Hello there! I hope all is well wherever you are. I just wanted to give a quick update on the happenings in my little corner of Togo.
Happy Harmattan
We are currently in the season of Harmattan, which happens throughout West Africa. In Togo, it is strongest from December to February. Harmattan brings a dry and dusty wind, along with cool nights and hot days. It is very different (and honestly a relief) from the humidity that comes with the rainy season. Even though it gets close to 100°F during the day, it doesn’t feel that hot because the humidity is so low. I think it has only rained one time since the beginning of October.
I have been sleeping with a top sheet and in the mornings, my host family looks at me like I am crazy for wearing a tee shirt when they are wearing winter coats (the lowest it gets is 63°F). Unfortunately, everyone has been warning me that the cool nights will not last. Anytime I say, “it is hot”, my host sister says, “you just wait”. Apparently, the heat during March and April is much more intense and leads people to sleep outside. So, looking forward to that!
The landscape looks a lot different too. The fields have been harvested and burned. Pretty much the only thing that is growing right now is cassava (agriculture volunteers, feel free to correct me). There is not nearly as much green as there was during the rainy season (see Figure 1). When I go on walks, I can see so much farther now because there are no longer 10 ft tall sorghum plants in the way. Everything just looks a little bald right now, so I am excited to see the process of things growing back.
Holiday Recap
I realized I haven’t sent out anything since the holidays have passed. I celebrated Christmas and New Years in my village, which was lovely. Aicha/Peachey had helped me decorate my house by chalking a Christmas tree drawing on my outside wall. We went to Mass on Christmas Eve morning, Christmas Eve night, and Christmas Day morning, so, lots of Mass. On Christmas morning, we woke up to the sound of Christmas music playing on my family’s speaker and lots of people running around yelling “Joyeux Noel!”. My family even got a visit from Papa Noel; there were little treats for everyone under the tree. For New Years Eve, my host mom was invited to a celebration with the prefect/mayor/government officials. It was a lot of fun and we had a little dance party and I made new friends (see Figure 2).
In the days between Christmas and New Years, there was not a whole lot going on. Friends and family stopped by the house to visit. We ate and we drank A TON. We played games. It was awesome. So honestly, not that different from what I am used to, except significantly (p<0.01) fewer Christmas cookies were consumed.
Hard at Work
I spend most of my working time at the clinic. I am feeling much more confident in my ability to do my job well. I get to write in the registration books during the prenatal consultations, help with births, and lead the weekly child growth monitoring and development days. I absolutely love it.
My clinic is tiny. We have a nurse (who is also responsible for the administrative duties), a birth attendant, a pharmacist, and an aide. Often, there will be a training or some other event for which one or more of the employees must attend. They are stretched thin and even though I am not exactly doing a ton, it is nice that I can make things just a little easier for them.
Next week, I am starting a series of health talks in the 15 villages my clinic serves. Once per month, I will go to each of the villages and work with a community health worker to talk about some sort of health information. The first topic is nutrition (there are a lot of underweight kids in my community), and we will do improved recipe demonstrations at some point. In later months, we will discuss malaria prevention and maternal health. Very excited to get started on that.
Another aspect of my job here is helping at the middle school. This term, I have been teaching a health course to the 3ème students (9th grade equivalent). We are covering topics like the importance of health, the different aspects of health, diseases, disease prevention, and soon we will be discussing reproductive health. I have about 52 students in the class and for the most part, it is a joy to teach them. There is still a bit of a language barrier because my accent is weird, but they demonstrate that they largely know what I am saying, and they actively participate in class.
We go a little slower than I would like to, but my class is not part of the official curriculum so anything that we do cover is bonus and will only be beneficial to the students. Also, it is only one hour per week and 3ème is the oldest at the school, so they (allegedly) understand French the best. This makes my job a lot easier. I have a lot of respect for my English teacher volunteer friends who teach a bunch of hours and in all the different grade levels and have an official curriculum they need to get through. That must be tough. Du courage.
