A Little Bit of Togo, To-Go

Ok, so America is great. But so is Togo.

2012-03-16T13:01:00.000-07:00

I'm back in Togo. Actually, I've been back from America for about 3 months now, but I've been super suuuuppeerrr busy!

America was awesome, as expected. But what was not expected was how my trip home would change the way I view my life here in Togo. At the end of my two week trip, I was all sorts of ready to head back. I know I previously wrote how things that frustrate me in Togo, but I realized that there are equally as many things that frustrate me in the States. It's totally normal, and expected to have those feelings anywhere in the world you are. The whole time I've been in Togo, I fantasized about being in America. Once I was actually in America, I couldn't stop thinking about my life in Togo. Now i'm back and happier than I have felt in a long time -- even after being back for over 3 months.

I will, however, take the time to appreciate...
Seeing my family and friends. I've missed them tons.
Hanging out in DE with the boy and his family.
Driving in a car...not in a taxi stuffed with 10 more people than there are spots.
HOT showers and getting that layer of dirt off my body that I cannot seem to escape here.
Eating cake popsicle things (what are these?! these are amazing.)
Basically, just eating whatever I want, when I want. (I had 3 lunches one day. Oh and I gained back 6 of the 10 pounds I've lost since coming to Togo in two weeks. Oops.)

And I won't forget to tell you what I did miss...
Seeing the watchi lady every morning to get my fair share of rice, beans, and noodles in the morning. I came back and found out she is pregnant!
Playing with the twins next door, seeing them grow up.
Sitting under a tree and just people watching for a while.
Riding my super sweet Trek bike around town.
Motorcycle taxis to Sokode.
Getting to be a part of amazing projects that I would never in a bajillion years get a chance to do in America.

I love Togo. It just took a little reminder of the life I've lived before to see how special I have it here.

I AM FREAKING OUT! I WILL BE IN AMERICA IN 6 DAYS!

2011-12-12T02:25:00.001-08:00

So I am just going home for a brief visit to hang out withfamily and friends during the holiday season, but I don’t think I have everbeen more excited about a vacation in my LIFE. And it’s to a place I’ve lived for 22 years. Of course, I’ll be doing new and fun thingslike hanging out with the boy in nyc and meeting his family, but I’ll be rightback to the old and the familiar DFW metroplex after a few days.

So why am I SO excited? More than any other trip I’ve evertaken? Because I need a serious break from this Togolese life. Don’t get me wrong, I love Togo. I love my village, my house, my neighbors,the cute babies, and all the people I’ve met. Rice and beans have become a comfort food…I think I crave them more thanI crave cheeseburgers now. So what’sup? Why have I been feeling blue lately? I think most of this blog has beenabout the amazing kick ass times I’ve had, but rarely do I ever go into if Iever feel frustrated or sad. Being aPeace Corps volunteer isn’t all about holding cute babies and sharing cultures,it can also be frustrating and eye opening.

Reason #1: I amtired of getting sick!! I’ve had more ailments here in Togo than my entire life(probably an exaggeration). Yes, part ofit probably has to do with the way I take care of myself, but a lot of it hasto do with the fact I’m living in Africa. A general list of maladies I have had since coming here: Colds, FoodPoisoning, Malaria, Amoebas, Pink Eye, Bronchitis, Gall Stones (I’m not sure ifI believe this one), and general otherstomach pains that I have no explanation for other than the fact I eat streetfood every day...

Reason #2: Workhere is hard.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maya-lau/what-the-peace-corp-taugh_b_1099202.html

I have had more failed projects here than I’d like tocount. English club at 8:00AM onSaturdays? Nice try, but no way are people coming to that one. Computer Club? HA, half of the computers arebroken today. A funded project that youwrote a grant for and got approved to receive funding for? Woops, your check isstill somewhere in the DC vortex. Gettingstuff done here is HARD! I guess the major problem is that I see so manyavenues for projects, but finding the time, the resources, and the rightmotivated people can really just bog you down.

While this is a huge reason why I am frustrated, it’s notthe end of the world. I have had someincredibly successful projects, such as starting a new science club at themiddle school, the high school science club which is entirely run by students,Leve-Toi Jeune Fille, various summer camps, working on the UNITE team, etc. It has just taken some time to slow down my American-Paced attitudeabout work and getting things done right away.

Reason #3: Ireally really really miss America. Imiss having privacy. I miss not hearing “WHIIITTEEEPEEAARRSSSOONN” being yelled at me once I step foot out of my door. I miss going to a grocery store where I haveoptions. I miss going swimming. And most of all, I miss my family andfriends. Life is going on with orwithout me in the states and that has taken a lot of adjusting to get used to.

