Updates and end of service

Hey everyone, hope all is going well back in the US. Considering I haven't updated this thing since May, it is in much need of an update. So here goes...


In early June, I finished the Plan of Action for the village. It took a few more weeks of typing and trying to get the workers to actually finish it but it is finally done and printed. It was a big load off my mind to be finished with that since it had been such an overwhelming process.


Also in early June, the new training group of health volunteers arrived to Togo. The person who replaced me was in that group. I came down to Lome for a party that a bunch of older volunteers threw for them. It was a lot of fun and it was nice to see some fresh faces.


On June 24Th the funding for the health clinic project finally arrived in my bank account. It was down to the wire but it finally came in. THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO DONATED!!!! Between that day and July 25Th, all of purchases were made and most of the work was finished. I didn't really understand what it would be like handling a project like that but it turned into me being a contractor. Not exactly what I signed up for when I joined the Peace Corps. I literally had to run around every day to several stores and even go multiple times into Kara to get all of the construction supplies. One cost I did not consider was transport of supplies which ended up being really expensive. It was difficult trying to handle all aspects of the project including the carpenters, the masons, the painters, the plumbers, the water company, the development committee... I did not get much sleep that month. But I am very proud of the work everyone in my village did. I am sure they have never worked so hard in their lives considering I was forcing them to do three months worth of work in two weeks. It was more about efficiency than anything. Togolese are not very good about time management and getting things done quickly. But they did it!


Another thing that was really stressful was having to get all the paperwork done and making sure that all the money being spent was being accounted for. People in my village didn't really understand that concept and the fact that I wasn't going to bed until 11 to 12 at night every night because I was staying up working on paperwork. They had no concept of money management for a large budget project. I could have made sure that someone else in the village understood what I was doing to learn but because I was on such a tight time frame, I just didn't have the energy.


One July 19Th my replacement arrived to post for the week. Her name is Brittany and she is from Texas. She is great. She was really excited to start work and was really happy that I had a lot of work already ready for her to do from day one. I introduced her to everyone in village who I worked with or who I am friends with so she will know people in town. Everyone was excited to meet her but also said to learn that I was leaving soon. On that Friday, all of the new trainees and old volunteers from my region got together and had a party. We had a pig roast. It was really good. And it was nice to meet the new people.


The night after the party, I took the bus down to Lome and that night I flew to Morocco to meet my dad for vacation. I lost my cell phone the night before I left which was annoying. But Morocco was AMAZING!!!! We both arrived at the Casablanca Airport around the same time and went to get our rental car. My dad was nervous about the heat so he wanted to have a car with A/C. But in the end it was so nice to have because we got to see a lot more and I didn't mind have a car all to ourselves. I am used having to share an overloaded car everywhere I go so a car with just to two of use and with A/C was just heaven. So the first daywe drove down to El Jadida. It is a beach town for Moroccans and there were tons of people there. It was a bit strange seeing so many Moroccans walking around in bathing suits and shorts. When I picture a Muslim country I don't think swim wear. But the beach was really nice. There was even a fair with rides and a bandstand with musicians performing. It honestly looked like Coney Island. We were both really tired from the trip so we went to bed early the first night.


The next morning we drove down to Agidir which is like a French resort town. My dad booked us to stay at the Club Med because he felt that I needed to be pampered, which I really did need. Well anyways, it was amazing. Our room literally had rose petals everywhere. Even in the toilet. It was beautiful! When you stay at a Club Med, everything is included, food, drinks, tips everything. There was a huge buffet at every meal full of food I haven't been able to eat for two years. I especially liked the bacon at breakfast and the cheese buffet. It was so yummy. The resort was right on the beach and there was a pool. The whole beach had a wide boardwalk going down the beach so locals and tourist could walk on the beach. While I was there I also got a massage to top it off. It was a little awkward to stay there though because it seemed like all of the other guests had received information before they arrived telling them about all the events going on and the attire they needed to bring. Every night was a different theme and you were supposed to dress according to the color scheme. So one night was black and white night but Pop and I had absolutely nothing of those colors. I mean white is not the color you think to bring when going to Africa. We both stuck out a bit not dressing the way we supposed to. It was nice to here proper french to be spoken instead of 'pied noir'. It was also strange having staff be so helpful and polite. Serving a guest is not one of the high points of Togo. They don't understand than the client is always correct and making a stay as pleasant as possible. Togolese are always right even when they are dead wrong. But Club Med people, perky as hell and always ready to help.


We also went to McDonald's one night that was located on the boardwalk. We both got McFlurrys which were amazing. There were so many locals just hanging out there which was interesting to see. There was also a fair with rides but they weren't running. It was strange to see garbage cans and people cleaning up the streets after being in Togo. There is no such thing concept in Togo. People just throw garbage on the ground and is never cleaned up so there are just piles of garbage everywhere and then people go to bathroom on those piles of garbage. Really gross. So Morocco was a breath of fresh air, literally.


We stayed in Agidir for two nights. We continued on to Marrakesh. That was a long drive. We drove through the mountains which was really pretty. But it was interesting to see that everywhere we went the road was paved and there was electricity everywhere and there were lots of western supplies available in every small town. You have to go all the way to the capital to get anything in Togo. I did keep saying to my dad that I couldn't really understand why Peace Corps was still in Morocco when it is so developed. But then again, we didn't go into the really small towns where I am sure there are still problems. Pop said it was nothing like it was when he was a volunteer there in 1973 to 1976.


