12/10/07 through 12/16/07

12/10/07



It is hard to believe that it is almost Christmas. It sure doesn't feel like it, although I did hear some familiar Christmas tunes on the radio in French when I went into the boutique today. My friends – the other volunteers from my stage – are planning Christmas at one of the volunteer's houses in Vogan. I really want to spend Christmas with them because I think it will distract me more from missing my family terribly, but I know that people in my village really want me to spend Christmas in village and I feel a little bit badly about running off to spend it with other Americans. On the other hand, though, I am afraid of deciding to stay in village and then sitting in my house feeling sad and alone.



Today I got up early and went to see the DPS (Prefectural Director of Health). I wanted to talk to him about how to motivate the COGES (village health committee) and about acquiring a suspended scale for baby weighing. I had to wait for half an hour, but he received me warmly and openly. Then I went to buy pineapples, to the internet (for fear the power would cut and I wouldn't get a chance later in the day) and then Ashley and I hit the market. Three of Ashley's friends are arriving a week from tomorrow and staying for Christmas, so she is trying to get her house all ready. I bought fruits and vegetables and she bought fabric for curtains, some plastics, some woven grass baskets etc.



We made fried rice for lunch and then chatted until 3:00 when Ashley accompanied me to the taxi stand. She would have waited with me except it seemed as though we were ready to go. We piled seven people into a five passenger car and drove off only to switch cars and drivers and return five minutes later to the exact spot we had just left. I ended up waiting almost an hour for the car to fill up. The whole time a young man was trying to get me to tell him my name, my phone number, where I lived and he just couldn't seem to understand why I would refuse. Men here see white skin on a female body and they immediately go after it. It is ridiculous and the polar opposite of flattering because you know they can't tell you apart from any other white girl and that the yare just attracted like moths to the glowing brightness of your skin.



I finally arrived in Agbatitoe and left some of my excess baggage with a moto driver I know while I went to get my bike chez Mana. I left my new pagne with her to make into a skirt and top. I explained what I wanted for the top, but I am afraid she will just do whatever she wants to it. It worries me that she didn't even take my measurements . . . we will see.



In the evening I made oatmeal cookies – I was searching for some recipe that takes three eggs because I broke three on my trip back. My egg carrier works great to protect eggs, but only really small eggs fit in it and if you try to put bigger ones in they inevitably crack.



I am pooped – it is 8:30, past my bed-time. Good night!



12/11/07



Today was a busy, productive and good day and I am happy for it. I think another part of my frustration last week was that I was feeling guilty for having been gone for so long. I think I will try to avoid leaving village for long periods of time in the future.



This morning I got up, ate oatmeal and bananas for breakfast and organized some of the things that I had brought with me form Notse. Then I went to the dispensaire, discovered that Lili had gone to Notse and so I took my bike and my big plastic yellow canteen and went to the marigot, the water hole. Tomorrow I am going to go and I will take pictures because you should see where they are getting their drinking water from. It is disgusting and green. I really need to remember to look into filters. I need to see if there is someone in Togo making filters that could be marketed at not too high of a price and, if not, I should think about a filter project. Dad, any suggestions? Do you market filters anywhere? How hard are they to manufacture? How much do they cost? I think that people would buy them if they weren't too expensive. Someone at the dispensaire today randomly asked me about ways to clean water and make it potable.



Of course, I had many little helpers when I went to the marigot. I never have to get in the water or fill up my own canteen because someone always does it for me. I prefer going to the water source now, when there is less water than before because I can avoid actually touching the water. I took the full canteen to the garden and watered my morninga trees. I counted about twenty that still look like they might survive the dry season, so that isn't too bad. I am watering the wilting ones anyway, just in case they can be revived. I will try to water them every day I am in village.



