Some new photos have been uploaded!  See “Village Life 2″ at regular link…

Feb 22 2008

Things I Know How To Say In Ewe

The other day I made a list of things I know how to say in Ewe.  This does not include things that I can comprehend and reply to (for instance “How goes the work?” I can understand and reply to, but I have yet to master the pronunciation and order of words.  But if someone says it to me I know what they’re saying.)

•    My name is…
•    What’s your name?
•    I’m going to the market.
•    I’m going out and I’ll be back.
•    I’m going to buy…
•    Pardon.
•    Thank you.
•    Good day / good afternoon / evening.
•    Welcome!
•    I’m going to Vogan tomorrow.
•    I’m a teacher at the school.
•    I have a meeting now.
•    I’m going to work now.
•    What do you want?
•    Excuse me, what is it (what are you selling)?
•    Who is it?
•    Who are you looking for?
•    Twenty-five / fifty / 100 cents.
•    I’m coming from church.
•    Doucement (go easy)!
•    How’re your family, kids, etc?
•    I’m going to buy some pagne.
•    How much is it?
•    What did you buy?
•    How are you?
•    I’m fine, thank you.
•    Come back soon.
•    Where is…
•    Cat.
•    Dog.
•    Sheep.
•     Goat.
•     Water.  Drinking water.
•    I’m going to the well to draw water.
•    OK see you later.
•    You’re welcome.
•    Where are you coming from (right now)?
•    Where are you from (nationality)?
•    One, two, three.  (*Any other numbers I hold up my fingers, must sit
down and figure those out one day…)

Once I made the list (some thirty-odd phrases, I believe) I realized that it’s not a bad start.  Right now it’s enough to carry on a very very simple conversation with any marché lady (and they love it) and to respond to questions.  As many passing conversations consist of questions and dictated responses (see my blog entry on Salutations) this means I can actually talk for a long time before running out of vocabulary.

Some Updates Before My Laptop Runs Out of Battery

On Friday when I go into Vogan I’m expecting to pick up my couch cushions that I ordered last week, so I won’t take my computer to charge and there’s only 60% battery left.  Anyway… some latest events from Anna-land:

I nailed two big maps to my walls , tired of the duct tape not working due to humidity, and despite my villagers skeptical of it working.  It did work.  I also put up a calendar above my desk, and five handwritten quotes on construction paper.  It’s beginning to look like a real… college dorm.  Haha.  Here are four of the quotes I wrote out (three are from a collection of travellers’ stories and one is from a
novel) :

“I hate it when people talk about twists of fate,” Anna used to say.
“When it comes to life, we spin our own yarn, and where we end up is really, in fact, where we always intended to be.” (Julia Glass, Three
Junes)

The unexpectedness of life, waiting round every corner, catches even wise women unawares.  To avoid corners altogether is, after all, to refuse to live. –Freya Stark

Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.  The soul that knows it not know no release from little things; knows not the vive loneliness of fear nor mountain heights where bitter joys can hear the sound of wings.  –Amelia Earhart

The difference between loneliness and solitude is your perception of who you are alone with and who made the choice. –Anonymous.

Last week I had a nice little meeting with the girls in elementary school.  I’m doing it again on Thursday.  I haven’t quite figured out the theme – too much discussion-based such as Life Skills won’t work due to their French level – but I want to do some kind of keeping track of their grades and their plans to continue on to collège.
Anyway they are so sweet and I could tell they are just at that age where they think I’m “old” and they want to hang out with me and they think I’m “cool”.  (Oh how mistaken they are ).  However I was severely impeded by the “rabbit raising director” who kept coming in the room, yelling at the girls, criticizing what they were doing,
threatening to hit them, etc.   This did not work out and the girls
just ended up repeating what they thought I wanted to hear as they were scared.  So right now I’m in the process of diplomatically telling the director he is not welcome.  I tried yesterday, but he said, “But you weren’t talking about any secrets.  It’s not like you were talking about sex, or something, I can understand why you’d want me out of the room, but you weren’t.” I said, “Yes, but maybe one day we will, and I need to know you won’t come barging in.  Furthermore, you’re their director, of course they’re going to be shy around you.”
He pooh-poohed this but I am going to be firm.  I feel very uncomfortable around him and I think he’s mad that we haven’t started
the rabbit raising project yet.    But how the heck am I supposed to
be promoting female empowerment when he’s just fulfilling the role of male dominance in their lives?

