Today at post

I’ve been keeping myself busy for the first few weeks here at post. Everything from hanging out at the town’s hospital to going on bike rides. I’ve done two serious bike rides so far, and both where awesome. On the first one I was riding on a dirt road to a nearby village from Sotouboua. I took a break and had a great view of some Togolese farm land (lot-o-corn) and forest while looking down a valley. That’s when it hit me that I was riding my bike through the country in Africa. I’ve gotten that kinda smack in the face realization a few times here. Like sometimes I’ll wake up to the 5am chants coming from the neighborhood mosque down the road. It takes me a minute to realize whats going on, and when I do, I think, “Wow, I’m waking up today here in Togo.” Then I’ll often think “Why don’t I try thinking these things in French. It’d be good practice.” I also had a great smack in the face experience while hanging out in a bar. It was late afternoon and I was just relaxing by myself enjoying a coke. That’s when I thought “No matter where I am, even here, I can still find a coke.” And it tasted so good. I was so happy sitting there enjoying a coke here in Togo, I even thought about sending a letter to Coke and thank them for being so successful at making their product available in every corner of the world. I don’t know if it is because I get reminded of the US or because I really miss a lot of sugar and some caffeine, but I’ve enjoyed a few great times that just revolve around drinking a coke.

As far as work related stuff, I’ve met up with a bunch of organizations here and at the hospital and clinics too. I’ve stopped by the hospital on ‘vaccination days’. These are where mothers come in with their babies to get the mandatory vaccinations. These are always started off by a causerie, which is where the staff talk about a health topic (like using mosquito nets to prevent malaria). Then next comes the baby weighing. Which I personally think is really funny. They put the baby in a swing type thing that is attached to a hanging scale. So the baby is just dangling there while getting weighed. Most babies are ok with it. Some just give an expression like What the hell’s going on? Why am I dangling here? Others freak out, start to cry, but calm down as soon as they’re back to being held by their moms. Next comes the vaccinations. There are a few different ones to give depending on the baby’s age. I was happy to see there is a good system in place to keep track on each baby and which vaccinations they need top get. The hospital registers each kid and mom that comes in, and the moms get a booklet that keeps track of the vaccination history with each visit.

I’ve also helped out with a little radio project that was put together by the other volunteer in Sotouboua and another in the region. It is a fun program meant for culture exchange, where we get to talk about differences in America and Togo, and play good music from America. I got to do my own half hour show where I introduced myself and got to play some of my favorite songs. Awesome! Apparently the volunteer before me was trying to work on a health related radio program in collaboration with the hospital, but it never came to be. I definitely will be looking into this as a possibility for me here.