MAY 1: LABOR DAY
Labor Day here is a super holiday, celebrated with as much food and drink as Christmas and even New Years. People get together with their coworkers, all wearing the same pagne (the same design on the fabric of their clothes) to eat, drink, and dance. A couple people asked me how May 1 was celebrated in the U.S. They were surprised when I said that May 1 wasn't Labor Day in the US and even more surprised when I told them we don't do anything super exciting and special for labor day, apart from not going to work and spending time with friends and/or family. Anyway, I had never imagined that Labor Day (one of the those rather overlooked holidays in the US) would be celebrated with such vigor here in Togo.
THE END OF SCHOOL
School is in the process of ending. It seems to take a long time to end, it seemed to have been ending since the past month, which confused me at first. The students are in classes anymore; instead, they are either taking exams or have free days while their peers take exams. It's been a little confusing figuring out the schedule, so my work with students has diminished quite a bit this month. The girls soccer club is still going, although some days there are only 2 or 3 girls (due to exams) while other days there are 15! English club has also been variable. I have met with a few students who I am closer with for more personal tutoring/practicing English, but we have not had an official club meeting all month. I hope that this next month, the official end of school might bring more regularity with student groups.
LETTER WRITING
Awhile ago, my cousin had her students write letters to students here. I had been working with an English teacher here to find a suitable class to read the letters and write back as pen pals, and soon, I received the return letters, all ready to send back to the states. The letters were so cute! Some students wrote:
"I enjoy seeing your handwriting" , "Dear Pen pal, Good morning Emma. I'm your new friend. I now know your name, Emma. My name is Jean Baptice, and I like rice." "I don't have electricity. Have you? I like fufu, rice, and yams. What food do you like? I don't have a TV and a computer. I talk English. I have a real desk. I don't know spongebob. I don't know ice cream."
BUMPS and BRUISES
Once in awhile, someone in my family here will get a scratch, like Maxime, who was playing soccer barefoot on rocks, missed the ball, and kicked a rock. Ouch. Anyway, he came crying and we patched it up with special spongebob Band-Aids that my mom sent. Ever since then, he has loooved getting cuts. He loves Band-Aids. Almost every night, he mentions how he cut himself really badly that day, but when I look for his "cut", it is not to be found. He still insists it is there and that he needs one of the spongbob Band-Aids to fix it.
LIQUID SOAP
AED (Association Espoir pour Demain) in Kante is an NGO that assists PLWHAs (persons living with HIV/AIDS). They provide medical and psychological counseling, meds for opportunistic infections, nutritional kits and a good support network. Anyway, they had long been wanting to learn how to learn to make liquid soap as a way to earn additional income for the group. So, before showing them, I did a practice round with the neighbors kids. SOooo much fun. It reminded me of Pippy Longstockings, specifically the scene when everyone has sponges/mops on there feet and are sliding/dancing all around the room. I had always wanted to do something like that, and liquid soap was the way to go. Of course, some of the soap spilled, and of course, once Maxime took one step onto the soapy surface with that trouble-maker look in his eye, all craziness broke loose. Soon, the kids were sliding and dancing around all over my front porch. A few weeks later, I prepared the liquid soap with the members of AED. Although it was not as fun as with the kids, it was still successful and they are now selling the product.
TURTLE HANDS
One day, I walked out, and there were a few clouds in the sky! This may not seem incredibly exciting to you, but after the constant interminable sun of April, a cloud is very exciting because it means there is somewhere where it is not sunny.. Plus, I hadn't seen a cloud in awhile. Some time after viewing this cloud, it began to rain! And it was a freaking super huge thunderstorm, with wind that destroyed houses and rain that flooded streets and fields. It was so strange to see puddles of water, and sooo exciting to just be able to throw a bucket outside and collect water instead of worrying about where my water was going to come from next (our water pump had been turned off for a few weeks). So, this thunderstorm passed, and a few more random ones came and went, but soon, the storms began to come more frequently. Now, clouds appear almost every day. But, even though the clouds provide relief from the sun, it is still hot season, and does not yet rain enough to be rainy season. Instead, we are left with the hot weather of hot season, but the humidity of rainy season. Instead of the sweat evaporating off of me, I am super sweaty. Sometimes, my hands and fingers get all wrinkly like turtle hands, not from washing or swimming, just from sweat that constantly covers me! In fact, as I am typing this now, my hands are turtle hands - all wrinkly due to the sweat they are covered in.
