I have decided to give up on trying to catch up on this so-called blog, otherwise it will completely cease to exist. Seeing as how endangered it is as it stands…It has been forever and ever since I have updated this, my story of experiencing Togo. At first it was incredibly difficult because it is impossible to really describe this place and my life here to anyone who doesn’t have a point of reference for what Africa is like.
This is because of two things: One, that if you have never been here it is impossible to tell stories or happenstances without first referencing all the contextual information and what that means before getting to the actual action. Second, this is a problem because of the perpetuated romanticized vision of “Africa” and what that otherworldly void contains. What that looks like. No, there are not lions roaming the savannah. No, there are not people wearing loin clothes and running around hunting with bows and arrows. Yes, there are naked children covered in dirt and flies are everywhere. Yes, there are amazing and hectic open air markets that are central to village social interaction, the highlight of the week. Yes, there are breathtaking sunsets. There is no way I can explain this, so I will just tell you.
So, anyways, I have decided with this new year to just jump in and give anyone who wants to listen a feed of what my days are filled with here, what work I am doing and the lovely life I live here in my home, Togo. I will let you fill in the blanks. I think it will suffice to say that over the last fourteen months I have come leaps and bounds, and circled back to who I am and what I love to be about. I have learned so very much about myself, about my service, about life and where I want it to take me…but that was to be expected I suppose. I apologize for not taking you along on that transitional journey but sometimes you can only digest so much. Sometimes those transitions become private. That, and it is incredibly difficult to get enough time on my computer for work etc. let alone for writing. Excuses, excuses.
Today was a full day. This week is chaos, but the productive kind. The kind I’ve been craving for months and months. This is the first week of January, the first week of 2012. Crazy. This new years fête was great, all the goodness of the previous year but with an added feeling of comfort in the way of life here. My best friend and youth counterpart, Dieu-Donné (God Gave, and yes, he did…this kid is amazing, inspirational), decided that we should go around and greet the important functionnaires of our village to wish them a happy and productive new year. This is standard practice—going around and greeting people, and as you go around you are welcomed with food or drink. This year I was prepared. New Year’s eve I bought three giant bags of milk candies, three boxes of wine, a bottle of Pastis liquor and cotiséd (contributed money) for half of a goat, with my family, to kill for dinner.
Needless to say, Dieu-donné and I set out at 7:30 and I was sloshed by 11. A big important government head in our community, whom works in Kanté, opened up a nice bottle of Bordeaux for me. He said it was a non-circulated year, given to him especially from Faure the president from his private collection. I am pretty sure I have bought the same exact bottle from a liquor store in Kara but I let him feel important, even when he humiliated D.D. for addressing his letter incorrectly. Live and let live.
From there we continued on to the Director of the CEG (secondary school). More wine. Some work plugs to the important people. Then we circled back through town and headed to his family’s house. It was a poignant moment.
I think his mother is dying. There is nothing I can do. I arrived to the compound and greeted the Assamela family. The father gave me a pleading look. They have had a hard year: two members of the extended family were lost, the two sewing machines that normally sustain them need repairing, plus a poor harvest. He showed me the lackluster pile of sorghum. I asked how the mom was doing and asked if she was awake and if I could visit. They led me into a dark room that I had to stoop into to avoid into my head and brought me a chair. She sat up from a mat on the floor, covered in a reddish paste from traditional medicines; a pagne wrapped around her waist. We sat as a family would. It was sad but joyous. They were clearly unable to fête this year but their youngest daughter, Jacqueline 2, couldn’t keep herself from dancing in circles around us. No music. Just the empty Togolese awkwardness that no longer felt so awkward for me anymore.
I think she has a tumor, or something grave, I don’t know. I’m not a doctor. I feel along her ribcage underneath her arm. It is hot. She says that it hurts when she wants to cough. I ask her if she feels like she needs to cough but cannot. She nods, tries to demonstrate how much it hurts when she coughs. I tell her that I have no idea. Respiratory infection? Tuberculosis? Cancer? I have no idea but I don’t think the local hospital would either. So I say du courage and give her a little money for pain meds. Tell them to keep me posted.
We hang out and laugh at Jacqueline. She is going to be a beautiful girl and it is funny because there is such an undertone of gravity in the room. But she is hilarious and we all laugh. I can tell they are a bit embarrassed by the situation. I have already paid their two boy’s school fees for the year. They feel obligated to serve me something, so they serve me brewing tchouck that is a good day or two shy of being ready. It tastes like sorghum water. I drink it dutifully as we sit. Then I give my respects and head out.
Dieu-donné wanted to go greet a local man who was raising rabbits. I didn’t want to go because I know that this man is doing a poor job and the animals (in my mind) are suffering the consequences. It is just in a concrete room with little ventilation. The rabbits undersides are yellow and the air a bit acrid. D.D. is excited but I pay it little attention. I notice the legs of one of the bunnies are broken. I am distracted by a baby monkey the man has bought in an outlying marché.
I tell them the monkey still needs its mother and ask where it is. They tell me they killed it. I ask why. They say it wasn’t them per se, but the mother is dead. The monkey is curled in the fetal position on the concrete stoop beside me yowling. It sounds like a baby. I pick it up and it tries to suckle my fingers. At first I am a little disconcerted—risk assessment. I coddled it why they looked at the rabbits. Surreal noontide drunkenness. As if in a dream, but not. One of those days when I see where I am.
I went home and a fabulous plate of fufu was set in front of me. My host family’s daughter was up from the South. She just got assigned a teaching job as an high school English teacher and wants to show it off by a big fête. She brought a generator too so we could have lights and loud music to dance to. Straight to nap after eating, long night of good village fun.