December 1, 2024 – letter home – Janet goes places, sees things

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy first day of December! As the year draws to a close, I feel myself to be at the beginning of new things: I am more than a year into service; the dry season has fully arrived; and I have sent in 5 of my 7 graduate school applications. Tomorrow I plan to have all my applications in. And the day after, I will start a new nursery for my garden. I have not written here since the end of September, but this will a short one until I have a bit more time on my hands.

Neighborhood Garden and Borehole Water Pump Project:

After a long writing and revision process my Peace Corps Community Partnership grant was posted online for fundraising! This is not a typical grant, but rather Peace Corps’ method of Volunteers raising funds from their home communities alongside outside donors who look for Peace Corps causes to support. Host community members contribute 20% of the overall cost. In my case, this will come through land donation and labor costs, rather than cash contributions.

My grant will provide the funds to drill and install a borehole water pump in the center of a neighborhood and provide the start-up costs for a community garden. Access to water is a major challenge in my host community. A lack of easy access to water limits people’s ability to experiment with home gardening, irrigation, and composting. Food security, especially nutrient security, is also a major issue. I’m hoping to address both by setting up a system for to continuously produce nutrient-rich foods. I’m working with some great folks in my community for this project.

If you would like to hear more about it or donate, you can visit the link here: https://www.peacecorps.gov/donate/projects/pp-25-693-001/ We are about $2,500 away from our goal. Thank you to everyone who already has helped!

Nutrition Talks & School Gardens

In later September I started nutrition talks in a new neighborhood. As I may have described before, my village is composed of five neighborhoods and it’s all very spread out. Walking to this neighborhood is a good forty minutes away from my house and its the neighborhood immediately next to my own. Folks were very happy to have me start nutrition talks and invited me to come once a week. It feels good to expand projects that have been effective in one place to more places.

The school year is in full swing again. This year I am not teaching formal classes. Instead I am running my English club and Agriculture club on alternate weeks. This amounts to about four hours in the classroom a week. It’s actually a bit more time than last year but without the responsibility of writing exams. We began a compost pile in the first week of November and if all goes well it will improve our chances of a successful school garden.

Trip to The States

I spent the last two weeks of October in the U.S. It was great! At the beginning of service, I had not planned on returning home during my two years. But Guin and Nick decided it was time to tie the knot and Mom and Dad, romantics that they are, agreed to fly me home for the wedding. I am so grateful the chance came up and the timing couldn’t have been better. New England Autumn was in its full glory. And a year in to service, I feel like I am in a good place in terms of my Peace Corps work, but a bit tired, so the trip felt like a reenergizing break.

It was just a great trip. I got to see basically all of the New England side of the family, some of them several times. I got fed everything on my wishlist and got to use running water for all sorts of tasks. The wedding was beautiful! I feel immensely lucky to have joined in the ceremony. I am now an ordained minister: the state of Arkansas has vested its power in me. (There’s a great “power vest” Halloween costume in there somewhere…) Kaitlyn and Sol came too so the Reed gang was nearly complete. I love my friends and family — and I am simply amazed that I am part of so many wonderful communities. I came back to Togo very full of love.

Trip to Morocco

I was back in Togo for just a brief moment before heading to another trip. I celebrated Halloween chez Peachey and got to say hello to Zorro in the process. Zorro has been having his own adventure of a month-long sleepover with his buddy Beans. And then I headed to site for a little shy of a week. I built a compost pile with the students, greeted lots of folks, did my laundry, and was off again.

Morocco! Beautiful place, friendly people, delicious food, and so much good color!Volunteers Marissa, Paul, Sue, Ryan, Katja, Mattias, and I all flew together. After a few days in Casablanca and Rabat, we met up with Richard and Guin in Marrakech. The nine of us had all signed up for a week-long tour from Marrakesh into the Sahara Desert and throughout the Atlas Mountains. We all took an extra couple of days at the end in Marrakech for wandering around markets, gardens, and museums. All of it was totally wonderful. The trip deserves several of its own essays, including photo essays. I’ll write them soon. 🙂

Wolu ñgo

Togolese people always ask — in every language available — “where are you going?” And after you respond, they will command you to “Go and come back.” In Kabye it is “Wolu ñgo.” I have grown to really love the ritual: the command to make sure people come home.

I’ve definitely gone and come back a lot lately. It feels really nice to be home. Zorro is happy too. When he saw Maman he let out a big howl and wiggled with so much joy he flopped over. Maman (with lots of laughter) gave me a big hug and Zorro a good belly rub. Although I got back almost a week ago, I’ve been focused in on completing my graduate school applications. Yesterday, I made it just in time for thanksgiving dinner chez Erin’s. During the week I managed a bit of English club and a bit of project planning. But I’m not quite in the swing of Togo activities again yet.

I’m hoping for a delicious fat cat nap once the last of these applications are sent. And maybe a couple days of rest before hitting the ground running with my projects again.

Happy Holidays to everyone,

Janet

Zorro has been very attentive in his guarding duties since my return.

Tha

Thanksgiving 2024

A few quick highlights from Morocco: Almost all the volunteers on our first day (just imagine Katja & Mattias are there too), Richard & me in the Atlas Mountains, a good dog guarding her rugs, Guin in olive heaven (fun fact, Morocco turned me into an olive-lover), and me! on a camel! in the Sahara!