Afterwards I went back to the dispensaire, took out the "pavilion" Mana made out of six big sheets and measured it with my new tape measure to get an idea of where I would need to dig holes for posts. I spent the rest of the morning, until 11:00, digging eight holes in the ground for my supports. On my way home, I stopped by to greet Tsevi at his gas station – he sells gas to moto drivers and he asked me what I was doing and when I told him he wondered aloud why I hadn't asked for help. So I did. I asked him to help me get posts (He probably wished that he had never opened his mouth =0). The men here can chop down eight small trees in an hour, a task which would take me eight hours. I was very relieved when he said he would help me.



I went home, showered, ran to say hi to Lili, now back from Notse, and then to the school to be there at 11:30 when class gets out. I wanted to speak to the director about the Lève-toi Jeune Fille magazines (a short 4-6 page publication encouraging Togolese girls to succeed in school, work and life and providing them with a place to voice their ideas, experiences and concerns. I am hoping that the teachers of the two highest classes will incorporate the reading into their class. It would be a good way to exercise the students' French with an interesting and important topic. I also spoke with him about teaching health classes after Christmas. He didn't seem to object to the idea of alternating health and art classes (the art classes have as their objective both amusement and the development and exercise of a new sort of motor skill, but also reflection and interpretation, through drawing, of the health lesson from the week before). I think creativity is not really one of the priorities at school, but I am happy that the director is at least open to the idea and I am excited to try it out. I think drawings can be like essays in the sense that they force you to assimilate, process and then reproduce information. I am not sure how the students will respond to the task, but I will give it a try. Finally, I also spoke with the director about the possibility of collaboration between the dispensaire and the school. Essentially I would like for the students to weed the dispensaire and bring water so that Lili doesn't have to pay someone to do those tasks. I am not sure (aside from me teaching classes at the school) how the dispensaire can collaborate with the school, but the director seemed to think that Lili wouldn't want the students to do those jobs (but when I spoke with her about it she said that she had asked and he had flatly refused) and so we didn't conclude anything except that we will discuss it further with Lili and the COGES present as well.



After speaking with the director, I came home and was making a lunch of rice, lentils and ademan (a green leafy vegetable) when I got a lovely surprise phone call from my parents. It was so wonderful and such an unexpected treat to hear their voices for a few minutes. I felt like I was glowing with happiness after their call and my excitement seemed to be contagious. The children had been attracted by the English emanating from under my paillote. For some reason, whenever I get a phone call in village I rush outside, as if the connection will be better if uninhibited by wood and metal roofing.



Following that pick-me-up, I finished cooking and ate my very delicious lunch and then I puttered around doing random things (like putting wall putty on my maps so the wind doesn't blow them all over the place and roasting peanuts, fixing students' torn notebooks, and giving a little boy a pair of tweezers (a pair I don't' use) to pick something out of his feet with. Around 1:45 I went out to play UNO with the children and saw that Efo was in village. He had come back just for a couple of hours to get money and I guess some food supply as well (he left with a bag full of beans). Yawovi was also in village today – I saw him in the morning. I don't know why they chose to come back on a school day and not a weekend – probably to avoid having to help in the fields. Efo told me that some of the people who were supposed to be at our meeting on Sunday had confused the place and others the time – hopefully next weekend we can really get it together.



After playing UNO I went to see if Tsevi had been serious about helping me and when he would be available to go get the posts. He seemed to want to go immediately and, of course, I didn't argue. It was a little awkward because he was evidently taking time away from his income generating activity (selling petrol) and even though I brought a coupcoup, it was just ornamental – I was no help at all. Once again, he is the one person who really pulls through for me (Lili too). He cut down eight or nine posts for me in under an hour and then carried a bundle of them (that I could barely lift) back to village for me on his head. I carried a bundle of four of the smaller trees – switching the load from shoulder to shoulder because I had forgotten something to cushion my head with. I am pretty sure my shoulders will be visibly bruised tomorrow, but I am extremely happy to have posts!



Once back in village, I dumped my load and went to help Lili with the budget summaries that she is still working on. She needs to present the information at a meeting in Notse on Monday.