WELCOME BACK MOSQUITOS!
So, now the rains have started and mosquitoes have begun to proliferate. I am being bitten more, which is reminding me that I need to use mosquito repellent, something I didn't need often during dry seasons. There are many more suspected and confirmed cases of malaria at the hospital. You can see at the hospital lab the lines of blood stained slides ready to be analyzed for the presence of the malaria causing Plasmodium falciparum parasite. Now, the work to combat malaria is being made more apparent. In June, mosquito nets will be distributed in the villages surrounding Kante. In addition to these provided through the minister of health, Akanto has also partnered I made PeacePals, a group in the US, to distribute and discuss mosquito nets. I made neem lotion with my family and am planning to make it with a women's group here in town. Neem is a type of tree, and the leaves, when boiled, release an odorous chemical that deters mosquitoes. So, there is a lotion recipe that utilizes this handy little property; my predecessor made this lotion and I am continuing it; don't want those mosquitoes!
p.s. I have a bug bite in my armpit.
MY MOM's BIRTHDAY
Like all holidays, I celebrated my mom's birthday in Togo a bit differently than I would if I was home in the US. It was thankfully a cool day. I had some good pate (similar to polenta, but with no spices and squishier and eaten with hands) with baobab leaf and gumbo sauce (aka snot sauce) and then I made a cake. At night, I made super fancy hot chocolate with the powdered milk that never completely dissolves and all the special godiva liquors and baileys and kahlua that my mom sent. So, happy birthday mom!
BAKING SPREE
In the US, I loooooved to bake cakes, breads, cookies, anything really. All the time, I was either baking or finishing what I had baked. When I got to Togo, I stopped all baking; how could I without an oven and the proper ingredients? But, I found out about a "dutch oven", which is a basically a large pot and lid that functions as an oven. So, I bought my large pot and lid,, poured some water in the bottom, placed three inch-tall tin cans to prop up my "baking pan", and began cooking! Once you make the dough, you can place it in any metal pan or bowl that is small enough to fit into your big pot, place the lid on, and throw the whole pot and lid with pan contraption on the stove or over charcoal or wood or anything with fire and let it cook! So I did this, and soon had a incredibly tasty chocolate cake in my hands. Wow, I thought. I unknowingly released the former baking spree person that I was. I was soon baking cakes, brownies, and breads! In the middle of this, my mom sent blueberry muffin mix, and a ton of those sample-size liquors. With this I began making rum brownies, grand marnier cake, and blueberry muffins (just not in muffin form). And, I started to teach my Togolese friend Poline here how to bake too!
