We drink it out of calabash halves – like a big gourd. They are commonly used as bowls, cups, even spoons (when broken or cut in half).

In one village, I got a real treat! A local ‘Starbucks’.

By which I mean, a guy who puts sweetened condensed milk and dehydrated coffee (Nescafe) into a cup and adds boiling water. It’s delicious. And only 100CFA (less than 25 cents)

The Savannah region is characterized by flat fields (dry and brown in this dry and cold season) punctuated by huge baobab trees.

It is a gorgeous landscape.

The third reason I was in the region was to take advantage of the local historical tourist site: the caves of Nano. These caves were used by the Moba people in their war with the Tchokossi people. They are located about 20 feet from the top of a cliff, making them excellent places from which to survey the land and, using their bows and arrows, take down opponents trying to scale the cliff and reach their mountain-top settlements.

There is a spring that comes straight out of the rock – what a miracle! Women still use this spring to gather drinking water – it is pure and clean from parasites unlike the river water they would otherwise be gathering.

The best thing about the Savannah region is the people. Even though I couldn’t speak any of their local languages (Moba, Tchokossi, Gamgam) I still felt warmly welcomed.

"The corner office can wait, some corners of the world can't"

Site visits blog

Dear C,

Thank you so much for having me over to see your village. I enjoyed visiting your market and indulging in ‘Starbucks’ à la villageoise. It’s rare to find another eldest child from a big family here, so it was fun to connect and chat about our siblings.  Good luck in your first few months exploring the assets and needs of your village. I included info on village savings and loans, income-generating activities and funding applications on the USB key; I hope you’ll find them very useful.

Dear J,

Thank you for hosting me for a day in your village. I had a lot of fun wandering around the tchakpa stands and through the fields. Congratulations on taking such a strong interest in learning local language and integrating with an eye for finding really relevant work. I still haven’t tried ‘flea’ yet - maybe next time. I included some information on appropriate technology and income-generating activities that I hope will be useful. I look forward to working with you to plan workshops at the new maison.

Dear D and C,

Thank you ever so very much for taking me in for a few days as I journeyed in and around Dapaong. I love your house but even more your company and I hope that you will take advantage of my new digs any time you stop in Atakpame. I hope you have (well, had, by the time you receive this) a fantastic time in Germany. Thanks for your support as well through my Senegal ‘revelation’. It has now become a new jumping-off point and I’m getting excited about choosing a US city and forging ahead with a slightly changed destination but still the same stubborn drive to ‘save the world’ wherever I can.

Dear D,

Thank you so much for hosting me and taking me up to the caves. I can’t believe you hiked up that mountain twice in two days. You are going to be the fittest volunteer in country! I have to admit, I’m still thinking about that chilli too! I think I might make it for Christmas dinner. It was really yummy. Well, have a lovely December. Make sure to check out the resources I put on the USB key and put on any that you’ve inherited or created. I don’t mind duplicates, so throw on whatever you’ve got  PS Just read your story for Perspectives. It was lovely. Please write more!

Dear H,

Thank you so much for hosting me in your beautiful little village. I enjoyed getting soaked gathering water, being serenaded by blind griots, gathering seeds and just chatting. I’m really excited about your village’s enthusiasm. I hope you have a great time making friends, planting trees and discovering your projects as they emerge naturally out of the contacts you have and will make. I hope you’ll find the resources I put on the USB key to be useful. Let me know if there’s anything I can send up.

Dear E,

Thank you so much for hosting me in your itsy bitsy village. I loved taking a walk around to see those beautiful gardens. What an exciting start for an NRM volunteer to already have people who know how to garden and make use of what little water there is available. I’m glad to see you’ve got a host family that’s ready to get things done for you - a porch in two days? Amazing. I’ve put a couple things on teaching English on the key I sent to Dapaong, but Joe is still at work on the full guide. Hopefully it can give you at least a couple of ideas. I hope you have a lovely Christmas and that the phone lines are nice and strong for you to keep in touch with everyone back home too!

Dear E,

Thank you so much for hosting me at your house. It was really interesting to be there on the day that they chose the new regent chef de canton. Good luck appreciating the benefits of having French translation available to you while navigating the pitfalls of being associated with the Kabye outsiders. I enjoyed chatting with you, I hope we didn’t offend your village too much by not wanting to hang out with all the dudes at the bar.  Thanks so much for setting me up with a moto to get back to Mango. Have a great Christmas

Dakar is amazing.

According to our standards as Togo volunteers, Accra Ghana is 'like America'

Not even close.

Dakar on the other hand...

So I wasn't too annoyed at the political swirlings currently underway in Cote d'Ivoire that threatened the possibility of return to Togo. I thought perhaps we would end up staying a few extra days in the country. I would almost certainly spend ridiculous amounts of cfa, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make for real ice cream and Indian food.

But the proposed flight change for Air Ivoire involved flying into Abidjan on Sunday. And then flying from Abidjan to Togo on Monday. Over 24 hours in the capital city of a country that's not doing very well at the moment.

Luckily, Peace Corps is brilliantly set up and placed for this kind of situation and my colleague and I were able to ask Peace Corps Senegal to coordinate with Peace Corps Togo. They found us a new flight home - through Bamako, Mali, not Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. We have arrived safe and sound and with all of our baggage intact. Hoorah.

So. I should be in the air right now, on my way to yet another adventure. But, TIA. This is Africa.

I am sitting back on the computer in Lome.

I took a taxi to the airport this morning at 3.30am (paying more than

my night in the hotel, of course) and was greeted with a hand-written

note on the doors saying that my flight had been cancelled.

I had a connecting flight in Abidjian and the borders have been closed

because of the election. I spoke to someone who said that I will be

able to get onto the flight tomorrow morning, but I don't have a

guarantee. The Air Ivoire website is currently showing tomorrow's

flight as full.

Boo hoo hoo. I want my vacation!

I popped over to Mission Tove for a brief visit and snapped a couple shots of the cistern.

Unfortunately, the kids haven't really started doing the hand-washing thing but at least they have water.

Petit a petit, l'oiseau fait son nid.

I've been wandering around my neighborhood, getting to know people.

Here are some photos to enjoy.

A boy in charge of keeping an eye on the tchakpa (a fermented millet drink, this version is recipe from la region des Savannes, the northernmost region of Togo)

A traditional healer using herbs and massage to take care of people's injuries and broken bones.

Kittens and babies - cute the world over

I fly to Senegal tomorrow. I'm pretty excited about this and don't have a lot of time to type up a blog, so have some photos etc. Voila my house This is my little neighbor Obama playing on my porch. My porch and front door And video too!

I have not been updating my blog very much recently.

It is not because I have not been writing.

On the contrary, I've been writing 2000 words a day on every day there wasn't some other pressing need (ie a party)

I'm NaNoWriMo'ing and it's stressful and amazing.

my username is roseepine If anybody else is signed up and wants to be my buddy. I need to submit on the 27th because I fly to Senegal on the 28th!

xo

Wow. November already. I've been back in Togo for two weeks plus now, and it's been quite a roller coaster - I've only slept at home 4 nights! We had an amazing and very fruitful peer support network training in Lome. I led the training with the help of L, the other PCVL and I, a Peace Corps staff member. I was really grateful for the training I'd received at Victim Support Scotland and LGBT Youth. I felt really well prepared and that my experiences in Scotland were really useful and relevant. Who'd've guessed, right?

We're set up very informally - 7 peer supporters that were chosen based on a motivation essay they wrote and a couple recommendations from other volunteers about the candidate's ability to be a good supporter - a good example, nurturing, and commited to confidentiality. We talked about the stressors in PCVs lives, from work to home life to competition with other volunteers.

I'd done some research on PC and PCVs experience of stress. Some study that rated stress levels classified entering the Peace Corps as 2 times as stressful as the death of your spouse, and 9 times as stressful as getting pregnant.

