Dear Friends & Family,

I had planned to write to you every two weeks, but I’ve yet to get into that rhythm. As they say, “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.” And our three months of training has been a marathon over rocky, sometimes muddy terrain, with a few hills thrown in for kicks. I have many observations, memories, and stories tucked away in my journal (and, perhaps more precariously, some stored only in my head). I enjoy writing these out at length, and piecing them all together. I understand and remember my experience better this way. 

But my time for that sort of contemplation has been limited. Before I get the chance for all that memory weaving, in the mean time, I figured you might be curious about some basic life updates: what the heck have I been doing out here? What’s daily life look like? How’s the food? Who have I met? All of that good stuff. I’ll attempt to summarize the experience so far, although I can’t quite tell the story of it yet.

The Day to Day:

August 12th marked two months since my arrival in Togo. In less than three weeks I will officially swear in as a Peace Corps Volunteer (*knock wood*). Pre-service training covers language, culture, agriculture skills and knowledge, health, safety and security. It’s also a period of meeting and building relationships with a wide variety of people. Our days and weeks are varied. In terms of daily routine, I can say I’m up by 6 (maybe 6:30 on a lazy Sunday), I have three square meals a day (and sometimes snack), and most nights I’m crawling in to bed early. Other than that, the activities could be anything at any time. We have progressively spent more and more time in the villages surrounding our training center and less time living and working at the center. Since our return from site visit (more on that below) we’ve only spent a couple days here and there at the training center. 

I’ve enjoyed living with a host family. It takes me out of the bubble of social life with other trainees and speaking English (although that can be quite a nice bubble sometimes). My host family is small: a young couple and their niece (who lives with them like a daughter, so I count her as my host sister). But my host father is an important man in town, my host mother has many siblings, and they’re both social happy people — so there’s always visitors and interesting things happening around the house. It’s a nice balance of a calm center that’s connected to lots that’s going on. 

Blessing, my host sister, is a delight. She literally skips about her work and is eager to play together when she’s done. We play a lot of hand clapping games and sometimes a version of hopscotch. I’ve been able to teach her a few American standards like “Concentration 64” and “1-2-3-4 I declare a thumb war.” But she has taught me many local ones — sometimes my host mother jumps in to correct her and improve technique. If a lot of neighborhood kids are around the whole yard can be full of games and laughter. 

I’ve been able to learn local dishes from my host mother Maman Essi. Pate (a starch base for a lot of sauces) is a favorite dish here. It requires sitting over a hot pot and beating maize and manioc flour into boiling water until it forms a sticky paste. My attempt to make Pate spurred quite the excited commentary from neighbors  who poked their heads in to the kitchen. My arm is better trained for kneading bread and pasta dough on a kitchen counter, so I struggled. lthough everyone very nicely said I did well. I also learned riz du gras and a spicy maize-based dish I can never pronounce correctly (djankle, djankenle?Djankakanle?) Recipes fit the kitchen equipment, so it was useful to be familiar with a few dishes before I went to site with my own marmite (the round-bottom pot used for all the starches here).

Some highlights from Tomegbe and “Village-based Training”:

