AIDS Ride

Well I just finished my first AIDS Ride! AIDS Ride is an opportunity for Peace Corps volunteers to devote a week of time and energy to biking to a number of rural villages that are fairly isolated to present (what we call) sensibilizations on HIV/AIDS. There are five different AIDS Rides in Togo, divided up by region. The plateaux region (where I live) biked from Notse to Akpare this year (on side roads - not on the route nationale; the biking was very challenging as the majority of it was on damaged rocky or sandy dirt roads, and the region is very hilly)doing sensibilizations in 20 villages; 12 volunteers split into 2 groups, and with the help of some homologues who came along for the ride and helped a great deal with translating into local languages in some cases, we averaged 2 to 3 sensibilizations a day with a total of about 30-35 kilometers biked per day (we'd usually bike in the morning, do a sensibilization, bike again, do another sensibilization, etc...). Everyone basically lived in the same clothes and carried most of their stuff on their bike although there was a chase car that could carry some of our stuff as well. Other than one volunteer's minor bike accident, most volunteers did very well and few got sick (I got minorly sick but just on the last day so it wasn't a big deal). At night, we slept on mats in local schools on dirt floors or in dispensaires - which were usually a little nicer because they usually had tiled floors. They definitely weren't the most comfortable arrangements but usually people were so tired and sore they could sleep anyways. Usually one meal a day was provided by a local village woman (as previously arranged - usually rice and beans). We ate street food for our other meals. Bathrooms were in the bushes or corn fields and showers were often taken in the dark behind buildings, often with well water at which it was better not to look because it's hard to say if we were actually "cleaner" after washing with it. As such, it was a great "wilderness" experience. It was definitely a test of patience as well as, since we were passing through fairly 'isolated' villages, we got a whole ton of attention as YOVOs; At each destination, upon our arrival, we were surrounded within minutes by HUNDREDS of kids and adults who were content to just stand and stare for HOURS - even if we were just pausing to take naps. I went to bed each night with villagers staring and woke up (as early as 5) with villagers staring (as I often slept outside with some other volunteers). The week was a great chance to practice public speaking as well since at times, when we'd do presentations at local high schools, for example, we'd have an audience as big as 600 people. During the sensibilizations, we explained what HIV/AIDS is, what the modes of transmission are, what the modes of prevention are, what the incorrect rumors and stereotypes are, etc. We also did condom demonstrations with wooden penises - which may sound crude to you and always caused a ruckus (sp?) among the crowd at first, but is an incredibly essential part of the demonstration because a huge problem here is lack of or improper use of condoms (Just to clarify, it's not that we were encouraging sex - we placed a huge emphasis on abstinence as the safest way to go - but the reality is that young adults are doing it regardless and without realizing how to protect themselves properly against pregnancy and illness and that's why the demonstration is crucial). I personally was surprised with how intently adults and kids listened to us. Still, apparently statistics show that of a crowd, only 80 percent will listen to everything you have to say, 20 percent will actually understand everything you say, and only 5 percent will actually ultimately change an aspect of their behavior in response. The reality of the statistics can be kind of depressing, especially considering how much work we put into this week. But I would seriously still feel as if it was worth it even if we got just one kid to change his/her ways and lead a safer, healthier lifestyle.

So, overall, it was a very exhausting week but I'm really glad I did it because it was a great experience. I feel like it's also helped prepare me to better do demonstrations in my own village, especially among young adults - which is particularly important for me since the first meeting of a girls club I started in my village will be taking place this upcoming week. I also got a T-shirt out of it! :-) The pictures will fairly accurately give you an idea of what our presentations, sleeping conditions, crowds, etc. were like.



Sample sunrise

Going up a hill of sand (that's me waving)

Me and Emily - very sweaty at the end of a long day



A few (not very flattering) shots of me doing my part of the presentation at schools




Playing games with village folks and kids

Gawkers; this was taken during AIDS ride but it is a perfect example of what kids' faces look like when they're staring at me on the phone - especially the little girl in the red dress in the middle



Rest time; we always tried to find isolated areas free from kids but they always found us! Those are the same mats we slept on.