Seeing those kinds of comparisons is somehow comforting. It certainly makes me feel better about my bungee jumping mood swings and near narcolepsy.

After 18 + hours of flights, I have arrived back in Togo!

The transition has been pretty smooth, I guess I was ready to come back. I'm excited about the activities and responsibilities of this year. I'd better be, since I'm jumping in with both feet immediately - I arrived on Thursday evening, I had two nights at home in Atakpame and now I'm back in the capital city of Lome for a week:

VAC (volunteer advisory council)on Tuesday

Coordinating and facilitating a Peer Support Network training on Wed and Thurs

Finally, on Friday, my fellow PCVL (Peace Corps Volunteer Leader) and I will be having a half-day of PCVL training

Well, my to-do list is getting boring. So I'll just try to keep you all updated as I have my adventures. Hopefully now that I have electricity I'll be more accessible!

Gee I thought California was cold, dontcha know. But it don't got nothing on Minnesota!

I'm wearing three layers of borrowed clothing just to walk to the car!

Grandma and I went out to a beautiful pumpkin patch where we got to sample spicy squash soup, pick out a few grotesquely gorgeous gourds and... I got a pumpkin!

Rachel’s Questions

1. What is Togo like?

That’s a tough question. Imagine trying to sum up what the United States is like in just a couple sentences. Granted, Togo is only about as big as Delaware, but the huge ethnic diversity – at least 35 distinct local languages! – and the regions with very different climates, the Oceanside Maritime region, lush and mountainous Plateau region, dry Central region that has the largest wild preserve, surprisingly developed Kara region, to the arid and dusty Savannah region. Togo is a developing country, which means that there’s still a lot of work to be done creating the infrastructure that can support and encourage local businesses and non-profits, especially those existing in rural areas, far from the resources of the big cities. The economy is largely based on agriculture, although the biggest export is phosphorous from the mines. Most families have their own small farm where they grow food for themselves; and perhaps enough extra to sell so that they can buy things like powdered milk, sugar or cloth (pagne) with which to make clothes. That’s another cool thing about Togo – a lot of the clothes people wear are tailor-made by local seamstresses.

Because most people work all day in the fields the diet is very starchy. They have to get a lot of energy (calories) from their food without spending a lot of money. The most common food is pâte – basically corn flour mixed with hot water until it forms a thick paste that can be shaped into balls. A sauce based on tomato, hot peppers, and sometimes edible leaves (kind of like spinach) will accompany it. It’s not particularly tasty to my palate, but it is very filling. Togolese people are very generous – especially with their food. If you ever see someone eating, the first thing they will say to you is “hello! Come and eat with me!” Even if they don’t know you, hospitality and welcome are always very warm.

2. When is the best time to join? After high school? College?

The Peace Corps generally requires that applicants have a bachelor’s degree (4-year college degree). The exception is when an applicant has a significant amount of work experience. So your best bet is to graduate from high school and head to a good college, choosing a major that you really like and that possibly has something to do with development work, like pre-med, political science, African studies, social work, communications, French, agriculture, women’s studies, engineering, etc. etc. As you can tell – the specific major you choose doesn’t matter all that much!

3. How long is the application process and what do they look for in someone who wants to volunteer in Africa?

The application process can be really long. Many of us joke that the wait itself helps to weed out applicants who aren’t committed or don’t have the patience to see it through. Patience becomes a very very important virtue once you are in a developing country and trying to work! The application requires a lot of initial information: an essay/motivation statement (why do you want to be in the Peace Corps), your work experience, college transcript, an essay on your experience of diversity or cultural exchange. Plus three recommendations. The ideal for the recommendations is to send in one from an academic supervisor (a college professor who really knows you well), one from a work supervisor (a boss who you did really good work for), and one volunteer work supervisor (someone you volunteered with who can talk about your commitment to service). They really want to see applicants who have already shown commitment to doing volunteer work – particularly in the area in which you want to work in the Peace Corps. For example, if you want to work in community health in Africa, you could get involved as a hospital volunteer or a volunteer at a retirement home. If you want to do youth development, you could volunteer as a youth group leader at your local teen center. If you know you to work in Africa, every single project in Africa has an HIV/AIDS prevention component, so it’s a great idea to already look into the causes and effects of HIV and perhaps volunteer at a relevant center. Also, Peace Corps loves if you already have language ability. For Africa, that could be French, Portuguese, Arabic, or African languages like Swahili.

4. Is it hard to be away from your family for two years? Do you get to visit them while you are still in the program?

Yes, it’s hard to be away from family. I moved away from home when I went to college in 2000 and haven’t lived in California since. So I was used to only seeing my immediate family for short once or twice a year visits. As a PCV, I chose to save up my vacation days (we get 2 vacation days per month) so that I could go to California for June 2009 – it was really important to me to be there to celebrate my brother’s graduation from high school, my sister’s graduation from college, and my sister’s promotion from 8th grade. Some volunteers’ families come over to visit them in country – or they meet at a mid-point in Europe or another “vacation spot” instead of making family come out to tiny African villages without amenities. Peace Corps doesn’t pay for volunteer’s plane tickets to visit home, so you have to save up for that yourself. The exception is for volunteers who extend their service. For example, I did the normal two years of service and then I chose to stay for a third year to take on new responsibilities as a Volunteer Leader. Because I signed up for another full 12 months of service, the Peace Corps requires that I take one month of home leave. They paid for my plane ticket to my ‘home of residence’ – California. It was great to have this break, I feel re-motivated to get back to work!

5. What do you plan to do when you are finished volunteering?

I want to keep working in international human rights, specifically looking at gender and sexuality issues. I’ve been really inspired by my work with young people during my service in the Peace Corps and before (I was a sexual health/mental health youth worker in Scotland before joining the Peace Corps). I am currently looking at going back to graduate school, perhaps for law or public policy, with the goal that I could use the knowledge from these programs to work for the United Nations or the US State Department or a non-profit international organization like Women for Women International or Human Rights Watch.

6. What kind of security do you get? Aren’t you scared of getting AIDS or another disease?

First of all, HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS, is not like a cold – I can’t get it by shaking hands with someone or because someone sneezed near me. HIV is entirely preventable, except perhaps for babies born to HIV-positive mothers, but even then the risk of can be minimized through careful pre-natal care provide by doctors who know the woman’s HIV status. In fact, Washington DC has a higher percentage of people infected with HIV than Togo. That said, HIV prevention, is a huge part of the work I do for a very good reason. Practices that have become normal in American society, like sterilizing a razor between customers at a barbers’, getting pre-natal care for pregnant women, and using a condom, are still out of the norm in Togo. So a lot of the work I do is just repetition, encouraging people to do thing I would consider common sense.

The illness that I worry about more is malaria. Untreated, malaria can be fatal – attacks your liver and kidneys and can leave you unable to process toxins out of your body. Malaria is carried by mosquitos. Peace Corps has a fantastic medical service team that is provided for free to volunteers. Part of the service is anti-malaria pills (called malaria prophylaxis). These pills are so important, in fact, that volunteers who don’t take them get kicked out of the Peace Corps and sent home.

The other illnesses I worry about are pretty common for any travel or work in developing countries: digestive troubles. You will have them; it is inevitable. But in order to help minimize them, Peace Corps Medical does several trainings during the initial three months about proper water preparation, malnutrition and cooking. And when you get sick, they provide your prescriptions, and even a bed at the medical unit if it’s serious enough. Some conditions might require specialists – for example dental surgery or a broken bone – for these Peace Corps will pay for you to get to a facility to receive appropriate care – that could be Senegal, South Africa, or even Washington D.C. They take really really good care of us. In fact, I think it’s the best and most holistic health care I will ever get and it’s free!

