Stateside

Home sweet home

Well, I’m back home. I left America on June 11th, 2023 and I arrived in America on June 11th, 2025. The last few weeks have been some of the strangest weeks of my life. Let’s talk about it.

My final days in Bouladé

Saying goodbye to my village proved to be one of the most difficult parts of my service. It didn’t help that for months leading up to my departure, my friends and family in my village kept bringing up how sad they would be once I left. We didn’t have any sort of celebration, which was fine by me. I simply went to the people I was closest to and explained that I would be leaving for the foreseeable future. Sometimes it took a little bit for them to understand. I went away on trips for weeks at a time, but I always came back. This time, I don’t know when I will be back. Once they understood, every single person thanked me and prayed for me. They prayed for a safe trip, for good health, for success in my future endeavors, for my family, for a long life, and that I would not forget about them. It meant a lot to me.

My friends at church

I also received a few gifts from people; this was very unexpected but very thoughtful. The staff at my clinic (my friends Henriette, Warama, Maman Raïcha, and Mr. AWESSO) pitched in to get me some traditional fabric. This was hand-woven over the course of several days by my neighbor and friend, Maman Abou. It is a lovely striped cream and purple color.

Henriette helping me wrap the fabric into a skirt

I also got traditional fabric from my host mom. This was hand-woven in Bafilo, our district capital 5 miles south along the road. It is a nice green, white, and black striped pattern. They are both quite large so I am still deciding how I want to use them. It was an honor to receive this fabric, because this is normally worn by older members of the community as it is at least 4x more expensive than the high quality wax-print imported fabric from China. My friend Gracias ordered a photo print-out of us that I have hanging on my wall. It is a picture of us from our May 1st celebration. She ordered it from a store in Lomé and they shipped it on the Nagode bus (the bus company that I used on all my long road trips). It was so sweet.

My least favorite part was definitely packing up my house. I am discovering that I really don’t like the process of moving. Thankfully I had some volunteer friends to help me get stuff done. When Aïcha/Peachey arrived at my house two days before my departure, she said she was expecting it to look at least a little different than normal.

Part of what made it difficult was that there was a lot of stuff that I wasn’t bringing with me and I wanted to distribute it to my friends fairly without hurting other people’s feelings. I ended up doing several home deliveries of buckets full of random usable stuff. There was a lot of stuff that I did not know what to do with, so I just stuck it on my porch and people came by to take it. Eventually, everything got cleared out and I filled up my two suitcases and backpack.

Stephanie fake crying in my empty house

It was nice to be able to give gifts to the people who made my time in Bouladé special. I gave my bed and fan to Stephanie, which was a small way of thanking her for cooking for me every day for two years while taking care of her newborn child. I gave my big desk with drawers to Henriette, who taught me everything at work and was always so patient as I learned how to communicate. I gave a lot of my clothes to my friend Gracias, who truly got to know me as a person. There were many other items I gave away, but I could never thank my community enough for making these past two years the best of my life.

When it was finally time to leave, many tears were shed. I had already been crying in the weeks leading up to that day. Stephanie kept threatening to hide herself that morning so I wouldn’t see her crying. Thankfully, no one hid themselves and I got to say goodbye to everyone before getting on the Nagode bus for the last time.

Carine (left), Fridose (in my arms), Karen (in Stephanie’s arms), and Stephanie (right) on the morning of my departure

My final days in Lomé

I had to stay in Lomé for several days before leaving because we had our Close of Service (COS) conference with all the volunteers and then I had more administrative meetings. It was good timing because I got to see all the volunteers in my cohort one last time before leaving. For our COS conference, we stayed in one of the nicer hotels and talked about some important administrative things. We also talked about things like how to say goodbye to your community and how to transition back to America.

The Pagala girlies one last time: Ladi/Lea, me, Hasan/Feroze, and Akossiwa/Reyneir (from left to right)

One evening, we got to play in a soccer match against the US Embassy. I was put on the team against my will, but I ended up having fun even though we lost. Our very own Sarakahalo/Jane won MVP! The Marines were selling skewers of meat and they were very tasty.

We eventually had to say goodbye to most of the other volunteers as they went back up to their sites for their final weeks of service. It was really hard to say goodbye, because these are people that I have come to know and love and I don’t know when I am going to see them again. We spent so much time together for our three months of training and even after that we could easily see each other on the weekends, but now everyone is going to be spread out. I hope that we will have cohort reunions.

The Peace Corps had to get the other volunteers out of Lomé quickly and safely because protests were starting to happen. In recent weeks, there has been a lot going on in Lomé in opposition to the current leader Faure Gnassingbe. The Peace Corps tries not to get tangled up in any political issues going on, so they drove the other volunteers away and kept us in a hotel in Lomé. I was with Tchilalo/Sue, Paul/Paul, and Ablavi/Marissa, who were all leaving around the same time. We got to hang out and spend our last few days together. There was a lot of downtime in between our administrative duties, so I am very grateful that I didn’t have to do that alone.

We got to go to the artisanal market in Lomé, which ended up being super cool. I had never even heard of it, but they had a lot of nice fabrics, wooden sculptures and bowls, and bags. I got a few things but I fear that if I had more cash on me and more space in my suitcase I would have gotten a lot more. I definitely recommend anyone visiting Lomé to check it out. We also went to a Chinese restaurant on two consecutive nights because it was so good.

Excellent Chinese food from Impression de JIANG NAM with some funny mistranslations on the menu

Ablavi/Marissa and I had our ring-out ceremony at the Peace Corps office. Volunteers who successfully complete their service get to have this ceremony with staff and occasionally members of their community to recognize their work and officially close their service. Our ceremony was on a holiday and most of the staff members were already at the training center so we didn’t have a huge audience, but it was still very nice.