• Learning a little bit of the local language in Tomegbe. Neighbors are delighted when we can greet them properly. Even if they are feeding me the response when I hesitate. Blessing also often whispers my cue. The three other volunteers in town have got the greetings down so smoothly we’re all getting tossed new questions and phrases. 
• Getting to know other volunteer’s host families. I have been able to see more of town and different styles of houses, and simply more people and different sorts of families just by paying visits to my friends. It’s also just to see friends in their element, in their own space. So much of our training is all together, it’s nice to have these window’s into people’s individual experiences. 
• Going to the tailor! I’ve been tempted into buying fabric nearly every market visit (who can resist color?) which means planning new clothes! I’ve gone to the tailor in Tomegbe and also gotten a couple of dresses made by Koffi’s wife (Koffi is one the cooks).  Everything has come out 
• Watching soccer matches and dance parties. On clear nights — especially soon after the kids finished their exams — my host dad blasts music outside of his boutique and the children flock in. When favorite songs start they all leap in and move exactly in sync. As the night continues older kids join in or hang around the edges. There’s also a soccer team in town that draws in a good crowd and lots of good energy. 
• Beautiful stars and sunsets looking out across the fields behind the house
• Blessing happily greeting me every time I return from classes or my time at the center. 
• Being handed a pile of oranges or bunches of bananas as they come in to season. 
• Eating well! In my host family, I receive a bit of the royal treatment with delicious meals in portions I could never consume by myself. Food at the center has also been filling, varied, and good. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the presence of tofu and cheese here. Although the way of preparing both is nearly the same so sometimes I’m not sure which I’m eating. Either way, it’s fried piece of protein that signifies that I haven’t had to give up being a vegetarian. Spaghetti is very popular here, which feels a little funny after a while, but I won’t complain about eating pasta.

Agriculture Training:

We have a demonstration garden at the training center and a learning garden at the training house in Tomegbe. It’s felt good to start digging in to the agriculture training (haha 🙂 ). We’ve practiced making beds, starting a nursery bed, thinning, transferring plants, weeding, and using neem leaves and seeds as a natural insecticide. Through all of this we’ve gotten used to local tools and how to use local resources while gardening (like using palm fronds as shade). We also had a brief introduction to chicken and rabbit raising, including vaccinating some chickens against New Castle Disease. However, this week and next our technical training is focused on teaching agriculture — in fact teaching at a mock school. “Mock” in the sense that it’s summer break and this class won’t affect student’s status in school, but real for us teaching to real live middle schoolers. Some of us may be teaching several middle school classes on agriculture. It depends on our community’s need or desire for that. 

Personally, switching from just getting in to the flow of gardening and just beginning to learn about animal raising to teaching feels like a hard sudden shift. We’ll see how it goes but I’m craving more practical agriculture practice. I haven’t spent as much time in the garden or with the chickens as I wanted to (or as I thought I would). During our in-service training (three months in to our service) we will have more technical training. At the moment I feel a bit nervous to go to community just with the amount of knowledge I have now. Luckily I can always read up techniques and strategies. And I plan to spend as much time as possible talking to folks and following them to the fields as possible during those first few months at site. There will be a lot I will learn on the ground. 

Language Training

Language training has been the largest focus of Pre-Service Training. With my background in French, I was able to start a local language called Kabye a few weeks before most of the group started theirs. I’m grateful for this extra time — Kabye is challenging! It’s a tonal language, with lots of nasal sounds, and more vowels than we have in English. But it’s a fun challenge and my language teacher has quickly guided me along. Knowing enough Kabye to begin learning new vocabulary and phrases during my site visit was such a bonus. The little bit of an extra effort to speak someone’s mother tongue makes such a difference in forming relationships. 

Somehow over the course of restructuring our schedule post-site visit, Jane (my Ag and Tomegbe friend) is now in my class. All my Kabye work had been one-on-one, so I’m looking forward to having someone to learn alongside. During site visit, I had one lesson with my assigned tutor. I think he’ll be a helpful resource, but I’m trying to make the most this last stretch of training to get a good base in the language. 

Site Announcement and Site Visit: 

For the first few weeks of training we were all wondering where we will be. Our staff planned a fun site announcement for us. They drew out a big map of Togo and placed a sign with each of our villages on it. With lots of music and excitement they called out our names and site and we ran on to the map. I’ve been placed in Agbalossi, a village of about 2000 people in the Kara region. Describing my twelve-day site visit would be (should be) it’s own whole blog post. 