So, I’m off to America to recharge, to get my fill of draftbeers and cheeseburgers and Mexican food, to see my lovely friends and family,and to put my life here in Togo back in perspective. But after all of it, Iknow I’ll want to come back to Togo; I have a life here! I have a house, a cat,a best friend for a neighbor, a boyfriend, and so many amazing volunteers Ilove hanging out with.

Happy Tabaski! Or Happy Eid al-Adha for those not in West Africa!

2011-11-07T07:11:00.000-08:00

FAIR WARNING!: these pictures get kind of gross.

Yesterday was Tabaski, the “festival of sacrifice”. It celebrates Abraham’s willingness tosacrifice his son for God, but God stepped in and Abraham only had to sacrificea sheep instead. This is the holiday ofholidays for people in my village. Iwould say it is the closest thing to Christmas (not in a religious context, butmore for the intense amount of celebration). Everyone puts on their finest clothes, spends insane amounts of money ona family animal to sacrifice, and parties it up with sodas and treats.

Looking REALLY good.

In the morning, Justin and I got all dressed up in ourTogolese-finest to go to prayer. Menand women must separate for prayer; the women have to pray behind the men. Because of this, Justin went off with myneighbor Salim and I went off with my two friends Nahid and Whitney to go praywith two women we work with at the hospital. We headed off to our colleague’s house to learn how to properly washourselves before prayer.

Learning the steps to washing.

Justin and Salim

People from Tchamba (pop. around 13,000) went to the centralelementary school to all pray together. Hoards of people packed in the courtyard and laid out their prayer matsto stake a place to pray. There werepeople riding horses, beating on drums, and selling popcorn and treatseverywhere. Tabaski is also the time togive to the poor, so people were shelling out coins left and right to give tothose asking.

Cute girls at prayer

At 9am the Imam started off with the prayer. I have never prayed before so it was a lot ofme watching out of the corner of my eye to see what others were doing. It was an amazing experience to see a sea ofwomen in veils praying all at the same time. In muslim prayer there are several steps that start with one standing,then one bends down, then one sits with forehead to the ground. Imagine hundreds of people doing that all insync!

So many people! This is only a tiny tiny portion.

Nahid, Wembe, Whitney, and Cherifa

After the prayer, which only lasted maximum 4 minutes, weall filed out and headed back to our colleague’s house. They had made a delicious meal for us offoufou, rice, and cous cous with a ton of beef in it. We ate as much as we could but knew thatthere would be more meals for us to go to later on that day.

Rice, foufou and couscous

On my way home, I certainly saw the essenceof a “festival of sacrifice” as goats, sheeps, and cows were being slaughteredin the streets. I headed straight toSalim’s house where I found Justin, scarred from the mass-slaughter he had witnessed. Apparently, he had gone around with all themen to kill the various animals in my neighborhood. (By that, I mean Justin took his cameraaround and followed everyone blindly into one situation after another).

Sweet little Manaf ignoring whats happening behind him

Salim's impressive cow. He's so proud!

Each family sacrifices one animal for this holiday. 1/3 of the animal goes towards the family,1/3 of the animal goes towards friends, and 1/3 of the animal goes to the poor.(I now have a freezer full of beef that I’m currently googling marinadesfor). Animals are CRAZY expensive withcows going for $600! Needless to say, this is a huge deal and families are super proud of their haul.

The family across the street and their lamb. (You can't tell in this picture, but they were going pretty nuts).

The rest of the day was spent at my friend Moctar’shouse. His family cooked up another mealof foufou with sesame sauce (yum) and a yummy salad. After that we headed to his brother’s dege(ice-creamish stuff with couscous inside) shop to indulge in their Tabaski giftto us, free dege!

There were a ton more celebrations happening throughout thenight but I decided to turn in early and rest up. I just got over having pink eye in both eyesand my eyeballs are still pretty dry and get tired quickly. Plus this party lasts for 3 days!

Fine Cooking in Togo

2011-10-19T09:44:00.000-07:00

Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli with Garlic Bread!

First, you start off making the cheese, the closest thing to ricotta. Lome is the only reliable place to buy cheese and since that is 8 hours away on a good day, homemade cheese is the way to go. Boil up some powdered milk, add some vinegar, and watch the curds separate from the whey.

Make some sauce from a can of tomato paste, water, chopped up onions and tomatoes, and mushrooms from a can.

Make homemade ravioli pasta. We also use the same recipe for making lasagna noodles. Some flour, eggs, and water. Let it sit for 30 minutes before you start molding it around.

Stuff each of the ravioli shells with the ricotta cheese and your spinach. But spinach doesn't exist in Togo so you gotta use gboma, the closest thing to spinach but a little more bitter.

Pinch it all up!

Cook your raviolis in some boiling water until you think it's done (we totes guessed).