In the evening, as it was getting dark, I sat with DaJulie and her mom whom I call "Mama." I managed to express, in Ewe, that I had watered my trees in the morning and that I was making something to shade the women from the sun on Friday, the vaccination day. When I was about to get up and go they said why? Are you going to prepare dinner? Are you going to shower? No, no. I told them I only shower once a day unless I go to the fields or do a lot of work. They laughed. We talked about New Years and when my parents and grandmother will be coming (yay! April! Four months!) I asked what they will do in the fields tomorrow (something with corn) and commented on how tired they must be after working so hard every day. All in all I was pleased with how much we could communicate. It wasn't perfect, of course, but we were communicating nonetheless.



12/12/07



I have been forgetting to metion that every evening now they light huge brush fires in different sections surrounding the village. I am guessing that the idea is to burn it in a controlled manner so that it isn't as likely to catch on fire and burn in an uncontrollable manner.



I also forgot to mention yesterday that I saw that Lili gets paid only 20,000 cFA a month (around $40.00 – I don't know what the exchange rate is now – I always use 500 cFA = $1.00, but I know that the dollar has fallen). Compared to people who don't earn any money that is a lot, though, I guess, and I think she also got a 120,000 cFA bonus. If that is true (it was on the budget under motivation of the staff and she is the only one on the staff) then it was a pretty sweet bonus – half of her yearly salary.



Today has had its ups and downs and I can't really say whether it was productive or not, but in either case it was busy. I forgot my camera again when I went to the marigot – the water source. That is too bad because the water source we were using before is all used up and the new one is a ways from the path and I am not too keen on the idea of trekking out to it with my huge canteen. Maybe I will just go to take pictures and not bring back any water. The water we collected today was grey – it seemed to have a high clay content, I certainly hope that they don't drink this water, but I fear that they do. I really need to get on a filter initiative. A teenage girl filled my canteen for me and so again I escaped wading into the murky water, but then I had to carry it out to where I had left my bicycle and that was painful. The path was just trodden grass and it was wet with the morning dew and so were my flip-flops. I envisioned myself slipping on my flip-flops, the grass or the slope itself and so I decided it would be best to remove my sandals and brave the grass barefoot than break an ankle. I made it, but I am already very sore. I wish I knew how much the full canteen weighs because then I could impress you all with my strength =0).



Barteleme, one of DaJulie's boys, likes to take advantage of my trips to the marigot to put his canteen on top of mine and we precariously wheel my bicycle back to village. I watered my moringa trees. Lili says that if I start watering them every day and then stop they will die. I don't know enough about trees and gardening to know if she is right or not. I guess I need to check and see if the pump is open and decide whether to commit to watering them or not. The problem is that I'm not here all the time and sometimes even when I am, I am lazy.



After watering my trees, I tried to put the posts in the ground and test out my pavilion for the vaccination day on Friday. Several of the older boys, whom I know through the soccer ball business, didn't go to school today (something about work they hadn't finished . . . ) and so they came to my aid and I was thankful for their help. The problem is that unless the roof of the pavilion (made, if you recall out of sheets I bought and had sewn together) is sharply inclined, the sun just shines in underneath. I knew that would be the case, but I didn't realize to what extent. The great thing about natural shade, a tree for example, is that there is always shade on some side or directly beneath at noon. We played around with it and I argued with spectators about how best to make it work. We eventually reached an acceptable arrangement, but I am beginning to doubt the intelligence of my idea. I think I chose to make a tent like pavilion rather than a paillote (using sheets instead of grass) because I thought it was something I could do without too much help and also that it would be cheaper. Now I am not convinced. I spend 6,000 cFA on the sheets – my paillote only cost 10,000 cFA. Also, a real paillote would last longer and protect from rain whereas, come rainy season, my cloth contraption is going to be just about useless. To look for the bright side, however, perhaps someone will see, notice and appreciate the effort I have made and will take the initiative to make a more permanent shady area. Or perhaps that is just wishful thinking.



