Only a week late, my days here are now genuinely numbered; not that they haven't been numbered from the very beginning but now it's less than 30, it's starting to finally kick in that it's nearly coming to an end. The closer I get to the 31st, the less I want to leave here and the more determined I am to certainly come back as soon as I can. The current plan is to spend my year out here; which would mean arriving summer 2014 which is only 2 years away... All at once not very, and very, long... Anyway, that's enough of that!
Last week I went to Kara to see the traditional coming-of-age ceremony of the Kabyè people. This is basically wrestling, but in a field with no protection and there are usually 4 or 5 fights going on at the same time. As a young man you have to go through the ceremony 3 times, and the better you do, the better your chances of getting a good wife are. Apparently! The villages compete against each other, and the whole thing lasts for a week. I went to see the finals, and indeed also got to see the final of all the finals which was fantastic and had SO many people there! Went to the final in Sarakawa, very important historically for the Gnassingbé family as the village was built around where the aeroplane crash happened (previous President survived many dangerous and life-threatening incidents, including a plan crash in I think the 80s) so that was cool. Saw the man himself "Faurevi" and was actually the only yovo there which was nice for a change. Such a contrast between that small one and the final at Lassa the day after - probably about 50 times more people! President came in his helicopter both times though, and both times landed about 5 metres away from the crowd, so clearly showing no preference at all... Anyway, that was an enjoyable weekend, and made a friend on the coach to boot - plus her daughter of only 2 who is ADORABLE.
Haven't said that at the end of June we went with Projects to a village to do a kind of raising awareness/sort of thing day. Talked to them about lots of medical things, such as oral hygiene and washing properly, as well as how to avoid malaria, and then the Human Rights volunteers had to talk to them about children's rights. Tough topic, as to be frank, here they don't really have any. Children are very much the bottom of the pile. And that's how it's been for so long that when we come along and preach that it should be different, understandably we're not always taken very seriously. I've noticed since being here that the Togolese in general often don't look obviously interested in talks/presentations etc so it can be hard to judge the reaction but this time our audience was in general, decidedly and unashamedly bored/confused/sceptical to various degrees and in various combinations. But we did our best, and to be honest, the ideal outcome would be an entire cultural shift; something which is unlikely to happen very quickly or very soon. We can only hope that some day it will get there.
Apart from all that, work is going along fine and doing some interesting stuff, like equality of pay and sexual harrassment. Plus stuff to improve the monitoring done around the electoral period. All very exciting! Because it's summer now, we've had a massive influx of young volunteers coming for one month slots and so one week I walked into the office and didn't know any of the 15 people there! New experience for me haha. So we've had lots of comings and goings and not a few problems too but now we're into August we haven't got so many new arrivals. Although a girl arrived in my house the other day who is very nice - and talks 19 to the dozen, genuinely! Politics wise there are also some developments like a new First Minister and governmental cabinet so that's very interesting to follow too. Olympics are not really causing a big storm here, even though it's quite often shown on the tv no one really seems to be very interested! But I heard this morning that Britain are doing very well on the medal front so go Britain!
Hope you're all well, will be seeing you a lot sooner than it seems I'm sure
x
Sunday, 5 August 2012
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
A Huge Apology
Just to say I am really really sorry for not having written for so long and this is only a one-liner as well BUT...
I WILL write something looooong on Sunday afternoon. And that's a promise :)
x
I WILL write something looooong on Sunday afternoon. And that's a promise :)
x
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
FOOD
So apparently it's very important to write about the food here so that you all get an idea of how it works. When I was thinking about what to say I realised that actually it's quite complicated so hope it's comprehensible! Plus I don't know most names in English, and sometimes not even in French! Will put the French in italics and the African into italics AND bold to make it simple :)
Staples: manioc, inyam, maize, rice, couscous, sweet potatoes
Meats: pintade, agouti, chicken, beef, goat
Fish: dried fish, doeviVeg: épinard, gboma, yovo gboma, ademe, vovou, haricotsOther bits and pieces which I like and can remember at this moment in time: akpono, botoquin, gateaux, atitoe, mangue indigene
Ok. The rice and couscous are for richer families, and although manioc, inyam and sweet potato are officially interchangeable, only manioc can really be considered a properly base element as the others are expensive. Eg, at the end of its season 5 inyam can be only found at 1500CFA whereas the manioc can be as little as 800-1000CFA again for 5. Real potatoes are also available but they are v expensive and I'm pretty sure are imported so not the most common foodstuff.
So, manioc can be used as a vegetable or made into flour (garri). As I said technically it's interchangeable but in my family we tend to get the inyam to be used as a vegetable, but still use the garri. The inyam season runs from October to April or thereabouts, and in the meantime sweet potatoes are the substitute but work mainly fried.
As a vegetable: fufu - pounded inyam
cólico - fried, like roast potatoes
As flour (garri): bwi - kind of like porridge, but using flour in place of oats and no milk, but water and sugar, sometimes citronelle. Drunk most often as breakfast
djékoumé - a version of pate, but made with a tomato and onion jus in the mixture to turn it orange and change the texture
pino - another version of pate, more grainy and with a different taste
acheke - sort of like our couscous, a little bitter
ablo - flower-shaped parcels of something a bit like compressed rice, sweet
akpan - a very bizarre thing, sort of plasticky texture... But enjoyable nonetheless!
Garri is also eaten plain with sugar and sometimes arachides as gouter for little ones (and me).
The maize is dried and this is the main ingredient for the pate which is the most basic dish here. Between May and September fresh maize is also available with the rains.
akumé - the normal type of pate, very non-offensive, kind of like mashed potato
dokumé - fermented pate, can also be made into kom which is like a condensed version, most often served in maize leaf parcels with VERY strong piment
Two other common dishes are ayimolu and riz au gras. Ayimolu is the haricots with quite hard rice, and then riz au gras is a way of cooking rice with vegetables etc all mixed in together.
All of the above can be eaten with anything, although ablo and pino tend to go more often with fish, as does acheke. The most common complement is sauce, with or without meat etc.
Main sauces include: ademe, gombo, (yovo) gboma, vovou, graine, arachide, blanche.
Meat and fish can be used with any sauce, but ademe, gombo, and gboma tend to contain fish. The most common meat is chicken, pintade and agouti are more expensive. Fish is mostly dried as there is little fishing off the Lomé coast itself. Doevi are little fish which are often eaten whole, or crushed, and again dried.
Épinard, (yovo) gboma, vovou, and ademe are all spinach related veg. Gombo has a funny shape, sort of like cannisters and gives a stringy quality to its sauce.
Other things: botoquins - like the mixture for pancakes, but fried in balls
akpono - the sweet bread, mostly eaten at breakfast
atitoe - a fruit, very bizarre to describe... quite nice!
gateaux - small cakes, pastries, of all kinds, literally!
mangues indigenes - small mangoes, very stringy, that are sucked instead of bitten like other mangoes.
So that's what we eat, in terms of cultural context etc...
The Togolese often eat little for breakfast - bwi with bread if anything most of the time - and then eat a meal at 9-10am. This can be spaghetti, acheke, ayimolu etc, with sauce and piment. Then 12-2pm is eating time again, followed by supper between 7-8pm.
Food is very important - it's offered to a guest coming into the house, or you at least receive an offer of a drink. Inviting people to eat is not only a tradition, but a genuine request too. But when an elder invites a younger, it should never be accepted. Plus, if you invite someone else out to eat, either at your home or a restaurant, you foot the bill!
Staples: manioc, inyam, maize, rice, couscous, sweet potatoes
Meats: pintade, agouti, chicken, beef, goat
Fish: dried fish, doeviVeg: épinard, gboma, yovo gboma, ademe, vovou, haricotsOther bits and pieces which I like and can remember at this moment in time: akpono, botoquin, gateaux, atitoe, mangue indigene
Ok. The rice and couscous are for richer families, and although manioc, inyam and sweet potato are officially interchangeable, only manioc can really be considered a properly base element as the others are expensive. Eg, at the end of its season 5 inyam can be only found at 1500CFA whereas the manioc can be as little as 800-1000CFA again for 5. Real potatoes are also available but they are v expensive and I'm pretty sure are imported so not the most common foodstuff.
So, manioc can be used as a vegetable or made into flour (garri). As I said technically it's interchangeable but in my family we tend to get the inyam to be used as a vegetable, but still use the garri. The inyam season runs from October to April or thereabouts, and in the meantime sweet potatoes are the substitute but work mainly fried.
As a vegetable: fufu - pounded inyam
cólico - fried, like roast potatoes
As flour (garri): bwi - kind of like porridge, but using flour in place of oats and no milk, but water and sugar, sometimes citronelle. Drunk most often as breakfast
djékoumé - a version of pate, but made with a tomato and onion jus in the mixture to turn it orange and change the texture
pino - another version of pate, more grainy and with a different taste
acheke - sort of like our couscous, a little bitter
ablo - flower-shaped parcels of something a bit like compressed rice, sweet
akpan - a very bizarre thing, sort of plasticky texture... But enjoyable nonetheless!
Garri is also eaten plain with sugar and sometimes arachides as gouter for little ones (and me).
 |
| Akpan with poulet grillé et jus |
akumé - the normal type of pate, very non-offensive, kind of like mashed potato
dokumé - fermented pate, can also be made into kom which is like a condensed version, most often served in maize leaf parcels with VERY strong piment
 |
| Pate with sauce graine |
Two other common dishes are ayimolu and riz au gras. Ayimolu is the haricots with quite hard rice, and then riz au gras is a way of cooking rice with vegetables etc all mixed in together.
All of the above can be eaten with anything, although ablo and pino tend to go more often with fish, as does acheke. The most common complement is sauce, with or without meat etc.
Main sauces include: ademe, gombo, (yovo) gboma, vovou, graine, arachide, blanche.
Meat and fish can be used with any sauce, but ademe, gombo, and gboma tend to contain fish. The most common meat is chicken, pintade and agouti are more expensive. Fish is mostly dried as there is little fishing off the Lomé coast itself. Doevi are little fish which are often eaten whole, or crushed, and again dried.
Épinard, (yovo) gboma, vovou, and ademe are all spinach related veg. Gombo has a funny shape, sort of like cannisters and gives a stringy quality to its sauce.
Other things: botoquins - like the mixture for pancakes, but fried in balls
akpono - the sweet bread, mostly eaten at breakfast
atitoe - a fruit, very bizarre to describe... quite nice!
gateaux - small cakes, pastries, of all kinds, literally!
mangues indigenes - small mangoes, very stringy, that are sucked instead of bitten like other mangoes.
So that's what we eat, in terms of cultural context etc...
The Togolese often eat little for breakfast - bwi with bread if anything most of the time - and then eat a meal at 9-10am. This can be spaghetti, acheke, ayimolu etc, with sauce and piment. Then 12-2pm is eating time again, followed by supper between 7-8pm.
 |
| Zowoe |
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
Untitled.
It's been ages since I last wrote - and now we're no longer less than halfway through 2012 and halfway through my stay here, but almost halfway through 2012 and over halfway through my time here! Time does definitely fly here, don't know why but it seems to more than ever. Or perhaps I'm just getting old...
So the last thing I told you all was that Togo was being graced with the Presence - and so it was! Mummy came to pay us all a visit over here and I'm not sure if she finished by being more or less worried for me than before she came... It was a pretty exciting 6 days, as got to see Mama's village which I haven't up until now, as well as the market there which is fantastic. A real typical market, everything crowded up together and such smells, sights and sounds as to make your eyes water - either from nausea or delight! (In Mummy's case I'm not sure it wasn't nausea...) But we had a lovely 6 days, and I am very grateful that she was able to come out. She also took back to England with her a stack of things to help lighten the load in the summer - what else are mothers for?! Plus a stack of photos and videos if anyone wants to pop round for tea and a viewing - advance warning required though.
Apart from that, life goes on pretty much as usual, or unusual, here. CACIT is very interesting, though frustrating at times in terms of normal Togolese lack of organisation or real direction but you get used to dealing with it. I miss school a little because it was more familiar that this is plus I only worked mornings! But this will be familiar all too soon - 2 months and a week or so left and then that's it... Unfortunately, it's a bit delicate to talk about work too much on here because it's an NGO so isn't officially liked, and is technically officially disliked so will pipe down a little on that! Suffice it to say that it's Human Rights, so as the knowledge of personal rights and duties here is minimal among the majority our work isn't disappearing anywhere fast. Next time I'm going to give you a lesson on food here because although it's obviously an integral part (and even more so than just from necessity here) of day to day life, I find it very hard to actually describe so consequently needs a bit of thought! I had the same problem when trying to describe our diet to the children at school... Not sure if I'm already told you this story, but they were asking me if certain things grew in England and I was saying no, not naturally, so they asked me if the first time I'd eaten a mango was in Togo... Of course I had to say no and explain that they were imported into England. This then provoked a flurry of questions as to this, and that, and this - and by the end of the class, if anyone asked about anything new, they got the immediate response 'importé, importé'!!
My children started their real BEPC today and I've been having nightmares for them! I've spoken a little about the conditions in which they're expected to succeed, and my heart will be in my mouth until their results day which is fortunately soon. Sadly I can't see them this Thursday, but as soon as I know anything I'll be sure to let you all know too. Please cross your fingers for them - even across the sea it will help!
x
 |
| Doesn't matter if you're black or white... Groceries are still just as interesting!! |
 |
| At the CACIT office |
Apart from that, life goes on pretty much as usual, or unusual, here. CACIT is very interesting, though frustrating at times in terms of normal Togolese lack of organisation or real direction but you get used to dealing with it. I miss school a little because it was more familiar that this is plus I only worked mornings! But this will be familiar all too soon - 2 months and a week or so left and then that's it... Unfortunately, it's a bit delicate to talk about work too much on here because it's an NGO so isn't officially liked, and is technically officially disliked so will pipe down a little on that! Suffice it to say that it's Human Rights, so as the knowledge of personal rights and duties here is minimal among the majority our work isn't disappearing anywhere fast. Next time I'm going to give you a lesson on food here because although it's obviously an integral part (and even more so than just from necessity here) of day to day life, I find it very hard to actually describe so consequently needs a bit of thought! I had the same problem when trying to describe our diet to the children at school... Not sure if I'm already told you this story, but they were asking me if certain things grew in England and I was saying no, not naturally, so they asked me if the first time I'd eaten a mango was in Togo... Of course I had to say no and explain that they were imported into England. This then provoked a flurry of questions as to this, and that, and this - and by the end of the class, if anyone asked about anything new, they got the immediate response 'importé, importé'!!
My children started their real BEPC today and I've been having nightmares for them! I've spoken a little about the conditions in which they're expected to succeed, and my heart will be in my mouth until their results day which is fortunately soon. Sadly I can't see them this Thursday, but as soon as I know anything I'll be sure to let you all know too. Please cross your fingers for them - even across the sea it will help!
x
Friday, 18 May 2012
Au Mi-Chemin...
