My main mode of transportation around this country is in bush taxis. They're really not that bad and actually really amusing when you step back and think about it. If a 5 seater car or hatchback has less than 7 people in it, it feels like you're traveling first class. When they hold more than 10 people you begin to just pray that your leg won't fall off after being asleep for over an hour. 12 people is impressive, though no less painful. Women dress up to travel in bush taxis. Most Peace Corps Volutneers dress down. Chauffeurs will turn the vent button, push some wires together, then honk the horn to start the car. Keys are optional. Space is shared with all kinds of living beings, from humans to goats, to chickens, to sheep... there really are not restrictions. This is the life of a bush taxi. Like I said, they're really not that bad. Sometimes I even find them to be therapeutic in a weird kind of way.
One of my favorite bush taxi stories recently happened in December. Here is the scene: Me and Emily are sharing the passenger seat, I'm on the door side, Emily is dodging the shift stick. A boy of about 5 is sitting next to Emily, sharing the driver's seat. Right in front of all of us on the dash is a plastic hand with STOP written on the palm. The scene unfolds.
Emily (pointing to the hand and looking at the little boy): STOP
Little Boy (looking back and forth between the hand and Emily): STOP
Emily: do you want to learn english? ok. Repeat after me (lifts one finger up). One (repeats two or three times emphasizing finger).
Little Boy: Won
Emily continues the process (won, doo, free, fo, fyve, seex, sven, ate, nein, tin).
Emily: you're cute
Little boy: you're cute (with surprisingly good pronounciation)
Emily and I crack up
Emily: No. You're cute.
Little Boy: no. you're cute.
Me (still cracking up with Emily): you should tell him that he's beautiful.
Emily to Little Boy: You're beautiful.
Little Boy: You're bute-i-fo
We could not get enough of this little guy. This bush taxi ride was definitely too short. It wasn't until we were laughing about this later that we realized we should have asked the little boy if he had lost weight.
Another recent time that I just couldn't stop laughing. Me, Jocelyn, Nori, and Emily were all in a bush taxi coming back to Pagala from Atakpame. About halfway there, the driver pulls over and tells us that one of the guys in the car was feeling a little car sick so he had to go do his business for just a second. We get going eventually but realize that the guy who had been feeling sick is not in the car. He had gotten into the trunk. We tell the driver that he shouldn't put him in the trunk just because he was sick (maybe he was afraid he's get sick in the car we thought). The driver told us it was the guy's idea to get into the trunk. What if something's wrong and he can't communicate? We kept on proding. Then (this is when we all started cracking up) he yells the guy's name and get's a muffled response from him. See, he's fine, he says. I don't know about you, but getting in the trunk of a car that is already filled with other people's luggage is exactly where I would want to be if I was feeling carsick...
This story on the frustrating side of the spectrum. Me and a group of six other people were on our way to Atakpame from Lome, which was perfect in terms of traveling because we could fill a 5 placer and get going vite, vite. So we catch a car and get going right away as planned. We're about half an hour out of Lome when we stop at a checkpoint and the driver gets out. These stops (as random as they are) happen on a regular basis so we didn't think much of it until a guy gets in the driver's seat who was not the driver. Where you going, he asks us. Atakpame, we answer. Where is our driver, was the logical question that followed. Long story short the guy told us that the driver did not have the right documents and this guy was confiscating the vehicle. But could not just let us out to find a different car going north. We had to get out at the station in Lome. So we ended up driving back to where we had started and ended up waiting an extra hour and a half so that a 12 placer vehicle could fill up. It's this kind of thing that's less therapeutic and a little more stressful.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
A True Story
One day I started noticing that there were a lot of primary school students not in school. Normally when I see a few kids out and ask them what the deal is, it usually turns out to be a manual labor day so they don't have class. This time I was noticing way too many kids out of school for that to be the reason. So I ask around and first get told that someone wants to kill a teacher. Hmmm. I wasn't sure what to think of that. Then I ask some other kid and they tell me it's because of sorcery. Hmmm. Trying to get an explanation I understand a little better, I ask Tanti what the deal is. Whenever Tanti tries to explain something to me I get maybe about 60 percent of what she's telling me so even now I'm still a little unclear of exactly what was going on. But here is the general gist of it.
A teacher went to school one morning and saw that someone had left a pile of human poop in his classroom. Odd, right? Well, turns out another teacher finds the same thing and this situation reminds them of something similar that happened the last school year. Last school year there was a teacher that came to school, found a pile of human poop in his classroom, and asked a student to clean it out. The kid does. Soon after the kid gets really sick and the teacher ends up dying from bee stings while out in the fields working. People's explanation was that someone did socery through the pile of poop and because it was in that certain teacher's classroom and because the kid cleaned it out, they died and got sick. Back to this year. So the teachers remember the incident and refuse to do anything with the poop in their class rooms, as does everyone else. They cancel all classes indefinitely. Classes were cancelled for close to two weeks. They were having prayer groups going to the school and who knows what else as an attempt to deal with it. Out of nowhere classes are back in session and everything is back to normal. I asked some people to see what they did to fix it and they just shrugged and said the sorcerers cleared out the classrooms and everything was fine now. Weird.
A teacher went to school one morning and saw that someone had left a pile of human poop in his classroom. Odd, right? Well, turns out another teacher finds the same thing and this situation reminds them of something similar that happened the last school year. Last school year there was a teacher that came to school, found a pile of human poop in his classroom, and asked a student to clean it out. The kid does. Soon after the kid gets really sick and the teacher ends up dying from bee stings while out in the fields working. People's explanation was that someone did socery through the pile of poop and because it was in that certain teacher's classroom and because the kid cleaned it out, they died and got sick. Back to this year. So the teachers remember the incident and refuse to do anything with the poop in their class rooms, as does everyone else. They cancel all classes indefinitely. Classes were cancelled for close to two weeks. They were having prayer groups going to the school and who knows what else as an attempt to deal with it. Out of nowhere classes are back in session and everything is back to normal. I asked some people to see what they did to fix it and they just shrugged and said the sorcerers cleared out the classrooms and everything was fine now. Weird.
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!
Friday, December 12, 2008
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.
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.
Friday, December 5, 2008
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