*****************************This blog was written at the beginning of August, but I didn't get a chance to post it until now****************************
August 5
So, this second month here in togo has passed by incredibly fast. I have just left the small training town, and am about to set off for the town of Kante, where I'll live for two years. Last night I could not sleep at all. First there was a funeral going on, and then there was a super huge rainstorm, and then just when i thought i would fall asleep a goat started making noise outside my room. finally i fell asleep, only to be woken up every hour by a cricket that found its way into my room. Oh well. Regardless, I will miss my old room and I'm going to miss my host fam and all the other volunteers who I have grown close to, but I am super excited to explore and begin the two years of service.
So, in this blog post, Ill go over: (1) about my post visit, which is the week I visited Kante, (2) some things I'm looking forward to and some things I'm nervous about regarding my move to Kante, (3) some recent happenings (aka: snake bite), and (4) a list of random occurances and interesting info I have learned about Togo that don't really fit into any other category.
So, what about Kante. Kante is a town, as opposed to a village, and is populated with about 12000 (maybe? although the last census was in 1981?...). Kante straddles the route national (the one road that goes from the south to the north of togo) and is set in the mountains of the Kara region.
So, to backtrack a bit, during our two months of training, we were given the opportunity to visit our "post", the place where we will be living and working. This week long visit was a sneak peak into what life will be like for the next two years and for that week, I lived in my future house, met people I will be working with, went to the market, and explored the town. And, long story short: I loved my post, and am super excited to spend two years there. The next couple points are just short descriptions of what I learned.
People: The main ethnic group of Kante is the Lamba people (they speak Lamba). But, Kante and the surrounding areas, (in general the whole northern part of togo) is a super crazy mixture of TONS of different people. And by "different people", I mean completely different: completely different languages, different looks, different cultures and beliefs. It totally blew my mind when we traveled to another nearby village, and my homologue, who is already multilingual, needed a translator to talk to some patients. People who have lived in the area their whole lives cannot communicate to some people about 30-50 kilometers away! I had no idea a place like this existed! And for those of you interested in how/why this is like this, wiki it (long story short (really short), colonialization + indigenious ethnic groups + some time with some conflict = Togo now).
Climate: 3 seasons. Rainy Season is now, and is not too hot (relatively speaking) and is incredibly gorgeous with green everywhere, but is humid. Harmitan (no idea how to spell that) is the season when the Sahara decides to move in (aka wind dust wind dust dry dry dry....but "cold"). Hot season is pretty self explanatory. The girl I'm replacing in Kante said that while she was here, the hottest she ever saw recorded was 126F. I can't wait to have a bucket shower after a day in hot season; I'm sure it will feel amazing.
Land: Mountains mountains mountains, and valleys too of course. AKA gorgeous. And the mountains are sooo strange. So unlike any other mountains I've seen before. When you look at them, there is an obvious division between mountain and valley.. It is like they are gumdrops that were just plopped down. But then, when we were driving, the mountains just seemed to disappear and I realized it was because we had slowly increased out elevation... I think. Also, in this area are the tata's in the Tamberma (not sure how to spell that) Valley, which are mud fortresses built by the Tamberma ppl. Apparently, this tatas fortress thing dates back to the 17th centrury when these people were at risk for being enslaved by the slave trade. When a man reaches a certain age, he shoots an arrow from his family's mud fortress, and where the arrow lands becomes the location of his own mud fortress. Also in this area are Baobab trees, of which I am a fan. I looooove baobab trees. They have a different look with every season, which i think is so cool, and they are just soooo huge! Their trunks remind me of dinosaur legs, which just makes everything exciting. Even during boring excursions, like buying toilet paper, I can pretend I'm in the movie jurrasic park just because of the dinosaur-legged baobab trees.
Animals: Monkeys! (aka food for some ppl), dogs (aka also food for some people), "football birds" (birds that are vagually shaped like footballs, and are therefore very tempting to kick like a football), your set of normal togolese animals running around: goats/chickens/lizards/etc.
My house: I live in a compound area with other families. I have electricity! Which completely surprised me! I was all set to live in a mud hut and cook outside on a fire. And, I have a refrigerator, which is just crazy talk. I am also hoping to get this thing called "internet"..haha. It's not like in the states where you have internet 24/7, it is like a pay by the hour internet thing. But (hopefully), I will be able to get it directly on my computer in my house, which is super cool.