Sooo started at CACIT (Collectif des Associations Contre l'Impunité au Togo) on Monday, wrote a report Monday night on a talk the director had given at the univeristy on Monday morning, then on Tuesday was informed - "there's an open doors week at another organisation, and you 're going to manage that." !! Luckily, because we're in Togo, it's not until the beginning of June - but still!
Since then have been starting with promoting CACIT's communication - major aim is to get journalists, possibly international, properly involved with CACIT and not only writing articles about what we do, but being themselves Human Rights defenders. So, the YouTube clip below is an audio of an interview the director of CACIT did on the attack on a journalist involved in the demonstration on Independence Day here. Not a brilliant audio sadly, but it's better than nothing. The website of CACIT itself is www.cacit.org if you all want to look at that too! Below should also be the Facebook group so if anyone's got any spare time have a look round and read of all of that - Twitter account coming soon!
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100002215617806
YouTube audio of the executive director of CACIT
Ok, publicity over. Apart from CACIT, haven't done much revolutionary since last weekend. Helene who was living with me has left, and a new boy has come in her place - half French half English who's also working at CACIT. Lucie, a volunteer who was here for 6 months, left yesterday which means that I'm now the oldest volunteer! (Not in age though, in age I'm almost the youngest...) The extra lessons on Thursdays are still going, and this week we did a little of the history of England - the Royal Family and a massive timeline stretching from 43AD the Roman invasion to today! Next time we're going to do some more detailed work, but wanted them to chose periods that interest them - however they know nothing of English history apart from what we did yesterday so not quite sure how that will work but we'll make it go somehow. Will try to put up as soon as I can a little thing we did a few weeks ago.
Basically, I wrote a couple of poems using the "I am" structure. This is a structure which helps children to approach poetry-writing in an easier way, and basically is a set of line-beginnings which they fill in as applicable to whoever they are describing.
So - my poem as a tourist started
"I am a stranger everywhere I go,
"I wonder where I will be tomorrow,
"I hear people talking in a language I don't understand..."
So I then asked them to write a poem in the same structure, only using 5 or 6 lines, describing themselves. Sadly, only one girl actually did it - I had a few others telling me they'd forgotten it, or left it at home, etc etc - but what she wrote was actually quite good considering, and I think it shows some potential. She added to it as well, to make it longer, so the next time I can get hold of her I'll try and get it so I can put it up on here and you can all read it. Hopefully some others are going to have a go too, so maybe I'll have more than one!
Exciting news for next week - a maternal visitation; as from Tuesday for 6 days, I will no longer be the only Snow in Togo! Will let you know how that all goes...! :)
x
Since then have been starting with promoting CACIT's communication - major aim is to get journalists, possibly international, properly involved with CACIT and not only writing articles about what we do, but being themselves Human Rights defenders. So, the YouTube clip below is an audio of an interview the director of CACIT did on the attack on a journalist involved in the demonstration on Independence Day here. Not a brilliant audio sadly, but it's better than nothing. The website of CACIT itself is www.cacit.org if you all want to look at that too! Below should also be the Facebook group so if anyone's got any spare time have a look round and read of all of that - Twitter account coming soon!
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100002215617806
YouTube audio of the executive director of CACIT
Ok, publicity over. Apart from CACIT, haven't done much revolutionary since last weekend. Helene who was living with me has left, and a new boy has come in her place - half French half English who's also working at CACIT. Lucie, a volunteer who was here for 6 months, left yesterday which means that I'm now the oldest volunteer! (Not in age though, in age I'm almost the youngest...) The extra lessons on Thursdays are still going, and this week we did a little of the history of England - the Royal Family and a massive timeline stretching from 43AD the Roman invasion to today! Next time we're going to do some more detailed work, but wanted them to chose periods that interest them - however they know nothing of English history apart from what we did yesterday so not quite sure how that will work but we'll make it go somehow. Will try to put up as soon as I can a little thing we did a few weeks ago.
Basically, I wrote a couple of poems using the "I am" structure. This is a structure which helps children to approach poetry-writing in an easier way, and basically is a set of line-beginnings which they fill in as applicable to whoever they are describing.
So - my poem as a tourist started
"I am a stranger everywhere I go,
"I wonder where I will be tomorrow,
"I hear people talking in a language I don't understand..."
So I then asked them to write a poem in the same structure, only using 5 or 6 lines, describing themselves. Sadly, only one girl actually did it - I had a few others telling me they'd forgotten it, or left it at home, etc etc - but what she wrote was actually quite good considering, and I think it shows some potential. She added to it as well, to make it longer, so the next time I can get hold of her I'll try and get it so I can put it up on here and you can all read it. Hopefully some others are going to have a go too, so maybe I'll have more than one!
Exciting news for next week - a maternal visitation; as from Tuesday for 6 days, I will no longer be the only Snow in Togo! Will let you know how that all goes...! :)
x
Saturday, 12 May 2012
CEG ATTIKPA
Have been horribly bad, and this makes 11 days without writing - so sorry everyone!! Time literally has wings here, and it uses them frequently...
Since I last wrote a million and one things have happened, but most of them are boring and normal, so the most important are that I left CEG ATTIKPA :( and we carried out a 'humanitarian project' at school (ATTIKPA). What this last means basically is that we bought blackboard paint, repainted the blackboards, and bought and distributed school books to the children. The story is; there were two Canadian girls here and they didn't often come to meetings, but on Independence Day night, they came to Club 54 with us to have a drink and as we were going to the non-existent fireworks, one of them (Lisa) realised she'd left her moto helmet in the Club. She wasn't sure of the way back so I offered to go with her; on the way we were talking about our projects and she mentioned that she'd been looking for a school to help, as she'd had donations from home which were intended for a school, so she asked me what the problems were and how she could use the money. Of course, there are a million and one problems here, plus a few more so we had plenty to talk about! And it ended up that very kindly, she chose to help ATTIKPA! Unfortunately, this was one week before she left Togo. So we spent the next week running round and organising, which is a more difficult task than usual here... And finally, on Saturday 5th May, the PA volunteers painted all 28 blackboards of CEG ATTIKPA. And with such a great result! Before, blackboards were in a pretty dire state to say the least, and now they're great! The teachers were majorly pleased, one said it makes him want to write now, and that worked out really well indeed. Then the school books. Lisa had bought 600 because she wanted to just buy as many as possible, so we split them up between the 14 classes to make 43 per class, with 42 for the two 3és who are slightly smaller. We decided it should be done on merit, and I really wanted us to give out books to the top 10, maybe 20 in each class, for the two terms just gone (they class all the students of every class at the end of each term so all the information is already there somewhere, so wasn't providing extra work for anyone by saying that!!) and, only if they'd improved. However, it didn't quite turn out like that, and on Wednesday I spent my morning running round giving out all 43 books to each class, child by child. I guess lots have gained from it, but now there's no more incentive to work... Things can be tricky to organise when it involves donations and giving here at times, but am cooking up another plan for before I leave in August... Will keep you posted. And feel free to donate at any point if anyone so feels the need!! Honestly, a worthier cause doesn't come around every day.
And then, yesterday (Friday 11th, coincidentally Bob Marley Day, which was celebrated with gusto everywhere here!) I finished my Project at ATTIKPA. Mixed emotions really; I live literally opposite the school and I'm still here in Togo so in a way I'm not leaving, and I'm totally free to hop over any time I want. But, it's not going to be every day. And I will miss the children: as rowdy and undisciplined and maddening as they can be, they're lovely. I'm continuing my Thursday afternoons, so I'll continue to see that group regularly, and most of the children live in the quartier so I see them around often, but it's not quite the same, and I know I won't see all of them. Equally though, I'm glad to be changing, to try something different, something new which hopefully I'll enjoy too. As a leaving present, the teachers gave me a proper African trouser complet, in red Batik material which is SO cool and SO comfy, if a little hot at midday!! Wore it out last night, though not sure I'd have the courage to wear it all at once in England, but can definitely wear it half and half as well. Brilliant!! One of the teachers also gave me a pair of the flipflops they make here, made by her little sister, and a group of 4é girls also gave me a pair which are really pretty. Going out for dinner with Mama tonight, so donning the complet plus Togo flipflops to go and eat probably pâte - native.
Two more exciting things, went to the most amazing concert last night - a group from Cameroon, just spectacular is really the only way to describe it! And... I got my hair braided...!!! I will try and put photos up for you, but as you've now realised, that means July at the earliest... The joys of a third world country's internet! Also had a few more afternoon classes, and the new Sarah (she's called Katrin and she's German and very nice, also looks a lot like Sarah...) came to see me this Thursday. Slightly scary, but she seemed to enjoy it so that's good! We've got two more lessons to go, approx, and then we're off England and onto more advanced topics which is exciting but little apprehensive of how that's going to go to start with. Will also put up here soon a poem which one of them wrote which I think actually shows really something.
Bises, x
Since I last wrote a million and one things have happened, but most of them are boring and normal, so the most important are that I left CEG ATTIKPA :( and we carried out a 'humanitarian project' at school (ATTIKPA). What this last means basically is that we bought blackboard paint, repainted the blackboards, and bought and distributed school books to the children. The story is; there were two Canadian girls here and they didn't often come to meetings, but on Independence Day night, they came to Club 54 with us to have a drink and as we were going to the non-existent fireworks, one of them (Lisa) realised she'd left her moto helmet in the Club. She wasn't sure of the way back so I offered to go with her; on the way we were talking about our projects and she mentioned that she'd been looking for a school to help, as she'd had donations from home which were intended for a school, so she asked me what the problems were and how she could use the money. Of course, there are a million and one problems here, plus a few more so we had plenty to talk about! And it ended up that very kindly, she chose to help ATTIKPA! Unfortunately, this was one week before she left Togo. So we spent the next week running round and organising, which is a more difficult task than usual here... And finally, on Saturday 5th May, the PA volunteers painted all 28 blackboards of CEG ATTIKPA. And with such a great result! Before, blackboards were in a pretty dire state to say the least, and now they're great! The teachers were majorly pleased, one said it makes him want to write now, and that worked out really well indeed. Then the school books. Lisa had bought 600 because she wanted to just buy as many as possible, so we split them up between the 14 classes to make 43 per class, with 42 for the two 3és who are slightly smaller. We decided it should be done on merit, and I really wanted us to give out books to the top 10, maybe 20 in each class, for the two terms just gone (they class all the students of every class at the end of each term so all the information is already there somewhere, so wasn't providing extra work for anyone by saying that!!) and, only if they'd improved. However, it didn't quite turn out like that, and on Wednesday I spent my morning running round giving out all 43 books to each class, child by child. I guess lots have gained from it, but now there's no more incentive to work... Things can be tricky to organise when it involves donations and giving here at times, but am cooking up another plan for before I leave in August... Will keep you posted. And feel free to donate at any point if anyone so feels the need!! Honestly, a worthier cause doesn't come around every day.
And then, yesterday (Friday 11th, coincidentally Bob Marley Day, which was celebrated with gusto everywhere here!) I finished my Project at ATTIKPA. Mixed emotions really; I live literally opposite the school and I'm still here in Togo so in a way I'm not leaving, and I'm totally free to hop over any time I want. But, it's not going to be every day. And I will miss the children: as rowdy and undisciplined and maddening as they can be, they're lovely. I'm continuing my Thursday afternoons, so I'll continue to see that group regularly, and most of the children live in the quartier so I see them around often, but it's not quite the same, and I know I won't see all of them. Equally though, I'm glad to be changing, to try something different, something new which hopefully I'll enjoy too. As a leaving present, the teachers gave me a proper African trouser complet, in red Batik material which is SO cool and SO comfy, if a little hot at midday!! Wore it out last night, though not sure I'd have the courage to wear it all at once in England, but can definitely wear it half and half as well. Brilliant!! One of the teachers also gave me a pair of the flipflops they make here, made by her little sister, and a group of 4é girls also gave me a pair which are really pretty. Going out for dinner with Mama tonight, so donning the complet plus Togo flipflops to go and eat probably pâte - native.
Two more exciting things, went to the most amazing concert last night - a group from Cameroon, just spectacular is really the only way to describe it! And... I got my hair braided...!!! I will try and put photos up for you, but as you've now realised, that means July at the earliest... The joys of a third world country's internet! Also had a few more afternoon classes, and the new Sarah (she's called Katrin and she's German and very nice, also looks a lot like Sarah...) came to see me this Thursday. Slightly scary, but she seemed to enjoy it so that's good! We've got two more lessons to go, approx, and then we're off England and onto more advanced topics which is exciting but little apprehensive of how that's going to go to start with. Will also put up here soon a poem which one of them wrote which I think actually shows really something.
Bises, x
Monday, 30 April 2012
General Update
Haven't got a huge amount to say, but just thought I'd say something! Am also in the process of writing an article for Projects Abroad, which in typical Togolese style is around 4 and a half weeks overdue - how I've adapted to the lifestyle here!
Since I wrote last it's been Independence Day here and is nearly Labour Day, plus Sarah has left Projects which is not such happy news! Tomorrow we're heading to the beach with Projects to basically eat all day I think, and am going to pass by school beforehand as well. Again in true Togo style, the headmaster announced today that tomorrow (Labour Day) we would have a party at school, make lunch there, and everyone had to come up with a menu, plus give him their money to pay for it. Cue also very typical Togolese shock! So consequently, we taught no classes today but instead spent the time encouraging the men to give away their money and coming up with a menu which was feasible. In the end, we decided on an entrée of basically a kind of potato salad with cucumber, peas, tomatoes, onions, potatoes obv, mayonnaise, chili obv and some other bits and pieces; followed by none other than FUFU! With I think sauce ademe, but not sure. It really amused me this morning because noone could decide on what they wanted, and he went round asking every single teacher their opinion, so therefore there were way too many things to choose from! The money was also an issue, because it ended up being 4000CFA per person which is quite a lot really, and so not everybody had it, or was able to give it so they were ordered to go to the bank which is a solution but seems to forget that we're running a school here... and it's not like the children are even invited! Sadly, it sounds like lots of them don't have a day off tomorrow as all their mothers who are market sellers are taking the day off so it's the children who are working the stalls instead. But at least they get a break from school. It just amused me today how the whole thing was so diplomatic, and yet we didn't manage to get anything done! And, surprise surprise, it was the women who ended up doing ALL the organising, plus buying the food. (Btw, going to be working with Women's Rights from May at CACIT, something about which I am really passionate, especially here. Can you tell...?)
