Three weeks and counting
So I have been in Togo for around 3 weeks. I can't believe how fast time has gone by. Our days are always packed full of training that the days have just turned into weeks. Us Yovos (what everyone here calls us. It means white man) over here are very hot and sweaty but eager to get through training and on to our posts. I am finding a lot of the things I felt like I totally needed to bring with me I really didn't need. Like lotion, so much clothing, etc. The one thing I am really glad I brought was my card games. They have been a good way to get to know my host family and a good way to pass the time with the other trainees.
I got my post assignment today. I am really happy about it. I will be moving to a small town in the northern half of the country called Koka. You won't be able to find it on a map. It is around 30KM northeast of Kara. I will be working with the Togo branch of the Red Cross. I will be the first volunteer in the town so I imagine I will be doing a fair amount of explaining what Peace Corps is, why I am there, what I can do, etc. I know I will be working on the HIV/AIDS problem in the town. The people who I will be working with want to develop a community level health group as well as develop health programs in the schools. This post was my first choice so I am really excited about it. I will have electricity and running water and descent cell phone reception (once I get a cell phone). The one thing that I was adamant about when interviewing for posts was that I wanted to be close to other volunteers. There are at least 10 volunteers in the 30KM radius of my town and some are only a few km away. I am really happy about that!!!
Last Sunday a bunch of us went hiking up to a waterfall near our training site. It took about an hour and half to get there, hiking through a jungle like setting. We had to walk through the river on four occasions, which I wasn't too thrilled about because of the risk of contracting a parasite from the water. That would not have been too fun. But so far, nothing strange has developed on my legs so I guess I am good for now. The waterfall was really pretty and for the short time we were there, we actually felt cold. Doesn't come often here. On the way back down there was this guy that was hassling us in the usual Togolese way of asking for money for using the path. He was only bothering us because we are white and the local people that took us up to the waterfalls were children. We didnÂt end up paying him money and my host dad ended up talking to him about it, telling him to stop harassing us.
So I have only been having a few problems with bugs or critters. They are mostly in my latrine/shower. There had been the spider the size of my hand, the snail as big as a small cell phone and the huge frog that scared the crap out of me yesterday. I have learned to get along with them and when I can't I have my host mom kill them. She thinks it is really funny that I am afraid of them.
My host mom is quite the character. She is a really small lady but she can yell. Both her and my host dad are retired teachers. She was in the hospital all summer for something, I have yet to learn what. And my host dad owns a small store in the next town over and sells this local liquor called Sodabee. It comes from Palm trees and the sap is then fermented. He made me try some yesterday because we had a guest for dinner. I drank less than a teaspoon full, but it was still the most disgusting stuff I have ever tried. My host father of course, laughed. I am under the impression that I only have 3 host brothers and one host sister, but someone told me that my host dad has 13 children from one of his two wives. He was married to another woman but they got divorced a few years ago. But from hearing rumors, the children are not just from those two wives. But I will never ask him the truth.
We met the chief of my host village yesterday. There is a chief of the town and then underneath him is the chief of the women and the chief of the youth. I still donÂt really understand what their purpose is but they said they help deal with local crime and cleaning up the village. Whenever I want to do a project in my village I will have to get permission from the chief. SO I guess I will have to learn to be on his good side. I will have help from my co worker so I am not too worried.
Most of the CHAP trainees are going to Kpalime today to use the pool. I am so excited to not be sweating, at least for a little while. I also need to start buying things for my post. I am going to be bringing the bulk of my stuff up to post and leaving it there until swearing-in in December because I don't want to have to bringing it back down to Lomé and then back up to my post. Too much hauling of stuff.
We went to visit a hospital last week which proved to be quite disturbing. It was more so because I know that only a small portion of the entire population of Togo are able to afford to receive services from a hospital. Most other people have to rely on traditional medicine or the little medical expertise that from a local doctor. People can also buy drugs that would typically be prescription medications at the local store, but not really know for sure what it does. Today on our way to Kpalime, we passed what seemed like a car accident. There was a young boy laying on the road bleeding quite badly. The people standing around him did not hesitate to move him out of the way just so we could get by. The idea of internal medicine is very foreign to most people here. It truly was an eye opening experience for what I am going to come across at my post.
On a lighter note, I have received some mail from a some people already. But keep in coming! We get mail is lumps and not very often. It is truly the best part of the day when I get mail. So please send some!!!
Alia Rezek, PSV
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 3194
Lome, Togo
West Africa
If anyone has and recent magazines that they are finished reading, send them over. We are desperate for the American gossip. We feel very out of the loop and what is going on and only get a little bit of information when we talk to people on the phone.