So we got to Marrakesh in the afternoon and we checked into the Club Med there. We stayed there because when my dad was a volunteer in Marrakesh, he and his fellow volunteers had always said they wanted to stay there and swim in the pool. He finally got the opportunity 32 years later. It was not as nice as the prior resort but it was still nice. Some how it ended up being the same price to have two rooms instead one so we each had our own rooms. My room was on the top floor of the hotel and looked out over the Ja maal fina, the market place. It was interesting to see how it changes throughout the day as more people arrive and vendors set up. We did a lot of exploring of the medina. It was much cleaner than it had been when I was there in 2001. But more pleasant. Pop went back to his house where he used to live which he was really excited about. He didn't see anyone he used to know but he did go to the bakery where he used to get his bread every day. We did a lot of shopping while we were there. I got some gifts for people and I got a lot of pretty jewelry for myself. I convinced Pop he needed to get some jeans while they were there because they had such a large selection of jeans in his size and the style that he likes that it would be a waste to not get some. So we got him some very nice looking jeans as well as some nice shoes and a pair of purple converse shoes. And all of it was quite cheap. I got henna done on my hand which was really pretty but we got really ripped off when we paid.


One night we went to this restaurant where they films an Alfred Hitchcock film back in the 60s. It was a really fancy restaurant with pretty tiling and cushions. It was a four course meals that was delicious. A band came out later in the evening followed by two belly dancers. Considering I have studied belly dancing, the two women that performed were terrible. The first woman had a tray of candles on her head and was doing a very slight hip movement, nothing a like a hip shake. Then the second woman came out. She was a little bit better. She came around to all of the tables and pulled someone up to dance with her. Considering the restaurant is geared towards tourists, no one could really tell the difference that she wasn't good. So when she got to our table I got up to dance with her. Well she was just not ready for me and I was just dancing up a storm. She pulled me up onto to the raised platform in the middle of the room and danced for everyone to see. She wasn't even trying to dance along with the drummers like I was trying to, she was just moving around. I was really exciting to be dancing again. When the song finished I got down and the waiters and the band complemented me. It was nice. It was a really fun night.


The next day we drove to Fez. We drove through the mountains where there are ski resorts. It as really pretty. We had reserved a room at a riad in Fez, which is an old palace that had been transformed into a bed and breakfast. It was gorgeous. Beautiful tiling and arch ways. It was really nice. I had been sick with a head cold the whole trip so it was nice to relax there. Fez was a lot of fun. We walked a lot through the medina and did more shopping. Again, it was much cleaner than when I was there the last time. One thing was really happy to get was Arabic music to bring home. We stayed there for three days and then drove out to Casa and flew back to Togo.


Pop visited me in Togo for two and a half weeks. While we were in Morocco, 9 bridges in southern Togo feel down due to the excess rain. One was on the main road going north so all transport went to hell. Goods and fuels is very difficult to get north and passenger cars jumped up in price due to the lack of gas up north. We stayed in Lome for a day then went to visit my host family at my training village. It was really good to see my host mom since I hadn't seen her in over a year. She was really excited to meet my dad. He wasn't too keen on the latrine with thousands of bugs that we had to use but I couldn't really do anything about that. While we were there we hiked up to the waterfalls near the village and went to the monastery that is on top of the mountain behind the village. It was really fun. My dad really enjoyed his stay there. While we were there, we did get to watch the opening ceremony's for the Olympics. We were both really happy that we did have to miss them. The day after, we got on the Peace Corps car going north. The road where my host village is located on is the secondary road t get north but was not in a very good state before the bridges went out. So the rain and the poor conditions caused a lot of accidents on the road, making the trip very long. It increased about 4 hours to any trip. We made it up to my village my around 7pm and all of my host family and my counterpart were at my house to welcome him. They even did the ceremony they do when a new person comes to lives in a household and they throw water on their feet in the doorway and say a prayer or something. We sent four days at my post. I took him to the big weekly market on Sunday. We went to visit the Tatas which is a World Heritage Site for the way the tribe constructs their house. We were really close to the border so we jumped over the border and had lunch at this really good restaurant in Benin. The next day we took a ride out to my neighbor Alex's village for lunch. Pop tried Tchouck for the first time. He said he liked it. We hung out a lot with my counterpart, Faustin. My parents had sent over a bag of reading glasses for me to give out because Faustin had asked for a pair. They don't exist in Togo. So he brought a bunch over and he gave them out to people I knew needed them. Everyone was so excited to finally be able to read with ease.

We made the trip back down to Lome again getting stopped on the muddy road because a truck had gotten stuck in the mud. Technically they were not supposed to be driven on that road but they still kept doing it, causing at least one accident a day. Drivers also didn't bother so slow down with all of the pot holes and everything. Logic!

I took Pop to Ghana for five days as well. I wanted him to see the difference between Togo and Ghana, which I see as being very vast. He felt the same way. Ghana is far more developed than Togo. They have electricity just about everywhere we went. There are law for driving that people actually follow. People care about pollution and there is a public works system in place. None of these are common in Togo.

We stay in Elmina which is near Cape Coast. We stayed at this beach resort right on the beach where Will Smith stayed when he visited Ghana during the filming of "Ali". This area has several slave castles. This is where Africans were taken and kept in dungeons until they were placed on boats to the Americas and Europe. We went to two castles. They were both very moving. It was incredible how small the dungeons were and the fact that above both of them, there was a church. We were told that over a million slaves passed through each of the castles during their time of usage.

The next day we went to the Kakum National Park where their is a canopy walk over the rain forest. I was pretty sick that day so I wasn't too excited about it but it was cool. Some of the bridges were pretty high above the ground.

