At last an update!

So it’s already been 7 months and I can’t believe how fast time goes. I’ll try my best to catch you up with what I’ve been up to without rambling on.

Overall, life is good. I’ve been surprisingly healthy given my surroundings and have adjusted well to the food and change in environment. As for work, I’ve been keeping myself busy. I’m still spending lots of time at the school. It’s the place I feel most productive because the students help me with my French and I teach a class three days a week. The class is called ‘La Vie Saine’, in French ‘A Healthy Life’ also called “Life Skills” by Peace Corps. We talk about the tools ones needs to live a successful life: education, communications skills, decision making, goal setting, and early pregnancy and HIV/AIDS education. It’s a nice change of pace for the students because it’s a more open discussion type class where we play games and read and discuss stories. The challenge for me is that the classes are sometimes 50+ and since I’m a more ‘fun’ teacher, (and the only woman, white at that) it’s hard to get them to listen when I want to be serious. I just don’t have the authority that the male Togolese teachers do. But I’ve learned to hold my own and I think I’ve earned their respect. One of the most rewarding aspects of teaching has been earning their trust and friendship and watching the students gain confidence in themselves.

As for language, my French has hit a plateau, which is apparently supposed to happen around this time of service. I use the same vocab everyday so I haven’t learned a lot of new words, though I have plans for some fun garden, soap and tofu projects planned for summer vacation so I’ve got some words to find. So, here’s a funny story some of you might appreciate: I talk in my sleep and apparently, as of late, have been speaking French! Some of my fellow PCV’s said it was pretty funny and I guess it’s a good sign. Maybe I’m dreaming in French! Local language is a different story. I have the greetings down and it’s always entertaining to try new phrases, but it is so complex and hard for me to pronounce. I still have time to learn but I know I will never be able to speak Kotokoli.

Outside of school, I work with my Togolese counterpart on community needs assessment, project planning and other village meetings ranging from health to agriculture. Since Wassarabo is close to the city, there are lots of NGO’s who come to do formations and help with development and education. They have good ideas and are a great resource for my work.
March was a crazy month for me. I kicked it off with my Birthday which was a lot of fun, hanging out with friends. Then we celebrated International Women’s Day (March 8th). With permission from the Chief, I organized a community fete (party). I asked for student to volunteer and put together sketches about girl’s education, women’s rights and community issues to perform for the villagers. We practiced for a few weeks before and on the day of the fete, the students did awesome. They came in full costumes and even wrote songs. One sketch was about girls and boys sharing household responsibilities and having equal access to school and the chance to succeed. The second sketch was anti-child trafficking and the message was “If you are a good student and well educated, you can avoid being trafficked to other countries for work.” The Mothers club also sang traditional songs and everyone danced. The villagers loved it all and were totally entertained; I only hope they learned something.

March also was the annual All Volunteer and Program Management and Development conference. Peace Corps has a training center in a town called Pagala so for a weekend I got to catch up with and meet other volunteers. It was nice to see people and share our experiences and also have a little fun. We did lots of fundraising activities like a bake sale, date and silent auction, and a t-shirt contest. All the funds went to a girls’ scholarship program called Karren Waid. All Vol is also the time to elect new members to the different committees and publication teams. I joined the Gender and Development committee as the co-director of the scholarship fund. Karren Waid was a volunteer in Togo that was killed in a bush taxi accident in the early 90’s. She had worked extensively promoting girls’ education so after her death, her family started a scholarship program in her name. The scholarship pays for girls’ school all the way to university as long as they pass each year, don’t get married, and keep their pregnancies to one or fewer. There are 61 girls in country ranging from elementary to university. My responsibilities will be checking up with the girls, collecting report cards and distributing funds. We just had out first annual KW weekend camp where we got all the girls from my region together to have fun, reinforce the regulations and build camaraderie. It was really nice to give the girls a chance to make new friends and let them know that they aren’t alone. I am still getting to know the program, but as of right now, there are returned volunteers in the States working to get 501c3 status so that friends and family in the states can make tax deductable donations. Stay posted, I’ll let you know when and how you can help!

After All Vol was Program Development and Management for the Girls’ Education and Empowerment program. We learned about funding projects and writing grant applications. We also got a chance to share and learn from each other’s experiences at site. Overall it was just nice to get some reinforcement and encouragement from PC and other volunteers.

At the end of March, I got the chance of a lifetime and took an amazing week long vacation in South Africa. My step-dad Dave works there once a year and I was lucky enough to join him. Some of the highlights: drinking tap water, warm showers without wearing flip flops, seeing old college friends, dairy products like cheese and ice cream, a haircut and blow dry, being with family, letters and pictures from home, going on a giraffe and zebra capture with Dave’s Vet colleagues, seeing amazing wildlife in Krugar National Park, eating 3 delicious meals a day, fresh brewed coffee, good conversation and cultural exchange. It was absolutely wonderful and relaxing and although the travel back was a head ache, I came back refreshed and ready to go back to village.

