Il n'y a jamais rien sans rien…

 Rough translation: There’s never been something without anything… In other words, get off your butt and do something! And once again, I can’t remember who said it, why or when, but the quote stuck.

Unfortunately, this is how I started my week:

There are two more abrasions not shown, one on my thigh and ankle

Story:

So I was moto-ing back to village with my boyfriend Djato and at one point we were passing these dogs that were playing to the left side of the road.  We weren’t going too fast and he made sure to veer far to the right in order to pass safely (there are always animals of all sorts and children to be watch out for when driving around here).  Then, all of the sudden, they stumbled out (more like darted in full play-attack-mode) right in front of us! We hit both so hard, one of dogs pooped (it got on Djato’s pants and moto), and the moto fell to the left side, with my leg pinned under it.  My white leg showed the injuries well and made Djato embarrassed (he had apparently never fallen with someone on his moto before).  The huge hole in my skirt from road rash didn’t help his pride either.  He tried to get me to put on an extra skirt to hide the injury, so that no one in Tami would know what he did.  That didn’t happen because I wasn’t getting all my clothes covered in blood.  Luckily he’s a nurse, so when we got back, he used some of the products out of my Peace Corps issued medical kit and cleaned my wounds.  It took me until Thursday to be comfortable walking (i.e. not swell up past unpleasant pain boundaries).  They aren’t big wounds per say, but they are inconveniently located for walking (and wearing of pants) purposes.  The other annoying part is that the flies are back because of the rains.  So it’s too hot indoors to stay in to rest and then when you go outside, the flies try to eat your flesh and infect the wounds… Annoying buggers.  By now though, the wounds are scabbed over and almost healed!

DESK PROJECT

I visited the carpenter to check up on the progress! As pictured, all the wood is bought, dried and cut.  This week he starts to build! Apparently that’s the easy part? I’m typing up the list of names of donors/dedications for him to paint on the desks when finished.

The wood, all prepped for building!

SEMAINE CULTURELLE

On Monday, the morning of my accident, I wasn’t able to teach due to injuries (aka I couldn’t walk).  On Tuesday, I made the mistake of sucking up the pain and trying to teach.  The students wanted to learn just as much as I wanted to teach.  Semaine Culturelle, or Cultural Week, is supposed to be a week free of classes, replaced with fun, culturally-enriching activities.  But since we had too many days due to strikes, we were forced by inspection to at least do 3 hours of classes Monday- Wednesday.  Some teachers followed this rule, to say the least.  And then instead of helping Komi, me and the other Cultural Week organizers, they all just left.  Jerks.  Anyway, we did get some festivities in. 

On Monday afternoon, there were the finalist matches for both boys and girls for the school soccer tournament that’s been going on for the past two months.  Also this was the day for my class to buy the ingredients for the picnic, so I had students coming and going just about all day.  The boys, in charge of buying the meat, bought 4 chickens, one of which was sick and died the next morning.  They paid 2,500F for the thing, but the guy who bought the dead chicken to eat was only willing to pay 750F (at least it’s something).  Oh also! My gas tank for my stove ran out, right as we finished cooking dinner (Djato stayed over since he hurt my leg and wanted to help me).  Djato left at about 4am Tuesday to Dapaong to exchange it and get me a new gas tank.  What a sweet boyfriend, eh?      

On Tuesday, I attempted English Spelling Bees with the lower classes (6^th and 7^th grade), and in the afternoon there was a soccer match between the teachers and students. 

On Wednesday, I did Spelling Bees with the higher classes (8^th and 9^th grade) and it went really well! We got two rounds in for each class and the second round for the 9^th grade (3ieme) class got intense.  There were two finalists and a spell-off! Both boys did really well but one became the victor and got to choose the first prize (I had reserved gifts from my sister’s visit and from care packages to hand out).  We even invited some high school students to spell-off and win a prize.  The director Ayeva (word giver) and Komi (time-keeper) were my counter-parts for this activity and did a great job.  The director complimented my new game and said that he and the 3ieme class would be using this game to study (he’s the English teacher in 3ieme).  All I did was copy all the vocabulary words in each class (taken from the class cahiers), type them, print them, cut em out and then toss em in a black plastic sachet.  We then had each player come to choose his/her word without looking, hand it to the director, who read the word and each students had 15 seconds to correctly spell the given word.  I was the judge and said correct or incorrect.  So I may not have gotten to a regional competition but at least I got a local Tami competition going!