We headed back to Accra the next day just for a stop over and then continued on to Lome the day after. Pop fly out on the 21st at 2am and I headed back to post on the bus.

I was at post for the weekend before my replacement arrived as a real volunteer. She swore-in as a volunteer the night of the 21st. We spent the whole week together. She met more people from village I thought were important for her to know. It was nice to get to know her before I went home. By getting to know her better, I am more certain that she is going to do great in Koka.

The last Saturday before I left, we had the symbolic inauguration for the health clinic. We couldn't have the official inauguration because we have to wait for the Ministry of Health to send a nurse to work there. They just had a test for nurses and they will be sending someone for sure by November or December. But the rest of the staff are all trained to start work. Tons of people from the village came. They even invited the folklore dances and drummers to perform. The new chief and the old chief spoke, as did I. This was the chiefs first official appearance as chief so he made this big speech about all the changes he wants to make in the village. For example he is going to enforce that all children must go to school and if he hears that a husband is hitting his wife, he is going to send the husband to jail. All of the women cheered about that one. We cut a ribbon to make it official then gave a tour of the building. The building looks great with the new paint job and with all of the new furniture inside. I am very proud of it.

I left my village three days later to come down to Lome. I had a lot of sad goodbyes with people I had come to think of has family. I cried a lot when I finally left. My counterparts wife cried literally for a whole day. Many people gave me going away gifts that I didn't even though would ever give me a gift so I was very surprised.

I have been down in the capital now for three days and I fly out tonight at 4am. I official became a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer at 10am. I am all DONE!!! It is so hard to believe that two years have already gone by. When I was a new volunteer, I was so looking forward to having my replacement come a live at my house. That is already in the past and I am going home. It has been a wonderful and challenging adventure but I am so glad I actually did it. I am moving back to Saranac Lake, New York for now and living with my dad while I take pre-req classes for nursing school. I will be applying for schools this fall and hopefully by next fall I will be starting school. I am applying to programs where I can get my bachelor's and master's all together. Three years max. I am concentrating in nurse/midwifery. Very excited about it.

So feel free to call me at my dad's when I get back home later this weekend.

I will post new photos of all my travels once I get home and actually have a good internet connection to use.

Love everyone and hope to see you all again soon!!!

Alia

Lots of projects

Hey everyone, hope things are going well stateside. I am still over here in Togo for only a few more months. But work at the moment is busy as ever.

A few weeks ago, my village had a large meeting with all of the the important people in village and from the regional capital, to talk about the plan of action for the village. Not everyone came who we invited but a lot did and a lot of ground was covered. Several changes were made to the plan of action that I had typed and hopefully in the coming week or so, it will be complete. This project was started last June so I am really glad it will soon be finished.

Two weeks ago I also made a tour of the seven villages of Koka to tell villagers they need to start putting in their contribution towards the clinic project. The village is required to pay 25% of the total cost of the project. This came out to be around 1,400,000 CFA or $2000. Based on the number of adults living in Koka, the chiefs and I decided that every adult is required to give 500CFA or about $1.25. A reasonable amount. Some people are finding this is a bit much due to the low season for crops and because of the food crisis. But everyone said they would find a way to get the money.

As far as my portion of the project, there is still $1,900 left to fund the project. So PLEASE DONATE!!!! We are almost there!!!!

We started work today on fixing to roof. Cement has been scarce in Togo, so when we found that it was available I fronted the money to get the cement and other supplies needed. The masons finished a portion of the roof today and they will finish the rest on Sunday, as long as it doesn't rain. But until the money comes in, I am quite broke, so again PLEASE HELP ME FINISH THIS PROJECT!!!!!

The website is
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=693-298

Help the village of Koka, Togo finally have a health clinic. You will be saving lives!!!

Miss everyone back home!!! Email or write soon!!!

Alia

Thoughts on development work...

I haven't posted in a while so I thought I would talk a little bit about my thoughts on development work here in Togo.

Most Peace Corps volunteers come into their service thinking they are going to make great strides in the development world. But for the most part, at least in Togo that is, most volunteer never do any work that would be considered traditional development work. Sure we do lots of training’s on topics ranging from how to make a natural compost, to why you should wash your hands after going to the bathroom, to how to improve ones small business. But are these ever really making the impact in development that we had hoped for? Probably not. There are the occational volunteers who get things built like school buildings or water pumps or health clincs but there are even more volunteers who do not. Personally, I think I am the exception to this idea. In my village of Koka, there were very few trained development workers. All villages in Togo have a committee called the C.V.D or the community development committee in English. Four years ago, my village separated from its neighbor, Niamtougou. It was consider one of the ‘suburbs’ of the larger town. Because of this separation, very few trained development workers were left after the separation. Since that day, it has caused many problems within the village. A make-shift committee was thrown together out of necessity but no one is really qualified for the job. The certain members of the board are have caused me much stress and annoyance due to their need to be the head of everything, even when not warranted. This has also caused clashes with other members of the committee to the point where meetings have not been held in a month because of their inability to get along. As of this week however, the specific members has been asked to leave and he is making a lot of noise against it, but really has no say in the matter.

As one of my goals in my service, I wanted to be able to leave my village knowing that a properly trained and qualified development committee was put in place and trained. So for the past few weeks I have been working with an individual from my village but who lives in Kara, who is going to do the training for free because he too wants to see his village develop. With all hopes this will make great improvements in the development of the village of Koka.

