What I've been up to in 2012

Hi people. It’s been a while since a substantial update on my life- apologies; however, I’m sure you’re surviving just fine without them ;)  [Except for maybe my mother… hi mom! Love you!]

So I guess I’ll start with the biggest news before I get into work/projects/village life…  I’m staying in Togo for a third year.  It was actually quite a simple decision; I’m just not done here yet, I’m not ready to leave.  I have big dreams and big plans but I’ll spare you my rambling and update you on them later once they’re a reality I’ve accomplished.  I will be moving to Gléi, a bigger “city” that is about 14 kilometers away from my current village. I will have electricity! I’ve also purchased unlimited internet.  Life is going to be really different.  Kpategan, my current village, is going to be replaced too. I’m really excited.

Life here is full of ups and downs. Extreme ups and downs. Check out this volunteer’s blog for a pretty accurate description of your average Peace Corps Volunteer: http://waidsworld.wordpress.com/2011/08/07/the-real-peace-corps/

So aside from planning for the future (some things never change- even though I have NO IDEA what I will do once I’m done in Togo… and I like it that way), what have I been up to?

In early January, I co-planned a training with Lisa, a health volunteer. She’s super creative and works in a totally different manner than me and it was awesome seeing the success we were able to pump out together.  We invited 26 girls from 6 different villages to Mamakopé (Lisa’s village) to do a leadership and health training.  We also invited 6 “jeune leaders” (young leaders) and 10 trainers.  With our support, every session was run by a Togolese trainer along with a jeune leader.  The jeune leaders we chose are past Peace Corps training participants who have excelled and proven to be awesome role models for their peers.  The trainings/camps that Peace Corps does go above and beyond; but the kids are rarely given a chance to teach others what they learned… well we wanted to give that to them.

Here’s the schedule:

Le Programme de Formation sur la Santé et Leadership
	Vendredi
	6 Janvier 2012
07h00 - 08h00	Arrival of trainers and jeune leaders
08h00 - 09h00	(07h00 - 09h00)
09h00 - 10h00	Training of trainers
10h00 - 11h00	Planning of sessions
11h00 - 12h00	(10h00 - 12h00)
12h00 - 13h00	Lunch / Rest
13h00 - 14h00	Arrival of girls
14h00 - 15h00	Welcome
15h00 - 16h00	Icebreaker
16h00 - 17h00	Bridge Model
17h00 - 18h00	Self-confidence
18h00 - 19h00	Dinner
19h00 - ?	Amusement
	Samedi
	7 Janvier 2012
07h00 - 08h00	Breakfast
08h00 - 08h30	Icebreaker
08h30 - 09h30	Gender Equality   OR   Influence of friends, relationships, sex and abstinence
09h30-10h00	Rest
10h00-11h00	Gender Equality   OR   Influence of friends, relationships, sex and abstinence
11h00 - 12h00	HIV/AIDS    OR   Sexual harassment
12h00 - 13h00	Lunch / Rest
13h00 - 13h30	Icebreaker
13h30-16h00	Female role model panel
16h00 - 17h00	HIV/AIDS    OR   Sexual harassment
17h00 - 18h00	Preparation for the talent show
18h00-19h00	Dinner
19h00 - ?	«Talent Show»
	Dimanche
	8 Janvier 2012
07h00 - 08h00	Breakfast
08h00 - 09h00
09h00 - 10h00	Child-trafficking/Girls’ rights    OR   Income generating activities
10h00 - 11h30	Becoming a leader and creating an action plan
11h30 – 12h00	Lunch
12h00	Certificates / Départ

It had its challenges, especially when the car that was supposed to transport all the girls was 2 hours behind schedule for their arrival.  I thought it’d be confusing to have two rotation groups at all times, but it worked out nicely and the overlap/liaison of the sessions between trainers went smoothly.  Lisa and I were beyond impressed.  The trainers even sang in harmony during the talent show, while girls chose to dance and sing… one even recited a poem.  I read the first poem I ever wrote in French, titled “La Valeur” and Lisa played her banjo.

In March, I attended the 3 Women’s Wellness and Empowerment Conferences (WWEC).  It’s so hard to put down in words what this conference means to me and to the women of Togo.  I hesitate to even write about it because it’s so special to me and I know I can’t properly convey it via this blog.  In Kara (the first conference), my best friend from village was chosen as a formatrice (trainer) because as a 2011 participant, she put into practice what she learned last year.  She does yoga every morning.  She eats moringa in her meals and produces the powder.  She made container gardens.  She improved her relationship with her husband because she found her voice.  Watching her in Kara brought tears to my eyes.  She danced. She laughed. The other women looked up to her as a role model.  She led yoga every morning and her name became “Professeur Yoga”.  At night, in her room with the other participant from last year, they laughed until midnight… dancing, acting out skits, etc.  I have never seen her smile so much.  In village, she’s stuck cooking, doing household chores, etc.  As a traditional Muslim family, she’s rarely allowed to leave her house.  She is what WWEC is about for me.  I can talk about the dozens of sessions we did from yoga to nutritional meals to animal husbandry to managing stress, but I just come back to how proud I am of her.

Continuing with her (Maman Akpo), we celebrated Mothers’ Day together.  (It’s not celebrated in Togo)  Basically, I gave her 5 little Lipton juice packet things and she made me a meal because I hadn’t eaten all day.  I explained to her the idea of a “sleepover” that American girls (and boys) have for birthday parties or whatever… the idea blew her mind.  I’m determined to have a girls’ night sleepover with her and her friend who shared that room with her in Kara, Madame Anonene.

