I'm flying out of Togo in 7 hours and am devastated. It's absolutely awesome here, and I'm not ready to leave. There are a bajillion reasons why I've loved it, but the reason on my mind now is as follows:
When you're lonely in Togo, it's quickly rectified. You have to work hard to not make friends here. Everybody (or nearly) is insanely social and insanely friendly. It helps to be an American- many Togolese see Americans as glimmers of hope - potential ways to get out of Togo and into America, the land of opportunity. However, even if I weren't American and even if I weren't white, I would still be able to make Togolese friends in a heartbeat. It's a culture of friendship. At Duke, on the other hand, if you're lonely and looking for somebody to chat with, you'll probably find yourself in a hard place. Especially around exam week.
One more thing! Togolese people are straight-up cool: there's no concept of awkwardness here. Because everybody says hi to everybody, there is no such thing as an awkward moment. At home in the USA, and especially during university semesters, awkward moments happen as much as once a day. 'I met that girl once; should I say hi to her or not? And if I do say hi to her, do I stop and have a petite conversation also?' In Togo, the answer is usually always yes-yes.
Alors, au revoir, Togo! Visiting you was one of the best decisions of my life. See you again someday.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Togo to Ghana
Even though Togo and Ghana are next-door neighbors, they are extremely different.
Reasons why Ghana is cooler:
-Cars have windshields that are in one piece. In Togo, you're riding in luxury if the windshield isn't broken.
-Not all roads are covered with potholes.
-Hotels in Ghana come with functioning showers, soap, towels, and sufficient toilet paper. Even the cheap hotels.
-English!!
Reasons why Togo is cooler:
-Togo has motorcycle taxis, which are insanely fun to ride.
-The French of Togolese is easier to understand than the English of Ghanaians.
-French > English
-Food, souvenirs, hotel rooms, etc. are cheaper in Togo.
-People in Togo have more of a tendency to make marriage proposals and the like (at least from my experiences).
-Sorghum beer is found only in Togo.
-The cuisine of Togo is more delightful.
Togo wins.
However, Ghana is still an excellent place. I joined up with Lizzeth and Erin in Lomé, Togo, where we crossed the border to start our vacation in Ghana. We spent a day on a bus heading to Cape Coast and spent all of yesterday hitting up the tourist attractions there.
First was Kakum forest, where we did a canopy walk. This may have been the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life. Am unfortunately having trouble posting a picture, but just imagine skinny, precarious rope bridges really high off the ground and attached to tree trunks.
Next we went to the Elmina and Cape Coast castles, which were used during the slave trade to store the Africans to be shipped across the Atlantic. As many as 200 slaves would be crammed into a chamber that's maybe the size of two bedrooms. People couldn't go to the bathroom except on the floors of these chambers, which meant they were sleeping in their own muck. The chambers were usually really dark and had very little ventilation. After 3 months or so trapped in one of these chambers, the slaves passed through a "door of no return," after which they boarded a small canoe which would take them to the slave ship.
All for now.
Reasons why Ghana is cooler:
-Cars have windshields that are in one piece. In Togo, you're riding in luxury if the windshield isn't broken.
-Not all roads are covered with potholes.
-Hotels in Ghana come with functioning showers, soap, towels, and sufficient toilet paper. Even the cheap hotels.
-English!!
Reasons why Togo is cooler:
-Togo has motorcycle taxis, which are insanely fun to ride.
-The French of Togolese is easier to understand than the English of Ghanaians.
-French > English
-Food, souvenirs, hotel rooms, etc. are cheaper in Togo.
-People in Togo have more of a tendency to make marriage proposals and the like (at least from my experiences).
-Sorghum beer is found only in Togo.
-The cuisine of Togo is more delightful.
Togo wins.
However, Ghana is still an excellent place. I joined up with Lizzeth and Erin in Lomé, Togo, where we crossed the border to start our vacation in Ghana. We spent a day on a bus heading to Cape Coast and spent all of yesterday hitting up the tourist attractions there.
First was Kakum forest, where we did a canopy walk. This may have been the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life. Am unfortunately having trouble posting a picture, but just imagine skinny, precarious rope bridges really high off the ground and attached to tree trunks.
Next we went to the Elmina and Cape Coast castles, which were used during the slave trade to store the Africans to be shipped across the Atlantic. As many as 200 slaves would be crammed into a chamber that's maybe the size of two bedrooms. People couldn't go to the bathroom except on the floors of these chambers, which meant they were sleeping in their own muck. The chambers were usually really dark and had very little ventilation. After 3 months or so trapped in one of these chambers, the slaves passed through a "door of no return," after which they boarded a small canoe which would take them to the slave ship.
All for now.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Togolicious. Photo Post!
Here's my pet bunny rabbit!
The kids of my household and me sitting outside under the mango tree.
Pictures of Waa. The first one is of initiate headgear: antelope horns wrapped in feathers. In the second, you can see an initiate dancing and flipping his gong (2 hoe blades fused together).