As volunteers we are not given money directly to do projects in our village. We can write grants to several funding sources through the Peace Corps network. There are a few places in Togo where a village can also go in search of financing. One of these is called PLAN. This is a branch of UNDP here in Togo. They receive their funding through the UN. Last year I spoke to the director in Kara about what I can do in order to get water pumps built in my village. He told me there were several places that I could go to get pumps built. My village simply had to make an official request in writing and in person with important people from the village like the Chief and the president of the C.V.D. We also had to give a copy of the villages Plan of Action. He told me that probably someone in my village had a copy of it lying around and I could just make a copy. Well it turns out that because of the village separation, Koka did not have a Plan of Action. So I went to a friend of mine that own a development NGO to ask if he could help me out and get one written up quickly. Well, it is now almost a year later and I am still working on getting this document written. It’s a lot longer process than I had originally thought. It took several months of getting people finally to agree to do the job without the big bucks they usually get when foreign NGO fund the project. (They wanted to be paid on an American scale and get almost $3000 out of me, assuming I was the one personally paying. It is generally assumed that because we are white, we are therefore loaded). So after many tearful breakdowns in front of my homologue, they agreed to do it for a very small cost. It took about 3 months to do the meetings with all of the villagers to get information on the issues in the village and how they foresee going about improving them. That has been finished since around the beginning of February. Since then, I have been given the unlucky task of typing the whole damn document because I type faster than anyone else working on the project. They are still at the hunt-and-peck stages of typing abilities. At first I didn’t mind it that much but I really didn’t think I would be spending so much of my time in Peace Corps, sitting behind a computer, pretty much being a secretary. But we hopefully will be done with the document by next week and can then send it off to all of the places it needs to go to.

A colleague of mine recently went back to PLAN to talk to the same director I had spoken to a year prior. She is doing a similar project, but has had some up hiccup[s in the process. The director told her that the format of the program was changing in the near future. They were going to have teams move into different villages for about 5 years at a time and remodel the village in a sense. They are going to bring in tons money on various issues in the village. This includes even bringing in electricity to villages that would cost tens of thousands of dollars to electrify. I checked on getting it connected in my village at it was $40,000 just to extend the line, not including the cost to individual families to equipped their houses with sockets and light fixtures and such. Very much out of my price range, but I guess PLAN is going to be able to try and do it.

Part of me thinks this is a great idea and makes me really want them to come to Koka. But the other part of me thinks this is the worst idea for development. Where is the sustainability? Where is the involvement of the community in the development of the village? Many people in my village like in many others, think that some foreigner is always going to sweep in a save them with gifts and money. That’s was what their colonial powers did years ago, it surely will happen again. But this practice has made the Togolese lazy and not motivated to do things for themselves. The concept of pulling oneself up from their bootstraps doesn’t really correlate here. I think that having organizations like PLAN or other development groups come in a ‘’save the day’’ reinforces this terrible idea. For my clinic project, it is required that the village pays 25% of the total cost of the project. This is to enhance one the idea of sustainability and two the idea that they (the people of Koka) had a hand in opening the clinic. They will be more likely to respect the clinic and be proud of it existence. I hope my village will learn from this practice to know that they can do things on their own.

Back in the swing of things

Hey everyone,

Its been a few weeks since I last posted so I thought I would get on that.

I am back in Togo now. After a wonderful almost 4 week stay in the US, visiting my parents on both coasts and some friends, I flew back to Togo on January 9th. I was happy to be coming back because I thought I had all of this work to do. Well really, I don’t. I have been doing very little technical work since I got back. My village is still in the holiday mode since they have national holidays up until now. So no one has buckled down and gotten back to work yet. But things are picking up in the next few weeks. I am mostly playing the waiting game on getting the funding for my clinic project. Then I will have lots of work to be do. So PLEASE DONATE!!! Info in previous post.

My host family and my friends in village were very excited to see me when I got back. They all said I had a glow and that it looked like I had a really good vacation. It was much needed. Everyone really liked the small gifts that I got them. My real mom got my host mom a nice top and when my host mom tried it on she was like, "it’s like she has met me and could see me wearing this." She is so cute.

My family did keep my house well guarded while I was gone. No break ins! Just a lot of dust and bugs. It took a few days to finally clean everything of the layer of dust that covered everything. Harmatton started while I was away, which is the season where strong winds blow down from the Sahara, bringing cooler air but lots of dust. It has been in the 60s most morning with really gusty winds all morning long. It makes it hard to shower in the morning in my outdoor shower since it is so cold and then the wind just makes it that much more intolerable. But at least I have not sweating buckets like the rest of the year. The dust, however, makes everyone sick with sinus problems. Last year I had a really bad sinus infection but this year I have been taking good care of my nose so (knock-on-wood) I have been healthy. In the past week, it has started getting warmer. I am not ready for it to be hot season. And people have been saying that it is going to be hotter than last year. So maybe the 145 degrees is in my future. Oh Boy!

Well that is it for now. Please donate to my project!!!

Hope everyone is going well at home and is enjoying the cold weather! Send some of it my way!

Write or email soon!
Love Always, Alia

Holidays in the states

Hey everyone. Sorry it has been so long since my last post. Things have been pretty crazy. I hope everyone had a very happy holiday season!!

I flew back to the states on the 17th. I was so excited to be coming home. I was one the same flight as my friend Kate. We had both been counting down the days and then the minutes until we arriving home. Kate had some problems with her ticket and it took a while to get her on the flight but she made it with time to spare.

