Getting stuck in!

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Aww thanks guys for all your lovely messages!!!! So nice to receive them all.

So I've been working for 4 days for PDH and it's VERY hard work. I go to bed at 7pm each night ABSOLUTELY exhausted. I think it is because I have to concentrate so hard when speaking and listening to people. I'm finding the language easier each day as I am getting used to the phrases that are used - Nous proposons au PDH de programmer un discuter avec le patient - hey hey! Impessed£$µ* (I can't find the question mark on this weird keyboard!!!)

Well, let me describe my usual day - I wake up at 6:15 and have a 'shower', which is a bucket full of water thrown over me. Thanks Frankie, Sarah and Kev for begging me to have a shower before I come back, hehe! I then go into Antoine and Rachel's house for breakfast, which is a baguette with honey and some black tea - VERY nice way to start the day! Rachel is normally trying to brush Merveille's teeth, which she screams all the way through.

We then start work with a meeting at 7:15 with all of the Togolese volunteers - Brigitte, Bruno, Armand, Mawuli, Pascal and Esse. We present our reports from the previous day's work, which include if we have done house, school or hospital visits. Each visit has to be written up maticulously (in French!) and then read each morning. We then discuss the tasks that need to be done that day, and split them up equally (except I am given considerably less than the others).

For the last couple of mornings I have been visitting the hospital and houses with Bruno on his MASSIVE motorbike. I have videos one of our journeys so you can all see how crazy the roads are here when I get back. There are hardly any cars, and quite often there will be motos driving slowly down the wrong side of the road, as well as VERY fast down the right side of the road - WEIRD, but I'm getting used to it.

Yesterday Bruno and I went to the hospital with a man who needs a hernia operation. We went to the Service Sociale desk to ask for 'assistance financiale', and they offered to pay for half of the operation, about £13. The patient cannot pay for the other half though, so PDH is trying to find the other half to give him. Judging by Bruno's reaction, it won't be easy!

I then normally come back for luch a la maison at about noon, and pop in and see Rachel and Merveille. What is strange is that noon is the hottest time of the day, but lunch is this meal that the Togolese have hot. It has taken some getting used to. Rachel has been giving me HUGE portions of very good food, but apparently it is a normal-sized portion in Togo, and it is actually me who is weird that I cannot finish them. Very good food though - spagetti with tomatoes and peppers, rice with egg and vegetables, fried yam with cooked salad. They have been great about me being a veggie!!

Then I normally sleep between about 1 and 2pm with my fan on full blast, then normally get up and have another shower and do some more work from 3pm. Yesterday we had the 'Groupe de Parole avec les enfants', for which 20 kids came, aged betweek 2 and 12 years old. I gave them the presents from Diana and the arty things I bought with everyone's kind donation, and they had a great time. They all made collages each and the glitter got EVERYWHERE!!! We then all sat down for a group discussion about how to do lessons at home, and then all had a big bowl of VERY STRONG chilli spaghetti and fish.

Normally I would have dinner in the house, but yesterday was an exception. Then I have free time until I go to bed. The other night Ilolo (Rachel's youngest brother, who is studying English at Lomé university) asked if I wanted t play some games after dinner, so we found a CONNECT4 set and played for about 3 hours, talking about home and the world. He says he wants to be a translator, and I have to say it was SOOOO nice to talk to someone in English!!!!

So that is my normal day. It certainly is a completely different life here. Days are long, but life is much slower. There are SOOO many children everywhere - Rachel and Ilolo told me that they are from a family of 15 children, and that is normal for Togo. From the younger people I have spoken to though (including Rachel and Ilolo) the younger generation only want to have 2 or 3 children. So times are changing here.

What I have found of the charity so far is that they are incredibly organised and professional. This is a completely home-grown charity that was set up in 1999 in a shed, and is now thriving - in numbers, not in money. The local volunteers work 5 days a week for no pay, and I think that is incredible! I know I have paid to be here, so I am not being paid, but at the end of the day I go back to my job in London and don't REALLY need to worry about money. I know we are all talking about the 'credit breakfast cereal' at home, but I am working with people who work 9 hours a day every day, and do not get paid ANYTHING. It is amazing.

Due to my limitted French, I have had to think of how I can add to the charity - 'do my bit'. I started filming yesterday for the promotional film for PDH, and that went down well. I had a class at a primary school chant 'BONJOUR SOUER RACHEL!' Pretty amazing!

Right, I must get on and do some research for PDH. I'm going to contact my old Society - STOP AIDS - and see if they would be interested in holding a findraising event for us. FAB!

Missing you all soooo much, but kind of wish you could all be HERE rather than me be back in England....if that males sense.

Keep the messages coming!
Lots of love
R
xxxxxx

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Comments

[Sarah (big sis)]

Glad it's going well
Nice to read what you're up to... sounds like you're having an amazing time :)

[Ellie G]

hey Butters, sounds like your having an awesome time. Makes the adventures of the Haydathon seem pretty pathetic in comparison!! xx

[Rachel Butterworth]

I think you're probably going to equally tired after the Haydnathon though! hehe! Sorry I had to miss it - maybe we should do a Shostakovichathon next and I'll make sure i'm in the country for that!