So that's tomorrow! Independence Day was a bit bizarre really, went to the beach as that was supposed to be the place to be, but actually ended up in a fast food restaurant which I used to really like and have now kind of gone off (will explain more in a minute) because we were warned off the beach. In fact, there was a demonstration linked to CACIT who I will be working with next, because it was Independence Day, but it was repressed by the soldiers so there was some violence. Really wanted to kind of watch, or at least see something, but we did see a whole train of motos with people dressed in yellow which was something! Was saying I've gone off the restaurant, because it's just too Westernized, and you get the feeling when you walk in that you're not in Togo any more. And at first, that was not always a total relief, but a change, and now I don't like it at all. It just feels fake and false, and I kind of despise the people you meet there who turn up in their massive great cars and you can tell that they don't really live here at all. And it makes me really... cross, sad, all sorts of emotions really. So then on Friday night we went to Club 54 where there's always great music, and there were supposed to be fireworks after the big concert in the Independence Square but sadly they didn't happen.
Then Saturday night, Sarah left Projects Abroad and we had a big party and dinner to send her off with! It was really nice, but really sad; she'll be truly missed here in so many ways.
Just had a really interesting discussion just now about the ageing population in Europe and what we should do about it. We've come to the conclusion that we should send some of the young people here to Europe, and exchange them with some of the old people so that the populations balance out and see how it goes. Can see that working really well!!
Since I wrote last it's been Independence Day here and is nearly Labour Day, plus Sarah has left Projects which is not such happy news! Tomorrow we're heading to the beach with Projects to basically eat all day I think, and am going to pass by school beforehand as well. Again in true Togo style, the headmaster announced today that tomorrow (Labour Day) we would have a party at school, make lunch there, and everyone had to come up with a menu, plus give him their money to pay for it. Cue also very typical Togolese shock! So consequently, we taught no classes today but instead spent the time encouraging the men to give away their money and coming up with a menu which was feasible. In the end, we decided on an entrée of basically a kind of potato salad with cucumber, peas, tomatoes, onions, potatoes obv, mayonnaise, chili obv and some other bits and pieces; followed by none other than FUFU! With I think sauce ademe, but not sure. It really amused me this morning because noone could decide on what they wanted, and he went round asking every single teacher their opinion, so therefore there were way too many things to choose from! The money was also an issue, because it ended up being 4000CFA per person which is quite a lot really, and so not everybody had it, or was able to give it so they were ordered to go to the bank which is a solution but seems to forget that we're running a school here... and it's not like the children are even invited! Sadly, it sounds like lots of them don't have a day off tomorrow as all their mothers who are market sellers are taking the day off so it's the children who are working the stalls instead. But at least they get a break from school. It just amused me today how the whole thing was so diplomatic, and yet we didn't manage to get anything done! And, surprise surprise, it was the women who ended up doing ALL the organising, plus buying the food. (Btw, going to be working with Women's Rights from May at CACIT, something about which I am really passionate, especially here. Can you tell...?)
So that's tomorrow! Independence Day was a bit bizarre really, went to the beach as that was supposed to be the place to be, but actually ended up in a fast food restaurant which I used to really like and have now kind of gone off (will explain more in a minute) because we were warned off the beach. In fact, there was a demonstration linked to CACIT who I will be working with next, because it was Independence Day, but it was repressed by the soldiers so there was some violence. Really wanted to kind of watch, or at least see something, but we did see a whole train of motos with people dressed in yellow which was something! Was saying I've gone off the restaurant, because it's just too Westernized, and you get the feeling when you walk in that you're not in Togo any more. And at first, that was not always a total relief, but a change, and now I don't like it at all. It just feels fake and false, and I kind of despise the people you meet there who turn up in their massive great cars and you can tell that they don't really live here at all. And it makes me really... cross, sad, all sorts of emotions really. So then on Friday night we went to Club 54 where there's always great music, and there were supposed to be fireworks after the big concert in the Independence Square but sadly they didn't happen.
Then Saturday night, Sarah left Projects Abroad and we had a big party and dinner to send her off with! It was really nice, but really sad; she'll be truly missed here in so many ways.
Just had a really interesting discussion just now about the ageing population in Europe and what we should do about it. We've come to the conclusion that we should send some of the young people here to Europe, and exchange them with some of the old people so that the populations balance out and see how it goes. Can see that working really well!!
Monday, 23 April 2012
Extra Classes
Don't have that much time, so just going to write a quick one to say I've finally started my afternoon classes! Have now had two sessions, and a third is coming on Thursday.
First time, we had about 75% attendance, which to be honest is about 50% more than I was expecting so a great start! (Second time, surprise surprise, numbers had dropped a little, but let's be optimistic!) I have had to do two groups of 15, both unfortunately on Thursday afternoons - 15h to 16h and then 16h to 17h. This might be more flexible soon, but at the moment it's like that. I decided to start with teaching them about England in general, so gave them a list of 6 categories we were going to look at over the first few sessions. These are Weather/Climate, Places, People, Food, History and Lifestyle/Culture. So started with Weather/Climate (which also ended up including plants, trees and flowers!) as they've already done it in Geography so the ideas should hopefully be nearish the surface. Drew the beginning of a spider diagram and wanted to get them to come up to the board with their own ideas, but it ended up by me more giving them ideas. In reality, they don't know much at all which is in one way very good because then I feel more useful! Got some interesting questions though, and with the Places, that I couldn't answer myself! They know many many of the cities by football teams, so had sooo many questions about was Everton in London and where was Chelsea and Blackpool and all sorts - in the end I had to admit that I am not interested in football AT all, so can't really help them that much except in generality there! Also had lots of questions about the size of England (??) and also what an isle was as I showed them the Isles of Wight and Man. It took them a lot time to get the hang of that one! I'm also on a promise to sing the National Anthem this week, as well as find out the population of Scotland's largest city which I have btw accomplished! (No thanks to my personal geographical knowledge though...)
Last week I wanted to introduce them to some different revision strategies, as they have exams this week and for the 3é it's the BEPC Blanc, which are like mock GCSEs. Judging by last term's results they either can't/won't learn or can't/won't revise because the results were not very good, so wanted to get them thinking in a different way. Sadly, it was me working against 16-20 years in the school system so my lovely flow charts and mind maps weren't totally swallowed I don't think. My aim was to do an example in class, and then for them to take that away as a tool for their revision for this week, but I think they ended up thinking I just wanted to revise with them, which isn't quite the same.
However, we'll keep trying. This week I think we'll continue with the things about England and going to try and get them to write a poem too which will be INTERESTING...! Have also told them to all come at 15h, so kind of hoping they don't all turn up otherwise will be overrun! Haha, so will let you know how all that goes. And also about being on Togolese TV... :)
First time, we had about 75% attendance, which to be honest is about 50% more than I was expecting so a great start! (Second time, surprise surprise, numbers had dropped a little, but let's be optimistic!) I have had to do two groups of 15, both unfortunately on Thursday afternoons - 15h to 16h and then 16h to 17h. This might be more flexible soon, but at the moment it's like that. I decided to start with teaching them about England in general, so gave them a list of 6 categories we were going to look at over the first few sessions. These are Weather/Climate, Places, People, Food, History and Lifestyle/Culture. So started with Weather/Climate (which also ended up including plants, trees and flowers!) as they've already done it in Geography so the ideas should hopefully be nearish the surface. Drew the beginning of a spider diagram and wanted to get them to come up to the board with their own ideas, but it ended up by me more giving them ideas. In reality, they don't know much at all which is in one way very good because then I feel more useful! Got some interesting questions though, and with the Places, that I couldn't answer myself! They know many many of the cities by football teams, so had sooo many questions about was Everton in London and where was Chelsea and Blackpool and all sorts - in the end I had to admit that I am not interested in football AT all, so can't really help them that much except in generality there! Also had lots of questions about the size of England (??) and also what an isle was as I showed them the Isles of Wight and Man. It took them a lot time to get the hang of that one! I'm also on a promise to sing the National Anthem this week, as well as find out the population of Scotland's largest city which I have btw accomplished! (No thanks to my personal geographical knowledge though...)
Last week I wanted to introduce them to some different revision strategies, as they have exams this week and for the 3é it's the BEPC Blanc, which are like mock GCSEs. Judging by last term's results they either can't/won't learn or can't/won't revise because the results were not very good, so wanted to get them thinking in a different way. Sadly, it was me working against 16-20 years in the school system so my lovely flow charts and mind maps weren't totally swallowed I don't think. My aim was to do an example in class, and then for them to take that away as a tool for their revision for this week, but I think they ended up thinking I just wanted to revise with them, which isn't quite the same.
However, we'll keep trying. This week I think we'll continue with the things about England and going to try and get them to write a poem too which will be INTERESTING...! Have also told them to all come at 15h, so kind of hoping they don't all turn up otherwise will be overrun! Haha, so will let you know how all that goes. And also about being on Togolese TV... :)
Monday, 16 April 2012
Le Pays Tamberma et les Maisons Tata
Bit difficult to know where to start with this as there are about a million and one things to say, but will start with the history of the people who live in the Pays Tamberma and then go on to describe the tata themselves.
The people are animists (voodoo worshippers), originally from Burkina Faso. In the 11th century, there were religious wars with the Muslims who wanted them to conver to Islam, so they fled south into Togo and the area we now call the Pays Tamberma. By the 13th century, they had also spread across the border into Benin and today the area has a population of about 200 thousand. When they first arrived, the country was all forest/jungle, inhabited by savage animals like lions etc (sadly they've all disappeared now) so they had to sleep in the trees for protection. They then discovered the baobab tree, which is hollow, so they transferred these trees into houses, and slept up in the branches, protected from the animals. They lived by hunting and gathering, and this evovled into the agricultural and livestock society of today. When they were settled in the area, they began to clear the trees in the forest to make spaces for their houses and animals. Once space was cleared, they then chose a stone, some argile which they use to build the houses, a chicken and an arrow. They fired the arrow from a particular spot, and the place where the arrow landed was the new possible site for the house, as the distance between was large enough for agriculture and livestock etc. Then, they sacrificed the chicken on the stone, and stuck the feathers to the stone with the blood. If the feathers were still there the morning after, it meant that the spirits had given their approval and building could commence. If, however, they had been washed or blown away, it meant that there were evil spirits in that spot and another would have to be chosen.
Once the site had been determined, the father of the family then began to brew the maize beer that they drink often in the north - tchoukoutou. After three days, the beer was ready and he would call all the village to come and participate. Every person helped lay the foundations of the house, as well as sharing the beer of course. After the first layer had been done, it was up to the family to finish the house; this they do layer by layer, using the argile first, and cow manure on top as a waterproof finish. As the house was being built, the wife of the house made a kind of tube, which fitted into the hole in the shower area where the water from the bucket runs out of, and in effect, this serves as a kind of drainpipe as it stops the water running down the side of the house which can damage it. When the house was finished, the wife presented this pipe to her husband as a kind of sign that she too wants to protect the work that he has done. It's interesting that the houses actually have the same kind of wavy but big and hollow shape as the baobab tree itself, you can tell that that was the original model!
Outside the house, there are 2 large stones which have 'eyes' facing towards the house. These are fetish stones obviously, and they represent the protecting gods of the family, so their eyes point towards the house in order to protect the inhabitants. If something happens to one of the family, such as an illness etc, the father must go and pray to the gods to ask their forgiveness and sacrifice a chicken on the stones and again stick the feathers on it, using the blood. There were also several other stones, with their 'eyes' facing away from the house, towards what would have been the forest. These represent the spirits of animals that have been hunted in the forest by the family, and the size and shape of the stone varies, depending on what the animal had requested. These are also used for sacrifices, and occasionally an animal can also ask to be represented in a more physical form, by marks on the family's faces... Our guide's little sister for example, has a scar in the middle of her forehead, which is separate from those to signify her family, because an animal that her father had hunted requested to be represented like that. The skulls of the animals that have been hunted hang outside the house, whereas the skulls of animals sacrificed hang inside the second room in the house.
They are definite believers in all the animism and they have so many things for it... Like a special stone where you go to be cured from snakebites - and if someone goes to hospital for something like that, and they don't get better within 4 days, they bring them home and treat them on the stone because the stone takes 4 days to work so they believe if the hospital hasn't cured it within that time, it's because the snake was in fact an evil sorceror so it's only the spirits that can cure the person... Strong stuff!
So the house itself looks kind of like a castle with turrets, sort of; it's hard to describe exactly. WILL put photos up tomorrow, I know I've been promising since February but tomorrow it is happening! The houses have 5 different rooms, going from the first entrance room to the terrace right on top of the house. The first room is where the women prepare the food, not the kitchen, but here tasks like grinding maize or pounding spices or yam etc are carried out. The second room is the father's room. Here they hang all the potions and medicines, plus the skulls of animals sacrificed, and this is where the man of the house sleeps, to guard his family against anything that might arrive in the night. He sleeps on the ground, and there is a little kind of hollow in the wall where he keeps things like his pipe, so when he's finished using them they go directly back their and everyone knows they belong to him. There are also two small holes in the wall, by the side of the door. In effect, these act similarly to the arrow slits in old castles in England - from inside, one can see out, plus shoot arrows at his target, but from the outside, no one can either see in or harm the people protected inside. The third room is a hidden room, and genuinely, you can't tell whether there's anyone in there from the second room. This is to protect the women and children, or for the father to hide and attack an enemy who has entered the house.
The fourth room is the actual kitchen, and is raised up - kind of halfway between the rooms on the ground floor and the terrace right on top. Here the women cook, as well as store a little in pots on the shelf there. When they've finished cooking at night, they bring the food up onto the terrace where the family will eat round a little stone table. This table is not all it seems however, as if you raise the stone top there is a slit, again for an attack from above if someone comes in whilst the family are eating or sleeping. The women and children sleep here on the terrace - there are about 3 or 4 covered areas that serve as bedrooms, and also flat, raised surfaces for sleeping. In the rainy season, obviously everyone will sleep inside but in the dry season it's too hot as the stone guards the heat enormously (I speak from experience!) so they sleep outside on the terrace itself. The entry to the bedroom is literally just a hole, and at first we were dubious as to the practicality or even the possibility of this! However, apparently these are magic as is the one door to the house itself - they may appear small, but as long as you enter correctly, it's possible for anyone of any age or size to enter... Again, these are devised defensively; you enter with your feet first, backwards and come out in the morning the opposite way, head first, and so this ensures that you never have to turn your back on the outside and so on a possible enemy. Got our guide to demonstrate this style of entry, a photo of which is definitely going up somewhere on the Internet very shortly! The pointy turrets of the tata are in fact the covering for storage areas, two of them, where things like food that won't spoil are kept during the year.
So that is that! Found the whole thing really really interesting, and still wondering how people continue to live like that - without electricity, running water, regular source of income, any kind of security - and seem to be genuinely content. Really makes you think...
