a (non) presidential experience

About a month ago, there was talk about the president of Togo, Faure, coming to Tchifama but it never ended up happening. Then about two weeks ago, people started saying that he was going to come the following week. On Monday of that week, no one was sure whether he was going to come Thursday or Wednesday but they were saying that he was for sure going to come. Tuesday, people still said he was coming but didn’t know when yet. That night, someone went around the village announcing that the president was going to be in Tchifama the next day. So when I woke up on Wednesday, school had been cancelled and people were getting ready to head over to Tchifama in their Sunday’s best. I wasn’t particularly interested in being part of all the hubbub but since I had been planning on going to Alicia’s anyway, I grabbed a car with Tanti and headed over.

When we arrived, there were already a good number of people setting up and just hanging out near the primary school. I was a little overwhelmed when I got to Alicia’s because since she happens to be in the same compound as the chief, I had to walk through people dancing and then a row of other village chiefs all decked out and looking very chief-like. I did my best to respectfully greet them and quickly made my way into Alicia’s house. She was looking schnazy with a new, fabulous full pagne outfit. I felt a little underdressed for the event in my plain white skirt and blue shirt. I was just glad I had decided against riding my bike over and wearing pants and a tshirt that day. Since we didn’t want to stand out in the sun too long, we decided to wait at her house until the president actually got there.

Alas, noon-time came around and one of the chief’s sons informed us that the president wasn’t going to make it after all but that the chiefs had left for Blitta (the prefecture capital) and see him there. He didn’t end up showing up there either. From what I understood, the reason for his absence was due to visitors from Europe having tied him up. I don’t have a strong opinion on the president and political talk aside, I will say I was frustrated with how the whole thing turned out because I 1.) had heard we were going to get cell phone reception with the visit and 2.) there had been a lot of work put in the preparation by a lot of people. In the end, it worked out alright because we ended up getting cell phone reception last week and they had a party at the chief’s house that evening anyway. I ate amazing fufu and had fun with the kids. Good times.