-science formation-
I spent a solid two weeks at the Peace Corps training camp in Pagala. The first few days were for a formation on how to promote math and science to girls in highschool. There were two volunteers from each region and each volunteer brought a homologue with him or her. I brought the physics teacher from the public highschool in Tchamba.
The formation was cool. It was basically like a very mini PST. Rose (the APCD for the GEE program) talked about why girls' education is important and how girls get the short end of the education stick here in Togo and why it is important to promote math and science. We also learned how to do some simple experiments in village that don't need a lot of technical equipment. And we talked about possible project ideas we could get started in village such as science clubs, camps, or fairs. We also did fun stuff like exchange brain-teasers (ok, you have a 5 liter jug and a 3 liter jug, you need 1 liter of water. go.) And at the end of the formation, we broke up into teams and played a quiz game. We got asked science/math questions but also cultural stuff so that the Togolese formateurs and the volunteers had a little exchange. I remember one of the answers was "Harriet Beacher Stowe", but another one was "Albert Camus".
It was fun to hang out with a bunch of people who get excited about science and math. I was happy to have a long discussion with Katrina about Avogadro's number and carbon-12. The hardest part was (still) the language aspect. Although my French has improved considerably since I've arrived, I'm really used to conversing in a non-formal style (maybe over some tchouck). So when it came down to a technical discussion, I was lacking a lot of vocabulary. Like what are the French words for "radius" or "nucleus" or "square root"? (The answers are rayon, noyau, and racine carre, respectively). It was hard to kind of re-learn a bunch of science material in another language, just to have a discussion about why you think a specific experiment could/couldn't work in your village. I kind of felt like the Togolese science teachers thought I didn't know what I was talking about, but I think I held my own during the quiz-game.
-Camp UNITE-
Camp UNITE was AWESOME! It was a total of four weeks long, broken up into one week for boy apprentices, one for girl apprentices, and one each for boy/girl students from villages all over the country. I was a camp councilor for the week of boy students. The camp kind of has a little plot to it. The first day, the kids learn about the "bridge model" which is a go-to lesson-plan if you ever have to keep a group of kids busy for an hour. The basic idea is that we are on the shore of a river; we are students, brothers, sons, friends, football players, etc. We want to get to the other shore; we want to be doctors, journalists, fathers, husbands, etc. The water represents all of the "traps" in life; we don't want to get pregnant, or sick with AIDS, or drop out of school. So we need to build a healthy lifestyle bridge across the water; we want to manage our time well, have good communication skills, etc. Ok, so after learning this, the kids come out to see the bridge consisting of planks (each one representing an attribute of a positive lifestyle) that stretch across "water", to a pavilion on the other side (that represents a successful life). But after talking about it for a few minutes we're interrupted by Paggi, the antagonist. Paggi was a participant last year, who disguises himself in a ridiculous costume. Paggi comes and steals all of the planks.
To get the planks back, every day the participants have to complete a series of challenges and with every challenge, they win back one board. The challenges encourage working as a team and good communication skills such that every challenge is impossible to complete on your own, forcing you to work with the other members of your group. And to make things harder, the participants are not allowed to talk during the challenge, therefore they have to decide on a plan
of action before starting, and stick to it throughout.
Throughout the week, we teach the kids the benefits of gender equity, family planning, time management skills, etc. All of the participants leave camp at the end of the week ready to change the world. They are all so motivated to go back to their respective villages and teach what they've learned; it's extremely inspiring. The problem is that, since the camps are 4 different weeks, and camp happens every year, that none of the participants know each other (e.g. the boy apprentices don't know the boy students or any of the girl participants). So when they get back to village, every participant is left to change the world on his or her own.
So, since I've been back, I've asked Emily for a list of the participants' names and have done my best to find them all around town (Tchamba is a big place, it's hard to find some of these kids). We've had one meeting for them to get to know each other. We exchanged phone numbers and stuff like that. Now, if any one of these kids has a brilliant idea to change something that they see as a problem in Tchamba, they have a network of friends to lean on if they need or want help. Right now they're in the middle of planning a sensibilization at a village 7km en brousse called Alibi 1. Why they don't just organize something here in Tchamba, I have no idea. But it's great to see a group of motivated kids who care about their future and the future of their friends and family. These kids are special, and they're all going to do some awesome things.
-Nicole-
In mid-August, Nicole got on a plane in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, and when she got off, she was in the Land of... well... over-crowded bush-taxis and the Home of... food that doesn't quite sit right in your stomach. Regardless, we had a great time. Well, I had a great time with her, you'll have to ask her how great of a time she had. Although it was a bit overwhelming, every moment was something new and I doubt she'll forget any of it anytime soon.
After the long (oh so long) journey from Accra to Tchamba, we spent a week in village. We walked around, I introduced to her to all of the crazy characters in my life these days, and we had more calabashes of tchouck than Nicole could handle. We saw naked children getting scrubbed down by a family member while balancing on a rock just wider than their feet on the side of the road, bush-taxis that look as if there is enough cargo teetering atop that the slightest breeze could send them tumbling down the side of a mountain, and vans with an entire football team AND all of its fans sitting in, standing on, and dangling from the roof-rack, and you know, other stuff that happens here every day. Obviously, we couldn't meet everyone and do everything in only one week, but I'm satisfied with the amount of ground we covered. A lot of people I wanted Nicole to meet were in Nigeria or Lome for the summer vacation or otherwise just not around, but we hit the basics: drinking tchouck, pounding fufu, and rolling up our pants to cross a stream in the woods.