I finished testing out my tent around 10:00, showered, ate a pineapple and then went back to help Lili with the budget presentation. We worked from 10:30 until 2:00 – I was trying to make small outlines of our presentation before taking the time to copy it onto large sheets of paper – a fruitless effort because later in the afternoon, after I had copied the in-miniature onto the display sheet, Lili said we would have to do it over again because I had included an item that is never included in the summary of the budget. I got really frustrated because I had asked her if she wanted to look at the miniature copy before I wrote it all out on flip-chart paper and she said no, just write it out. I got extremely frustrated after that because I found that she didn't listen to what I was saying, she just kept repeating that we never include that item. Fine, but I had finally gotten the math to work out and I was trying to tell her that if we were going to eliminate an item, we would have to add its cost to another of the items so that the math would remain accurate. She didn't listen and just stubbornly kept repeating that we don't include and never have (showing me the flip chart presentations from past years to emphasize her point) that certain item. I understand the value of knowing how to follow directions but you have to know how to think too. And you wonder why this was about the fourth time she had filled out the chart and each and every time she gets the whole presentation filled out on flip-chart paper (more time and resource consuming than with a regular pen and paper) and then realizes that the math doesn't work out and that there must be an error somewhere. I realize that it isn't purely her fault – I don't think the educational system here teaches students to think outside the box, but it seems that, if they don't have step-by-step instructions to follow robotically then the task is rendered impossible. I was too frustrated to be of much help afterwards, but I sat and watched and sure enough they filled out the chart and once again realized that the math doesn't check out. I am pretty sure I know exactly where their mistake is, but they are too stubborn to listen.



To skip back to lunch time – around 2:00 I made myself a wonderful lunch of pasta with onions, garlic, olive oil, tomatoes, ademan (green leafy vegetable) and basil. It was yummy. I also made two banana cakes. One is for Tsevi in thanks for the help cutting down trees and the other maybe I will bring to Ashley's house tomorrow. I still have four rotting bananas to use up though.



12/13/07 and 12/14/07



I was hoping to write yesterday and maybe even get a head start typing up my letters from the past couple of days, but it didn't work out. Jerome was late for my Ewe lesson, again, but I can't really blame him because he had two flat tires. In any case, his tardiness gave me time to make curried rice and chick peas for our lunch, banana doughnuts to get rid of the too ripe bananas and clean my house. I committed a huge stupidity when I was burning my garbage. There were ants in the garbage – thanks to my chocolate wrappers and when they started to scramble all over my latrine and shower (where I burn garbage) I picked up the insecticide I keep in my latrine and sprayed them. Luckily, I stepped before I made the fire really angry. I succeeded in killing the ants though.



I also had time to go with Nazir (I think his name is actually Ignace, but sometimes it is hard to distinguish exactly what they are saying and if I have never heard or seen the name before your guess is as good as mine as how to spell it) to see the carpenter. I had drawn out the dimensions of the shelf I want built for my kitchen area and the carpenter wanted 15,000 cFA to build it. We went around and around trying to agree on a price. Eventually I told him to make it with a cheaper, worse quality wood for 8,000 cFA. I don't need something that will last a life time, just two years. I came home and took a shower and brought Lili some banana doughnuts. Early that morning I had brought Tsevi one of the banana cakes as a little "thank you" for having helped me cut down trees. He wasn't there, but I got a chance to thank him personally later as we were walking to the carpenters.