Sample welcome crowd/mob

Loading the bikes all on the van at the end of AIDS Ride

An American in Togo

Sure it involves being called "Yovo" everywhere you go and missing peanut m&ms and fast internet, but as an American in Togo, I've run into more complicated challenges as well. Now into my 5th month in Togo, I've become fairly familiar with the various differences between the Togolese and Americans on a cultural level. To name a few:

-Child punishment: There's a phrase that's used here, "En Afrique, il faut le baton". It basically means that there is no effective alternative to teaching (a child) a lesson than through beating with a stick, and the Togolese often say it in response to Americans' horrified faces after witnessing such a scene, as if their speaking of it as a generalization will make us feel any better about it. But the truth is, the average American will disagree with beating a child as punishment (and when I say beating, I mean really beating) no matter what the argument. I still can't watch whenever it happens. But the Togolese don't understand how our methods could be effective at all.

-Teaching system: In school, a teacher will stand at the front of the class with a lesson written on the blackboard. He will go orally go through everything written, perhaps adding a few statements, but usually the students are too busy to pick up on any extra information because in the meantime they are frantically trying to write down everything in their notebooks word for word from the blackboard before the teacher erases everything and fills it up again with new information. The right answers on the test are the word-for-word responses that came from what was on the blackboard. An American would argue: is that learning, or is it just memorization?

-Interruption and Privacy: In Togo, it is not uncommon for a friend to just walk in in the middle of a doctor's appointment and start chatting about daily affairs with the nurse, or even just sit in on the appointment and wait until the nurse is finished diagnosing the sick patient. Health professionals or administrators or teachers will stop mid-sentence in front of a room full of people to answer a telephone call that might last 5 minutes (which is a long time). At a bank, people will stand right next to you as you request money from the teller and count your money, or, if they are a friend of the teller, you might get cut in line, even if you've already been standing there for an hour. All things that are incredibly frustrating and invasive for Americans, but the Togolese will rarely complain about it.

I think as Americans, we come in thinking we've got it all 'right'. But what happens when you try to do something differently? For example, I came in thinking, "Ok, I disagree with the Togolese teaching system, so I'll just teach my own way - the American way". Reaction? Blank faces; the kids don't have a clue what you're doing, or how to respond to your method. Try punishing a Togolese kid with reason or logic; I've run into the strongest stubbornness I've ever encountered in my life. The fear arrives in their eyes and the obedience comes only when someone starts waving a tree branch. I've learned quickly that it's not easy to just transfer American methods and ideas and havie them succeed here. It's not that simple, which means that our way is not a universally adaptable way - which is humbling to realize. What's also humbling is being caught up in thinking, for example, "the way they can treat their children is so wrong", but then realizing that I have never seen children as caring, devoted and obedient to their parents in America as they are here; they obviously do something 'right', and if anything, 'better' than Americans do.

In one of my recent experiences at a bank here in Togo, the teller had just given me my money, and a guy walked in, waiting to be served after me, and he came up to the counter and propped his head on his hands and just watched me count my money. After a few seconds of growing exponentially disturbed and feeling like my money was being coveted and thinking, 'great - this isn't doing anything to fight the stereotype that Americans are rolling in dough', I turned to him and asked, "I'm sorry, do you mind giving me some space?". He seemed very confused as to why I was so irritated. Only 2 minutes later, he pulled out almost triple the amount of money I'd taken out to make a deposit, completely unbothered by the fact that I hadn't completely moved aside. Something about that whole situation later struck me as amusing and ironic. As an American, I value the respect of privacy. And when I feel like my privacy has been violated, my thoughts immediately move to an awareness of the potential negative consequences that can come about as a result. But somehow it's a little different here...(Disclaimer: don't worry mom - that story wasn't to say I'll no longer be on my guard)

I think America is great. And because it's great, I think it's common for Americans to travel to underprivileged areas and perhaps be mildly horrified by differences which lead us to instinctively think, "Wow, we really have/do it better". And sometimes maybe it is 'better', but other times maybe it's not. Because sometimes I think we just don't get it. Because the reason the Togolese may not always be horrified or complain is not always because they're "just used to it" - but because it's based in some cultural norm or value which we frankly need a lot of time before we can maybe ever fully grasp. I really am not trying to say that I think it's wrong to disagree with something that goes on here (and thus act on it), but I've really started to come to terms with realizing that it's important to be aware that 'right' or 'wrong' has a degree of cultural subjectivity. In other words, what may be wrong for Americans may not always be so inherently wrong for Togolese. The same goes for the right.