After a week in village, we spent a week traveling around Togo. We went as far north as Kante and made our way back to Lome and then Accra staying at various volunteer's houses, transit houses, and cheap hotels. We saw some Tatas which are two-story mud huts that people live in and used to serve defensive purposes, and climbed up the inside of a huge baobab tree. And we hit the capital of every region with the exception of Dapaong (cause lord knows, that it's a freakin drive and a half to get all the way up there) just for lack of time. I got a nice little case of the worst diarrhea I've ever experienced due to some bacterial dysentery, and got severely dehydrated. So, to say the least, I wasn't bringing my A-game throughout the duration of our Tour-du-Togo, and I feel bad, that I didn't have the energy to really take Nicole all around the different cities we visited. But such is life in the Land of food that doesn't quite sit right in your stomach (or is it Home of...). Anyway, I'm all better now (thanks for asking) and Nicole has returned to the Purple Mountains Majesty and the Amber Waves of Grain. All-in-all it was a great trip, and I'm super thankful that she spent all of the time and money and endured all of the frustrations to come out and visit. It was great to see her again and I felt a level of comfort that I haven't felt in a year. And I did things with her that I probably wouldn't have if she hadn't come to visit.
-back to school-
And now I'm back in village. After a long-ass summer, I am so grateful to be able to just BE here in Tchamba. It's nice to get back into somewhat of a routine, see the same people every day, and to put my laundry back on a shelf instead of back into a backpack. The kids are back to school, and things have definitely settled down. I'm ready to start whatever work awaits me. As I've said, the UNITE kids are organized, and the physics teacher I brought to the science formation is back in town. Heather and I have also taken the first few steps in organizing a group of students to plan an event for World AIDS Day on December first. So, I'll let you know how the next couple of months turns out, what projects make it, which ones (inevitably) fall through, and if I start any new ones.
Oh, and hey, I've officially been in Togo for over a year. YAY!
Also check this out (translated from German). Scroll down to the September 25th entry. Heather and I went to Kaboli with her homologue, and some swiss from the Red Cross came too. They also have an entry about Wasarabo, Emily's village, but she went into Sokodé for the day, so she missed meeting them.
Saturday, 3 October 2009
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
Festivals, Waterfalls, and both kinds of camping (Vacance, Pt. 1)
=Moringa festival=
So a lot of stuff has happened since the last update. First of all, moringa fest 2009. A volunteer down in a village called Notsé organized a huge festival dedicated to the promotion of this tree called moringa (moringa olifera). It's like a miracle tree. The leaves have a ridiculous amount of vitamins and stuff in it, including protien. You can do all kinds of stuff with the oil extracted from the seeds, and you can even crush them up and filter water through the crushed seeds to make it drinkable. Anyway, at the festival there were little stands spread out on a field and a stage with an MC and music and stuff. We gave out tons of information about the different uses of the tree and it was a great time. So many volunteers came from all over the counrty, and it was nice to see everyone in one spot.
=waterfalls=
And right from Notsé, Heather, Moctar and I went to swim in th waterfalls in Kpalimé. We stayed in a (relatively) nice hotel with air conditioning. I had some time in the afternoon after getting there so I decided to go visit my host family in Agou. It was nice to see Francais again; he's the same happy little kid he was when I last saw him 8 months ago. My host mom and dad were happy to see me too and gave me 5 mangos to take home. But, yeah, the waterfalls were great. Moctar got a couple of guys to hike us through the woods for about 30 minutes to where the waterfalls were and wait for us while we swam. It wasn't really swimming, as much as it was wading waist deep in water. But it felt nice to be able to stand under waterfalls and have freezing cold water come crashing over you. After hiking the 30 minutes back through the woods, we were all nice and sweaty again. That afternoon, Moctar and I caught a taxi down to Lomé becaue I had to print some things for Camp Informatique, and I slept at his house that night.
=campfire=
I was only home for a couple of days before David invited me to a going-away party at his house out by Bassar. He will finish his service on July 30th and then he's going on a trip around the world before he goes home. The party was awesome. We had a huge bonfire in the middle of a field and we cooked hotdogs and drank beer- it was glorious. Heather found marshmellows in Lomé, so we also made s'mores. We slept out on mats in hoodies or under a light blanket. But then at about 3 in the morning it started raining. Everyone woke up and hiked back to David's house in the dark so they wouldn't have to sleep in the rain, but somebody had to stay with the stuff we were leaving in the field (like benches and mats that were too wet and dirty to carry home just then), so Alisha and I (the two kids from Jersey) took one for the team and slept the rest of the night in the tent in the field. It was great, by the time morning came, it had stopped raining. Some of the other volunteers came back and helped us carry the rest of the stuff back to David's house just as the sun was starting to burn off the morning dew.
=BAC party=
I was home for almost a whole day before I had something else to do. The 4 girls who I studied English with for the BAC, got their scores back, and they all passed. They called me out on my promise. I told them I would have a fête for them if they all passed. So I stepped up to the plate and had a fête for them. I bought a chicken and a bunch of ingredients au marché and some Cokes from the boutique. One night 3 of the girls came over; I killed the chicken, we danced to music as we cooked and ate dinner together. We ended the fête with a viewing of My Girl, and everyone loved it. Salim from next door stopped by just as we were starting and he watched with us. His favorite part was the motor home... it's a car and a house?! He laughed every scene it was in. And the girls were really into it, they were guessing what was going to happen and explaining to each other what they thought the characters were thinking and stuff. It was a good night.
=camp informatique=
And then there was camp informatique. This is a camp that Rebecca in Sokodé organized. This year was the second year. It was a week long- 3 days for boys and 3 days for girls with a day in between to send the boys off in the morning and welcoming the girls in the evening. Rebecca sent letters to public and private schools to in the Centrale Region for them to send their top boy student and top girl student in their “junior” year. These kids were all really sharp, especially the girls. I showed them how to play sudoku, and they understood immediately and continued to solve the rest of the puzzle by themselves. It took both groups a day to warm up, but after playing games and singing and stuff, they started to relax. My role during the week was to just keep the kids entertained while we had down time and to organize 1-hour of sport every afternoon. We played all kinds of little games in circles and we played a match each of ulitimate frizbee and football (soccer).
