So where do I start? It’s 6AM, everyone’s been up and going for a couple hours now. The roosters haven’t shut up for what seems like days. My days go from like 6:30 when I finally get out of bed until usually 20:00 or so when I climb back in (8PM). Yes, they use military time here.
So yeah, training is over. I got to Tsévié on September 22 and this week has just been wrapping up stuff. I tested intermediate mid on my French test and did pretty alright on all my presentations and technical exams. The most frustrating part (besides the constant heat) is not being able to have conversations with most of the Togolese I interact with on a daily basis. I’ve been able to have more conversations with my mama as her patience for my French grew, but still. I lived here for less than 2 months and nobody really got to know me. I’ve also been learning Ikposso, the local language of my village and very little Ewe (Ev-ay), the language spoke around most of the South here.
Enough for frustrations because I’m so excited. I'm in Lomé. We’re official. We're buying some mattresses or lipico or whatever the best bed I can get with my money is. I haven’t made any big decisions at this point.
Ok… so my house! I’m living in Kpategan. (Paht-ay-gan) It’s in the Plateaux Region south of Atakpame, the regional capital. It’s very tiny. My homologue is awesome as is the director of the CEG (principal of the school equivalent to our 7th-10th grade) They told me I’m the first white person most of them have ever met and that I’m the first white person to ever spend one night in their village, more or less live there for 2+ years. When I arrived on my 8 hour intense Togolese bush taxi ride that should’ve taken less than 2 hours, I was covered in sand, thirsty and exhausted. As I stepped out of the car, hundreds of people were singing and dancing to welcome me. They dressed me in traditional clothing from head to toe and with tons of jewelry (holy hot) and we had a big welcoming ceremony. The same happened the next morning as I walked back from church.
So there are lots of churches and they’re also building a mosque. I think it’s awesome. I’m going to hit up all of them in the beginning and search for people to work with and meet everyone. That’s basically what I’m supposed to do the first 3 months- just meet people. I might start some projects. I could list all of the projects I want to start but it’ll be so much better when I can write about them when they’re real. Something that is real right now though is the Men As Partners (MAP) training. I told you the director of the CEG is awesome… he went to a big MAP training that two other PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) held the week before I visited my post. In Kpategan, there’s a monthly meeting where a group of directors get together. He petitioned for 30-40 minutes each month to do a MAP activity and wants me to collaborate with him. Luckily, there was a meeting the week I was there and I got to meet all those directors (who yes, are all men) I get to go to my own MAP training in early December (hopefully! Because the girl in charge just got malaria) so I can be officially trained. I’ve done a couple activities that were totally social work-y. I also got worked up. We played 4 corners (agree, disagree, strongly agree, strongly disagree) and some of the statements were “if a woman carries a condom in her purse, she’s easy” and “sex is more important for men than women” and just watching some people’s responses really blew my mind. Working with Togolese will be interesting.
What else about Kpategan? So they wanted a PCV so bad that this retired man built a house especially for me and is letting me live there for free. Its 2 rooms with teal walls. One is for sleeping and the other is for everything else. I have a slab of concrete behind my house to wash off with my bucket and behind that is a sheltered hole in the ground for doing my business. It’s actually really nice. I won’t have electricity but if I ever seriously need anything, I’ll be able to motorcycle, bike or ride to some neighboring volunteer in no time.
Man, there’s so much to say and I haven’t even really explained my view on Togo. As a GEE (Girls Education and Empowerment) Volunteer or in French L’education et promotion de la fille… I have my work cut out for me. Women and girls are treated so unfairly it’s hard to actually believe its real life sometimes. Girls sleep with their teachers because it’s just the way it is. They either don’t know they can say no or they need 200CFA (that can’t even buy a drink) or a good grade or whatever. And this is accepted by a lot of people and teachers don’t see anything wrong with it. Therefore, it is difficult to combat if, as an outsider, I’m questioning norms. Along those lines, homosexuality doesn’t exist. Which is super ironic because men hold hands and kiss like it’s nothing. But people really think it’s some myth and it doesn’t exist. And lastly, sexual harassment. Mostly every PCV I’ve talked to has been sexually harassed in one way or another (verbally or maybe a minimal amount of touching). There’s not really rape statistics for PCVs in Togo but we all know how that works.
Let me stop there and say this: I feel completely safe. The PC staff here is indescribable. They’re the most progressive, protective, educated and inspiring people ever. They’ve set me up in a great place and my homologue, Claude, has set me up in a great position. We have a safety and security officer and tons of other positions that double and triple check all of our situations (houses, villages, etc.) If it was perfect, there probably wouldn’t be a need for me to be here.
My computer battery’s gonna die, but let me just say this. I love fou fou avec sauce d’arachide (fou fou with peanut sauce) My life has changed since I’ve eaten it. I no longer crave Taco Bell on a daily basis once I found this beige slab of yam pounded to its death. Yum.
1 comment:
So exciting to hear all of the experiences you're getting, even the negative. I've been compiling letters and tidbits for a care package that'll be in the mail within the week.
Miss you
moe
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