BENIN!: LAND OF THE HIPPOS WHO FAN THEIR POOP AND THE ONES THAT LAUGH AT THEM
Why does a hippo fan its poop? That was the one question I deperately needed answered when I decided to go on a Safari in Benin. Not really, but our tour guide explained the answer regardless. One day, a man told his old uncle that he had learned why a hippo fans his poop because he read it in a book. Why would you believe what those white people write in books, the uncle said, it is already known why a hippo fans his poop. And with that he began to explain. When God made the world, hippos were given the role of eating the grass (essentially a lawn mower). But, the hippo said, “its really hot here, God! can I please stay in the water?” But God said, “No, if you go in the water, you will probably eat fish, and I don’t want you to eat all the fish.” The hippo replied, “I will not eat the fish, I do not want fish; I just want to be cool because the sunshine is so hot!” “Too bad, hippo. You’re staying on land,” said God. Some time went by, and the hippo continued to complain and request permission to enter the water, but God never changed his mind. Eventually, God decided to visit Earth. When he walked through Africa and saw the hippo suffering, God realized how hot it was and he decided to change his mind. “You may go in the water, hippo,” said God, “But, there is one condition. Whenever you poop, you must fan out your poop, so that I can clearly see that you have not eaten any fish.” So, the hippo entered the water then, and continues to return to the water during the heat of day. He also continues to eat grass, and never eats fish, as is proven by his poop, conscientiously fanned out so that God can see what he has eaten. So, now you know why a hippo fans his poop. But that was just part of the whole safari trip. We went to Penjari Park, a beautiful, mountain-surrounded and animal filled area in the northwest part of Benin. It is known as one of the best and only places you can take safaris and see "wild animals" in West Africa. We went as a group, with a fantastic tour guide who, throughout our safari drives, would quote random facts, like the gestation period of a hippo. Every morning and evening, we would be speeding along the bumpy roads of the park in an old durable car, holding onto the home-made rooftop plywood chairs that we were sitting on, while dodging (and sometimes getting smacked in the face) with branches of trees and thorny trees, all while looking out for animals. Sometimes, the car would come to a halt, which meant our tour guide saw something. We would grab binoculars and he would explicitly explain where the animal was located and spout out random facts about this animal. We saw many animals, including elephants, warthogs (my fav), hippos, tons of birds, a super huge lizard, baboons, red monkeys, green monkeys, tons of different relatives of the antelope, and crocodiles. At one point, our tour guide saw an elephant in the distance that was on its way towards the road. We slowed to a crawl, and I guess the elephant realized we were not evil snipers out to shoot him, and he decided to cross the road right in front of us! Soon after, we went to a watering hole that was full of hippos! Some of the hippos were diving and swimming around and playing, some were farting/pooping a lot, and some were laughing- like really laughing. It sounded exactly like those laughs common to evil cartoon characters. Like (long audible inhale)-hahahahahaa.
SPARKLERS, GLOW STICKS, and EASTER EGG HUNTS
My family had sent sparklers (never realized you can send sparklers through the mail), various varieties of glow sticks, and plastic easter eggs. The neighbor’s kids go absolutely crazy over these things. With the sparklers and glow sticks, they run around the compound area at night, pretending they are some time of Kung Fu master. And with they Easter Eggs, they go even crazier. Every day, they want to have an Easter egg hunt. So, almost everyday, they run outside the compound and close the door as I and my neighbor hide the Easter eggs. Then, once they here the door opening, they sprint inside, practically knocking me over, and begin searching for Easter eggs. The oldest always find the most, and Maxime can only find them if I give him hints, but they don’t seems to care who finds the most, as logn as they get to play every day, as often as possible.
AED HAPPENINGS
The people at AED are quite busy now. There is a concert planned which will benefit the members of AED and raise awareness about HIV/AIDS. There will be songs, dances, speeches, and skits. Also, AED has recently acquired a new building. Actually, it is a room in a new health clinic that was recently built in Kante. Everyone is very excited about it, and hopefully by the end of the month we will be there.
MARATHON TRAINING
There is a marathon in Ghana in September, and a group of us Togo Peace Corps volunteers have decided to sign up for it and raise money for Hope Through Health, which assists with AED. So, we have begun training. And its been pretty rough, mainly because of the more-often-than-not diarrhea or stomach discomfort. But, I have been starting to do my training runs no matter what; if I can run training runs with gastrointestinal problems, then I can run the marathon with gastronintestinal problems. Anyway, it is soo good to be back running again and get back in shape! I am incredibly excited, and especially excited to be running to raise money for a group that I work with and see every day.
MARSHMALLOWS
One of the Indian stores in Kara just started carrying marshmallows, so everyone's been buying them (you don't see many marshmallows in this area of the world). So, of course, I bought some, brought them home, and excitedly showed my neighbors. At first, they didn't realize they were a food, which, I guess they don't look or smell like a food, but it had never occurred to me that a marshmallow could be anything but a food. Anyway, then, we roasted them and ate them, or rather, I roasted one and ate it while they started and wondered what I was doing. But, then I think they may have gotten the idea.
RANDOM
I was bitten by something called a blister beetle.
The neighbor kids' favorite song of mine is Poker Face, by Lady Gaga, except they call it Oringa
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