The sort of crack-bus we use to get to Kara each Wednesday. The back door is attached to the car by rope. Wish this picture were more detailed so that you could see the full extent of the crackiness.
John and I went to chat with some local healers. The healers are the 2 people on the right in the first picture. In the second picture, you can see the woman healer grinding up on the ancestral rock a plant in the mint family. A little bit of water is added to the pulp, and then the resulting juice is applied like eye drops to treat eye wounds and conjunctivitis.
The monkey that was for sale for 50 dollars in the Farendé market.
Went to visit a cow herder. Accidentally stepped in poo after this bull caused me to stumble.
Hope y'all enjoyed the pictures! Not sure if I'll be able to make it to Kara next Wednesday, since it's our last week and we'll be busy finishing up our work. Might be able to write again in Lomé or Ghana before returning to the States.
Before leaving the internet café, I must add the following: all has been great. I'm quite sad to be leaving so soon. I love Togo more and more each day.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
We Gonna Dance Allllll Night
This last week has been the best week yet.
The male initiation ceremony of Waa, which occurs only once every five years, started on Saturday. John and I hiked up a mountain to the village of Kuwdé, where we met up with other Duke in Togo students and watched the ceremony. Initiates who perform the ceremony range from the ages of 25 to 29. It's the final mandatory initiation ceremony in a Kabiye male's life, so it's hugely important. I think this ceremony for these people is the same as Christmas is for me - a superbly awesome day to which one looks forward like a madman.
The ceremony is all about dancing. When dancing, the initiates wear antelope skulls on their heads because the antelope is considered the most masculine of all wild animals. The horns of the antelope skulls are covered meticulously with feathers in the days preceding the dance. Often there are flags, toys, baby dolls, and other random objects lodged somewhere in the headgear. The baby dolls were the strangest form of decoration. Dr. Piot explained that they are implemented with the goal of capturing the sort of supernatural power that a wealthy ansarrah (person of European descent) is believed to possess.
The dance moves are pretty simple. A beat is created by the initiates' gongs, which are made by fusing together 2 hoe blades (reinforcing for us the importance of cultivation in this culture; it must also be noted that cultivating is the principal role of the Kabiye male). Sound is created when an initiate flips up the fused hoe blades to bang against a piece of metal that he wears on his hand like a ring. Word on the streets is that it's tremendously difficult to get these instruments to make the sound.
Tons of solum (sorghum beer, which represents blood, which is believed to be filtered to create sperm) and dog meat (dogs are the most masculine of all domestic animals) are consumed in mass quantities throughout Waa. Even though my best friend at home is a dog, yours truly tried some dog meat. It tasted like beef, and it was superyum.
Seeing the ceremony was alone excellent. What made it even better, however, was how inclusive it was. The other students and I were all encouraged to fully participate. People squealed with joy when we danced along with them. A girl handed me her fan so that I could help the other ladies cool down the dancers. Also, it must be said that this inclusiveness doesn't just apply to Waa. Togo is, in general, an inclusive place, and this is one of the things about it that I will miss most.
Waa has taken over the last half-week and thus is the main thing discussed in this entry. A few other occurrences are worth mentioning as well, however.
For reasons that I do not want to explain here, I obtained a pet rabbit (ansarrah kesonga, or rabbit of the white person; the opposite, kesonga, is wild rabit). He's by far the cutest creature in my homestead (I can't say village because I constantly see puppies and baby goats that make my heart melt).
Also, there was a monkey for sale at the Farendé market yesterday. He only would have cost 50 US dollars!!! It was really, really tempting, but I didn't buy him. Somebody else will buy him and, unless the buyer is an ansarrah like me, will roast him on a skewer.
I was recently very upset with the women of my household. The gist of the story is that they impolitely pressured me into buying 1,000 francs worth of merchandise. This is a small sum of money for me (2 US dollars) but a huge sum for them, which is what made the fact that they forced such a gift so incredibly rude. I was seized by the udders and milked like an ansarrah cow. Now that a few days have passed, however, I have cooled down about it and moved on. I'm trying my absolute best to see from their eyes - they are two widows with a household full of kids to feed, with the only income sources being beer-selling (not highly profitable) and Duke in Togo students. That being the case, what I consider to be a transgression is certainly forgivable.
One last brief story. On the 4th of July, some other students and I went to the big city of Kara for a cookout at an American's house. Walking inside was exactly like walking into a house back in the States, and it was really disorienting. The food was refreshing and delicious, and it was fantastic to hear some nice American accents. The whole time, however, I felt like I was cheating. We are inside a secluded little paradise with fans, air conditioning, good food, and cold drinks, with life being the polar opposite for nearly everybody outside the walls of the household compound. I'm here in Togo not to hang out inside a comfortable snow globe, but to hang out in what is Togo for Togolese.
