There is a storm coming.  There’s no point in me trying to go to bed now since it will just wake me up, as it did last night.  The rains are back —  la petite saison des pluies – and in some ways they seem to be more frequent than during la grande saison.  Last week, taking a moto out of village on my way to Lome, the skies opened up, and I stood with several moto drivers and other travelers in a barn for over two hours, soaked to bone and shivering, looking at the flooding water that sloshed around my companions’ ankles.  If this keeps up I am sure my road to Lome with be shut down again.  Justine said tonight, “The lake is rising again,” but she didn’t add more; she seems to know how illogically sensitive I am about this topic. The sentence hovered in the air between us; after all, what reply could there be possibly be. 

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September 22^nd came and went: the one year anniversary of my arrival in Togo.  I felt like seamen as their boat passes the point of no return: after today I can no longer think “This time last year…” and have the memories be American.  After this date, everything a year ago was Togo, and anything before Togo is now more than a year ago which, when you put it that way, seems very far away.  It was a funny feeling and I can’t make up my mind how I feel about it.  My memories revolve around landmark dates by which I judge the days and weeks passing: September 22; December 9; Christmas Day; April 1.  Sometimes it feels like in between dates like these life is just a countdown to the next landmark. 

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I’ve been in a funky mood all this past week, and hopefully it will pass soon.  Lately things have been irritating me more than usual:  being asked to find money for funded projects (including from my homologue, who should know better since he’s been to at least two Peace Corps seminars with me), feeling like I am always the one who has to show initiative and come up with project ideas rather than people approaching me with things on which they’d like to work, the heat… This week I’ve been feeling frustrated in general but can’t quite put my finger on the problem.  Mid year slump?  Who knows.  I miss my friends and family more acutely now and think of them often as I walk around village. 

But … when I went to one of the primary schools on the first day of the school year to say hello to the principal, there were some little girls that came running across the school yard to throw their arms around my legs, crooked smiles on their faces, recognizing me from church and glad to see a familiar face on the scary-first-day-of-school.  And yesterday I sat on Justine’s mother’s porch with Akou and Adjo (her little sisters – 12/13 and 7, perhaps?) and Eugenie (a distant relative who is now living with Justine and Simon) all crowded around me, helping them do their homework till it was almost too dark to see.  Adjo leaned across my lap giggling and causing trouble, while the older girls rolled their eyes at her and chewed their pens in thought.  My flipflop broke on the way home and a drum player from the church choir, passing by, took it from me and returned five minute later with the flip-flop repaired (apparently he’s a cobbler of sorts in his spare time) without even saying anything.  It’s moments like these, with Adjo’s feet around my ears as I carry her upside-down and tickle her calves, or Akou’s bright eyes when I took her to see the ocean for the very first time in her life, that I know will matter in the long run, not my irritation at work issues in the village.  So it’s up to me to keep perspective and to focus on what I’d want to remember the most about my time here. 

 

The first day of school was October 6.  (It was supposed to be Sept. 22^nd but they pushed it back.).  I hadn’t realized how empty the village had been until I saw all the school children milling about that first morning, the streets alive and crowded, the street food vendors out in greater number, the number of kids who remember me from last year and called out my life.

So far, my work schedule is looking like this:

—> English club at the CEG (collège) twice a week

–>Help out with baby weigh at the dispensaire once a week 

[**Yesterday, helping out, I held my first obviously-malnourished child.  His skin hung on him like a baby elephant’s, dry and wrinkled and too big for his bones; his legs and arms too small and thin; his skin marked with dry discolored patches and his hair sparse and falling out.  I took him in my arms to weigh him and was irrationally terrified that he would break.  I felt nauseous at the sight of him, because he represented a failing of…who? His parents? The country? The medical agents? Who?]

–>Work at one primary school for an hour on Tuesday afternoons — it’s a little unclear what but probably play games to help the kids practice their French and also introduce the Child-to-Child health curriculum for kids (ie “this is how we take care of our little brother when he burns himself on the charcoal stove” and other first aid type stuff)

–>Continue to go to the youth center/library on  the days it’s open; perhaps start to have reading contests or activities?

–>When available, go to the women’s group that meets in the church courtyard

–>The teachers at another primary school have requested a computer training

—–> Theatre activities at the primary school ? Apparently they have a specific time for “cultural activities” on Fridays but they always go to their teachers’ fields instead since no one felt like teaching any cultural activites.  But I could do something perhaps, and it would be great opportunity for building speaking skills and self-confidence. 

–>Start to put together supplies for the World Map Project.  I have instruction from Peace Corps about how to do this huge map of the world (a mural!).  I will probably pay for all the supplies out of pocket, but oh well.  I’m going to do it with the kids at the collège first, but then if it turns out well any of the primary schools that want to can do it too.  My collège was pretty excited about the mural when I told them about it . (This may have something to do with the fact they won’t have to pay for it.)

–>This Sunday two apprentices are coming over to learn how to make improved cookstoves.  If they like it, we will teach other apprentices and families how to do it .

->October 22nd and 23rd I will be in Vogan because Becka and I are doing a training for a group of women on how to teach other women about HIV/AIDS.  We’re excited about it but I think we’re both nervous too.  After I type this blog I will have to get back to work on prepping for the training.  We are going to be teaching the standard “this is how you get AIDS” but also we are including sessions on behavior change and risky behavior (IE this is why you should not encourage your daughters to sleep with their male teachers) .  I’m curious to see how it all turns out… I’ll post everything up here later.

 

BUT the big thing that I’m trying to do is: either establish the Child-to-Child curriculum (Sophia is mailing me the book) in the primary schools, but I’m not sure how that will turn out, or… establish a Girl Scout troop!  I’ve become obsessed with this idea.  Seriously, as a GEE Volunteer, how could we not have thought of this before.  There is a ‘Association des Guides du Togo’ in Lomé, and I’ve been playing telephone tag with them but eventually it will all come together.  The big thing will be things like uniforms and badges; I can’t see people in my village being willing to pay a lot of money for things like that.  But that’s why I’m trying to get ahold of the people in Lomé, because surely they know what the village situation is like in Togo and can tell me how people have done it in the past.  I also need to find the all the curriculum which is another reason I need the people in Lomé.  I’ve found some stuff online but not enough for me to just do it all myself.  On the girl scout website there is instructions for earning an HIV/AIDS badge, one on anemia, too.  Everyone here knows about the Boy Scouts but aren’t as familiar with the Girl Scouts, and I could see girls being so motivated to learn about AIDS, education, all the stuff I’m supposed to be teaching, if they were part of a respected team and there were badges to earn.  AND, Justine would be a perfect counterpart for me to work with; she’d help with language, I live with her so we’re always available , she’s well-respected in village, in sum a perfect girl scout troop leader.  So it just remains for me to keep tracking down the official office in Lomé and ask them how do I set up a troop in my village.  It’s a scary and sort-of overwhelming process (I HATE phoning people) and I’m worried that it will turn out not to be feasible; but if it did work… it would be amazing.  So there’s the gamble.

 

I want to post about going to the lake to help with disaster relief, but I’m feeling guilty about not working on that training, so I’m going to send this blog post in as in and maybe update later or next week.