I think, not just as Americans, but especially as Peace Corps volunteers, we come in expecting to change lives, and I absolutely think there's the possibility for that. But it requires not being so egocentrically American.
It's a very humbling realization.

A Sample Week

I've had a lot of people ask me what exactly I do over here so I decided to keep a very detailed log of this past week to share with you. The truth is, no two weeks are ever the same and, after months of not being able to say what exactly I'd be doing in the Peace Corps before I came, I now realize that that's because what a Peace Corps volunteer decides to do with his/her time and energy is completely up to him/her. I apologize if this entry is a little tedious to read, but hopefully it'll give you somewhat better of a picture of what daily life is like over here for me.

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 29
5:08 woke up
5:15-5:45 went running
-6 showered and dressed
-6:15 made breakfast (power porridge: rice, peanut butter, bananas, and sugar)
-7:15 read
-8:40 did dishes, put away dry dishes from the day before, cleaned house, swept porch, burned trash, filled large water bucket at the well to have water easily accessible at my house
-9 walked to dispensaire (health facility in my village)
-11:30 sat in on prenatal consultations and consultations with the ill. There weren't that many people who came in today. I filled out paperwork for PC administrators coming this week and also talked with my homologue, the midwife, about potential projects.
-11:45 walked home
-12:15 ate leftovers for lunch (curried vegetables and rice)
-1:15 read
-1:40 tried to take a nap; I rarely take naps but was for some reason particularly tired today. I couldn't end up sleeping because I was too hot and sweaty.
1:45-5:15 Grilled soy and corn for enriched porridge flour that I was making for the women in my village. It was very tedious work involving constantly stirring the grains in a pot over a charcoal fire. I read intermittently and chatted with passerbyers to keep from getting too bored.
-6 Finally finished! Rested and chatted with the family in my compound under the gazeebo while the mom sewed and one of the daughters stripped stems off baobab leaves for the dinner sauce.
-6:15 Discussed with a local village woman her toothache, ultimately telling her I'm not a doctor and really can't diagnose it nor can I give her money to go to the bigger village to have it treated, nor do I have medication that I can give her for it.
-6:45 showered and dressed
-7:15 had dinner with the family (pate - a kind of boiled corn meal that the Togolese love - with baobab leaf and bean sauce.
-7:30 Tried to listen to French radio but I still have trouble understanding the language on the radio because they talk so fast.
-8:30 talked with compound family
-9 toiletries and went to bed

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 30
5 woke up, debated going back to sleep, then forced myself up
5:15-5:45 ran
-6 quick shower, put water on the charcoal to boil, got in line at the mill to grind the grilled grains
-6:45 waited while the mill man cleaned and fixed the mill. Ate oatmeal as I waited.
7:15 Finally started grinding first batch of grains
7:30-8:45 The mill broke down; I had to wait for it to get fixed again
-9:15 Finally finished grinding everything into flour
10 Kids in my compound left for a big city where they will be attending school this year
-10:45 Started bagging the enriched porridge flour
-11 was given rice and fish sauce to eat; I was starving
-12:15 Was visited by the PC Security officer who stayed and chatted to make sure I've been doing alright since coming to post
-1:45 bagged some more
-3 had a snack of biscuits and peanuts, then went to the market to chat with people there (Tuesday is market day in my village)
-3:30 Chatted with a camarade in the village about potential projects
-4:30 Wrote up a list of the subjects I want to cover in a girls club that I'll be starting soon to present to the middle school director that I'll be meeting with tomorrow.
-7:10 Finished bagging. 92 bags total!
-8 Watched the 6 and 10 year olds who stayed in the village with the family make dinner; now that the older girls have left for school, its the younger girls' responsibility
8:10-8:30 had pate with leftover baobab and bean sauce from last night
8:30-8:45 Off in the distance some woman started wailing; my compound mom went to see what was up. It turns out she had been stung by a scorpion. We could hear her husband scolding her for not wearing shoes.
-9 toiletries then bed, exhausted

