First week Summary

Since I have very limited internet this post will be the sum of the last week, rather than observations as they happen. I hope to be able to upload a few photos and videos if my current bandwidth allows. Also, please excuse any grammar mistakes or typos I may make. I assure you they are only there for you to find since I don’t have spellcheck.

After a 14-hour flight, I finally arrived in Togo. The first thing I noticed about Togo is that everyone ride around in a Moto and that people hangout and chat in areas with little to no light since electricity is a scarce resource in some areas.

My host family is a large group of varying ages, from infant to my age. Students in Togo are taught English, so the older kids do have a good grasp on English for when my French escapes me. In this last week, we’ve been focusing exclusively on Eve greetings since roughly half the population speaks it. While French is the official language, many people in the last few generations may have limited French abilities (so we have that in common). What has impressed me the most so far about Togo’s education system is that most teens and young adults have a phenomenal grasp on more advanced math. Algebra, trig and stats are done easily and frequently by the kids.

For the juicy stuff, I have no wifi in my house, one small light in my room and take two bucket showers per day. When I moved in I found this large flat spider on my wall. I’ve tried to kill it around a dozen times, but it always seems to jump out of the way of my shoe just in time. A few nights ago, it somehow got through my mosquito net and bit my hand (not poisonous) as if to let me know it can get to me whenever it wants. We’ve seemed to make a truce and stay out of each other’s way, so I now have a roommate for the next three months.

My training compound in the city has been around for a few years so seeing a “Yovo” (foreigner) isn’t unheard of, the host families, including mine take great pride in showing up off around the city. Greeting and small interactions are a fact of the Togolese culture can take some time even with very little French so going to the market or running an errand does take a little more time. Overall the people especially the little kids seem very happy that I’m able to say Hi, how are you in French and a bit in Eve.

Most of the other trainees tell me that very few people seem to be able to pronounce their names. However, since Dominick is close enough to Dominique I haven’t encountered the person yet who can’t say it in French correctly.

The first week has definitely been hard at time for various reasons, but I’ve been told training is the hardest part of the 27 months. Togo has a large group of 3^rd year volunteers so it seems the country grows on you.

That’s all for now and hopefully a lot more after my three-month training period.

Photos will hopefully follow tomorrow.