I flew into JFK and my old college roommate Jenna was picking me up at the airport. It was freezing cold for me with only a fleece on. She was running a bit late and I didn't really know where I was supposed to be meeting here so I was running around trying to find a pay phone to call her. But none of the pay phones were working. So with all of my fatigue and coldness, I started crying. But I ended up finding her and everything was fine.

We then drove up to New Paltz where she lives and I went to college for the night. We went to eat at this restaurant where I used to eat a lot. I got spinach/artichoke dip and New England Clam chowder. It was SOOOOO good! Then we went back to her house and we crashed. I was so tired from the jet lag. The nest morning, she had to go to work so I drove around New Paltz. Got a yummy Dunkin Donuts coffee and bagel. Then I got a much needed haircut. It might have been more than I wanted to pay, but my hair was a mess and really needed it ASAP.

My dad picked me up in New Paltz a bit later and we drove up to Saranac Lake. He got a new Hybrid car which was really nice. We got home pretty late and we had dinner and went to bed. I was a bit sad because my dog didn't remember who I was.

During the week I was crazy busy. I went to the Cottage where I used to work to say Hi to people. I spoke at the high school for some global classes. We went skiing at Whiteface one day with my brother and dad. It was nice but I was still a bit jet lagged and my stomach was still upset from adjusting to the food so I wasn't in the best of shape. But of the skiing that I did do, it was really nice. Pop and I went up to Montreal one day to get some french books that I am bringing back to Togo as gifts for friends. It was nice to get to speak french with my dad but the french up there was so different and fast, I had a very hard time understanding what anyone was saying. I like my slow African french.

I flew out to Tahoe on Christmas day. Mom and her boyfriend Neal picked me at the airport and we went to this nice buffet dinner at one of the casinos in Reno. It was really good food and lots of desserts. Food I hadn't been able to eat in months. Then we drove up to where they live in Lake Tahoe. It is not on the lake but it is still nice. We did a lot of shopping during the week. My mom ski pass didn't work during the holiday period so we didn't ski until after New Years. They had a party at the house while I was here. I met all of her friends from the area. They have some pretty big name friends up here, so that was interesting.

We have been skiing the past two days. It was pretty cold for me but it was really pretty. We had a friend of my mom's skiing with us yesterday and she took a really bad fall around mid morning and had to be taken down on a sled with ski patrol. We drove her to the chiropractor where she found out only her neck was out and after it was adjusted she was doing 100% better. But since we had to leave early due to her injury, I got a free ticket for today to make up for the time I lost the first day. So we went skiing today and we had the first tracks. It was really windy so we left around 10am. There is a really big snow storm, or blizzard as the TV is saying, coming in tonight. I was hoping to switch my flight to tonight instead of Friday night but I don't think that is going to happen.

So we are just waiting out the storm until we have to drive down the mountain to the airport. I am staying with friends from college in New York City for a few days until I fly home. I haven't seen then yet since I got back so I am really excited to see them and I hope I don't get snowed in. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I posted a lot of new pictures so check those out too!!