Garlic bread. If you're lucky like me and you live next to Bouba, a Germany bakery in Togo, you can get some yummy breads. Bouba is actually in Sokode, 34k out of Tchamba, but some lady always comes to my village with a giant box full of bread probably weighing 50 pounds. She walks all around my town with that huge box on her head selling bread. Pretty unbelievable. Anyways, we got some plain old bread, drizzled some olive oil on it, garlic, and italian herbs.

And then you eat delicious food!

Unlimited Amounts of Internet!!

2011-10-10T09:45:00.000-07:00

I now have unlimited internet, which really knocks out any excuse I had about never updating this blog. I’ve had an usb modem that allows me to connect to the internet, but it was pay as you go. But, I’ve decided it is worth it to splurge some of my money and to try out this unlimited internet. So for about $30 a month I can use the internet anytime a want for as long as I want. Ridiculous!

Being that it’s October now, one can assume I’ve survived the maelstrom of summer camps. I participated in 5 different summer camps and loved every single one of them. Besides from Camp UNITE, which I already wrote about, I participated in:

CAMP INFORMATIQUE

Camp Informatique is the computer camp that Katy and I put on at the beginning of this summer. The top boy and girl in seconde (the equivalent to a sophomore in college) from each high school in the Centrale region were invited to attend this camp. The boys followed by the girls had a 4 day long computer camp in the regional capital, Sokode. During the 4 days they learned the names of different computer parts, why one uses computers, how to use a mouse, how to type, how to open programs, how to type letters on Word and how to explore the internet. While they weren’t learning something new about computers, they were playing games, singing, playing soccer or going to sessions on the importance of gender equity, self-confidence, or HIV/AIDS.

It was incredibly inspirational to see how quickly someone who had never even seen a computer to learn in 4 days how to surf the internet and write word documents. The girls who participated in the camp received valuable training that they would have been very likely to never receive elsewhere. Camp Informatique provided these students with the basic knowledge of computers that would allow them to confidently walk into their nearest computer café. Thank you for everyone who donated to this project, it was a huge success!

CAMP ESPOIR

Camp Espoir is a week long summer camp for children who are affected by HIV/AIDS. This could mean that they themselves are infected with the disease, or the disease has significantly influenced their lives, such as losing a parent to it. The kids participating range from 6 years old to 18 years old. Camp Espoir aims to provide these kids with the best week of their lives (ie actually being allowed to be a kid), providing an environment where they are not marginalized or teased for being affected by HIV/AIDS, and providing them with useful sessions that will help them make healthy life decisions.

The camp was filled with fun, traditionally American activities such as a camp fire where they roasted marshmellows, a scavenger hunt, and a carnival. There were also educational sessions like human rights, nutrition, income generating activities, hygiene, etc. I was super lucky to have the youngest girls, so I got some nail polish and lipstick and we all went to town. Needless to say, this was the saddest and hardest camp to leave.

CAMP SCIENTIFILLE

Camp ScientiFille (a blend between the French words for scientist and girl) was a week-long camp that brought together 11 villages throughout Togo. Each village brought the Peace Corps volunteer, a science teacher, and 3 female students. Getting girls to go to school in Togo is a challenging task, but even more so is getting girls to pursue a science track in school. Students have to choose at a very young age what “track” they’d like to do, whether it’s the arts or sciences. Girls that do want to follow the science track are often discouraged by their teachers and parents. Camp ScientiFille aimed to encourage the girls to follow a science track, show the teachers that girls can and should be scientists, and showed how to make science fun through experiments.

AMENONS NOS FILLES AU TRAVAIL (Take our daughters to work)

This was a week-long camp for a little over 20 girls in the Centrale region. Every region had their own version of take our daughters to work, but I obviously helped out with the best region. Heh. Anyways, during this camp, girls from rural villages came to Sotouboua, the 2^nd largest town in Centrale and spent the week learning about different career paths. The week’s activities included touring a radio station, being a part of a radio show, listening to panels of women speaks about their jobs, and sessions on various life skills, such as self-confidence or planning for a future.

Teaching about computers.

----------------

After all of this I finally took a vacation! Family came to visit so Justin and I hopped over to Accra to spend a few days there before we picked them up from the airport. Basically, Accra is just like America to a Togo PCV. There is everything there. Paved roads, ice cream, iced coffee, KFC, A SHOPPING MALL, a movie theater; the list is pretty endless… We ate about 5 meals a day plus snacks, caught two movies, hung out in air conditioning, took hot showers, and used the fastest internet I’ve used in over a year. Overall, it made me super happy but also incredibly sad. It seems silly that all this is a short 4 hour drive away from Togo, but Togo can’t even begin to compete. Even in Lome, Togo’s capital, there are few paved roads, internet is abysmal, and all the delicious food we have in lome is thanks to the Lebanese immigrants. Oh, Togo.

