Local Middle School

The local Middle school serves a district of 6000 inhabitants. There are a total of 189 students at the school, 70 in the equivalent of american 6th grade, 42 in 7th grade, 49 in 8th grade, and 28 in 9th grade. There are 10 girls in 9th grade of which 2 are from my village of 3000 inhabitants. Yearly middle school tuition is 30 $ US dollars, making it quite a burden on families with as many as 10 kids going to either Elementary (4 $ US dollar tuition)or Middle school. Nearly always, the financial burden results in having to choose which children to send to school. In addition to the problem of money, student pregnancy and marriage cut short the education of many.

Pile of harvested Sorghum

Pile of harvested Sorghum
Originally uploaded by parisdelhi.

Before transporting harvested sorghum back to the house and processing it (beating the grains out with tree branches), it is piled up next to the field being harvested. If you check out the "more photos on flickr" link on the right-hand side of the blog you can see the harvesting process itself.

One motivated gardner

If you look back in the photos, you can see a shot of a freshly prepared garden bed. That one bed has become 20 or so, with tomatoes, cabbage, lettuce, green pepper, carrots, broccoli, onions, garlic, local vegetables, and Moringa trees. The man you see here is the owner and keeper of the garden, it is often hard to keep up with his thirst for new techniques and information.

20 km talk

A 20 km long talk with a student from my village brought scenes of pregnant women carrying huge loads of fire wood out of the bush on their heads, young Togolese men returning home with a motorcycle after a season spent working on Nigerian farms, slash and burn farming techniques destroying more hectares of forest and 10 year old boys who spend the whole day working in their own fields, among other sights. The student also told me a few things: that it is the money brought back by Togolese migrant workers "that is developing our village." That the motorcycles brought back by the migrant workers help transport sick people in our village to the hospital, and that the money brought back by the workers puts roofs over heads in our village. He lamented having to say that he doubts there will be much if any forest left near our village 20 years from now, but on a brighter note hoped that one day he could go to Europe, Incha Allah, adding that parents of children who have gone to Europe don't farm much anymore, they wait for the monthly money wire.

World HIV/AIDS day events

The canton (county) nurse and I put together AIDS talks for 7 villages in our canton. Here a community health agent evokes correct condom use.

Fulani head south for dry season

During the dry season the nomadic Fulani (Peul) head to the wetter south. They live in the bush and sell the meat of their injured cattle, as well as fresh milk and cheese, for money. Recently, a number of disputes have arrisen between stationary farmers in village and the Fulani, who's cattle often consume the corn, sorghum, or other crops before or during harvest.

Neem, sewing workshop, and volunteer.

Neem, sewing workshop, and volunteer.
Originally uploaded by parisdelhi.

Walking down to the center of village, I am often greated by the apprentices at this sewing workshop. The Imam often sits at the base of this neem tree to observe the activities at the market which is opposite the workshop.

a bread oven in village

A woman counterpart of mine has been asking me to find a way to build a bread cooking oven in village...

so far this is the most promising design: http://www.mha-net.org/docs/v8n2/wildac04b.htm

there are also solar ovens: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cooker

Natural Resource Mgmt and Fertility rates - Excerpt from college course material

Hoping to integrate family planning/ birth control into Natural Resource Mgmt. work here, I remembered having saved some course material on the subject of fertility rates from Humboldt State University Professor Dr. Paul Blank's Geography course called "Global Awareness." Here is an excerpt from a study unit called "Population" :

" Experience has shown that fertility declines as a result of modernization and industrialization, and only when a level of material security is guaranteed to most of the population. The rate at which fertility declines will determine whether global population levels off at eight billion or twelve billion during the next century. Some of the most important incentives to fertility decline are:

* The transition from an agricultural to an urban-industrial society. In this situation children cease becoming income-earners and become more of a burden, as parents have to provide them with education to succeed in the modern world. This is an incentive to reduce family size.

