Mes Petits Amis

"There are lives I can imagine without children, 

but none of them have the same laughter & noise." 

~ Brian Andreas 

My favorite thing to do during my free time in Togo is play with the neighbor kids, whom I refer to as my “Little Rascals.” This slideshow features all my new little friends. The first song is called “Miawo-ezon Lo-o.” This is the Ewe word for “welcome.” I am greeted with this whenever I arrive anywhere, like when I go to my favorite vegetable stand in the market or a local restaurant. People often say this to me when I’m walking down the street, because they assume that I have just arrived or am just visiting. The second song is called “Mola” and is played with a small thumb piano (kalimba), a common instrument in Africa. You can find them in most art shops in Kpalime.

When I first arrived at my new home, the little toddler in this video was afraid of me, like most babies here, because I’m white. Now whenever he sees me he shouts out “Eh ee ee,” trying to say my name. Just the other day, as I was leaving my house, he made his way over to give me a high-five and afterwards held onto my finger like he didn’t want me to leave. It was SO adorable...melted my heart.

I recently bought a soccer ball for the kids to play with, which has been a huge hit! They are crazy for soccer here. My family sent over one of our old jump ropes. I’ve tried to teach them how to jump rope, but they love playing with it in other ways. Sometimes they hold the rope up and see who can jump over it, sort of like the high jump in track. These kids are so creative and easily entertained. I recently received some crayons and coloring pages from home, so we’ll definitely be coloring a lot this summer too. My little friends here are such sweethearts. I was the youngest of four kids, growing up in my family, always hoping to be a big sister someday. Now it’s like I have ten younger siblings to laugh and play with! Life is good.

Window to the World

“True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand 

about life, ourselves, and the world around us.” ~Socrates

Hello readers! As the school year has just finished for us over here, I’m starting to get busy with summer activities, but before I get too carried away with all of that, I want to tell you about a new activity I will be doing with my class next year. I’m introducing it now, because I need your help.

For most of my students I am the first American they have met, for some I’m even the first white person they’ve ever known. Over this past year my students exchanged a few letters with pen pals in the U.S. and they absolutely loved the experience. So I’ve decided to expand upon this idea for the next school year. In order to foster greater cross-cultural exchange, I am inviting you to send my class a postcard and in return, we will send you a written response.

This project is not an original idea of mine. Volunteers have done this in other countries with much success. It’s entertaining for the students, because they get to learn about another part of the world, enjoy pictures of new and different places, and practice their English through writing a response. We hope to receive mail from all over the world, but realistically, postcards from anywhere will be greatly appreciated. Eventually, I plan to display this collection of postcards on a wall in our new school library (another project in the planning stages). 

If you are interested in participating, please send your postcard to the address below, starting this summer and continuing throughout the school year. Important note: When sending a postcard, make sure to put it inside an envelope. If you don’t, it might be stolen somewhere along the way and never make it to us, because it’s a pretty picture. Classes begin at the end of September. I will save any postcards I receive this summer until then, and my class will start responding to them during the school year. I am very grateful to all of you out there who are reading this blog. Thank you so much for helping my students to learn more about the world outside of Togo! 

Emily Brown, PCV
Corps de la Paix
BP 408
Kpalime, Togo
West Africa

Childhood Unplugged

"It is a happy talent to know how to play."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Growing up in Togo, or really most countries in Africa probably, is completely different from growing up in the U.S. Kids in America don’t work nearly as hard as kids over here, and they also have many, many, many more mediums of entertainment than the Togolese. I remember my surprise the first time I  saw my little host sister, only about eight years old, cutting up some food with a nice, big machete. I just thought “Well, that’s not something you see every day."

Since my arrival, I have been shocked by how much housework kids do. If you plucked any six-year-old out of America and asked them to do the things a kid here does, they would probably have a mental breakdown. On a typical day these children get up at 5 am, sweep the yard, cook meals, and take care of younger siblings, among other tasks. There are no school buses in Togo. Everyone walks to school, sometimes more than a 30-minute walk. Making this round trip to school twice a day, because of the midday lunch break, can mean two hours of walking to and from school each day. Childhood obesity is not a big problem here! Not every child goes to school. Some families can’t afford to send their kids to school, or only can afford it for a couple of kids, so they send the boys and the girls stay at home to do housework. Even those who go to school often have a job on the weekends, perhaps working on the farm or walking around the market selling something from a container balanced on top of their head, like water or juice sachets, bananas, tomatoes, etc. for hours and hours.

When children come home they don’t have TV to watch, or computers and video games to play with. Most babies and toddlers don’t have cute stuffed animals and rattles. There are no parks with Big Toys or pools for playtime; most people here don’t even know how to swim. No iPods, iPhones, iPads. Children make do with whatever they have and then turn that into a toy. Once I saw a toddler who had taken an old, rusty sardine can and tied a string to it. He was dragging it around on the ground like it was a dog on a leash. Children play with spare tires by rolling them up and down the street over and over and over again. Yesterday I saw a toddler repeatedly kicking a plastic bag up in the air for fun. Kids look through the trash on the side of the road for anything that can be turned into some kind of toy. They play soccer with balls that are losing air. They make up games and spend a lot of time running around outside. 