With my family, we traveled throughout Ghana. We visited about 3 slave castles, two national parks, and one of the biggest markets in West Africa. It was pretty stressful. Despite English being Ghana’s official language, I only understood/could communicate a few things. Once we crossed over to the Togo border, I was relieved. Not only because I could easily communicate with everyone but because I knew 100% what I was doing. In Togo, we visited the tambermas in Kante, hung out in my village and got to know all my neighbors, ate a bunch in Kpalime, and saw the few tourist attractions there are to see in Lome.

Cape Coast castle

Mole National Park

The Tambermas (tatas)

And now, I’m back in village. Finally. But, I’ve been having to travel in and out for various meetings and getting paper work finalized for my next project. I received funding for a project that I picked up from previous volunteers, “Loro de Alafia”, or reproductive health in English. It is a 4 days conference for 20 rural, muslim women to come in and learn about the reproductive system, family planning, and how to talk to their husbands about gender equity and family planning. It will be all in local language since for the most part, these women have not been to school or they have been to very little. Luckily, I have some great counter parts and partner organizations that are essentially planning and putting this project into action while I handle to paperwork and budget side of it all. It’s happening in about a month, so I’ll let everyone know how it goes!

School has started back up and so have my science clubs. My two science clubs have been the most sustainable projects I’ve worked with. I’ve been super lucky to find counter-parts who are motivated and willing to work with me. I’ll be starting my third club in the near future, as soon as school starts to stabilize a bit more.

And finally, Leve-Toi Jeune Fille, the magazine I’m working on with two other volunteers has put out the first issue with the new editors. Plus, I’m about to wrap up all the articles for the next issue, Community Action. So exciting!

CAMP UNITE! (c’est la jeunesse) CAMP UNITE! (c’est l’avenir) CAMP UNITE! (c’est l’avenir du Togo!)

2011-06-03T08:29:00.000-07:00

Camp UNITE [uni-tay…not unite] is a 4 week long summer camp for the youth of Togo. It is broken down per week by girl apprentices, boy apprentices, girl students, and boy students. During the week, the 30 or so apprentices or students go through a series of sessions, team building challenges, spurts of dancing and singing, and small discussion groups.

I just got back from the week long girl apprentices camp. IT WAS AMAZING! By far, it was my best week in Togo. I felt more accomplished and touched in this week alone then all my previous time in Togo. So what all did we do exactly? Here are all of the sessions the girls had:

Self-Confidence and Influence of Friends: I lead this one along with my Togolese counterpart! We talked about self-confidence; what it is, how does one obtain it, why is it important, etc. My favorite activity had the girls each take a piece of paper and write “I can’t…” and then they would fill in the blanks of something they think they cannot do, or they are incapable of doing because it is too difficult. After that, we literally buried their papers of “I can’t” into the ground and shouted the phrase “Vouloir c’est Pouvoir”. This session was so great because all the girls heard, and maybe for the first time, that they all had value and were important.
Gender Equity: During this session the girls learned about gender equity and why it is important. There are very strict gender roles here in Togo that limits the opportunities for a lot of girls. Girls have the responsibility of doing all domicile chores, which always will make it difficult for the girls to study. Girls are also told that they cannot become mechanics or carpenters because they are boys’ jobs. During gender equity, it was explained to the girls the difference between ‘gender’ and ‘sex’, how these gender roles get put into place, and what the girls can do to combat these roles.
Introduction to Income Generating Activities: We explained what an Income Generating Activity is to the girls and why doing and IGA is important. So many girls cannot afford to go to school or apprenticeship, and many girls will turn to a form of prostitution or just drop out. Another option is an IGA, such as making liquid soap, tofu, popcorn, lotion, jam, etc.
Importance of Girls Education: This session was a tricky one since we were talking to girl apprentices who had already abandoned their studies; however it was extremely useful to talk to the girls about why it is important to send their own daughters to school and what they can do themselves to continue their education.
Relationships, Abstinence, and Family Planning: During this session, my friend Danny went through the different kinds of relationships there are; acquaintances, friendship, and intimate. A big family is very desirable in Togo; however it isn’t always looked at through an economic perspective. Danny did an activity where two couples were each placed into a ‘house’ a square made out of masking tape on the floor. We went through the scenario where one family practiced family planning while the other did not. Eventually the house got more and more crowded with the family that did not practice family planning and it was more and more difficult to adequately share the ‘food’ (cookies that Danny had brought). At the end of the session, all the various forms of birth control available in Togo were introduced to the girls and a health agent from the local hospital was there to answer questions.
Adolescence and Puberty: So puberty is a pretty taboo subject in Togo and doesn’t get nearly the attention it deserves. So many girls don’t know what will happen, what is happening, or even what happened to their bodies during puberty. My friend Megan went through this session and explained the changes girls and boys both go through, lead a “true” or “false” game with certain myths about puberty, and lead the girls through a walk through vagina. The walk through vagina was built by a couple volunteers and allowed the girls to follow the path of an egg through the fallopian tubes, uterus, and vagina. So informative!
Child Trafficking: This is a pretty important topic in Togo as many children are sent each year to Nigeria for either hard labor or prostitution. Nigerians often come through Togo convincing parents to let them take their children to Nigeria by promising a better life and a lot money. The kids travel in terrible conditions to Nigeria, get abused for years, and come back an abysmal amount of money. During this session, we had some girls give testimonies about their experiences with Child Trafficking and what the other girls can do to combat it. (Like Income Generating Activities!)
Sexual Harassment: Karen led this session and did a great job of explaining what sexual harassment is. Harassment is frequent in Togo, almost to a point of normality, unfortunately. This session went through and explained to the girls at what moment an action passes the limit and becomes harassment, how to recognize when they are being harassed and what they can do to stop it. The girls practiced saying “NO” (avec la force!), something a lot of the girls had never known to do before.
HIV/AIDS: This session was to explain HIV/AIDS, how one becomes infected, what is happening to one’s body when they have it, and what they can do to protect themselves. We played a game of “true” and “false” with the myths of AIDS. We also showed the girls how to properly use a condom.