Jerome finally arrived around 11:30. I wasn't too antsy because I had been busy almost the whole morning. What I hate is sitting around doing nothing except waiting. Our lesson was short, sweet and to the point, just how I like it. We did the colors in Ewe and I also learned that "yovo" doesn't mean white, but rather is a term uniquely employed to designate non-black foreigners. It can't be used for animals or anything but non-African people. African-Americans might be called "yovo" or "ameyibo-yovo." Ameyibo is the words for black person and it literally means just that. Ame is person and yiboo is black. My questions lead us into a discussion of "race and African American Peace Corps Volunteers. It was an interesting conversation which just emphasizes that skin-color is still very much an issue. Jerome said that from his experience interacting with one African American PCV, he felt that the African American PCV alienated the Togolese more than the non-African American volunteers. That perhaps reflects the African American volunteer's desire to distinguish himself from the Togolese – perhaps as a result of a deeply lodged insecurity in the color of his skin. On the other hand, it is just as possible that Jerome perceived a sort of discrimination on the part of this African American volunteer precisely because he himself discriminates between skin colors and expects the African American volunteer to be even more friendly, welcoming, humble than a non-African volunteer. He himself said that it was jarring to feel as though this PCV who is exactly like them (the Togolese) was acting as he were somehow different or better. The catch, though, is that had it been a white volunteer who was distancing himself a little, his behavior would not have been as highly criticized as this African American volunteer's behavior was. Ultimately, even among the educated, forward thinking Togolese, there is still an almost unconscious conviction that white people are somehow better.



After the conversation on the implications of skin color we got into an interesting conversation about women. Jerome said he had reprimanded Ignace (Nazir?) because he would tell his wife to do this, do that, when she was evidently busy attending to their child and he could just as well have done the things himself. I thing that is great. If there are enough people out there sensibilizing others on a day to day, informal basis, perhaps little by little the position of women here will change for the better. Jerome said that sometimes women perpetuate the servile role by trying to compete with their co-wives to see who can best anticipate the husband's needs and desires and thereby gain favor.



I also asked Jerome about the photos of the murdered woman and he said that often people will take photos of horrific incidents and sell them as proof that the incident, which otherwise might be shrugged off as rumor, actually took place. He didn't seem to think that it is objectionable o like profiting off someone's tragedy, but more like a way of legitimizing news in the absence of television and widely circulating newspapers.



I think he enjoyed my lunch, but he thought it strange that I would mix chickpeas and rice. Apparently they eat chickpeas with gari (dried, shaved manioc) and not rice.



As he was leaving to give Ignace his Ewe lesson, his moto got another flat tire. I had asked him to take me to Agbatit on his moto and was selfishly a little worried about how that would work out. It eventually did work out as most things do, but it took its jolly good time. While he was instructing Ignace, the mechanic pumped up the tire. We didn't get one kilometer out of village (thankfully, because he pushed the moto back) before it was flat again. Jerome had just bought a new inner tube that morning, but evidently they didn't identify all the sources of puncture because the mechanic pulled three metal pins out of the tire. Unfortunately, his new inner tube had to be replaced.



We arrived in Agbatit around 5:00. I was supposed to drop the buget summary off at the hospital for Lili but it was already too late. We went to say hi to Nicolas and then I went to see the priest and Mana. Normally I would just go to see Mana, but the priest had asked me to help him with a letter he needs to write in English. He had given me the impression that he would write it out in English and I would proof-read it. Turns out that he wants me to translate a letter he wrote in French. I don't really mind, it is just a more time consuming task. It is a Christmas letter to people in Europe and the United States who help fund his work – building churches, schools, sensibilizing etc. He is also hoping that I can take some pictures and help him send it electronically via email. Oh well, it won't hurt to be on good terms with him and as of now I don't mind the task. We will see how I feel when I really get busy on it.



Unfortunately, my short visit with Mana was tainted by my undeniable disappointment with the top she made out of my lovely new pagne. I knew I should have told her not to do anything with the rest of the material if there wasn't enough to make the top I had described. The top she made isn't hideous; it just isn't anything special or different. It is the most mainstream of tops and that makes me sad because it was an exceptional pagne and I wanted an exceptional outfit. If I can find another pagne of it I might buy it, but I have conflicting feelings about having Mana make my clothes. She is my friend, so it would be little rude to go to anyone else. She also makes me things for very little money (the whole outfit was 1,000 cFA – the girls in Notse paid that for just the skirt), but if she ruins the pagne that I buy because she insists on thinking that she knows what I want better than I do (something my parents will agree is impossible), then she might end up costing me money. I just have to be very very specific and insist that if she doesn't have enough pagne to do what I have asked that she just wait to talk to me about options before doing anything. I still feel all disappointed when I think of what she did with my beautiful pagne. I wonder how many tries I should give her; how many times do I have to be disappointed by the results before I find myself a new seamstress? On the other hand, it is a pretty good fit considering she never measured me.



