"My formula for living is quite simple.
I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night.
In between, I occupy myself as best I can."
~Cary Grant
I have so many people ask me questions about my life here in
Kpalime. Here are a few answers for my friends back home. I miss you!
Do you
live in a mud hut?
Haha No, I don’t live in a
mud hut. I live in a two-bedroom, one-bathroom house that is part of a compound
with two other homes. We have a tall wall with a locked entry that separates us
from the street and other neighbors.
Do you have
electricity and running water?
Yes!! I am very lucky that
I live in Kpalime, the fourth largest city in Togo, which has these amenities.
The electricity is not always reliable; it shuts off for a couple of hours now
and then. Inside the house my only water sources are my shower and a tiny
little bathroom sink that you can barely wash a mug in. I get the bulk of my
water for doing dishes, laundry and filling my water filter from a spigot
outside.
How do you access the
internet?
I access the internet with
my Togocell internet key, which is a USB stick that contains a sim card. The
sim card works just like a phone sim card. When I plug in the key to my
computer I can get internet access anywhere there is good Togocell reception.
Unlimited access for 30 days costs 15,000cfa, equivalent to 30USD.
How's the
weather?
In Kpalime it is hot and
humid. The southern part of Togo
is very humid and it gets drier and drier as you head north. We are now in the
hot season, and the combination of heat and humidity is not fun. I depend on my
fan and I wake up every morning sweaty. The rainy season will begin in April
and continue on until October.
How do you wash your
clothes?
Ugh, this is my least
favorite chore. I will never, ever again take for granted the wonderful
machines we have back home that do the work for us. I usually do laundry once a
week. I put my clothes into a big bucket. Then I mix in powder detergent, add a
bucket full of water, mix up the water and clothes, and let the clothes soak
for about an hour. The next thing I do is scrub the clothes, focusing on the
stinky/dirty areas. Then I rinse the clothes twice, using two other buckets. Finally,
I hang my clothes up on the lines and wait. Since it’s so hot here it doesn’t
take too long to dry.
How do
you cook your food?
Most volunteers cook using
a gas stovetop. I have a gas tank that sits on the ground and is attached to a
portable stovetop on my counter with a tube. Most Togolese people cook using
charcoal stoves that are made out of clay.
What kinds of food do
you eat?
I eat a lot of sardines,
eggs, and beans. In Kpalime there are many vegetables and fruits too. Bananas
are plentiful here. I also like to go to the market to buy cucumbers, green
beans, and avocadoes. The only tricky thing is buying lettuce; unless you plan
on eating it in the next four or five hours, it’s not a good idea because it
wilts pretty fast in the heat.
What’s
the strangest food you have eaten?
So far I have avoided some
of the local delicacies, like dog, cat, snake, etc. I haven’t been very
adventurous in that area, for obvious health reasons. Frankly, I’m not
embarrassed to refuse something weird if it means preventing me from having
lots of diarrhea. I think that pate is pretty strange to me and its variations.
Pate is this white glob of carbs that you dip in a sauce. It’s made from corn
flour and water, boiled and stirred into a thick, mashed potato consistency.
What is a
typical monthly living allowance?
Every month volunteers
receive 140,000cfa (280USD). This is transferred to our Togo bank accounts that
we set up during our training period. My bank is called EcoBank. Kpalime’s bank
has an ATM machine, so that’s how I get my money.
What can you buy for one
U.S. dollar?
For $1 you can honestly
buy quite a bit. 1USD is roughly equivalent to 500cfa. Here are some examples
of what you can buy for 500cfa: 5 eggs, 5 avocadoes, one (very large) beer, 1.5
liter water bottle, a hamburger, 10 large beignets, 5 servings of beans, and
much more.
Have you been sick?
I was sick once during my
training in Tsevie, which I mentioned in a previous blog. I have not suffered
any illness since my arrival to Kpalime, besides a couple of really bad colds, which
I think were due to traveling.
Are there clothing
restrictions?
Placing restrictions on
what I wear out in public makes life easier for me, to avoid harassment. As a
white woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, I do what I can to avert attention.
I don’t wear sleeveless tops often, and I never wear anything above the knee in
public. In general people here don’t wear clothes that expose their knees. With
tops, sleeveless is okay, but spaghetti straps are not.
What
language do your neighbors speak?
Since I live relatively in
the south of Togo,
where the major ethnic group is the Ewe people, most of my neighbors speak Ewe.
I know a little Ewe, like how to say hello, goodbye, and to introduce myself.
For everything else I use French, and I never have a problem. Growing up in
Kpalime, a child’s first language is Ewe, their second is French, and their
third is English, starting in middle school.
How often do you
leave Kpalime?
To get from Kpalime to Lome costs 2,000cfa
(4USD) and takes about 2 hours. I teach 5 days a week, so I don’t travel much.
I don’t travel to Lome often, because things in Lome are expensive and except for foreign cuisine in
restaurants, there isn’t much in Lome
that I can’t find in Kpalime. I don’t travel north very often because the road
that connects me to the Route Nationale is probably one of the worst roads in Togo and it can
take 4 hours to get there.
Do you get lots of
mosquito bites?
I don’t. For safety
reasons, I don’t go out a lot at night and with my window screens and bed net I
seem to be pretty safe. I also brought lots of bug repellants with me (thanks Mom)
so that when I am out at dusk, I can be protected.
What
"creatures" have you encountered?
Thankfully I don’t have a bat problem in my house, although I do hear them
outside at night sometimes in the mango tree. I saw a small garden snake on my
neighbor’s porch last month and her friend killed it with a machete, but it
wasn’t much to freak out about. The one thing I have encountered is spiders,
which are huge and can jump! Yeah, so that’s pretty terrifying. I usually don’t
want to get close, so I drive them out my front door with my broom.
What do you miss the
most from home?
My family! We are a very close family. I tell them everything, so the first
couple of months were hard for me, but thank God for the internet. Since it’s
the hot season right now, I miss the Seattle
rain. I miss not having to be SO worried about my health, like not having to
filter water, bleach all vegetables, and take malaria pills.
Do you have time off
for travel?
Yes, over my two years of
service I have 48 days for travel outside of Togo. I recently used some days to
go to Hawaii
for my sister’s wedding and I’m planning some trips for the future.
How far
away are other volunteers?
I am fortunate to
have a site mate in Kpalime who only lives about a 30-minute walk away from me.
My two nearest volunteer friends outside of the city are both about an hour moto ride
away. There are only four volunteers in my area of western Plateau.
How do
you spend your down time?
I keep myself busy with
school and planning projects. I spend every morning at my school until lunch.
In my down time I read, play lots of Sudoku, listen to the radio, watch movies
or TV shows on my computer and do yoga. I am also a neat freak, so I spend time
organizing and cleaning.
What
projects are you working on?
Currently I teach English
five days a week, run weekly Girls Club meetings, English Club meetings, and
English Movie Fridays at our school. I’m also planning on starting a Boys
Club. I am working my way towards two
large projects for the future: I will be involved in planning a two-year English
Access program at our school in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy. I also have plans in the works to create a
library for our school.