On the road again

Hello everyone! Hope everything is going well for everyone back home. Things are going well here. I just got back from a week-long bike ride across part of my region of Kara. It was called AIDS RIDE and each region of Togo puts on a separate ride each fall. We stopped at 22 different villages and in each we put on AIDS education programs to groups ranging from 100 to 2000. There were 8 Peace Corps volunteers that went as well as 4 Togolese counterparts. My counterpart, Boudema came with us. During each of the programs we would perform some of several skits about HIV transmission, prevention, stigmatization, and a typical story about a Togolese girl who become infected with HIV. We changed each program based on their amount of French and knowledge level. If a village didn’t speak much French we had some non verbal games to play that got the same message as the sketches in French. We would also demonstrate proper condom usage and disposal. This always got lots of laughs and some crude comments from the men in the audience. I didn’t like doing these demonstrations very much. We would finish each session with a question and answer period. We got some really weird questions during the week. One man asked if you have sex with a young girl, is it turn you can’t get infected with HIV. A student asked if you could use a plastic bag instead of a condom as protection. Lot of people asked what the origin of AIDS was and why we didn’t just bring the cure for AIDS with us to give them. But all we could do was provide information and some people got free condoms.
We started out in a village called Guerin Kouka on the western side of Togo. From there we looped north and east and finished in Kanté. Each day we biked between 25 and 35km a day. This was far more than I had ever done before. I was a bit nervous about it before I left but I was determined to be able to finish it all. But in case I wasn’t, there was a chase car that followed us the entire time and brought along our supplies. That made it a lot easier because we didn’t need to carry all the stuff we needed for the week on our bikes. The route for the most parts was not too bad of a ride. Lots of it was pretty flat and some ups and downs. On the first and second days though, we had quite a few adventures. At one point we had to go down this very washed out steep hill and then land n a narrow bridge that crossed the Kara River. There was a also a guy on a bike who kept trying to talk to me, telling me I should give him money to fix the road. I was nervous about falling in that water and just wanted him to shut up. Then later that day, there was one point in the road that was totally covered with a foot of water. It was thought it would be dry already after rainy season, but it was still there and about 30 yards to get across. I don’t know what kind of creatures or feces were in that water, but I just kept on peddling and made it across without falling. That night we stayed at chief’s house of the village we did a program in. It ended up being two quiet small rooms with several large bags full of corn or millet. These tend to be home to tons of mice and rats and bugs. So, for the most part, none of us got much sleep that night. There were four girls who just swore-in in August with us who I don’t think had quite gotten used to the bush life of Togo and were not too thrilled with the accommodations. They screamed quite a bit and eventually moved outside and slept on a bench. I was fine since I brought my bug net and Tylenol PM with me. It wasn’t the most comfortable floor but it was fine.
The programs we did that day were pretty good. The first one was at an elementary school so most of the audience did not speak French, so everything had to be translated into local language. We were also still nervous about our skits and what we should talk about. The second village was at a middle school. By that level students tend to be pretty fluent in French so it went much better. There were about 300 people from the schools and the village in attendance. They asked a lot questions and it went really well. The third program was with a bunch of older men and women. Not many spoke French but there was a woman there who was trained by an NGO somewhere to be a HIV peer educator so she was able to ad lib a lot of the information because we knew what we were talking about.
The next morning we started off early at 7. Right away we came to another river. This time there was no bridge so we had to walk through the river. Not as gross as the first one, thankfully. The road the rest of that day was rather washed out but it made for an exciting off-roading type experience. We stopped for lunch in one of the only villages on the route that had electricity so we enjoyed some ice cold beverages. Truly hit the spot! That night we stayed in the most in the bush villages I have yet been to in Togo. First they forgot we were coming to stay the night so the chief didn’t really know where we were going to be sleeping. It also took about an hour for them to decide which person’s wife was allowed to cook for us. We ended up staying at the chief’s house. He had tons of kids around. I counted around 20. And because he was probably the richest person in the village he had tons of animals running around, pooping everywhere. Pigs, ducks, chickens, goats, sheep, turkeys, dogs…. Lots. Same as the night before, we were given a small room to sleep in with several bags of corn. So the room smelled like mouse. I slept inside under my bug net and I was fine but everyone else slept outside. I was fine except for the few minutes in the early morning when a rat started screaming. The next morning I was very eager to get out of there. They were just a little too villageois for me. If anything they really need a volunteer to be posted there because they didn’t even think that bugs could possibly bit a person when you were inside a house, even when the windows and doors were open.
The first program was at a small elementary school. Very few people there spoke French but they were still very interested in the information. They thought that the condom demonstrations were the funniest thing. Wooden penises can be funny I guess. I don’t think that any of the kids really understood what we were talking about. The second program was at another elementary school about 20km down the road. There were also a lot of towns people that came. About 300 people crammed into a small school room for the program. We did the usual activities and then questions and answer. There was one little boy who was sitting in the front row who looked about 9 years old who knew the answer to just about every question we asked. It was amazing. He also spoke beautiful French. For as in the bush we were, that is a very uncommon thing to find, especially with such a young child. We gave him some free pens at the end for giving so many answers. From there we went into the larger town that had electricity for lunch. I rested for a little while before our next program by climbing up into a tree with the rest of my group. The Togolese kids that came to look at us thought we were the weirdest thing. After lunch, we did a program at a large middle school. There were about 500 people there for the presentation. It went really well. It was all in French and people asked lots of questions. That was the program where a guy asked if you could sleep with a young girl and not get HIV. Other than that it went really well.
Third day was quite a challenge because a lot of the roads were really gravelly making it difficult to bike; also the fact that my body was starting to get really tired and from sleeping on the floor for two nights. That night we stayed at an elementary school. I much preferred this because we could spread out a lot and it was not hot to sleep inside. The only problem was that the house that we were supposed to go to for showering had a really gross shower. It was just a grass hut with mud and rocks on the floor. It was also used as a bathroom so there was poop all over the floor. Even the Togolese people wouldn’t use it so that says how gross it was. So, we just set up a makeshift shower stall behind the school using our sleeping mats, and then after it got dark just showered without them. It worked fine.
Our first program was about 15km away from where we spent the night. We had run out of breakfast food by that point so we had to bike for a bit on an empty stomach. The ride to the village was really long and up hill for a lot of it. I was so tired by the time I got the site. We did the program at a mixed school so there were young and older kids. They thought that our skits were really funny. Togolese people LOVE skits. One of our homologues was really good at improving and made everything so funny. I got quite a few gross comments from men at that site. We stayed for lunch at the chief’s house and rested afterwards. I was finally able to wash my pants which I had been wearing for 3 days. They were gross. But they made us really yummy guinea foul that was really huge, nothing like I had ever seen in Togo. After lunch we biked on to a village 2km past. The chief had forgotten to announce the program and wasn’t even in village so we just went to the march and called people over. There were only around 50 people that came but they were really interested in the information. They were some gross guys there though who were being obnoxious. At the end of most programs we hand out condoms but in this village we had a huge problem. We ended up getting bum rushed for the condoms and even after we ran out, but no one believed us. We ended up having to leave that village in a rush because they wouldn’t leave us alone and were getting angry. It was sad that it happened. The ride to the next village was really hard. I almost got in the car at that point. It was all gravelly and soft. I really wanted to collapse once I finally arrived.
The fourth day we only had one program in the morning and then biked to Kanté. The first program was in this really small village that had never really heard of HIV. There were a lot of little kids and some adults. We were all exhausted and didn’t really put a lot of energy into the program but the people seemed to like it. The bike part was really hilly and we were all exhausted. I had to get off and walk up this one big hill, but it was the only time I had to walk. At the top of the hill the driver of the car saw me breathing really hard and asked if I wanted to just get in the car the rest of the way. I told him no, that I was going to finish the rest of it on my own even if I had to go really slowly. But I ended up making it the whole way to Kanté on my bike. When we got there, I showered off at the volunteer’s house who is posted there and got lunch. That afternoon there was a large program being put on by that volunteer in conjunction with an AIDS association that he works with. We thought that we were going to have more involvement in the program there but it ended up being pretty much all about the association. That was a bit annoying because we had put a lot of work in and people kept talking about AIDS Ride but it totally got overlooked. We were able to perform on skit but they didn’t give us time to do the question and answer afterwards to the skit didn’t really make much sense.
On the fifth day we only had one program in the morning. My village was not informed about a schedule change so only about 100 elementary school kids came. But we played some HIV education games with them. They had fun and hopefully got something out of it.
I am really glad that the I participated in the event but I do not want to do it again next year if I am still here.


