Hello from the States!

I officially finished my Peace Corps Service on July 1st 2025! I was lucky enough to have friends for my final days of bureaucratic hooplah. Ryan and I “rang out” our service together which was rather fitting since we sat next to each other on our flight to Togo to begin Peace Corps service. Other volunteers were in Lomé for final medical clearance before their upcoming departures. It was comforting to have good friends all around. It is an enormous change to leave one home behind for another. I would love to visit my friends in Togo in the future, but there are no guarantees I will be able to. And, there are no guarantees all my Togolese friends will be there if I do return. No matter how happy I am to being with my people here, no matter how excited I am for my future, I am enormously sad to leave. All I can do is hold both sets of feelings at the same time.

I arrived home on July 3rd, but I wasn’t homehome until Zorro became an American pup on July 9th. The reasons why we did not arrive together are a long, complicated, and physically and emotionally exhausting saga. For now, I’ll say Zorro and I have true guardian angels on both sides of the Atlantic — in particular in Dhey, Peachey, and Courtney. All of the good vibes/prayers/love/whatever-you-want-to-call-that-energy that my fellow volunteers, folks from the office, my family, and friends sent did a lot to help carry Zorro safely on his journey. After traveling from my village to Lome, to Dhey’s village, back to Lome, back to Dhey’s village, back again to Lome, to Ethiopia (!!), to Rome, to Washington D.C., he at last arrived in Connecticut to his new pack. After a few days of eyeballin’ each other for a few days, Zorro and my parents’ giant hounds are now running around together, demanding lots of love, and being really cute. Phew!

June in my village was precious and beautiful. I was trying to savor “last moments” but I was also so involved with life and work that I hardly believed I was about to leave. About a week before I left, my friends in village hosted a goodbye gathering for me. We had the good luck to have several other volunteers visit for the gathering as well. I am very grateful for this event. I could express, or attempt to express my gratitude for all my people in Agbalossi. It continues to astound me the amount of trust people had in me from the very beginning. Very kind words were spoken about my service in village. A good amount of crying happened during and after. I’m sure more awaits me. It is truly a blessing to be so sad to leave.

I am keeping this letter brief; I will allow the photos below to speak. This is not my last piece of writing about Togo, nor on this website. I have several unfinished essays from my time in Togo which deserve to see the light of day. I want to begin to compare and contrast my experiences in Senegal and Togo. There are hundreds of photographs from the five years since I graduated college that need shaping and sharing. As I move on to pursuing my PhD in History, I am sure I will have both musings and analysis to share. I hope you will continue to follow along!

Thank you all for the support on this journey! I look forward to seeing people face to face soon!

love,

Janet “Tchilalo d’Agbalossi”

Beginnings // Endings:

Goodbye Gathering:

Final gardening days

The community garden is complete! The final touches were planting eighteen fruit trees and installing the gate! My moto driver, Kapo, has been in a skills training program through the Mayor’s office. He’s learned a lot, including how to make this protective fencing for tree saplings! I was very happy to get to hire him to make us some. His elders got to see what he has been learning!

We’ll always have Awandjelo Market…

What will the Stop & Shop or Kroger’s really have to compare to the Jesus Bar, my favorite vegetable lady, and greeting every person I’ve ever met in this county? And my one cold beverage per week!

School:

School years end in a strange sputtering out way in Togo. After the end of the year exams, students are freed for a couple of weeks while the exams are graded. Then, the students are expected to return to school for a few more weeks. Many students don’t return — either because there’s too much farm work in late June, or they don’t see much of a point in returning after exams. But enough returned that I was able to say goodbye to a good crowd in my last week. I also got to say good bye to my fellow teachers and the school director.

Final visits:

I did my best to visit as many folks in village as possible before I left. People also came by to see me. I was gifted way too much palm wine and tchouk, and an extraordinary quantity of peanuts. I used up some good luggage space on bringing the peanuts home. Mom says they are the best peanuts she has ever had, so well worth it!

Last walks

The clouds, the sunsets, everything became as beautiful as possible before my departure.

Zorro’s grand adventure:

A few final words:

My home in Togo has a massive blackboard. It became the wall where I put things I need to remember. These words were important enough to write down and became more important as I continued to look back at them. Here’s what I wrote:

• You get out what you put in
• Listen, smile, ask questions. Watch out for stupid drunks
• A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
• You are living your childhood dream!
• Make little Janet proud and amazed
• Travel, make art, help others
• Plant the seeds
• A mind that is not baffled is not engaged
• Embrace the transitions, they are sunsets!
• Have a little faith. Things happen for a reason or a season
• Put more love into the world! 🤍
• There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still
• Smile, lover!
• Balance in all things — The universe has its ways
• Gardens are all about hope
• When fishermen can’t go to sea, they repair their nets

There has so much I have learned in the past two years. If I have another big blackboard somewhere someday, I’ll continue adding to the list, with some very Togolese phrases:

• Wolu ñgo — Go and Come back
• Ça va aller
• Essowazñg — May god bless you
• Ditò! On mange! — Let’s share this! Let’s eat!
• If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.