9 days until I leave village (Tami) for good, 12 days until
I leave the Savanes Region (Dapaong), and 17 days until I leave Togo.
The latest:
SCHOOL GARDEN:
Finally completed! Well, minus the door that the President
of the Parents/teachers Association is in the process of making.
We finished the fencing this past Thursday and right away
started prepping the garden bed and planted seeds! I wowed everyone by picking up the hand-hoe
and getting dirty… It was a bunch of fun digging, planning and planting with
them. And for helping us, we made sure
to share the leftover seeds with all 8 students, the mason and my work partner.
.... Using a machete??...
WOMEN’S GROUP:
Also finished? I held a meeting with them last week to make
a date for a representative in the group to bike to Dapaong and find out where
the chemical shop is to buy liquid soap and how to order a kit (because
sometimes the guy only sells the soap “pate” and not the whole kit with
perfume, color, acid, and salt). I also
bestowed upon them the “piggy bank” or as they call it here, the “caisse”,
complete with two locks so that they can securely continue to do the Village
Savings and Loan/Microfinance program. I
had been trying for the longest time to think of the best option for collecting
and storing the funds from the group and we finally came to a conclusion,
bought the caisse and locks and everyone is happy. Apparently they didn’t want the official
Microfinance groups that are established in each village to take over the funds
because they are known for collecting money for savings and then calling out
“bankruptcy” when people want to collect their savings back. And lastly, I handed over all photocopies and
paperwork to the Women’s Conference Candidate, Larba, officially cutting the
umbilical cord that I’ve created with the group. And now my work partner, Gobine, just
informed me that the women are planning a goodbye for me this Wednesday! This
past week we gave them a rough time about being on time, being responsible and
respectful, and they were finally worried about my leaving once I handed over
the rest of the paperwork. Then when the
woman representative came to buy soap for the group on Saturday, she handed me 3,000F
to give to Gobine (who couldn’t make it into the city that day) and said it was
for meat. That’s when Gobine explained
why they held a meeting after our meeting… I thought they were mad at me/us but
turns out they just wanted to be all secretive and do something nice. Carrying on a financial group with a bunch of
women who don’t speak the same language as you (they speak only Moba) has been
the easiest of jobs but it’s been pretty rewarding. The things I will miss most about Togo are
the things/people that I at one point probably called a pain in my butt <3. My women’s group, my English class/students
in general, my host family, the boyfriends, the best friends, and the work
partners…
DESK PROJECT:
As stated previously the desks were delivered and the
funding closed! However, because I rushed to get the desks delivered, the
painter hadn’t yet painted the dedications on all the desks. So once he and the carpenter return to
Tami-Zongo and do that, the project will completely and officially done (they
say sometime this week)... Wahoo!!!
PRIMARY SCHOOL MOTIVATION:
So director Daniel Bougueme (from the desk project)
convinced me to visit his home village just several minutes down the road from
Tami, in between Tchangui and Lotougou and stop at a few schools to give
motivational speeches like I did for the parents of Tami-Zongo. During a visit to two schools, Bougueme
stated that the students and especially girl students must work hard and stay
in school… And he went on to promise prizes for the top students in every
class. So recently I reminded him of
this promise and we each contributed 6,000F to buy gifts for the top 2 students
in each class. Well then a brother of Bougueme’s
decided to also contribute 6,000F, making it possible to give prizes to the top
3 students in each class at the two schools! We bought notebooks, pens,
crayons, and other items needed for the next school year and divided things up
by class level.
School A: We gave out their prizes in coalition with the
announcing of test results and distribution of report cards on July 4th, and
were gifted some fried chicken and local brew (Tchakpa) in return. Previously, the first time we had visited the
school we had been unexpectedly gifted a live chicken and some eggs for just
showing up to speak to the students and teachers.
School B: We’ve visited this school more often because I’m also helping them with their own desk and building refurbishment project. My main role is to motivate parents to raise money for the community contribution of the grant request. The second time we’d gone to talk at this school, we also got gifted a live chicken from one of the parents. On July 11th, we gave out the prizes here in collation with the announcing of test results and distribution of report cards and we were gifted a beverage at a local bar. It’s funny that every time I go to help somewhere but Tami, people want to gift me things…
COS MED EXAM/TRIP TO LOMÉ AND AKLAKOU:
In order to leave the
country, we the COS’ing (completion of Service) PCV’s (volunteers) must get a
list of things checked off. One of those
is annoying for those of us up in the North—that is head down to Lomé for a
physical exam within 30 days of COS’ing and prior to the actual week of
COS’ing. I caught the monthly Peace
Corps vehicle (the Lomé Limo) down, shared a room and ate cheap pate while
there to keep funds down. They refused
to let me stay in the Med Unit because I wasn’t actually sick but they said if
I paid for things, I could get reimbursed.