The people are animists (voodoo worshippers), originally from Burkina Faso. In the 11th century, there were religious wars with the Muslims who wanted them to conver to Islam, so they fled south into Togo and the area we now call the Pays Tamberma. By the 13th century, they had also spread across the border into Benin and today the area has a population of about 200 thousand. When they first arrived, the country was all forest/jungle, inhabited by savage animals like lions etc (sadly they've all disappeared now) so they had to sleep in the trees for protection. They then discovered the baobab tree, which is hollow, so they transferred these trees into houses, and slept up in the branches, protected from the animals. They lived by hunting and gathering, and this evovled into the agricultural and livestock society of today. When they were settled in the area, they began to clear the trees in the forest to make spaces for their houses and animals. Once space was cleared, they then chose a stone, some argile which they use to build the houses, a chicken and an arrow. They fired the arrow from a particular spot, and the place where the arrow landed was the new possible site for the house, as the distance between was large enough for agriculture and livestock etc. Then, they sacrificed the chicken on the stone, and stuck the feathers to the stone with the blood. If the feathers were still there the morning after, it meant that the spirits had given their approval and building could commence. If, however, they had been washed or blown away, it meant that there were evil spirits in that spot and another would have to be chosen.
Once the site had been determined, the father of the family then began to brew the maize beer that they drink often in the north - tchoukoutou. After three days, the beer was ready and he would call all the village to come and participate. Every person helped lay the foundations of the house, as well as sharing the beer of course. After the first layer had been done, it was up to the family to finish the house; this they do layer by layer, using the argile first, and cow manure on top as a waterproof finish. As the house was being built, the wife of the house made a kind of tube, which fitted into the hole in the shower area where the water from the bucket runs out of, and in effect, this serves as a kind of drainpipe as it stops the water running down the side of the house which can damage it. When the house was finished, the wife presented this pipe to her husband as a kind of sign that she too wants to protect the work that he has done. It's interesting that the houses actually have the same kind of wavy but big and hollow shape as the baobab tree itself, you can tell that that was the original model!
Outside the house, there are 2 large stones which have 'eyes' facing towards the house. These are fetish stones obviously, and they represent the protecting gods of the family, so their eyes point towards the house in order to protect the inhabitants. If something happens to one of the family, such as an illness etc, the father must go and pray to the gods to ask their forgiveness and sacrifice a chicken on the stones and again stick the feathers on it, using the blood. There were also several other stones, with their 'eyes' facing away from the house, towards what would have been the forest. These represent the spirits of animals that have been hunted in the forest by the family, and the size and shape of the stone varies, depending on what the animal had requested. These are also used for sacrifices, and occasionally an animal can also ask to be represented in a more physical form, by marks on the family's faces... Our guide's little sister for example, has a scar in the middle of her forehead, which is separate from those to signify her family, because an animal that her father had hunted requested to be represented like that. The skulls of the animals that have been hunted hang outside the house, whereas the skulls of animals sacrificed hang inside the second room in the house.
They are definite believers in all the animism and they have so many things for it... Like a special stone where you go to be cured from snakebites - and if someone goes to hospital for something like that, and they don't get better within 4 days, they bring them home and treat them on the stone because the stone takes 4 days to work so they believe if the hospital hasn't cured it within that time, it's because the snake was in fact an evil sorceror so it's only the spirits that can cure the person... Strong stuff!
So the house itself looks kind of like a castle with turrets, sort of; it's hard to describe exactly. WILL put photos up tomorrow, I know I've been promising since February but tomorrow it is happening! The houses have 5 different rooms, going from the first entrance room to the terrace right on top of the house. The first room is where the women prepare the food, not the kitchen, but here tasks like grinding maize or pounding spices or yam etc are carried out. The second room is the father's room. Here they hang all the potions and medicines, plus the skulls of animals sacrificed, and this is where the man of the house sleeps, to guard his family against anything that might arrive in the night. He sleeps on the ground, and there is a little kind of hollow in the wall where he keeps things like his pipe, so when he's finished using them they go directly back their and everyone knows they belong to him. There are also two small holes in the wall, by the side of the door. In effect, these act similarly to the arrow slits in old castles in England - from inside, one can see out, plus shoot arrows at his target, but from the outside, no one can either see in or harm the people protected inside. The third room is a hidden room, and genuinely, you can't tell whether there's anyone in there from the second room. This is to protect the women and children, or for the father to hide and attack an enemy who has entered the house.
The fourth room is the actual kitchen, and is raised up - kind of halfway between the rooms on the ground floor and the terrace right on top. Here the women cook, as well as store a little in pots on the shelf there. When they've finished cooking at night, they bring the food up onto the terrace where the family will eat round a little stone table. This table is not all it seems however, as if you raise the stone top there is a slit, again for an attack from above if someone comes in whilst the family are eating or sleeping. The women and children sleep here on the terrace - there are about 3 or 4 covered areas that serve as bedrooms, and also flat, raised surfaces for sleeping. In the rainy season, obviously everyone will sleep inside but in the dry season it's too hot as the stone guards the heat enormously (I speak from experience!) so they sleep outside on the terrace itself. The entry to the bedroom is literally just a hole, and at first we were dubious as to the practicality or even the possibility of this! However, apparently these are magic as is the one door to the house itself - they may appear small, but as long as you enter correctly, it's possible for anyone of any age or size to enter... Again, these are devised defensively; you enter with your feet first, backwards and come out in the morning the opposite way, head first, and so this ensures that you never have to turn your back on the outside and so on a possible enemy. Got our guide to demonstrate this style of entry, a photo of which is definitely going up somewhere on the Internet very shortly! The pointy turrets of the tata are in fact the covering for storage areas, two of them, where things like food that won't spoil are kept during the year.
Saturday, 14 April 2012
Travelling in the North - Friday 6th April
So on our last day, we were in Kpalimé - very familiar for both of us, and such a nice relaxed little town too. We had another brilliant breakfast at the café, and then headed back to the hotel to be met by the guide who was going to advise us on waterfalls. After a successful negotiation - we halved his price, yes! - we headed off (two on the moto... eek...) to an unnamed waterfall. Access to these waterfalls is always a bit tricky, but honestly, this was something else! Nearly vertical, up and down, by the time we got to the bottom we were definitely ready for a swim! It was such a beautiful waterfall though; secluded, quite big with a pool encircled by rocks, and an enormous rock exactly like Pride Rock in the Lion King. Being African, our guide of course scaled this in about 2 seconds and spent the time sunning himself on top. Being English, I decided to stay in the water... Which was cold!! But definitely worth the scramble. Afterwards however, we then had to get back to where we'd left the moto... Not as difficult as I'd feared it might be, it wasn't at all easy though! The ironic thing is that after you've came back up from the bottom of the waterfall, you need another waterfall at the top to cook off again... Unfortunately, it seems they only exist at the bottom of very steep hills, not at the summits, definitely inconvenient.
We spent the rest of the morning at the Centre Artisanal, which is very interesting as you get to see all the artists at work, but sadly extremely expensive because of that factor. Bought my sister's birthday present though (Gwyn!) and tried to get a really cool keyring for my car keys at home thrown in too, but the man was having none of it - meanie.
So after a lovely relaxing and touristy last day, we made a little tour of the market (and got lost - well done us...) where I bought the best honey EVER, plus presents for Mama and the girls which was fortunate. On the way back to the taxi station, we passed a taximan who called to us asking if we were going to Lomé, we said yes and that was it! We threw our bags in the back, hopped in and set off! He even stopped at a roadside market so that we could buy fruit for the families - I think the easiest taxi we found the entire trip haha.
Arrived home at 4.30ish and was met with such a lovely welcome by all the girls - even the people down our road were telling me 'bonne arrivée' cos I guess it was obvious I was coming home from somewhere...!
Will write a separate post to tell about the history of the Tamberma etc now because it is too much all in one, and when we've written our highlights list will also put that up on here. Had such a fantastic week, despite some of the difficulties we did it and managed to get back home all in one piece too!
X
We spent the rest of the morning at the Centre Artisanal, which is very interesting as you get to see all the artists at work, but sadly extremely expensive because of that factor. Bought my sister's birthday present though (Gwyn!) and tried to get a really cool keyring for my car keys at home thrown in too, but the man was having none of it - meanie.
So after a lovely relaxing and touristy last day, we made a little tour of the market (and got lost - well done us...) where I bought the best honey EVER, plus presents for Mama and the girls which was fortunate. On the way back to the taxi station, we passed a taximan who called to us asking if we were going to Lomé, we said yes and that was it! We threw our bags in the back, hopped in and set off! He even stopped at a roadside market so that we could buy fruit for the families - I think the easiest taxi we found the entire trip haha.
Arrived home at 4.30ish and was met with such a lovely welcome by all the girls - even the people down our road were telling me 'bonne arrivée' cos I guess it was obvious I was coming home from somewhere...!
Will write a separate post to tell about the history of the Tamberma etc now because it is too much all in one, and when we've written our highlights list will also put that up on here. Had such a fantastic week, despite some of the difficulties we did it and managed to get back home all in one piece too!
X
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Travelling in the North - Wednesday 4th - Friday 6th April
Sooo at this point in the story, we are in Sokodé and it's the morning of Wednesday 4th April.
Here I think a small deviation is necessary to discuss the merits of the Togolese roadside café. Some basic information - prices usually range from 250CFA to 1500CFA maximum, company is variable and menus are all pretty much identical, although we did come across one serving Quaker Oats! These menus include about 7 different varieties of each staple - spaghetti, rice/couscous, meat, omlette. The breakfast options also include coffee, with or without milk, hot chocolate, ditto, or a combination of the two, again with or without milk, plus bread. Some of the delicious combinations of meals include spaghetti and chips, omlette and peas, couscous with tomato sauce and peas and omlette and spgahetti. I can thoroughly recommend all of the above. (note - when they say peas, they mean an entire can of tinned peas, it turned out to be surprisingly tasty!) Consequently, having discovered one of these such cafés next door to our hotel, we commenced by spaghetti simple, which actually means spaghetti with tomato, onion and chili sauce, and followed up by breakfast, omlette sandwich (which means eggs cooked with tomato and onions in bread) and Milo café (coffee plus hot chocolat, plus condensed milk, which is the only milk used in these cafés!) - YUM. We later discovered a very pleasant alternative to this in Kpalimé - Quaker Oats simple - which means porridge and sugar! Rather filling though as you have to remember Togolese portions are double regular size, be it breakfast, lunch, supper or any kind of food.
So after a very nice breakfast with Obama, we asked an entire list of questions to the owner of the café (here, it's essential to note that this time, the company at the café was very useful indeed!) about where things were and how to get to them. During this, we discovered that 2 of the things we wanted to see no longer existed, but we got directions to the rest. These included the old grand mosque, the new mosque (Sokodé is a Muslim dominated area btw), plus the little market of Zongo, and the grand marché of Sokodé. This was indeed a morning of mosques - we saw about 8! All very very beautiful though, and we also eventually stumbled across the old grand mosque which looks unmistakably like just a normal house, so we'd already passed it a few times before we realised what it really was. Wandering round, we saw the little market, little wasn't an understatement, and also the big market where I bought yet another pagne... We also went into the new grand mosque, which includes a school and is actually a kind of Muslim compound they called it. About halfway through the morning, we decided to cover our heads with the scarves we'd brought for that reason and from that moment on, we had the nicest reaction we received for the whole trip. Every single person called out to us and greeted us, both in their own language and in French; people genuinely really smiled at us (and interestingly, the Togolese don't often have an extremely easy smile before you know them); and although I think we received more attention by covering up than by not, it was definitely the most whole-heartedly postitive attention. Plus, several people actually came up to us to say that it was good we were wearing scarves, and they liked what we'd done. Well, when in Rome...
After our touristy tour of the town, we went back to the hotel, collected our bags, and headed to the taxi station. Our next main destination was Atakpamé, but we'd decided to stop for a little in a village a little way outside, called Anjé/Anie as it was supposed to be very picturesque and we thought it would be nice to have a little break from sight-seeing. It's close to Atakpamé, so the idea was to leave Sokodé early, spend a little time in Anjé and head onto Atakpamé to find a hotel before it went dark. What an idea that turned out to be...
As always, on entering the taxi station with our bags, we were surrounded by 6 furiously gesticulating Togolese men (honestly, the animal kingdoms competitions in the mating season are nothing compared to how this can be sometimes...) all persuading us that actually we wanted to go to their destination, in their taxi and at their price. After trying and failing to negotiate properlybecause the prices seemed very high, we headed in the direction of the 'price board' (prices chalked on the wall by a board saying Anjé etc) to get the official version. Unfortunately, this time the drivers weren't exaggerating... So we made our decision huddle and after five minutes, decided that yes it was worth it to go to Anjé and we'd just spend 30 mins or so there having a drink, and then get a normal taxi brousse to Atakpamé. Bear in mind, this was 12ish and the journey to Atakpamé straight is marked at around 2.5/3 hours so we were doing fine for time. So we got our tickets from the man, eventually extracted the change, and sat down to wait.
2 and a half hours later, we set off for Anjé. And another thing, there was a yellow bus waiting at the start which was very very keen to take us. Alone. Naturally we refused point blank, despite all the excuses the driver gave. But guess which bus we ended up taking... Apparently everything happens for a reason...! After nearly 3 hours we still hadn't reached Anjé... So practised our now-honed skills of negotiation on the driver, who of course wasn't having any of it until we reached a price that he couldn't refuse. However, after that we drove straight through Anjé and onto Atakpamé, arriving there at 5.30pm rather the worse for wear to say the least.
Arriving in the town, we walked, found a hotel and just stopped. Unfortunately, the situation didn't massively improve after that. So relieved to have found somewhere to sleep, we jumped on the restaurant next door as the easiest and quickest option. Plus, we'd realised that it was a good 10/15 minute walk to get into the main town so this was probably the only option for us at that moment! Having made enquiries and been told that it was 3000CFA for chicken and chips or fish and chips, we judged this expensive, but worth paying just to have something. So we went in and sat down, ordered drinks, and then asked to see the menu. The waitress then informed us that there was no rice, it was pate. So we again asked to see the menu. And she repeated what she'd just said... It turns out that the chicken and chips we wanted was on order only, something we'd neglected to pick up earlier, and that it would take 30-60 mins. Now being familiar with the Togolese sense of time (or lack of) we decided to go for the pate, with fish. So that came. Cold. So we sent it away to be warmed up. And by the time it came back, we were far less inclined to eat than before. This resulted in a desperate foray to the all-night fruit market we'd passed on the way into town, one mango and a rather messy preparation in a room which had 'no cooking' clearly marked on the door. Pretty sure it didn't count as cooking though... Cheers for the penknife Daddy - if that's the only time I use it, it was worth it. We also had some cookies left that we'd bought in Sokodé so those were also much appreciated.