7. What kind of things do you do? (Are you a teacher/doctor/etc)

Peace Corps is different in every country but I would guess that most volunteers would agree with me when I say that you don’t walk into a job in the Peace Corps, you create one. Most people think Peace Corps volunteer = English teacher. In Togo, we have four programs that volunteers fit into, and none of them are English teaching. The four programs are: Natural Resources Management/Food Security, Community Health and Family Planning, Girls’ Education and Empowerment, and Small Enterprise Development. The program I’m part of is Small Enterprise Development. Specifically, I’m in a sub-program of NGO Development (NGO = non-governmental organization, or non-profit). I’ve been doing a lot of different activities, the first (and most important) being a participatory needs assessment of the village where I lived. What this means is I talked to a lot of people – I gathered groups of women, student, rice farmers, churchgoers, or teachers and asked them about their village and their work, the cycle of planting crops and the rains. We discussed what’s working and what could/should be improved. Once I had a good idea of what already existed in the village, then I was ready to start projects. I always have several things going on at the same time and over time as I gained experience and knowledge in my village and in Togo in general, my projects became more sophisticated.

· I developed a small group of women leaders to present workshops on business skills and health life skills (communication, nutrition and HIV prevention) to apprentice seamstresses. While I was working with seamstresses I got the chance to practice sewing on a foot-pedal powered machine!

· I started a group of health peer educators at the local junior high/high school. We put together skits about HIV/AIDS prevention, the importance of staying in school, facing up to sexual harassment, etc. and then performed the skits for the whole school.

· I supported a small group working to create a mushroom growing cooperative.

· I taught English to 4 classes of 50-60 junior high students. We learned songs and stories and I focused on cultural exchange – introducing American traditions and holidays – as well as adding to the correspondence exchange with junior high girls.

· I created a business club at the junior high 5 km from my house. We worked on the set of skills you have to develop to know whether a business idea could work. We also worked on some small income-generating activities (like making soap and lotion to sell).

· I organized a camp for Togolese young people from all over the country. I was on a team of Peace Corps volunteers and Togolese professionals. We recruited community leaders to be counselors at the camp, arranged transportation and food for everyone and raised 25000 dollars to run the camp in 2009 and 30000 to run the camp in 2010. I’m particularly proud of helping to coordinate the team of organizers to form a more coherent collaboration among the Togolese non-profits so that they could take on more leadership roles in running the camp.

· I administered a scholarship for girls who are chosen based on both need and merit. The system for approving scholars and sending them their scholarship money needed a lot of reworking. I’m really proud of creating and hosting a national conference for the scholarship girls so that we could better ensure the scholars are getting support both academically and emotionally, ‘cause it can be really tough for girls in school in Togo. About 12 of the scholars this year are going to be in university! Amazing.

· I worked with several other volunteers to create a (huge) document for Peace Corps volunteers who want to work with non-profit organizations or associations in Togo. The resources for this type of work are kind of out-of-date and not specific to working in Africa, much less Togo.

· Seeing the need for better management training for local non-profits, my friend and I put together a workshop for small non-profits. This meant not only teaching the lessons, but also putting together a 100-page document in French! about typical management issues. It was a lot of work but so worthwhile that I am planning to replicate the workshop in another city this year.

8. What is your apartment/room/house like? Do you have access to electricity?

When we first arrived, I lived in a single small room in a house with a family. But once I moved to my village, I was in a house by myself. I lucked out and had a pretty cute house – with a living, bedroom, kitchen and an indoor toilet! The house is made out of cement blocks and has a tin roof. The floor is simply concrete as well. I have lots of windows, which helps with air flow. There’s no glass in the windows – just mosquito screen, iron “burglar” bars, and wooden shutters I can close and lock. The house can get really hot and I didn’t have electricity or running water, so no fans or cooling showers. And even though I had a toilet, I still had to “flush” by pouring in a bucket of water. I get my water from a rain-collecting cistern that’s right next to my house. I kept a large (huge) plastic bucket inside my living room so I only had to go out and fetch water from the cistern once or twice a week. There are a couple shops that have generators so I can charge my phone for a few hundred francs CFA. Most of the time, my electricity access is when I got into a larger city nearby where I can find places to charge my batteries and use the internet.

I have recently moved as part of my new role – I’m in a regional capital now and I have a city house – including electricity and running water! It is amazing how quickly I got used to these new amenities.

9. What about the violence/crime?

Safety and security is a primary concern for the Peace Corps. If they judge that a country is too unstable to be safe; the Peace Corps will pull out volunteers (or not send them). Togo is a relatively safe country and there is a designated Safety and Security Officer who does his best to keep us up-to-date with threats to security. It can be difficult because communications are not as fast as they are in the United States with Twitter, Facebook, even news media, but they develop systems early on in training to ensure that volunteers know where to turn if a safety problem happens. My primary concern about crime in Togo is theft. So I take precautions – like locking my house whenever I leave – even though I trust my neighbors because I feel there is no need to give them the temptation to explore what American goods I might have. There were recently some protests that involved some violence because of elections and gas prices, but no volunteers were caught up in them.

10. When did you know that you wanted to join the Peace Corps?

I’ve thought about the Peace Corps since I was in high school, like you. And I met some amazing returned Peace Corps volunteers who were doing Masters’ in Peace Studies at Notre Dame. So I looked into the possibility several times, but I put it off after college because I received a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship to go abroad to do a Masters’ degree. I went to the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. I loved Scotland and decided to stay for a few years, taking advantage of a work visa program for overseas students who graduate from a Scottish university. Once my two years were nearing the end, though, I started looking at the Peace Corps again. At the same time, I was looking at jobs with international non-profits and almost all of them require a minimum of two years experience working in a developing country. Peace Corps seemed to be a perfect fit: not only would I be pursuing the dream that I’d hoped for since high school, but I’d also be getting career experience that would enable me to work internationally for the rest of my life!

Updating from a Megabus. I am in the top level front seat on my way from DC to NY.

I am currently adventuring on the East Coast of the United States. I've been visiting family and friends and law schools. My most exciting stop so far has been to a Trader Joe's in the middle of Washington D.C. I had no idea TJ's was in town until I saw a girl carrying two of their distinctive brown paper bags on the metro. I watched enviously as she flouted the rule against eating on the trains and enjoyed some stuffed grape leaves. The first thing I did after arriving at my aunt and uncle's home (after a metro ride to the end of the line and a 40 minutes driving with two missed signed and subsequent u-turns) was look up the location of Trader Joe's in DC.

So exciting to discover my favorite California shp on the other side of the country. I wandered around the shop for ages before finally selecting some chips and salsa. I headed up to the checkout line, which was surprisingly quick considering how long it was! When I reached the cashier, a thirty-something black man called Gregory, he asked me, "Where did you get your shirt?"

I replied, "Togo." We had a short moment of surprised silence and then began chatting.

He's from Kpalime and I explained where I live and a little of what I do.

As I headed out to meet some former PCVs for dinner, I couldn't help but smile at the joys of chance encounters.

Tuesday felt like much more of a celebratory day than Monday (my birthday) which was spent getting lost among crowds of fresh-faced 18-year-olds in itsy-bitsy shorts and walking in circles searching for a restroom because I just couldn't get the street grid figured out in Foggy Bottom and was suffering from tummy troubles. I blame the clam bake. It was fun, but not very gentle on the belly. Probably the wine and beer and more wine didn't help too much either.

I went to a law school fair at GW on Monday. It is kind of silly how ill-equipped I am, at least clothing-wise, for the United States. I wore what are probably my nicest top and skirt and felt very very scruffy. It doesn't help that my feet are now shaped to only fit into chacos. I tried to wear my favorite pair of comfy 2-inch heels. They sliced up my achilles AND my in-step! yikes. I will need an entire wardrobe rehaul before trying to reintegrate here. Somehow I'm getting the feeling that the 'readjustment allowance' just isn't going to cut it. Especially since I've already received (and spent) one-third of it.

I was really surprised by how old I felt on Monday. Every law school recruiter I talked to asked me when I had graduated from Notre Dame (as opposed to when WILL i graduate). There's an upside to the 'older' as well: I felt like I actually knew what I was doing walking around the fair. I had good questions and was able to build rapport with the recruiters much better than the sophomores walking around asking everyone "What can I do NOW so I can guarantee getting into your school?"