None of the students had much (if any) experience using a computer. We started off by identifing all of the parts and what role they play in the performance of the computer. Then we went over how to mouse. The difference between a click and a double-click and when to do which (it's neither obvious when to do what nor easy to explain). And after mouse, they played on a type-teaching program for a few hours so they could learn where to place their fingers and how to get all kinds of letters with accents over them and stuff. And after that they learned Microsoft Word (bold, italics, underline, font types/sizes/colors, etc...). and then we did some research on the internet. We talked about how search engines work and what's a good search query (“World Cup 2010”) verses a not so good one (“Soccer”). Then we gave the kids free rein of the internet for a couple of hours and they went nuts. They aboslutely loved it and their eyes sparkled with excitement as they all stared into their monitors.
The kids learned so much so fast, but they still have a looong road ahead of them in the world of computers. It really made me realize how much we take for granted how far we've come in technology. These kids were the smartest in their class, and were just learning to double-click and at home we have little 8-year-olds uploading scandolous photos to myspace. In my opinion, this camp was totally worth the time for these kids. They didn't learn a ton of stuff, but with what they know now, they will definitely be able to learn a lot more, a lot faster the next time they have access to a computer on their own. And in the case of the girls, I think (at least, I hope) that this camp improved their self-confidence and ironed out some of the timidity beaten into them since birth. In fact, they may have been getting a little too confident. After rebecca caught one of them wearing a skirt that was... we'll say “shorter than acceptable”...and trying to get my attention she told her to go change and just reminded me to be careful. Of course I was obvlious to what was going on and was more worried about my current gastro-intestinal problems.
Helping Rebecca run this camp was a big step in getting some kind of computer-training program up and running here in Tchamba. Watching her and her counterparts teach these kids and getting a full understanding of what the average high-school kid knows and doesnt know will be invaluable in helping me get something off of the ground.
=sodabe=
And yesterday was pretty cool. At the tchouck market in Tchamba, Honorine's mom sells sodabe (pronounced “soda-bee”) which is a lovely little distilled beverage with a face-melting amount of alcohol in it. Probably some of the nastiest stuff I've ever drank. I mean, this stuff make you feel like you'd rather be drinking paint thinner. Anyway, the other day I asked Honorine if she could one day take me to the place her mom buys it from. So, that day was yesterday. She took me to this family's compound en brusse (I mean, way en brousse) to where they make the stuff. They start off making the stuff by chopping down a palm tree and extracting the palm wine from it. Then they boil it in a 50-gallon oil drum. And there's a tube coming out of it that they had looped through a couple of successively smaller barrels filled with water to cool the alcohol back into a liquid. And at the end of the pipe, the sodabe drips into a plastic jug. Then they sell it by the litre to people like Honorine's mom who then sell it at a bar or tchouck stand. Honorine and I bought 4 liters for her mom for 4,000 CFA (about 8 bucks?) and a brought a little jug of sweet palm wine home.
Now here I am in Lomé. I'm down here working on an extremely important publication called The Griot, with Emily, Tony, and David. Emily and I are taking over for Tony and David and were doing this issue together to pass the torch. This document they have us working on is indespensible- i'm not sure Peace Corps Togo could function with out it. It's basically a joke news-letter like The Onion, but with jokes about bush taxis and the stupid stuff volunteers have said or done.
Next time: formation on promoting science and math for girls, Camp Unité, and Nicole's visit!! Don't touch that dial.
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
clubbin in Tchamba
written 25 April
Since I've been back from Ghana, things have been moving along quite nicely. I've been really busy. Heather and I started two clubs together: and English club for adults who already speak a little bit of English and want to get better, and a club for "4eme" (middle school) students. I've also been helping some HS students study for a big exam.
--Club d'Espérance--
The theme of the club at the middle school is "what do you want to learn about?" We meet every Wednesday in the afternoon. Our first meeting went, as Heather and I agreed, "not bad". I don't think the kids were completely comfortable. Heather and I are trying to run this club very informally and democratically. The students are used to the dictatorship of the Togolese school system, so when we asked them to get into groups and discuss what activities they wanted to do with the club, they didn't really know how to handle it. But we also handed out a little questionnaire to get to know the kids a little better. We asked them things like their age, what section of Tchamba they live in, who they live with, if they have a kid, or a boyfriend, or if they're having sex yet-- stuff like that. I was pleasantly surprised with the results.
The second meeting went even better than the first, and I would say we upgraded from "not bad" to "alright". The theme of the second meeting was "us" (Heather and I). So we brought in pictures of our families and friends. I had a poster of New Jersey (it was a Drew University poster that I found in one of my suitcases; no idea how or when it got there) and Heather had stuff from Texas. We took questions from the kids and they asked stuff like if it was cold in America. I went into a long description of what snow is like and how you have to shovel it from the sidewalks. The explanation was so drawn out because they don't even have sidewalks, let alone snow to cover them. It was exactly like when I'm telling a story to my family or friends at home but in the other direction: "So I stopped by the tchouck market to grab a beignet for lunch and--", "wait, what's tchouck and what's a beignet?"
Anyway, the third meeting was... well, it looked like it was going to both crash and burn, but pulled out of the tailspin at the last minute and made a safe landing at "pretty good". Heather and I talked to our friend Fatao who is a technician at the hospital. He's a great guy and he's successful and young. He'd be a great speaker about "how to win at life", meaning "this is how you get a job at the hospital that requires skill instead of selling soap in the market". Heather was taking a trip up to Dapaong to see some friends, so I was to handle this club meeting Han style...Solo. The day before the club I went to the hospital to help out with vaccinating the mothers and infants and Fatao told me he was going to be busy the following day, but Phillip could cover for him. Phillip is on his way to becoming another Fatao, but he's not quite there yet. He's just an intern at the hospital and he's not nearly as welcoming or friendly as Fatao. I don't know him very well, so I didn't know whether I could trust him to show up to the club. I decided that i'd find a safety net and go talk to my homologue, Affo, who works for an NGO called Plan (www.plan-international.org). He's of the same caliber as Fatao and would have a thing or two to tell the students about how to be successful. He agreed to come talk to the club. Come Wednesday morning, he told me he couldn't make it, he was busy. So an hour before the club was supposed to start, I biked over to my friend Nicole's house. She also works for Plan, but she just moved to Tchamba and I didn't know her nearly as well as I knew Fatao or Affo; we had just met not too long ago. I asked her if she was busy and if she would do me a favor. I asked her if the Phillip guy is a no-show, could I call her and have her come to the middle school. She agreed, and I thanked her dearly.
