Let the Rain Fall Down and Wash My Soul

 

 

à New photo album up!! (Entitled Camp U.N.I.T.E.)

 

It’s rainy season ! Yes, I know I’ve been saying that a lot lately, but now it’s really true.  Apparently what I thought were big rainfalls were merely teasers.  So far the record is 10 hours of non-stop rain, turning the streets into treacherous, slippery mudholes (yesterday I finally just took off my flipflops and walked barefoot).  I’m regretting not bringing a raincoat! My poncho is much admired but doesn’t quite cut it . With brief rains, the humidity only increases and tends to make my house stuffy since I must shut the windows; but with long rains it becomes chilly and yesterday for the first time since Harmattan I wore my Duquesne sweatshirt and pants (plunging me into a fit of nostalgia for college life), which my village got a kick out of as I very rarely wear pants. Most times you can see the rains coming – dark clouds that thicken and deepen and come nearer and nearer.  Some times there are ferocious winds (that knocked down my fence!) and other times an eerie calm which in itself warns of the coming storm.   I sleep with my windows shut now, so that in the middle of the night I don’t have to worry about waking up in time to close them.  The rain can drench anyone and anything in 30 seconds.  I always wake up anyway though; as I’ve mentioned before, rainy season at night terrifies me; both the storms and then the rain simply by itself, so loud on my tin roof. I had thought my spider phobia would be a fear to battle in Togo but instead it’s this new unknown enemy.  If it rains I tend not to leave the house, since I know no one else will be going to school/meetings/market etc until the rain slows.  I sit on my porch for as long as the direction of the wind will allow me to stay dry.  The fields are flourishing and most people spend their time cultivating.  Sometimes I enjoy the rain – for instance I have a constant water supply now since I just leave buckets outside permanently – and other times it’s an annoyance – ie., it makes the roads too dangerous to take motos, it can mess up travel plans, it can put me in a bind as to my obligations (aka , I  am supposed to be at the collège at 9am but can’t leave my compound without getting wet and dirty)

 

Speaking of rains I am worried that they will mess up my plan for… my birthday!  I will of course post an update later, but so far here is the plan: On Wednesday Becka and I are going to go to Togoville and swim at the hotel’s pool.  I’m really excited, apparently we have to take a boat over Lake Togo to get to the hotel! I’m also going to spend a lot of money (present to myself) at the artisinal center (which sells tourist traps like masks, drums, jewelry, etc).  Then Becka is going to come back to village and we’re going to fete at my house.  Justine is going to make my favorite meal: pate rougel and on Friday in Vogan I bought 2 kilos of beef.  I invited Justine’s family to come over, and there’re several people that I hope kind of “show up” even though I don’t want to formally invite them because outside of Justine’s family once I start inviting people then everyone is going to play the “But why wasn’t I invited?” game.  Becka is going to spend the night and in the morning I’m hoping to show her Lake Togo and more of my village.  

 

It doesn’t stop there.  The following weekend is the parish’s celebration of World Youth Day (or something like that) and this year is Sevagan’s turn to host it, so parishioners from several different villages will be here.  I’ve already told them that the Saturday fete is also for my birthday (yes I’m shameless) and so that will be my way of celebrating with the community.  Then on Sunday I’m going back to Vogan to spend the night and have salsa dancing lessons with Becka and another PCV, and rumor has it fabulous Fabiola might show up and bake me a cake.  So, you can see why I’m looking forward to this week!  (Work? What’s work?) I’m hoping all this fun stuff will prevent me from feeling too lonely or wistful.

 

I’m spending today and tonight in Lomé because Tuesday I have a meeting and I wouldn’t have had enough time to do things like internet, shopping, Peace Corps business, etc. So I decided to come in a full day early – a first for me, as normally I come in and out in one day. I’ll go back to village Tuesday evening.

 

The meeting on Tuesday is to discuss Camp Espoir (hope) which will be held in August for children affected by / infected with HIV/AIDS.   At the end of May/beginning of June I was a counselor at Camp UNITE (it’s an acronym …) .  Camp UNITE happens every year and it has four different waves of young people: girl apprentices, boy apprentices, boy students, and girl students. 

 

UNITE was a lot of fun.  We had a three day training and then were there for a week with the participants – 40 female apprentices.   We had a full schedule (and lots of speaking French!) and covered a lot of life skills, such as Self Confidence, HIV/AIDS, Income Generating Activities, Family Planning, Adolescence and Puberty, Time Management and Goal Setting, Sexual Harassment and Rape, and so on.  Every volunteer was responsible for leading at least one session along with a Togolese counterpart.  (My session was on sexual harassment and rape.)  Additionally, there were lots of team-building problem solving exercises, and singing and dancing.   Every participant also had to wear a fake pregnancy outfit, which is why the photos show me pregnant haha.  At the end of the camp there was a big march through Pagala and a “sensibilization” against HIV/AIDS , all led by the girls.  It was great to see the girls proud of their work and proud to feel like they mattered.  I had sent two girls from my village and they are already coming up to me, back in village, and telling me ideas for projects they want to launch.  On Tuesday evening I hope to meet with the two boys, two girls and see how they would like to work with me more closely from now on. 

 

I finished up my Life Skills classes at the collège.  Last week I offered an “English week” where I was at the collège three times a day, all week, with the troisieme (the class that is the end of collège and which must pass a major exam to finish and continue to high school): first in the morning to give a general English lesson to the entire class, then at midday to eat lunch with six or seven students and tutor them specifically, then in the evening for an hour for a larger group of students (15) to continue to tutor them.  It  was exhausting, but I thought of it as a present for the troisieme since they were always complaining that I didn’t work with them all year.  Tomorrow all their exams start; I hope they all pass, although truth be told a lot of them won’t.  The importance of this exam isn’t just that they can’t continue on to high school; even if they don’t want to go to high school, it’s still important (for employment, etc) that they have this “diploma”.  But a lot of students won’t enroll in school again if they pass. 

 

That’s all for now.  I’m going to grab something to eat, then continue to do some internet work.   I got Sophia and Mom’s packages – thanks a lot in advance J