IGA-Marketing: I lead this one too! We talked about the different points of marketing, the importance of treating the client like king and taught them how to make popcorn!
IGA-Feasibility Study: Megan went through this one and taught the girls how to do a feasibility study and how to make Neem lotion.
Time/Money management: This went through the different ways girls can plan their time and manage their money.

On the last day of camp, the girls paraded around a neighboring village. At the end of their parade, they performed traditional dances (super interesting as the girls are from all 5 regions of Togo, each ethnicity with their own dance) and went through 2 sketches that portrayed the importance of getting tested for HIV/AIDS and the importance of girls’ education.

All in all, this camp had a huge impact on all the girls that participated and even me. We are still raising money for the students camp so if you have the means, I’d really appreciate donations!

www.unitefoundation.org

3 months!

2011-03-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

I have officially been in Tchamba 3 months now, woo! That is a pretty big landmark. So to recap what I have been doing since my last blog post:

December:

I spent most of this month trying to figure out what was going on half the time. Lucky for me I came in with some French….except not exactly West African French. It took me some time to get used to some phrases like “Et les gens de la?” literally meaning “And the people of there?” I get asked this anytime I go anywhere that is not Tchamba. Or “Tu es la?” meaning “Are you there?” when someone is looking right at me. Or asking a specific question and getting the answer “c’est….les choses quoi”, or “it’s…the things what.”

I live in a primarily Muslim town, however, so Noel was not quite celebrated in my community. But luckily, my girl Ellen came down for Christmas and I spent the day learning how to kill and defeather a chicken. Then we made chicken tacos! With Rice and beans, taco seasoning and velveeta (the last two were definitely sent from America). We spent the night eating and drinking wine with Nahid and my neighbor Salim, who was the one who gifted me the live chicken.

January:

New Years also isn’t exactly celebrated here in Tchamba because we are a Muslim community and it’s not technically their new year. But, we had a huge fete regardless because General Tikipina came to town. The general is from Tchamba, so our city put on a daylong party for him which included various speakers, horses, dancing, and food! General Tikipina even gave a shout out to Peace Corps in his thank you speech, which was pretty awesome.

I also went down to Lome for a bit to take care of some business and to see Justin back from his trip to America. We explored Lome and took in some ‘Al Donalds’ and ‘KFG’, both surprisingly delicious.

After my trip, I came home and got the cutest kitten in the world, who I named Potato. My neighbor had kittens so I decided to buy one. I paid 1005 CFA. A pretty bizarre amount because no one usually has 5 CFA. I asked if I could just give 1025 CFA, but they insisted I give the 5 CFA piece otherwise my cat might run away.

I had training at the end of January where all the GEE volunteers from my group got together for a week and learned about new possible projects we could work on. All the topics were super interesting; I learned how to make tofu and soy milk, so cool. Plus, it was a lot of fun to see everyone all together again since I hadn’t seen most of them for 2 months.

AND the most exciting news of all, Nahid and I started a radio show in Tchamba! It’s every Saturday evening. We pick themes that relate to girls education or health. We started by introducing ourselves and Peace Corps and what our program goals are. Then we’ve moved on to topics like self confidence, behavior change, HIV/AIDS, and correct condom use. This week we are going to be bringing in the local doctor for an interview, and hopefully in the future we’ll bring in some “femme modele”, model women in the community to interview.

