Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!!

I know it’s been forever since I’ve posted… I’d first like to blame how busy things have been, and second blame my own rapidly decreasing dependence on the internet.  I can’t believe how much time I used to spend online in my American life. But I’m here, so update!

As of November 18^th, I am officially a sworn-in Peace Corps Volunteer. We had a big ceremony in Lomé at the U.S. Ambassador’s house, complete with Togolese media coverage.  Each stagiaire gave a speech in their local language (for about a minute), and we all raised our right hands and promised to “protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies”… a pretty hefty charge, I think.  Our host families came too, and it was sad to say goodbye. I gave them a parting gift in Tsevié: a live chicken. It was quite the ordeal. I went to the marché with about 4 other girls to buy chickens, and although none of us had the slightest clue what to do, we tried to pretend we knew what we were doing to get a good price. Then we had to carry them home by the feet… I got about 4 meters away from the chicken stand before I got a bag for mine. But my fam was really pleased with it, (and the Frisbee I gave the kids). I also gave them a lil bag of Cheez-its that Mom and Dad sent. True fact: cheez-its are not a universal taste. They were so excited to try them (American snacks!!), and then promptly spat them back out. Oh well.

Lomé was about the 3 most stressful days I’ve spent in Togo so far. The swearing-in ceremony hit me like nothing else has yet. It was just finally so real: Two years! In Mogou! After the oath and speeches, they opened the bar and people went nuts over the free food and drinks. Pictures left and right, so many hugs and people… I was freaking out. But as Christina says, people are other people’s medicine, and my friends got me through. The next day was banking, shopping, and eating. I had a real hamburger! So delicious. But again, it was all a blur and I was worried the whole time I wouldn’t have everything I needed. Saturday morning I was not ready to leave, but they packed us into the vans and we started our 10 hour drive north.

So now I’m really living in Mogou! Post visit week was a series of “Wow, this village is the best!” and “OMG I hate it here,” so these last 3 days I’ve had time to take a step back and analyze Mogou with a level head. Tuesday was marché day. The people of Mogou, when asked, will tell you that you can find “everything!” in the Mogou marché. But then you say “Well how about tomatoes? Or a bucket?” and they say “Oh no, not that.” In reality, the marché is mainly tchakbalo: a local drink made of fermented millet. And dead yovo stuff (meaning second hand goods from America and Europe… they are of such ‘bon qualité’ that people can’t believe yovos parted with these clothes, etc. willingly). So, I’ll be spending more time than I thought biking over to Gando, about 15 km away, to go to their marché.

It was also vaccination day at the dispensaire (health clinic) for the kids. Measles, vitamin A, and two more that I’m not sure what they are in English. Definitely NOT like vaccinations in America. The day was sponsored by WHO and UNICEF, so it was free for the kids, but as a result people showed up in droves. The mothers were literally banging down the door to the dispensaire, trying to get in. It was marché day after all, and they had shopping to do. And what if they ran out. Luckily, I was put on form filling out, not crowd control. The place was a mad house all day… I had the sound of screaming children ringing in my ears for hours after. No suckers, no stickers. No smiling doctors telling you it’ll all be over soon. It was line up, hold the kid’s arm tight, pass the paper along and move out. But, better than measles, I guess.

I’m still figuring out what to do for food… we’re a lil low on veggies up here in the north. And long on millet. And there is no Trader Joes...my reliance on that place becomes more apparent everyday. As for right now, Affaires Sociales and I have a plan set up that goes like this: for 2/3 days, I eat Luna bars, oranges, and rice, and he drinks tchakbalo, then usually on the third day someone in the village gifts me a chicken or guinea fowl. He cooks it, and we eat it. I’m hoping to break this cycle with trips up to Mango and Dapaong. Like today!

I’m in Dapaong with the rest of the Savanes volunteers. We woke up to the sound of our turkey gobbling in the yard… it feels like a very real Thanksgiving. Brett made like 3 pumpkin pies, and Christy and I are in charge of mashed potatoes. Yummm.

I hope you all are doing well, and I miss you like crazy!! Please write/ send packages ;-) to my new P.O. box in Mango: Ellen Van Cleave, B.P. 102, Mango, Togo, West Africa. LOVE!!

Damigou

I survived post visit! Which was more of an accomplishment than I had anticipated.  Mogou is awesome, and I’m really happy to be there, but it is not without a couple challenges. First of all, it’s about an hour by moto to the route nationale (the big paved road that runs up and down Togo). There is also no cell reception… yet. They were building the tower the week I was there: by hand. Like guys carrying large metal beams, scaling a half-built cell tower. It is so impressive watching people build things without serious equipment. Anyways, besides the far-away from it all-ness, Mogou is great. The people are so stoked to have a PCV and seem totally on board with the promotion and education de la fille. And my homologue is a God-send. He’s the social affairs agent (people in the village call him ‘Affaires Sociales’) for the canton of Mogou, so he’s already doing a lot of GEE work on his own, which is awesome.  I think for the first month or two, I’m just gonna shadow him around and watch him at work.  I had a series of defining moments during post visit week… I guess I’ll go in sequential order.

Number one: not in Kansas anymore. My homologue de contact (a guy from the village who came to get me in Tsevié) and I arrived at about 9:30 pm—very very late at night for a town where the nearest electricity is about 20 kilometers away. But never the less, about half the village was awake and ready to greet me! There was a large crowd of women singing and dancing outside my new house, and all the kids helped unload my stuff from the van. Then they pulled me into a circle of people to watch the chief kill me a chicken. Affaires Sociales told me that a white chicken means welcome, and after they cut its neck, if it flaps around a lot, that is a sign of luck and good things to come. It flapped a lot. Then he asked if we do the same thing to greet visitors where I’m from. Nope, it’s a lil different.

Defining moment number two: when I realized what I’ll actually be doing for the next 2 years. Affaires and I were on our way to a meeting in the next village over, and we saw a girl who was about 10-12 years old walking on the path.  Affaires stopped her and asked why she wasn’t in school, and she explained. She was actually from Dapaong, about a 2 hours drive north, but her brother brought her down to Mogou to get married. Well Affaires wasn’t about to stand for that. He brought her into town along with the brother and the fiancé, sat everyone under the big tree and worked out a contract.  The girl would get to go back to Dapaong, go to school, and best of all, not get married. Good work, Affaires! Then he told me how forced marriage was a big issue in the area, and that he has to deal with it often. In Mogou proper, the middle school has 250 boys and 48 girls. In the nearby village, the ratio is just as skewed even in the primary school. So I think the majority of my work is going to be on getting girls to go to school and then stay in school. But we’ll see. Affaires told me he’s going to let me see for myself exactly what’s going in on Mogou, come to my own conclusions, etc. It’s going to be interesting, that’s for sure.

I have a village name! Damigou. Meaning “God/the Ancestors Protect Her.” For the swearing-in ceremony, I’m giving a 2-minute speech in Gangam, pretty much just saying my name, where I’m from, where my post is, and what I’ll be doing there. I’m really excited for swear-in: there’s a big party at the U.S. Ambassador to Togo’s house, all our host families will be there, and we’re gonna be looking fly in our complets. I heard a rumor that if you fan/ friend Peace Corps on Facebook, you’ll get to see pics from our swear-in… try it out! I’m thinking about all y’all a bunch, and hope things are going well! Take care : )