After giving Phillip more than an hour to come, by having a rock, paper, scissors tournament and then a few rounds of hang-man, I decided to call Nicole. I was really nervous, and when she got there I gave her a few pointers at the last second as to what to talk about. She talked a bit about where she grew up, and what her work is now. I asked the students if they had any questions for her, and they didn't, so I asked her a few to get started. I asked her questions about university and what she studied and stuff. Then the kids started opening up and asking questions. Nicole was awesome! She talked at length about what her life is like working for an NGO as opposed to someone who drives a moto. She talked about how she sold little jewels while she was going to university to help pay for it, and how she wanted to become a director (directrice) of an NGO one day, but not necessarily Plan. She was great, and said everything I dreamed a guest speaker would say. After I told the kids what their little assignment that they had to do before next week was (list the 5 things most important to you, and the 5 things you thing are the most important to the community of Tchamba), I gave them their English phrase for the week ("the future is what you make it") and explained what it means in French. And then the meeting for the day was over. I walked Nicole out to her moto and thanked her dearly. I wish I could speak French better, if only to thank her more sincerely. She told me I was good with the kids. I don't know if that was from the heart or just in response to my pathetic gratitude.
--English Club--
Today was our second meeting, and I also conducted this one Han style. I am not nervous in the least at English Club because I can always say, "Hey! All the people in this room who are from an English-speaking country, please raise your hand... that's what I thought." Luckily, it hasn't come to that yet, and I don't think it will because it's only adults and they won't give me any bullshit like the middle-school kids do. The biggest issue with this club is the timing. Before the first meeting the librarian agreed we could use the library and said 9am would be a good time, cause he wanted to be in the club too, and that's when he's there. So at the end of the first meeting we asked how everything was, and he suggested we move it to 10am instead. Oh, and also, could we move it to a different location with a chalkboard? Gah! So, this morning, I showed up to the new location at the new time, 10. At 10:15, one guy showed up, Mr. Missih, who is one of my favorite people in Tchamba-- his whole family is awesome, one of his daughters is in Club d'Espérance. He told me that the Minister of Security was in town and there was a meeting or something, so everyone was busy. He asked if we could all meet this afternoon, and said he would tell everyone at the meeting about the change. So I went about my day and showed up later in the afternoon. After waiting only a half an hour, Mr. Missih was again the only one to come. He and I waited for about another hour, shooting the shit, and then some more people showed up (none of whom were the library guy). When we were about four people deep, we decided to get started.
This week's topic was "Family". We talked about mothers and brothers, in-laws and steps. It was fun and I was only nervous once when I forgot how to spell niece for a few seconds. At the end of the club we changed the time back to the original 9am, but kept the new location. Mr. Missih assured me that he would get more people to come next week.
--Study Group--
So we are less than a month away from the BAC exam. Yeah, Nolan, it's the same Baccalaureate as in France, I looked into it. The exam is extremely difficult and it's what prevents a lot of students from graduating high school. You have to take the BAC your "junior" year and the BAC II your "senior" year. Two other volunteers put together a study guide specifically for the English section of the exam. I went and found two girls who I knew were in their "junior" year and would be taking the exam next month. I asked them if they were interested in having me help them with the English section. They said yes, and I told them to find some friends who were also interested. They each found another, bringing the grand total to four.
So the other day, three of them (one was sick or something) came over my house and we studied English using the document that that other volunteers drew up. After studying for about an hour, I had to cut the lesson a little bit short, cause I promised a guy I would eat dinner with him. The girls were a bit bummed, and I was extremely impressed with how dedicated they were. They told me that next week, if I bought some ingredients, they would cook me dinner, and we could study late into the night. I told them, hey, if you want to study that much, I'll be right there with you; I'll deprive myself of sleep if need be. This is the kind of stuff they're up against, here are a few examples from the study guide, and keep in mind that English is at least their third language, after French and at least one, but sometimes up to like four local languages:
"In 1519, Ferdinand Magellan, five ships, and more than two hundred ___1___ set sail from Spain to find a water ___2___ to the Spice Islands. Despite suffering starvation, ___3___, torture and death, they discovered the passageway known today as the Strait of Magellan.
Magellan left the Spanish ___4___ of Seville in 1519 with a group of five ___5___ to circumnavigate the world. Although the captain general of the trip was Portuguese, he sought support from the ___6___ King Charles because King Manuel of Portugal refused all help for Magellan. Due to his Portuguese nationality, Magellan had a lot of difficulty controlling the sailors of his group and frequently had to stop rebellions, or mutinies. He even responded by ___7___ many sailors to show his strength to the others who might oppose him."
"The United States is a very unique country because its population is ___1___ diverse. After declaring independence from England in 1776, immigrants have continued to ___2___ from Europe, Asia, and more recently Africa. Because it is a “melting pot” of culture, the ___3___ States have many different ethnicities. For ___4___, about 40 million of 300 ___5___ Americans are African Americans; mostly decedents of slaves.
Most ___6___ left impoverished and difficult situations to seek the “American Dream” of earning good money, supporting a ___7___, and owning a home. Despite such diversity, immigrants united using the English ___8___ in pursuit of their goals."
