Women Hold Up Half The Sky

 "It is impossible to realize our goals while discriminating against 

half the human race. As study after study has taught us, there is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women."  ~Kofi Annan

I’m back! It feels like I’ve been away from Kpalime for a long time. The last two weeks were spent traveling up north. First, I attended my final In-Service Training with fellow volunteers. This time every volunteer also brought along one of their work partners from their town. I brought my school director with me, and I think he had a great time. It was so much fun to reconnect with friends again and hear how everyone is doing.

After the IST was over, I stayed in Pagala at the Peace Corps center for Contact Volunteer training. Contact Volunteers are usually near large cities or the regional capitals, and we essentially are a link between the Peace Corps Security staff in Lome and the volunteers in our area. For example, as a Contact Volunteer I notify PCVs in my area about any security issues or things to watch out for, like the recent travel ban placed on Burkina Faso, our neighbor to the north. During times when there are serious security concerns throughout the whole country, sometimes volunteers need to consolidate. There are several consolidation points in Togo, I think about nine. Each Contact Volunteer plays an important role when this happens. All volunteers in their area or “cluster” join them at their house and await further instructions. Fortunately, Peace Corps Togo has never had to consolidate in all of its 50 years. The worst it has ever gotten to is the Standfast level, which means volunteers have to stay in their village and pack a bag just in case they need to consolidate.

After this training, I left Pagala and headed north into the Kara region, to the regional capital of Kara, for the National Women's Wellness and Empowerment Conference. The journey north was pretty crazy. I was sitting in the back row on a bench that wasn't bolted down to the car. So whenever we hit a large bump, the whole bench would slide forward and Alex and I would have to sit up and push the bench back. Ha! This made for an interesting ride and lightened the mood. Traveling up a mountain in Kara, I think I saw about five 18-wheelers turned over on their side, and on my return trip I saw four more on the same road. One of the semi trucks was carrying oil, which seemed to run all the way down the mountain. As we were descending, we watched people alongside the road trying to collect the oil using sponges and squeezing out the oil into containers. 

Working at this conference was one of the best experiences I have had so far in Togo. There were about 35 women from all over the country there. Peace Corps volunteers and counterparts gave presentations on many issues, such as nutrition, self-confidence, reproductive health, family planning, stress, food security, income generating activities, etc. I presented on two subjects: public speaking and financial planning. This was a fun week, filled with lots of activities, such as a Spa Party where we gave the women manicures, pedicures, facials, and massages. We also started every morning with a little exercise, and  introduced the women to yoga and Zumba. They loved it. My favorite was International Women's Day. All the women and volunteers participated in a march through Kara, singing and dancing. Then the women, themselves, presented to women from the neighborhood on a variety of topics, providing information they had acquired during the conference. It was wonderful to see all they had learned and to watch them present with such confidence and pride. It was an incredible week, and I was pretty bummed when it was over. 

On the return trip home I stayed at the Peace Corps' house in Atakpame for one night, where I borrowed lots of books for my down time. For the last leg of my trip back, I took the miserable, yet beautiful, direct road to Kpalime. I think it's possibly the worst road in the country, 3.5 hours of potholes. On top of that, in traditional Togo fashion, I was jammed in the back row of a five-person car with three other people and there were four people in the front, two sharing the driver's seat and two sharing the passenger's seat. So there were eight people riding in a five-person car. This is completely normal here. Usually the taxi drivers won't want to leave the city until the car is completely full like this. Finally, journey's end, here I am, ready to grade my students’ end-of-trimester exams. These are exams written by the government, so I’m expecting poor results, but maybe I will be pleasantly surprised. Back to the routine of my life here in Kpalime.