Moving On

“Why is it you can never hope to describe the emotion Africa creates? 

You are lifted. Out of whatever pit, unbound from whatever tie, 

released from whatever fear. You are lifted and you see it all from above.” 

~Fransesca Marciano

Well the day is finally here. I am officially an RPCV. WOO!! HOO!! This past week has been a little stressful, going through all the administrative check-out procedures. I have to say to people who think that the Peace Corps application process is difficult, just wait until it’s time to COS, then you will experience the REAL arduous process. What made the whole week more fun was going through all that paper work and check-out with the 27  fellow RPCVs who embarked on this crazy experience with me back in July 2012. I’d say the theme to this week was, WE DID IT!!

Most people are leaving today, either out of the Lome airport on evening flights bound for European connecting flights, or leaving to go to Ghana to catch flights home tomorrow out of the Accra airport, which sometimes has cheaper rates than the Lome airport. After dealing with my flights being cancelled twice, I FINALLY got a plan that works and I'm leaving in just a few hours. 

It hasn’t hit me yet that this period of my life living in West Africa is over. I still have a busy month ahead of me before I can process beginning to let those emotions out. I’m sure it will sink in once I get home in September.  As for the immediate future, before heading back to the U.S., I am making my way to East Africa for a month of tent-camping, safari adventure. I decided to give the Africa overlander tour experience another try, this time traveling through Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. With any luck, this will go better than the last trip did! If I have internet access along the way, I’ll try to post some updates. Now I’m off to the airport. Au revoir sweet Togo! I will never forget you.

                                                                                                                                      

Barbeque Bash

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, 

look to tomorrow, rest this afternoon.”

~Charles M. Schulz 

On Sunday our Country Director, Lauren Mamane, threw a BBQ for the 15 Peace Corps Volunteers who were first to finish the 2014 Annual Volunteer Survey. It was such fun, with American music, delicious food (including sushi!), and wonderful company. I was blown away! Lauren’s house is a beautiful oasis from the rest of Lome. With her air conditioning, pool, and lovely yard, I completely forgot where I was for a moment. It was great to relax and chat with friends, Lauren’s family, and a couple of expats living in Lome. There is such camaraderie and understanding within the expat community. I loved listening to their stories and found myself thinking many times “I understand EXACTLY how you feel!” I’m sure I will find this throughout my life whenever I talk to RPCVs or expats.

 

Au Revoir Kpalime

“Every farewell combines loss and new freedom.”

~Mason Cooley

Yesterday morning I left Kpalime for the last time and boy was that an odd feeling. It felt sad to leave this place I have called home for the last two years, but not as sad as most people would expect, because I am really ready to leave. More than anything there is a feeling of accomplishment; I felt like giving myself a high-five because I DID IT! I served for two years in the Peace Corps in Africa. Through all the hard times I never gave up. 

There were lots of trials, like two years drinking bleached water, hand-washing my laundry in a bucket, and burning my trash. I endured daily harassment and shouts of "Yovo" whenever out in public, eventually getting followed by a drunk man during a morning run (which was the end of my running routine! ha) I survived malaria and feeling like I was going to die, losing my toenails, getting hit by a motorcycle in town, and lots and lots of diarrhea. I lived to tell the tale of a rollover car accident and hospitalization in South Africa. Then, of course, there was the constant heat and humidity, the bugs and bats, and times of isolation and loneliness that you can feel when no one living around you speaks your language.

On the flip side, even though I know this probably sounds really self-centered, I feel very proud of what I achieved here with my work, teaching English, creating a library, running clubs and an English camp, and bringing a U.S. Embassy program to my school. I hope that in some small way I helped the Togolese people to understand a little bit more about the United States, and that Americans and anyone else reading this blog learned something positive about life in Togo.

It was hard to say my final goodbyes these last couple of days, but at the same time I feel SO thankful that I had the chance to meet these wonderful people who will stay in my heart forever. They taught me so much about what is truly important in life. I made many friendships here and that doesn’t just end because I am leaving. Thanks to technology, we can stay in touch, and I hope that someday I will be able to come back to Togo and see these friends again.

During my entire service I had a poster hanging in my living room of JFK and one of his famous quotes, saying “Everyone can make a difference and every person should try.” Those words inspired me every day and will continue to do so in the future. I learned a lot over these last two years, but one of the biggest lessons was to keep on trying. Things may not happen perfectly, they hardly ever do, so you just have to keep on trying and never give in to defeat.

I am in Lome now for the next week, finishing up some administrative stuff before I leave Togo. This process is called Close of Service (COS) and for the first time in Peace Corps Togo all the people who came in together are leaving together on the same day. So I will be spending the next week going through this process with my fellow volunteers who came to Togo with me in July 2012. We will have one last, final hurrah before parting and setting off on our next adventures.