Mind you, this reimbursement won’t come until COS week so I shall be a
bit more poor in my last days. So I
arrived on Monday evening, had my medical exam on Tuesday Morning and then went
off to Aklakou to visit Djato at his new post! I met all the hospital staff and
the only other two Moba people in the village.
One of the two Moba women made us pate for dinner and we watched the
world cup match (Germany v. Brazil to be exact). I spent the night at the local Auberge and
then sped off to Atakpame on Wednesday morning to break up my trip, and I had
also promised to meet up with one of Djato’s uncles. Leaving Aklakou, the Douanier (security check
point chief) kindly paid for a moto to bring me to Aneho, where I caught a ride
for super cheap all the way to the GTA car station (and didn’t get price gauged
for the first time in Lomé in 2 years), where a fellow PCV had a car waiting to
take us to Atakpame. I met up with
Djato’s uncle who surprised me with a huge sack of bananas and avocados, took
me out for two drinks, ordered two expensive hotel meals and while that was
cooking he brought me to his girlfriend’s house who made us a pate dinner, then
picked up the other meals, and brought me to watch the World Cup Match with my
other PCV friends. Then the next
morning, I stopped by his shop on the way out to say goodbye and he not only
helped me find a bush-taxi but also handed the driver the money to get me all
the way to Dapaong! And then in the car ride, I started talking to this
gentleman next to me who is a science near Lomé and insisted on paying for a
snack for me every time the vehicle stopped in a city. He told me it was because he once knew a
Peace Corps Volunteer who was super kind to him and he wanted to give me gifts
in his honor. So much unexpected
generosity in such a small time frame!
Moral of this run-around story: Sometimes when we do things we don’t
want to do, great things or benefits may come of it.
COS PAPERWORK:
DOS (Description of Service), Final Site Report, final VRF
(Volunteer Reporting Form), Final documents and thank you letters and photos
for funded project donors, and photocopies for my women’s group to continue to
work without me pushing them… All the documents that have been haunting my life
these days but that are all coming together! I spent the past few days here in
Dapaong running errands and getting some quality computer time (there were
virtually no PCVs staying in the city and the power and internet was decent
most of the weekend). I know that I
haven’t got much time left in village, but I was really falling behind on some
paperwork. It’s funny that I have
“village guilt” even up until my last remaining days.
CAMPS:
I’ve been having nothing but trouble with most of my
participants and trainers that I’ve sent to do camps this season. It seems like I’ve gotten at least 2 phone
calls during the camp sessions to solve a problem. I won’t go into detail but it’s just tiring
is all. I hope that the participants are
at least getting a lot out of the experience and will be able to share this
experience with others!
DJATO:
After spending 3 weeks in the furthest part of Togo from me
possible, my boyfriend was sent back up to the North! He arrived Friday night,
just when I was finishing my visit with the new PCV (stagaire) in Korbongou!
He’s not in Dapaong but at least in Savanes, so he’s super happy. He got placed in Mango and the Assistant
there gives him his official post tomorrow.
This time, there’s no changing (I think?). He’s making plans to take off a week and head
down to Lomé with me for my COS week and be able to say goodbye at the
airport. Even with very little money and
a very demanding job, he finds a way to get things done and make time for me as
well…
Random:
Stove-top range gas cooker broke… But now fixed! When I was
done cooking on Tuesday, I went to switch off the gas but it wouldn’t turn
off. So I had to cut the gas off from
the actual tank. So when I cranked the
tank on, I could hear gas hissing out of the broken left burner. So I ate very modestly for a few days until I
could get into Dapaong and get it fixed.
The repairman couldn’t actually fix it because there was a tiny metal
filament broken inside the handle and it’s too small to melt down and mold. So he just blocked the hole and put it back
together again. Now my two-range
stovetop is a one-range but at least I’m not in fear of dangerous leaking gas,
and I can eat decently my last 2 weeks in Tami.
Upon leaving Tami I plan to hand off the tank and gas-range to Djato, so
he is also thrilled that the problem is solved.
Bougueme took PCV Andrew and me to visit a stagaire (new
pcv, or trainee) during his post visit in Korbongou. We were able to visit the market on market
day, meet his host family, get a tour of the local children’s hospital
(pediatry), save a cow that was stuck in a drainage ditch, visit his school and
get a few drinks while playing cards. I
had a lovely time with some very lovely gentlemen and I hope that the new guy has
a wonderful service; he seems to like his post very much already.
I've also met a few other new trainees while in Dapaong and they all seem pretty cool. Best of luck to you all!
I've also met a few other new trainees while in Dapaong and they all seem pretty cool. Best of luck to you all!
My last days…
I’m heading back to Tami tomorrow for a dinner with
Bougueme’s family, the women’s group party Wednesday and then things are pretty
open until my last day in Tami on the 30th of July. Then I plan to head down to Lomé on August
2nd for the COS week conference.