Breakfast at the hotel on Thursday morning was again, MUCH appreciated 8 hours after our last 'meal'! I took a photo of the way she laid it out - it was just so Western, we could have been in any standard European hotel, and it was very amusing. We wanted to see Atakpamé the town in the morning, and then go to a village nearby called Kamina which was a big communication base for the Germans before, and at the very beginning of; the First World War. Wandered round the town, and saw the very beautiful cathedral, plus an entire collection of amusing signs. The signs here are just amazing at times; my favourites from these were 'Waky Decor', bar 'Go Slow' and 'Big Up' hairdressers'. Plus another in Kanté that I really enjoyed was the garage 'Laissez Tomber', which could be taken as the Togolese motto really! One more than really sums up the atmosphere here we found in Sokodé - again a garage, this time with the line 'Peu à Peu ça ira' (little by little, things will work out). Really liked Atakpamé as a town, it's a lot greener than even Sokodé, and you can tell that by this point we've moved down a region, to the plateau region instead of the more northern regions. After a wander around, we came back to the hotel and had what turned out to be a most brilliant idea - that of asking the man hanging around in the garage whether he knew Kamina, the village with the old German military base etc. In effect, he called his friend and within five minutes, we'd found ourselves a person chauffeur to and from the vilage, plus guide, all for the handsome price of 1000CFA, about 1.20...
And it was a really good thing we got him, because the village was TINY and we definitely needed a guide to tell us where to go. It was very interesting to look around, and it turns out it was a MAJOR centre of communication for the Germans. Based on no model, it was begun just before the turn of the century, and between August 1st and 22nd 1914 a total of 229 telegrams were sent and received from there. Impressive to say the least! We also enjoyed the accompaniment of small children which were included in the guided tour, free of charge.
After that adventure, we headed back to Atakpamé, mentally girding our loins for the departure, as we had heard several nightmare stories about people trying to get a taxi out of there. Compared to the day before, the departure was not a problem. In about an hour and 15 minutes, we'd found a taxi, got seats, tickets, fruit to eat and left - speedy service! The journey however was marked as 2 hours in the guide book and took a total of 3 and a half... This did include an emergency petrol stop - when I say emergency, the engine cut out and so we glided to a stop halfway up a hill... Luckily, the little oil-selling men who are everywhere here came to our rescue and after a dodgy start we were back on route! And a major plus - this was now the 2nd bus we'd had with music, which was SO needed, especially about halfway through the journey when we realised we weren't at all where we thought we should have been by that point!
So we eventually got to Kpalimé and headed straight for the nice hotel I stayed in last time, opposite the very lovely church. Sadly they only had expensive rooms left, but the difference was relatively minimal and bearing in mind it was already nearly 6 we thought we'd better just take what we could get! And guess what, we found another fantastic café, that we'd both been to before and consequently had supper, and breakfast there yet again ha.
Will write about Kpalimé in the next post, although not a huge amount to say, as we both already knew it so did simple things.
x
Here I think a small deviation is necessary to discuss the merits of the Togolese roadside café. Some basic information - prices usually range from 250CFA to 1500CFA maximum, company is variable and menus are all pretty much identical, although we did come across one serving Quaker Oats! These menus include about 7 different varieties of each staple - spaghetti, rice/couscous, meat, omlette. The breakfast options also include coffee, with or without milk, hot chocolate, ditto, or a combination of the two, again with or without milk, plus bread. Some of the delicious combinations of meals include spaghetti and chips, omlette and peas, couscous with tomato sauce and peas and omlette and spgahetti. I can thoroughly recommend all of the above. (note - when they say peas, they mean an entire can of tinned peas, it turned out to be surprisingly tasty!) Consequently, having discovered one of these such cafés next door to our hotel, we commenced by spaghetti simple, which actually means spaghetti with tomato, onion and chili sauce, and followed up by breakfast, omlette sandwich (which means eggs cooked with tomato and onions in bread) and Milo café (coffee plus hot chocolat, plus condensed milk, which is the only milk used in these cafés!) - YUM. We later discovered a very pleasant alternative to this in Kpalimé - Quaker Oats simple - which means porridge and sugar! Rather filling though as you have to remember Togolese portions are double regular size, be it breakfast, lunch, supper or any kind of food.
So after a very nice breakfast with Obama, we asked an entire list of questions to the owner of the café (here, it's essential to note that this time, the company at the café was very useful indeed!) about where things were and how to get to them. During this, we discovered that 2 of the things we wanted to see no longer existed, but we got directions to the rest. These included the old grand mosque, the new mosque (Sokodé is a Muslim dominated area btw), plus the little market of Zongo, and the grand marché of Sokodé. This was indeed a morning of mosques - we saw about 8! All very very beautiful though, and we also eventually stumbled across the old grand mosque which looks unmistakably like just a normal house, so we'd already passed it a few times before we realised what it really was. Wandering round, we saw the little market, little wasn't an understatement, and also the big market where I bought yet another pagne... We also went into the new grand mosque, which includes a school and is actually a kind of Muslim compound they called it. About halfway through the morning, we decided to cover our heads with the scarves we'd brought for that reason and from that moment on, we had the nicest reaction we received for the whole trip. Every single person called out to us and greeted us, both in their own language and in French; people genuinely really smiled at us (and interestingly, the Togolese don't often have an extremely easy smile before you know them); and although I think we received more attention by covering up than by not, it was definitely the most whole-heartedly postitive attention. Plus, several people actually came up to us to say that it was good we were wearing scarves, and they liked what we'd done. Well, when in Rome...
After our touristy tour of the town, we went back to the hotel, collected our bags, and headed to the taxi station. Our next main destination was Atakpamé, but we'd decided to stop for a little in a village a little way outside, called Anjé/Anie as it was supposed to be very picturesque and we thought it would be nice to have a little break from sight-seeing. It's close to Atakpamé, so the idea was to leave Sokodé early, spend a little time in Anjé and head onto Atakpamé to find a hotel before it went dark. What an idea that turned out to be...
As always, on entering the taxi station with our bags, we were surrounded by 6 furiously gesticulating Togolese men (honestly, the animal kingdoms competitions in the mating season are nothing compared to how this can be sometimes...) all persuading us that actually we wanted to go to their destination, in their taxi and at their price. After trying and failing to negotiate properlybecause the prices seemed very high, we headed in the direction of the 'price board' (prices chalked on the wall by a board saying Anjé etc) to get the official version. Unfortunately, this time the drivers weren't exaggerating... So we made our decision huddle and after five minutes, decided that yes it was worth it to go to Anjé and we'd just spend 30 mins or so there having a drink, and then get a normal taxi brousse to Atakpamé. Bear in mind, this was 12ish and the journey to Atakpamé straight is marked at around 2.5/3 hours so we were doing fine for time. So we got our tickets from the man, eventually extracted the change, and sat down to wait.
2 and a half hours later, we set off for Anjé. And another thing, there was a yellow bus waiting at the start which was very very keen to take us. Alone. Naturally we refused point blank, despite all the excuses the driver gave. But guess which bus we ended up taking... Apparently everything happens for a reason...! After nearly 3 hours we still hadn't reached Anjé... So practised our now-honed skills of negotiation on the driver, who of course wasn't having any of it until we reached a price that he couldn't refuse. However, after that we drove straight through Anjé and onto Atakpamé, arriving there at 5.30pm rather the worse for wear to say the least.
Arriving in the town, we walked, found a hotel and just stopped. Unfortunately, the situation didn't massively improve after that. So relieved to have found somewhere to sleep, we jumped on the restaurant next door as the easiest and quickest option. Plus, we'd realised that it was a good 10/15 minute walk to get into the main town so this was probably the only option for us at that moment! Having made enquiries and been told that it was 3000CFA for chicken and chips or fish and chips, we judged this expensive, but worth paying just to have something. So we went in and sat down, ordered drinks, and then asked to see the menu. The waitress then informed us that there was no rice, it was pate. So we again asked to see the menu. And she repeated what she'd just said... It turns out that the chicken and chips we wanted was on order only, something we'd neglected to pick up earlier, and that it would take 30-60 mins. Now being familiar with the Togolese sense of time (or lack of) we decided to go for the pate, with fish. So that came. Cold. So we sent it away to be warmed up. And by the time it came back, we were far less inclined to eat than before. This resulted in a desperate foray to the all-night fruit market we'd passed on the way into town, one mango and a rather messy preparation in a room which had 'no cooking' clearly marked on the door. Pretty sure it didn't count as cooking though... Cheers for the penknife Daddy - if that's the only time I use it, it was worth it. We also had some cookies left that we'd bought in Sokodé so those were also much appreciated.
And it was a really good thing we got him, because the village was TINY and we definitely needed a guide to tell us where to go. It was very interesting to look around, and it turns out it was a MAJOR centre of communication for the Germans. Based on no model, it was begun just before the turn of the century, and between August 1st and 22nd 1914 a total of 229 telegrams were sent and received from there. Impressive to say the least! We also enjoyed the accompaniment of small children which were included in the guided tour, free of charge.
After that adventure, we headed back to Atakpamé, mentally girding our loins for the departure, as we had heard several nightmare stories about people trying to get a taxi out of there. Compared to the day before, the departure was not a problem. In about an hour and 15 minutes, we'd found a taxi, got seats, tickets, fruit to eat and left - speedy service! The journey however was marked as 2 hours in the guide book and took a total of 3 and a half... This did include an emergency petrol stop - when I say emergency, the engine cut out and so we glided to a stop halfway up a hill... Luckily, the little oil-selling men who are everywhere here came to our rescue and after a dodgy start we were back on route! And a major plus - this was now the 2nd bus we'd had with music, which was SO needed, especially about halfway through the journey when we realised we weren't at all where we thought we should have been by that point!So we eventually got to Kpalimé and headed straight for the nice hotel I stayed in last time, opposite the very lovely church. Sadly they only had expensive rooms left, but the difference was relatively minimal and bearing in mind it was already nearly 6 we thought we'd better just take what we could get! And guess what, we found another fantastic café, that we'd both been to before and consequently had supper, and breakfast there yet again ha.
Will write about Kpalimé in the next post, although not a huge amount to say, as we both already knew it so did simple things.
x
Monday, 9 April 2012
Travelling in the North of Togo - Sunday 1st -Tuesday 3rd April.
So with 31 minutes left on the clock, I commence trying to organise and write to you everything that we did and saw last week in the North. The general plan was Kanté, Pays Tamberma, Kanté, Kara, Sokodé, Atakpamé, Kpalimé (all are marked on a map of Togo if you happen to have one handy). And in general, we stuck pretty well to that plan!
We left Lomé on Sunday 1st April (thankfully they don't celebrate April Fools' Day here otherwise we would have been in for a 'treat' indeed! knowing the nature of the Togolese, especially the male variety) in the pre-booked coach run by the Post Office. And consequently, for the equivalent of around 5 pounds, we had the most luxurious and most organised trip (and longest) that I've experienced since being here. Numbered seats, a non-cracked windscreen, all wheels attached plus steering wheel and one seatbelt made us feel very much more like Europeans than Togolese. The small reminder that we were here however was the original way of air-conditioning the bus - the lack of a door.
So we arrived in Kanté after nearly 10 hours of travelling, and were met by our pre-arranged moto drivers! We headed straight for the village in the Pays Tamberma where we were to spend the night, and the ride down bumpy, stony, bendy tracks was just fine, apart from the small moment where a cow casually wandered out in front of us and we had to brake HARD. (But don't worry Mummy, the cow escaped unscathed!) When we arrived in the village (5 houses at most) we greeted the chief, who was the strangest mixture between native and Western culture I've seen. His feet showed his age, and that they'd obviously been bare since he was born, yet he had his mobile in a nice pouch around his neck - and he even used it Grandma! But very welcoming, and we then took our bags to go into the house where we would be staying. That one was specially built by UNESCO, and opened by the president no less, and is in the original tata style but is specifically for visitors. So we slept outside that night, under the African stars! (that is until it started raining and we were forced to move into the little room - the covered area in the middle of the top terrace which serves as a bedroom.) We also had a friend with us; a mouse and then a lizard decided to really show us the meaning of Togolese hospitality by very kindly keeping us company ALL NIGHT. With no electricity, no running water and a storm outside, it was an experience to say the least.
The following day, we did the tour of the Pays Tamberma. I learnt so so so much about the history, and the houses and just everything, but will write down events and places for you first and will probably have to do a separate post about that because there's just too much to say! It was eye-opening to say the least, and it was impossible to forget that we're in what is at once the richest and poorest continent of the world. There was no doubt about it at all - This Is Africa. For lunchtime, we hopped over the border to Benin (without visa) as you do, and had very very yummy rice with tomato and onion sauce, and the kind of smoked cheese they do here which is called wagassi and is very nice. That has to be one of the highlights of the tour - have now been in 3 African countries! Plus, a woman with a white stone through her bottom lip, a woman who spoke to us for at least half an hour solidly - all in her own language, Kabyé, of course - and hugged us lots, not to mention looking out from the terrace in the dark (it goes dark here at like 6) and seeing lots of black bushes, then seeing them moving, then eating, then finally realising that they were a herd of goats come to graze on the scrub! And the whole experience of sleeping in the tata and being able to see everything there, and meet some of the people who really live like that, was just incredible. What really brought home the realisation that there is so much disparity in the world is that our guide does actually live in one of the villages he showed us. Not only that, but at the age of 16 he was called from Lomé where he was at school, to be initiated and he has the scars to prove it. And when I think about what I did for my 16th birthday, it seems impossible that it can exist all at the same time, yet it does. There really are very few words to describe realisation like that, but that's the best I can do!After the tour we returned to Kanté to sleep there Monday night - have rarely been so glad to have electricity, some things really make you appreciate others!
On Tuesday, we saw a little of Kanté, which is pretty small, and then headed to Kara which is the ancient capital of the North because Togo was originally not at all like it is today. We had hoped to find a restaurant serving pizza and cinnamon biscuits but after searching we discovered that it no longer exists :( and the trend of disappearing and appearing restaurants and sites will continue... Instead we found somewhere where we basically had breakfast for lunch. Really just hit the spot. We also made our way into the Grand Marché there - not as easy as it sounds, this involved negotiating an open sewer with our bags on our backs, plus about 1001 people wanting to cross the same point at the same time. You gotta love it here! After Kara, we went on to Sokodé to sleep the Tuesday night, and found the best café ever (and right next to the hotel) where we ate every meal until leaving - the Barack Obama 'yes we can' café to be precise!