And that's basically my life in a nutshell (or blog post). How bout a big round of applause for those who have been keeping in contact by calling me regularly and sending letters, it helps a lot. And it's not just the content of the letters that keeps me going, it's knowing that you thought about me and took some time out of your busy day to drop me a line and let me know what's going on in your life. And for anyone who hasn't written or called, well...
I'm gonna wrap this post up with a few fun facts:
I saw a scorpion the other day in my front yard.
Since I've been back from Ghana, things have been moving along quite nicely. I've been really busy. Heather and I started two clubs together: and English club for adults who already speak a little bit of English and want to get better, and a club for "4eme" (middle school) students. I've also been helping some HS students study for a big exam.
--Club d'Espérance--
The theme of the club at the middle school is "what do you want to learn about?" We meet every Wednesday in the afternoon. Our first meeting went, as Heather and I agreed, "not bad". I don't think the kids were completely comfortable. Heather and I are trying to run this club very informally and democratically. The students are used to the dictatorship of the Togolese school system, so when we asked them to get into groups and discuss what activities they wanted to do with the club, they didn't really know how to handle it. But we also handed out a little questionnaire to get to know the kids a little better. We asked them things like their age, what section of Tchamba they live in, who they live with, if they have a kid, or a boyfriend, or if they're having sex yet-- stuff like that. I was pleasantly surprised with the results.
The second meeting went even better than the first, and I would say we upgraded from "not bad" to "alright". The theme of the second meeting was "us" (Heather and I). So we brought in pictures of our families and friends. I had a poster of New Jersey (it was a Drew University poster that I found in one of my suitcases; no idea how or when it got there) and Heather had stuff from Texas. We took questions from the kids and they asked stuff like if it was cold in America. I went into a long description of what snow is like and how you have to shovel it from the sidewalks. The explanation was so drawn out because they don't even have sidewalks, let alone snow to cover them. It was exactly like when I'm telling a story to my family or friends at home but in the other direction: "So I stopped by the tchouck market to grab a beignet for lunch and--", "wait, what's tchouck and what's a beignet?"
Anyway, the third meeting was... well, it looked like it was going to both crash and burn, but pulled out of the tailspin at the last minute and made a safe landing at "pretty good". Heather and I talked to our friend Fatao who is a technician at the hospital. He's a great guy and he's successful and young. He'd be a great speaker about "how to win at life", meaning "this is how you get a job at the hospital that requires skill instead of selling soap in the market". Heather was taking a trip up to Dapaong to see some friends, so I was to handle this club meeting Han style...Solo. The day before the club I went to the hospital to help out with vaccinating the mothers and infants and Fatao told me he was going to be busy the following day, but Phillip could cover for him. Phillip is on his way to becoming another Fatao, but he's not quite there yet. He's just an intern at the hospital and he's not nearly as welcoming or friendly as Fatao. I don't know him very well, so I didn't know whether I could trust him to show up to the club. I decided that i'd find a safety net and go talk to my homologue, Affo, who works for an NGO called Plan (www.plan-international.org). He's of the same caliber as Fatao and would have a thing or two to tell the students about how to be successful. He agreed to come talk to the club. Come Wednesday morning, he told me he couldn't make it, he was busy. So an hour before the club was supposed to start, I biked over to my friend Nicole's house. She also works for Plan, but she just moved to Tchamba and I didn't know her nearly as well as I knew Fatao or Affo; we had just met not too long ago. I asked her if she was busy and if she would do me a favor. I asked her if the Phillip guy is a no-show, could I call her and have her come to the middle school. She agreed, and I thanked her dearly.
After giving Phillip more than an hour to come, by having a rock, paper, scissors tournament and then a few rounds of hang-man, I decided to call Nicole. I was really nervous, and when she got there I gave her a few pointers at the last second as to what to talk about. She talked a bit about where she grew up, and what her work is now. I asked the students if they had any questions for her, and they didn't, so I asked her a few to get started. I asked her questions about university and what she studied and stuff. Then the kids started opening up and asking questions. Nicole was awesome! She talked at length about what her life is like working for an NGO as opposed to someone who drives a moto. She talked about how she sold little jewels while she was going to university to help pay for it, and how she wanted to become a director (directrice) of an NGO one day, but not necessarily Plan. She was great, and said everything I dreamed a guest speaker would say. After I told the kids what their little assignment that they had to do before next week was (list the 5 things most important to you, and the 5 things you thing are the most important to the community of Tchamba), I gave them their English phrase for the week ("the future is what you make it") and explained what it means in French. And then the meeting for the day was over. I walked Nicole out to her moto and thanked her dearly. I wish I could speak French better, if only to thank her more sincerely. She told me I was good with the kids. I don't know if that was from the heart or just in response to my pathetic gratitude.
--English Club--
Today was our second meeting, and I also conducted this one Han style. I am not nervous in the least at English Club because I can always say, "Hey! All the people in this room who are from an English-speaking country, please raise your hand... that's what I thought." Luckily, it hasn't come to that yet, and I don't think it will because it's only adults and they won't give me any bullshit like the middle-school kids do. The biggest issue with this club is the timing. Before the first meeting the librarian agreed we could use the library and said 9am would be a good time, cause he wanted to be in the club too, and that's when he's there. So at the end of the first meeting we asked how everything was, and he suggested we move it to 10am instead. Oh, and also, could we move it to a different location with a chalkboard? Gah! So, this morning, I showed up to the new location at the new time, 10. At 10:15, one guy showed up, Mr. Missih, who is one of my favorite people in Tchamba-- his whole family is awesome, one of his daughters is in Club d'Espérance. He told me that the Minister of Security was in town and there was a meeting or something, so everyone was busy. He asked if we could all meet this afternoon, and said he would tell everyone at the meeting about the change. So I went about my day and showed up later in the afternoon. After waiting only a half an hour, Mr. Missih was again the only one to come. He and I waited for about another hour, shooting the shit, and then some more people showed up (none of whom were the library guy). When we were about four people deep, we decided to get started.
