Chicken Feet

From chicken

Look at the size of the feet on this chicken. I mean really, look at them. Apparently chickens’ feet continue to grow as they age. The handsome rooster pictured above is over seven years old!

World Cup

The world cup was pretty huge here, as you might well expect. One of the great things about the Peace Corps is that you can set your own schedule, so watching pretty much all the games wasn’t that difficult.

The highlight of the 2010 tourney was definitely the US vs Ghana game. I had several volunteer friends in Kabou to watch the game and celebrate with my friends in town. In order to foster good-will and cultivate a festive atmosphere, I purchased a bucket (trash can) of “tchouck” (local beer) to share with everyone at the bar. It was a big hit but went rather quickly. At half-time we decided that a bottle of sodabi (local moonshine) was also necessary to fully enjoy the greatest sporting event in the world. Unfortunately, most of the muslims in attendance weren’t able to take advantage of the free beverages.

When Ghana scored in overtime, I was crushed, but was really happy for everyone supporting them. People don’t always have much to be proud of here, so it was great to see people so happy that an African team was playing so well.

Bandjeli

From bandjeli

A few months ago I conducted a workshop for traditional healers in the town of Bandjeli 15k from Kabou. I was working with a man named Seritchi Dodo, himself a traditional healer and businessman in Bandjeli. There were two main foci of the workshop: HIV prevention and care and the identification and use of medicinal plants in traditional medicine. The gist of the conference was to educate the healers on HIV and convince them that they need to tell their HIV+ patients to go to the hospital and not rely exclusively on the services of traditional healers. While healers can play an important role in HIV prevention, nutritional advice, and psychological support, it’s important that they understand that there is still no cure for HIV. I think they got it.

Approximately 80% of Togolese rely either partially or exclusively on the services of traditional healers, for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, many traditional healers aren’t fully informed on HIV prevention and care as there is no certifying or regulating authority to require training. Mr. Dodo has thus taken it upon himself to organize this workshop once a year to train healers throughout the Bassar and Dankpen prefectures.

My responsibilities were actually quite few. I conducted a hour-long presentation on how HIV affects the immune system, with a fun game requiring group participation (see pic below).

From bandjeli

The second day my good friend Emily did an HIV basics and condom demonstration. It was quite alarming how low the knowledge-level was among the participants, but I think they really understood and absorbed what they told them. The highlight was the condom race. We broke the group up into four teams, each of which was given a wooden wiener and one condom per person. The team whose members correctly applied and removed the condoms first was the winner. Fun was had by all. Below is a pic of Emily giving her talk.

From bandjeli

The next day my good friend Adam (Gbandi!) and I gave a presentation on Morniga, the miracle tree. Look it up on the internet. It’s pretty amazing.

The highlight of the workshop was the field trip to identify medicinal plants and learn how to properly harvest and use them. The trip was conducted by an amazing botanist from Lomé with an encyclopedic knowledge of the local flora and fauna. After identifying a tree of some sort, the botanist asked if anyone was familiar with how to harvest the roots of the particular tree. An eager volunteer grabbed the coup-coup (machete) and proceeded to cut the whole tree down and dig up the roots. The botanist calmly explained that cutting the tree down wasn’t necessary as one can simply dig up a few roots from several trees. After identifying another tree, the botanist again asked for a volunteer to demonstrate how to harvest the bark, which is used to make an herbal tea. The second eager volunteer grabbed the coup-coup and cut off a strip of bark all the way around the tree. I’m no arborist, but I do know that’s how you kill a tree. In fact, I used that technique to kill my neighbor’s tree in DC. Again, the botanist explained that it’s not necessary to kill the tree in order to harvest a nice piece of bark. After the second tree murder you’d think the botanist wouldn’t ask for any more volunteers. An eager volunteer annihilated yet another tree. The botanist then spent a good amount of time trying to dissuade people from the scorched-earth approach of plant harvesting that seems to be the norm.

From bandjeli

I think the workshop went well and hopefully the healers learned some stuff.

Workshop pics

Camp Espoir

From espoir

Peace Corps vols are engaged in tons of activities outside their normal work duties. One such activity is Camp Espoir, a camp for kids organized jointly by members of the Peace Corps and an organization started by former volunteers called AED. The camp is for kids who are in some way affected by HIV. Most of the kids have either a parent or sibling who is HIV+.

We went with a World Cup theme, so each cabin was a different country participating in the World Cup. My cabin was Mexico so I did some amazing Mexican-themed decorations.

It was pretty much like any camp with games, activities, a scavenger hunt, a carnival, capture the flag, and lots and lots of soccer. Lots of soccer.

Espoir pics

I’ve been traveling a bit recently, so I’ve sort of neglected the ol’ blog. Sorry about that. I’ll try to be a little more consistent.

Rebecca’s visit

My sister came to visit the week before last to get a taste of Togo. It was a whirlwind trip with lots of traveling, but I think she had fun and got to see a lot. We spent a few days in Lome relaxing and a lovely afternoon with my host family in Tsevie. While in Kabou, Rebecca got to meet all my good friends and made quite an impression. Everyone asks how she’s doing and they’re glad to know she arrived home safely. She left over a week ago and people are shocked when I tell them she’s already home, and in fact got back in a little over a day. It makes sense, given that probably 99% of Togolese haven’t been on an airplane and thus don’t know that they move slightly faster than a bush taxi.

Rebecca stocked up on pagne for quilting and also got a great hat from my neighbor as a gift. This was hopefully the first of several visits from family and friends. It was great to introduce someone to a new country and culture. As imaginative and vivid as my writing is (most describe it as Hemmingway-esque), you gotta be here to appreciate how smelly, dirty, loud, and wonderful it is.

Breaking news: my best friend Meghan Hardy just bought tix to come visit in November. I’m pretty darn excited about that.

Ghana

After my sister’s visit, I took a few extra days and headed to Ghana with some friends. People have told me how much nicer Ghana is, and they were right. Ate gelato at a placed owned by Italians and sampled many of the excellent fried chicken establishments. They even have an Apple store in the mall in Accra. On my next trip there I hope to visit the Osu night market for traditional Ghanaian fare and go up north and check out some Ashanti culture.

Monkey

My neighbor bought a monkey. It’s incredibly cute.

Parade

May 1 (May Day) is a big holiday here. Members of each profession wear similar outfits and parade through Kabou to the chief’s house. You cannot imagine the chaos associated with this parade. My favorite part was the lady with the cow head on her head. I’m not sure what group she was representing. I took a brief video, so I’ll try to upload that the next time I’m in Lome.

People of the same profession march together in a group. The moto-drivers or “zed-men” (motorcycle taxi drivers) decorated their motos with colorful branches.