**Update from internet café:  Yesterday I had my second meeting with the girls.  (Just 36 of them, in the CM2 class.)  It was great!  I loved it.  We moved the benches and tables outside and sat in a circle.  They seemed to understand most of my French, at least they did what I asked them too.  They seemed to enjoy not being in a classroom, too.  First we played a brief game as a warmup, then I had them divide into groups and brainstorm onto poster paper answers to questions – one question per group : “Why continue with school?”  “Why leave school?” “At school I like… At school I don’t like…” “If I could change one thing about myself it would be…” “Our problems at school”
“Our problems in the home”.   Afterwards each group presented its
thoughts to the others.  I kept the brainstorming paper so I can tailor our meetings to their concerns.  It seemed to go well, although they’re probably wondering why exactly I have these meetings with
them.   Anyway I will go again next week.  Yay!
–

Women in the Peace Corps  (and related ramblings)

I love Togolese women.   I have yet to meet one that didn’t have a
wicked sense of humor, a kind heart, and a friendly demeanor.  Not to mention strong bodies and stubborn wills.  The very few unpleasant ones I’ve met have been due, I’m sure, to some cultural misdemeanor on my part.

On the subject of women – something that comes up a lot during the application process and inquiry into Peace Corps is:  What is it like being a female volunteer in a misogynistic  society?

Now , I can speak only from a Togolese perspective.  (I think Ian’s female friends in Morocco might have different experiences.) But I have found that being a female volunteer in Togo has its blessings in additional to drawbacks.

Yes, there is harassment.  Although men also hear “yovo!”, for women this often takes on an imaginary menace.  We have been taught to think that attention from strangers means they mean us harm; thus, the standard harassment that foreigners receive takes on deeper darker
meanings for us.   Additionally, we must deal with marriage proposals,
and the Togolese idea that “no” means “maybe, why don’t you try
harder”.   But male volunteers must also deal with daughters being
offered up for their pleasure.  As a woman, it’s easier to feel personally offended when told that “Of course I don’t cook .  I’m a
man.”   It’s frustrating when despite one’s university honors or
degrees, a man may still feel he is superior in intelligence merely by virtue of his sex.  (Note:  Female volunteers often seem to be a “third sex.”  If I’m at a function, I’m invited to eat with the males, etc., or accorded honors not given to village women. This makes me feel awkward, but there you have it.)  And there is the inconvenience, just like the States, of being “more” afraid to walk in the dark than a male friend is , and to fear the footsteps behind us more than a man would.

But there is an upside to being a female volunteer.  Women shove babies onto your lap or enjoy teaching you how to cook or to take care of the house.  Frankly, these are useful skills to know.  The solidarity and intense protection I have received from the female members of my community far surpass any politeness that I suspect they would show to a male volunteer.  It’s the women in my community who will turn around and snap at new comers: “Don’t you dare say that!” or “She’s not to be married off!” or “Hey you, be polite!”  Invariable if I’m traveling and a woman from my village is in the car, whether or not I’ve conversed with her before, she’ll take me under her wing and
look after me.   The other week, at the festival of the lake, one of
the local crazies came up behind me and tried to grab me.  For the rest of the day, anytime I turned around, there would be one of the ladies from the choir hovering by my side and keeping a protective eye
out.    I don’t think that male volunteers find it as easy to
experience this “female solidarity”.