I am amazed by the resilience and creativity of these kids, and they are SO happy. You've never seen such smiles! By comparison, I feel embarrassed when I think about how spoiled/lazy many children are in America. Kids here have more work, but also quality playtime. Fresh air, sunshine, imagination. Togolese children have shown me that money and material things are not necessary ingredients for a happy childhood. In fact, they seem to be very happy without them. 

Diversity and Harmony

“Of the 6,000 languages spoken on Earth right now, 3,000 aren’t spoken by

 the children. In one generation, we’re going to halve our cultural diversity.”  

— Phil Borges

 

Togo is a very diverse country, with 40 different ethnic groups. Southern Togo is mostly inhabited by the Ewe people (the W is pronounced like a V, like Ewa Beach in Hawaii). The Ewe also inhabit southern Ghana and southern Benin. In these areas Ewe is a child's first language. After this comes French, if you live in Togo and Benin, or English if you live in Ghana. The Ewe language is difficult for me. I can greet people and ask for things at the market, but for anything more than that I have to use my French. French is the official language in Togo and a unifying language in the country. If a man from the Ewe-speaking south meets a man from the Moba-speaking north, or Kabiye land, or someone who grew up with any one of the other 39 languages spoken in Togo, the men can communicate using French, the official language taught in all schools.

One tradition of the Ewe people is naming their children according to the day of the week they were born. One of the first questions I was asked by the Togolese was the day of my birth. I was born on a Monday, so I am called Adzo.

Day                             Women                            Men

Monday                       Adzo                                         Kodzo, Kudzo

Tuesday                      Abla                                          Komla

Wednesday                Aku                                           Koku

Thursday                    Yawa                                        Yawo, Ayawo

Friday                          Afi, Afua                                  Kofi

Saturday                     Ami, Ameyo                          Komi

Sunday                        Kosiwa, Akosiwa, Esi         Kosi

Naturally, it’s possible to have two girls or two boys in one family born on the same day of the week. Let’s say two girls in one family were both born on Monday. In order to avoid any confusion by calling them both Adzo, the names are changed a little. If you are the older sister “ga” will be added to the end of your name and if you are the younger sister, “vi” will be added to the end. So the family would have Adzoga and Adzovi. Literally, “ga” means big and “vi” means little.

This might make it seem confusing with everyone having one of only seven names, but fortunately, most people also have another name, usually a French name. In my class I have four girls named Adzo, so I rely on their second names. For example, one of my students is Adzovi Noelie Kplodziga. I call her Noelie. These children are part of a wave of change, caught between holding onto all the customs, tradition, and ethnicity of their ancestors, while at the same time, being introduced to a wider world where their chance for success will be greater if they can branch out and communicate with people from different cultures. 

As an English teacher here in Togo, I feel torn sometimes, knowing how the outside world works, and yet feeling empathy towards these lovely people who are trying hard to find a balance amid all the change and new ideas that are presented to them. The world would be a pretty boring place if we were all the same. I hope to learn as much from the Togolese people as they learn from me. 

Summer Days Are Here Again

"Experience is the teacher of all things." ~Julius Caesar

my roof with a view

Wow, another month flies by. Hello June. Last week I was back in Tsevie, where it all began... the site where new volunteers spend their first two months in country, training to become official PCVs. I was there this time as a trainer, planning and preparing to meet and greet the new group arriving to Togo in a few weeks. It felt weird to be in Tsevie again. All my memories from a year ago came rushing back. It feels like it was just yesterday I was coming to Togo as a wide-eyed newbie full of questions. Now it’s almost been a year and I’ll be helping new volunteers adjust to their first couple of months in Togo.

As an EGE volunteer in training, I remember going into my first ever classroom in Tsevie feeling so nervous and afraid that I was going to completely screw up teaching English to these students whose main languages were Ewe and French. Now it seems so silly to be that anxious; things have really improved with time. It's our last week of classes before “compos” next week (the end-of-trimester exams written by the government). I can’t believe I am almost finished with my first year of teaching. It went by so fast. I've grown very close to my students; I will miss not seeing them every day this summer.

My summertime plans include days spent mentoring at a summer camp, training new volunteers, hopefully a little time for travel/exploring, and also working on a new program starting up this summer in Kpalime. In January I was approached by my Peace Corps APCD and personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Lome about bringing a State Department English immersion program to our school and community. Since its inception in 2004, approximately 95,000 students in more than 85 countries have participated in this English Access Microscolarship Program. Access gives participants English skills that may lead to better jobs and educational prospects. Students also gain the ability to compete for and participate in future exchanges and study in the United States. The program helps students to learn English and encourages them to continue their education. 

There will be 45 students in this two-year program, from four different schools in Kpalime. The program will begin this summer with a month of intensive immersion classes. The students will have eight hours of English class every day Mon-Fri for four weeks. After this month, they will have class every two weeks on Saturday mornings for two hours. This will repeat, with another intensive month next summer and class every two weeks on Saturdays for a second year. The program will finish in July 2015. The same 45 students will stay with the program for the whole two years. There will be 23 girls and 22 boys. I am really looking forward to this opportunity to collaborate with the three amazing Togolese teachers in Kpalime who have been chosen to be the instructors. 

