The Tragic Story of Kitten Cleo

I've been battling mice in my house off and on for the past year. Before I had my mom send me mouse traps in the mail, a simple (i thought) solution would be to get a cute little kitty cat that would grow up to be a gentle but skilled mouse killing machine. Even though I've never been much of a cat person, I'm even less of a mouse person so I thought it would be a good trade off. I mentioned to one of my neighbors that I was interested in a child of the feline type and by the end of the month I had baby cleo in my house. Cute no? (I just figured out how to add pictures to blog posts. ps check out all the new pictures i spent forever uploading!)

The full story as to how I came to own Cleo specifically is one of betrayal and heartache, so I'd rather not get into the details, I'll just leave it at that. Me and Cleo got off to a pretty good start. She was a little scared of me for a while, but I didn't hold a grudge against her for it, particularly because I thought she was a boy for a few days so I figure we were even. She eventually warmed up towards me. A little too quickly and a little too much, in fact. And this is where our problems started. Whenever we were in my house she just had to be within 0-1 inches of me. Even after I tried having a civilized conversation with her about how I need my personal space also, she just didn't get the point. I sat on the couch to read, she wanted to look into my eyes. I am cooking a meal, she needs to figure out how to get on my shoulders. I'm packing my bags, she needs to figure out what it takes to make me lose my mind. That kind of thing. When we were in Atakpame it got a little better because she could stay outside and I could stay inside and we were both entertained enough with one thing or another. I think the only reason she lasted about two months as my pet rather than two days was because I could lock her into my kitchen room and get things done in peace in my bedroom.

My first attempt to fix this little, furry, and only sometimes cute, problem was to make an offer to Emily. Emily had gotten Wrigley exactly one day after I got Cleo and Cleo and Wrigs got along well. So I asked Emily how she felt about taking over legal guardianship of her. I even offered to pay child support. She considered it for about 5 minutes. I kept on trying to convice her to take Cleo, and when I realized my attempts were going no where, I started asking other PCVs. One of my new clustermates said sure. But not till January. I thought I could handle that. I thought. You just get a breaking point though.

So one day me and Alicia are on our way back to village and I am bringing Cleo back from Emily's house. I'm not really thinking Cleo is being cute in any way, shape, or form this day. I stop to buy her some dinner and the little girls at the stand take an interest in Cleo. I (half-jokingly) ask one of them if they want her. Cadeau. The little girl looks nervous as I hand her the carrying case. I only took her back because Alicia reminded me that they might end up eating Cleo for dinner. Then we came across a nice Peace Corps Training Center guard who happened to mention how beautiful Cleo is and how great it is that I have her since she'll keep mice out of the house. I like this guy and I made a nice gesture and offered to give him the cat. He was so excited about my offer and he is such a nice guy that I felt no remorse on my taxi ride back up to village that day. In fact, just last week I was at home peacefully reading on my couch and I took a moment to appreciate my Cleo-free house.

let the updating begin

finally. i'm in lome, at a computer with little distractions for at least a good two or three hours. perfect opportunity to update. it's been kind of a stressful couple of days here in lome, but good in their own way. it's kind of crazy how quickly things change. one minute you think you could possibly living in this place and turns out you'll be staying in That place. but then once that happens you've got to do your best to make the situation worth while. that's where i'm at in so many words. i will say this-- despite the sucky situation i've been dealing with the past 48 hours it's been amazing to see the incredible support i have with friends here. i just love people. enough of this jibber jabber. on with the stories!

i hate computers right now

i have been meaning to update my blog for a while. i got one post up and typed the next one. it was nice and long and it got earased. i'm too frustrated to retype it or anything else right now. but it's just to inform everyone that i have a lot i'd like to share and will do so next time i'm not about to throw a computer out on the road to get run over by a bush taxi, goat, and maybe even a donkey. and i wanted to wish everyone a merry christmas and happy new year. cheers.

