This quote was said to me one day... I
can’t remember who said it or when, but I liked it. I don’t know if it describes the locals or
PCVs better...
So, it’s been awhile...
Many things have been happening since my
last post over a month ago. But in
brief:
School:
To greve or not to greve? ...
It’s been such a struggle this school year
trying to get any work done because of the inconsistent constant striking. Obviously teaching in itself poses a problem,
but also an irregular school schedule means difficulty starting clubs, and just
motivating students and teachers in general is increasingly difficult. Normally it’s just the “state-paid” teachers
who don’t show up, and all the volunteer teachers still hold classes, at least
in my village. But one week the
government shut down all schools and not even state paid teachers were allowed
to work. The irony: after all the
striking the government decided not only to NOT increase the pay of teachers
but also to subtract from their pay the days of school they missed. At my school we got through “devoirs”
(midterms) finally and the plan is to have regional “compositions” (final
exams) two weeks after holiday break.
But we shall see if the school years commences again or not.
I teach, shadow the other English teachers,
create and grade exams… and hopefully the clubs will start up well in January!
My life as an English teacher in Francophone Africa has definitely been quite
the experience thus far and I’m sure there will be plenty more stories to
uncover before I leave.
We had a parent/teachers meeting last
week. Most of the meeting was in Moba
and I was zoned out, but then it came time for me to ask whether the
association would like a replacement volunteer when my two years is up here
(I’m done in September 2014). I have to
ask because Peace Corps Togo started mandating (with my group being the first)
that all communities receiving education volunteers have to pay for the housing-
whether it be an unoccupied house or two rooms with some family, housing must
be community donated. One of the parents
stood and talked for a bit in Moba and when the translation came I was angered
by the first few words but flattered by the last few. So far the parents do not want to pay the
housing for a new volunteer to come, but they say that I can stay for another 5
or so years because they like me here and appreciate the work I’ve done. I have had several parents come up to me
after and reinstate that opinion. So I
don’t know what to tell my APCD? Should I request a replacement? I don’t think,
finally speaking, I can afford to stay more time.
Clinic Work:
I’m still showing up on Mondays to help
with baby-weighing and vaccinations.
There’s a “Tour of Savanes” bike tour for infant health that is under
construction at the moment. There will
be two “tours” and Tami is in the second, so I plan to ride out on the second
wave. We will ride our bicycles around
the region, spending two days in selected villages to give trainings on infant/child
nutrition and how to prevent and improve malnutrition. The program is modeled after the FARN
nutrition program, if anyone is familiar with that. The work partner that the Major assigned me
is really awesome and I’m pretty excited to work with him when the time
comes.
I also help sometimes as an assistant nurse
when necessary. I’m still kind of in
training but they give me easy enough tasks, such as filling out the
reports/paperwork, prepping instruments, etc.
At the clinic, there is one “head” nurse (Major), one general nurse, one
new nurse, one midwife (Matrone), and one bookkeeper/pharmacist (Girent). All of them work during normal day hours and
then they each take turns being “on-call” for a week at a time. During this week, whenever a sick or injured
person or woman in labor comes, no matter the hour, they must take them. On the weekends sometimes, when I’m in
village; and the person is by him or herself, I will assist.
Shadowing:
I hosted two new PCVs at my house for two
days and then spent two days in each of their villages as well. When in my village, they were able to sit in
a class while I taught, then I had each of them lead a game with my class. We then went into each class and greeted them
in English and let the students ask questions.
We then walked to the clinic, greeted them, and on the way back greeted
the two high school classes as well. We
walked around the market, got drinks and played cards (they learned the
Togolese card game from me). I don’t
know if they were just being nice but they both seemed to be impressed by my
village cuisine.
Next, I went to Timbou with Andrew and
spent two days there. Unfortunately, the
government closed the schools the day we arrived, so I couldn’t see him teach
but we still had a good time. We got to
walk around and greet some of his work partners. And we got to spend a good amount of time
with one guy who sells (and gave us some) awesome citron juice, and then later
we got Tchakpa with another counterpart.
And some other guy gifted us two live pigeons... His one counterpart
came the next day and cooked them up for us and then left! The meat was
interesting, kind of a mixture between rabbit and duck.
After Timbou, I made my way to Bogou, to
shadow Heather. After the two “bush
taxis” I was pretty beat but after a quick bite to eat and some rehydration I
was good to go. The people of Bogou were
super inviting and accommodating. And
her host parents are adorable! Her host dad can be a bit confusing but
sweet. We did a tour of her market,
drank some of the local brew, met up with Matt and went for a hike, and met
some of her work partners.
Both Heather and Andrew are pretty chill
people and I’m glad they were the two placed next to me. And I hope to work with them on a project
soon!
Plan Togo Work Partner:
Just about two weeks ago, I was at my house
after teaching and was called back to the school with no given reason except
that the headmaster wanted to see me. I
sped over on my bike and was greeted by an unplanned meeting. Turns out that I was finally given that new
work partner that my APCD told me all education volunteers were to receive. I had been told for weeks that I was to gain
a Togolese version of a Peace Corps Volunteer to work with; and now I have him!
He’s super cool so far and I’m excited to start working with him after the
break. So far, he has just shadowed me
in class, at the hospital, the nursery school, and any other place I go. He’s from Tsevié, down South near Lomé, and
is a graduate from university. And he’s
catching on to Moba pretty quick (much quicker than me at least). It’s pretty sweet to be a mentor and teach a
Togolese person about my community… It’s kind of empowering actually.