February:

This was a hectic month for sure. There were a few volunteers who were planning on going up to Burkina Faso for FESPACO, the pan-african film festival that happens only once every two years. So I got my visa for Burkina Faso, which was a pretty good debacle. To get a visa into Burkina Faso, it’s 90,000 CFA, about $180. Or, you could get a 5 country tourist visa which gets you into Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, Cote D’Ivoire, and Niger for 25,000 CFA, or $50. This 5 country visa isn’t exactly publicized very well, nor does it really say on the visa that it’s for 5 countries, but after a few stressful days, I got it and it ended up working.

So, at the end of February, I made my way up country and into Burkina Faso. FESPACO, held in BF’s capital, Ouagadougou, was so much fun. There were films from all over Africa, a few from France and a few from USA. The films were mostly in French, or in local language with French subtitles. Ouaga is also just a pretty awesome city to take in, especially if you’ve been living in Togo for a while. We went swimming, ate burritos, spaghetti bolognaise, cheeseburgers and fries, and found a wine and cheese restaurant.

At FESPACO HQs

Justin and me at a fancy pants restaurant.

Us with our badges!

On our way home, after our car exploded in the middle of nowhere.

And now I am home, hanging out with my cat, nursing some amoebas, and watching some Frasier. Despite all the fun things in Burkina, I am really in love with Togo, especially Tchamba.

Work:

So in terms of what I’ve been doing in my day to day activities…

· Tuesday and Thursday mornings I go to our hospital’s baby weighing and vaccinations. I usually help update the vaccination records and will sometimes stand in front with the doctors to provide the anecdotal “My name is Cherifa” in local language to all the mothers who come. Once in a while the doctors ask me and Nahid to do a causerie. Since Nahid is the health volunteer, I usually hold the posters up and smile as she talks about what to feed your babies after six months.

· Wednesdays I go to the Science Club at the high school. Every week I’ll translate two experiments out of a science book to give to the teacher, and he usually runs with it. Half the club is made up of girls, which is amazing considering the low enrollment numbers for girls.

· Wednesdays I also have an English Club for the high school kids. The kids have to take and pass the BAC in order to successfully complete high school. There is an English portion on the exam, which even I think is hard. So, I go to the school with a BAC study guide and will work through examples with them.

· Saturdays I meet up with the high school girl’s soccer team. Each week a new girl will volunteer to come to my house at some point within the week and we’ll pick a theme to do a 10-15 minute presentation on after their practice.

· After the girl’s soccer team, I make my way over to the English Club. I offer it on Satuday mornings too in case Wednesday didn’t work for some of the students.

· Saturday evening I have my radio show. During the afternoon, I’ll usually meet with the high school kid that helps us out with the show. We pick out the theme and write up the script. Then he introduces the music and the theme and asks me and Nahid questions related to the theme.

· An ongoing project is planning Camp Informatique with Katy K. Camp Informatique is a summer camp for the top boy and top girl in seconde (like a sophomore) in their high school in the Centrale region. They get the chance to work on computers (computers are a scarce here) and to learn how to actually work one.

· And! I’m one of the new editors for Leve-Toi Jeune Fille, a magazine that compiles articles written by students, volunteers, and Togolese professionals all related to a certain theme. It’s so awesome because it’s written entirely in French, which gives Togolese something to read (which there is none of here). There are 4 editions a year; the upcoming one’s theme is Girls in Science.

…And that has been the last three months, in a nutshell.

And obligatory cute cat pics:

Justin and Potato Cakes after a bath

Me and Sweet Potato!

....Potato with Potatoes...

im here!

2010-12-03T03:43:00.000-08:00

HEY! So it’s pretty obvs I haven’t written in…ever. But internet here isn’t the easiest thing to find, and when I do find it, I get pretty distracted. So Il try to sum up what I have been up to the past 2 months, sans pics, but ill edit them in soon enough.

I had staging in Philadelphia where I met everyone who I was going to be spending the next 2 months with in stage (training). There are two groups of us, Girls Empowerment and Education (GEE—me!) and Natural Resource Management (NRM). We all flew out of Philly together, then had our layover in France, then headed off to Lome, Togo.
After we landed in Lome, we spent a few days there just getting acclimated and going to different medical meetings. Then, we were off to our perspective cities to do our training. GEE and NRM were in different cities for training, but only about 5K away. So, during training, we each stayed with a different host family. Turns out, mine ruled so much (and in my opinion was the best family…just saying).