I wonder if I'll qualify for the Older and Wiser Law Students group (OWLS) when I finally get back to school.

I'm in California!

This means I've been able to upload my COS Musical...

Part One Part Two

And here are some photos from Camp UNITE

I’m going to be back in the States in September, just in time for my birthday.

I thought it would be a good idea to put up a little wish list so that I don’t receive well-intentioned but contextually useless things like bath bubbles, sweaters, and socks.

I’ll try to put up a link to example items through amazon or something similar.

·

Tech stuff

o Ipod, headphones

o External hard drive

o Digital camera

o External cd/dvd reader (for my little cd-incapable netbook)

·

Food stuff

o Tea! Any kind, but flavored green and black teas are my favorite

o Eggnog Tea – amazing

o Seeds for sprouting

o Seeds for an herb garden

·

Bathroom stuff

o Conditioner

o A hair cut and color

o Deodorant

·

Other

o Book for career search

o Maybe some pre-reading books from law school lists (I’ll look these up later)

30 June 2010

A tough moment.

Yesterday I loaned another 5 mille to a high school kid who already (still) owes me 56.000 for the digital camera I had timefortea bring over. I really didn’t want to do it (loan the 5 mille). I felt so yucky about it that I was grumpy to the point of tears for several hours. Of course my aching leg contributed to that malaise as well.

My relationship with money has gotten even more precarious living here where people simply assume that I am rich because of my skin color. This strikes me as wholly unfair while at the same time devastatingly truthful. For most of my life I have been significantly less ‘well-off’ than most of my schoolmates. I’ve worked since I was a pre-teen and I take a lot of pride in being able to support myself with jobs that are bigger in social value than salary. But when it comes down to it, I know I’m making sacrifices. I could be earning a lot of money but I chose to be poor – if earning less than $3000 a year isn’t poor, I don’t know what is – and work in a difficult environment.

So when the little kid who lives at the top of the hill yells out my name as I’m puffing past him on my bike, I turn and say hello cheerfully. But when he follows up my greeting with a “donne-moi cent francs [give me 100 francs]”, I explode. Literally. I guess it’d been a tough day in Tsevie surrounded my mostly strangers and I was looking forward to my village, my own little “Cheers” where everybody knows my name. My anger was over the top. I slammed on the brakes, tires skidding on the sandy road, and demanded, “What did you just say?!”

I yelled out “I will never greet you again if you ask me for money”

“Donne-moi cent francs yovo”

I reigned in my boiling temper and instead of jumping off the bike to practice some of the corporal punishment that my teacher colleagues are always recommending, I remounted and rode off, muttering to myself.

The sheer force of my anger surprised me. I think it was partly based on shock- this is my village, people jknow me, I’ve greeted this kid many times before – where did he get the message that I’m a vending machine? I didn’t see it coming.

I know that a Togolese person would have reacted totally differently. Perhaps she would have handed over the money; if not, she would have made a little joke – “Oh, maybe tomorrow” the red cloud of anger would never have occurred to her.

We looked at average salaries in Togo the other day when I was with the new group of trainees, to help describe the economic state of the country. As a PCV I earn just a little more than a high school professor and just a little less than a state-paid doctor. Both of these professionals support families – not just their own but their whole extended family. With success comes responsibility, a successful family member is expected to take in the children of poor relatives, pay for their schooling, he is expected to take on the lion’s share of paying for family expenses like funerals, weddings, and hospital bills. A typical high school prof’s salary is 100.000, is not sufficient for all these responsibilities, so most teachers in villages have farms, own small shops, and/or offer tutoring to supplement their income. The majority of the population of course, are not professors. Based on GNP, the average amount of money an adult in Togo earns is 20.000F CFA per month. If 100.000 is not sufficient – have can 20.000 even be survivable?

So yes, I’m rich. I have disposable income. But the real reason why I’m rich is because I have an education, training, American citizenship. I can go somewhere else and succeed. A wealth of opportunity.

1 July 2010

How would I introduce myself?

This differs entirely based on context, so I will imagine how I would introduce myself to a classroom to whom I’m presenting my Peace Corps service.

Hi! My name is Rose. I am a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo West Africa. I graduated form this school back in 2000 and all three of my sisters also went here – in fact, one of them is currently in 10th grade! I grew up here in California but I went away to college in Indiana at the University of Notre Dame. While I was there I studied abroad in France for a year and liked Europe so much that I went to Scotland to do my graduate studies in International Politics. I’ve been working in Togo as a pCV for 2 years already, some of the projects that inspire me the most are…

If I were presenting myself to a Rotary Club…

Hello, my name is Rose. I was a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar to the University of Edinburgh from 2004-2005. I loved the culture so much that I stayed there to work for two years after achieving my Masters in International and European Politics. When finally my time was up in Scotland, I decided I wanted to continue learning and living internationally, promoting development and understanding so I joined the Peace Corps and that’s what I’m here to talk to you about…

As a new member of a book club…

Hi! I’m Rose, I grew up the oldest of five kids in southern California but I’ve lived in the Midwest, Europe, and most recently in Africa. My favorite types of books to read are books on spirituality, and my favorite fiction is adventure fantasy. My favorite authors are Paulo Coelho, Starhawk, Robert Jordan, and Ursula K LeGuin.

So I wrote these up as a part of an exercise on cultural exchange . The second half of the exercise is to note how a local person introduces herself. In my experience, they don’t. That’s not entirely true. People introduce themselves as the brother of…, the wife of…, or the cousin of the brother of the wife of…. Or by their profession, their role in society. I still giggle sometimes as I look over my phone book. Last year when I had some shelves painted, I thought the painter did a good job and wanted to take his number so I could contact him again if needed. He willingly gave it, but then I asked for his name so I could enter it in the phone and he said “painter.” I looked at him, to check if he was joking –but no. So I have an entry for painter, moto driver 1 and 2, and catechist in my phone – people who I contact or at least come across frequently but whose names are a complete unknown to me.

9 June 2010

Letter to my family

Dear family,

I’m sitting in my little house, enjoying the cleanliness so much I don’t want to move and disturb it (I had two kids come over yesterday to help me clean). The Country Director and my Program Director came by my house yesterday to interview me for the volunteer leader position. I received confirmation this morning that I’ve got the “job” and I’ll be moving to Atakpamé – a beautiful hilly city in the Plateau region. I don’t know exactly where I’ll be living but there is a house a previous volunteer lived in that is situated on a hill overlooking the city, has floors covered in colorful tile and a succulent lime tree just outside the kitchen window. I’ve got my sights set on that lovely place.

But in the meantime, I’m at home for about another month and a half, in Mission Tové. Fare from the easy-going leavetaking I’d anticipated, I will be running around finishing up a few projects and taking care of a new one – I was just granted the money for a water and sanitation project for which we’ll be building a rainwater-collecting cistern at the junior high where I teach English and have my business club. It’s going to be stressful, but I’m happy to be leaving a physical mark on the community, especially in a way that addresses such a pressing need.

We’re combining the cistern-building with a series of presentations on the importance of washing your hands (with soap) before meals and after using the WC. I’m going to train my business club members to be peer educators so that they will have some investment in the hand-washing element of the project and will hopefully take on some follow-up, making sure the system is used and maintained properly. As part of the workshop, each class will make about 20 liters of liquid soap which should get them through a significant amount of the school year. I’m hoping the combination of better access to clean water and developing hand-washing habits will make a huge improvement on the health of students and thereby their academic (and life) achievements. No small goals here.