* The lowering of the infant-mortality rate. This gives parents confidence that most of their children will survive into adulthood, ensuring at least one child to survive to take care of them in their old age. When parents become more confident that their children will survive, they begin to limit family size. Studies have shown that there is a lag of about ten years between the introduction of infant hygiene and reduction in birth rates, so there is a temporary population rise, but this is followed by a permanent decline. One of the most dramatic impacts of infant hygiene is the introduction of infant rehydration formula. IRF is a major savior of children afflicted by diarrhea--the number one killer of children in the developing world.

* The education of women and their entry into the workforce. When women get access to education and earning power, they claim more power over their family-planning decision-making, and most often choose smaller families.

* The provision of birth control. Recent research in Bangladesh and elsewhere has found that if birth control and family planning information is made available, people will adopt it if it makes economic sense for them to do so. It turns out that there is a high latent demand for birth control in many societies, even those at a low level of economic development. "

Theory, Reality, and photos

- One of my favorite aspects of Peace Corps life is the ability to do immediate confrontation of Theory and Reality. I am able to read about the developing world in any publication, from the NY Times to a college textbook, and do immediate, on the ground application and critiques of the literature . "Application" could be going out to research about my village's level of knowledge concerning family planning and giving immediate feedback to villagers, after reading about the pressure of high birth rates on the environment. But this freelance application of research papers and news articles brings with it quite a bit of responsibility. Since my word, as a white westerner (an African-American volunteer has told me that it is not at all the same for him), is taken so seriously (nearly as the word of God), I'd better get my information right on often very important issues of health and well-being. One publication that I have very much enjoyed reading and applying is "World View Magazine," so I've added a link to the online edition of the magazine on the right-hand side of this site. - I will also be uploading more photos but not all will appear on the blog. Follow the photo link on the right to my see more...

Imam's 'sermon'

Imam's 'sermon'
Originally uploaded by parisdelhi.

On the day following Ramadan, the Imam leads prayer in the morning and then gives a much awaited sermon. This year's sermon was about many things including not passing on rumors or talking about other peoples' business, that we should only say what we have seen with or own eyes. Everyone gets dressed up in their finest garb for the occasion.

the result of poverty

the result of poverty
Originally uploaded by parisdelhi.

It seems that when people are poor, they often impoverish their future just to get by.

Gingari Kumuka (Ramadan festival)

Gingari (Ramadan festival)
Originally uploaded by parisdelhi.

Bassirou, a friend from my neighborhood, has been teaching me much about Islam and its practices. The photo is from the celebration on the day following the holy month of Ramadan.

establishing a garden

establishing a garden
Originally uploaded by parisdelhi.

Using John Jeavons' double digging techniques we have been establishing a dry season garden. The shelter in the background houses sheep who provide manure that, once broken down, is used in the garden. It appears that creating a good dry season garden can be much more profitable than risking the dangerous trip to nearby Nigeria. Many young people see Nigeria as the only way to earn enough money to buy a motorcycle, but it appears that a quality garden can do the same without all the risks.

First monthly village clean-up

First monthly village clean-up
Originally uploaded by parisdelhi.

The village has decided to come together every first Wednesday of the month to clean the public areas. The chief (in yellow on the right), in consultation with the public, has decided that beginning January 1st 2007 any animal left roaming will cost the owner a 1 dollar ,or 500 franc, fine. The decision was taken by the village after discovering the negative health effects and loss of valuable manure caused by roaming animals. The photo is of the launch of the first village clean-up, where recently Red Cross trained students explained to the public the importance of a clean village.

Baobob tree and clan (family) meeting house.

The Baobob tree and the colorful clan (family) meeting house to the left are next to the market place of which you can see a couple shelters, used for cooking on market day, in the foreground.

the neighborhood mosque

the neighborhood mosque
Originally uploaded by parisdelhi.