Work

So I’ve received funding to do a 3-day conference with a group of traditional healers in the Bassar prefecture. The president of the association of healers is a great guy named Dado and he worked with the previous volunteer David. We’re going to discuss the role of traditional healers as liaisons between their patients with HIV and the conventional medical community. Over 80% of Togolese rely either partly or entirely on the services of traditional healers who often aren’t fully informed on the disease. Fortunately, HIV, while a problem, hasn’t descimated Togo as is has in other parts of Africa. The second day will be about biodiversity and medicinally beneficial plant species in Togo. My good friend Adam Smith in nearby Bikotiba will be presenting on moringa, the miracle plant! Emily Pike from Namon will be talking about HIV prevention and condoms.

Latrine Project

The latrine project is slowly developing, so I’ll let you know the status of that as things progress. These projects can be a pain in the ass, so there’s no guarantee that it’ll happen. People in Kabou are excited about it, though, so I’m going to give it the old Togo try.

The Peace Corps here is run very well, and the new Country Director is really working hard to make it more effective. One huge concern I and other volunteers have is the lack of resources available to assist in commonly-undertaken projects. While the range of projects that volunteers here do is pretty wide, there are about 15-20 projects that are done very frequently. Unfortunately, there is very little in the way of best-practices guidance for ow to go about doing those projects. Many volunteers have complained about having to reinvent the wheel (or more aptly, reinvent the flat tire), and I believe the admin understand this. As part of my latrine project, I will be collecting information from as many volunteers as possible and develping a “dossier” on latrines which will include advice, tips, potential problems, and best-practices from past and present projects. A similar dossier is necessary for other frequently undertaken projects, such as HIV presentations, moringa projects, English classes, etc.

Materials such as this would radically increase the effectiveness of volunteers as they would be able to pull resources off the shelf and immediately implement projects, without have to spend inordinate amounts of time gathering resources that should already be at their fingertips.

Temperature (wrote this a while ag during hot season)

I really have no idea how hot it is here. I was gifted a Fahrenheit thermometer by the previous volunteer and put it on my porch. It’s been consistently above 105 F for a few months, but then I realized I attached it in the shade. It’s a particularly warn day today, and before I could screw the thermometer into the door frame outside my porch, the temperature had shot past 120F, which is as high as it goes. My neighbors had seen the thermometer before but it’s utterly useless to them because it’s in Fahrenheit, not Celsius. I took it upon myself today to put a piece of tape on the thermometer with the Celsius equivalents.

I must admit that I needed the “CONVERT” feature on MS Excel to do this. And I even have the conversion formulas on paper. After about ten minutes of trying to do the math with pen and paper, my brain almost exploded, so I resorted to the ole ‘puter.

Breaking news: my friend just told me it’s useless to put a thermometer in the sun because it can skew the temp by up to 30 degrees. So who the hell knows? It’s still hot, though.

My First Togolese Funeral

My good friend in the neighboring village of Kabou-Sara invited me to a funeral last week. I was feeling a bit left out of the cultural happenings of Kabou. I spend lots of time with Togolese friends here, but I don’t think I’ve made it known that I’d like to attend more community events like that. Maybe they thought I wasn’t interested or was busy or something. Either way, once I told a few folks that I’d like to go to these types of things, the invitations started rolling in.

This is funeral season, as people have money from the recent yam harvest to pay for the events. If I heard correctly, some families have to wait years to be able to afford a funeral for a loved one who has passed. Fortunately, it doesn’t cost much to put a body in the ground, but it is a bit expensive for the average person to throw the funeral “event” itself, a separate celebration.

And a celebration it is. I got there right before the festivities began. My friend Justine had reserved me a nice seat on the edge of the large circle, probably about 20 yards in diameter. The village elders all had chairs, while most of the women and children sat or stood.

The family was led into the large circle by a group of drummers. The “tchouck” (local beer) basins came out next and all the elders helped themselves to a calabash or two. The drumming picked up and then people came out of the audience at their leisure to begin dancing and throwing candy at one another. I’m sure I missed a lot, but my one friend was busy dancing so I couldn’t really get a good idea of exactly what was going on.

Children were scrambling for candy, adults were dancing and drinking, and it was really fun to watch. It only lasted about a half hour, there were no speeches, religious proceedings, or any apparent grieving for the dead. The person we were celebrating might have died years ago and the pain of the family and community’s loss had long passed. Things eventually wound down and folks took their leave as casually as they arrived. I never saw the real end to the event, if there was one, but I imagine there wasn’t.

Caulk Gun

Here’s a pic of the caulk gun I created last week to impede the steady flow of mouse crap coming form my ceiling. It’s worked great so far. I’m actually quite proud of this feat of engineering and creativity. I’m starting work on an artificial heart valve made from yams next week.

The Cow

This isn’t the first cab ride I’ve taken with a cow, but I happened to have my camera this time and I’m so glad I did. There’s an ethnic group in much of west and sub-Saharan Africa called the Peuhl, or Fulani, who make a living raising cows. They’re generally nomadic but they’re always in town on market days to sell cows and such. The Fulani are actually very much like Africa's Jews: they're always wandering the desert and people blame them for the country's problems. The only difference is that they make terrible matza-ball soup...and they're muslim.

Last week on the way back form Kara our taxi was flagged down and a lively discussion began between a Fulani man and the taxi driver, presumably concerning how much it would cost to take his cow to Kabou. The cab was already full at this point: four adults in the front 2 seats, five adults and three children in the back seat.

After negotiations were settled, the cow wrangling process began. The first step, as seen in the picture below, is to untie the terrified beast from the tree to which it is tied.

Step two is to run down the cow after you untie it and forget to hold onto the rope.

Step three: grab the cow by the ears (not the horns, as the saying goes) and lead it to the taxi.

Step four: Knock the cow over and begin the hog-tying process. I really wish I understood the several languages being spoken at this point because everyone was laughing hysterically the whole time.

Step five: Throw the cow into the back of the taxi.

Step six: Have some poor bastard sit next to the cow for the duration of the trip to keep it from freaking out. The last time I rode with a cow, it was much bigger and broke the back seat.

My House

The hellish nightmare that was painting my house is finally over. The picture is a bit blurry, but I think I mixed up a nice soft green color, accented by the blue curtains.

My bedroom didn’t turn out so well. I refer to the color as “cat vomit yellow,” though I think it’s growing on me. The dark spot on my bed isn’t pee or dirt, I promise. Must be some sort of optical illusion. The curtains are great, tho. I live right on a road/path and at night I’m pretty much on display for the whole neighborhood.

The next project will be rigging up a gutter system to collect water during the rainy season. I purchased old oil drums, which will prevent the need to pay my neighbor to bring me pump water. I bought one for myself that I’ll keep near my shower and one that I can share with the family that lives next door. They take really good care of me, so I figure it’s the least I can do.

Election Time

It’s election time in Togo! Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m allowed to talk about it or offer opinions, or even make jokes. It’s really too bad because there’s nothing funnier than elections in sub-Saharan Africa. I mean really, it’s comedy gold.