9 June 2010

It loomed in front of us, the gasoline truck, sprawled across the highway like a great beast, life pouring from its torn belly. The smallest spark would have cause a fire to blow the asphalt off the road. Horror filled me as I watched tiny children soaked in gasoline running home with jugs of the stuff on their heads; rushing back to fill another container. Men, women, taxi drivers, moto drivers, clothes soaked in gasoline, reached out to take their fill of the precious liquid seeping from the downed truck. The cab of the truck had fully separated from the cylinder; the driver looked unharmed but shaky as he paced on the side of the road, speaking into his cell phone. His apprentice driver was seated on the ground, head cradled in his hands, rocking slightly, still devastated by the shock of such an accident.

My stomach writhed and my heart thundered as we slowly passed between the gushing cylinder and the truck cab. One rock kicked off by our wheels, one piece of glass magnifying the equatorial sun, and we would all die… very painfully. My palpable fear was a strange counterpart to the sheer joy in the faces of the women rushing toward the truck with the big bowls usually used for collecting water. Shiny, happy people. Shiny with the slick shimmer of gasoline. The bright smiles on the kids’ faces made me shiver with visions of horror. But to this tiny, lucky village, this accident may prove to be their main source of income for the next six months. One liter of gasoline sells for 500-600FCFA. Each jug I saw carried away contains about 20 liters. One jug is enough money to travel from the ocean in Lome to the northern border with Burkina Faso. Is this the silver lining?

Automobile accidents are common here – we like to joke that when cars die in Europe, they’re sent to Ghana to rot; when they are finished in Ghana, they arrive in Togo. And the roads are bad, especially during and right after rainy season. An aspect that I’d never really picked up on until recently is the state of the tires. At Camp UNITE this year, we started a new “challenge” – a team-building physical/strategy game – that involves three tires per team. So we sent out one of the organizers to buy some used tires. He came back with 6 tires that were completely bare. Every single one was as smooth as a baby’s bottom. Who had these things on their car long enough to end up in such a state?! I’ve started looking at tires more often now. I noticed that on trucks, if a tire is really worn down, they won’t stop using it – just put it somewhere in the middle, so I guess at least it’s not responsible for steering? Yikes.

Narrator: In the summer of 2007, Rose Lindgren applied for the Peace Corps. Let’s listen in on her interview, shall we?

Nikhil: I can show you the world

Shining, shimmering, splendid

Tell me truly now when did

You last let your heart decide

I can open your eyes

Take you country by country

It’s the toughest job that you’ll ever love I promise you

A whole new world

Escape from parents, books and jobs

No one to tell you no

Or where to go

Or say you’re only dreaming

Rose: A whole new world

A dazzling place I’ve never known

When I’m a volunteer

It’s crystal clear

That I will save the whole wide world with you

Narrator: Rose received her assignment a mere 12 months later… she was heading for a tiny little country called Togo.

Rose: From the day I arrived in this country

And blinking stepped into the sun

Taylor: There’s more to see than can ever be seen

Heather: More to do than can ever be done

Rose: There’s far too much to take in here

We’re following the yovo, the yovo, the yovo

We’re following the yovo, wherever she may go

Narrator: The first step is stage…

Whitney: Let’s get down to business to defeat poverty

Dig your hands right in there and get dirty

You’re the prissiest bunch I’ve ever seen

Stagaires, I’ll make volunteers out of you

Narrator: Rose was posted in a small village…

Rose: Little town, it’s a Peace Corps village

Every day like the one before

Little town full of Ewe people waking up to say

All: Bonjour, bonsoir, bonjour yovo bonsoir

Good morning yovo

Good morning Madame

Where are you off to?

The market

Don’t forget to bring me some bread!

Look there she goes that girl is so peculiar

I wonder if she’s feeling well (diarrhea?)

With a dreamy far-off look

And her nose stuck in a book (and it’s not the Bible!)

What a puzzle to the rest of us this yovo

There must be more than this villageoise life!

Now it’s no wonder that her name means “whitey”

Her looks have got no parallel

But behind that fair façade

I’m afraid she’s rather odd

Very different from the rest of us this yovo!

Just watch I’m going to make her my wife

Narrator: Daily marriage proposals started to get Rose down, luckily she had some good friends who taught her an important phrase:

Heather: Du courage what a wonderful phrase

Du courage ain’t no passing craze

It means no worries for the rest of your days

It’s our problem-free philosophy – du courage!

Taylor: Here! Have some pate with fish sauce – and drink this, it’ll help with the digestion.

Les poisons, les poisons, hee hee hee ha ha ha

With the coupe-coupe I hack them in two

I pull out what’s inside and I serve it up fried

Jesu, I love little fishies, don’t you!

Narrator: Rose woke up the next morning with a hangover, giardia and covered in heat rash. She started to wish she could go home and have air-conditioning, pizza and cold beer.

Rose: I really miss America

Nikhil: How can you say that? Everything you need it right here!

Rose: Maybe he's right, maybe there is something the matter with me. I just don't see how a world that makes such wonderful things could be bad.

I wanna be where the Americans are

I wanna see, wanna see 'em dancing... not like that!

Walking around on those what do you call em? Streets

Riding a bike you don’t get too far

Cars are required for shopping, road trips

Cruising along down a

What’s that word again… street!

Up where they drive

Up where they date

Up where they worry about being late

Wanderin’ free wish I could be

Part of that world

What would I give if I could live out of this mudhut

What would I pay to spend a day down at the mallBetcha out there they wouldn’t stare

Bet they won’t care that I’m not married

Bright young women

Sick of swimming

In my own sweat

And ready to know what the Internet knows

Google my questions and get some answers

What’s a real job and what will I…

What’s the word?

Earn!

When’s it my turn

Wouldn’t I dare, dare to explore that world over there

Out of Togo

When can I go

Be part of that world

How did it become the 11th so soon? This month and last have been absolutely ridiculous with busyness. I apologize for falling off the internet yet again.

Last week I had my close of service (COS) conference. Basically, all the kids who arrived with me (that are still in country) get together at a super posh hotel and talk about what the heck we’re doing with our lives now that we’re just a few months away from leaving. It’s a fun three days, but also pretty useful. There was a great panel on job possibilities – three former Peace Corps volunteers and one embassy worker with other international experience. It really made me think harder about taking the foreign service exam. And then the presentation on our non-competitive eligibility for federal government jobs made me want to look up federal openings (basically, as returned Peace Corps volunteers we get a year of ‘inside hire’ status where we can be hired for positions before they are opened up to the public).

So where am I going next?

Well, on the first day of the conference I submitted my formal application to be a third year Volunteer Leader. Yup, that means staying in Togo for another year. So all of you who thought about visiting but never got around to it… here’s your chance. I’m signed up to be here until Aug/Sept 2011.

I’m sure you’re all just dying to read my letter of interest for the position, but unfortunately I got kinda long-winded… four pages. Ridonkulous.

So I’ll skip around, here are some excerpts:

“When I grow up, I want to be a Peace Corps volunteer,” declared the girl with bright eyes, “just like Da Adzo Rose.”

“Thank you, Delali.” I replied. I smiled back at her and continued leading an exercise combining English and goal-setting with the class of 3eme students at CEG Kovié. Delali was one of the students with whom I made a special connection. She’d seen and experienced the benefits of working with Peace Corps volunteers; not just myself but also volunteers from all over the country during Camp UNITE 2009. Her admiration and respect for our work gave her the aspiration to become a Peace Corps volunteer. It is these special connections and relationships that I want to help first and second year volunteers to foster; these moments of inspiration and joy that lead me to apply to become a Volunteer Leader.

My Peace Corps Service

My experience in Edinburgh, motivated me during my Peace Corps service to pursue projects, both in my village and nationally, that focused on empowering young people. In Mission Tové worked with both students and apprentices, using lessons from the Life Skills book as well as teaching good business practices. Last November, after over a year working with my group of peer educators, I encouraged them to develop their own plan for celebrating World AIDS day. I facilitated the discussion, using brainstorm charts and priority mapping, but the ideas and the work were all theirs. They decided to plan a big event for all the students in the two villages of Mission Tové and Kovié. Instead of simply planning and presenting their own sensibilisation, the group chose to invite the two other junior high schools to write and perform their own skits, based on the theme “Youth facing up to HIV/AIDS.” The day was a fantastic success, proven to me by the fact that I didn’t do anything more than move chairs and take pictures; the students took care of everything. They’ve already started planning next year’s event.