On Thursday, I woke up to help the boys buy a replacement chicken, and added money to buy a second (that makes my contribution of 2 chickens—5,000F).  Then we all started cooking at my house! The girls were in charge of the rice, pasta and sauce; the boys were in charge of the poultry.  By noon the food was about done, we cleaned up, they left and rested, and then the girls came back to get ready chez moi.  About 15 teenage girls were running around bathing, changing, and putting makeup on.  I decided to whip out the nail polish and they were super pumped.  Afterwards we all went over in shifts with the food, set up, ate, and danced.  I didn’t really stay long at the picnic because my leg was hurting and because I was still kinda mad at all the male idiots, I mean other teachers (they have been getting on my nerves way too much lately and cultural week was the pivotal point of driving me mad)… All in all, I really liked working with the students closely and getting to know them and hang out.  They were so awesome, cooking and dancing and having a great time.  That was celebration enough for me.       

 

 

VISA TO THE USA?

As stated previously, I have been helping my friend Emmanuel GOBINE get his American visa to visit the USA.  I was supposed to go to Lomé with him to be moral support for his interview but I pulled out at last minute due to financial reasons.  The cost to, from and around Lomé as well as food and hotels, would be way too much money just to sit outside the interview room (because I wouldn’t be able to enter anyway).  So I gave him some goodies from my American care package and sent him off on his own (like the big boy he is—he is at least 10 years my senior at any rate).  He called Monday morning to inform me of his rejection, and then Monday night to inform me of his voyage back up North.  I feel guilty for not going with him.  He said that they refused him because he didn’t have significant proof for returning to Togo after the visit (aka, they don’t want him to stay for good in our country), and also he didn’t have a letter of invitation from me (which was stated nowhere on the website in English or French!).  Maybe if I went, it would have made the difference? Ugh, I feel so bad… Am I a bad friend?? He’s still talking to me, or at least updating me, so that’s a good sign I guess…   

VISIT TO KOUMONGOU

 Aka, chez Margaret! Another PCV, Justin, announced he was going to visit our other PCV friend, Margaret, in her village before heading back to Lomé.  I expressed interest but no one seemed too thrilled, so I was set on just staying in Dapaong or possibly heading back to village for my spring break.  And then literally when a moto was waiting outside for him, I decided to join him and he was content to have a travel buddy.  Her village is pretty cool and would be great for a replacement PCV, besides the fact that you have to cross a river to get there… Luckily it’s dry season and the river was crossable by foot.  On the way back however, the water level had risen slightly and the motorcycle had to be put on a small boat/canoe in order to cross.  Justin stayed one night and left the following afternoon.  I stayed with her 3 nights and left late in the morning Thursday.  I got to see her house, meet some of her colleagues, girls from her girls group, women from her women’s group and random neighbors and village-folk.  We also set out her bee hive with her conference candidate, shopped in her market during market day, cooked pate together, and got to have some girl time.  She is definitely unique, that girl.  She is one of the best PCVs I’ve met, and really just cares about everyone, her community and has a way of talking so people listen (well at least they try to understand).  Her service as a PCV ended in November and she’s been here since, on her own dime and dollar to continue her projects.  Peace Corps rejected her proposal for extension but that didn’t stop her! She’s tough and probably the most integrated a PCV (or RPCV) can get.  I’m slightly jealous and self-doubting around her when Togolese are around (she always talks to them better and understands and they all love her), but that goes away and respect and appreciation stick.  Her last day in Togo is May 29^th (that’s when her flight leaves, so she plans on leaving village the 28^th), and her community is going to miss her so much.  She plans on taking some pre-med pre-requisites, going to med school, and then being an international doctor (so at least 7 years of schooling, aka at least 7 years before visiting Togo).  I call her mother Theresa now, which is ironic because people in her village call her “the mother of Koumongou”.

 

BOYFRIEND’S LIMBO

Djato has been in a job limbo for a bit, waiting on word from the government of where his new post is.  Since the blow-out with the Major, he hasn’t worked in Tami.  The whole reason he went down to Lomé, when the major broke down his door to give to an incoming “stagaire” (intern), was for a job promotion for the government.  He went down one week for the interview, two weeks later for paperwork, and then two weeks after for an official acceptance and ceremony.  That’s lots of time and money he’s spent for this “volontaire” position and no word yet on where he’s placed.  Apparently all other sectors, besides health, have received their posts and started work.  In the mean time, he’s just hanging out at his family house in Dapaong, complete with electricity and the wives of brothers who cook for him (both of his parents have died, that leaves wife #2 in the main household with Djato, and wife #3 in another compound on the other side of town).  He’s going stir-crazy because he’s kind of a workaholic.  It's also been a little stressful on me financially (like when his tire blew out last week and I had to front the money to purchase a new one)... So I too can't wait!   