This week's topic was "Family". We talked about mothers and brothers, in-laws and steps. It was fun and I was only nervous once when I forgot how to spell niece for a few seconds. At the end of the club we changed the time back to the original 9am, but kept the new location. Mr. Missih assured me that he would get more people to come next week.
--Study Group--
So we are less than a month away from the BAC exam. Yeah, Nolan, it's the same Baccalaureate as in France, I looked into it. The exam is extremely difficult and it's what prevents a lot of students from graduating high school. You have to take the BAC your "junior" year and the BAC II your "senior" year. Two other volunteers put together a study guide specifically for the English section of the exam. I went and found two girls who I knew were in their "junior" year and would be taking the exam next month. I asked them if they were interested in having me help them with the English section. They said yes, and I told them to find some friends who were also interested. They each found another, bringing the grand total to four.
So the other day, three of them (one was sick or something) came over my house and we studied English using the document that that other volunteers drew up. After studying for about an hour, I had to cut the lesson a little bit short, cause I promised a guy I would eat dinner with him. The girls were a bit bummed, and I was extremely impressed with how dedicated they were. They told me that next week, if I bought some ingredients, they would cook me dinner, and we could study late into the night. I told them, hey, if you want to study that much, I'll be right there with you; I'll deprive myself of sleep if need be. This is the kind of stuff they're up against, here are a few examples from the study guide, and keep in mind that English is at least their third language, after French and at least one, but sometimes up to like four local languages:
"In 1519, Ferdinand Magellan, five ships, and more than two hundred ___1___ set sail from Spain to find a water ___2___ to the Spice Islands. Despite suffering starvation, ___3___, torture and death, they discovered the passageway known today as the Strait of Magellan.
Magellan left the Spanish ___4___ of Seville in 1519 with a group of five ___5___ to circumnavigate the world. Although the captain general of the trip was Portuguese, he sought support from the ___6___ King Charles because King Manuel of Portugal refused all help for Magellan. Due to his Portuguese nationality, Magellan had a lot of difficulty controlling the sailors of his group and frequently had to stop rebellions, or mutinies. He even responded by ___7___ many sailors to show his strength to the others who might oppose him."
"The United States is a very unique country because its population is ___1___ diverse. After declaring independence from England in 1776, immigrants have continued to ___2___ from Europe, Asia, and more recently Africa. Because it is a “melting pot” of culture, the ___3___ States have many different ethnicities. For ___4___, about 40 million of 300 ___5___ Americans are African Americans; mostly decedents of slaves.
Most ___6___ left impoverished and difficult situations to seek the “American Dream” of earning good money, supporting a ___7___, and owning a home. Despite such diversity, immigrants united using the English ___8___ in pursuit of their goals."
And that's basically my life in a nutshell (or blog post). How bout a big round of applause for those who have been keeping in contact by calling me regularly and sending letters, it helps a lot. And it's not just the content of the letters that keeps me going, it's knowing that you thought about me and took some time out of your busy day to drop me a line and let me know what's going on in your life. And for anyone who hasn't written or called, well...
I'm gonna wrap this post up with a few fun facts:
I saw a scorpion the other day in my front yard.
- My poop was green yesterday.
- I ran 8 km this morning.
- Emily got me smoking cigarettes, but I only let myself smoke half of one at a time, and only on days with prime dates.
- I'm currently reading both "Infinite Jest" and "The End of Poverty".
- I saw a scorpion the other day
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
aller revenir
I just got back from a mini-vacation to Ghana, aka the land of plenty. It was seriously awesome. Emily and I went for a few days to pick up her friends at the airport. At some points I could have sworn I was in the United States. We went to a mall and watched a movie (The International, it wasn't that great) and we went to a sports bar and i drank a margarita! And although I had to slow myself down, and put on a bit of an accent, it was nice to speak comfortably to complete strangers. But at some points, i kind of missed speaking french, and i dont know why, but i missed Togo a little bit too.
This little trip really put things in perspective for me. My sympathy for Togo as a country has vanished, but my sympathy for the people living here has never been stronger. I understand I only saw one part of one city in Ghana, therefore i cannot judge the entire country on what i saw. that being said, in terms of development, the basement may be just as deep as Togo's, but the ceiling is much much higher. I saw things that i would never imagine seeing even in the wealthiest sections of Lome. Which makes me wonder what Ghana is doing right, and what Togo is doing wrong. They're right next door, and yet the standard of living is so much higher. Anyway enough about that.
Check out these youtube videos from my friend David. He was walking through village one day and came across a blind kid banging on a bucket and singing his heart out. So David became friends with this 10 year old boy named Zoglo and now they play music together. Zoglo comes to David's house and they kick out the jams, or they go to the market and play for money and they make enough for Zoglo to buy food until the next week. As I've said, Zoglo is 10 years old, and blind. He doesnt speak any french, and he write all of the songs himself. Here are two of them.
This little trip really put things in perspective for me. My sympathy for Togo as a country has vanished, but my sympathy for the people living here has never been stronger. I understand I only saw one part of one city in Ghana, therefore i cannot judge the entire country on what i saw. that being said, in terms of development, the basement may be just as deep as Togo's, but the ceiling is much much higher. I saw things that i would never imagine seeing even in the wealthiest sections of Lome. Which makes me wonder what Ghana is doing right, and what Togo is doing wrong. They're right next door, and yet the standard of living is so much higher. Anyway enough about that.
Check out these youtube videos from my friend David. He was walking through village one day and came across a blind kid banging on a bucket and singing his heart out. So David became friends with this 10 year old boy named Zoglo and now they play music together. Zoglo comes to David's house and they kick out the jams, or they go to the market and play for money and they make enough for Zoglo to buy food until the next week. As I've said, Zoglo is 10 years old, and blind. He doesnt speak any french, and he write all of the songs himself. Here are two of them.
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
pictures!