The Access Program will also provide an opportunity for the new volunteers arriving in Togo to get some experience teaching before they leave for their posts at the end of the summer. They will be spending part of their training time here in Kpalime, practicing their teaching skills.  I think this will be a good learning experience for the students as well, to communicate and interact with young American teachers while learning about American culture... just a whole lot of learning going on for everyone involved! Happy Summer!

Bumps in the Road

"It's not just songs and glamour. It's sweat, blood, 

broken toes, and mistakes...It's life." ~Mary J. Blige

Illness in the Peace Corps is very common, and frankly, I expected to get sick like most volunteers do with Giardia, amoebas, or even malaria. When my mom calls me or emails me she doesn’t ask “How are you feeling” or “Have you been sick?” She asks me “How are your toes?” It seems that my feet, specifically my toes, have not been agreeing with my life in Togo.

The first sign of problems came last September, when my feet were getting cut up by my running shoes every day. Sore toes, bleeding heels, so I decided to switch to different shoes, but this just resulted in both big toenails turning purple and blue. About one month later one of them fell off, and a few months after that I lost the other one. In December the right toe became infected, which led to a course of antibiotics. In March that same toe became infected again. Then just a few weeks ago, a third infection! This time even after antibiotics, it was still red and sore.... diagnosis was that my brand new toenail was growing back ingrown. This brings me to today, one of my WORST visits to a doctor.

Don't get me wrong, Peace Corps Medical Officers are amazing at what they do. They take care of the volunteers so well. This is the best medical care I’ve ever had in my life. I mean, how many people have a doctor who knows all about their medical history and who is available 24/7, only a phone call away, whenever you need to talk to them? Today I left super early in the morning to travel down to Lome to get the ingrown section of my new toenail removed. I know a few family members who’ve had this done, so I thought it would be no big deal. Last summer I had to have my whole foot numbed to remove about 30 sea urchin spines from the bottom (my souvenir from traveling in Turkey). Compared to that, I thought this would be easy.

The moment the shot of anesthesia hit my blood stream, I was ready to hurl. Thankfully, I didn’t have any breakfast today, because I just felt awful, closed my eyes and kept thinking “Emily, don’t throw up, don’t throw up, don’t throw up.” Then my ears started ringing and I couldn’t hear anything, so I thought I was going to pass out. They waved something in front of my nose, which made the nausea stop. The toe is pretty hard to inject, so about halfway through the syringe just exploded and the anesthetic flew everywhere. While the doctor had to go get another one, the needle end was stuck in my toe, just chillin there. As the doctor was cutting down my toenail to the root she said “This is too easy, the whole nail is dead.” So she decided to remove the entire toenail. Unfortunately, since the anesthesia was administered on the left, ingrown side of the nail, I was able to feel the pain of the right side getting pulled out.

Now here I am, 10 months in Togo, back to square one, with no toenail again. I have to remind myself to look on the bright side. With the wide array of possible diseases and illnesses in Africa, I will be LUCKY if my toenails are my only problem, and overall, I’m very grateful to have the PCMOs. They are like our little guardian angels, guiding us through all the bumps in the road, on this incredible life adventure.

May Days

"The biggest lesson from Africa was that life's joys come mostly from 

relationships and friendships, not from material things. I saw time and again 

how much fun Africans had with their families and friends, 

and on the sports fields; they laughed all the time."  -Andrew Shue

Hurray for May!!! I’ve always loved the month of May, not just because of my birthday. At home in the rainy Pacific Northwest, May is always the month where we get a small taste of summer. Unfortunately, it’s followed by the “June gloom” rain where Mother Nature reminds us “not too fast, this is the Pacific Northwest after all.”

Usually at home I wish for a sunny birthday, but in Togo I was hoping for some rain....we didn’t get any. At one point I almost forgot it was my birthday since it was just like any other day. I taught my class, went to the market, visited with my neighbors, etc. I didn’t tell anyone it was my birthday. I did get a few packages that week, so thank you Mom, Grandma, and Auntie M! My Grandma sent me dark chocolate M&Ms, which were amazing! Is that a new invention or something because I don’t remember those? I shared the big bag with my neighbor kids, who loved them. I can’t describe the look on their faces, but just imagine what a kid’s face would look like the first time they eat chocolate....pure joy and amazement.

These kids are such sweethearts. I refer to them as my Little Rascals, about 15 neighbor kids. When I get home from school there are at least three or four who run up to me screaming “Emily! Emily! Emily!” It’s quite a warm welcome. Once a girl even ran out of her compound in her towel to greet me. She had just stepped out of the shower. I think it’s become a competition between them for who can spot me first on my way home. I’ve taught them how to high five and fist bump, which has sparked another competition. As I make my way into my compound, they all want to be the last one to high five me before I close the gate. All in all, it takes a while for me to make it into my house now, but I love the company and the feeling of belonging to my neighborhood. Kpalime is a large city of about 100,000 people, so the feeling of belonging is something I never really expected to happen. Fortunately, I was wrong. Happy May Days!