So, some things I'm looking forward to and some things I'm nervous about. Well, I am sooo looking forward to just walking and running and biking all around the Kara (the Region where Kante is located) because it is just breathtaking. Looking forward to experimenting with cooking. There is a cookbook made by volunteers who have come through Togo called "Where there is no Whopper" (get it?....like the book "where there is no doctor?"). And, you can even make cookies here! In a frying pan! Super excited.... I'm looking forward to working in the hospital. My main job will be working with two groups: AED, a group that works with people living with HIV/AIDS, and the hospital. I love the people I've met at AED already. The girl I'm replacing did a ton of work getting them up and running, so I'll continue that. And, I think I'll love the hospital. It is a pretty large hospital, and I already saw quite a bit during my short tour there. Its interesting though, being at the hospital makes life and death seem much more ...objective... less emotional... more like death is a part of life and is just something that happens. I can't find the words right now but I hope that sortof gives you an idea. I'm sure its similar to a perspective that a medical professional has. Especially in Togo, where money is always an issue. If a family doesn't have the money for medicine, for a doctor, for a taxi o the doctor, the people just die. Sometimes, families will decide to spend money on a funeral rather than all the money it will take to save the life. So, its just different I guess. And I'm sure I'll be morphing my perspective constantly while I'm here.
Most of the things that I'm nervous about are just the normal things associated with any change: will I meet people? will i be overwhelmed? will i feel completely isolated? will i be ineffective? will i screw up something horribly? And, most of these just go along with the answer "c'est la vie; it will all turn out ok". So, I will just keep that in my mind all the time (which is pretty easy here because a lot of ppl say c'est la vie or la vie est toujours comme ca).
So anyway, moving on to point 3: recent happenings
Martin is back! He returned to Togo! So, we were all so happy to see him. When we first saw him, we gave him a HUGE group hug in the middle of the road. All the Togolese looked as us strangely (I think I mentioned before that Togolese don't really hug people a lot/ at all) Later, Martin received a similar group hug from tons of Togolese kids. So, now they probably think that all americans give super huge group hugs...haha.
Also, someone was bitten by a snake. It was really scary because most of the snakes here are poisonous and some of them dont have antivenoms and even if there is an antivenom, damage can be done if it isn't given in time. So, basically, one night, someone stepped on a snake (a baby black mamba), and it bit her. Once you're bit, you're not supposed to walk or to freak out (both will cause the venom to reach your heart faster). So, luckily, someone called out and a group of Togolese men came and carried her to the main peace corps center in the area and from there, a driver drove her to the hospital where there happened to be only one antivenom available. So within half an hour from the time she was bitten, she had the antivenom and even within that time she was in and out of consciousness a bit and her foot was pretty bad. So yea, scary. She is able to walk now (this happened 5 days ago) although it is still swollen and hurts. But man, you do not want to be bitten by a snake. moral of the story: do not step on snakes.
Finally, Here is a list of random things:
I went to a pool! There is a pool here! I was soooo incredibly super excited! I've never been so happy to be in a pool!
I went to the post office in Kante and they didn't have stamps available at that time
I saw a lizard fight
Pythons: in a southern region of togo, pythons are respected and are believed to hold the spirit of ancestors. So, killing pythons is a "no-no". If a python is found dead, then a funeral celebration is held (which cost a lot of money), as if the relative had just died. So, instead of killing pythons, you must get a stick, put the stick up to the python, and since the python a one of the kill-bye-strangulation snakes, it will wrap itself around the stick. Then, you can safely guide the python away from your room...or other place of safety. but, you must be careful that this is in fact a python; if you get your snake identifications mixed up, and it is a mamba instead of a python, then that stick will aggravate it, and then you will end up needed to make funeral preparations anyway-for yourself! my strategy will be: scream. then, someone else will come and know whether its ok to kill or not.
I cut my hair super short and I look like my mom now (that's a compliment to myself).
I learned how to make french toast with ingredients here.
funerals take all night here.... there's music alllll night....
Ok, that's all for now folks!
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