Blogs from Togo, Africa - page 4

Left Vermont 22-4-12 and arrived on Africa Mercy in Lome, Togo at 0915 local time Monday (23-4-12). Tuesday 24-4-12 My first assignment, with two days on ang two days off, will be in the dinning area. I get to choose what to do the other days. I plan to start at the Hope Center. Patience who still need follow up care but live too far to go home stay at Hope Center. There are many meeting during the first two weeks for new crew. After that, not so many. My first one is at 1600 today. Coming in from the airport reminded me off many of the poor place I saw in Latin America. The crew is exceptionally friendly and helpful.... read more

Today marks 2 weeks since my arrival to Lome, Togo, West Africa. It is hard to believe such time has gone by so quickly. So where shall I begin…… Life in West Africa on board the Africa Mercy has taken some adjusting to and the concept that we live on a huge vessel remains slightly foreign. Although we remain in port there are moments when I can feel the subtle sway of the ship from side to side (some rooms on the ship definitely worse that others). With that said, my past tendency to get motion sick has been under control….with the help of a little Gravol from time to time! I have managed to get lost enough times that I feel like I’m starting to know my way around. Between the multiple sets ... read more

At this time of year, the weather is hot, but occasionally the heat of the sun is blocked a bit by a passing dust storm. One morning, I woke to a red glow that seemed more suited to Mars. Even brief periods outside fill your eyes, mouth and ears with fine red dust, and anything lying around outside is covered in a red coat within minutes. On clearer evenings we escaped to the roof to listen to the call to prayer and watch the moon rise – spectacular on full moons, and quite spiritual if you’re drinking the right spirits. To celebrate the arrival of summer and 40 plus degree days, we donned black ties for a ball. Only the Brits would think dinner suits were the go in summer. Among other things, the ball was ... read more

We were warned the border crossing from Ghana to Togo could be quite time consuming, but in reality it wasn’t too bad! It took about 2.5 hours all up and we managed to pass that time eating “Fan-Ice” and a hearty hour or so of Four Square which, yes, in this humidity and heat was pretty damn hot but we played in the shade of a building and thought all up we were probably the same heat as had we been sitting still sweltering in the truck. The capital, Lome, is really, really close to the border, well – guess it would have to be - this thin finger of a country is only about 56km wide on the golden sand coast. We were staying at Chez Alice, 12km east of the city and we were ... read more

Monday 26th July Togo is the country immediately to the east of Ghana, and the nearest one to Accra, so we decided it would be worth trying to visit it. Togo was originally a German colony but was divided between Britain and France as part of the war reparations in the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. The British part became part of Ghana but the French part remains the separate independant country of Togo. While the official language of Ghana in English (though for most Ghanians it is their second language), the Togolese speak French (which caused us a few problems!). Before describing our visit, it might be worth mentioning the currencies in Ghana and Togo. The main unit of currency in Ghana is the Ghana Cedi which is divided into 100 pesewas. When we changed ... read more