I'm in Lome and i get to use the awesome internet at the Peace Corps bureau so i've uploaded all of my pictures. i'm in Lome to buy a visa for Ghana, which I did this morning. and i'm going to kill a few days down here while Emily and Jillian sort out some stuff for Camp Unite. Then i have a big meeting in Pagala for 4 or 5 days. After that, Emily and I are off to Ghana for 3 days. Her friends are coming in from Scotland, and were picking them up at the airport and making a little vacation out of it. After that, i have to hurry up and get back to village to organize a club.
anyway, the stuff you really care about... http://picasaweb.google.com/drew.quinton
bookmark it. i'll let you know when the next time i upload pictures will be, but i know it wont be for a long time.
anyway, the stuff you really care about... http://picasaweb.google.com/drew.quinton
bookmark it. i'll let you know when the next time i upload pictures will be, but i know it wont be for a long time.
Saturday, 28 February 2009
reverse chronology
It's thursday, 26 February at 11:26 and I'm writing this on my laptop in my house. First of all, I'd like to point out the change of my mailing address on the right. I bought a postbox at the post office in Tchamba, and suposedly my mail will get to that one much faster.
Anyway, the last week or two in general, and today specifically has been extremely productive. This morning I went to a middle school called Tchamba CEG Ville II on the outskirts of town to ask about doing a map project. This is a project wherein you have a map of the world on a sheet of paper divided up into a ton of little boxes, like graph paper. Then you draw a much bigger grid on the wall, and copy the map box by box up on the wall. At CEG Ville II, they didn't have a one big wall uninterupted by windows, except for on a new building currently under construction that hasn't been painted yet. So they asked me if I would come back in September.
Then Heather and I went to the library to ask if we started an English club for adults, could we hold it there. The guy working there gladly agreed and actually wants to be in the club. A lot of people have asked Heather and me if they can practice speaking English with us. They would like to get better at speaking English, but don't have anyone to talk to. So if we get everyone in the same place at the same time, we can have conversations in English, and they can practice.
From the library, I went to the highschool to ask if I could do a world map there. The director was really enthusiastic about it, and I asked if I could work with a teacher, like a geography or math teacher. The geography teacher was in the office when I asked, and he was excited too. And the highschool has a huge, smooth, blank wall that would be perfect. This map is gonna be huge.
After the highschool, I went to the hardware store to inquire about the price of paint. It turns out that it's not too much, I may even pay for all of it myself. But after you count buying brushes and stuff, it could get expensive, and I don't know yet how I can subsidize the cost. Maybe I could ask the school if they could help or even ask the students to each chip in a bit. Ironically, at the hardware store I met the guy who helped a previous volunteer paint a world map on an elementary school a few years ago. I asked him where he lived and he said “do you know where EPP Watuwa is?” It's an elementary school in town, yeah, I know where it is. “Just go around there and ask where the rasta mon lives, they'll tell you.” So I'm gonna try to be friends with that guy.
All of this stuff happened today, and it's not even noon yet. Life out here is completely unpredictable.
Also, earlier this week Heather and I went to CEG Ville I (the other middle school) and asked about starting a club. We asked the director to get together 40 of his most motivated kids, 20 girls and 20 boys. We don't really know what direction this club is going in, but she's a health volunteer, and I'm a Girls Education volunteer, so health, nutrition, etc and gender equity will definitely be on the agenda. And we figure if we get 40 motivated students in the same room and ask them “What do you want to learn about?” we'll get somewhere. Ask them what projects they're interested in, what problems they're having, and what they want more of that they're not getting enough of and we can supplement that.
And last week a guy from an NGO called ADIFF, whose goals are exactly the same as the Peace Corps GEE program, came from Sokodé to visit me in Tchamba. He took me around to the 4 different elementary schools that his NGO sponsors and introduced me to all the kiddies. Sometimes when people introduce me, I feel like they slightly misrepresent me, but I don't have the french to correct them in their subtleties. But Français introduced me to the kids exactly as I would have, had I the ability. And he made sure to tell them to call me “Akilou” instead of “anasara”or “blanc”. ADIFF sponsors certain kids who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford school dues, notebooks, or uniforms. And they hold extra study sessions two days a week for the kids that they sponsor. So I think tomorrow (which will be yesterday by the time I post this) I will go to one of the schools and greet the kids again and sit in on one of the study sessions.
And Milo is doing well. I can tell he's getting bigger because he can't hide in the little places he used to be able to. And he spends a lot of time in my mango tree out front. He hasn't killed any vertibrates yet (mice, lizards, birds) but he's been feasting on insects and spiders. I guess he'll just have to hunt the little stuff until he levels up and can kill bigger, faster things.
So things have been going well, but that's not to say I'm not missing America a ton. The other day I realized how invaluable drive-thrus are. Not that I even used them that often, but just the idea of getting absolutely anything you want, steaming hot or freezing cold, without having to cook it, or go find someone selling it, or waiting for it to be in season made me long to be in the United States. Then I tell myself stuff like, people have lived this way for all of human existance save for the last century or so; I don't need a drive-thru. Aw, but man, they're so nice to have...
Anyway, the last week or two in general, and today specifically has been extremely productive. This morning I went to a middle school called Tchamba CEG Ville II on the outskirts of town to ask about doing a map project. This is a project wherein you have a map of the world on a sheet of paper divided up into a ton of little boxes, like graph paper. Then you draw a much bigger grid on the wall, and copy the map box by box up on the wall. At CEG Ville II, they didn't have a one big wall uninterupted by windows, except for on a new building currently under construction that hasn't been painted yet. So they asked me if I would come back in September.
Then Heather and I went to the library to ask if we started an English club for adults, could we hold it there. The guy working there gladly agreed and actually wants to be in the club. A lot of people have asked Heather and me if they can practice speaking English with us. They would like to get better at speaking English, but don't have anyone to talk to. So if we get everyone in the same place at the same time, we can have conversations in English, and they can practice.