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 1
6 'slept in' until 6; was later asked why I got up so late
-6:20 dressed, boiled water for porridge and drinking water (which I then let cool in a big bucket and then pour into my filter before I can drink it)
-6:40 Ate enriched porridge for breakfast (soy and corn powder mixed with boiled water and sugar; delicious but I was sweaty by the end of breakfast)
7-8 Met with the middle school director to discuss the girls club, when to start it, and the extent of his involvment in it; I had to meet with him early because he was going to head off to the fields
8-8:40 putzed around house, chatted with compound mom in her boutique
-9 walked to dispensaire
-11:45 Sat in on more consultations (a lot of cases of malaria today), planned out what I'm going to say to the village women on Thursday during my presentation on enriched porridge
-1:10 talked to my boyfriend Dave on the phone
-1:40 walked home. The family had saved lunch for me (pate and fish& squash sauce)
-3:20 finished book I started at the beginning of the week
-4 practiced presentation for tomorrow
-4:20 swept porch, did dishes I should have done a while ago
-5 after biking to the dispensaire, which is the only place in my village where I get reception, I talked to my mom and brother Eric on the phone. There was bad reception so it was a short call.
-5:30 chatted with people in boutique back in my compound
-6 wrote letters, went and found the man with the generator in my village to drop off my phone for charging
-7:30 Helped prepare dinner with the family; made a salad (cabbage,lettuce,carrots,tomatoes,onions, and sardines with a mayo and vinegar sauce)
-8 ate dinner (pate and peanut sauce with fish; as you can see, the Togolese never tire of pate!)
-8:20 showered
8:30 went to bed early