They’re scheduled to take place on March 4, so we’ll see what happens. It should be relatively peaceful this time, but the PC takes several measures to ensure our safety. Beginning on Sunday, all vols must stay in their villages for a week before and after the “voting.” So instead of getting drunk and doing stupid things together, all PC vols will be getting drunk and doing stupid things on their own for two weeks. It’ll be a great opportunity for self-reflection and personal growth.

I’m going to a nice party in Sokode this evening to see some friends before standfast. I will likely get a nice airconditioned hotel room, which I’m looking forward to.

Camels

So a couple guys showed up in Kabou the other day on camels. I did not get pictures. There’s also a guy in village with a monkey, which I also did not take a picture of. I will try to take more pictures.

Caulk

My favorite thing recently that I haven’t yet taken a picture of is the caulk gun that I made out of wood. In order to put a damper on the steady rain of mouse shit falling from my ceiling, I caulked the small gap between the ceiling and wall in the three rooms in my house. In America you can find pretty much anything, like caulk guns…but this is Togo. It’s like the opposite of Japan, where you can buy any gun you want, but bullets are illegal. Anywho, I am an AmeriCAN, not an AmeriCAN’T, so I used the old noodle and fabricated a pretty decent caulk gun out of wood and electric cable.

Heat

It’s been consistently 105 degrees in the shade here for the past week or so. It’s really not that bad if you’re unconscious or on another continent. Fortunately, nobody does anything between noon and 2:30, which is known as “repos,” or rest. It’s very civilized. I asked my friend Nikabou if this is as hot as it gets and he laughed in my face.

It’s still relatively cool during the evenings and I have a nice fan, so it’s all good. Eventually it’ll get too hot to sleep indoors, even with a fan, so I’ll be turning my porch into a boudoir.

This is my friend Charles. He is awesome. He is 10x more fun than he looks in this pic.

Praying for Death

I’ve only had three instances of praying for the sweet release of death since I’ve been here, which I think is pretty good. The first time was my first bout of giardia (and possible malaria). The second was my first bout of amoebas. The third was my first evening in Lomé this week. It was hot all day, but we spent most of it in the shade at French bar/hotel having cool beverages. At bedtime it was about 234,432 degrees and approximately 200% humidity. My friend Justin and I shared a room with a fan, but the electricity went out, so I laid there for 5 hours sweating like Michael Jackson in a pre-school. I was starting to get worried about my health at one point but once the hallucinations started it wasn’t so bad. It was lot like that scene in Apocalypse Now with Martin Sheen freaking out in the Saigon hotel room. The best part is that I’ve had a nice head cold for the past week, so throw that into the mix too. It was possibly the worst evening of my life. My friend Charlie spent all night on the relatively cool toilet spraying himself with the removable shower-head. Fortunately, pretty much any evening after that will be wonderful.

Cross-cultural Communication

The last few weeks since my big formation have been relatively uneventful. One of my recent achievements has been to learn how to tell children not to call me “white person” (anasara). If you’re ever approached by a gaggle of Togolese children in Bassar singing the “yovo song,” simply say the following:

1. Taa yii-m yii “anasara.” (Don’t call me “white person”.)

2. Ng kangai. (That’s not nice.)

3. Bi yii-m Tchapo (or insert your name here). (My name is Tchapo.)

4. Bi yii-m yii ba? (What’s my name?)

5. Repeat 4 and 5 as a result of either blank stares or wild laughter.

6. Bi yii si-yii ba? (What’s your name?)

7. Unh-Haaanh!

A few notes on these interactions. When kids see you approaching from a distance they immediately begin the “yovo song” as much for their own enjoyment as to inform every child in earshot that there’s an opportunity to join in. Often, kids will see me, turn around in the opposite direction and start singing the song, not to me, but to their friends.

The other great thing is when they hear me trying to speak Bassar. I’m told by adults that when I have the exchange noted above that my Bassar is completely intelligible. My favorite reaction is when they’re just dumbfounded and sort of look around for someone to explain what they’re experiencing. I guess I often have the same look.

Communicating with kids is difficult because most of them can’t really speak or understand French until late grammar-school age, sometimes middle-school. But once I introduce myself they always remember my name and even come screaming out of their houses when they see me and extend their filthy and suspiciously moist hands. I always want to give candy or something, but that’s usually a terrible, terrible idea, unless you want flocks of grimy children following you all day.

The other thing I need to mention is the use if the “word” “uh-huh,” usually used in English mean “yes” or “I get it” or “i approve.” Togolese use the same word, but it’s more yelled than spoken, and used for emphasis when someone tells you they understand what you’re talking about. For example, if I’m explaining something and someone says, “oh, I see what you’re saying,” I would respond with a hearty “Unh-Haaaanh,” like I have proven my point. It’s great, and I will use it in America.

Great Sympathizers

Another volunteer told me a while back what great sympathizers the Togolese people are. Not Nazi or Jihadist sympathizers, but just good people to tell your problems to. I didn’t understand at first, but it’s true. Any time you express a problem to a Togolese person, be it something as minor as getting ripped off at the marche, they will ALWAYS assume that you are in the right and that the injustice done to you is tantamount to murder. They never say “well maybe you should have thought of that beforehand” or “I can see his side of the issue.” I think this is a result of the fact that people here have lots of problems, so they’re inclined to believe you when you express one.

My students taking careful notes on HIV-AIDS information after class on Thursday. My good friend and translator Kounte is on the right.

A few other apprentices taking notes. Everyone was exhausted by this time, as evidenced by the long faces.

This was our post-formation fete. All the apprenties wore their finest pagne outfits. For some reason Togolese people don't usually smile in photographs. I'm not really sure why. Everyone was much happier than they appear here. The white girl on the right is my good friend Emily Pike, a health volunteer in Namon, about 40K from me. She came for the free food and beer.

Formation

This week I did my first real work since I’ve been here. Actually, I’ve been prepping for about a month, but this week was the culmination of things.

The committee (my friend Kounte) for the loan project I’m working on was able to find nine apprentice tailors to attend the 4-day business skills class (formation) I’ve been putting together and then receive a 15,000 CFA ($30) loan to start or continue an income-generating activity.

The pastor at a local church agreed to let us do the formation on a small patio outside the church, but the first day was incredibly windy and there was so much dust that we couldn’t really do anything productive. My good friend Kounte who did the translating at the formation spoke with the pastor and he agreed to let us go inside and use the actually church.

The first day I did a brief overview of the project, the likely loan amounts, the repayment schedule and other administrative stuff. We did a self-confidence skit to show the difference between aggressive, passive, and confident comportments. It wasn’t great, but I think they got the gist. The creativity exercise went pretty well. I gave them a scenario of a village with a beer factory on the other side of the river. The bridge goes out and the women were tasked with coming up with as many ideas as possible for getting beers across the river from the factory to the village.