From the library, I went to the highschool to ask if I could do a world map there. The director was really enthusiastic about it, and I asked if I could work with a teacher, like a geography or math teacher. The geography teacher was in the office when I asked, and he was excited too. And the highschool has a huge, smooth, blank wall that would be perfect. This map is gonna be huge.
After the highschool, I went to the hardware store to inquire about the price of paint. It turns out that it's not too much, I may even pay for all of it myself. But after you count buying brushes and stuff, it could get expensive, and I don't know yet how I can subsidize the cost. Maybe I could ask the school if they could help or even ask the students to each chip in a bit. Ironically, at the hardware store I met the guy who helped a previous volunteer paint a world map on an elementary school a few years ago. I asked him where he lived and he said “do you know where EPP Watuwa is?” It's an elementary school in town, yeah, I know where it is. “Just go around there and ask where the rasta mon lives, they'll tell you.” So I'm gonna try to be friends with that guy.
All of this stuff happened today, and it's not even noon yet. Life out here is completely unpredictable.
Also, earlier this week Heather and I went to CEG Ville I (the other middle school) and asked about starting a club. We asked the director to get together 40 of his most motivated kids, 20 girls and 20 boys. We don't really know what direction this club is going in, but she's a health volunteer, and I'm a Girls Education volunteer, so health, nutrition, etc and gender equity will definitely be on the agenda. And we figure if we get 40 motivated students in the same room and ask them “What do you want to learn about?” we'll get somewhere. Ask them what projects they're interested in, what problems they're having, and what they want more of that they're not getting enough of and we can supplement that.
And last week a guy from an NGO called ADIFF, whose goals are exactly the same as the Peace Corps GEE program, came from Sokodé to visit me in Tchamba. He took me around to the 4 different elementary schools that his NGO sponsors and introduced me to all the kiddies. Sometimes when people introduce me, I feel like they slightly misrepresent me, but I don't have the french to correct them in their subtleties. But Français introduced me to the kids exactly as I would have, had I the ability. And he made sure to tell them to call me “Akilou” instead of “anasara”or “blanc”. ADIFF sponsors certain kids who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford school dues, notebooks, or uniforms. And they hold extra study sessions two days a week for the kids that they sponsor. So I think tomorrow (which will be yesterday by the time I post this) I will go to one of the schools and greet the kids again and sit in on one of the study sessions.
And Milo is doing well. I can tell he's getting bigger because he can't hide in the little places he used to be able to. And he spends a lot of time in my mango tree out front. He hasn't killed any vertibrates yet (mice, lizards, birds) but he's been feasting on insects and spiders. I guess he'll just have to hunt the little stuff until he levels up and can kill bigger, faster things.
So things have been going well, but that's not to say I'm not missing America a ton. The other day I realized how invaluable drive-thrus are. Not that I even used them that often, but just the idea of getting absolutely anything you want, steaming hot or freezing cold, without having to cook it, or go find someone selling it, or waiting for it to be in season made me long to be in the United States. Then I tell myself stuff like, people have lived this way for all of human existance save for the last century or so; I don't need a drive-thru. Aw, but man, they're so nice to have...
Monday, 9 February 2009
The answer to life, the universe, and everything
I believe that the key to life is moderation in all things, even moderation itself. Without the harsh bite of a winter wind biting your ears and nose, you could never appreciate a soft breeze in May. Without ever having your heart broken, you can never truly fall in love. If you've never been hungry, you don't really know what a full belly is. Without pain there is no pleasure.
I believe that the key to life is finding a balance. A balance between being extremely rich and poverty stricken, between being over-stressed and over-relaxed, too connected and too isolated.
I believe that every aspect of life can be set at a perfect value called “enough”. It's located precisely between “too much” and “not enough”. But therein lies the trick. Without ever fiinding yourself surrounded by too much or not enough you don't know where to find that happy spot in the middle. And even if you do find that spot perchance, you wouldn't know how to appreciate it, not fully at least.
This is where finding moderation within moderation comes in. Without ever pushing the limits, you don't know where the middle is. If you only stay in the middle your whole life, you'll miss the point. It's necessary to first find the extremes, then happily settle in the middle. It's necessary to experience extreme loniness and to feel over-crowded. It's necessary to be dirt-broke and to have more money than you know what to do with before you can appreciate and be happy with having exactly “enough”.
I do concede that there are no constants when it comes to that perfect value somewhere in the middle. The perfect value undoubetedly varies from person to person, and I hold that that perfect place can even vary within one individual over time.
So I guess there's nothing left to do but get on with it. I'm off to find every extreme in every facet of life, and then to settle down happily in the middle. It's going to be an adventure. I'll let you know how it turns out.
I believe that the key to life is finding a balance. A balance between being extremely rich and poverty stricken, between being over-stressed and over-relaxed, too connected and too isolated.
I believe that every aspect of life can be set at a perfect value called “enough”. It's located precisely between “too much” and “not enough”. But therein lies the trick. Without ever fiinding yourself surrounded by too much or not enough you don't know where to find that happy spot in the middle. And even if you do find that spot perchance, you wouldn't know how to appreciate it, not fully at least.
This is where finding moderation within moderation comes in. Without ever pushing the limits, you don't know where the middle is. If you only stay in the middle your whole life, you'll miss the point. It's necessary to first find the extremes, then happily settle in the middle. It's necessary to experience extreme loniness and to feel over-crowded. It's necessary to be dirt-broke and to have more money than you know what to do with before you can appreciate and be happy with having exactly “enough”.
I do concede that there are no constants when it comes to that perfect value somewhere in the middle. The perfect value undoubetedly varies from person to person, and I hold that that perfect place can even vary within one individual over time.
So I guess there's nothing left to do but get on with it. I'm off to find every extreme in every facet of life, and then to settle down happily in the middle. It's going to be an adventure. I'll let you know how it turns out.
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