le travail du SIDA

the work we do in our communities as peace corps volunteers in togo is supposed to be defined by whatever sector we are in. be it girls' education and empowerment, health, business, or natural resource. in reality, the lines between the four are so blurred that a health volunteer could very well look more like a business volunteer, a natural resource volunteer could look more like an education volunteer, etc. in the end, a volunteer is a volunteer is a volunteer. cross sectoral work is encouraged which is great since it broadens work opportunities for everyone.

recently i feel like i've done more work in the health/AIDS realm than anything else. it started in october when i did a bike tour called AIDS ride. we started in notsé (you should look at a togo map at this point), went east to tohoun, up to akparé, then took a car to atakpamé. i believe the total distance we rode our bikes was just around 100K. the riding was not nearly as difficult as i had anticipated it to be. it was broken up by about 20 to 30K a day, with the longest leg being no longer than 16K. generally we would wake up, ride to a school or public location, do an AIDS sensibilization, ride to the next village, do another AIDS sensibilization, ride to the place we were going to sleep (either a dispensaire or school), and repeat the next day. my group mostly did the sensibilizations at schools which i really liked because we could do the whole thing in french without having to translate it. and for the most part the audience would be more engaged. about a week before this bike tour i really considered dropping out for a number of different reasons but in the end i was so happy i got to do it. it was interesting to see the level of awareness different group had in regards to HIV/AIDS and the kinds of questions we were able to answer. as far as pretty much living outside for a whole week... it turned out to be not as bad as I had thought it was going to be. i've never done much out in nature living (when i've gone camping we normally choose sites with real bathrooms, not really roughing it), but i gained a new appreciation for sleeping under the stars and showering in a shower made out of palm tree branches. i'm looking forward to doing it again next year.

i did a training back in september to start working with an HIV/AIDS organization in atakpamé called CREJe. they work with families infected or affected by HIV/AIDS and provide them with all kinds of support. every saturday they organize activities for kids 6ish to 15ish. on the second saturday of every month is called CLUB Espoir and the day is organized and run by a different pcv. we start the day around 9 with games and some kind of sport. then we go into the educatinal session (tomorrow we talk about good decision making). next we do some kind of art activity and end with lunch. it's a really good time. i love playing with the kids and we have a great team organiwing and leading all the activities. getting to work with this ngo makes me really excited to continue this kind of work in the states. not necessarily having to do with HIV/AIDS but with community youth in an urban setting.

the work i did in mpoti during the month of november revolved around an event me and alicia helped organize for world aids day. we worked with some of the red cross volunteers in her village, my village, and the village between ours to plan an all-day event to raise HIV/AIDS awareness. here was the original plan of how that whole thing was to go: we were going to start the day with parades from tchifama (alicia's village) and mpoti (my village) to tadjan. in tadjan, skits would tehn be presented by different groups from each of the three villages. we were then going to go into a mass sensibilization on HIV/AIDS, covering the defenition of HIV and AIDS, the modes of transmission, ways to prevent it, do a condom and femidom demonstration, talk about stigmatization, and end with questions from the public. after a lunch break, we were going to endthe day with a soccer game between tadjan and tchifama. sounds like a nice, simple plan, right? well, LONG story short, things didnt really go according to plan. we ended up starting late, cutting the sensibilization short, getting plenty stressed, and having the soccor game end ubruptly after only 20 miutes because of some conflicts on the field. even though the day came close to being a complete disaster at points, i'm glad we did it. it got people talking and asking questions, and even if just a handful of people change certain decisions they make, it will have been totally worth the stress. and i'm just thankful i had alicia there to tag team it with me. i'm not sure i would have survived otherwise. next year world aids day will look a little (ou bien a whole lot) different.

new pictures!

i didn't get a chance to upload as many as i would have liked but i got some up.