This is the mosque (the closest to my house) where I have been learning to pray. We are in the Imam's neighborhood, so it is the religious center of the village.

the promise of the west

Here is an article that I feel very much reflects the attitude of folks in my village concerning emigration as a means to escape poverty. As the article states, those who have emigrated to richer areas such as Europe, the US, or even neighboring Ghana, are hailed as success stories by their peers. The article also mentions that the "well to do" families in Africa are supported by money sent back by relatives that have emigrated to Europe or the US and this is also the case in my rural village of 3,000. In the article a man is quoted saying: "Many young people think they have to pass through Europe in order to succeed in life," this is also the belief of most all of the youth here. I have conversations everyday with youth who tell me about everything they have tried in order to succeed and they say that they would jump on a row boat and paddle into the Atlantic to reach Europe even if there was a 50 percent chance of death: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56132&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=SENEGAL In addition I have added a link to “IRIN news from West Africa” to the side bar on the right-hand side of this blog. I find that many articles on the IRIN site reflect my daily experiences here.

The walk to school...

The walk to school...
Originally uploaded by parisdelhi.

Elementary students make their way to school from their homes in the bush, a trip of 4 km or so. They return home at noon, then return to school at 3pm, and finally return home again at 5pm. 16 km a day.

need wood?

Somewhere in West Africa there was a Peace Corps volunteer that sat down for a bowl of beans and rice after a long day of fasting during Ramadan. The fellow seated to his left spoke French particularly well and the two began to converse. Come to find out that the high school educated French-speaker was a logger and had been hired to come to town to do some logging on land belonging to a local. Intrigued by meeting a person who's job was seemingly the contrary of his own, the peace corps volunteer asked if he could accompany the logger to the cutting site the following day. The following morning the two headed out through the sparsley wooded bush, that according to the etymology of the name of the village and the chief, had been a thick old growth forest only a generation ago. Once at the logging site the two sat and repaired the giant chain saw while laughing and talking U.S. politics (yes, in the African bush with a logger talking about politics in the US). After repairs, the giant chainsaw was ready for work which that day would consist of making wood blocks out of the already felled trees in order to be able to transport them out of the bush. So as the logger primed the chainsaw and the naked little children gathered around, excited to see the spectacle, the sahara desert rejoiced, having one less obstacle in its path as it marched south. Yes, all were bearing witness to deforestation, though no one seemed saddned, to the contrary, smiles and interest abounded, and this party atmosphere the Peace Corps volunteer tried to understand. As it turned out, everyone that benefited financially (and there were quite a few who would skim cash, in addition to the land owner and the logger), that is to say everyone who had an interest in this logging, was simply trying to put food on the table that evening. This must have been why the mood could be so light. While in the long term, the logging may have been impoverishing the future of those involved, the short term seemed a little more bareable, a little less hungry thanks to the money that would come from the sale of the wood. So of course people were smiling, they could almost taste benefits of their logging labor. But this was only the first scary truth to come from the outing. The Peace Corps volunteer then asked where the wood would be sold. After all if the the fallen trees were destined to become a bed for a new born and its mother or a bench for the local school, the logging really wouldn’t be that bad. If the trees would be cut only to meet a local need for wood then this whole thing might just be sustainble. But poverty creates amazingly contradictory situations. The blocks of wood, each 6ft x 2ft x 1f., would sell for 12 dollars US each, at most. But the schools of Africa would not receive new benches nor the African family a new bed. Wood of this quality, said the logger, goes to a neighboring country where it will be exported.......to America, or Europe. Poverty creates amazingly contradictory situations....an African future impoverished for a bit more protein in the diet today. There is a war going on in Iraq that costs, the PC volunteer has heard, 80 million dollars a day, while African middle school students drop out of school, unable to pay the 32 dollar tuition. If that 80 million dollars a day was spent on building schools and making education free and compulsory for Africans, this continent would already be developed. But the Peace Corps volunteer doesn’t think he is the only person aware of this. Poverty creates amazingly contradictory situations....there are too many who have a financial interest in Africa's underdevelopment or further impoverishment....even the poor themselves. (To be clear: The poor have an immediate interest (food) in their long-term poverty (deforestation) because of poverty)

Article on Small-scale agriculture

I am constantly reminded by farmers that they need to find new markets for their products, the local price forces them to sell at a loss or not sell at all. At this moment farmers are selling corn in my village at a loss of about two thirds of the production cost. This article seems to apply to them all: http://spore.cta.int/spore125/spore125_view.asp please excuse my messy logic and writing in the last entry, slow internet makes you move fast...