I came into Togo as an NGO Development volunteer, a subset of the Small Enterprise Development program, but I hadn’t yet found an NGO to work with in my village so I was thrilled to take on a leadership role in two national projects: Camp UNITE and the Karren Waid Scholarship Program. These two projects will be the focus of my community level volunteer assignment. The non-governmental organization PAHCS located in Amlamé manages both projects. PAHCS has been the NGO contact for Karren Waid since its inception. We have now reached a point where volunteers should be assisting the program rather than running it. I intend to implement a capacity-building administrative process, developing a three-year strategic plan for growth and expansion of the scholarship program. This capacity-building will include lessons on how to maintain databases, setting up the physical workspace, developing filing systems, planning and managing a scholar conference, and holding fundraising events. I will also be the point person for the nascent Karren Waid Foundation currently in the first steps of applying for 501c3 status in the United States. I will coordinate with them on good communication of goals and objectives both on the US and Togolese side.

For the Camp UNITE part of my third year, I will focus on assisting CONGECS, the consortium of three Togolese NGOs running camp, to have their collaboration made official. Much of my role will also be developing a consistent reporting on camp. This will include photos, videos, and testimonials during camp that will serve not only for archive, but also for promoting the camp to our funders, especially the Unite Foundation. A major challenge that Camp UNITE has faced is the lack of follow-up on the young people who have been through the week of formation. I will work in tandem with the consortium to develop a reporting system that helps us to not only keep track of camp alums but also support them with resources, whether that means sending them new information or getting them in contact with a local PCV or other camp alums.

Conclusion

I believe that I would be an excellent Volunteer Leader. I have a strong commitment to the goals of Peace Corps. I am a very talented manager and trainer. I am motivated and creative and willing to put in the time and effort necessary to have real achievements in a complicated environment. I realize that if selected as a Volunteer Leader, I will essentially be creating the position and establishing standards that may be in place for years to come. The process will take a significant amount of time and lots of good and honest communication. I anticipate that there may be frustrations, but I look forward to the challenge.

Thank you for considering my application,

Xoxo ;)

You’d totally give me the job; you know it.

I have not yet had my interview, but I feel confident from informal chats with my program director and the Country Director that my application will be accepted. I’m pretty excited. Especially for the chance to move to a new city and do regional site development.

I hope to move to a city in the region of Plateau. It’s a lovely little city and really close to the village where my NGO collaborator is located (within two hours’ biking distance). I will have electricity and hopefully an internet connection… amazing!

I’m sad that I won’t be bringing little Ody along with me to keep me company. It’s heartbreaking to sit in my house and notice all the little evidence of a cat but not have him sitting in my lap purring or knocking things over. I’ve got to think of some appropriate way to mark his grave or something, a little closure. With all the running around, I haven’t taken the time to grieve. My first pet that was really mine

I have been astoundingly busy recently and haven't had/taken the time to write up blog entries. I apologize.

The last post I submitted was an article that I wrote for the magazine 'Farm to Market' produced by the business and natural resources programs of Peace Corps volunteers in Togo. It was in French.

I've been writing a lot in French recently. In order to fill out my blog a bit I'm going to post up the three articles on NGO development I recently wrote for the workshop that my friend I and I just held in Tsevie. I hope that these articles might be useful for people working in West Africa with NGOs. Just make sure to credit me and link back to my blog.

In other news, my cat Odysseus died last night. I don't know why. When I arrived home from a day of celebrations for International Worker's Day, I found him curled up in his litter tray, too weak to even stand. I searched him for injuries or wounds and didn't find anything. I held him and made him comfortable, then I called my counterpart and asked her to contact her uncle the veterinarian. About an hour later, Ody stopped breathing and died quietly in my lap.

My counterpart came over with her children, who have been my cat-sitters for the past year and a half. They woke my landlord and the local pastor and together we dug a hole by lantern-light and buried Ody in the field behind the house with the waning moon shining brightly above us. The pastor explained that often animals will take the unhappiness or curse directed at their human/owner and thus sacrifice themselves. He said a prayer that I would accept this sacrifice gratefully and stop crying (Togolese people believe that crying makes a person weak and they are always very worried for me when I cry.)

I'm very sad to have lost Ody, but I am glad that I was there to be with him; it would have been much worse if he had been, for example, stolen and eaten like my chicken was. It's pretty sad putting away all the little food and collars that my mom sent to me, knowing that he won't need them.

La grande foule de filles et garçons vêtu du même pagne dansent et chantent avec une joie de vie qui attirent tout le monde. On voit une longue ligne de filles dansant dans un cercle; on dirait que chaque complet est plus beau que l’un qui l'avançait. C’ est la saison correcte, mais ce n’est pas une funéraille. C’est la fête des apprentis de couture. Une journée de danse, chanson, nourriture, et boisson. Les apprentis se prêtent depuis des mois pour cette grande fête : ils cherchent le modèle le plus joli, le plus unique, et passent beaucoup de temps à faire leur habit spécial. Dans ce grand nombre de gens, on ne peut pas trouver un modèle jumelé. Chacun et une s’habille complètement différemment, mais dans le même pagne. Cette créativité et joie dans leur métier indique une félicité unique aux apprentis.

La fête des apprentis de couture se fait le 10 février de chaque année. Les syndicats de couture se réunissent pour fêter la fin de la saison de fête. Décembre et janvier sont des mois si plein d’occasion que les couturiers et tailleurs n’arrivent pas à fêter eux-mêmes. Mais tout le monde a besoin de s'étendre un peu, boire un peu, et danser avec ses amis. Alors, ils ont prit le 10 février comme un jour ferié spécial à eux.

Cette année, le Syncoutat, un des plusieurs syndicats des couturiers et tailleurs, avait leur congrès national. Trouvant que le congrès et les élection des representants a crée un peu de mal-aise chez les membres, le Syncoutat a décidé de faire une très grande fête avec les bureaux des plusieurs préfectures.

Centaines des apprentis se sont réunis pour célébrer ensemble. Ce partage de joie et expérience est une des raisons pour commencer un bureau de syndicat chez vous. Les syndicats sont une ressource très intéressants aux artisans.

Attirer un bureau de syndicat chez vous ce n’est pas un grand travail, mais il faut de la persistance. En 2006, Da Essi AWUITOR, maitresse couturière s’est décidé qu’elle voulait que ces apprenties passent un examen pour la fin de l’apprentissage pour avoir des certificats. Mais il n’y avait pas de bureau de syndicat chez elle, à Mission Tové. Alors, elle est allée à Tsévié au niveau préfectorale pour parler avec le directeur des affaires sociales. Elle a trouvé que c’était un peu difficile d’attirer un grand syndicat à un petit village. Le Syntacto a donné deux choix à AWUITOR : soit elle amènerait les filles avec leur machines à coudre à Tsévié où un patron local les présenterait à l’examen (la signature de ce patron local figurerait sur les certificats, au lieu de la signature d’AWUITOR), soit elle pourrait faire amener les surveillants à Mission Tové, les loger, les donner à manger, et les payer 5000 chacun par jour pour trois jours.

AWUITOR ne pouvait pas accepter ni l’un ni l’autre de ces deux choix. Elle est allée encore voir le directeur des affaires sociales pour savoir comment elle peut faire. Il y avait un deuxième syndicat des tailleurs à Tsévié : le Syncoutat. Le Président du Syncoutat écoutait le problème d’ AWUITOR et s’est décidé de l’aider. Il viendrait lui-même surveiller l’examen à Mission Tové, s’il pouvait être logé; avec une condition: après l’examen soit AWUITOR doit se joindre au Syncoutat à Tsévié, soit elle doit créer un bureau du Syncoutat local. Notant les frais de déplacement, AWUITOR a choisi d’installer un bureau local. Elle se promenait un peu partout dans le village pour parler avec les autres couturières et tailleurs qui s’intéressaient un peu à ce qu’elle disait, mais ne voulait pas mettre aucun force derrière leurs intérêts.