Two of the apprentices have toddlers who pretty much ran wild during the session. They ate a bunch of my chalk and at least three times walked into the middle of the class and peed on the floor.

The gender exercise we did the following morning next was a real hit, though. I handed out little pieces of paper with an activity or profession and the women had to go up to the chalk-board and place it on a spectrum between masculine and feminine. In Kabou there are rather strictly defined gender roles, and the purpose of the activity was to show that they shouldn’t be limited by them. We had a really good discussion and I could tell that the women enjoyed the opportunity to discuss the topic openly.

Next I did an exercise where the women had to manage a business selling hard-boiled eggs at the market. I gave them all fake money and they had to go through the process of buying inputs, making the product, and selling the product at the market. They did a great job and I was really impressed by their ability to track money in their heads. Interestingly, many women who have had very little schooling and are functionally illiterate are very skilled mathematically and have incredible memories. I guess it’s a necessary skill if you’re trying to run a business and don’t have the ability to track numbers on paper. At the end of the session I asked them all if they wanted to learn how to record business transactions on paper and they unanimously agreed that they did.

Wednesday’s market day, so we did a two hour health session on HIV-AIDS and other STD. Most towns in Togo have what’s called an Affair Sociale, or person who helps coordinate any public health, education, or business project. Kabou’s AS, Judith, led the health session and the women liked it a lot. The next day, several of the apprentices stayed late to copy the presentation materials for to take home with them. Among the questions regarding HIV were astute queries such as why malaria can be transmitted by mosquitos and HIV cannot to a question as to why the government doesn’t just kill everyone with HIV. I was almost too tired to try to explain either, but I think I got my point across.

Thursday was a bit of a challenge. We did the same market exercise as Tuesday, but this time they had to record all the transactions on a simple ledger. Many of the women probably hadn’t done any writing since they quit school several years earlier, so it was difficult for many of them. I developed a way to use symbols and pictures instead of words for recording products sold or purchased. I think they got the general idea, but I’ll be interested to see if they continue to try and track business transactions on paper. We did the exercise for about three hours straight and at the end I told them to take a five minute break before we did a quick overview of marketing techniques. As I was writing the marketing topics on the board I noticed that everyone, including my friend and translator Kounte were fast asleep on the pews in the church. One of the great characteristics of the Togolese people is their ability to sleep anywhere at any time, not unlike my mother.

By the time we got to the marketing discussion, pretty much everyone was beat, so I ran through it pretty quickly. I tried to share as many ideas as possible for attracting clients, but customer service isn’t real popular here, so I’m not sure I had much of an impact on them.

Friday all the apprentices came to the micro-finance bank in their finest pagne outfits to present their business plans and collect their loans. It went well and all the apprentices tool 15 mill loans at 10% interest for 10 months. We had a good time sitting in the bank with everyone discussing their business ideas.

After the interviews and money distribution we had a little party (fete) at a bar down the street. Kounte’s wife cooked a great mean of rice, spaghetti and rooster. I said a few words about how proud I was of the group and thanked everyone for all the hard work they put in during the week. I’m looking forward to seeing how everyone manages their loans and if they’re able to make the necessary monthly payments.

It was my first experience working with women who aren’t very skilled at writing and it was frustrating to see so many talented and intelligent women who haven’t had the chance to get a good education. The wasted potential of the populations in developing countries is nothing short of a tragedy and I wish they could have had the opportunity to continue their education in some way. There’s not much incentive for parents to send girls to school and I’m not really sure of a good way to change that general attitude.

All in all, I think it was one of the most productive weeks of my life. I was stressed about it, and it feels really good to have it done with. One of the apprentices stopped by my friend Kounte’s house after the Tuesday and told him how much she learned about managing money. That really meant a lot and it’s great to know that at least something I taught will do someone some good.

I still have lots of doubts about the overall efficacy of economical development activities in an environment so inconducive to sustainable economic growth. But I guess if I’m able to teach people how better manage the little money they have, then that’s a good thing.

I took a few photos during the formation and the fete afterwards, but I unfortunately left my camera cable at home so I can’t upload any pics. C’est la vie.

I’ve been thinking a lot about shifting my focus to sanitation work, which I think might provide greater returns that work on economic development. Almost nobody has access to a latrine, and most people poop in the fields outside their homes. If people had relatively clean latrines, it would really cut down on intestinal diseases that are rampant throughout the country. There are several people in town who have approached me about that, so I think that could be a great next project. My dried fruit idea still sounds like fun, tho.

Post-Formation

Prepping for and organizing the formation was incredibly stressful and time-consuming, so I’m going to take several days to do some stuff I’ve been putting off. I’m going to try and paint my house next week and buy some oil drums to collect water during the rainy season. In two week we have an in-service training session in Pagala, so that’ll be a nice break from village life.

My homologue, who is a mason, and his carpenter friend are starting a workshop to train apprentices and I’m eventually going to give some business classes once the workshop is completed. I was also approached by a guy in town who wants to start a pig farm with some friends, but he needs several thousand dollars of funding to get it off the ground. I’m going to take his proposal to our in-service training where we’re going to discuss how to do Peace Corps partnership projects, projects partly funded by US donors, friends, and family of Peace Corps volunteers. I’m wary of getting involved in a project with so much money, as managing money for funded projects can be incredibly difficult.

Several other friends have approached my about learning how to use a computer, so I’m going to do that in my spare time at some point as well.

VAC Committee

I was elected representative for a committee that meets once a year with Peace Corps admin to provide feedback from volunteers. We’re meeting in Kara in February in Kara and they’re putting us up in Hotel Kara for the night, so that should be pretty sweet. They apparently have a nice pool and air conditioning, so it should be a nice treat.

Computers

If anyone has an old laptop they want to get rid of, let me know and I can arrange to have it shipped to me here. Several of my friends have expressed interest in a laptop and they’d be incredibly happy to have one. Computer equipment in prohibitively expensive to purchase in country due to import tariffs, so it usually makes more sense to have things mailed into the country. Since I opened a PO box in Kabou I’ve received every package I’ve been sent, and other vols have had success having computers sent through the mail, so theft shouldn’t be much of a problem. You can probably write it off as a charitable contribution on your taxes as well.

X-mas

I spent Christmas in the lovely village of Namon with my friend and fellow volunteer and her boyfriend Peter who came to visit from the US. I was going to go up north to Dapaong but didn’t want to travel so far. Turns out it was a good call; apparently the toilet broke at the house everyone was staying at. I arrived in Namon right as Emily and Peter were getting out of a marathon church service and we had a lovely lunch with the village chief. His wife prepared fufu and an amazing fish called a “capitain” from the river near town. We bummed around the house most of the day, talking, reading books, and napping before the grande fete (big party) at the house of the dispensaire or director of the town clinic.

