December flew by! It kicked off with World AIDS Day on December 1, which was more like World AIDS Week. Then, all the volunteers in my stage allow with our Togolese counterparts spent a week at training in southern/mid Togo. Finally, I began my English club, had a few visitors, went to Carla's amazing Cultural Center Benefit, and of course celebrated the big "fete" of Christmas!
World AIDS Day (and week)
December 1 marked World AIDS day, which meant there were tons of activities, and I was super busy! I helped at the hospital, where they were giving HIV tests and counseling, at the schools, where they were having discussions, debates and activities, and at the library, where there was a grand celebration/sensibilization. I really enjoyed this week, although it was somewhat emotionally difficult at times; at one point I was in the consultation/counseling room when an 18 year old found out that he was HIV+. There was also a very bad bus accident that occurred on the mountain near my town, and the injured crowded the small hospital. But, since it was a day/week to remember and promote actions against HIV/AIDS, I would like to talk a little about how HIV/AIDS is in Togo, and how the system works for those who are HIV+. Officially, here in Togo, the HIV rate is 3%, although many people believe the statistic to be much higher. Once a person has the HIV, they must be monitored and if their CD4+ level falls below a certain level, they qualify for free ARVs (anti-retrovirals aka the HIV medicine). However, these ARVs, although they can be very good at slowing the progression of AIDS, do not really help if an AIDS patient gets sick from another infection. So, an AIDS patient who gets sick, can be faced with huge (relatively speaking) medical bills that cannot be paid. Many infections like this make it financially impossible to manage the disease. So, there are a few NGOs that pay for medications, health consultations, hospital stays, and nutritional kits for these patients. I work at one of these NGOs, called AED, and as long as they pay dues, equivalent to $1/month, patients are taken care of. Dues are a problem though. People don’t like to pay dues and then they get sick. Anyway, that is one of the frustrating things about it. Another frustrating thing is that people don’t get tested. So, although patients who are HIV+ have resources, people don't want to take the test because they think that it isn't confidential, they are scared, they don't think they could have it, and probably many other reasons.
CULTURAL CENTER BENEFIT
My site-mate (the other Peace corps volunteer living here), is very involved in music and dance with kids. Every Saturday, she has a cultural morning, in which kids come and learn English, learn to play the recorder, the drums, and to dance. It's a great (although exhausting) time. They meet in this dilapidated "cultural center" that has definitely seen better days and for some reason has a big hole in the middle of the room. I was trying to think of what to hole's purpose is, but I have no idea. Maybe it was someone's dream to swim in a tub of spaghetti noodles like in that movie with Robin Williams and they built this hole in preparation for a place for the spaghetti noodles. But actually, that is probably not the reason; the hole is made out of cement and large and looks more like a hole for a mass grave than a hole for swimming in spaghetti. Just around the corner from this place is a butcher place...I didn't realize this until one time is was riding my bike, turned the corner, and almost ran into two dead pigs, hanging from something that reminded me of a swing set, with blood dripping from their bodies onto the dusty ground. Anyway, point of the story is: the cultural center building is crap. So, Carla has been working on fundraising for a new cultural center building that would be in a nice location and be a good spot for kids to come and not have a random big cement hole that people are always scared to fall into. As part of this fundraising, she, and the kids, and some other dancers and singers and storytellers from nearby, put on a huge benefit concert! And it was wonderful! There is usually not much of a nightlife here, especially compared to the US, and having everyone in one place for a big concert just brightened my day/night. For more information on Carla’s cultural center project, check out:
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projdetail&projdesc=693-355
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Espoir-Cultural-Center/112389832150384
ENGLISH CLUB
Finally my English club is up and running! And it is so much fun. There are about 10 students who show up regularly, and they are so smart. We have discussions about the US and Togo and the world, all the while learning and improving English. Last time, I gave them an assignment to write a paragraph about a magazine article or picture (I had brought in various magazines that all you lovely family/friends have been sending) and the results were hilarious/serious/good discussion-starters. One person chose a picture of a dog licking a man's face, and the student said "By seeing this picture I am very happy. I didn't think that white men liked to play with dogs as I do." Another student chose a picture of barns in south-central Pennsylvania and said that "the buildings in the picture look like mosques". Someone else described a picture of people in Washington, D.C., saying that everyone was well-dressed, fat, and the girls are beautiful. There were also some discussion-inducing articles, including one about a student shooting spree (they asked me why the student chose to shoot other students) and China's one-child policy (I was interested to see what they thought of it, being from Togo where it is not uncommon to have women with 6-7-8 kids.) The students also wrote me a poem:
Miss Mafisa, (that's my Lamba name, which means I am laid back/relaxed/at ease)
Our English club wishes you 12 months of peace, 52 weeks of joy, 365 days of love, 87600 minutes of happyness [sic], 525600 seconds of success in the kingdom of health for the year 2011. We also wish you Merry Christmas holiday and happy new year.