Pour l’examen pour le certificat, un apprenti passe une journée en faisant un complet d’une modèle indiquée par les surveillants. Sa facon de travailler est observé pendant la journée et à la fin, le surveillant fait la correction du complet pour assurer la qualité du travail. Arrivé le jour de l’examen à Mission Tove seulement un tailleur était venu pour regarder ce qui se passait. Mais le Président du Syncoutat de Tsévié, étant très intelligent, a fait entré trois patrons pour lui aider à faire la correction des travaux que les apprentis ont fait. Il a dit qu’il ne pouvait pas amener les habits jusqu'à Tsévié pour la correction, il devait le faire le meme jour. Mais il ne ferait pas la correction seul parce qu’il ne voulait pas que les autres patrons croient qu’il a fait préférence pour AWUITOR. Les trois patrons les plus connus et respectés étaient appelés pour l’aider. Le fait de voir et participer dans le procesus de l’examen a encouragé beaucoup l’intéret des patrons envers l’installation d’un bureau chez eux. C'etait un succès des deux cotés.

Le jour de la fête de la libération de ses trois apprenties était le même jour de l’installation du bureau.

Les patrons ont constaté plusieurs bénéfices d'être membre d’un syndicat. D’abord il y a la fraternité; ils sont ensembles pour se soutenir et pour s'aider avec les problèmes communs. Deuxième il y a un système de discipline et d’inscription pour les apprentis. Avec les contrats signés, les patrons ont plus de puissance légale sur les apprentis qui volent ou qui veulent échapper de leurs obligations. Troisième, les apprentis gagnent un certificat connu partout au Togo pour bien montrer qu’ils ont fait la formation en couture et qu’ils ont réussi. La possibilité de ce certificat attire beaucoup d'apprentis vers un maitre qui fait parti d'un syndicat.

Si vous voulez installer un bureau du syndicat chez vous, allez aux affaires socials et les demander une liste des syndicats dans votre métier qui sont installé dans la préfecture. Meme si vous n’avez pas de certificat vous-meme, vous pouvez vous joindre à un syndicat pour le bénéfice de vos apprentis.

Sorry that I've been quiet for so long! I've been both travelling and staying in village - both things keep me far from internet and communication with you. My best friend J came to visit me for three weeks so we went exploring. J spent some time as a child living in Ghana, so the trip here wasn't too shocking for him although it's been many years since he was in West Africa. Unfortunately his trip coincided with the hottest part of the year - it cooled off to 90 degrees at night and soared to unknown heights during the day. We found a fantastic refuge from the sun one day as we were travelling. We met up with my friend R in a city called Kpalimé - cute little

city that's well-known for its attraction to tourists and foreign volunteers because it's in a beautifully lush area full of fruits and vegetables and ... waterfalls!

We took motos half an hour outside of Kpalimé to a tiny village called Wa Me, then hiked up a long barren hillside for 3.5km before arriving at a sweet picnic area and a steep downward climb. At some point someone put in rock steps into the hillside, which helped the descent, but were also rather slippery because of the rain the night before. As we descended, the shade gathered around us, huge palm leaves

diffusing the sun's midday rays. We arrived at the bottom of the canyon and picked out way over and around trees and huge red ants to discover a lovely little waterfall that tumbled gently into a wide pool, sheltered in a cavern-like enclosure. It was a perfect little haven and the water was so cool I got goosebumps! I don't think I've ever had goosebumps in Togo outside of air-conditioned buildings.

Of course, by the time we made the steep climb back out we were hot and sweaty again, but that hour was magnificent.

The Presidential election was on March 4th and the incumbent President, Faure Gnassingbe was re-elected for a second five-year term. There were some security worries but so far nothing more dangerous than tear gas to disperse crowds. I've been completely safe and in fact spent the day of the election having two amazingly

scrumptious meals with local families wishing to show their welcome for my guest, J.

While J was here, I received a package from an International Art Exchange that I'd enrolled my students in. They created art in class - I sent off the 25 'best' (see: most representative and interesting) pieces to an NGO in the United States. We received back 25 pieces from all over the world - China, eastern europe, the caribbean, Montana.

The kids have been so excited to see all the different art- but even more interested to see all the photos of their peer artists from around the world. I'm mentioning it because I think it would be really cool if your school joined in as well. They have two rounds of exchange - one in January and one in May. I'll be entering the May one as well because half of the students I work with didn't get to participate last time, so they wanted a chance. I would highly recommend looking it up!

I hope you all are well. Looking forward to spring break? I have lots of plans, but they mostly involve working - I have to take advantage of school being out to do my non-school meetings.

I've recently started up a correspondence with one of my favorite professors from Notre Dame again. She was interested in my adventures and asked me to write up a little summary.

Check it out

14 March 2010

It’s been ages since I posted a blog. Several events came together to inspire this profound silence. First, I had a visitor from Scotland! As you may remember from this time last year when I was hosting the lovely MagentaWings, I also dropped off the face of the internet. So it’s not out of character that TimeforTea’s presence caused a distinct lack of writing as I was able to talk his ear of as a release. He’s very worried about my blood pressure. I assured him that he heard all my vehement complaints only because I’m so used to talking to myself now that I no longer have a filter when talking to other English speakers.

TimeforTea, as is his wont, chose an absolutely ridiculous time to visit. Not only were we in the middle of hot season when there is no water, fruit or vegetables and we sweat through 90 degree (F) nights. But also – he came just in time for the Presidential elections.

I’ve been listening to BBC radio since TimeforTea’s departure; they are currently doing a series of programs about the power of the internet, includihng several profiles of interesting bloggers. It’s been a tough thing to listen to because I feel I could be a very interesting blogger, but my blog is so highly self-censored as to render it about as interesting as warm milk – a nice treat to relax with when one’s brain is tired, but certainly not inspiring and definitely won’t keep one up at night with thought-provoking dreams.

I diverted onto this train of thought as a mild explanation for why I have not and will not say much about the Togolese Presidential election on my blog. As a Peace Corps volunteer there are certain things in which I am specifically forbidden to get involved – politics is the most obvious one, closely followed by mob activity (generally more relevant in eastern European countries).

So in a warm milk type of summary that deals only with my personal perspective: in order to keep a good handle on the safety and security situation, all PCVs in Togo were told to stay in their village for the week prior to and the week following the election, this is called “Standfast”. Originally the election was scheduled for the 28th but it was moved to the 4th. Various rumors of bribery, blatant defacement of opposition party posters, and use of security services and civil servants to campaign call for some inquiry into the validity of the voting process in some peoples’ minds.

Personally, being a good a-political volunteer I was mostly worried about TimeforTea’s safety. The Friday before we went on Standfast TimeforTea and I went ot visit my friends in the nearby city. We got a late start because I had a meeting and TimeforTea had a “case of the Togos” (tummy trouble, headache, etc.) So by the time we got on the road on two motos fort he 30 minute voyage, it was already getting dark. The dirt road is so dusty that my driver was still wearing sunglasses even though the sun had already set. Worse, TimeforTea’s driver seemed to want to race the sun to our destination.

Maybe he was scared of the dark? In any case, he certainly scared me! TimeforTea knows very little French and his driver knew even less. I tried desperately to get my driver to signal the other one to slow the f__ down! As we flew over rock sand hidden gullies, around puddles and fallen branches. I was angry and ready to chew out both drivers as soon as we stopped.