In attendance were the dispensaire and his two wives, Emily’s homologue, me, Peter, the chief, relatives, other friends, and dozens of children. The party organizers had purchase a pig earlier that week so we had fufu with pork in a lovely sauce. They serve everything, even the skin, which is actually quite tasty, except for the pig-hair stubble. It was kind of like eating early 1990s George Michael’s face, if his face were chock full of porcine goodness.

After the adults had eaten, we threw the leftover food to the children who descended upon it like…malnourished children, cute, malnourished children. Then there was some dancing, and drinking and photographs, but things cleared out quickly once the tchuk (home-made sorghum beer) ran dry. There were no fights or troubles, but there was a lengthy discussion on skin color, which seems to be a constant source of argument and controversy for people here. Complexion (“teint” [teh] in French) is rather important, and lighter-skinned Togolese are often proud of their “teint-clair” or light complexion. One of the guests was going on about the virtues of his light skin and his kinship with other light-skinned peoples until the chief asked him what season it is in Europe now. He had no idea, much to the amusement of everyone in attendance.

Cell phone reception (“reseau” [reh-zo] in French) is spotty in Namon, but you get it in certain places, like under the big tree at the chief’s house, at the school, or in Emily’s bedroom during the early aftenoon (but only enough to receive text messages, not make calls). After the party we walked to the school to make our Xmas calls. I was only able to get through to Matt Teaman in Cincinnatti, but I think I was able to leave some voicemail messages and send some texts to others.

It was a great Xmas, though it certainly doesn’t compare to the Hix family traditions I’ve become used to: the fighting, the excessive drinking, the noise complaints, etc.

Girls’ Loan Fund

Round two of the girls’ loan fund has begun. Last week I gave out the loans to apprentice women who successfully repaid their first loan and wanted to continue. The six women received 20.000 CFA (~$40) loans and will be using the money for a variety of income generating activities.

Preparation for my week-long business training seminar for the new apprentices is coming along, thought I think I’m going to push it back a week. We weren’t able to find any hairdresser apprentices, so all the new participants will be tailor apprentices. According to my tailor friend and committee member for the project, the hairdresser patrons (bosses) are reluctant to recommend apprentices because they had a low repayment rate, relative to the tailor apprentices, and the bosses would be responsible for repaying loans if the apprentices could not.

New Project

I’ve decided that my next project is going to be teaching people how to dry fruit. During mango season, they’re so plentiful that people have to throw away heaps of them every day. And these are serious mangoes, like as big as your head. I figure people might like to have dried mango strips to munch on during the off-season. I’m going to try drying tomatoes and bananas as well. One of my natural resource management (NRM) friends is going to send me instruction on how to build a large solar oven/dryer that I can let people use for a small fee. As most people know, I enjoy building things, so this could be a fun project even if it’s an utter failure in the long run.

Meat is Murder…Delicious Murder.

So I killed my first animal by hand this week. I have dinner every week with my friend Justine and her two daughters in Kabou-Sara, the small village about 2k from Kabou. We were both out of town for Xmas and I’ll be out of town for new years, so Monday evening was our big holiday fete (party). I wasn’t able to find a duck in Kabou Monday morning, so Justine and I decided to buy a rooster from one of her neighbors.

It was a really handsome bird, black and red and rather heavy. Justine refuses to kill them, so she called a neighbor over to do it. I was feeling a little inadequate, and I had had a beer or two by this time, so I stepped up to the plate and told the neighbor that I wanted to do it, with a little guidance. I did a pretty good job, but lost my grip at one point and got covered with rooster blood.

He was delicious and we ate every bit of him with fufu and a delicious sesame and tomato sauce.

Meditations on Wealth Creation

Since I’ve been here I’ve been thinking a lot about how wealth is created, where money comes from, and how to generate wealth in poor places like Togo. There isn’t much money in Kabou (though there are some wealthy politicians and military officers who are very supportive of Peace Corps volunteers and their projects) and people can’t print their own money, so the level of wealth in Kabou is a zero-sum game. Any project I do to help people start a business is basically just redistributing the money that’s already in the community. This isn’t really a problem if “wealthy” members of the community patronize businesses started by those at a lower economic level than themselves. Idle capital does no good for anyone here, and everyone is better off if that money goes to those who a.) really need it and b.) can acquire it through legitimate economic activity.

Thus, real economic growth/money must come from elsewhere, outside of Kabou. One strategy is for volunteers like myself to hit up friends and family for money to fund projects like the one I’m working on now. I’m of two minds about this. Such projects can be sustainable (the project that the previous volunteer David created and that I’m continuing is proof of that), but usually not without the presence of a volunteer overseeing it. However, I don’t see anything necessarily wrong with implementing a project that will make some people’s lives better for a short time, even if it’s not sustainable.

Another strategy is to attract money from elsewhere in Togo to Kabou. In effect, Kabou must capture a larger percentage of the total economic pie of the country. This could just be the “Kabou problem” writ large: the town of Kabou reaching for a greater share of the pie is the same as individuals within Kabou trying to improve their economic lot by doing the same. As I see it, this isn’t necessarily a problem if idle capital is flowing to Kabou, or even if it’s simply redistribution from relatively wealthier areas. This, I think, is a more sustainable and effective long-term option. I’m not sure how to attract more capital to Kabou, but it’s something I’ll be thinking about.

Unfortunately, exporting products here is nearly impossible (due to extremely high transportation and shipping costs, red tape, corruption, etc), though I think a few volunteers have helped people do that. At least one volunteer has set up a web site for a small business with an online catalog, but payment is impossible as credit cards are not used here and online payment services such as paypal have not yet agreed to operate “in” Togo. Whole Foods actually carries a shea butter product manufactured in Togo (Looks for it and buy it! We visited the factory and it was amazing.), but I think the operation is run by Americans who were previous PC volunteers. Additionally, I don’t think Kabou has many artisans or produces any goods that can’t be found elsewhere at lower prices. I never realized how economically isolated poor countries can be, but there really are major barriers to economic growth in many places.

It’s really a challenge for folks here to sustain themselves unless they have a good government job or otherwise get really lucky. A large percentage of people only eat one meal a day, while working full time.

Togolese wildlife

The wildlife I’ve experienced in Africa is a far cry from the David Attenborough-narrated National Geographic Specials we’re all so fond of. Not only are most of the animals I’ve seen here not very exotic, they’re also surprisingly stupid.

Among the criteria I’ve chosen to rank the following animals are: the ability to get out of the way of my bicycle, whether or not it craps on my porch, and whether or not it wakes me up too early.

From “smartest” to stupidest…

1. Dogs. The dogs here are pretty smart. I try to avoid them so as not to get rabies, but from what I’ve seen they can hold their own. Interestingly, many people here consider dogs quite delicious, especially the Kabiye ethnic group. I’ve even seen some folks here in Kabou grilling up Fido in the back-yard. I declined their polite offer of “mangeons!” (let’s eat!).