bits and pieces of thought

Letter to a friend: "yeah, I've been having trouble expressing things in writing. But here goes nothing: I am in a Muslim village of 3000 people, 24km from very slow internet, a 1km walk to water that isnt cloudy, a 30 second walk to the mosque. Nextdoor is a teacher at the elementary school who makes 40 dollars a month and has 10 kids. An orphan girl helps me do laundry and I send her to school and pay for her food. In a district of 6000 inhabitants, 27 students are currently in 9th grade, of which only 10 are girls, and only 2 of the girls are from my village of 3000. Many boys are sent to Koranic school or French-Arabic school instead of catholic or state-run Middle school. My community counterpart is great, he was born in Ghana, and worked in Nigeria, we have fascinating and unexpectedly eccentric conversations. Most men have over 10 kids. Often the kids must leave school due to lack of funds or marriage or pregnancy, only to find small-scale farming as the only means to subsist, so they often go to labor-hungry Nigeria to work in the fields in hopes of bringing back money for a new tin roof on the parents' house or a chinese motorcycle. Those who go to Nigeria cannot go on roads where they might be seen by police, so they go through the bush where they encounter packs of dogs and even some lions, though deforestation and poaching have taken care of most of the lions. There is also human trafficking: the family with 10 or 20 kids has a leaky roof, or finds itself without food at the end of the dry season, or in debt, and a man comes by furtively to see if they might want to send a child to Nigeria in exchange for money, and what happens to the child? Also, due to rapid population growth and lack of access to national and international markets, aswell as poor access (24km on a difficultly passable dirt road) to existing markets for the harvested crops such as corn and soy, folks cannot afford fertilizer or leave their land fallow and the soil is less and less productive. Forest land is often cleared by burning in order to plant yams or other crops. These environmental consequences of the lack of balance between man and nature are where I come in. So as it seemed that high birth rates and unwanted pregnancies that halt education were the principal reasons for many of these issues, I have been teaching classes at the middle school on the connection between population growth and the environment IE: deforestation/ desertification, the productivity of the land, and by extension the amount of money in peoples pockets since every last person is a farmer, even the teachers. But damn, when I am in village life is great, and there is alot of hope, this is why I have troublewriting, if I rattle off the issues of the village it seems so grave,we laugh alot, and give gifts of food, drink, and I come to see the women have their babies weighed and vaccinated, we laugh at my bad local language skills but get through the salutation unscathed. Life is great but it isn't, 5 men in their 20s asked me if I could help them get to America while I was coming to the cybercafé. As my counterpart says, "the devil finds work for the idle man." Despite all this the students at the middle school still want to have many children as the man with many children is revered. " Another letter to a friend: "If I haven't been posting plentiful paragraphs about life and times in rural Africa, it has been due to not knowing where to start. As my impressions change from day to day as to what or who are the true factors and actors at work in African development, I write anticipating a new revelation that will render the past ones silly or naïve. But I guess it is naïve to think that I could come to a grand conclusion about such a complexe situation. And my other worry is that anything I say will be taken out of context, a thought from a moment of despair clouding the thought of great hope and joy. But here are a couple leads on development: Last week, In the space of 24 hours 3 people told me how they had planted a hectar or more of fruit trees only to find the trees burned by folks jealous of the enterprise. Later I talked to 3 high ranking individuals in the community and all said that indeed jealousy is the biggest obstacle for development in Africa. -The first, in the presence of elders, said that while he agreed, the phenomenon is not refered to as jealousy but as witchcraft. -the second said that personal initiative is completely blocked in Africa, that the moment you begin to "evolve" a bit past the others not only will people attempt to destroy your project, but they will first try to KILL you. In addition, this interviewee said that the affirmation of truth is also completely blocked in Africa. People dont like to hear anything that could be perceived as a reproach, so having good ideas is deemed bad and authority is never questioned. -the third agreed but added that in communities with multiple ethnicities there is a level of respect, while in ethnicly homogenous communities it is felt that when someone from your same blood surpasses you, you must be lacking...He also said that in Africa it is very easy to destroy things and very hard to construct things. All this might be exagerated or much more tied into witchcraft but this is what people said. The other revelation was about population growth, one man in my village has 34 children. It seems to me that a main source of poverty (financial/ environmental/ nutritional/ educational/ health) is simply having too many kids. I also think that the quickest route to development is through education of youth, but school seems like a deadend to many especially when middle school tuition is 30 USD for one year and the nearest high school is 24 km away and has 100 students in every classroom already, many of whom have never met someone who was actually all that better off thanks to education. The farmer who cant afford fertilizer has a hard time justifying why he should send his daughter to school when she will soon become pregnant anyway, better to marry her off now and use the money for fertilizer. But here I am again, things are that bad but they aren't, there are many incredible people in the communities that are working very hard for development in their communities, infact the majority is like that, but when all the issues above are thown at you at once what can you do? Lada Sourou, have patience... I have to say again that life is moving along despite all this, I have said alot here but what you should retain is that I will go to village and eat and laugh and pray and discuss, and life moves along like a meandering river, it isnt everything that I have said above at once, it is slower than that, happier and more beautiful. "