Am going to have to finish here for today and will continue next time as I have no minutes left on the clock and it is also just about to rain so I have to go and make sure my room is waterproof etc!
x
We left Lomé on Sunday 1st April (thankfully they don't celebrate April Fools' Day here otherwise we would have been in for a 'treat' indeed! knowing the nature of the Togolese, especially the male variety) in the pre-booked coach run by the Post Office. And consequently, for the equivalent of around 5 pounds, we had the most luxurious and most organised trip (and longest) that I've experienced since being here. Numbered seats, a non-cracked windscreen, all wheels attached plus steering wheel and one seatbelt made us feel very much more like Europeans than Togolese. The small reminder that we were here however was the original way of air-conditioning the bus - the lack of a door.
So we arrived in Kanté after nearly 10 hours of travelling, and were met by our pre-arranged moto drivers! We headed straight for the village in the Pays Tamberma where we were to spend the night, and the ride down bumpy, stony, bendy tracks was just fine, apart from the small moment where a cow casually wandered out in front of us and we had to brake HARD. (But don't worry Mummy, the cow escaped unscathed!) When we arrived in the village (5 houses at most) we greeted the chief, who was the strangest mixture between native and Western culture I've seen. His feet showed his age, and that they'd obviously been bare since he was born, yet he had his mobile in a nice pouch around his neck - and he even used it Grandma! But very welcoming, and we then took our bags to go into the house where we would be staying. That one was specially built by UNESCO, and opened by the president no less, and is in the original tata style but is specifically for visitors. So we slept outside that night, under the African stars! (that is until it started raining and we were forced to move into the little room - the covered area in the middle of the top terrace which serves as a bedroom.) We also had a friend with us; a mouse and then a lizard decided to really show us the meaning of Togolese hospitality by very kindly keeping us company ALL NIGHT. With no electricity, no running water and a storm outside, it was an experience to say the least.
The following day, we did the tour of the Pays Tamberma. I learnt so so so much about the history, and the houses and just everything, but will write down events and places for you first and will probably have to do a separate post about that because there's just too much to say! It was eye-opening to say the least, and it was impossible to forget that we're in what is at once the richest and poorest continent of the world. There was no doubt about it at all - This Is Africa. For lunchtime, we hopped over the border to Benin (without visa) as you do, and had very very yummy rice with tomato and onion sauce, and the kind of smoked cheese they do here which is called wagassi and is very nice. That has to be one of the highlights of the tour - have now been in 3 African countries! Plus, a woman with a white stone through her bottom lip, a woman who spoke to us for at least half an hour solidly - all in her own language, Kabyé, of course - and hugged us lots, not to mention looking out from the terrace in the dark (it goes dark here at like 6) and seeing lots of black bushes, then seeing them moving, then eating, then finally realising that they were a herd of goats come to graze on the scrub! And the whole experience of sleeping in the tata and being able to see everything there, and meet some of the people who really live like that, was just incredible. What really brought home the realisation that there is so much disparity in the world is that our guide does actually live in one of the villages he showed us. Not only that, but at the age of 16 he was called from Lomé where he was at school, to be initiated and he has the scars to prove it. And when I think about what I did for my 16th birthday, it seems impossible that it can exist all at the same time, yet it does. There really are very few words to describe realisation like that, but that's the best I can do!After the tour we returned to Kanté to sleep there Monday night - have rarely been so glad to have electricity, some things really make you appreciate others!
On Tuesday, we saw a little of Kanté, which is pretty small, and then headed to Kara which is the ancient capital of the North because Togo was originally not at all like it is today. We had hoped to find a restaurant serving pizza and cinnamon biscuits but after searching we discovered that it no longer exists :( and the trend of disappearing and appearing restaurants and sites will continue... Instead we found somewhere where we basically had breakfast for lunch. Really just hit the spot. We also made our way into the Grand Marché there - not as easy as it sounds, this involved negotiating an open sewer with our bags on our backs, plus about 1001 people wanting to cross the same point at the same time. You gotta love it here! After Kara, we went on to Sokodé to sleep the Tuesday night, and found the best café ever (and right next to the hotel) where we ate every meal until leaving - the Barack Obama 'yes we can' café to be precise!
Am going to have to finish here for today and will continue next time as I have no minutes left on the clock and it is also just about to rain so I have to go and make sure my room is waterproof etc!
x
Sunday, 25 March 2012
Vogan and Aného
Went travelling again this weekend, after a long week of exams, plus an extra day off which was appreciated! Left Friday afternoon to see the market at Vogan. Did have rather a lot of difficulty finding a taxi, but ended up having the most luxurious ride I've had since being here - the two yovos in the front of a van by themselves! It was just heavenly in comparison although (Mummy close your eyes) seatbelts are just non-existent here and am going to have to think hard when I get back home after 7 months of just hopping into cars/vans/taxis/motos/etc... Arrived at Vogan mid-afternoon and despite not really seeing very much except a lot of cars, as soon as we got out and turned around the most enormous market every sprang up right in front of us. It was literally enormous. And everything was there! Raw food, cooked food, drinks, fabrics, clothes, fetish stuff, (which included snakes, crocodile skulls, feathers, shells and all sorts of random-looking things!) animals (alive and dead), medication, toiletries, things like nail varnish, household items, pottery, baskets, stationery, books - literally everything you could ever want in your whole life was there. It was just amazing!
And while we were gaping in awe at this, we spotted some kind of voodoo ceremony going on nearby, so we went to look. First we stood a little way back, near the market, but then a man traditionally dressed told us (in Ewé, which he continued to speak throughout despite us only replying in French...) that we could go closer, so we did. Then a totally scary, totally African, seemingly totally mad woman came out of the dancers and marched towards us blowing her whistle and shouting in Ewé. Unsurprisingly, we followed the example of all the little children around us and just RAN! It turned out she wanted money, and for me to put my camera away (so said the helpful man in Ewé) which we weren't about to pay so we just stayed well back. It looked sort of like a voodoo dance off - there were two groups, one of which arrived a little after the other, both doing the same dance as far as we could make out. But the bizarre thing was that the first group finished, and then had a little rest, then half the group migrated over to the second group who were still dancing, having started later than the first. Then, the second dance came to an end and the first group started again,with apparently about double the number of people than it started with (we still don't really know where they all came from) and then the second group started again! It was really really cool to watch, but when we asked what it was for, nobody really seemed to know sadly.
So we then left the market for Aného, and it was a good thing we knew the name of the hotel we wanted to stay in because by the time we reached there it was dark, as here it starts to get dark at 6 and by 6.30 it's pretty much totally black. Got to Hotel Oasis and OMG - it's right by the lagoon, beautiful at night, and totally deserted! Asked for a room, were given one, had a shower in the ENORMOUS bathroom (comparatively), had supper and went to sleep - just so so easy.
In the morning we wandered round Aného a little, saw the old colonial buildings, and found the beach where we could swim. Was majorly hot, but by the sea with the wind it was just perfect. Then we got a taxi back to Lomé and all was just fine. Did have a slight surprise when I arrived home though; between 12 and 3pm everyone just goes to sleep here (as I do whenever I can!) and so I sent towards my bedroom to go and shower and get sorted, and there was a man just asleep in front of my bedroom door...! Don't think I've seem much so far that was so unexpected as that... It turned out just fine because he's Mama's nephew who has come to help his aunt (Mama's younger sister) who is not very well at all at the moment sadly but the jokes about my reaction to the 'gros monsieur togolais devant ma porte' will continue for a while I think...
And while we were gaping in awe at this, we spotted some kind of voodoo ceremony going on nearby, so we went to look. First we stood a little way back, near the market, but then a man traditionally dressed told us (in Ewé, which he continued to speak throughout despite us only replying in French...) that we could go closer, so we did. Then a totally scary, totally African, seemingly totally mad woman came out of the dancers and marched towards us blowing her whistle and shouting in Ewé. Unsurprisingly, we followed the example of all the little children around us and just RAN! It turned out she wanted money, and for me to put my camera away (so said the helpful man in Ewé) which we weren't about to pay so we just stayed well back. It looked sort of like a voodoo dance off - there were two groups, one of which arrived a little after the other, both doing the same dance as far as we could make out. But the bizarre thing was that the first group finished, and then had a little rest, then half the group migrated over to the second group who were still dancing, having started later than the first. Then, the second dance came to an end and the first group started again,with apparently about double the number of people than it started with (we still don't really know where they all came from) and then the second group started again! It was really really cool to watch, but when we asked what it was for, nobody really seemed to know sadly.
So we then left the market for Aného, and it was a good thing we knew the name of the hotel we wanted to stay in because by the time we reached there it was dark, as here it starts to get dark at 6 and by 6.30 it's pretty much totally black. Got to Hotel Oasis and OMG - it's right by the lagoon, beautiful at night, and totally deserted! Asked for a room, were given one, had a shower in the ENORMOUS bathroom (comparatively), had supper and went to sleep - just so so easy.
In the morning we wandered round Aného a little, saw the old colonial buildings, and found the beach where we could swim. Was majorly hot, but by the sea with the wind it was just perfect. Then we got a taxi back to Lomé and all was just fine. Did have a slight surprise when I arrived home though; between 12 and 3pm everyone just goes to sleep here (as I do whenever I can!) and so I sent towards my bedroom to go and shower and get sorted, and there was a man just asleep in front of my bedroom door...! Don't think I've seem much so far that was so unexpected as that... It turned out just fine because he's Mama's nephew who has come to help his aunt (Mama's younger sister) who is not very well at all at the moment sadly but the jokes about my reaction to the 'gros monsieur togolais devant ma porte' will continue for a while I think...
Thursday, 22 March 2012
Thursday, March 22nd...
On a random day off today as we've had exams in school since last Wednesday so today the teachers are going through the corrections and evaluations etc with all the people in charge, so there are no lessons. However, the poor children weren't told anything, so they all turned up this morning and didn't totally disperse until after 9am, having been there since about 6.15! Nobody seems to know why they weren't told, but the bells went off for the flag as well at normal time apparently (I slept through that bit...) - very bizarre.
Exams are tough here; sitting there watching them all last week, I had a total kind of epiphany of just how hard it is for these children to get anywhere. Not only are they working against the heat - which by the way they do suffer from, not in the same way as us, but they still sweat and need their fans etc, especially at the back of the class where it's just stifling - but they are also in competition with the noise from the primary school next door, from the next classroom; they're sharing pens/paper/pencils/rubber/crayons between about 4 and the benches are so uncomfortable that lots simply kneel on the floor (during 1.30/2 hour exams...). Plus the fact that the tests themselves often have to be corrected before they can start, and, something else which I hadn't fully realised until the other day, they're working in their second, sometimes third, language. They're not born with French, they often don't speak French at home and many of the little children in the street speak hardly any French at all. If the teachers speak to the children outside of lessons, it's often in Ewé and I never really realised that it's because it's more natural for them. Yes, they are bilingual but they're not born that way. It's not like being born with parents of different nationalities who speak in their own language from day one - that way you grow up with both, here they are taught French, even though everyone does speak it. Of course, I'm teaching English so I'm teaching them a third, sometimes fourth or even fifth language... No wonder I had an average of about 7 out of 20 for my 5é! There are other difficulties too, but they're not up for discussion on here.
It's only when you really think about these things that you realise what effect they have. When you look at the statistic that only around 43 percent of students attain the bac here it seems atrocious and you ask why. Then you look at the conditions in which they're learning their lessons and taking their exams and you understand. Not to mention that the majority of these children also work in the home, which means getting up at 4 or 5 and not going to bed until sometimes 10 or 11. At the age of 12, it's not at all surprising that they fall asleep in lessons.
On the bright side, had such a good start to the day here - woke up and had breakfast, watched furtively (occasionally not so furtively!) by the hundreds of children outside school as it's only across the road, and got so many laughs when I came to serve them in the shop in my pyjamas! Then there were two girls who installed themselves just outside us and started playing Bryan Adams 'Everything I Do' Celine Dion 'My Heart Will Go On' and just heaps more, which was so nice! In Europe... we just don't turn up and make ourselves at home on someone's doorstep let alone play music to them, and I really wish we did!
That is the real charm of Togo; the entire atmosphere is of friendship and community. You say hello to EVERYONE you meet, whether you know them or not, little children, big children, adults, old people - just everyone. And like this weekend, I'm going travelling to a voodo market at Vogan and then down to Aného, an old colonial town by the beach, and will be relying on asking people there where to go, where to stay and what to do because here, you can do that. Last week, one of the other volunteers met a guy in the street, they got talking as you just do here, and it turned out he was an artist. And when my friend asked if he could see his work, because he's also interested in that kind of thing, the answer was sure, come right now. And so he went! And had the most wicked time, got to use all the guy's stuff and took loads of pictures and all sorts! Because you just can here. At home, that wouldn't even be considered. And tbh, the offer probably wouldn't be made like that anyway so the option just wouldn't be there! But here, such is life!
Plus, at the moment it is seriously hot over here... The thermometer keeps reading 40/41 and today walked into a shop with air-conditioning at 29 and felt cold... Not saying it wasn't nice but wouldn't have wanted to stay in there for really that long!
x
Exams are tough here; sitting there watching them all last week, I had a total kind of epiphany of just how hard it is for these children to get anywhere. Not only are they working against the heat - which by the way they do suffer from, not in the same way as us, but they still sweat and need their fans etc, especially at the back of the class where it's just stifling - but they are also in competition with the noise from the primary school next door, from the next classroom; they're sharing pens/paper/pencils/rubber/crayons between about 4 and the benches are so uncomfortable that lots simply kneel on the floor (during 1.30/2 hour exams...). Plus the fact that the tests themselves often have to be corrected before they can start, and, something else which I hadn't fully realised until the other day, they're working in their second, sometimes third, language. They're not born with French, they often don't speak French at home and many of the little children in the street speak hardly any French at all. If the teachers speak to the children outside of lessons, it's often in Ewé and I never really realised that it's because it's more natural for them. Yes, they are bilingual but they're not born that way. It's not like being born with parents of different nationalities who speak in their own language from day one - that way you grow up with both, here they are taught French, even though everyone does speak it. Of course, I'm teaching English so I'm teaching them a third, sometimes fourth or even fifth language... No wonder I had an average of about 7 out of 20 for my 5é! There are other difficulties too, but they're not up for discussion on here.
It's only when you really think about these things that you realise what effect they have. When you look at the statistic that only around 43 percent of students attain the bac here it seems atrocious and you ask why. Then you look at the conditions in which they're learning their lessons and taking their exams and you understand. Not to mention that the majority of these children also work in the home, which means getting up at 4 or 5 and not going to bed until sometimes 10 or 11. At the age of 12, it's not at all surprising that they fall asleep in lessons.
On the bright side, had such a good start to the day here - woke up and had breakfast, watched furtively (occasionally not so furtively!) by the hundreds of children outside school as it's only across the road, and got so many laughs when I came to serve them in the shop in my pyjamas! Then there were two girls who installed themselves just outside us and started playing Bryan Adams 'Everything I Do' Celine Dion 'My Heart Will Go On' and just heaps more, which was so nice! In Europe... we just don't turn up and make ourselves at home on someone's doorstep let alone play music to them, and I really wish we did!