Leaving Agbatit I got lucky and hopped in a car that left immediately. I arrived in Notse after six and went to join Ashley, Heather and Jake (a new GEE volunteer posted out by the border with Benin) at Hotel Dunya (the hotel behind Ashley's house).



In the meandering conversations that followed, Heather told me that her Ewe teacher had independently suggested Avassikpe as the place to go for "authentic" (whatever that means) voudou ceremonies. He then turned around, however, and suggested that she could buy beer and they would hold a voudou ceremony for her. She wasn't keen on the idea to begin with, but I was quick to make it clear that that wouldn't be ok with me at all. I would be extremely upset if she were to come into my village, buy a whole bunch of beer and have a voudou ceremony staged for her. I have to live there and it would be a total invasion of my territory if I can be so possessive. Luckily, she is cool and understands completely and I don't think would have gone about it that way anyway and yet I am tempted to say, "find yourself another village to go voudou hunting in." It is neat, though, to know that Avassikpe has a reputation for practicing voudou and Heather also told me that owls are the birds that sorcerers most often take the form of and so perhaps Efo will show me an owl over Christmas and tell me that it is a sorcerer in disguise.



I left the bar to go to internet, but Jorge and I weren't able to connect through chat and so I soon returned. We left shortly thereafter and Ashley and I just chatted, showered and went to bed.



12/14/07



I was trying not to stress myself out today even though I knew that it probably wasn't wise to experiment with the rural Togolese transportation system on a day when I needed to be in village to help with the monthly vaccination day.



To cut out some of the monotony – Ashley helped me get a car around 6:00 – it wasn't hard to find a car to Agbatit, but they tried to over charge me for my stuff – two tables, a mortar and pestle, a back pack with a rock in it and a big bag full of toilet paper and styrofoam (to make my latrine less mosquito friendly). I got them down to what I thought was a fair price and I am glad that I insisted because I know I got taken advantage of on the Agbatit-Avassikpe leg of the trip. After sitting around waiting for over an hour and a half without even finding a car headed towards Avassikpe, I wasn't about to miss my chance. I sent my things wit ha car and I took a moto (probably just a ploy to wring more money out of me, but I wasn't in the mood to argue). I am happy to have my things in village with me and even though it is just more clutter or the time being, I hope that soon it will all be arranged and I will feel more or less settled. Knowing, me, though (thanks Dad – I am sure I inherited this trait from you!) I will be adjusting and tweaking my living arrangements for my whole two years here.



[As a side note whoever bought all the kids in the village noise makers (like the party kind that you blow into and they make an obnoxious cross between a trumpet and a whistle) should be forced to spend a night in a sound-proof room with them all. And I though goats made an unpleasant sound.]



The children helped me bring everything to my house and I thanked them with sugar-filled chewing gum (a little contradictory to my mission here considering that dental hygiene and dental care are practically non-existent).



The vaccination day "festivities" hadn't yet started and so I had time to set up my tent and get benches (six benches that belong to the Catholic church). Vaccination day was very tiring and taxing, but there were some satisfactory elements and some "needs improvement" areas.