Compost pit and a healthy moringa branch

Compost pit and a healthy moringa branch
Originally uploaded by parisdelhi.

Two of the ideas we've got going:
Compost:
Officially 65% of Togolese are farmers though since many are forced to farm for supplementary income, and subsistence foods, a Togolese agronomist has told me that 90 % of Togolese farm. This said, a major obstacle for the Togolese farmer is the declining fertility of the soil. No more than 20 percent of farmers can afford chemical fertilizer. At the same time goats, chickens, and cows roam the village, and their excrement is left in public and home areas where is can easily lead to worms and other maladies. Composting can contribute to solving both of these issues. By using the animal manure and other biodegradables usually left in public areas where kids play, the village can clean things up and decrease its dependence on chemical fertilizers.

Moringa trees:
The Moringa is a veritable pharmacy unto it self, from malnutrition to water purification it can contribute much to the community's well-being.

waiting for the chief

P9010460
Originally uploaded by parisdelhi.

Arrived at the home of a local chief, I spent some time in the courtyard with his family while waiting for him to come back from his farm.

counterpart

My friend and counterpart. Together we philosophize about everything from African development to the Muslim world to the chief's new sunglasses.

My neighbor applying natural pesticide from the Neem tree

application
Originally uploaded by parisdelhi.

Fulani women headed to market

Fulani women headed to market
Originally uploaded by parisdelhi.

After a meeting with a chief of an nearby village, who offered me three delicious yams fresh from his fields, I was reminded that it was market day by these women.

chief and counterpart

chief and counterpart
Originally uploaded by parisdelhi.

center: Chief
right: my counterpart in village with whom I work closely
left: myself
on the poster above the chief: the President of Togo

Pestling and loading

Hey there all, as a follow up on the Ethnic issues entry, a Togolese friend would have me add that, in addition to the reasons mentioned, peoples outside their ethnic homeland maintain contact with that homeland in order to insure that in case of their death they have a proper ceremony/ burial. Their death might not be recognized in an ethnically foreign community.

...

I have found a couple new things good for the heart :

The first is helping a woman to load a basin onto her head. Everything from water to bread to chickens seems to be transported in the typical round 2.5-3 ft wide 8 inches deep metallic basin.

Situations where I have found myself helping a woman to load a basin include:

- at a water source, in order to take water back to the household

- after buying bread from a woman who runs a bread business out of the basin on her head.

- after buying cloth from a woman selling cloths out of a basin.

- after buying a coconut from a woman selling coconuts out of a basin.

The second activity is pestling yams into Foufou, a prized food staple similar to pasty, thick, and sticky mashed potatoes. Necessary materials including a pestle 4 or so feet long and a mortar 1.5 feet or so wide, the pestling of the foufou is another job accomplished by women. Often pestling is a group event bringing 2 or 3 folks to the same mortar creating a rhythm created by each pestle hitting the yam filled mortar in turn .

the Shell connection

Hoping to promote world peace and mutual understanding among gas station attendants I am proud to announce the informal correspondence or penpalship that has begun between the closest Shell gas station to my post here in Togo and my former place of work, a Shell gas station in Portland, Oregon.

