Discoveries

I just got home from Church.  I tried really hard to listen and understand the message in French this morning; it was about doubting Thomas and his need to see the wounds on Jesus’ body to believe that it was really him who had risen from the dead.  I’m thankful that what little biblical knowledge I have helped me put together the message; we, as believers we must live like we believe.  Others should know we are Christians by our love, our actions.  I prayed God would help me focus on the time with Him and not let my brain wander about the to-do lists in my planner or potential work ideas that are constantly bouncing around. 

On my walk home I made a discovery of a giant avocado tree.  This tree I’ve passed so many times is full of nearly ripe avocados.  Ironically, yesterday when I was in Sokode, I splurged and bought three avocados along with my other weekly vegetable supply.  With spring in my step at this newfound knowledge, I picked some Moringa grains from a neighbor’s tree as I’m going to plant them with the woman I took to the Women’s Conference, Catherine, tomorrow.  As I walked into my compound, I asked the kids if they knew what I was holding. They knew all about Moringa and its nutritional value- packed with vitamins and protein.  And they knew what to do with it; how to eat by putting it in sauce. And they had planted one of their own; the oldest boy pointed to the circular enclosure of bricks near my latrine. And sure enough there is a tiny sapling sprouting its first leaves. WOW. How had I missed that? I thought they had no idea. Guess I can check that of the list! Funny how I’m still discovering things about this place, just when I think I’ve began to have it all figured out.

This week was really good.  Monday and Tuesday were busy preparing for the NGO conference with Aposto.  Wednesday I held my girls club and about thirty 12-17 year-olds showed up and we had a good lesson about decision making.  These meetings are usually quite frustrating for me as the girls struggle to understand my broken French but with help from Mr. Sinya and my SED Director, Alex, who happened to be visiting, I watched as the girls slowly started to understand the message.  We broke into groups and each was given a situation and had to decide what they would do and how they came to that decision.  For example: You’re the oldest in your family, you’ve lost your parents and have to care for your three younger siblings.  You struggle to have enough money to eat and recently there is a man who lives near the market who is offering to buy you food if you come with him to a hotel.  Or, you’re in the second to the last year of high school and your uncle who you live with and who pays for your school fee is going to die.  You are considering dropping out of school and working for a few years in order to save enough money to return to school. 

These are very real examples for the girls and I was so thankful that they understood to stay the heck away from that hotel with the man from the market and to find ways to earn money while staying in school in the second situation.  They’re witty too; coming up with ways to outsmart the man from the market by taking his money and then bringing their siblings along with them to the hotel.  Ha. This week I’m preparing for a session on puberty and girls’ bodies.  There is little to no education about this and I’m excited to take what I observed at the Women’s Conference sessions to these girls to explain how it all works.

Thursday, Aposto and I headed to Sokode for the non-governmental organization (NGO) conference held by PCV’s.  The 2 ½ day conference was packed with sessions on governance, human resources, accounting, strategic planning, project planning, finance planning and computer skills.  I helped my friend Ryan with the computer sessions Friday and Saturday morning and it was quite eye-opening. We took half of the group – the half that has never touched a computer- to a computer lab in Sokode and explained the various parts of the lab, the machines and what they do, and the different parts of the computer.  As we turned them loose to practice using the mouse and keyboard, they stopped us and asked how to turn the computers on.  Oh.  So easily we forget the knowledge we take for granted!  It was quite amusing to watch grown adults fumbling with the mouse and hunting and pecking, timidly pressing keys.  I wondered if this is what it was like for our computer teachers in elementary school.

Saturday morning’s session we returned with the same group and gave them an example letter to copy and practice their skills in word.  I pulled up a chair next to a woman who was clueless.  I forget sometimes that when we pray for things, God doesn’t deliver them on a platter, but gives us opportunities to practice and let those skills grow. Unfortunately, patience is something I’m still working on, and as she hesitated to use try clicking on anything I had to repeatedly remind myself that I was working with the equivalent of a three year old in regards to her computer skills.  Slowly, together, we practiced clicking on things with the mouse and learning the difference between the enter, shift, and arrow keys.  She would start to press something, then look at me with uncertainty and I would breath deep and say, just try it.  It reminded me of growing up when I would ask for an answer from my mom and she would tell me to figure it out for myself.  I could feel her ‘tough-love’ teaching style coming out of me as the woman shyly used the backspace key when she made a mistake.  An hour later, the woman typed her first letter including bold, underlined, and italicized font.  She was pretty proud and I was exhausted! It was an indeed a growing experience.

 Aposto and I presented a session on Friday afternoon on budgeting and financial planning.  More and more I’m realizing how amazing this Togolese man is. He respects me and knows I have knowledge about these subjects and how they pertain to NGO’s but he also knows I struggle with French.  As I led different parts of the presentation, he would encourage me to speak and then helped fill in the gaps and helped translate my French into what the audience could understand.  In other words, he helps me look good.  Additionally, we literally looked good as we sported our matching pagna outfits that we had made for his wedding ceremony.  This is a rare relationship from what I’ve heard and observed between PCV’s and their counterparts.  So many people struggle to ‘get’ concepts and then to actually adopt them.  Aposto ‘gets’ it and he applies it and then encourages others to do the same.  He was truly a leader during the conference and I was so proud to be associated with him.  I am so blessed to have such a smart leader and friend as my counterpart here in Lama-Tessi.

It’s mid-April and that means hot season is in full swing but thankfully it hasn’t been too bad and we’ve had some cooler days with rain.  Looking forward to spending the next two weeks here in village before May gets busy with meetings for future projects.  Additionally, I’ve mapped out my next 15 months, yes the amount of time that is left in my service here in Togo.  Crazy. Thankful that time has passed and for the ideas and work that have come to hopefully make the second half of my time here meaningful and impactful. 

Couple shout-outs: one to Linda White and her pre-K class at Stratford School for the sweet package and pictures that adorn my walls.  One to my grandma Pat who sent a giant box with the most special treasure of all; oatmeal raison cookies. One to Jenny Maharry and the won-der-ful coffee she vacuum sealed and sent with my mom who sent a French press.  The biggest shout out to my mama. Thank you for taking such good care of me; for helping me with Aposto’s batik sales, for always thinking of the things I need and for sending them, for doing things I can’t with my shaky internet connection, for never being short on tough-love, always believing in me and reminding me of why I’m here. I love you mama.

Finally, I’d ask you to please check out the Camp Espoir blog.  Camp Espoir is a MAJOR project I am a part of as we will hold four weeks of camp this summer for Togolese children impacted by HIV/AIDS.  I currently have a funding proposal online through the national Peace Corps program in order to make camp possible. All fees will be covered for the nearly 200 children from all over Togo who will come to the camp this summer, learn how to live with their illness, improve their lives and have some fun. We have nearly reached our goal.  You can make a secure and tax deductible through this link and help us bring 'espoir' – HOPE  to these kiddos.