Anyway, so I like my English club a lot and I want to use it, not only to teach English, but to introduce them to different topics and debates that they might never have encountered.
FIRES IN THE SKY
So, fires are everywhere. Harvest is over, so people burn their fields. It is not very good for the environment (or for my constant sore throat and stuffy nose), but it helps them to clear the fields, prevent uncontrolled fires, and find animals to eat. It is also gorgeous. At night, you can see fires on the mountains all over the area, and it look like they are just floating in the sky because the darkness prevents you from seeing where mountain meets sky. There's a rooftop bar here also, and from the rooftop you can see fires off in the distance.
CHRISTMAS EVE AND CHRISTMAS
Enter into the season of fetes. Everyone has finished the big harvest and people want to feast and celebrate. People crowd the markets, buy little toys for kids, and make huge meals. I was not aware of the insanity of the market and so, like every Friday, I decided to go to the market on market day to buy some supplies, not thinking that it was Christmas Eve and not realizing and that the Christmas market is equivalent to Black Friday at Target. It was impossible to walk, talk, and even think. Needless to say, I had the song "God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy" in my head for a long long time. So, once I got over the magnitude and density of all the people, it was a pretty interesting time and I even saw a monkey! But, I soon left, walked around town for a bit, and then met Carla for Christmas eve dinner. We ate delicious pizza that she made and a weird concoction of dessert-type things that I made. Then, we played and sang Christmas songs! After listening and trying to remember all those things that my true love gave to me during the 12 days of Christmas, it honestly felt just like Christmas! I was ready to grab my warm coat before heading out into the winter wonderland before I realized that I was in Togo. Anyway, I left Carla's house on a moto, re-hung my stocking on my bulletin board with care (there aren't many places to hang stockings), and went to sleep. Next day: Christmas! I woke up early as usual (cough cough, Caity and Rachael, I cant believe you slept in till like 7something), had my oatmeal and green tea and sat down to open presents! After some chill time (I was able to talk to my family on skype!), the feasting began. And Oh My, soo much food! Meal 1: salad with pasta from the neighbors; meal 2: pasta and rice and pintade from the other neighbors; meal 3: beef and salad and ginger sauce at Akanto's garden with the prefet; meal 4: beef and rice and sauce and wine at Akanto's garden with all the students there; meal 5: pasta with chicken, cabbage and apple compote, sweet potatoes and gravy, mango/coconut/banana dessert, eggnog with Carla. Afterwards, I could not move at all. I couldn't even think. I went home and slept. And that was my Christmas.
OTHER RANDOM THINGS:
I went with the peer educators one day to another village for a full day of idea-exchanging, and on the way back, there was an overturned truck on the mountain (which is on the only national highway, the paved road that goes from south to north). So, we walked down the mountain. It was so much fun, there were like 30 students and me, all singing and dancing in the middle of the national highway walking down a mountain.
TASTE CHANGES
In the US, before parting for Togo, I had a fairly healthy diet. I would rarely/never eat fatty meats, and stayed away from red meats in general. All dairy products were the reduced or low fat version, and, save for my one Achilles heel of gummy bears, I would not really eat candy or candy bars. I never craved any of these things that I excluded; I just ate the things I wanted to eat, and didn't eat the things I didn't want to eat. Here, though, I find myself craving things that I would never ever want to eat in the US. For example, beef, and meat in general. I crave meat soooo much. If I could press a button and be back in the US and be able to eat whatever I wanted, I would eat lots of half-rare steak with sour cream, lots of big juicy cheeseburgers with all the fat dripping onto your hands. I would eat pizzas with every single topping and extra cheese. I would drink sodas and root beer floats. I would eat 5 egg omeletes with ham and bacon and sausage and super rich cheddar cheese. I would get the most calorically-rich bagel and put an inch of full fat flavored cream cheese. Shepherds pie, meatloaf, beef enchiladas covered in grease and cheese, eggs on everything, fried eggs, scrambled eggs, deviled eggs, real butter, real mayonnaise, ranch dip, potato chips, real sour cream, ham, Sliced turkey, gravy, pork chops, lasagna, veal parmesan. cheese meat cheese meat eggs. I don't really know why this is; I didn't have these cravings while I was in the US, when I had these options available. I don't know if I will still want to eat all these things once I return. I think maybe it is here, in Togo, when meat and eggs are difficult to find and prepare, and dairy (except for the powdered milk) is almost unheard of, that I have cravings for these things. I hope the cravings go away when I return to the US, or else I might double in size!