At the middle school, I have also started an English Club! I had (and still do have) a lot of kids and community members coming up to me and expressing how much they want to learn English. I don’t have the time to tutor everyone individually, so I figured a community English Club could do the trick. So right after my health class, I move classrooms and host English Club. We have had about 150 unique participants, and we elected a student committee, so it seems like people are excited about it. We have started with the basics: learning “You Are My Sunshine”, the “ABCs”, greetings, and hangman. It is a lot of fun because it is voluntary to go so the people that attend want to learn and are attentive. I never thought I would have a job that entails me singing in front of 150 attentive people, but here we are.
Life Beyond Work
Outside of work, I like to keep busy with all sorts of fun activities. I start off most mornings with a little run, which is nice to see more of the village than I normally do. Sometimes if the timing is right, my middle schoolers will run with me (in their school uniforms and flip flops) on their way to school. My 11-year-old host brother and his friends have been joining me on Saturday morning runs, which is always entertaining and tends to result in side quests.
At least once a week, my host sister tutors me in Kotocoli. I have kind of reached a plateau in my progress because I know the most used phrases, but beyond that it is hard to make progress. But I am trying! I don’t do any tutoring for French anymore, because I haven’t really noticed difficulties communicating in French. It still isn’t perfect, but it works for most people. I want to focus on Kotocoli because there are a lot of people (typically in the more rural villages) who cannot speak French.
When I have free time around the house, I like to play games with my family and neighbors. We play lido (which is a lot like the game Sorry), wari (kind of like Mancala), and sepa (a card game). I have tried to teach some card games that I know, but none have really caught on, so we stick to those three games.
On the weekends, I sometimes go to neighboring market villages to meet up with other volunteers and hangout. It is nice to just chill for a little bit and talk in English. I don’t typically need to buy groceries at market because my host family cooks for me, but I like to look around and practice Kotocoli. Also, the fufu and fried cheese on market day always hits the spot.
I have gotten the chance to visit the villages of other volunteers. Abalo/Will’s village is very spread out and has paved roads despite not being on the main road. They mostly speak Kabye, but they are close to Kara, so there are a good number of French speakers as well. Also, the community members were very enthusiastic about the awesome 5k that Will hosted (see Figure 3).
Aïcha/Peachey’s village is huge! They recently celebrated a big cultural fête called Souwa. There was a big gathering of people, dancing, horses, and cross-dressing. Even Aïcha/Peachey participated (see Figure 4).
Ibrahim/Dylan’s village is much different than mine because he is way off the main road and his village is centralized. And there are not a ton of French speakers, so I had to really test my Kotocoli skills. There were great walking paths, and it was generally quieter than my village because there weren’t semi-trucks flying by constantly. We made fresh guacamole, which was awesome (see Figure 5).
Gratitude
There are certainly low moments, but there is a whole lot more to be grateful for. And I prefer to dwell on the good, so here is some of the goodness from my life:
The experience of feeling a chill
Having the time to read good books (recently finished and loved “Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver, highly recommend)
When people say, “Happy New Year!” (“Bonne Heureuse Année”) in the month of February
Booked plane tickets for 2 vacations !!!! More on that soon
Watching baby Fridose grow up and get so chubby (see Figure 6)
Afternoon walks to stretch my leggies after work
Subsequent sunsets during said walks (see Figure 7)
My hair is now long enough to braid
My med kit that has provided for me in my times of need (most recently being ~food poisoning~ this week)
Walking the mile to church and not being drenched with sweat
New dresses from the tailor (more on that another time)
Had a lovely and unexpected lunch with a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV) who served in Cote d’Ivoire and came to my clinic for a meeting about a new handwashing station that is being installed. Thank you, Susan!
Lots of baby animals! My family’s cat, Buscemi, gave birth to twin girls, Shakira and Toto. Alima/Alanna will soon claim them as her own, but they are too little now (see Figure 8). My neighbor’s dog gave birth to 5 pups, one of which now belongs to Aïcha/Peachey (our beloved Beans <3). My friend’s dog, Patience, gave birth to 4 pups, who are as of right now, unclaimed (@fellow volunteers who want a dog).
I think that is all for now. Thank you for reading along and I hope that you are taking care of yourself.
À la prochaine fois,
Fatty
Happy Peace Corp Week Erin Fatty. 😊
Awesome post Erin! Loved it. Keep them coming.
Jim (PCV Armenia)