I do struggle with sometimes, though, if I’m not hurting the feminist movement, so to speak.  For instance, sometimes I go to draw water with Justine .  The women at the pumps love it (but think that I’m a wimp because my basin is a quarter of the size of Justine’s)  but other times I wonder if I’m just reinforcing the notion that “women fetch and carry water, men don’t”.  But I like going with Justine and getting the chance to talk to different women and exchange conversations.  But I know that for many men, the only surprise about me carrying water is that I’m white – other than that, of course I should be doing that, it’s what I was born to do.  And I love cooking with Justine (since I eat with her I feel I should help out.  She even lets me make the pâte alone while she runs errands!) but if a man arrives (correction – young man / boy.  Older men don’t bother me) and sits there and watches me, I feel like I’m reinforcing that a woman’s
role is to cook while her lord and master sits idle.   I also feel
guilty, sometimes, that I rarely castigate males if I’m just passing them on the streets.  If I’m at home and someone makes a comment, I engage him in conversation, but if I’m on the street, I prefer to ignore “bonjour ma cherie” or to respond with a joke. Getting into a yelling match with someone who I’m probably not going to see again
doesn’t seem to be very useful for female empowerment.   But sometimes
I feel guilty that I’m not more blatently sticking up for “my rights”.

The other day I had a mental crisis when I realized, “Oh my gosh I’ve been here for two months and I haven’t really done anything pertaining to ’send your girls to school’, which is what I’m supposed to be here for.” I like the work I’ve begun with different students, and we’re going to be working a lot on themes of gender equity, but I haven’t really said anything to the adults of the community, and they’re the ones in charge.  So I had a whole day where I was freaking out about
how my village didn’t know why I was here.  But, it’ll happen.   I
alternate between being hard on myself and then being lax.  However, our Peace Corps three-month mark training is right around the corner, just before Easter, and it’s there that with our homologues we’ll really start figuring out projects, so I try and tell myself to calm down.  But sometimes it’s hard not to think , “Well… I can play the drums pretty well for a novice… but how many girls have I helped?
Zero.”  Even though I am working, and teaching three days a week, etc.
But I think about my kids in Philadelphia, and how I could only help some of them after building a relationship for several months. But it’s hard not to pressure myself!  Tomorrow (Thursday) a lady from a Lomé NGO is coming and my chief wants me to meet her, so I’m going to go see what she says and get ideas from her.

Well, the battery is flashing red.  Till next time…

cats and other things.

Blog Posts

 

February 14 — Well, it was exactly a year ago today that I submitted my Peace Corps application.  I remember because Philadelphia was shut down due to a massive snowstorm, but Sophia and I ended up hanging out at the City Year office all day anyway just because it was warmer than our apartment (and our internet may not have been working…).  I remember hitting “submit” on my application that had been started back before November.  I wish I could say “Gee it feels just like yesterday,” but it doesn’t, it feels like a really long time ago.  So I’m wondering, if something that happened a year ago feels like a really long time, what is two years here going to feel like?  (However, on the upside, since arriving in Togo time seems to have gone by quickly.)  

 

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone.  Last Friday I got a heart from Erin ! Yay!

 

Obligatory Update on Acoco:  

Coco has developed into a spoiled, happy, somewhat high maintenance cat.  He’s graduated to being allowed out of the house while I’m not there, and sometimes even spends the entire night outside happily hunting things.  However he’s also a traitor.  Last night he cried so much to be let out that I opened the window to let him outside; this morning my neighbor told me that he came over and spent the night on her couch.  (But I also let him back in at 330am – this must been that she too must have had to get up and let him out.)  I’m pretty sure Justine likes him, since she gives him pâte any time we’re eating it, but I don’t want her to feel like he’s a huge burden.  Yesterday he even got locked up in her house by accident and I had to go borrow her key at her workplace and let him out.  Now, when Coco is locked up in my house, he cries and complains and insists on going outside.  When I opened the door to Justine’s house, he reluctantly sauntered out, and moments later was asking to go back inside her house.   Traitor.  He’s also very picky – he’ll only eat pâte (but only with ademe sauce, not tomato sauce) or adewe (which is mashed black eye beans, coconut oil, and manioc flour … it’s soooo good!) .  Sometimes he’ll deign to have some bread in the morning but not often, and he refuses rice and beans which used to be my favorite lunch time meal but now that he won’t eat it I tend to get adewe so he can have some.  Great.  And the reason I didn’t get a dog was because I thought it would be high maintenance. 