I was pleased with the tent. It worked to shade the women from the sun, cleared out the dispensaire a little and provided the women with a place to sit. The number system, on the other hand, receives the grade of "N" – needs improvement. Ninety-nine percent of the women don't know their numbers (at all, much less in French) and having the option of comparing their number with a larger number doesn't seem to help. If I can make numbers that are durable, double sided and can hang from a string around their necks, that might help, because then I could see the numbers without constantly asking to see their little papers (I just wonder if it isn't somehow demeaning to have them and numbers around their necks). Secondly, it frustrated me that at a given point Lili gave up on the number system because she said that the women weren't respecting it. She is the one performing the service – if she only attends to people in numerical order, then it doesn't matter if they respect it or not – eventually they will get the idea that it does them no good to stand there holding their health cards out because she isn't going to serve them until it is their turn. I am also going to set up the space better, dividing the inside from the outside and see if that helps. Today matters were not improved by the fact that none of the ASCs, people who usually help with vaccination days, showed. There were only three of us (and my helpfulness is limited due to language barriers and medical inexpertise) to organize everyone, take their information, fill out their cards, register it in the book, give vaccinations and attend to the random sick people. Ideally, one person would be in charge of the numbers, another would fill out the cards, another the registry and the vaccination guy from Notse would just give vaccinations. Next time I plan to keep people outside until their paperwork has been done and place the desk at the door so only those women with completed paperwork are inside. We will see how well I can implement that plan. Sometimes I feel frustrated because I feel as though Lili is not willing to make the effort to improve things. Once we work out a good system and the women understand how it works, I think it will be much easier. Right now we are just suffering the growing pains. Again, though, I can't blame Lili because she pretty much has to do everything herself around here and no one is a truly reliable helper.



120-some women came for vaccinations and we ended up running out of some. Afterwards I escaped quickly, wandered through the market, came home, ate some bread and peanut butter, showered, ate and egg sandwich and now I am writing. My hand hurts

Like it used to after I wrote an exam.



12/15/07



It is seven o'clock in the evening and I am pooped, but it is a good pooped. I spent the whole day, from 9:30 until 5:30 picking cotton. Cotton is easier than beans to harvest because you don't have to bend quite as low, but your back still starts to hurt after a while. Cotton is kind of fun to pick, though, - I like the way it keeps coming and coming when you pull it from the tip, like a magician's ribbon from his had or sleeve. It is amazing how all that cotton can be so compacted. If you grab just right, you can get all the cotton from one bud all at one time – sometimes three, sometimes four, sometimes five tufts. Sometimes they are stubborn and you have to pick them off individually. I think I remember reading somewhere that cotton picking is hard on the hands and so I was expecting it to be quite unpleasant. My hands aren't cut up at all, though. If you pick carefully, you can avoid the sharp tips of the pods that burst open with cotton. I think I read that little tidbit in reference to slave labor in the South. Perhaps the enslaved people were so pressured to pick fast that they couldn't avoid the sharp tips. I picked leisurely, however, with Tseviato (a 12 – give or take a couple years – year old girl) helping me on each row. It was fun; everyone was chatting and joking (all in Ewe, of course) and radio's were playing music. It reminded me of blueberry picking with friends and family, where the work is made lighter by the companionship (only, you can't eat cotton; if only it were cotton candy that we were picking, but even that would get old quickly). We took two decent breaks, the first to drink Tchouk (I drank water) and the second to eat a lunch of beans, gari and oil which was quite yummy. I was hungry. By the end of the day, I was pretty tired and very thirsty. I had again finished all my water (I think I will bring two voltics full ( 1.5L each) next time). My throat was so dry that I contemplated drinking Tchouk in an attempt to quench my thirst. For the sake of my health, Tchouk would be better than mucky swamp water because even though they use the same water to make it, it has been boiled for a very long time. I didn't drink any, but more because that would undermine my refusal to drink in other moments than for any other reason.



I really like going to the field because I have new experiences (I also got to taste the fruit of the baobab tree today – it tastes sort of tangy like tamarind) and I get to spend an extended period of time with my neighbors, which helps me get to know them better and them get to know me better, and I get to help them out a little. I received three ignams for my effort and again I can't help but wonder if they suffered a net loss. Three ignams is worth about 500cFA – I wonder how much cotton goes for. Maybe I will ask Efo tomorrow, if I remember – I was picking cotton in his older brother's field.