My Papa is an anesthesiologist whose life motto is ‘Vouloir C’est Pouvoir’, meaning, where there’s a will there’s a way. I got a pretty good philosophic discussion every now and then from him. My Mama always sat down with me and talked to me about Mama things, like the importance of getting a good job before settling down to get married. She also made popsicles, so everyday was a good day while living with my host family. My host brother, Koffi, was visiting from Cote d’Ivoire. He ruled and would cook me meals because I would tease him about letting all the girls do all the work. He made the best peanut sauce I’ve had yet. Yawa, my host sister, but not really because she was an apprentice living with us, was super sassy and would tease me all the time. But of course we were best girlfriends. Holla (not at all sure if that’s how you spell her name) also lived with me. She was the nicest person ever, and would always stop whatever she was doing to help me with something. That actually worked out pretty well, I learned how to wash laundry by hand super efficiently with her. Francis is 12 and went to school everyday, so I didn’t see him too much but he loooved playing uno and connect four with me and Koffi.

So, for two months I had training Monday through Saturday, from 7:30-5:00, with a lunch break from 12-2:30. Luckily, Saturdays were half days. I got a lot of good naps in during the time. During training we took French class or local language class every day, technical training (things about GEE and doing GEE projects), or bike repair class. Bike repair class RULED so much. We learned how to fix anything and everything with our sweet Trek mountain bikes Peace Corps issued us.

After training, we were offish sworn in as volunteers on November 18th in Lome at the Ambassador’s house. So, now I’m at my post. I’m east in the Centrale region. It’s pretty perfect here, I absolutely love my village. It’s gorgeous and I live close to a cashew factory (!). My village is predominately Muslim, so there are mosques everywhere, including right next to my house. My house rules beyond belief. First of all, it’s huge with running water and electricity (what!-this isn’t normal). I have a living room, kitchen, two bedrooms, and a bathroom with an overhead shower (!) and a western toilet (!)…before moving here I was using a latrine and bucket showering. I’m replacing another volunteer who went back to the US so it came furnished. Now all I’m going to do is touch up, like paint and reupholster the couch. I’ll take pictures when 1) I remember to and 2) when the house is repainted.
Typically, I wake up at about 6:30 or 7. If I don’t get woken up by the call to prayer, the rooster outside my bedroom window does a pretty good job of it. Then I debate on whether I should take a shower, but I usually veto that since its pretty cold in the mornings (and by that I mean like 75 degrees). Then I hop on my bike and ride to the ladies down the street that sell watchi, rice and beans boiled together. I sit there for a while, eating breakfast and trying to explain to people stopping by that my local name is Cherifa, not anasara (white). Then, I’ll either head to hospital where I’ve been tagging along with my site mate, Nahid, in helping fill the vaccination forms out for all the bebes getting their shots that day, or I head to the high school where I’ll sit in on an English class or help out with the Science club. Nahid is a health volunteer, and she’s been in village since August. Every other Wednesday, Nahid has a health club at one of the middle schools, so I’ll go over there and help out.

I’m about to start a few other projects like an English club to help the high school students study for the BAC, the test they have to take to get their diploma and go to university. Next week I’ll be starting a club for apprentices to discuss subjects like life skills, sex education, planning for the future, etc. Also, there is already a girls club at one the middle schools run by women in the community, so I’ll be tagging along and trying to help them out in any way with the resources I have. And when I get a more concrete schedule, I hope to start working more the Red Cross, especially with the mother’s clubs.
Somewhere along the day, I eat lunch. I typically go out to eat for lunch. My choices include spaghetti with an omelet on top (surprisingly delicious), an egg sandwich, or a salad, which is noodles with a few pieces of lettuce, some tomatoes, onions, and lots of mayonnaise. That’s not all I can choose from, but just what I generally eat since I’m not too sick of it yet.

If I have nothing to do in the mornings or afternoons, I’ll ride my bike around town and say hi to people that I recognize. Usually I hop from boutique to boutique, order a soda and sit and talk to whoever owns the store. I actually really enjoy doing that and look forward to it every day.

At night, if I don’t come home too late, my neighbor will swing by to check on me and we’ll chat for a while. Otherwise, I come home, make some dinner, read or watch something on my computer, then go to bed around 9:30. My dinner though is pretty abysmal, usually either pasta with tomato sauce or peanut sauce or a sandwich of laughing cow cheese and cut up tomatoes and some oregano…I had to bring the oregano from the states though.

All in all, I am completely in love with my life here. Togo is absolutely beautiful, and people are unbelievably nice and welcoming. Plus I’m totally safe here--y’all really don’t have to tell me to be safe . There are people all around me that are willing to help me out in any way in a moments notice; even strangers in taxis usually keep a pretty good eye out for me.
OK miss everyone beaucoup beaucoup. I hope everyone is doing well! Feel free to write me letters (notice the address change to the right), I promise I’ll write back. Besides, I’m probably better at writing letters than updating blogs, I think.

Philadelphia

2010-09-17T07:38:00.000-07:00

I went a few days early to staging to hang out with my mom, Curtis, Liz, and Moose.