2. Goats. The goats here are pretty cool. Most of them are of a miniature variety; very cute and very delicious. I have seen a giant goat from Mali, which I literally thought was some kind of huge antelope, but they’re not common here. In general, goats are always able to avoid my bike and you often see them butting heads and climbing trees, though not usually at the same time.

3. Peace Corps Volunteers – Also prone to butting heads and climbing trees, Peace Corps volunteers in Togo are capable of astounding feats of booze-fueled stupidity. When not accidentally drinking kerosene (we still love you, Kat), cutting down live papaya trees for impromptu bonfires, insulting local officials, or otherwise engaging in destructive and irresponsible behavior, Peace Corps Togo volunteers…hmmm. It sort of makes sense when you take recent college grads (who couldn’t get real jobs) from the worst generation in human history and put them in an unsupervised, often stressful, and consequence-free environment where bottles of gin sell for $2.50. None of them have crapped on my porch…yet.

4. Sheep – The sheep here are non-wool-producing, I think. They’re only good for eating and completely unable to get out of the way of my bike. They’re like giant squirrels in that regard; they dance back and forth as you approach and at the last minute, when they’re safely out of the way, decide they MUST be on the other side of the path and dart back into traffic.

5. Chickens – Not smart animals. They wake me up early, too. Fortunately, the one rooster near my house is pretty funny. Every “cock-a-doodle-doo” is followed by a pathetic and plaintive “urnnngggghh!” as though he wasn’t quite satisfied with his efforts. I followed him around with my camera for 20 minutes trying to get a video (see #3), but I don’t think it came out. The great thing is that if there’s a chicken that’s really getting on your nerves, you can always purchase it, kill it, and eat it. It’s only a temporary solution, but must be terribly satisfying.

6. Insects

7. Dirt

8. Pentads – Also known as the Guinea Fowl, the pentad is the only evidence I’ve ever seen to cause me to question the veracity of modern Darwinian evolutionary theory. How the pentad has managed to avoid the toothy jaws of natural selection is truly a mystery. I’ve been told that the pentad is so stupid that it’s incapable of raising its own young. Those who raise pentads often place their eggs in the nests of chickens, which, though too stupid to recognize that they are raising pentads, do a better job than the pentads themselves. Adding to the mystery is the fact that the pentad is not only stupid as hell, but very, very delicious.

The best wildlife story I’ve heard so far was my good friend Emily who witnessed two pigs that, while having sex in the middle of the road, were struck by a motorcycle. That is just comic gold. You would not believe how excited she was to tell me that story, or how excited I was to hear it.

Computers

If anyone has an old laptop that they’re going to throw away, let me know because someone here might want it. People are always expressing interest in computers, and it’s actually cheaper to get one sent from the US than to buy one here. Let me know and I can arrange payment for shipping and such.

Thanksgiving

I had a lovely thanksgiving at another volunteer’s house in Adjingre, about two hours south of Kabou. There were about 15 people there, mostly from my stage, and we had a great time. Turkeys are actually quite common in Togo, so Justin, the vol in Adjingre, bought two and found someone to cook them for him. Also on the menu were stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, mac ‘n cheese, stuffed tomatoes, cranberry sauce, apple pie, and pumpkin pie. It was truly an epic meal and the total cost was approximately $7 per person.

I just received in the mail a thanksgiving package from the folks which I’ll be sharing with some friends tonight in the town of Bafilo, just south of the regional capital of Kara.

Work

I conducted my first meeting at a local micro-finance bank last week to restart a small loans program that the previous volunteer David started. I met with the bank staff and the project committee, which in comprised of representatives of the local tailors and hairdresser’s associations. The purpose of the program is to provide small loans to female apprentice tailors and hairdressers so they can conduct income-generating activities in their spare time, primarily on market day (Wednesdays). They pay a relatively low interest rate and also agree to save a certain amount of money, which they can have at the end of the cycle. The first cycle was relatively successful, as only 4 of the 15 loan recipients have not yet paid back the entire loan. The committee and I will be making some adjustments to the loan amount and payment period, as the previous loan amounts may have been too large and the repayment period too long.

We’re going to include those participants from the previous cycle who repaid all of their loans, if they’re interested, and the remaining money will be loaned to new apprentices. The new apprentices will attend a one-week business skills seminar that I’ll be putting together over the next month or so. It’s a lot of work and I’m nervous about the seminar, but it’s great to have a project like this that was ready for me to pick up and run with when I got here.

Harmattan and Burnin’

We’ve officially entered the Harmattan season. Winds from the sahara desert in northern Africa bring dusty dry air, peasant breezes, and cool weather to Togo. The temperature is in the mid 90s during the day and down in the 60s in the evening. The air is extremely dry, resulting in very dry skin for everyone and there’s a constant haze as a result of the dust, like LA on a particularly smoggy day. The dust coats everything in the house, but the cool temps at night are worth it.

The rains have stopped and most of the vegetation has dried up, so people burn most of their fields and other grassy areas. I’m not exactly sure why.

Health

I’ve fully recovered from my amoeba episode and I’m feeling great. I’m averaging about one illness a month, so we’ll see how long I can go before the next one. I’ve been much more careful about what I eat and drink, so that should help things.

some of you have requested more pics of me for some reason. click links below!

clicky-clicky-linky-link

and here too

This is my former site-mate Kassie with the entire kindergarten of Kabou-Sara. They came over to her house to sing and dance for her the morning she left.

From back to front: Ninko, Bella, and Marie.

Returned PCVs

I would like to introduce you all to two good friends of mine from Togo who recently finished their service and will be starting new lives in the DC area.

First is Daniel Cullop, an anthropology and Portuguese major at the University of Virginia and a Girls’ Education and Empowerment volunteer in the town of Guerin-Kouka, about 30k from Kabou. Among several great projects, Daniel built a dormitory for women and girls involved in cases of forced marriage and sex trafficking. Daniel is interested in many different fields, but has a special interest in environmental policy. He speaks about a billion languages, including Portuguese, French, Spanish, some Chinese, and some Kotokoli. cullop@gmail.com

Second is David Ganske, the Kabou volunteer I replaced. David also graduated from UVA with a major in economics and international relations. As a Small Enterprise Development volunteer, David did amazing work with local microfinance institutions providing loans to women for income-generating activities. He was also voted “best eyes” by the female contingent of PC Togo. david.ganske@gmail.com

If your employer is looking for someone to fetch coffee and/or yell at, please consider these two fine young men, though they probably both have malaria, among other things. I will try to post their resumes.

Funeral

The guy who lives across the road from me is a high-ranking military officer and he lives in an enormous compound. Sadly, his brother passed away a few days ago and the funeral was held in his yard. In preparation for the funeral, they killed four cows (boeufs). Each cow cost approximately $600, so this was a really big deal. They did the butcherin’ the old-fashioned way. The guy I talked to said his favorite part is the lungs…mmmmm.