THURSDAY OCTOBER 2
5 woke up
5:15 -5:45 running
-6 showered
-7 Prepared and ate peanut butter pancakes for breakfast, which are so good. I normally eat them with a banana sauce but I couldn't find bananas at the market this week. I always have a big breakfast on Thursdays because Thurs is baby weighing day at the dispensaire, which can sometimes last past lunch. After finishing the pancakes, I cooked noodles for lunch; I do this to make the most of the charcoal that's already lit and to save me time later. To extinguish the charcoal, I put it in an old airtight tin milk powder can. I used to just dump the lit charcoal and pour water over it, but then you have to wait for it to dry before you can use it again. I was taught to save charcoal in these ways by the 16 year old son in my compound who was horrified when he found out during post visit that I used to just let the remainding charcoal burn off.
-7:30 Did dishes (I do dishes in two big basins on my porch and then dump the dirty water out behind the house when I'm done; the pigs like to roll in it to cool themselves off), swept porch (I have to sweep it a lot because it's always dirty from charcoal ash and sandal dirt; also, if there's even the slightest bit of food, it attracts a ton of ants, which are such a pain for me here in Togo. I just ran out of insecticide so now I just have to stomp on them to kill them or I just squish them with my hands. Stupid ants - they drive me crazy), filled filter.
-8 Got dressed (up until this point I've just been wearing a tank top and a pagne cloth wrapped around as a skirt) and ready for work
-8:10 Went to fetch cell phone, but the guy told me he didn't have enough money to start up the generator last night so it still wasn't charged (this happens from time to time). He said he'd definitely charge it tonight.
-8:45 waited around for my homologue's daughter, who my homologue told me she'd send to help me carry the baskets of bagged flour across the village to the dispensaire. She was really late so I assumed that one of them had forgotten. I was just going to take it over myself but my compound mom refused to let me do it alone even though I insisted it wouldn't be too heavy. She pulled the mill man's daughter aside, put the basket on her head, and we were off. When we were nearly there, I saw my homologue's daughter slowly ambling towards us; she didn't apologize for being late nor did she take the basket from the girl's head, but she started chatting with a friend on the side of the road instead, which really annoyed me. We continued on.
9-1:45 Baby weighing (there were a lot of malnourished babies today); I've kind of taken charge of recording all the weights and filling in the charts, though I spend half the time fixing wrongly marked charts and mistakes in the record books. It can be extremely frustrating to see so many errors. At 10:30 I gave a sensibilization with the help of a friend translator on how to read the growth charts (so that the moms know how to tell whether their babies are malnourished or not since sometimes when 100 women show up, we don't have time to go through all the charts with them) and how to make enriched bouille, which I was also selling pre-made to address the common complaint that the women just don't have time to make the bouille (porridge). After the sensibilization, a man from some handicapped society gave a speech although I didn't understand a word because it was all in Kabiye. More baby weighing after that.
-1:40 Arriving home, my compound mom had saved some pate with fish and okra sauce for me. I was just going to make my own lunch but I didn't want to turn down the food she'd purposely saved for me. So, more pate! I had it with a grapefruit.
-2:45 Thought about doing laundry, but laziness won and I started reading a new book instead
-4:15 Studied Kabiye (the predominant local language in my village although Ewe, Losso, Mina, and Kotokoli are also spoken)
-5:30 Cleaned latrine and house
-6:30 Prepared and ate dinner: Tuna casserole on noodles. I'd made enough for tomorrow's lunch too but I started worrying that the tuna and evaporated milk in it would go back (no electricity in village = no fridge). I ended up eating both servings and was really stuffed.
-7 Showered
-8 Did work around the house, wrote letters, made a list of what I needed to get done in Atakpame, the regional capital where I was going tomorrow
-8:30 Started feeling like I was coming down with a cold (it's hard to believe but every once and a while people still do get colds even in this tropical climate!) so I listened to music and then went to sleep really early.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 3
4:20 Woke up with a bad headache, sore throat, and runny nose. Went to the bathroom then came back and turned off my alarm because I didn't feel well enough to go running.
5:45 Woke up
-8 Showered, made hash browns with yams (which are much more readily available than potatoes), cleaned up around house a little more. Then I left to go get my cell phone. I couldn't find the guy but I found someone who pointed out his wife to me, who then gave me my cell phone. It still wasn't charged - I'm not quite sure what the deal was. I had one bar of charge left and I just needed to call Danielle, the volunteer in the village just north of me, to touch base about when we were going to meet up to go to Atakpame together. But I just couldn't find any reception.
8:30 Danielle suddenly showed up on a moto taxi!
-9 Quickly packed, did dishes, got on a moto to leave for the 20 minute ride to Anie, from where we'd take a car to Atakpame - another 20 minutes. My moto driver was following Danielle's but about 10 minutes into the trip, his moto broke down. Danielle's driver had to drop her off and then come get me. We were able to find a car pretty fast in Anie when we both finally arrived, but the cars drive around for a while until they fill up before leaving. The whole trip to Atakpame, which ideally should have taken 40 minutes ended up taking nearly 2 and a half hours. This is very typical - you learn to be very patient.
11:30 We arrive in Atakpame and get dropped off at our banks (which are different for some reason), where we both really needed to go but they were both JUST closing for lunch.
-2:45 I bought paint to finish painting my house and we did a little shopping then walked over to the PC transit house and relaxed and chatted with other volunteers who were there for the weekend.
2:45 Headed back to the bank, as it would now be open, but there were sporratic (sp?) rainstorms along the way so we had to duck under shelter and wait 3 times before finally getting there at 3:30. I got money out at my bank, and then went to meet Danielle at her's, but she was stuck in this huge line with people who had been waiting there since 2. The machines were apparently broken so it was taking forever.
-5 I ran to the post office to pick up stamps and then to drop off some letters. I got back to the bank just as it started downpouring. We waited there another half hour and then decided it would be better for her to just come back in the morning. We walked over to a restaurant where we were going to meet up with other PC volunteers for dinner. We put our order in right away since usually there is only one chef and with a crowd of 6 people, you can wait as long as 3 hours before you get your food.
-6:30 Ate a yummy dinner of chicken and salad. My cold was getting worse though so I headed back to the transit house with 2 other girls.
7 started a movie(did I mention there's electricity and flushing toilets at the transit house!!! Luxury)But all of us volunteers are on Togo time and were falling asleep by 8:30
8:45 Went to bed. Unfortunately I woke up at 1 with bad diahrrea and what ended up being nearly a 104° fever; sometimes it's the risk you take when you eat in restaurants where the food isn't always clean. Saturday was spent recuperating.