At the second WWEC conference on the night of the dance party, we had a “beauty night”.  It took the women a minute to realize that yes; these American ladies are going to pamper us.  Once they realized it was for real, they got so into it.  Facials, manicures… even full on feet-scrubbing pedicures from 2 courageous volunteers.  These women have tough, huge, dirty feet that go into the fields everyday… all I could personally say was “du courage”.

At the third WWEC conference, I had three women from my village in attendance so it was extra special.  We also nominated the woman who cleans our transit house, Felicity.  During the session I presented on self-confidence, she talked about divorcing her husband.  WOW.  This was the first session and she opened up right away.  Divorce here is not common and not talked about.  I knew right away that they were going to blow my expectations out of the water.  Just like the second conference, we got to talking about orgasms and the benefit of sex for women- also something seriously taboo to talk about in Togo.   I could go on and on about WWEC and probably will when you ask me about Togo (beware) so I’ll stop here. 

What else?  So the formation that I did in Mamakopé… I had 3 girls go as participants and 2 as jeune leaders.  One of the participants was a really young girl in the class of 6eme (~6^th grade).  She’s really tiny and one of the youngest kids in school but she participates all the time and generally impresses me- so I asked the principal if I can choose her… and I let him choose the other 2 spots.  Well, this girl is so appreciative that she started bringing me bouillie (it’s like oatmeal).  One night she brought me some while I was washing off and she left me 100 francs, telling my host sister “tell her I couldn’t find any bread to go with it”.  She wanted me to have bread with it so she gave me her own money… It’s nice to know you’re appreciated, that’s all.

So I’m currently in Atakpamé working on preparing my training of trainers for my Vacation Enterprise (VE) project.  I have 5 trainers (2 teachers, the principal, a friend who I have worked with a lot and the PTA president).  It’s the same thing I did last year- choose girls and teach them money management skills before giving them a small loan to do a small enterprise during summer vacation in order to pay their school fees.

I’m also working on data to send to some Chicago/Indiana Rotary Clubs who have generously decided to purchase school books for my middle school and two other schools I collaborate with.

I’m super pumped for this year’s VE so I’m gonna share an article that one of last year’s girls wrote about her bouillie enterprise.  (Bouillie sells for 25 francs a bowl) Practice your French or wait for the translation afterwards….

Je veux parler de l’entreprise des vacances

De toutes les vacances que je passe dans ma vie scolaire, les vacances 2011 restent pour moi un souvenir. Pourquoi? Notre sœur, notre volontaire du Corps de la Paix, joyeusement appelée Da Yawa Aboèno, en plus de beaucoup de choses qu’elle nous fait, elle nous a aussi créé une rubrique « Entreprise pendant la vacance ». Et j’ai eu la chance d’en bénéficier. Nous sommes trois filles. Elle nous a remis, sous forme de prêt, une somme de 5000F chacune. Pour ma part, j’ai choisi vendre la bouillie de maïs chaque matin avant d’accompagner mes parents au champ. Cela a été une réussite totale pour moi. En l’espace d’un mois et demi (Août en Septembre) j’ai réalisé une vente de 20300F.

A la rentrée, j’ai remboursé les 5000F à Da Yawa et mon bénéfice qui dépasse le capital (5000F) est de 15300F. J’ai doublement réussi. Avant de commencer la vente, notre bienveillante volontaire nous a formées sur la gestion d’une petite entreprise comme celle-là et la formation m’a aidée et je vais l’utiliser toujours dans ma vie. En plus j’ai gagné de l’argent pour préparer facilement la rentrée scolaire qui constituait un problème pour me pauvres parentes et moi-même.

Cette année encore, elle a promis continuer cette noble œuvre. A mes camarades qui auront la chance de rentrer dans cette entreprise, je leur demande de saisir à deux mains cette initiative. Qui peut penser qu’avec 5000F je peux gagner 15.300F? C’est une réalité si l’on applique bien la formation reçue. Cette entreprise met à l’aise les élèves filles qui sont entourées de beaucoup de problèmes : harcèlement sexuel, grossesses non désirées, prostitution et même VIH/SIDA, etc…

Je remercie le Corps de la Paix et surtout ma chère Da Yawa Aboèno Jessica. 

I suppose you want a translation?

I want to talk about vacation enterprise

Of all the school vacations I’ve had in my life, 2011 was a something to remember (a souvenir) for me. Why? Our sister, our Peace Corps Volunteer, joyously called Da Yawa Aboèno, plus a lot of other things she’s done for us, she also created a program “Enterprise during the vacation”. And I had the change to profit. We are 3 girls. She gave us a type of loan, a sum of 5000 francs each.  For my part, I chose to sell corn bouillie every morning before accompanying my parents to the field. [this means she got up at like 4 or 5am to work BEFORE work] This was a total success for me. In the space of one and a half months (August and September) I made 20,300 francs.

At the beginning of the school year, I reimbursed Da Yawa her 5000 francs loan and my profit is 15,300 francs.  I doubly succeeded. Before beginning my enterprise, our benevolent volunteer taught us how to manage a small enterprise and this helped me and I will always use it in my life. Plus, I made money to easily prepare me for the next school year which is usually a problem for my poor parents and myself.

DON’T YOU LOVE HER?  She’s great.  She’s my allstar. I brag about her all the time.  She did Camp UNITE 2010, Camp ScientiFille 2011, was a jeune leader at the Mamakopé camp, attended Take our ScientiFille to Work in Atakpamé, is a Pathways scholar, etc.  Not to mention, she’s an orphan.  She lives with her uncle (which is who she refers to as “mes parents”) in a tiny tiny village outside of my village.

Alright… I’m done rambling.  I’d love it if you guys asked questions… this blog is for you and I’d like to write about what you’re interested in/what you want to know.