Work

So I’ve actually done some work. My house has been a bit of a disaster and I managed to acquire another intestinal illness (see below) so I’ve been a little slow in getting started. I’ve been attending meeting of a group of women who are part of a VSL (village savings and loans) groupement. Every two weeks, the women get together and deposit money into a joint savings account (metal box). They are really buying “shares” and each week they can purchase between one and five shares. After a few months when there’s substantial savings, the women can take out loans from the group savings, which they pay back at a relatively low interest rate. At the end of the cycle (9-12 months), the women divide up the interest they’ve paid (to themselves) according to how many shares they have purchased. The members also contribute to a “Solidarity Account” which can be used if a member falls ill, loses a loved one, or has any other serious problem. Basically a small insurance fund.

It’s a great system because it’s completely auto-financing; the money comes from the group and the interest they pay stays there. Many people are intimidated by microfinance institutions and they often charge high interest rates. Second, it’s empowering for those involved, as they collectively manage the funds and run the meetings. All we volunteers need to do is show them how to do it, attend a few meetings, and they’re off and running.

I spent quite a bit of time figuring out if there were a way for a group member to game the system, and I did think of one, though I don’t think it’s very likely to occur. If one group member is substantially more wealthy, he or she could join a groupement (or several), contribute the maximum amount each meeting (purchase the largest number of shares), and never take out a loan. Thus, the other groupement members who took out loan and purchased fewer shares would essentially be transferring their interest payments to the member with the largest number of shares. Fortunately, I don’t think this is very likely to occur.

I’ve also been helping the secretary at one of the local high-schools with the new computer they got. She’s really sweet and grateful for the help.

Amoebas

So I somehow managed to get intestinal amoebas. It is slightly less terrible than the giardia adventure, but still not fun, especially considering my bathroom facilities. I was also able to experience the Togolese healthcare system up-close and personal, and it was surprisingly effective. Saw the doctor on Wednesday, bodily fluids tested the next morning, then results in the afternoon. They also told me I have malaria, but they tell that to everyone. The rapid malaria test they give in hospitals is completely unreliable and the doctors in Lome told me it’s nothing to worry about if I don’t have other symptoms, tho they had me send them a slide with my blood so they could double check.

I’m going to Lome to see off my site mate Kassie, and I’m going to check in with the med staff while I’m there.

Electricity

I’ve had a bit of an adventure this week with my electricity. The guy I get my electricity from cut my power because I haven’t paid in two months. The reason for this is that he incorrectly read the meter in my house and wants exactly ten times what I should be paying. He apparently doesn’t understand the decimal point. So we had a little test of wills. He originally wanted 25,000 CFA for two months of electricity. This would pay for the electric for an average steel mill for about 6 months. The next day he was willing to settle for 14, 000. The next day it was 12,000. The next day it was 5,000 and I could pay the rest later. Then he found out that I was planning to branch from another house and he begrudgingly decided to take what he was owed. I’ve still never even met the guy. My homologue did all the negotiations.

Unfortunately, when you cut the electric to one house, you cut it to all the others who are branching from you. I was the second house on the line, so the rest of the neighborhood was in the dark all week. I did my best to explain to everyone that it wasn’t my fault and I think people now understand.

The next grand project is getting my house painted and I can only imagine what kind of a nightmare that’s going to be.

Though not as popular as in the past, facial scarring is still quite common. Children are given the scars to indicate clan, family, or their geographical area. But people at any age can decide to get them if they weren't given them in chidhood and like the way they look. The number and type of scars vary widely, from single vertical lines on each cheek, to multiple narrow, barely perceptible lines extending from the temple down to the jawline. In my region (Kabou and Bassar) the style is three short vertical lines, normally on the cheeks, but often on the temple, closer to the eyes. The influential Banfou family in Kabou sport three vertical lines and one intersecting diagonal line on each cheek.

Illness

As many of you know, I had a touch of giardia last week. In addition to everything on my insides wanting to be immediately on the outside, I had some other weird symptoms so the med staff in Lome told me I had to come in and get a full workup.

They gave me a course of antibiotics for the giardia and I spent the week in the air-conditioned comfort of the peace corps clinic. Never ever take air conditioning, hot showers, potable water, and edible food for granted. Ever. Seriously, don’t. Wake up every day and be glad that your poop isn’t sitting in a hole 10 feet from your bed.

The internet connection in Lome is great and I was actually able to upload some photos. See my previous post.

Other than a bit of fatigue, I’m feeling great.

Birthday

I celebrated my 34th birthday in Togo this week and it was lovely. I took a few naps and then my site mate Kassie made me her famous pasta. Thanks to all those who called, sent e-mails, and packages and stuff.

Deodorant

In the US I used Tom’s of maine deodorant because it’s all vegan and natural and blah, blah, blah. But here I might as well rub onions under my arms every morning. Seriously, I can put an ungodly stink into a shirt by noon. So I abandoned the Toms and went to a high octane anti-perspirant/deodorant. The residents of Kabou are grateful. Feel free to send me some in the mail if you’re so inclined.

Eyebrows

Togolese fashion is awesome. People dress very nicely, as this shows respect for others, especially in business or professional settings. Women get really creative, especially with the eyebrows. Unfortunately, I can walk up to people and take pictures of their faces, so I’ll just have to describe. One technique I’ve seen a few times is the straight-across unibrow, from temple to temple. This is a difficult look to pull off. At lunch a few minutes ago we witnessed what I like to describe as the shocked Klingon. This involves meticulously penciled-in “V” starting directly between the eyes and proceeding up at 45 degree angles to the hairline. It was awesome.

Working for me is dangerous

When I first arrived in Kabou, my lovely neighbor family found me a woman to bring me water once a week. Sadly, she died a few weeks ago from epilepsy. The daughter of my neighbor family filled in, but recently fell ill from malaria and spent a week in the hospital. Apparently fetching water for me is the most dangerous job in Togo.

Togo Ads

Some of you may have seen advertisements in major US newspapers recently proclaiming the virtues of Togo’s political system and business environment (thanks mom and dad for sending those). The consensus here has been that these ads were great examples of creative writing.

The elections are coming up soon (Feb or March), and things could get a little dicey. We’re all hoping for a relatively peaceful process that won’t require peace corps to evacuate the country. My particular town and region is very safe, so even if there are problems, I’ll be hundreds of kilometers from them.

Greetings,

Get your Ramadan On

I just got back from lunch at my homologue Nikabou’s house. We were celebrating the end of Ramadan (or karem), the muslim holy month. The food was amazing: rice, pasta, wagash, pentard (guinea fowl), and mutton. His wives are amazing cooks, and unlike many households, we all ate together, men and women. Nikabou takes gender equity very seriously, despite the fact that he is living in a highly unequal culture and many other muslims wouldn’t even consider treating women as equals.