In any case, let's talk a bit about kids. There were lots of kids at the Americans' house, and there are lots of kids in almost any given Togolese homestead. To be frank, the thought, "American children are wuses," kept running through my head. One child at the cookout was afraid of the gentle pet dog; a Togolese child, however, would feel comfortable catching and even slaying a dog. Also, Togolese children are hardened by a powerful hierarchy, which American children do not experience to this extent because of the relatively egalitarian American mentality. Togolese children living in the hierarchy receive the smallest portions of food, the least desirable pieces of meat (if any meat at all), etc. When I give my family a gift that's something sugary, it's the older members of the household who eat the most; the children are lucky if they even get 1 cookie out of the packet.
Time is running short, so time for closure. You all have a good week, and check back next Wednesday!
The male initiation ceremony of Waa, which occurs only once every five years, started on Saturday. John and I hiked up a mountain to the village of Kuwdé, where we met up with other Duke in Togo students and watched the ceremony. Initiates who perform the ceremony range from the ages of 25 to 29. It's the final mandatory initiation ceremony in a Kabiye male's life, so it's hugely important. I think this ceremony for these people is the same as Christmas is for me - a superbly awesome day to which one looks forward like a madman.
The ceremony is all about dancing. When dancing, the initiates wear antelope skulls on their heads because the antelope is considered the most masculine of all wild animals. The horns of the antelope skulls are covered meticulously with feathers in the days preceding the dance. Often there are flags, toys, baby dolls, and other random objects lodged somewhere in the headgear. The baby dolls were the strangest form of decoration. Dr. Piot explained that they are implemented with the goal of capturing the sort of supernatural power that a wealthy ansarrah (person of European descent) is believed to possess.
The dance moves are pretty simple. A beat is created by the initiates' gongs, which are made by fusing together 2 hoe blades (reinforcing for us the importance of cultivation in this culture; it must also be noted that cultivating is the principal role of the Kabiye male). Sound is created when an initiate flips up the fused hoe blades to bang against a piece of metal that he wears on his hand like a ring. Word on the streets is that it's tremendously difficult to get these instruments to make the sound.
Tons of solum (sorghum beer, which represents blood, which is believed to be filtered to create sperm) and dog meat (dogs are the most masculine of all domestic animals) are consumed in mass quantities throughout Waa. Even though my best friend at home is a dog, yours truly tried some dog meat. It tasted like beef, and it was superyum.
Seeing the ceremony was alone excellent. What made it even better, however, was how inclusive it was. The other students and I were all encouraged to fully participate. People squealed with joy when we danced along with them. A girl handed me her fan so that I could help the other ladies cool down the dancers. Also, it must be said that this inclusiveness doesn't just apply to Waa. Togo is, in general, an inclusive place, and this is one of the things about it that I will miss most.
Waa has taken over the last half-week and thus is the main thing discussed in this entry. A few other occurrences are worth mentioning as well, however.
For reasons that I do not want to explain here, I obtained a pet rabbit (ansarrah kesonga, or rabbit of the white person; the opposite, kesonga, is wild rabit). He's by far the cutest creature in my homestead (I can't say village because I constantly see puppies and baby goats that make my heart melt).
Also, there was a monkey for sale at the Farendé market yesterday. He only would have cost 50 US dollars!!! It was really, really tempting, but I didn't buy him. Somebody else will buy him and, unless the buyer is an ansarrah like me, will roast him on a skewer.
I was recently very upset with the women of my household. The gist of the story is that they impolitely pressured me into buying 1,000 francs worth of merchandise. This is a small sum of money for me (2 US dollars) but a huge sum for them, which is what made the fact that they forced such a gift so incredibly rude. I was seized by the udders and milked like an ansarrah cow. Now that a few days have passed, however, I have cooled down about it and moved on. I'm trying my absolute best to see from their eyes - they are two widows with a household full of kids to feed, with the only income sources being beer-selling (not highly profitable) and Duke in Togo students. That being the case, what I consider to be a transgression is certainly forgivable.
One last brief story. On the 4th of July, some other students and I went to the big city of Kara for a cookout at an American's house. Walking inside was exactly like walking into a house back in the States, and it was really disorienting. The food was refreshing and delicious, and it was fantastic to hear some nice American accents. The whole time, however, I felt like I was cheating. We are inside a secluded little paradise with fans, air conditioning, good food, and cold drinks, with life being the polar opposite for nearly everybody outside the walls of the household compound. I'm here in Togo not to hang out inside a comfortable snow globe, but to hang out in what is Togo for Togolese.
In any case, let's talk a bit about kids. There were lots of kids at the Americans' house, and there are lots of kids in almost any given Togolese homestead. To be frank, the thought, "American children are wuses," kept running through my head. One child at the cookout was afraid of the gentle pet dog; a Togolese child, however, would feel comfortable catching and even slaying a dog. Also, Togolese children are hardened by a powerful hierarchy, which American children do not experience to this extent because of the relatively egalitarian American mentality. Togolese children living in the hierarchy receive the smallest portions of food, the least desirable pieces of meat (if any meat at all), etc. When I give my family a gift that's something sugary, it's the older members of the household who eat the most; the children are lucky if they even get 1 cookie out of the packet.
Time is running short, so time for closure. You all have a good week, and check back next Wednesday!
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