That is the real charm of Togo; the entire atmosphere is of friendship and community. You say hello to EVERYONE you meet, whether you know them or not, little children, big children, adults, old people - just everyone. And like this weekend, I'm going travelling to a voodo market at Vogan and then down to Aného, an old colonial town by the beach, and will be relying on asking people there where to go, where to stay and what to do because here, you can do that. Last week, one of the other volunteers met a guy in the street, they got talking as you just do here, and it turned out he was an artist. And when my friend asked if he could see his work, because he's also interested in that kind of thing, the answer was sure, come right now. And so he went! And had the most wicked time, got to use all the guy's stuff and took loads of pictures and all sorts! Because you just can here. At home, that wouldn't even be considered. And tbh, the offer probably wouldn't be made like that anyway so the option just wouldn't be there! But here, such is life!
Plus, at the moment it is seriously hot over here... The thermometer keeps reading 40/41 and today walked into a shop with air-conditioning at 29 and felt cold... Not saying it wasn't nice but wouldn't have wanted to stay in there for really that long!
x
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Voyage à Kpalimé!
Some more travelling (at last!) this weekend - set off for Kpalimé, which is a moutainous little city/town right next to the border of Ghana, and only about 2 hours away from Lomé. Having been used to leaving extra early for any travelling, it was very odd to saunter down to the taxi station at about 8.30, especially as I'd already been awake for 2 hours which is unusual! In comparison to normality, the taxis for places like Kpalimé are superly organised - they have an office, including a man to run it and a ticket! Am pretty sure I haven't had a single ticket for anything transport wise since I've been here, they tend to reserve them for things like the Post Office which has inherited much of the French bureaucracy... So we paid our fare (the equivalent of 4 pounds for a 2 hour trip...) and were directed to a taxi. It was in pretty good condition really, as it still had all its windows and windscreen, plus all four wheels, which is often a rarity. A 7 seater minibus, it already contained 3 people when we got on to make it 5, but here in Togo there's always room for more of everything! After about 2 hours, 6 more people, and a roof-ful of lugguage of various sorts, we finally set off for Kpalimé; departure only slightly marred by a skirmish between our driver (sporting a rather fetching pink princess mobile phone holder on his belt) and another possible passenger, who had in fairness already entered another taxi. This minor factor didn't stop our man trying his absolute hardest to persuade him that in fact he would have a far better ride in our taxi. The other man didn't quite seem to see it himself, can't think why...
So after a comparatively short wait, and an extremely bumpy and noisy journey, we arrived in the town of Kpalimé! Our next challenge was to find somewhere to stay. So we headed for the cathedral (the largest and only church we could see) to search for a hostel which was supposed to be opposite. And guess what, it was there! And they had a room! We did have to do some explaining though because the question 'do you have a room for two, with two beds?' was met with much consternation and Ewé speaking and general confusion. In the end, the lady just took us to see the possible rooms directly - we then understood the confusion as every room has a Togolese double bed which I am sure is bigger than a standard hotel double at home! One of them hardly fitted into the room and we'd been asking for two so you can imagine what they must have been thinking... After such an easy find, we headed straight to the market to find some lunch. I unfortunately (or fortunately...) fell into the temptation of freshly made botoquins - literally just out of the oil! - which are basically like Togolese beignets and so bad but so good! We finally settled on a little café/bar which we'd passed within the first minute, and got a plate of spaghetti with chili tomato sauce and some meat (non-specific... I stayed veggie) which was ENORMOUS and cost 1 pound...
We had then planned to visit the Artisanal Centre, and also to do a guided butterfly walk from a place my Lonely Planet had recommended. However, despite being mentioned in the LP, the place for the walks was apparently non-existent. After many many explanations, and being driven round for miles by two taxis trying their best to help the yovos in distress, we finally gave up and just headed to the Centre Artisanale instead. As they say, all things happen for a reason, and we were not just a little bit pleased when it began to rain (Togolese style of course...) as we'd ended up with the indoor option! So spent a pleasant couple of hours looking round the Centre and seeing the men at work. I was SORELY tempted by a wooden elephant that had actually been made before my very eyes but resisted... and regretted it! The level of skill there is so high, it's incredible, but the prices were of course elevated by at least 3 times sadly. Was asked several times if I'd like a 'cadeau' but having already experienced the Togolese cadeaux in Lomé I politely declined! In general, cadeau just means slightly lowered price, so as I know I'll go back to Kpalimé I can wait. What a sensible girl!
When the rain stopped, we walked back to the hotel and having stepped over an electricity cable which had come down on the way there, we weren't surprised to find a severe lack of electricity. This did however pose a few problems - in order to have any light at all we had to have the door open, which attracted the mosquitos and we were also trying to shower at the same time which is not the easiest thing to do in the pitch dark, let me assure you. Had a small incident involving my soap and the loo... but all was resolved when the helpful men came round with candles and matches! We then went out to eat at a sort of famous hotel/restaurant called Chez Fanny, owned by a French/Togolese couple so serves French food. Had garlic steak-frites, and realised just how much I miss meat like beef! The only meat we have here is chicken, sometimes a meat sort of more like duck, or the packet frankfurters for salads etc. Then followed it up with a sugared crepe with vanilla icecream - YUM.
On Sunday, we continued the good food with an amazing breakfast in the same little café, which consisted of coffee/hot chocolate, bread and omlette cooked with tomato and onions - again for the same price and again YUM! The day before we'd met a man at the Centre who had directed us to a village called Kouma Konda where he was a guide and he knew we could do exactly what we'd been wanting to. So, because we're on an adventure here, we took him at his word (which more often lead to difficulties than success with the men here!) and found 2 motos to Kouma Konda. Bless the man, as soon as we got there we were greeted as friends and everything was explained, and within 20 minutes we'd ordered our lunch and set off on our guided butterfly walk, also including coffee and cocoa explanations etc, as well as pointing out of all sorts of medicinal plants, PLUS a waterfall! It was amazing to be in the middle of the bush there - it was just so so green! And cold too! We saw so much - plants to cure impotency, rabies, skin diseases, as well as all the plants they use for the vegetal painting which is very popular there. When we got to the waterfall we were a little reluctant as the water was chilly as chips, but we did it and it felt so so good afterwards! Our guide offered to take us up Mount Klouto as well, where we'd bee able to see Lake Volta in Ghana, as well as all of Kpalimé and beyond but really sadly we were seriously running out of time. So we hiked back up the mountain, to our lunch waiting for us. Then we finally found motos to go back down, got our stuff from the hotel and bought some avacadoes from the market to bring home before managing to find a full taxi. We hopped in, and were away! A more pleasant (though hotter) journey this time, as I had the most beautiful baby EVER sitting right next to me :) he even held onto my finger :D
All in all, a really good weekend! More good news is that we spoke to the children about this extra English/Human Rights club I want to start and had already 60 put their names down from only 2 classes!!! I know that at least half won't turn up, but that makes still between 20 and 30 who are genuinely interested in learning. It's such a good feeling to have, and seriously encouraging. Going to go through the lists with my teacher when we have the other one and then form 2 groups to go once each a week as there will be too many to have just one group, at least at the start. Will let you know how it goes - hopefully will start next Thursday with one group, and am pretty excited after that, but am also feeling the pressure! Definitely enjoying school more now, and even though they're naughty and noisy, the children certainly win prizes for cuteness!
So after a comparatively short wait, and an extremely bumpy and noisy journey, we arrived in the town of Kpalimé! Our next challenge was to find somewhere to stay. So we headed for the cathedral (the largest and only church we could see) to search for a hostel which was supposed to be opposite. And guess what, it was there! And they had a room! We did have to do some explaining though because the question 'do you have a room for two, with two beds?' was met with much consternation and Ewé speaking and general confusion. In the end, the lady just took us to see the possible rooms directly - we then understood the confusion as every room has a Togolese double bed which I am sure is bigger than a standard hotel double at home! One of them hardly fitted into the room and we'd been asking for two so you can imagine what they must have been thinking... After such an easy find, we headed straight to the market to find some lunch. I unfortunately (or fortunately...) fell into the temptation of freshly made botoquins - literally just out of the oil! - which are basically like Togolese beignets and so bad but so good! We finally settled on a little café/bar which we'd passed within the first minute, and got a plate of spaghetti with chili tomato sauce and some meat (non-specific... I stayed veggie) which was ENORMOUS and cost 1 pound...
We had then planned to visit the Artisanal Centre, and also to do a guided butterfly walk from a place my Lonely Planet had recommended. However, despite being mentioned in the LP, the place for the walks was apparently non-existent. After many many explanations, and being driven round for miles by two taxis trying their best to help the yovos in distress, we finally gave up and just headed to the Centre Artisanale instead. As they say, all things happen for a reason, and we were not just a little bit pleased when it began to rain (Togolese style of course...) as we'd ended up with the indoor option! So spent a pleasant couple of hours looking round the Centre and seeing the men at work. I was SORELY tempted by a wooden elephant that had actually been made before my very eyes but resisted... and regretted it! The level of skill there is so high, it's incredible, but the prices were of course elevated by at least 3 times sadly. Was asked several times if I'd like a 'cadeau' but having already experienced the Togolese cadeaux in Lomé I politely declined! In general, cadeau just means slightly lowered price, so as I know I'll go back to Kpalimé I can wait. What a sensible girl!
When the rain stopped, we walked back to the hotel and having stepped over an electricity cable which had come down on the way there, we weren't surprised to find a severe lack of electricity. This did however pose a few problems - in order to have any light at all we had to have the door open, which attracted the mosquitos and we were also trying to shower at the same time which is not the easiest thing to do in the pitch dark, let me assure you. Had a small incident involving my soap and the loo... but all was resolved when the helpful men came round with candles and matches! We then went out to eat at a sort of famous hotel/restaurant called Chez Fanny, owned by a French/Togolese couple so serves French food. Had garlic steak-frites, and realised just how much I miss meat like beef! The only meat we have here is chicken, sometimes a meat sort of more like duck, or the packet frankfurters for salads etc. Then followed it up with a sugared crepe with vanilla icecream - YUM.
On Sunday, we continued the good food with an amazing breakfast in the same little café, which consisted of coffee/hot chocolate, bread and omlette cooked with tomato and onions - again for the same price and again YUM! The day before we'd met a man at the Centre who had directed us to a village called Kouma Konda where he was a guide and he knew we could do exactly what we'd been wanting to. So, because we're on an adventure here, we took him at his word (which more often lead to difficulties than success with the men here!) and found 2 motos to Kouma Konda. Bless the man, as soon as we got there we were greeted as friends and everything was explained, and within 20 minutes we'd ordered our lunch and set off on our guided butterfly walk, also including coffee and cocoa explanations etc, as well as pointing out of all sorts of medicinal plants, PLUS a waterfall! It was amazing to be in the middle of the bush there - it was just so so green! And cold too! We saw so much - plants to cure impotency, rabies, skin diseases, as well as all the plants they use for the vegetal painting which is very popular there. When we got to the waterfall we were a little reluctant as the water was chilly as chips, but we did it and it felt so so good afterwards! Our guide offered to take us up Mount Klouto as well, where we'd bee able to see Lake Volta in Ghana, as well as all of Kpalimé and beyond but really sadly we were seriously running out of time. So we hiked back up the mountain, to our lunch waiting for us. Then we finally found motos to go back down, got our stuff from the hotel and bought some avacadoes from the market to bring home before managing to find a full taxi. We hopped in, and were away! A more pleasant (though hotter) journey this time, as I had the most beautiful baby EVER sitting right next to me :) he even held onto my finger :D
All in all, a really good weekend! More good news is that we spoke to the children about this extra English/Human Rights club I want to start and had already 60 put their names down from only 2 classes!!! I know that at least half won't turn up, but that makes still between 20 and 30 who are genuinely interested in learning. It's such a good feeling to have, and seriously encouraging. Going to go through the lists with my teacher when we have the other one and then form 2 groups to go once each a week as there will be too many to have just one group, at least at the start. Will let you know how it goes - hopefully will start next Thursday with one group, and am pretty excited after that, but am also feeling the pressure! Definitely enjoying school more now, and even though they're naughty and noisy, the children certainly win prizes for cuteness!
Saturday, 3 March 2012
Month Two: March!
Just a quick update to let you know I'm still alive. Which I am. (Here insert African applause in the certain rhythm they do, to the words 'ça c'est fantastique, ça c'est super!')
Rained again on Tuesday night and just as impressive - with lightening and REAL thunder this time... Am sort of looking forward to the rainy season I've got to admit! It could be a different country after and before the rain though, it's incredible to see it change from dusty, typical Africa to muddy, greener; more like England! Was very impressed with myself that although the rain woke me up, I then managed to go back to sleep for the usual 8 hours. That is the most I sleep here - last night went to sleep about 1.30am and woke up 6.30. Won't say I was ready for action cos that wouldn't be quite true... But it is interesting that with a little nap this afternoon I'm now totally up for going out tonight and wouldn't say that I was tired. Perhaps (god forbid) I am becoming someone who doesn't need that much sleep... I suspect that will only last while I am here though!
Had a massively amazing moment in school the other day (apart from preparing and presenting my first lesson, and starting a class alone...) - we had been doing exclamative sentences, using 'what/so/etc' and this lesson was on the use of 'such'. She wrote the title etc, just as normal, wrote the example sentences, then started to ask questions to the class and to start to explain it basically, when one pupil put up his hand and asked to make the sentence on the board using 'such'. And he did it! Perfectly! Without any kind of explanation really - it was just amazing!
Had to prepare a lesson for the 5è this week and have another to prepare for the 4è this weekend; went okish I think, they did a test on the text we'd covered with them in that lesson and most of them did well so I guess that's a good sign (although it was mostly repetition of exact phrases...). Going to see the CACIT organisation in the next few weeks, which is my next Project so excited about that!
Alison, the younger French girl who was living with us left last night and I was VERY sad to see her go. Just through living with her for 4 weeks, only 3 weeks of which she was actually there, I got to know her and although I really hope we'll stay in touch it's still made me sad. Two other volunteers also left today, and we have a new American who arrived last night and there is another Swedish girl who is coming or has come soon I think, but she isn't staying with us. So is all change here this weekend! Mama's son is also coming to stay for two weeks, arriving today. I am currently occupying his bedroom and there are many many jokes going on about what's going to happen when he arrives, and I can't tell how much is joke and what is serious... Could be an interesting time!