Other than that some other stuff happened before going on AIDS Ride. I was in Kara the 2 weeks ago for the weekend and when I came back I found that my house had been broken into. The person had broken into my roof which is made of thatch and made quite a bit of a mess. He stole my DVD player, my shower soap, a calculator, my alarm clock, and this sunburn cream. He had had also found my lock box where I keep my money and passport, and had pried it open. But I didn’t have any money in it so they didn’t take anything luckily. They also ripped the screen to my window. However, after talking with my brothers and with the police my suspicions became true. My gardener who I had learned to trust, had broken in. We all went to his house and searched his room and found my soap, so the rest we told him just to give back. I got back but two DVDs that I had borrowed from a friend, which I feel bad about. Also, the week before, he asked me for a loan so he could start an apprenticeship. Turns out that he stole the money and bought drinks with his friends and had no plans to pay me back. He had to go to jail for two days and now has to do manual labor, filling in all of the roads around the village where the rain washed then out. He not longer works for me and really lost out on a good thing. Sucks for him. I am fine now and I am getting my roof fixed to be more permanent. So no worries.
Also that week, my host sister found out if she would be able to go back to school. She transferred from another reason and because last so many students failed the 3rd level and stayed back, there was not enough space for her. She the director of the school did a test for the last remain 6 spaces in the class. He ended up taking 12 instead and left out 4. She was one of them. She was really devastated. 3rd level is the last class before you can go to high school. Although she wasn’t the greatest student in every subject, she is a really good kid and wanted to keep going. The night after she got the results she took so medicine to kid herself and left a note saying if she couldn’t go back to school, she would rather be dead. She didn't die, it just gave her a bad stomach ache. She was in the hospital for a few days but she is doing fine now. My host brothers ended up getting her a place in another middle school in Niamtougou but it is a 30 minute walk each way so she is not too thrilled since she doesn’t have a bike. This event just proved the point of how hard life for girls here is. Not only do they have to do work at home for the family, they also have to struggle with school. They are seldom given the opportunity to solely concentrate on their school work. Boys are allowed to pay sports and work, while girls have to help with cooking and cleaning and the school work is always secondary. Very sad to have to deal with.

But tomorrow, today I am leaving for my very first vacation since arriving to Togo. I am going to Ghana with some of my girl friends here. I am going to eat nachos and sushi, go the beach and just relax. CAN’T WAIT!!!!!

That is all for now. Please write or email again soon!!!

Love and miss you tons

Alia

Hey everyone, I hope everyone is doing well back is the states or wherever you might be in the world. Below, I have attached information about a project I have been working on for some time. If you could just take a minute to read it over and possibly give a donation, that would be great. Feel free to email me if you would like further information or have any questions about the project. Thanks!!!




Koka, Togo
Community Health Clinic
Restoration and Materials
Alia Rezek, Peace Corps Volunteer

