Days of Training

Hello from Togo! It has been a very busy couple of weeks and I am only now getting access to internet, although it is a very slow connection and I am getting charged by the minute. Internet has proved to be a lot less accessible than I imagined so snail mail seems to be the best way to stay in contact! Receiving letters absolutely makes my day!




So for the past 4 weeks I have been in intensive language and cultural training with the 15 other CHAP trainees in a small village in southern Togo. I will be here until the very end of August at which point we will all get sworn in as volunteers and then disperse to our posts, which are various villages all across Togo! We just got assigned our specific individual villages yesterday which was really exciting! I was very pleased with my assignment; I will be working in a very small village north of the city of Atakpame, primarily working with nutrition and HIV/AIDS education. In a couple weeks we will each be visiting our respective sites for one week to get an idea of what it will be like. I can't wait! It will be our first time all on our own - cooking and getting around and everything.


my training village


the village at sunset

In the meantime I have been living with a very wonderful host family. My host parents are on the elderly side (my Dad is 84 years old and my mom is 61 although you'd never be able to tell) but they go to all extremes to watch out for me. Sometimes it's hard to be watched over all the time when I'm used to being independent, but I really can't complain because they are so good to me – and my mom is an amazing Togolese cook! They have 8 kids (although my Dad has a total of 21 kids from previous marriages too!) who are all fully grown, but one of their sons lives in our compound with his wife and 5 year old son and 2 year old daughter. At first his kids were terrified of me but now they run into my arms every time I get home, which I absolutely love of course. My other older brothers and sisters visit every once and a while on weekends and I get along with all of them really well. They are really protective of me and call me their little sister. The other day one of my brothers took me on a walk to the next village and along the way, taught me about all the different trees that grow wild along the side of the road; he is an agriculturalist so he knew absolutely everything! He even found me a ripe cacao fruit (where chocolate comes from) and cracked it open so I could taste it.


my host family's compound


my "sister-in-law" and her two adorable kids


my mom and a neighbor pounding fufu (a local favorite food made out of yams)


my mom sweeping our compound


my sister-in-law giving her daughter a bath (I laughed every single time I watched this)

I really feel as if my integration process has been going well. I have become adjusted to taking cold bucket showers, to using (even insect infested) latrines, to having lizards crawl out of my suitcases, to having to purify every bit of water we want to consume (which is NOT as simple as using a BRITA filter) to being called YOVO everywhere I go – a lot of things that were hard to deal with at first but which now hardly phase me. My French has continued to progress very well and I have even started learning the local language of Ewe. I feel very blessed to be able to communicate to the extent that I can (I have so much respect for the Trainees who are trying to learn French from scratch because it makes the integration process so much more challenging than it already is) because I have been able to develop friendships with a number of people in the village as a result.

Every day Monday through Saturday we have class from 7:30 until 5:30 with a 2 hour lunch break in between. We are trained in everything from language to health information (such as HIV/AIDS information) to how to repair the incredible mountain bikes we got from Peace Corps to how to start our own gardens from scratch (last weekend we learned how to make compost from animal manure, dry and wet leaves, soil and sticks)... etc. Sometimes we go on field trips to local hospitals and dispensaries too - which is quite the eye opening experience for Americans. We have also been able to practice giving baby weighing sessions and sessions training mothers how to make enriched porridge for their babies in our village here. I am having a fabulous time and am learning so much!


our tech house where we have most of our classes


tech class outside


My language trainer, Faustin


our first baby-weighing session


me and one of moms and babies who came to a session we led on how to make enriched porridge


me and my bike

Sundays are our day off; it's really nice to relax considering how intense the training is. Our first weekend here, a bunch of us climbed Mount Agou - the highest point in Togo!


nearing the top of Mount Agou

Sometimes it is really hard; it's especially hard to be the center of attention all the time. I'm sure everyone in my stage has had a breakdown at LEAST once. But I think that precisely because this is absolutely THE hardest thing any of us have every had to do before in our lives, it will also be the most rewarding.




If you have any specific questions, please ask because it would help me know what you are all specifically interested in finding out. I would also encourage you to look at other blogs from my CHAP stage-mates on the Peace Corps blog page as others might be more successful than I am at uploading their blogs - and they might include more information.

Hope you are all well at home! You are constantly in my thoughts. Until next time!