Madjid, me, Ablavi/Marissa, and Aurelia (from left to right) at our ring-out ceremony

Perhaps the best part was getting to meet the new cohort of 13 trainees. They went from the airport to the office, so we got to talk to them for a few minutes; I wished we had hours or days to talk, but alas. They all seemed super nice despite the long journey and some of them had even read this blog! I felt reassured after meeting them that the future of this program was in good hands.

Good luck to these trainees! You’ve got this

The journey home

The Peace Corps organized for a taxi driver to take me from the office to the airport, which was good because I had actually no cash left. In a final act of gusto, the agent at security took my empty 500 mL plastic water bottle, looked me in the eye, and threw it over his shoulder, saying it was not allowed through security. When I asked why, he said it was because the container was over 100 mL. I said it’s empty. He said it doesn’t matter. I conceded. There was no use arguing.

The federal government has certain rules about booking international travel which requires American airline companies to be used when possible. This means that I took a 25 hour flight path to get home, going from Lomé to Brussels (with a stop in Accra), Brussels to Chicago, and Chicago to Columbus. If I had stayed for the entire 27-month service, I could have opted for a travel stipend and booked my own ticket on Ethiopian Airlines from Lomé to Dulles to Columbus. But it ended up working out because I got upgraded to business class from Brussels to Chicago (about a 10 hour flight). That was my first time flying business and I did not want it to end. I watched several movies on the plane including Wicked, A Complete Unknown, and Wonka. Not a bad deal.

Never have I ever had gnocchi on a plane with real silverware wrapped in a cloth napkin

I eventually landed safe and sound at my beloved CMH, greeted by my parents, a sister, and a brother. My parents wore the pagne outfits that we got made in Bafilo, so that was a nice surprise. I had no problems with my bags, delays, or anything. It was smooth flying. We went home and got some Romeo’s pizza that I’ve been thinking about for a while.

Amanda, Zach, Mawmaw, and Pawpaw (from left to right) at CMH

USA

Being back in America has been strange. It has been nice to see family and some friends, but things are different than I remember. It has been nearly three weeks and I am still alarmed at how quickly the cars are moving. No one stares at me when I am going places, I can understand everything that people are saying, and there aren’t a ton of people outside. It has been hot here recently and it makes me laugh when people mention that because it is still cooler than what Togo feels like.

I have mostly been spending my time running errands. I had to get a new phone number, so if you had my old one, get rid of it and ask me for my new one (sorry I don’t want to post it online). I have gotten to meet up with some friends, which has been so wonderful and I missed them all dearly. I also went on a trip to Florida with my extended family. It was good to see all of them too and get a little bit of sun. I’ve been clothes shopping a few times because I didn’t bring back most of my clothes and I guess I gave away a lot of stuff before I left.

I could not find a picture with my extended family so this will have to do. Pawpaw, me, Amanda, Mawmaw, Audrey, Dana, and Zach (from left to right)

Some of my strangest experiences were stepping on carpet for the first time in two years (it is so soft) and using an American-style flush toilet. My latrine in my village was just a hole, but even the flush toilets that were in Togo or on my trips were all European-style with the button on top. I also keep trying to push my parent’s porch door open instead of using the handle. Honestly though, there haven’t been too many overwhelming things to get used to. Maybe it is because I spent so much time in the relative luxury of Lomé before coming here.

What’s next?

I am moving tomorrow (!!) July 2nd and I start orientation for medical school at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine on Monday July 7th. Have I fully packed yet? NO! Don’t tell my mom, please. It will all work out.

I am very excited to get started and although it has only been three weeks since I left Togo, I feel like I have become very adaptable and I will be able to make this transition. It is strange to be starting this next big thing while I am still taking my malaria prophylaxis and I am not yet fully dewormed.

This is a five-year program and residency will be at least three years. In some ways, it is nice to have a clearly defined path for the next several years. As soon as I reasonably can, I will go back to visit Togo.

Short reflection

I am still trying to decide if I am going to write another post after this. It kind of depends on what I am feeling like once I start school. If this is indeed my last post, I wanted to attempt to sum up some of my reflections from this experience.

Would I do it again, knowing what I know now?

Absolutely. I can confidently say that doing the Peace Corps was the best decision of my life. I don’t think I would have grown as much personally, made more friends, learned as much, or gotten to see as much of the world doing anything else. From my perspective, Togo is one of the more challenging Peace Corps countries to serve in for a number of reasons. I think these challenges make Peace Corps service in Togo a very unique experience, but not one that I would want to avoid. There were times that it was uncomfortable, but it was so worth it and I would absolutely do it again. That was not everyone’s experience, but I can’t speak for anyone else. If you are thinking about doing the Peace Corps, do it. You might regret it, but it might be the best decision you ever make.

Am I going to do the Peace Corps again?

Probably not. I think this is a great option for fresh college graduates or other people looking for a new career direction, but my path is pretty clearly defined for the next decade or so. And one of the frustrating aspects of service was that I always wanted to do more, but I didn’t have the training or education to do so. Once I have that training and education, I will be able to do more and probably for an organization more closely aligned with my skills and interests like Doctors Without Borders or something like that. But who knows, maybe there will be a time when Peace Corps service is the right move for me.

Sorry if this post has been all over the place. I have been putting it off for a while because it has been hard to organize all my thoughts. If I don’t write again, I want to thank you for following along. These two years have been formative for me and I am glad that I had the opportunity to share some of that with you.

As my tan fades and my French becomes more broken, I hope that I can hold onto the memories and friendships that I made in Togo. No matter what, part of me will always be Fatty.

Wishing you all the best,

Erin