First week at post

I've just about finished up my first week at post as a volunteer. Overall, it's gone very well. After a terrible drive up that lasted 14 hours due to multiple breakdowns, I arrived at night and moved in by flashlight and moonlight. There had been a mouse in my food during post visit, but I had removed all the food in my house when I went back to training and when I arrived at my house last week there was a decaying mouse on my floor. While it was gross, I'm glad because I haven't had any mouse problems since. The landscape here looks a lot different now because everyone is busy harvesting their crops. People also burns their fields when they finish harvesting, so there are lots of black, charred fields. However, it's nice because I can see much farther now and it's easier to orient myself in my village. It's also harmattan season now, which is a season that occurs in Sahelian regions when strong winds come down from the Sahara, bringing lots of dust but also cooler temperatures. This means I've actually been cool enough to sleep under a sheet at night!! I'm enjoying harmattan while it lasts because in a few months hot season will begin and then sleeping will be difficult.

In my first week, I've made it my first priority to set up my house so that I can feel comfortable and at home. I've gotten some furniture made and have ordered more, so soon I'll have a couch, coffee table, and food cabinet. I already got my bed made, so I've been able to sleep on the double mattress I bought in Lome. In addition to going to Mango to get furniture ordered, made, and picked up, I've been spending a lot of time just hanging out with my compound host family. I feel really lucky for my host family here. To start, my compound is female dominated. I have my two host moms, my three sisters, and there is currently a cousin visiting from Burkina Faso. It's so nice to be able to just relax and hang out with them in the compound. I've tried to help go get water and I went to the fields to harvest corn, but of course I lack the strength and skill to actually be that useful. However, people in the village seem to get a real kick out of seeing me carrying a small bucket of water on my head from the well, so I'll keep trying. My host dad is also really nice and speaks pretty good french, so I can communicate almost everything with my host family through him. I've definitely been welcomed into the family and they invite me to share every meal with them. I've tried to offer food back and some food sent from home, jam, skittles, and beef jerkey, were big hits. I've even been officially recorded as a member of the Abudu family by the Togolese government. There is currently a census going on and census takers came to my compound when I wasn't home. Apparently they asked who lived in my house and my host dad said Nafue Abudu (my village name is Nafue, given to me because I was born on a Saturday- in Togo names are given based on what day of the week someone is born, so you can imagine there is a lot of repetition in names here) and so the census taker wrote down that Nafue Abudu lives in Magna and left an official notice on my door.

Anyways, I'm just trying to relax and observe before I try to start any projects. Dec 1st is World AIDS days and the official celebrations will begin in Mango this year. I'm going to try to help out the volunteer here in Mango who has been here a year and has a bunch of activities going for the day. Other than that, tomorrow I will be going to see the chief again and I will pick out the puppy that I will be adopting in about a month! I hope that everyone is doing well at home and I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!!