Hope everything is good back home. Enjoy the fall!!! We are heading into the cool, dry season. There is a wind system that blows down from the Sahara every December that is cool but very sandy. And come March I will be extremely hot! One of the volunteers that just finished her service said that during the hot season, it can get up to 130F in the sun. We'll see how I manage with that.
I got my post assignment today. I am really happy about it. I will be moving to a small town in the northern half of the country called Koka. You won't be able to find it on a map. It is around 30KM northeast of Kara. I will be working with the Togo branch of the Red Cross. I will be the first volunteer in the town so I imagine I will be doing a fair amount of explaining what Peace Corps is, why I am there, what I can do, etc. I know I will be working on the HIV/AIDS problem in the town. The people who I will be working with want to develop a community level health group as well as develop health programs in the schools. This post was my first choice so I am really excited about it. I will have electricity and running water and descent cell phone reception (once I get a cell phone). The one thing that I was adamant about when interviewing for posts was that I wanted to be close to other volunteers. There are at least 10 volunteers in the 30KM radius of my town and some are only a few km away. I am really happy about that!!!
Last Sunday a bunch of us went hiking up to a waterfall near our training site. It took about an hour and half to get there, hiking through a jungle like setting. We had to walk through the river on four occasions, which I wasn't too thrilled about because of the risk of contracting a parasite from the water. That would not have been too fun. But so far, nothing strange has developed on my legs so I guess I am good for now. The waterfall was really pretty and for the short time we were there, we actually felt cold. Doesn't come often here. On the way back down there was this guy that was hassling us in the usual Togolese way of asking for money for using the path. He was only bothering us because we are white and the local people that took us up to the waterfalls were children. We didnÂt end up paying him money and my host dad ended up talking to him about it, telling him to stop harassing us.
So I have only been having a few problems with bugs or critters. They are mostly in my latrine/shower. There had been the spider the size of my hand, the snail as big as a small cell phone and the huge frog that scared the crap out of me yesterday. I have learned to get along with them and when I can't I have my host mom kill them. She thinks it is really funny that I am afraid of them.
My host mom is quite the character. She is a really small lady but she can yell. Both her and my host dad are retired teachers. She was in the hospital all summer for something, I have yet to learn what. And my host dad owns a small store in the next town over and sells this local liquor called Sodabee. It comes from Palm trees and the sap is then fermented. He made me try some yesterday because we had a guest for dinner. I drank less than a teaspoon full, but it was still the most disgusting stuff I have ever tried. My host father of course, laughed. I am under the impression that I only have 3 host brothers and one host sister, but someone told me that my host dad has 13 children from one of his two wives. He was married to another woman but they got divorced a few years ago. But from hearing rumors, the children are not just from those two wives. But I will never ask him the truth.
We met the chief of my host village yesterday. There is a chief of the town and then underneath him is the chief of the women and the chief of the youth. I still donÂt really understand what their purpose is but they said they help deal with local crime and cleaning up the village. Whenever I want to do a project in my village I will have to get permission from the chief. SO I guess I will have to learn to be on his good side. I will have help from my co worker so I am not too worried.
Most of the CHAP trainees are going to Kpalime today to use the pool. I am so excited to not be sweating, at least for a little while. I also need to start buying things for my post. I am going to be bringing the bulk of my stuff up to post and leaving it there until swearing-in in December because I don't want to have to bringing it back down to Lomé and then back up to my post. Too much hauling of stuff.
We went to visit a hospital last week which proved to be quite disturbing. It was more so because I know that only a small portion of the entire population of Togo are able to afford to receive services from a hospital. Most other people have to rely on traditional medicine or the little medical expertise that from a local doctor. People can also buy drugs that would typically be prescription medications at the local store, but not really know for sure what it does. Today on our way to Kpalime, we passed what seemed like a car accident. There was a young boy laying on the road bleeding quite badly. The people standing around him did not hesitate to move him out of the way just so we could get by. The idea of internal medicine is very foreign to most people here. It truly was an eye opening experience for what I am going to come across at my post.
On a lighter note, I have received some mail from a some people already. But keep in coming! We get mail is lumps and not very often. It is truly the best part of the day when I get mail. So please send some!!!
Alia Rezek, PSV
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 3194
Lome, Togo
West Africa
If anyone has and recent magazines that they are finished reading, send them over. We are desperate for the American gossip. We feel very out of the loop and what is going on and only get a little bit of information when we talk to people on the phone.
Hope everything is good back home. Enjoy the fall!!! We are heading into the cool, dry season. There is a wind system that blows down from the Sahara every December that is cool but very sandy. And come March I will be extremely hot! One of the volunteers that just finished her service said that during the hot season, it can get up to 130F in the sun. We'll see how I manage with that.
posted by Alia at 9:27 AM
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