I picked back up with La Vie Saine classes and have started working with another NGO girl’s scholarship program in village. It’s for elementary girls and they have after school tutoring twice a week. Their French level isn’t very high so we sing songs, play games, and read stories. It’s a lot of fun and I usually end up making a fool of myself but the girls eat it up.

We are towards the end of hot season and the thermometer in my house reads a constant 95+ even at night! Although sleeping outside would be significantly better, I can’t give up the security of my mosquito net. The scorpion count is up to 10 in and around my house, even in my bedroom so I’ll suffer the heat for a little longer and sleep under my net!

The rains are on their way and the few storms that we have had have been amazing! It has already started to get green again and it’s beautiful. The mangos are also ripening so I eat like 5 a day. The end of the school year is approaching so I’m planning some projects to do during summer vacation. I have IST (In-Service Training) next week in Pagala so I can learn about more projects and get some resources. At the beginning of June I am going to be a camp counselor for kids all over Togo, again in Pagala, and I’m really looking forward to the summer camp experience. I was a summer camper for the greater part of my childhood so now I’ll have a chance to give back the fun!

There is also a girl’s bike tourney that I am going to help with and we are aiming for September. We are currently waiting on funding so here is the Peace Corps Partnership Proposal if you are interested in helping out.

Dear Family and Friends,

The Girls Bike Tourney began in 2006 with the main objective of raising awareness on the importance of sending girls to school. Each region of Togo, of which there are five, chooses ten girls to participate in a two-day training and a five-day bicycle tourney. The girls are trained on various subjects (HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy, forced marriage, child trafficking), they are trained on how to speak in public, how to ride a bicycle (a novelty for most), and how to create and perform educational skits. Armed with knowledge, a bike, and lots of energy, ten girls along with two Togolese homologues and two Peace Corps Volunteers spend the next five days biking and performing at schools, markets and village squares.

The transformation that the girls undergo is quite miraculous. Girls come in barely able to say their name to a group of their peers and leave having presented skits and question and answer sessions in front of hundreds of people. They gain a deeper understanding of major social problems and how to overcome them, self-confidence, and an overall greater desire to succeed. After the five day tourney, the girls return to their respective villages with their new bicycles and are expected to continue training and working with people in their communities.

Peace Corps Partnership enables friends and family of Peace Corps Volunteers to donate to projects that volunteers are trying to complete during their service. Volunteers first submit a grant application to Peace Corps Washington who then puts the project description on the Peace Corps website where interested parties are just a click away from donating.

As a Peace Corps Togo Volunteer, I ask those who are interested in donating to visit: https://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/donors/contribute/projdetail.cfm?projdesc=693-303®ion=africa

So, if you made it all the way through this blog, congrats and thank you for being interested in what I’m up to. If you haven’t yet, please check out my pictures. I love that I get to share my life visually with you all. I love hearing from home even if it’s just a quick hello. I miss you all and hope all is well.
Peace and Love!

It's Been A While!

I know I said I would be keeping you all up to date on a blog but it is a lot harder than I thought to do so. I have been busy doing all sorts of interesting, and sometimes not so interesting things in the last few months and I promise to sit down soon and write all about it. Can you believe it's already been 6 months?
I am in South Africa right now having the time of my life with my Step Dad Dave, but unfortunately I have to leave in the morning. It has been an incredible trip as you will see in my pictures. Being with family is amazing and I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful place. It's been a real treat. Thank you Mom and Dave for making a dream come true!
I have taken advantage of the computer and some Internet time to upload photos from the last 3 months. So in a way that can be an update on what I've been up to.
Enjoy and feel free to email a quick hello. I miss you all!
Peace

Peace

This is the view from my house every night!

This is so unreal!

Wow where to begin? It has been about a month and a half since I last wrote and so much has happened (naturally, given my situation). I have been living life as a PCV in Wassarabo, my village, and it is slowly but surely beginning to feel like ‘home’.

I have been adopted by my neighbors and call them Mama and Papa. They are fantastic and take great care of me. The community is very welcoming and super friendly. Everyone calls me by my village name, Djamila, the Arabic word for beauty. It is a lot nicer than being called ‘Anasarah’, aka white person, constantly shouted at me wherever I go.

So far, I have spent a lot of time observing classes and trying to become familiar with the Togolese school system. The students are fantastic and so enthusiastic. They always have a smile on their face despite their situation and are so eager to learn. They ask me the funniest questions and laugh when I make French mistakes. Being with the students and at the school really makes me happy.