 

IN OTHER NEWS:

House drama continues… I forgot to mention it in the last blog but just the other week, on a random market day, host mom #2 showed up! She’d been moved to Nanergou and banned from showing up in Tami until further notice.  And then, without notice (to me at least) she was there before my eyes.  And they were celebrating? Cooking up meat and drinking in her honor? I didn’t get the chance to talk to my host dad about it until one day this past week, host mom#1 starts tearing down her Tchuck (local brew) making station and packing up all her belongings… Based upon prior problems/conflicts, I resolved to stay out of the household politics, but this warranted an explanation! So I sat down with Francois and he explained that since host mom #2 moved out, he thought that there would be less problems but the problems in the house continued and so he banned host mom #1 to the same house in Nanergou with host mom#1.  That leaves host mom #3 and two kids.  Oh yea, I forgot to mention there’s a new edition.  She started out as the main bar tender at the bar and then started sleeping over a little after host mom #2 was gone.  It took me several weeks to figure out that she was sleeping in the same room as my host dad (actually it was Djato that pointed it out because I had already distanced myself from the family by this point).  Guess when I go back after spring break, we’ll see state of the household peace…

A broken Larba:

The week of “semaine culturelle”, I was pretty down.  Besides my leg being in pain and trying to still run activities, I had a lot on my mind.  And more than just work or finding a job after Peace Corps, etc.  I was emotionally drained by Tami.  Between the home situation (and wife drama), the major being an unprofessional jerk, and  the random stuff I can normally take but was over-sensitive to lately (like being called yovo or batoullie, or men refusing to greet me because I’m a woman, or people also asking me for stuff like I’m effing Santa Clause)… There were also the teachers.  At one point I considered them all my big brothers, but most recently, they’ve done nothing but test my boundaries, insult me, and anger me.  I don’t want to project blame, but it seems to have started after the arrival of our Plan Togo Volunteer, Komi.  I get compared to him now, which isn’t fair since he’s Togolese and a male.  And now, it also seems like a decrease in respect by all.  We have always all joked around and such but there are limits.  Like asking me if whether the hair on my head matched that of the hair below (I thought only gingers got asked this question) = verbal sexual harassment.  And the jokes about how attractive the young underage female students are have increased (illegal in the USA?).  And just making me feel alienated based on color as well.  One day I had a great day with one of the teachers who invited me to his house to greet the family, see his tree garden and such.  When he brought me home, I bought him a beer at our bar because I was thrilled to have been invited to another teacher's house for once.  Then the Monday after, when around the other males, he was a jerk and tried drinking all my water (which is filtered due to microbes in their well water), when there was an entire basin of water right next to him.  He said he wanted to drink the American water.  I tried to explain that I can’t drink the water straight from the well because I’d get sick and they all started making fun of me.  I don’t know.  I can only have so many come-backs, and can take only so much.  It feels like it’s all of them versus me and the director is never there any more, he’s always in Dapaong, and disinterested/busy with his own problems, so what can he do? I’m going to meet with them when I get back after break.  Boiling point came at a great time, because it was right before spring break.  I’ve been able to talk it through with Djato and Margaret and get some decent advice.  Plus, I only have about a month of teaching left really.  I think I can…! 

RPCV PLANS:

I’m currently working on updating the old resume and scraping together sample cover letters.  So the first baby step is rolling.  Then I have to seriously apply and look... It’s just so hard to get anything on the computer done here! Power goes out, internet stops working, other PCVs wanting to use the computer (there’s only one workstation computer, most PCVs use laptops but some of us don’t have one) all the time… Damn near impossible.  But I’m going to keep trying.  For example, today: I was waiting for the cleaning lady, Rosine, to finish up cleaning indoors and in the process I was organizing my bag from my trip, cleaning things, organizing paperwork and right when I was finishing washing my underwear collection, another PCV popped in and jumped right on the computer (I was alone prior to her arrival).  So I had to wait a few hours until she was done.  Then right when she was off and it was my turn, rain and wind started and the power went out.  When the power came back on, I had about 20 minutes of prime internet time before the internet stopped working.  So I as I type this, the internet is still not working.  Good part about blogging is that I can type everything off-line and then load it when I get access to internet.  I tried everything to get the connection back but no luck so far.

So the future of RPCV Larba waits another day…

P.S. Gretch, Valerie and I thank you for the drink chez Bar Mondo!