Tomorrow I am hoping to leave really early in the morning (around 6:00 or before) to go to Notse. I want to have time to take a shower and make/eat pancakes before my meeting at 9:30.



12/16/07



Today I actually set my alarm to wake me before dawn so that I could be biking out of village by 6:00. I managed to leave almost on schedule, around 6:15, and actually arrived in Notse at 7:20 meaning that I biked the 18 kilometers in just over an hour. I know, I know, you can all do the math, but that is the fastest I have biked it yet and so I wanted to emphasize my record time. I think the thought of pancakes (if I arrived at Ashley's house in time to make them before my meeting) motivated the speed. It was lovely and cool, but there was a dense fog that left my arm hairs white and condensation spraying off my helmet every time I went over a bump. I don't know what about harmattan is conducive to early morning fog – perhaps all the dust in the air – but it is a recent development. The fact that they are burning brush at dusk and dawn just adds to dustiness and perhaps the whiteness on my arms was partly ash. In any case it was a pleasant ride.



Once at Ashley's house I got busy on my top priorities: taking a shower and making pancakes. I had plenty of time to eat seven pancakes with nutella or cinnamon sugar before my meeting with my Children's Rights Club at 9:30. The students weren't quite all on time, but nine of them showed up eventually and they made up an hour long skit on the spot. Efo was on the ball and assumed the role of director which I appreciated, because I didn't want to be the one telling them to do this and do that. This way it belongs to them more and I just gave a suggestion here and there. The skit is in Ewe because most of our target population doesn't speak French, but the basic outline of the sketch is that there are two families in a village that are approached by a women who offers to take their daughters to Lome to work for middle-class families. One family has too many children to support and so the father opts to send his daughter so as to generate a little extra income for the family – he is irresponsible in many ways, wasting his money on tchouk and some sort of drug that is snorted (?). The second family is a model family that values education for their two children and struggles financially but manages to keep their priorities straight and refuse the child traffickers offer. The girl who is trafficked goes to work for a middle class merchant family in Lome and ends up catching the eye of the man of the house and consequently the wrath of the woman of the house. She is also mistreated, underfed, and promises of schooling go unfulfilled. Her father receives a tiny portion of the wad of cash that the trafficker collects every month and he promptly spends it on alcohol and drugs. Finally the girl runs away from Lome and walks back to village, arriving sick and hungry and causing her father to wail with grief and guilt.



The sketch is a little long, but I thought they did a really great job of pulling it together on a first run through. They are all relatively natural actors and actresses and the only problem I foresee is voice projection. I was really pleased, though, with their effort. They want to perform the sketch in Avassikpe at 3:00 on Christmas Eve, though, which puts a wrench in my travel plans. If I am going to be in Avassikpe until 4:00 or 5:00 on Christmas Eve, there is no way I can make it to Vogan that day and I am not sure it is worth it to go at all then because I would be traveling on Christmas day and everyone is leaving Vogan the day after, so I might spend Christmas in village after all. Not sure how I feel about that, but I do feel that if the students are going to put the effort in I should too.



Anyway, the rest of the day was just spent hanging out with the many volunteers from my stage that have descended upon Notse. I think there are ten of us here today. We spent the early afternoon at Ashley's house and the late afternoon/evening at Hotel Dunya.



I was planning to stay the day tomorrow for a microfinance meeting at the hospital, but Lili called to inform me that it has been postponed. I can't say I am disappointed. I think I will aim to head back to village tomorrow evening or perhaps early Tuesday morning. I want to get some internet time in and I also need to go to the market, stock up on food and get a Christmas present for Nadia. We decided to do a "secret santa" exchange for Christmas and even if I don't end up going I can't cop out of the secret santa. I am planning on buying her a pagne and getting her a wrap around skirt made. Wrap around skirts are my answer to everything, I just love them!