 

Right now he’s curled up in my lap as I type.  When he wants to be, he’s sweet. 

 

At what age do cats receive rabies vaccinations?  I have to start figuring out how to get him to  a vet.  I think he’s around 5 – 6 months, as he is the same size as the midwife’s kitten who was born in September.  Does anyone know?

 

Updates on Life

I  finally got the rest of my furniture, barring cushions for my couch (which I hope to order on Friday in Vogan).  I now have a bed, two bookcases (one medium height, one very tall – the tall one I keep my clothes on), a coffee table, a chair, a couch, and a desk.  And a “guarde manger”, like a kitchen cabinet island, to keep my food safe from critters, and I had it made at table height so it can double as a food prep surface. 

 

Today is my first meeting with the girls from the elementary school.  I’m busy making lots of drawing on flip chart paper because I have a feeling that French is not going to be the easiest way to communicate with them.  Even the 6eme in collège have problems, so it’s nice that my partner at the collège is constantly rephrasing what I say into something the kids can understand.   Now that I’ve started “working” I find myself dealing with new frustrations and/or stresses that I didn’t encounter when I was just ‘hanging out’.  I feel pressured to do everything and help everyone, but even know with the three or four obligations I have I feel like I have enough right now , that if I take on “everything” I will be very overwhelmed.  Besides my “three months” aren’t even over yet.  In March we have a three day “project design and management” workshop with our counterparts where we are really supposed to discuss what we want to do, so I’m going to start telling people that any new projects will have to wait till March.  That’s not that far away, anyway.  It’s hard not to feel resentful, sometimes, that everyone sees “the white girl” and wants to latch on to her (unpaid) labor.  (Once I was eating lunch with an NGO that had kidnapped me to waste my time in Lomé – a story for another day – and the directrice said ‘Oh I’m sure there’s funds from the American Embassy for a little project for our library – Anna can find those for us! Why don’t you arrange a little essay writing competition for the kids with some prizes?” I didn’t exactly understand why it was considered to be easier for me, in a village with no electricity, barely any cell phone reception, and definitely no internet to magically find funding while this ONG works out of a air conditioned office with their own internet connection and many resources at hand.) Anyway, I’m going to focus on the things that I enjoy – talking with the young people, going to the market, figuring out what problems the young girls face here, practicing my language, leading Life Skills classes, etc., and try to ignore the pressure to produce tangible results immediately (and by tangible I mostly mean money).

 

And why can’t I find thumbtacks (push pins) anywhere?? How am I supposed to attach things to the wall?

 

Fete at the Lake

 

So, last week was the fete that I’d been hearing about since I got here!  It started Friday night and continued till Monday morning, and I was there from Saturday to Sunday.  Every year, there is a huge party at Tonou (the quartier next to Lake Togo).  Justine told me that twenty years ago, there was massive flooding from Lake Togo.   Many many people’s houses were destroyed, including her own family’s, and many people had to move into centre ville.  Every year they commemorate this event.  I asked why they would want to commemorate something tragic and she smiled and said : “Because in spite of all the damage, not one single person was killed.”   Apparently many people prayed to Our Lady of Lourdes (it happened around Feb 11, the feast day) and so for those religiously-inclined, the fete has religious implications.   For those not religiously inclined, it’s a just a big party.

 