My house is slowly becoming furnished and becoming my own. There is only one wood worker in town and he runs on ‘African Time’ (always an hour/day or two late). I have a bed and a table and my chairs are supposed to be finished sometime this coming week. I spend most of my time on my porch reading or studying French. I have the most beautiful view of the sunset each night. The sun appears in the western sky as a large, perfect glowing orange sphere. It’s like no other sunset I have ever seen and brings a peace to my heart that I can’t describe.

As for food, I have been eating most meals with my host family. I eat traditional African dishes that consist of a starchy, jello-mold type dish dipped in sauce and eaten with your hands. Yes, I eat with my hands! It’s like being a little kid again. When we eat Pâte, a cornmeal paste, it’s often too hot for my fingers so my Mama will pull off pieces for me. It feels so wonderful to be welcomed to eat with people, to share the same big dish. It’s an unspoken form of acceptance and it makes me feel great.

I have had some really ‘WOW, I live in Africa’ moments and I will briefly try to describe them, although there is no way words can express the feelings I’ve had:

The first really amazing experience was the Muslim holiday of La Tabaski starting December 19th. It was a big, crazy, week long fête in my village. I got dressed up in traditional clothing and went to watch the big Islamic prayer on the morning of day one. After the prayer, the villagers sacrificed goats to symbolize the story of Abraham and his sons. It was all a bit overwhelming but an incredible thing to experience. I was fed very well, enjoyed the cultural exchange and just tried to take it all in.

Day two was the traditional visit with the village Chief to pray for health and good fortune for the upcoming year. I found myself seated next to the Chief on his porch, in my traditional Togolese cloths and headdress with about forty men and the Imam. It was surreal. I felt so honored but uncomfortable at the same time. All of the other women were seated outside. I haven’t done much to deserve the honor and would have been more comfortable seated with the women but I just sat and tried to absorb my surroundings. They were speaking in the local language when all of a sudden I heard Djamila thrown into the mix. My Togolese counterpart came over and translated into French that they were praying for me. They prayed for my long life, good health, for Wassarabo to become my second America and for us to work hand in hand for the better of the village! Wow I know! I was moved to tears and I just had to pinch myself to make it feel real. This is my life!

After the prayer the villagers cut up the goat meat from the previous day and distribute it to all the poor people in the village who otherwise couldn’t afford it. It brought about intense feeling of generosity and really made me appreciate all my blessings. Days three, four, and five were filled with great music and dancing! I loved this part. The women were dressed to the nines and men were drumming away! It was such a great thing to be a part of and as an honored guest I really felt special!

Then before I knew it, it was Christmas time and I was happy to spend it with friends from training. I think everyone should spend at least one holiday away from home because it really makes you appreciate what it means to be with family! It was tough being away from home but this is the life I have chosen for myself and I will make the best of the challenges it brings.

Happy 2008! 2007 was a life-changing year for me and it was nice to take the New Year holiday to look back and reflect on the challenges, firsts and dreams come true, i.e. becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer. It is also a great time to look forward to the next two years and all the WOW moments to come.

Living in Togo is crazy, like nothing I could have imagined, read about, or prepared myself for. I have found myself in some crazy circumstances. For example: walking 12km through the bush with a bag of corn on my head to a village market with my host mom, being stared at and almost hyperventilating, fitting 20 people in a 15 passenger van because we all know that’s safe and of course economical, being totally uncomfortable, and being lost in translation. I have also adopted some roommates chez moi. I have mice, cockroaches and oh yeah scorpions all living in my house with me. It’s truly an adventure and I can honestly say there’s never a dull moment!

I am looking forward to what the next two years will bring and only hope I can impact the lives of the Togolese in the way they have already impacted mine. I will be starting my Girls Club in the next few weeks and really look forward to building relationships with these young, radiant girls. Their lives are by no means easy and I am blown away by their strength, physically, mentally and emotionally.

Thank you to all of you who have written and sent packages! It is absolutely indescribable and means the world to me. I know that this situation is tough but “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”. I am here for a purpose and I plan on doing my best, trying my hardest and giving it my all! I hope all is well in your lives and that you know that I think of you all often and appreciate all of the support!

Till next time…

P.S. Many people have been asking me what they can send in a care package. I don’t ‘need’ anything but anything with a little thought behind it is great. Here are some fun ideas:
- Snacks like trail mix, almonds, raisons and granola
- Instant anything like pudding, drink mix, oatmeal
- Candy, M&M’s because they melt in your mouth, not in your hand
- Magazines or books you think are worth sharing
- Stationary (and if you send this you can count on getting a letter from me!)
- Toiletries like toothpaste and deodorant
- New Music, mixed cd’s, I have a friend with a laptop so I can update my iPod