I've passed the three month mark!!!

March 11th marks three months at post. I feel it is quite an accomplishment considering I wasn't’t even sure at times I was going to make it through training. It has been a while since I last posted and a lot of things have been going on. So I guess I will start back in January.
Since my village celebrates New Years on January 24th I didn’t get much work done during the entire month. Everyone was feting, not really taking life to seriously so I didn’t put too much effort into work either. But I started working with my peer educators. They are a good group of kids. Some of them are eager to learn, others are there just to pass the time. But, whatever, they are learning something in the process.

I also started a monthly women’s health group. We are going to meet once a month (or more often if time permits) to discuss different health topics. During the month of February I visited the 8 villages that make up the village of Koka, explaining what I was planning and letting the village women know that it was going to be occuring. Also, it helped to get a better idea of the needs of the community. Of course, like I knew I would hear, every village said they needed a closer water source. Some said they had mosquito problems, and others said they wanted to learn about family planning. But I hope in due time I will be able to help at least in some way.

On March 10th I had the first women's meeting. Almost 100 women came with well over 100 children. I ended up doing two sessions to reach all of the women who came. I did a presentation on basic nutrition and types of foods that are good to give to children and foods that are needed during pregnancy. I hope the women got something out of it. I’ll see in due time if the villages childrens’ hair starts to turn orange when they are not getting enough nutrition in the hot season.

Baby vaccinations and weighing is still going on. I gave an information session on why it is important to wash your hands with soap after you go to the bathroom. Toilet paper is not really used here by most people, so scraps of paper make due. Hopefully the women understood what I was saying, considering it had to be translated into four different local languages. It was a busy day! I also started helping with prenatal appointments. It was interesting to see that women here generally don’t start getting prenatal exams until they are already 6 or 7 months pregnant. So once they start showing. This made me a little nervous with some of the women because they only gained like 2 kilos between the months. Definitely not enough. But just getting the women into the hospital is a big step, so at least they are getting medical care for the end of the pregnancy. I was however happy to see quite a few women come in with their husbands and decided TOGETHER to start using family planning methods. Even in this backwards, sexist society, there is some light at the end of the tunnel!

On February 27Th I celebrated my 23rd birthday. It was spent in village with the volunteers in my cluster. My neighbor, Todd, made Mexican food. It was really yummy! And afterward we all ate chocolate cake!!! It was a fun birthday until around 6PM when I started getting really sick. The night ended with me having a 103° fever most of the night and having to run to the latrine every half hour. Not very fun. But luckily my neighbor, Alex, was there to help. The next morning my fever had broken and I was feeling much better but I still went into Kara that afternoon to get some medicine. The Peace Corps medical officer said that there has been a bug going around so it is not surprising that I got it. But I am feeling fine now!!

My new kitchen has been built and I have been moved in for two weeks now. It took a lot of nagging to get my Togolese brother to finally put the door on, but now I can’t imagine not having it. I now have a nice cemented courtyard, too,which I soon hope to decorate by planting some potted flowers and some furniture.

Tomorrow I am leaving for Pagala, a village in central Togo where Peace Corps has a camp. Most of the volunteers will be there this weekend. I am really excited to see some of the people I trained with. I haven’t seen most of them since December. We will also be meeting 4 volunteers who were transferred from Guinea after all of Peace Corps was evacuated from the country a few weeks ago. And next week I have a training with my homologue (Togolese counterpart) on how to apply for Peace Corps funding sources. I know my homologue is going to really enjoy hanging out with the other homologues.

Other than that I have been trying to take time for myself. After all, when else am I going to get the chance to live in AFRICA! I visit my neighbors a lot and play with the kids in my quartier. They know my name but they still call me Sama (Nawdm for white person). I don’t really mind it when it is these specific kids. I also have been reading a lot and biking a lot more. I have already lost 25lbs since arriving in country. I got a fridge which was a big splurge but it is so worth it! I love having cold water whenever I want it. And even though the power has been going out more often, it is still really nice to have. I enjoyed the lunar eclipse last week when the power was out. It makes the stars seem so much brighter when there is no artificial light getting in the way. I am also learning to be a little more creative with my cooking. Some things have come out alright.

Sometimes I wonder why I came here. Like when I get 10 marriage proposal in one day. I didn’t come here to get harassed and bothered by any man who thinks that because I am a woman and white. Or my numerous days when I am frustrated with my homologues inability to grasp things that I say to him, but he can't really help because he is from a different culture. But then there are the good days. Like when I see my language tutor washing her kids hands WITH soap without my guidance. Little by little I think things are starting to stick. I hope in two years to be able to look back at this slow period and see that I made a big difference.

Alright well I hope everyone is doing well back in the states and around the world!!! Keep the emails and letters coming!!!