BACK IN TOGO

I’ve been back in Togo for a little less than a week. It’s great being back, but I feel I have a ton of catching up to do. I made it back into Lome on Saturday night last week, and stayed in the PC medical office. They have really comfy beds and AC! I went to bed while watching an episode of MST3K(one of my favorite shows). The next day I headed back to my training village, Gbatope. When the PC car dropped me off on the main road of the village, my host mom was waiting there for me. She gave me a big hug and was so happy to see me. I also happened to be returning to village at the same time all the other trainees were returning from post visit. When they saw me on the side of the road they stopped the car and rushed over to me and we had a huge group hug(like about 14 people) in the middle of the road. All the villagers were probably thinking ‘crazy Yovos’. While walking home my host mom asked if the group hug was a normal thing for people in the US. I laughed and said yeah.
I really have a great connection with my host family. I know its is different for every person. Some volunteers form great relationships with their families and others just kinda live with them. I definitely have a really good relationship. I think it might be because my language skills are really weak, so I spend a lot of time with them helping me out. My host mom has started teaching me how to really cook food. Before when I said I wanted to learn, she would just let me watch her cook. But this past week I’ve made pate, fou fou, and sauce tomato. I also made spaghetti one night, but that’s not to hard to make.
Everyone in the little neighborhood of mine was really glad to see me back too. One of the best things about small village life is how friendly everyone is. I have these neighbors that I pass everyday when I’m going to and coming from training, and the quiz me everyday on greeting in Ewe(the local language). When I walk by I get at least three different greetings, and I have to try to answer each one correctly. I don’t know what exactly they mean but I’m starting to get the responses right. I do know the one for good morning is wesalow, and you respond with yo.
At least my French is better than my Ewe, even though I think I was better at French before I went back to the US. Training has been going good too. I had two presentations to do yesterday. A group on that we presented to a group of girl tailor apprentices in the village. We did a cool skit for them to be a part of about the benefits of using contraception and actually doing to talk to the health workers at the village disponsaire(clinic). I also had a individual presentation that I did in front of the group of fellow trainees. It was done all in French and was for me to practice my language skills.
I found out a lot more about my post, Sotouboua. It’s a small city in the Centrale region of Togo. It is pretty much in the middle of the country. I’m going to be replacing a volunteer, so I while already have a house set up with furniture and everything else. This site has been described as “Posh Corps”, because this house is supposedly really nice. The volunteer, Nikhil, who I’m replacing has told me all about it, and it sounds amazing for what you typically get in Togo for a health volunteer. First I’ll tell you what most health volunteers get. Health volunteers are typically put into villages, and often times they have no electricity or water. If they want to charge their phones they have to find a generator, use a solar panel, or go to a town. And for internet typically have to go to a town too. By the way, during my interview here I asked for a rural community w/o electricity. What I’m getting in Sotouboua is electricity and running water, and a cyber cafe(for the internet) across from my house, and I even have a fridge! Even though I asked for a rural community, I’m definitely not going to complain about having a fridge for two years. I think it’s funny that a lot of trainees wanted this post, and I was one of the few who didn’t, but I still ended up with it. And the work and projects that are going on in Sotouboua are really interesting too! They have a few NGOs, a hospital, and schools too that I really can’t wait to start working with.
Here’s a quick list of whats happening and possible projects to do:
ATBEF – an organization that works on a “Men as Partners” project(I’ll talk about the project later when I’m at post and get more info on it)
Vie Saine Togo – an organization for people living with AIDS
Moringa tree – this is a amazing tree that will grow anywhere and every part of it can be used for so many different things
Radio – possible health talk radio show
health outreach – at local dispensaries in surrounding villages, it includes putting together health campaigns and training local health workers
I’ll talk more about what there is to do when I actually get there.