Ethnic issues :

***Josh Here- Chris passed a message through the pipeline to make some changes again. Hopefully I change what I am supposed to! He is well though*** A couple interesting topics came up today that might help to better understand the workings of the 'typical' African state where so many different peoples are encircled by arbitrary boundries :

--- This morning while working with a man, who we'll call Basir, from my region who is teaching me the local language, our conversation turned to the origins of his people who have immigrated to areas throughout Togo, aswell as to Ghana, Benin, and Nigeria. According to Basir, the people moved south from Burkina Faso around the time of World War II. A hunter founded the village of *****, now *****, meaning more or less 'where the meat is good.' ***** is now the largest city in *******. ---

The conversation then turned to how one gets a 'certificate of origin,' which from what I have gathered is the first in a long series of documents and obstacles needed to obtain a Togolese national identity card. ---

When independence came around, Basir's family returned to the home region of the ****** in central Togo. Outside the ethnic borders they had been seen as foreigners, with their own language and cultural traditions, even though they were still in Togo. They moved back for at least two reasons. First, inorder to get a 'certificate of origin' one must speak to the local chief where one is residing. As perceived foreigners, the local chief may or may not agree to issue a 'certificate of origin'. The second reason for returning home was, as my friend put it, that 'en cas de qu'est-ce qu'il y a,' literally translated 'in case of a what's wrong or a what's up,' otherwised stated in case of ethnic tensions, one must stay well attached to one's ethnic homeland. ---

Elections were given as an example of an event that might spark ethnic tensions. Immigrants from a ***** region or ***** region might be blamed for having stolen an election. If they have lost all contact with their home village or ethnic region they will be stuck in a foreign land without the ability to return to a safe haven. This, it seems, has happened to many Burkinabè peoples in Ivory Coast who have been identified as foreigners in Ivory Coast even though they might have been born there. Like many immigrants in the United States many Burkinabè immigrated to Ivory Coast in search of jobs. ---

As a result of the marginalization that can affect ethnic foreigners, my friend routinely maintains contact with his ethnic region and makes regular trips to that region with his children so that they may avoid finding themselves without a safe haven. All of this happens on one 'national' territory, be it Togo or the Ivory Coast, and with so many ethnicities spanning West Africa, the true foreign element seems to be the imposed 'modern' state structure itself. I have of course surely glossed over and missed some very important points but I hope that this gives a sense of the different ethnic issues that can arrise. +++

the employee here at the cyber café said that most of what I wrote sounded right but he said that unlike in Ivory Coast, one can find local chiefs of one's own ethnicity through much of Togo. So even though you might be from the north you might still be able to find a chief in the south for your 'Certificate of Origin.' But when you then add a national boundry, as is the case of the Burkinabè in Ivory Coast, things become more complex.

what will things be like anyway:

Updated Sept. Here is a general description of what my situation will be like in the village that has taken me as an inhabitant:

The closest Peace Corps volunteer to me will be about 13 miles away. I will be working with local folks to increase their capacity to improve their own quality of life (if I do my job well). They will of course teach me more than I teach them though I will try to keep it even. There is no phone in my village*. There is little cell phone coverage. My toilet is a very clean and comfortable Indian style toilet. The village has no electricity or running water**. A couple months out of the year we will have to walk 2 km for water otherwise there is rain water and well water nearby. There are about 3000 residents in the village. There is tofu in my village. There are no paved roads within 20 km of my village***. Red dirt roads have a certain allure. There is one clear FM station (Radio France Intl)****. There is a market that attracts folks from all over once a week in my village. More about the wonderful people themselves later...