Other work projects:
The Spelling Bee is still on, but after a
visit with the inspectors, we decided to cut down the amount of invitees. I want to now include the 4 schools in my
teaching group, all EGE PCVs (and one non-EGE who teaches) and the few selected
schools in Mango. The funding can’t be
done until February because I have a first year PCV doing the funding (because
I already have a funded project open under my name).
The Odyssey of the Mind Competition may not
happen. I sent out an email inquiring
about interest in co-organizing and interest in general, and the feedback was
not very enthusiastic. But I will be
doing a session on Odyssey at the PDM training so maybe next year PCVs can get
the competition rolling. I can’t do it
on my own with all the other projects and work I have going on.
I will be a trainer for the EGE sector at
the upcoming PDM (the in-service training where all PCVs bring a counterpart
with them). We have started
brainstorming ideas already, but the training is not until the end of February.
Doctor Stephanie is coming back and doing a
program on public health in January! She has invited 4 of the most motivated
women from my women’s group to be bused into Dapaong to attend the
program.
We have had a few womens group meetings and
things seem to be going well. A few
women are near finished with repayment of their microloans! And we continue to
do liquid soap in order to fund the learning of new AGRs.
I am now one of the two Dapaong Workstation
managers! The old manager moved to a site further away and asked if another PCV
and I would take up the responsibilities until the new stage takes over in
September. I have been manager of the
Post Office Box since September too.
It’s nice to have another person to co-manage with, because we both live
a little far. It’s a new appointment, so
not too much to detail yet.
The PCPP application for the funding of
desks for the primary school is done and sent in. I got feedback emailed to me with corrections
the other week and resent the application with edits a few days after. So now we wait. Hopefully it goes through; Tami could really
use the desk and sitting space!
Health:
Been worse and been better...
One day, I was boiling my water filter
candle to clean it and when I went to grab it out of the hot water with a towel
the water ran down my hand and burned me pretty well. It was the day before the official school
reopening and I couldn’t move my right hand.
Luckily I had aloe gel that helped a lot and then put some blue liquid
on it. The blue liquid.... I don’t what
it is but it’s a miracle healer. It
makes wounds dry and heal faster. It
also helps keeps flies out of the wound, which is a huge problem for healing
here (because they land on, eat and infect the wound—in droves). And now it’s healed over and you can’t even
tell that there was once a festering wound there.
And just the other day, I was on the back
of someone’s moto (motorcycle) and we hit some sand and fell sideways. Luckily no one was seriously injured; I only
have this long scratch on my left leg and he only had a scratch on his left
elbow. My wound is already all healed
and now just a light scar remains on my left calf.
BF:
We’re still together and happy. Sometimes the cultural and lingual
differences can be too much but most of the time, il n’y a pas de probleme. He came down to Lomé with me to pick up
Gretchen and Mark when they land. He
also had errands to run here for himself and family members, so it worked out
that I didn’t have to come down alone.
I’ve been going to church with his family and him on Sundays and his mom
is convinced that I’m going to convert to Catholicism… His uncle here in Lomé
wants me to convert to Islam… Why can’t I just attend all places and not commit
to one?? I learn a lot from him actually; not just about Togo and its culture
but also how to more flexible and open to cross-cultural experiences. It’s too easy to get upset and take things
personally here (or when you’re a foreigner anywhere) but you really just gotta
breathe and take it easy. People here
seem to anger fast but it’s just their way of reacting and communicating… They
also forgive and get over it pretty fast too! I, personally, get defensive when
people raise their voices at me, because it’s a natural reaction; just at when
some people get the slightest bit frustrated, they raise their voice in
emphasis. No two people are the
same. And sometimes getting angry with
one person can make a volunteer angry at the host country as a whole but that’s
not cool. The same can happen between
“stages” (groups of volunteers based on when you came in to country). I had an incident a bit ago where one “first
year” was being a prick at a holiday party and then the next day I had a slight
disagreement with another “first year” and asked aloud why all people from
their “stage” were so sensitive and mean… Yea I’m an ass ;) But I got over it
and hope they did too! I have too much to worry about than to put my energy
into worrying about drunken arguments and misunderstandings. ANYWAY, in summary, grouping people and
generalizations about a group based upon one person or interaction isn’t
cool. Sorry for the rant but it’s my
blog and I’ll rant if I want to ;) …
Visitors:
Gretchen and Mark get here in two days!
They will spend one week here in Togo and then we will all go over to Ghana and
spend a week there. They’ve been shot
up, gotten visas, made itineraries and are ready for adventure =) My whole
village knows about their arrival and are excited that they will be with us for
the big fete of “Bonne Année” (New Years).
If anyone remembers from last year’s post, New Years is actually
celebrated on the 1st of January, not the 31st of
December. My biggest worry is how much
meat Gretchen (a vegetarian) will be offered while here (even though I made
sure to spread the word that she doesn’t eat meat). Here in Togo, the proper way to receive a guest
is through alcohol (usually Tchakpa up North) and meat… So we’ll see!
So that about sums up life here at the
moment… If I missed something please forgive me, but it’s been awhile and there
is a lot going on! Time is flying by and there is much more work opportunities
this year than my first year.
I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday
season! And for those of you back home, please make and throw a snowball in my
honor?
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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