It’s finally rainy season here in northern Togo and it’s amazing! It hasn’t been raining every day, but when it does, the temperature drops, I can sleep well at night, I can walk around and bike in the middle of the day, and I can enjoy sitting inside my house without melting. You know those first warm days of spring at home when suddenly you can wear skirts and sit outside in the sun, well I get the same giddy, excited feeling here when I wake up to a drizzly, overcast day. It’s amazing how fast the landscape is changing. The once brown and black charred earth (literally because everyone burns their fields after harvest) is now sprouting fresh green grass and even flowers! I keep getting whiffs of the smell of fresh grass that reminds me of the beginnings of spring at home. People are beginning to plow their fields and the animals all seem to have more energy: Jeeves doesn’t pass out for the entire day, goats are running around playing, and the bulls in my village have been going a little crazy and getting into fights all over the place. For some reason, behind my back window seems to be a meeting place for angry and energetic bulls, so some afternoons I just watch small bull fights for entertainment from the safety of my couch. I also feel like I’m coming alive a bit. During hot season, my mind felt like mush and even the smallest tasks felt like a strain on my body. Now, I feel that I can think clearly again. With my renewed energy, I’ve also been adding new improvements to my house like curtains, pillows, mats, and new pieces of furniture. My house has come a long way and it finally feels more like a sanctuary that I actually enjoy spending time in! Basically, the rain is awesome and it’s a huge relief to know that after rainy season is the cooler harmattan season, which means I don’t have to deal with completely unbearable and relentless heat again until next February or March!
As far as works goes, things are moving along and I’m becoming a more patient, go with the flow, person. I’d say that I’ve achieved about a 2:1 ratio of failed meetings to realized meetings. For every 3 meetings I plan, usually 1 will actually happen and 2 will end up getting canceled on me or will have no or low attendance. Meetings fall through for a variety of reasons; none that are meant as a personal insult to me. Some examples include: it rained, the cotton buyers came to the village, I wasn’t at my house one afternoon so the group leader assumed I wouldn’t be around the next day for the meeting, a floor needed to be cemented, Bornefonden (an international NGO that works in the Mango area) was holding a meeting (Bornefonden has already built things like wells in Magna, so they might hold more selling power), the women had to collect wood, and so on. However, I’ve gotten a lot better at not getting upset when people don’t show and now I just go to their houses to find out why. The other day when people didn’t show up because they were cementing a floor, I showed up at the compound and ended up coming across a ceremony where animals were being sacrificed to ancestors to ask them for a good planting season and where I got to enjoy some tchakpa (millet beer) with a friend, so I think I salvaged the morning. Even though there have obviously been many setbacks, I’ve also managed to accomplish a few things in the past month. Examples include: a community mapping activity where we mapped out wells in my village and chose the site for the new well we will be building, a training on how to make neem lotion (a lotion that deters mosquitoes from biting), a meeting with community health agents to plan two upcoming family planning trainings in Magna, and continued preparation for our August career development camp in Mango. So, things move slow, but they are moving along and as people always say here, “Ca va aller.”
The last thing I’m excited for is the arrival of the new group of trainees next week! One of my friends from study abroad will actually be coming with the new group, which is pretty cool! I’ll be in Lome when the new groups gets here and I’m really excited to meet some new people. After more than 8 months of being here, I will finally no longer be the newbie and that definitely makes it feel like time is actually moving forward.
I hope all is well with everyone at home and that summer is off to a good start!
Hi Emily - I was a PCV in Magna in 92-94. I was first of an era, if not first ever there. I lived by the school with a smallish family by Magna standards. I knew a Salamatu who was a young girl when I was there. She and another young woman Augishi worked with me a lot. I worked on Ver de Guinea, which I hope they do not have there now.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to correspond with you to hear how things are going there, since I have lost touch with the young man, Kodjo, with whom I corresponded for a few years. At the time I left few people in Magna had access to a PO Box, but Kodjo had a job with the French nuns in Mango so could get mail. My email address is annecregan@verizon.net
Emily - let's see, cooler temps, clearer thinking and attitude, increased seniority and bull fights to boot - sounds good! Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteUncle Geoff