Home Sweet Home

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In the last 3 weeks; I’ve made many new friends in my village and it’s starting to feel like home. Even the children on the road are yelling BONSOIR STEVEN, which is a lot better than Yovo! I have a new friend that is in his final year of high school and I found lots of odd jobs for him to do so that I can justify helping him to pay his school fees. Cleaning the latrine and fixing the path to my house is not glamorous but he does a great job and really appreciates the opportunity to arn some money. I’ve also made several new contacts in Elavagnon, most notably with a Center for the Blind sponsored by the local French Catholic run hospital, and several youth clubs. The center gives blind villagers a chance to make some money weaving raphia palms around wooden frames to make chairs and stools. Of course I ordered a few and they taught me how to weave them so I’m going to make the stool myself. The youth clubs also do fun crafty projects and they seem interested in a gardening club. I participated in a few basket-making formations with them but I think it’s aa bit too advanced for me. At least I ot to meet a lot of energetic children and the passionate adults that advise the clubs. It should be a great platform for any future projects with youth like Junior Achievement and income-generating activities.

Besides that I’ve been kept busy by a few visits from friends, both American and Togolese. My friend Ali visited to see my village and soon I’ll meet his family in a village near Lome. They are fasting right now to observe Ramadan so I’ll have to dine wih his family after sundown. Also my closest volunteer neighbor Gabe, on the other side of the river whiwh is overflowing right now, came to meet the Prefet and teach me a lot about the agriculture of my village. He’s going to come again to conduct trainings for the gardening club when it gets going; I’m currently organizing it with the high school Proviseur. We had a great marche day together and drank plenty of tchouk, the locally brewed beer. He also helped out with the old timers soccer team I play on each Saturday morning.

My counterpart, Aboga’s wife is pregnant so she is too tired to do all of the cooking or me, which means I’m on my own and kind of excited about cooking or myself full time. Pate, fufu, and sardines was getting a little boring, but I’m sure I’ll miss her tasty sauces. The woman that cleans my laundry does a great job and she even took me out to the fields one day to harvest corn. All my days efforts would have earned me about 20 cents, but of course I gave the fruits of our labor to her to make into pate. It is really important that I learn more about agriculture and farming since it is such an important part of life in my village and working the land is the passion of many people here.

My house is really coming along and that may be the project I am proudest of so far. A little selfish I know but I have to take care of myself before I can do anyone else any good. My bedroom feels like a sanctuary, I found some comfortable couch cushions and ordered the frame, and I have a big spare room to store things and exercise. I even do yoga once in a while. My neighbors are getting more used to having a white person around and I feel very safe in my compound, like everyone is looking out or me. The other day there was a woman yelling and my neighbor across the yard, a gym teacher, jetted out of the compound. I asked the maid to the family next door what happened and she said the woman was yelling SNAKE and my neighbor went to help her. Just an idea of the way people in my village take care of one another. And now that I’m feeling like a villazger myself I’ll surely benefit from that custom.

As a final note, just want to give you all a little vignette of village life: taxis. Getting around in West Africa is always an adventure, and no voyage is stress-free. I left Elavagnon a few days ago to go to a conference in Kpalime on incorporating ICTs into small businesses in Togo. I got to the small taxci station around 7 30, admittedly a little late, and immediately an aggressive driver claimed me for his car. I then waited 2 hours for the car to fill up, meaning 3 to 4 people including the driver in the front, and at least 4 in the back with a few kids and bags squeezed in. Occassionally you also have to make room for chicken or goats, but not that day. We finally embarked on the 2 hour journey to the next town on a bumpy dirt road, and when I arrived I had to do the same thing again to go to the next city. Luckily this second wait was much shorter, but you get the idea. I can always take a motorcycle taxi from my village - because of my village’s isolation from the main route I have that option - but then you have to hold all your bags and the road is even bumpier. Anyway I finally made it to Adeta, saw my host family and friends including my roommate from Seattle Joelle!!!!, and spent my birthday with them before continuing on to Kpalime for the conference at a very nice hotel. So I had a great birthday weekend, but the voyage was anything but easy.

So the conferesnce is ending this afternoon and its back to village for me. I’m actually missing Elavagnon already. I want to say a big THANK YOU for all of the messages and support I’m getting, sometimes from friends I haven’t seen in years! It means a lot and even though I can’t reply individually I promise that I read every message. Keep them coming!

Steve

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