The fete was a huge deal in my village.  Every one was talking about it in the weeks leading up; everyone got new clothes made.  The villagers even commissioned a special pagne, with a picture of the lake as well as the Virgin Mary, with “20eme anniversaire” and other writings on it.  I bought it to give to Justine.  It was a strange mixture of religious, secular, ,and voodoo influences.  Many many resortissants (I guess you could call them a diaspora – those from  the same village but who work and live in other places now) came home for the fete , from Ghana or Cote d’Ivoire or Benin.  There was a Mass both Saturday and Sunday on the shores of the lake, but it had to compete with music from non-religious resortissants who were dancing to Western music after staying up all night and partying, and then right after the mass a voodoo procession appeared, complete with a man dressed up as a haystack.   There was food and vendors set up all along the lake, much like your typical American church festival!  Relatives or friends of Justine and Simon kept on stopping by to say hello.  Both Saturday and Sunday we were there from 9am to 6pm.  Saturday the Mass was supposed to be at 9am, but it didn’t start till 11:15 or so (typical), and they  made me march in the procession behind the priest.  (very embarrassing.) Sunday Mass was not so crowded and started a little earlier.  Both days it was very very very warm (the Harmattan has left! It’s pretty easy to get out of bed at 6am now) but after 2pm or so there’s a nice breeze from the lake, and for the mass they had constructed a paillote (gazebo with palm leaves to shade).   After Mass we ate – Justine brought along koliko and spaghetti, and the next day we were going to just buy from the vendors but I ended up being invited to eat with the priest and chief (but I wished Justine was there – she had rather obviously not been invited).  Afterwards we watched people playing the drums and dancing and putting on skits.   There were also boat races.   I saw the house where Justine used to live when she was little.  We also just sat around in the shade and people-watched and greeted relatives/friends.  I took some photos, which I’ll upload next time I’m in Lomé.  It was a fun weekend although I didn’t prepare well for my lessons on Monday and Tuesday!

 

The downside was that there were a lot of strangers in the village and for the first time I had to deal with “yovo!” and marriage proposals and “Oh look the yovo is eating Togolese food” (at the market on Monday night when I was buying adewe).  These are things I deal with in Vogan or Lomé, but never in my village so it was quite a shock and I was glad over the next couple days when the resortissants left to return to their homes.  I know that most of the time “yovo” isn’t actually meant to be insulting, it’s just a way of identifying people.  But I think it was a sign of how much I am used to my village that I was upset I wasn’t being called by my name since normally everyone knows me and calls out “Bonjour Akoele!” (BTW Akoele is pronounce Ah-kway-lay, with accent on either the first or second syllable seems to depend on the region.)

 

email update 2-6-08

So I am in Lomé for the day because the Med Unit needed me to come in to receive my second HPV vaccine (thank you Uncle Sam).   I found out that I’ve lost over twelve pounds.  Interesting considering all I eat is carbs. 

 

I uploaded two new photo albums – some pics of village life, and also of a beach in Lomé.  Check it out (same link as before).

 

I am getting really busy, at least it seems so to me.  Here is what my schedule is looking like:

 

Mondays and Tuesdays:  Life Skills Classes at collège.  On Tuesdays I teach the 6eme, which is the first class of middle school.  Mondays I rotate between the 4eme and the 5eme (the second and third years). 

Thursdays:  Girls’ Class at Primary School (It’s not a club, since I think it will be obligatory.  There are 36 girls in their last year before going on to collège and I’m going to start some projects with them, assertiveness, AIDS education, self-esteem building, income generating.. .. okay, so maybe I haven’t actually decided yet, but next Thursday is my first meeting so I’ll keep you updated)

Mondays and Wednesdays:  Ewe class (for me)

Fridays:  Go into Vogan, get mail, go to market, etc.

Saturdays – Drum lessons

Not a fixed day but done during the week sometime:  meetings with school director re: rabbit project,  greeting people, figuring out apprentice meetings,   tripping over my cat, prepping for Life Skills lessons etc (it takes me soo long to practice everything in French and figure out what I’m going to say etc…), …

 

David: “So how long does it take you to bike into Vogan?”

Me: “I don’t bike.”

 

Me: “The trouble with Lome is that it’s too hot for me to enjoying going outside to buy food, but there aren’t any petits I trust to go buy stuff for me.”

 

Kassie: “Anna, my French is coming along.  I’m functional now!”

 

Peace out homies.  I probably won’t check my email on Friday since I did so today, so till next week.

EDIT (Added):  Newsweek had an article about the Amazon.com “Kindle”, a electronic “book” that you can use to read books, receive magazine subscriptions, access the internet, etc… nd I’m actually really intrigued, so much so that I saved the article and put it on my coffee table.  Maybe when I get back to the States I’ll check it out?  Here’s the link to the article:  http://www.newsweek.com/id/70983