Ninko bi la

My site mate Kassie (Ninko) was giving me a hard time for not talking more about her, so here goes. Kassie is awesome. She’s a Girls Education and Empowerment volunteer and has been living in a nearby village, Sara, since 2007. In partnership with the community, she built two amazing schools in Kabou. The previous schools literally fell down. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was last Tuesday and all the volunteers from the surrounding area, local notables, peace corps officials, students, a few crazy people, and many, many others were in attendance. Among the items purchased for the celebration afterwards were: 300 juices, 200 tomatoes, 140 beers, 75 kilos of rice, 70 sodas, 70 fish sandwiches, 30 onions, 30 bouillon cubes, 12 trash cans of tchuk (sorghum beer), 2 shopping bags of hot peppers, 1 sheep, 1 bottle of sodabe (Togolese tequila), and one pack of cigarettes. The smokes and sodabe were for the dancers and drummers.

This is all to say that Ninko has been an amazing volunteer and an incredible friend since I arrived. She is also a professional vocalist and trumpeter, so she has that going for her as well. She also gave me her couch. When she leaves Togo in November she hopes to study art therapy and child development at Harvard.

Vermin

I awoke a few days ago and went into my bathroom to take a shower. As I went to wash off my glasses in my water bucket, I noticed that a little friend was swimming laps in it. A mouse had apparently fallen from the rafters or somehow climbed the side of the bucket. I’ll spare you all the details, but he’s dead now. I now cover my bucket.

Every evening there’s a rat, mouse, and lizard free-for-all in my ceiling. From about 10 pm to 3 am, there’s constant activity up there, like the vermin Olympics. Brian suggested cutting a hole in the ceiling and sticking a cat up there. I think the mice and lizards would eat it, tho.

Fortunately, I don’t have a cockroach problem (yet). The roaches here are truly incredible in both their proportions and abundance.

I Fall down a Lot

During training I fell down while teaching some kids the finer points of soccer and scraped the skin off both knees, to the amusement of everyone. They just recently healed completely, in time for me to fall off my bike and do the same thing. I need to start photographing all my injuries.

Fun Bassar Word of the Day

My Bassar still sucks, but there are so many great-sounding words in the language.

Kibuki (kuh-BUK-uh) – child.

Work

Not so much so far.

Like many countries in Africa, Togo is experiencing economic and political...difficulties. A contributing factor is Togo's history of colonialization, first by the Germans and later the French. Interestingly, the people of Togo speak fondly of the period of German colonial rule. Togo was considered a "model colony," with exceptional economic output and infrastructure; indeed many of the rail lines built during this time are still in use today. However, as is the case in all instances of foreign rule in Africa in that era, the indigenous people were second class citizens, at best, and more often than not the victims of forced forced labor, brutal punishments, and other unspeakable crimes and indignities. After receiving his allotment of lashings for whatever transgression, a Togolese person would recieve one additional strike from his German overlord: one for the kaiser.

The Togolese people continue to suffer greatly, and anyone familiar with African history and current events has at least a basic undersanding of the various forces, internal and external, that contribute to this reality. Sadly, the people of Togo are still taking "one for the kaiser."

Hey everyone,

So I’ve established a new, personal PO box here in Kabou, so my official new address is:

HIX, Tchapo Matthew

BP 8

Kabou, Togo

West Africa

Don’t put “PCV” in front of my name or “Peace Corps” anywhere on the letter/package, as these indicate that there might be something valuable inside. Also, you can write “Dieu te voit” (“God is watching you”) on the package somewhere or “religious materials” on the packing slip, which apparently helps. No kidding. The other address will still work, but it’s much slower, as those letters/packages go through the peace corps office before being sent to Kabou.

I’m settling in here in Kabou, meeting more people and getting my house in order. The carpenters finally installed a drop ceiling, which helps the noise when it rains on the tin roof, and also prevents the lizard and mouse crap from dropping from the rafters onto/into everything I own: cups, bowls, toothbrush, bathwater bucket, etc. Once they paint and screen in my porch, I’ll be all set. Unfortunately, things happen slowly here and people don’t often show up when they say they will, so I’ve spent much of the first few weeks stuck in my house waiting for people to show up.

Tip from Togo: if your soap dish doesn’t drain well and you’re sick of wet, mushy soap in the morning, press a bottle cap into one side of the bar of soap and rest it on the bottle cap.

I think I’ve found a language instructor, so hopefully I’ll avoid incidents such as the following: fellow volunteer Ben adopted a puppy and told his host family that it will be his little friend (“petite amie”) at post. Unfortunately, the phrase “petite amie” is only said in reference to a girlfriend. Hi family was concerned. Fellow volunteer Emily was given a local name she did not like, so she told her chief she really needed a different “nom” (name). Unfortunately, “un nom,” if not pronounced correctly, sounds exactly like “un homme” (a man, silent “h”). Hilarity ensued.

The food has been acceptable so far, not a ton of variety, not many vegetables, and lots of fried carbs. The nomadic, cow-herdering Fulani people make a wonderful cheese called wagash (like mozerella) that goes great with fried yams (colico), which is basically like thick-cut French-fries. The yams here aren’t what we call sweet potatoes, but rather white like potatoes. I’ve become a big fan of yam fu-fu, which is a lot like mashed potatoes. The yam is a delicious tuber. Fresh tomatoes are always available and green beans are often sold, so I’m eating a lot of that.

Speaking of yams, the annual yam fete (holiday) was last weekend and I went to the neighboring village to visit fellow volunteer Kassie and her adoptive family. It’s a large family and they had all gathered in their compound to slaughter chickens and guinea fowl for their ancestors. The graves are either conical or wedding-cake shaped tombstones and before each fowl is slaughtered, a member of the family talks to the ancestor, asking for good luck, health, and whatever else. The bird’s throat is then cut, the blood poured on the tombstone, and the bird is left to flop around. After they’re all killed, the bird are plucked and feathers stuck to the bloody tombstone.

The patriarch of the family is the village traditional healer/medicine man and the wealthiest person in the village. He showed Kassie and me the room in his very nice compound where he sees his patients and it looked pretty much exactly like I’d expected. Floor covered in chicken-blood and walls covered with a vast array of necklaces, charms, bottles, gourds, animal skins, and other items that I can’t even begin to describe. He also has leather couches and drives an SUV. Later on we all watched the Togo vs Morocco soccer game.

I haven’t really done much work yet as I’ve spent most of my time getting my house finished, walking around meeting people, and adjusting to a completely different way of life. Most volunteers don’t really do anything for the first three months, so I’m on track with that. Fortunately, the previous volunteer did great work and left me several excellent projects I can continue. I’ll be continuing a program to give loans to tailor apprentice-women to fund income-generating activities in their spare time. There’s a group of cow farmers who want some business advice as well as group of women who want to start a savings and micro-loan group, so I’m looking forward to all of that.

Yet again, the internet here in Kara is slower than normal, but I’m going to try to upload some pics and see how it goes.

Peace,

--Matt