Then we did. Stop, I mean, but not at our destination. We ground to a shuddering halt faced with a huge crowd of people chanting political statements and wearing identical t-shirts. Cars sporting political posters filled the dirt road so we couldn’t get past them. We turned around and took an alternative access to the paved road that we needed to reach to get to the city. We successfully got on to the road but had to ride along the edge, narrowly avoiding side mirrors and opening car doors until, once again, we were stopped. What is this? I looked up and saw a huge truck full of soldiers. No – not just soldiers – some of the biggest guns I’ve ever seen, even in movies, huge round of ammunition, and an air of foreboding.

The road was blockaded, we had to go on to a dirt path again, taking a right off the road and continuing north on what in the states we’d call a “frontage road”. In Togo’s it’s more like a bike path through the fields. TimeforTea’s moto turned and started going. The gun truck followed them, cutting off my moto. Then a second smaller all-terrain vehicle followed the truck, a soldier standing up in the back seat manning a machine gun. We followed the jeep and I briefly caught the eye of a soldier directing the trucks. His expression and double take upon seeing me, a white woman, making my way through the fracas sent a wave of bile rising into my throat. Why does he look so worried at seeing me? Where are these trucks going? Where the hell are TimeforTea and his driver?

It was an agonizing ride through underbrush, tyring to get around the trucks, ahead of them to find TimeforTea, my breath shallow and my heart beating like a birds’. We had to turn around twice after taking paths that led to someone’s house rather than a way through. The absolute darkness outside of the thin, faint stream of light from the moto’s beam filled, in my mind, with more soldiers and innocent bystanders. Visions of massacres in Rwanda and Nigeria flashed through my adrenaline-jumped brain.

Finally – we saw a moto ahead, waiting on the edge of the path. But no passenger! I swallowed my heart as I spotted yet another moto 100m further. Thank goodness. We found TimeforTea and continued on, avoiding the road and arriving safely in front of my friends’ house where I paid the drivers, sent them away and promptly burst into tears and had to be revived with a glass of Grand Marnier and a cigarette.

All of my fears and visions were thankfully unfounded. It was the most scared I have ever felt in Togo, I am glad it was all in my head. Roadblocks were up along a small stretch of the road because the President’s appearance at a political rally. The weapons we saw were not used and everything went off quite peacefully in the lead-up to the election.

10 February 2010

In class today I was working on helping the students to write an essay in English for the test at the end of college (junior high). Last year we had about 30 students take the BEPC, only 9 of them passed. It’s not just because of English, it’s a multi-subject test over several days; last year the school didn’t have a science or a math teacher. I’m hoping that this year will have much more success – the professors we have now are all fantastic and motivated and we’ve acquired 3 new professors so we have the full complement (except for English, which is why I’m still around).

I checked out a bunch of old English BEPC tests and put together a guide for success writing the essay. I handed out the guides to my 3eme class (the class that will be

testing at the end of the year). We’re working our way through each type of question. Today we worked on the prompt:

Describe a member of your family you like very much.

(Yes, the prompt is slightly awkward – I took it directly from a past exam. It’s shocking how many faults there are on this nationally administered exam)

We broke down the different important elements: writing sentences describing the person’s age, appearance, family relationship, likes and dislikes, etc. Finally, what I found most interesting, were students’ sentences about why they liked this family member so much.

A selection:

I like my mother because she gave me life and takes care of me.

I like my mother because she gives me money to go to school everyday.

I like my father because he pays my school fees.

I like my father because he gives me money to buy beans at school.

They made me think about how so many kids don’t go to school here. Their labor is too necessary to spare them to go to classes, plus playing the school fees. So parents being generous enough to send their children to school is truly something special.

My pastor friend Koffi receives a salary from the church of 15000 CFA per month – that’s less than a dollar a day for those of you who are counting. Most people do not have salaries; they live according to the sales from their fields. Being able to put aside enough money to pay school fees and send your kids to school with enough money to buy breakfast is almost a luxury here. I read a study once that indicated that in rural areas in the developing world illiterate parents are more likely to send their children to school than semi-literate parents. There’s a sense that they were missing out on something really good and want to make sure their kids get a chance to have an education.

I think I just want to say thank you to all those parents, in Togo, in Africa, in America who place value on their kids’ education no matter what their circumstance. It’s an amazing gift.

26 January 2010

I've just arrived at the chief's house for our expedition to Afedome - a small village that is part of the Mission Tové canton. We were supposed to leave at 7 am. This is impossible as it is 7 am and there is no car here. The chief isn't even dressed. As I arrived into the little private paillote in the inner courtyard of his house, I glimpsed him through the window - naked to the waist (possibly further, but thankfully that's all I could see). He saw me as well and grinned sheepishly.

We left at about 730, not bad considering they had to reinflate two of the four tires. A fact that made the chief both giggle and fume - he just bought the tires in Ghana last week!

We took a really tiny winding path out to this tiny village. The path would have been tiny and winding on my bike - in the car we just crushed everything for several feet on either side. I lost track of the turning early one, but I'll try to be more observant on the return trip.

We are not sitting at an itsy-bitsy primary school. There are only twelve students. It's just two paillotes. It looks like they have more bancs than pupils!

This meeting is being conducted entirely in Ewe. Occasionally Togbui (the Chief) explains a bit to me in French. He's very disappointed at the number of people who have shown up.

Apparently each quartier has created a village. The Chief wanted to bring me ot the village from his quartier - a bit of admitted nepotism.

The kids seem kinda shell-shocked. They aren't tittering or getting excited about seeing a yovo in the way I've gotten used to. I took a couple photos and then shook each of their hands to try to entice them into reacting. It was fun. Now they're smiling a little.

The breeze is cool, the sky a familiar Edinburgh gray, which is slightly confusing in contrast to the red earth and bright green farmland. The gray skiy of Edinburgh seemed a natural extension of its stone buildings and black tarred streets. The brightest spots of colour were the Lothian buses in fire-engine red. I wonder if the gray skies here will burn off into a hot day or actually deliver their promise of cooling, life-giving rain. Probably the former, but I'm still hoping.

24 January 2010

One of the men that I've been helping over the past year is currently preparing to be married. Koffi is a Baptist pastor. His father died when he was a toddler and his family didn't value education so he left school before getting to high school. Somehow, though, he continued studying and learning and speaks very good French and reads and writes English pretty well. I have been helping him to correspond with a couple in the states that have chosen to support him with his work with his church, especially with the poor and orphaned children. It's an interesting position to be in; I don't really feel it is my purpose or desire to fundraise for local churches, but I really like Koffi and I know he uses the money well.

Most recently, they received some money and Koffi decided to forego the holiday party (complete with a rented sound system and generator) to instead pay the remaining school fees of the children in his church, many of whom had just been suspended for not paying their annual fee of 3,500 CFA (about 8 dollars).

Anyway, he's a good guy with priorities I agree with, so it's particularly exciting for me that I'll be here for his wedding! The marriage isn't arrange, but there are still lots of family customs to observe. Koffi and Akou have already agreed they would like to marry. Now Koffi needs to send a couple highly-respected family members to the house of Akou's family to introduce him and the idea of marriage. If the family is welcoming to these guests, Koffi himself will go to visit, bringing along three bottles: one soft drink, one bottle of gin, and one bottle of sodabe (local gin distilled from palm wine). The parents will see Koffi, then leave him waiting alone outside the house while they seek out the daughter, Akou, to ask her if they should accept the bottles (and thereby accept the proposal). At this point, we hope everything will go according to plan - Koffi and Akou have already spoken to each other and should want the same thing. IF successful, Koffi will then wait around for another while, waiting for the parents to put together the list for the "dote" or dowry.

The contents of a dowry are very different depending on the family. It is interesting, though, that it's the groom that provides the dowry, no? Most dowries will include more bottles of alcohol, several outfits for the wife - pieces of cloth with matching headscarves, shoes and jewelry-, and a sum of money. It'll be interesting to see what Koffi will have to provide!

The groom has to gather the dowry and return to hand it over before further wedding plans can go ahead.

I'm going with him to visit the family, lending foreigner prestige and my digital camera to record the event! I'm looking forward to an adventure.