X
Rained again on Tuesday night and just as impressive - with lightening and REAL thunder this time... Am sort of looking forward to the rainy season I've got to admit! It could be a different country after and before the rain though, it's incredible to see it change from dusty, typical Africa to muddy, greener; more like England! Was very impressed with myself that although the rain woke me up, I then managed to go back to sleep for the usual 8 hours. That is the most I sleep here - last night went to sleep about 1.30am and woke up 6.30. Won't say I was ready for action cos that wouldn't be quite true... But it is interesting that with a little nap this afternoon I'm now totally up for going out tonight and wouldn't say that I was tired. Perhaps (god forbid) I am becoming someone who doesn't need that much sleep... I suspect that will only last while I am here though!
Had a massively amazing moment in school the other day (apart from preparing and presenting my first lesson, and starting a class alone...) - we had been doing exclamative sentences, using 'what/so/etc' and this lesson was on the use of 'such'. She wrote the title etc, just as normal, wrote the example sentences, then started to ask questions to the class and to start to explain it basically, when one pupil put up his hand and asked to make the sentence on the board using 'such'. And he did it! Perfectly! Without any kind of explanation really - it was just amazing!
Had to prepare a lesson for the 5è this week and have another to prepare for the 4è this weekend; went okish I think, they did a test on the text we'd covered with them in that lesson and most of them did well so I guess that's a good sign (although it was mostly repetition of exact phrases...). Going to see the CACIT organisation in the next few weeks, which is my next Project so excited about that!
Alison, the younger French girl who was living with us left last night and I was VERY sad to see her go. Just through living with her for 4 weeks, only 3 weeks of which she was actually there, I got to know her and although I really hope we'll stay in touch it's still made me sad. Two other volunteers also left today, and we have a new American who arrived last night and there is another Swedish girl who is coming or has come soon I think, but she isn't staying with us. So is all change here this weekend! Mama's son is also coming to stay for two weeks, arriving today. I am currently occupying his bedroom and there are many many jokes going on about what's going to happen when he arrives, and I can't tell how much is joke and what is serious... Could be an interesting time!
X
Monday, 27 February 2012
A Togolese Wedding! Plus Some More About School.
Was given the challenge of preparing a lesson for the 5é classes this weekend who are approximately aged about 13/14 although that does vary here as you end up with children of all ages - there is a particuarly troublesome boy in 4é, the next age group up, who is 21... So prepared this lesson, including vocabulary such as 'to shave one's beard off' and the grammar point 'The use of what/what a/what an in exclamative sentences'. It takes some serious thought - I sat for ages going, how do we use what in an exclamative sentence? Normally we just use it! For most pupils, this is their third language as they speak Ewé fluently as it's always spoken in the home, and French obviously so although their level is relatively quite poor it is unsurprising. The pronounciation is also difficult... the difference between 'bow' and 'bow', 'how' and 'who'... It's no wonder they find it hard to follow my lessons! In the end, thought the lesson preparation was quite good; it all seemed to make sense and I could explain it. However, it's the execution which really shows and unfortunately judging by the response I got the execution was immensely atrocious! We didn't finish even a third of the lesson so will continue tomorrow and see what happens then! Also had much interest in my Cosmic Anti-Dust chalks (thanks Grandma!) because they are in rectangles instead of the rounded sticks that are more normal - do these work on Togolese blackboards? Really?! They look like sticks of chewing gum... Well just try it and then see!
Then the food and juices started coming round and it was basically a free-for-all on the dance floor! We had such fun, but it was very tiring as we didn't get home until 8.30pm! Apparently that was rare and was due to the high proportion of white French who were the only ones left by 9... Had a really good time all in all but was so tired by the end!
Today had another Ewé lesson and tomorrow our PA cultural activity is a conference about children - very applicable and hopefully useful too! Learnt some key phrases in Ewé for school (it's technically forbidden but everyone speaks it and it should make them listen if I do speak it) such as 'spit that out!' 'close that!' and 'give me that!' Had to confiscate another phone today and had to make one girl throw her juice away... I felt bad because I know just how good they are! Succeeded in translating some sentences today - the snake is under the mattress... da la le aba la (have forgotten under!) Hope I won't be using that one any time soon...
x
Sunday, 19 February 2012
A Busy Three Days!
Have had quite a busy time since I wrote last - another Ewé lesson, hospital cleaning, Togolese church, my first African rain/storm, not to mention a dance class for a wedding which is next week...
My first weekend here, Alison mentioned that she was doing a kind of dance class and I said oh that sounds like fun, I'd quite like to come. Thanks to that I'm now part of a group dancing at someone's wedding next Saturday, having had a grand total of about 4 hours to learn the dances - one of which I start... It's really the Togo version of Strictly, except my yovo status adds an extra sort of frisson! I'll let you know how it goes and hopefully post some photos/videos as well after next week - still can't believe this is me about to dance at some poor person's wedding! We're doing two dances, one Indian sort of and one sort of country style. When I say sort of... it's a loose description to say the least. Mama has said that Africans dance 'like monkeys' and it is true that they just have a sort of grace and a way of moving that is totally unique and unlike anything us Europeans can come up with. Just like in church, something I experienced today!
We went to an 'assemblée de Dieu' which is a sort of Protestant gospel style service and the only way to describe it is to say that it was an experience... Never having really been a fervent believer (or if truth be told, a believer at all!) the power and the faith that these people have is amazing. It's quite frightening to think of the consequences if that power was misused because they really put their everything into worship. The whole thing is so physical - they pray out loud, together, with music, with actions, standing up, sitting down, dancing, singing and they fully believe every word. The preaching is intense to say the least, and when we arrived there, it seemed to be a kind of free-for-all - there were about 5 preachers all going for it in different point of the church! They also have a translator to translate the French into Ewé which I found very interesting, and most of the songs are in Ewé except I'm sure I heard some English at one point which was very bizarre! The church itself is also decorated beautifully - pink and white striped material behind the sort of stage, flowers, pink ribbons hanging from the fans (which were drastically needed as it was 36°C there today despite the storm last night...) and there were two signs which particularly struck me - at the back of the stage it said 'enter to adore' and above the door it said 'go out to serve'. The colours and the dresses there today were the best I've seen since coming here - SO many colours, so many amazing headdresses, so many different types of dress - I felt dramatically underdressed! And resolved that instead of the one dress I was going to get made I need at least 3!
Only one word to say about the storm last night - IMPRESSIVE. (and scary!)
My second Ewé lesson (which also included some dancing!) was on Friday and again I learnt so much! We did some verbs this time so can now start attempting to form VERY short sentences. Won't bore you all too much with the details but learnt about 5 verbs, in the past, present and future. In Ewé they have technically about 5 tenses but the difference between the pluperfect and past for example is minimal - 'ke' signifies pluperfect - and that is it! Similarly with the future tenses, the difference between them is 'va' which signifies 'I'm going to...'. Haven't learnt much about structure etc yet, except that like in English when you say 'I have/had' the object just follows - nice and simple to start! And it's the same with 'I buy'. When people come into the shop, they often shout 'aple nu' which if you say it out loud sounds rather like the French 'appelez-nous' so I was very confused for a long time! Now I know that it means 'I'll buy something' or 'I want to buy something' ('nu' being 'something'). Mentioned before that Ewé has different letters to us and the p in 'aple' is one - it is in fact written like an f with a curly tail top and bottom, but pronounced like a very forceful p. They have a normal f sound as well which is written like our fs with a curly tail only at the top. Not going to lie, it's rather tricky for a Westerner!
Spent Saturday morning cleaning at the hospital Tokoin which is about a half an hour walk from chez moi. Walked about halfway but then thought 'hmm don't actually know where this hospital is...' so got a moto for the rest. Was definitely an African 8am start as we all rolled up between about 7.50 and 8.20... We were then handed mops, brooms, and buckets - no prizes for guessing what we were going to end up doing! We cleaned the paediatric unit of the hospital which was 3 consultation rooms and a room for in-patients. Am going to write the events as they occurred and describe things as we found them without passing judgement on anything, because I think it will become very clear to you soon without me having to say anything.
We were separated into 4 groups, one to clean the ceilings, one to sweep the floors, one to mop the floors, and the other to wash the windows/doors/etc. In total there were about 10 volunteers, 4 members of Projects Abroad, and about 6 members of the local football team who also pitch quite often apparently. We started by cleaning the consultation rooms, and then moved onto the in-patients room. There were 11 children currently there - the full capacity by the number of beds - in a room about the size of a small living room. And by that I mean think average size for the majority, then go small. The children were all very small, ranging from babies still being breastfed to children about 4 or 5 and when we arrived the room was also full of mothers and families there with their children. Of course we had to move all the beds out to clean this room, so these families ended up outside where fortunately there was some shade, but the children spent 3 hours there without any medication being given that I could see. There were also several drips in the room; some of these were metal, similar to the ones we would see in a hospital at home, but others were wooden, and sort of ressembled hat-stands. It took our team of about 20 people in total 3 hours to clean these 4 rooms and the childrens' beds and they still weren't clean at the end. I don't think I need to say any more.
The one image I will always retain from that isn't the dirt, or the crowded room, or seeing a doctor take up a needle that had been sitting in an inch of dust to use on somebody; it's a family I saw outside. They were asleep on a cover together, a mother and an older boy on the outside, sheltering a little boy in the middle around whose tiny dark wrist there was a white hospital band, and on the back of his hand, in the place where a IV needle would go in, was a white gauze pad.
I love Togo, and I'm having so much fun, but you cannot help but have your eyes forcefully opened at times. But perhaps that's because they need to be. My perspective is changing so much here, and I'd say it's probably impossible to go back home the same person as how you started here - it's certainly not going to be the case for me.
My first weekend here, Alison mentioned that she was doing a kind of dance class and I said oh that sounds like fun, I'd quite like to come. Thanks to that I'm now part of a group dancing at someone's wedding next Saturday, having had a grand total of about 4 hours to learn the dances - one of which I start... It's really the Togo version of Strictly, except my yovo status adds an extra sort of frisson! I'll let you know how it goes and hopefully post some photos/videos as well after next week - still can't believe this is me about to dance at some poor person's wedding! We're doing two dances, one Indian sort of and one sort of country style. When I say sort of... it's a loose description to say the least. Mama has said that Africans dance 'like monkeys' and it is true that they just have a sort of grace and a way of moving that is totally unique and unlike anything us Europeans can come up with. Just like in church, something I experienced today!
We went to an 'assemblée de Dieu' which is a sort of Protestant gospel style service and the only way to describe it is to say that it was an experience... Never having really been a fervent believer (or if truth be told, a believer at all!) the power and the faith that these people have is amazing. It's quite frightening to think of the consequences if that power was misused because they really put their everything into worship. The whole thing is so physical - they pray out loud, together, with music, with actions, standing up, sitting down, dancing, singing and they fully believe every word. The preaching is intense to say the least, and when we arrived there, it seemed to be a kind of free-for-all - there were about 5 preachers all going for it in different point of the church! They also have a translator to translate the French into Ewé which I found very interesting, and most of the songs are in Ewé except I'm sure I heard some English at one point which was very bizarre! The church itself is also decorated beautifully - pink and white striped material behind the sort of stage, flowers, pink ribbons hanging from the fans (which were drastically needed as it was 36°C there today despite the storm last night...) and there were two signs which particularly struck me - at the back of the stage it said 'enter to adore' and above the door it said 'go out to serve'. The colours and the dresses there today were the best I've seen since coming here - SO many colours, so many amazing headdresses, so many different types of dress - I felt dramatically underdressed! And resolved that instead of the one dress I was going to get made I need at least 3!
Only one word to say about the storm last night - IMPRESSIVE. (and scary!)
My second Ewé lesson (which also included some dancing!) was on Friday and again I learnt so much! We did some verbs this time so can now start attempting to form VERY short sentences. Won't bore you all too much with the details but learnt about 5 verbs, in the past, present and future. In Ewé they have technically about 5 tenses but the difference between the pluperfect and past for example is minimal - 'ke' signifies pluperfect - and that is it! Similarly with the future tenses, the difference between them is 'va' which signifies 'I'm going to...'. Haven't learnt much about structure etc yet, except that like in English when you say 'I have/had' the object just follows - nice and simple to start! And it's the same with 'I buy'. When people come into the shop, they often shout 'aple nu' which if you say it out loud sounds rather like the French 'appelez-nous' so I was very confused for a long time! Now I know that it means 'I'll buy something' or 'I want to buy something' ('nu' being 'something'). Mentioned before that Ewé has different letters to us and the p in 'aple' is one - it is in fact written like an f with a curly tail top and bottom, but pronounced like a very forceful p. They have a normal f sound as well which is written like our fs with a curly tail only at the top. Not going to lie, it's rather tricky for a Westerner!
Spent Saturday morning cleaning at the hospital Tokoin which is about a half an hour walk from chez moi. Walked about halfway but then thought 'hmm don't actually know where this hospital is...' so got a moto for the rest. Was definitely an African 8am start as we all rolled up between about 7.50 and 8.20... We were then handed mops, brooms, and buckets - no prizes for guessing what we were going to end up doing! We cleaned the paediatric unit of the hospital which was 3 consultation rooms and a room for in-patients. Am going to write the events as they occurred and describe things as we found them without passing judgement on anything, because I think it will become very clear to you soon without me having to say anything.
We were separated into 4 groups, one to clean the ceilings, one to sweep the floors, one to mop the floors, and the other to wash the windows/doors/etc. In total there were about 10 volunteers, 4 members of Projects Abroad, and about 6 members of the local football team who also pitch quite often apparently. We started by cleaning the consultation rooms, and then moved onto the in-patients room. There were 11 children currently there - the full capacity by the number of beds - in a room about the size of a small living room. And by that I mean think average size for the majority, then go small. The children were all very small, ranging from babies still being breastfed to children about 4 or 5 and when we arrived the room was also full of mothers and families there with their children. Of course we had to move all the beds out to clean this room, so these families ended up outside where fortunately there was some shade, but the children spent 3 hours there without any medication being given that I could see. There were also several drips in the room; some of these were metal, similar to the ones we would see in a hospital at home, but others were wooden, and sort of ressembled hat-stands. It took our team of about 20 people in total 3 hours to clean these 4 rooms and the childrens' beds and they still weren't clean at the end. I don't think I need to say any more.
The one image I will always retain from that isn't the dirt, or the crowded room, or seeing a doctor take up a needle that had been sitting in an inch of dust to use on somebody; it's a family I saw outside. They were asleep on a cover together, a mother and an older boy on the outside, sheltering a little boy in the middle around whose tiny dark wrist there was a white hospital band, and on the back of his hand, in the place where a IV needle would go in, was a white gauze pad.
I love Togo, and I'm having so much fun, but you cannot help but have your eyes forcefully opened at times. But perhaps that's because they need to be. My perspective is changing so much here, and I'd say it's probably impossible to go back home the same person as how you started here - it's certainly not going to be the case for me.
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