Blog post
The rains are back, little by little, and the whole village has been waiting them with bated breath (reminds me of the opening scene in the film Lagaan) so that they can plant corn… We had one big rain last week , and, as I type this in Vogan before going to the internet café (if they don’t cut the electricity), it is pouring again. I’m kicking myself for not closing my windows and putting out buckets before leaving village. I’m out of water and so watching all this rain fall is torture knowing I could have collected a lot. And I’m hoping all my things won’t be soaked by the time I get back to village this evening…
Yesterday I started the World Map Project at the collège. Drawing a large squared, even rectangle on the side of a classroom wall was a little trickier than one would have thought, but after 1 ½ hours we finally succeeded, and it is about three quarters of the way painted in with ocean blue as the background. I plan to finish the rest by myself tomorrow, if I can mix up the same shade again! (Shades of AmeriCorps projects…) Next week we will not be able to work on it because the kids have exams, but the following week, we will then draw a huge grid (over 1500 squares) onto the ocean blue, and start transferring the map of the world onto the rectangle. Once it is all drawn in, the fun paint (painting in the countries) will start. My ‘counterpart’ for this project is the History-Geography teacher, who is very excited about the map. Or maybe he’s just excited that I’m paying for the paints and stuff myself… The map, if we do it correctly, will look awesome. I should had taken pictures yesterday; I’ll try to document the project better. It will be really neat especially because many kids have never seen an entire map of the world, or have had to copy a chalk-drawn one from the blackboard. The school director would like us to finish it before the Easter vacation (two weeks after the exams) but I don’t know if we will succeed or not, since I haven’t yet seen how quickly the kids will be able to drawn the map. That’s going to be the tedious part!
On Monday I will start work at a new, third primary school. It is by the lake and this quartier is a lot poorer than the rest of the village; this is the area that suffered from the floods and always has a lot more health problems (ie, many cholera deaths in 2005 etc); because it is also more remote and removed from the village, it doesn’t get the same kind of attention from outside help that the other schools receive. However, it’s been difficult to work it into my schedule because all the primary schools have the same hours free so I can’t be in three different places at once! Since on Monday the kids at the collège have their exams, I won’t be going there in the afternoon, so this is a nice opportunity to spend the afternoon with this third school at Tonu (lake in Ewe). The school is very excited that I’m coming, I have to decide what session to do with them (the kids always enjoy the First Aid one as an introduction, but I’m tempted to start with Hygiene and Safe Drinking Water, as my village doctor is concerned about possible new cases of cholera he has been suspecting this past week).
The bad part about the rains is now everyone goes to the fields in their spare time, so many times I’ll show up a school ready to work and the kids will have been sent to go work in a professor’s field so I won’t be able to work with them that day. This is annoying when it’s hot and I’ve walked thirty minutes to get to the school. It’s tiring having to constantly make the rounds to all the schools asking “OK… are you going to be here tomorrow? Should I come by? Do you promise to be here?” Sigh.
On Wednesday I’m going up to Pagala to assist with the new volunteers’ In-Service Training. Back on Saturday. So no internet next week.
I’ve been wanting to do an Easter play (remembering the success of the Christmas play) but have been slacking on actually organizing it. Also, the Christmas play was easier because the kids were on vacation; now, up till the week before Easter (although I guess we could throw something together then, rapidement), they are in school and when they are not in school they will be helping their parents in the fields. But we’ll see. Maybe we can just do a few practices at the last minute; after all, the Christmas play wasn’t all that rehearsed (three, four times?).
Apparently I was an item on the agenda on the last tailors’ meeting. I was not present, but Justine told me that they were in the middle of discussing their activities and planning their skits and dances for the First of May fete, and one tailor raised his hand and said “Don’t forget about Anna – last year she knew the performance better than the apprentices themselves, and danced with us at rehearsals, but she didn’t dance at the actual show. This year we should make sure she knows she’s supposed to dance at the show too. ” Ummm….
Fika continues to do well. He has yet to ever sleep on my knees or curl up on my lap, but he is always right next to me under my feet. The only time he is affectionate is at night and in the morning before I get out of bed; he sleeps on top of my head and buries his chin in my hair; if I move, he gets up and burrows his nose into my hair again and purrs his heart out. Once I’m out of bed, though, he will not cuddle again until the late evening. He is slowly getting used to Justine – he is a lot less adventurous (or bossy) than Koko, and hasn’t even expressed interest in going into Justine’s house.
Yesterday she scolded me for giving fish to Fika (meat is for humans; if you give protein to cats they learn to steal…) and I said, “But – sometimes you would give the fishheads to Koko!” She drew herself up indignantly. “That is different. Koko was my friend,” she replied with dignity.
Justine and Fika have yet to decide their relationship – she plays with him and gives him food, and this past week he has been shamelessly flirting with her in order to win her over, but before that I think she was mildly offended that he was not instantly obsessed with her like Koko was (Fika won’t come out of my compound if I’m not there). Lately we both have been reminiscing about Koko – Justine will start off: “If Koko were here he would be sitting on my lap while I am making pate….” Or “Remember how Koko would scold us if we didn’t put out his food right away?” But, I think Fika is slowly winning her over; I had to leave him alone last week, and next week I will be up in Pagala for four days so I am sure they will continue to bond without me there…
Posted by togolesejourney 
Posted by togolesejourney 