Here are a few highlights: 

• I was welcomed with a parade! We were driving along and at a junction in the road there was suddenly a crowd of people singing, drums playing. Our driver Didier said “It’s for you! Get out, join them!” So I did. It was a moving moment. I was surprised so much would be done for my honor, but deeply deeply appreciative. The crowd sung and danced me to my home where I met all of the chiefs and other notables. I introduced myself in Kabye to the crowd, which drew a lot of surprised smiles. 
• I have my own private house on the Chief’s property. The Chief’s wife, Maman Mana, checks in on me at least once a day, usually in the morning and the evening. During the second week, she would stay and talk with me longer. She took an interest in my Kabye flashcards and began helping me improve my pronunciation. She has a great laugh and a kind smile — I’ll be happy to have her nearby. 
• Among the many meetings with important folks, I was able to meet with the president of the presidents of agriculture groups and five of the presidents of women’s agriculture groups. I had good conversations with these folks and gained a better sense of how agriculture works in my village. I feel lucky to have a well-structured system already in place, it will make meeting people, gathering folks for trainings, and figuring out community needs and desires a lot easier. And, personally, it felt good to really get down to work.
• On my last day, I visited the women’s cooperative’s (formed out of all seven women’s groups) ginger field. I weeded alongside them for part of a morning (until the rains arrived). 
• My town is dispersed with lots of fields between houses. It may be a bit tricky to meet people with these dispersion, but it did allow for some very enjoyable sunset walks. I was able to set my own schedule during site visit so I could really take my time to enjoy the sunsets and the stars at night.

All in all, how’s it going?

A few days ago, Adélaide, my language teacher, read out loud a shop’s name (“EST One Day”) as we passed by. She commented that “here we like to speak in proverbs and even name our children in proverbs. The woman we just spoke to, her name Esosimna means “god only saves.”” Adé’s comment wove and pieced together things I had observed but had not yet understood the significance of: I’ve been living in a land of proverbs. 

Etched into the  cement floor entry to my room is the phrase “Vouloir c’est Pouvoir.” In edition to the boutique “one day,” Bar L’espoir, Auberge la fraternité, Bar Jesus de Nazareth, Coiffure Dieu Protege, and more. All these establishments were named in order to create something good, or protect something during its creation. It is a good practice: to name things as you want them to become. Look at my host sister Blessing — she makes every day brighter for me. 

Living two months in this environment has impacted me. Little mantras have been powering me through in the tough moments. “The days are long but the years are short” has been circling around my thoughts reminding me that soon this will all be memories.. The time can slip by suddenly. So I carve out the time to write in my journal and to always include my gratitudes. Remembering to remember is key. And, of course, it’s key to make some good memories. 

In challenging moments, I return to good advice. Those bits of wisdom turn in to a personal proverb. 

My mother’s advice before every semester (and every educational and job opportunity, really) was “You get out what you put in.” If you put in the effort, you will receive results and people will recognize the work and give you back the work you’re putting in. Training has been a bit rocky at times: we’re the guinea pigs for Village Based Training so there’s been logistical and communication issues. A few times, I have become frustrated with how information is taught or conveyed (or a lack thereof). But reminding myself of my own agency in my education helps me pull myself up a bit. Lately, what I’ve been putting in is a lot of clear demands for my needs. Within this culture (it seems so far), you have to assertively ask for precisely what you want. Folks will not pick up on hints or assume they know something that will help you.

 Once you ask, you most will receive (shipping delays could, however, occur). 

Recently, I received a new proverb. I felt nervous and unprepared before site visit, so I called Mom. After letting me rant, she said, “You know what Aunt Karen would do?” In my grumpy sadness I quipped, “already have an extensive knowledge of plants.” Mom acknowledged that this would of course be handy, but offered instead: “Listen, Smile, and Ask Questions. Oh and watch out for stupid drunks.” It was her summary of years of observation. The advice played out excellently: a smile and an interest in other people takes you far in every language and in every new town. 

So, all in all, it’s going well. There’s small challenges and frustrations here and there. But I feel I made the right choice to be here. What I’ve learned before is being put to new uses here. And, I feel myself learning and growing each day. 

Sending love & good health to everyone,

Janet