We went to Amish country and ate an Amish feast:

We spent a day in NYC and ate at Kat'z Delicatessen (where When Harry Met Sally was filmed--my fave movie)

We also spent some time doing some taste tasting for Pat's and Geno's cheese steaks (Pat's FTW!)

And of course, I hung out with Moose.

Yesterday marked the first day in the Peace Corps. I went to staging where we spent the day in a conference room, talking about what is to come. Today we woke up super early to go get our yellow fever shots. I already got mine when I went to Bolivia, so I just walked over to eat an egg and cheese sandwich in a federal cafeteria (woah).

We leave the hotel today for our flight this evening. I'm pretty pumped.

So it's really happening

2010-09-09T17:37:00.000-07:00

Here is the start of my packing. Pretty daunting. My most exciting items are my solar powered/crank powered/battery powered shortwave radio, head lamp, and travel connect 4.

I'm leaving this Saturday for Philly, 1 week before orientation. My brother lives in Philly, so that's pretty convenient. I'm kind of freaking out now about leaving. When I first started the application process (which took 1 year!), 2 years didn't seem that long. Now that I'm packing and saying good-byes, 2 years seems like forever :(

Things I'm looking forward to:
1. Living in Africa!
What! That's kind of crazy, admit it.

2. Working in Girls Education and Empowerment.
If it's anything like GENaustin, I know I'm going to be really happy. There are already a ton of projects already started in the GEE program, so I'm ready to jump on any of them, or start my own.

3. Meeting about a bajillion interesting people.
Judging from the few I've become facebook acquaintances with, it looks like we're coming from all over the place, with all sorts of majors. Some of the best people I've met were while studying abroad. So here's to the 30 or so people I'll be spending the next 2 years.

4. Speaking French.
So, J'adore french, beaucoup. I've missed being in France and speaking it tout les temps. Now's my chance to relearn it and speak it toujour.

5. Being part of a small-ish community.
Well, this is just an assumption at this point. I won't know exactly where I am going until my 3 months of training is up, but either way, I'm totally pumped to find out where I'm going.

Things I'm Totes Nervous About:
1. Being bit by a snake.
Ok, so I'm bringing rain boots. Yes, there is a rainy season in Togo, but I'm bringing them more for the fact that I don't want a snake to bite my ankles.

2. Finding out I'm just crazy.
Why am I leaving my 100% comfortable life for this again? Oh that's right, to challenge myself and to help out in any way possible. But still, I have a really comfortable bed at home, all sorts of yummy foods at my fingertips, a super loving family, and some really great friends. Regardless if I realize I'm crazy or not, I'm gonna be sticking to this.

3. Missing people way too much.
I'm really in love with so many people here in Texas. It's going to be really hard.

Things I'm Pretty Sure I'm Going to Miss:
1. Casey Jones
My best bud for over 5 years and the only person who knows me 110%. It's going to be rough without him.

2. Cheeseburgers/Pizza/Beer
My staple diet here in the USA. I don't think I'll be getting very much of these items the next 2 years.

3. ATX
Austin, Texas! I super love this city! There are so many things to do at any given moment; so many places that serve really good cheeseburgers/pizza/beer. I'm going to miss going to concerts all the time, hanging out at Crown and Anchor, eating at Austin's Pizza, seeing really pretty views of the capitol, and going to UT (ok, that ended anyways, but still).

4. Swimming
I'm not a runner, at all. In fact, I'm pretty terrible at it. I'm pretty sure there are not going to be any indoor lap pools where I'm going. Time for me to learn how to run.

5. Ice Water
That's pretty self-explanatory.

Orientation starts on the 16th in Philly. At orientation I'm going to get a ton of shots and attend meetings. Then I fly to Lome (capitol of Togo), with a layover in Paris (wahoo, too bad its only for like 5 hours). I'll keep this blogging thing up, hopefully!

It's offish, I'm off!

2010-08-09T17:06:00.000-07:00

Bonjour tout le monde!

I have officially received my invitation to serve in the Peace Corps. I will leave on September 16th for Philadelphia for a two day orientation. On September 18th, I'll leave for TOGO!

Once in Togo, I'll have 3 months of training before I'm off to the location where I'll live for the next 24 months. I am assigned to the Girls' Education and Empowerment (GEE) program and I'll be working as a Girls' Education Extension Agent.

Other than that, I'm kind of up in the air about details still. I am now in the process of applying for my visa and passport, packing up everything I don't think I can live without for the next 2 years, eating as many tex-mex meals possible, trying to find enough concentration and time to study to take the GRE before I leave, and coming to terms with all the things I'm totes going to miss (primarily all the wonderful people in my life).

Until next time!

P.S. Pardon my Togo to-go pun....you know me and puns :) Also if you google image search Togo, you'd be surprised how many fast food to-go pictures that pop up.