quick update

i haven't been doing a very good job at keeping this things updated lately and goodness knows i have a lot i'd like to share. i made a quick trip to atakpamé with a few goals and one of them was to write and post updates. well i got the first part done but with everything else i had to do i won't have the chance to type and post them now. but i just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and a good beginning of the holiday season. i know it can be a stressful time but my prayer is that this year people are able to draw nearer to the raison d'etre of the holidays. if that makes sense.

one thing i would like to put out there before next time though... there have been a few CEG students that have requested to be put into contact with people from the states. if anyone has an interest in doing this in some way or have an idea of ways i could set something up please let me know!

i'll do my best to do a better update in the next couple weeks and to post new pictures too. thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers.

so it is

hello world. today i am in lome to do the welcome week orientation stuff for the new group of GEE and NRM volunteers coming in. THAT means i've been in togo for just about a year. right now a few days short of that. how does that feel? it's kind of mixed emotions. on the one hand i think "a year already? that was quick." but then in the same breath (as much breath as there is in a thought), i think "woah. i've been out of america for a long time." as i reflect on my experiences the past twelve months, i become more confident that this is really where i am meant to be at this point in my life, despite the doubts that tend to creep in every now and then. i've met such incredible and diverse people. i've become more in touch with my own strengths and shortcomings as a person. i've been forced to do a lot of self reflection and widen my world view. all sorts of philisophical mumbo jumbo. but the thing is that all those things people say about crazy opportunities like this are so true. but it's not until you experience it for yourself do you ever really internalize what all those words mean. the imagination does great and unique things for us, but there's nothing like real life, first hand experience. so what do i suggest? move to togo and live here for two years. OR just go somewhere different and spend a significant amount of time there. whether that's a few miles away or a few countries away. just go somewhere where you don't feel comfortable. where you have to ask questions so you don't look and feel like an idiot. where you have to push the limits of your patience. get to know people that don't think like you and learn from them. there is ALWAYS something to learn. don't miss the opportunity. and always thank God at the end of the day for it.

i wish i was better at writing and could better describe my life right now. but because i've never been a particularly articulate person (believe it or not...), i would never be able to give it justice. i try though. and right now i'm going to just keep in simple and just share some of the highlights from the past monthish. voila.

Me and alicia did two day camps in both her and my villages with primary school students. lesson learned: i love kids. i don't want to work with them in big numbers, for long periods of time, or in too-organized situations. but i love 'em just the same.

I helped out with a "take our daughters to work week" in which 30 girls from middle and high school came together to learn about work opportunities in togo and different important things like making goals, being nice, staying healthy, making good decisions, all that. i had a great time seeing the girls interact and the visible changes many of them went through. next year my friend danielle and i will be organizing the event, stay tuned, you will be hearing more about this in the upcoming months.

Like i said, i am helping out with this group of newbies, so i spent a few days back in agou to prepare for it. i LOVED getting to see my host family again. it's crazy how quickly those young'uns grow up. the little girl that i remember hanging out on my maman's back was not walking around and smiling at me and everything. next thing i know she's going to be applying for the university. being back in agou for more than a day and with people that i came in with also gave me a nostalgic feeling from the old days when we were just getting used to life here. and it's only been a year, oy.

after my time in agou i spent some time back in mpoti. it was a breakthrough time because i realized how at-home i feel there and how much my relationships have evolved. the things that used to bother me about people around me have almost become endearing. probably because i can more easily make my own frustrations known and draw my boundaries. it's sad how long it has taken me to get to this point. i still have a lot left to work on, but then again, i do still have another year here. the other day tanti was telling me how much she's going to cry when i leave next year. she's been telling me this for the past, maybe six months. i've tried to get it through her head that she's stuck with me for a while longer and the only tears she should be shedding are due to the fact that i need her help around the house so much. particularly now that i have to gas to cook with ... or food. i'm at the mercy of my neighbors for food for a while. i think it'll be a good experience. i like them and they like me. it'll work out.

that's me in a wordy nutshell right now. thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers.

peace and blessings to y'all!