Koka, located in the Kara Region, is in Northeastern Togo. It is comprised of seven smaller villages and is residence to approximately 4000 people. Men, women and children live in cluster housing with extended family and friends. These houses are often constructed out of mud or cement bricks and are covered with thatch or tin roofing. The Nawda culture, known to westerners as Losso, is the predominant cultural group living in Koka. Nawdm is the indigenous language spoken here; however, many speak French, the official language of Togo. Koka follows the norms of Togo with approximately 35% of its population living under the poverty line. Three of the seven villages of Koka have electricity access. Water is supplied through wells and some pumps, but also through rain collection during rainy season.
Three years ago, Koka separated itself from the neighboring town of Niamtougou. Niamtougou, a large commerce center for the Kara region, brings in many visitors to its large weekly market, its various non-governmental organizations and traditional cloth production organization, CODHANI. However, the separation also left the village of Koka at a bit at a standstill. All knowledgeable governing officials remained in Niamtougou, leaving Koka very inexperienced. The village is presently in the process of developing its own resources and become the prosperous village they wanted to be when it separated from Niamtougou. New chiefs and development workers are being trained and are working together on various projects such as this one, opening a health clinic.
In the mid nineties, the community of Koka recognized there was a need for a local health clinic for residents to seek treatment for minor injuries, illnesses and maternity care. For a village the size and population of Koka, lacking of a basic medical care facility in a reasonable distance proves the villages’ pressing need. There are two neighboring hospitals in Niamtougou (3km from center of Koka) and Baga (4km from center of Koka). However, the community of Koka spreads out approximately 5 to 10km in diameter. For those living in the far reaches of Koka, one would have to walk upwards of 15km to seek medical care. This distance often discourages people from seeking medical care that most would consider necessary. This then often leads to further infection and problems, even death. Some of the common diseases that affect the population of Koka included Malaria, Hepatitis A and Typhoid Fever.
Individuals also turn to traditional means which are not always effective and often more expensive than proven western medicines. Women go months without seeking prenatal care or give birth at home, due to the long distances they would have to walk and the time they would waste to get to the hospital.
Community leaders such as development workers, chiefs and notable residents formed committees to search for partners to help finance the construction of a health clinic. They were able to find a family originally from Koka, living in Lomé, willing to donate the money necessary for the construction and to purchase some of the clinic supplies.
In 2000, construction started on the building, which would later be the clinic. With much community contributions and aid from community members living elsewhere, the building was quickly constructed. Community members with the skills donated their services. Skilled laborers of Koka, including carpenters and masons donated all of the labor in the construction. Women helped dig when needed and by carrying in water and sand every day to the site. In addition, many supplies were purchased or constructed such as hospital beds, scales and some other medical equipment.
The community also formed a committee, which would eventually be responsible for the management of the clinic once opened. COGES (Management Committee for Health) is comprised of a diverse group of responsible and respected individuals from the community. This includes a retired state nurse, the former regional chief, the chief of women, and several members from the community development committees who were deemed able to serve on this committee. They are capable of developing a monthly budget, purchasing necessary refills of pharmaceutical supplies, paying for the upkeep and repairs of the clinic and equipment.
The community selected three individuals’ capable and interested individuals in working at the clinic. A birth attendant, a nurse’s aid and a pharmacist were trained at the Niamtougou Hospital to work at the clinic and assist the nurse assigned by the Togolese government. This training was free of charge because of the availability of a government sponsored training program at the hospital. The pharmacist will work with COGES to maintain the budget and make monthly purchases. The community is willing to pay or seek funding to have the three receive a refresher course prior to starting work. The government-training program is no longer in existence at the hospital.
After the construction was completed in 2002, the partner in Lomé was unable to continue his financial assistance. The community did not know where to seek further funding, thus abandoning the building and the project until my arrival in December 2006. This was due in large part because of the lack of knowledge and experience on the part of the community leaders who took over leadership three years ago when Koka became an independent village. However, there are presently many very motivated community members assisting in continuing the process.
In order to maintain long-term sustainability, the community of Koka understands they must provide at least 25% of the total cost to complete the project. Community members will be more likely to use and respect the clinic when they know they had a hand in the completion of the project. Their contribution will be made in the form of financial contributions by all community members as well as manual assistance. Working with each village development committee and chiefs, each village will be responsible for collecting at least 150 mille (approx. $400). Their portion of the total cost to open the clinic will be used to purchase medical supplies and materials and the cost for the construction of several pieces of furniture. Their willingness to see this project completed is evident in the original construction of the clinic and through their ability to collect money for other projects in the community. There is a great desire amongst all of the people of Koka to be able to improve the health and quality of life for all its residents.
Local supplies such as dirt and water will be used in the repair process. A water and septic system will be completed in the already constructed clinic. For patients and families using the clinic, a latrine will be constructed to insure hygienic practices and promoting a positive environmental impact. The latrine we will be installing is a new model being used in Togo and worldwide. It is far more environmentally friendly than the more widely used model. No waste will be able to leak in to the ground, contaminating neighboring water or land. Waste will be made into a compost-like product after being heated in the holding chamber for about a year and can then be used as a natural and safe fertilizer. I will be constructing this model as an example for my village to in the future, build more environmentally friendly latrines.

IV. Budget

Peace Corps Partnership Contribution
Quantity CFA Cost/Unit CFA Total Cost Total Dollars
Water installation 2918.740 $6,304.86
Repairs to building 357.500 $772.44
Painting of building 301.650 $651.78
Latrine construction 1 82.550 82.550 $178.09
Mattresses 4 26.000 104.000 $224.72
Bench 6 10.800 64.800 $140.01
Lab Table 2 12.000 24.000 $51.80 ______________________________________________________________________________
TOTAL 3,853.240 $8,273.27

Community Contribution
Quantity CFA Cost/Unit CFA Total Cost Total Dollars
Pharmaceutical Materials 848.800 $1,834.31
Medicines 348.035 $753.63
Furniture
- Small Table 3 9.000 27.000 $58.34
- Large Table 1 20.000 20.000 $43.20
- Chairs 8 3.500 28.000 $60.48
- Hanger for baby scale 1 13.000 13.000 $28.07
- Adult Height Measurer 1 13.000 13.000 $28.07
- Baby Height Measurer 1 11.000 11.000 $23.75
_________________________________________________________________________________
TOTAL 1,308.035 $2,833.91

Summary Total Cost CFA Cost Dollars Percentage of Total
Peace Corps Partnership Contribution 3,829.240 $8,273.27 74.7%
Community Contribution 1,308.035 $2,833.91 25.3%
TOTAL 5,161.275 $11,107.18 100%

Statement of Project Funding Purpose
The community is fully aware that under no circumstance can changes be made in the budget given below after its submission. They are aware the money requested will not be coming from Peace Corps itself but is in cooperation between the village of the Koka and individual donors in the United States. They also understand financing will only be given one time, regardless of the outcome of project. The community OF Koka is extremely appreciative OF the help from donors and are aware that proposal acceptance, circulation to potential sponsors and funding is at the discretion of the Peace Corps Country Director and all other committee members involved.

If you are interested in making a donation to this project, please go to http://www.peacecorps.gov/. Click on the link Donate now, then contribute now. Once there, go to the list at the bottom and click on Africa. All projects with Peace Corps Partnership are listed here. Search through the list until you find project for Togo and then my name. It may take some time for Peace Corps to put my project on the website so please be patient and check regularly. You can also e-mail me at musicaldiva00@yahoo.com if you have any questions and/or comments (please give me a couple of days or weeks to respond to you, as the Internet is not always easily accessible). I am grateful for your taking the time to read this and I hope it finds you happy and healthy.