*There is a new "cell phonebooth" in village **there is a generator ***there are no paved roads within 13 miles of my village except one paved road just across the border in a neighboring country which is closer than 13 km. ****There are 4 clear radio stations 1 local 2 regional and the other being Radio France Internationale. PS: My first meal in village was made incredibly delicious by the Indian curry paste that my friends in Portland gave me. The curry paste was the base of a sauce along with condensed milk and oil. This was poured over fried tofu and couscous...very tiku... Tdaniwad

artemisinin

WHO calls for an immediate halt to provision of single-drug artemisinin malaria pills This tempers a bit my excitement about cultivating the plant locally...

Child Abuse

an article and an excerpt from my email conversation with a friend:

WEST AFRICA: Children in danger: Battered and bruised

Me: "My neighbor is an elementary school teacher who I have come to respect very much for his mentality and goodheartedness, he is highly supportive of his students and boasts an 85 percent pass rate with other teachers at 50 or less. He was showing me his elementary notebooks that date back before independence and explaining that students' quality of handwriting had gone way down with the outlawing of corporal punishment in schools. He continued that africans need the cane, otherwise nothing gets done, homework and studying purely dont happen without it. My reaction was that there is a motivational problem, that both students dont get or dont see any benefits from going to school or doing homework, and this would be another reason why most just go to Coranic school in my village."

the Hope!

Yesterday our Natural Resource/ agricultural tour of Togo, part of our training that is coming to an end, took us to a German NGO in Bassar, Togo. During this visit a number of key natural resource issues were touched on :

Nature’s capacity to act as a pharmacy :

Plants and trees can fulfill much of one’s medecine needs, one of the most promising medicinal plants is the Moringa tree, with its nutritous leaves that provide essential vitamins, protein, and other nutrients. The different uses of the Moringa are seemingly endless. Leaves and seeds can be made into powder and easily be sold, transported, and added to a family’s food. The tree is widely used in Senegal and Mali but has yet to become widely known in Togo. The success stories are numerous and sometimes seem miraculous, maybe this is why they call it « l’arbre de la vie » here or ‘the tree of life’. Moringa is a native tree of INDIA. I hope that my first months of service will allow me to spread the word and the seeds by radio and bike:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moringa_oleifera

The second extremely promising medicinal plant was the Artemisia anti-malarial plant. The possible benefits to the developing world are mind-boggling if it proves as effective as claimed :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/194160.stm

And so many more medicinal plants, from trees whose leaves can be used as natural fertilizer to seeds whose oil counter acts cataracts. Much of this was known by traditional healers but has been lost in the social upheaval, just like the 3rd century BC iron ore purifying ovens near Bassar, classified by UNESCO as a world heritage site, that the locals have little knowledge of.

Among other issues touched on was wood fuel consumption. One large bag of charcoal (5 ft high) necessitates the cutting down of 1 mature mango tree. When one realizes that much of the fuel used for cooking here is charcoal and that one tree can introduce as much as 740 litres of water per day into the air, having acted as a water bassin during rains, one can further understand the gravity of the deforestation situation. This is without mentioning all the other benefits of trees, from shade to fruit, nut, medecine, and natural pesticide production.

Myself and I think many of the other PC trainees came away from the session enthousiastic about getting started at village. I cannot speak for all of us but whether it be organizing aids awareness trainings, teaching folks how to build more fuel efficient stoves, or how to can tomatoes, we have the feeling that there are some concrete ways in which we will be able to aid our villages.

Monsieur le botaniste

Until I have a riper reflection, I thought I would share a bit about one of the many courageous Togolese who are finding creative ways to improve the life of their compatriots.

Here are some points I noted from a talk with a Togolese botanist and self-declared peasant but first let me give a small historical description:.

Monsieur le botaniste, as I will call him, established a home on a plot of land at the top of a hill that had become barren, due to the population's need for wood fuel, and feared by the surrounding population for its bad spirits. The first thing he did was to establish a fire break to halt the bush fires that regularly scorch the landscape and render reforestation and soil regeneration extremely difficult. At the time his wife had to travel 1.5 hrs for wood with which to cook. Ten years of work later, the hill around his home is a regular forest, and his wife no longer travels for wood, needing only to harvest branches and dead wood from the reforested area. This leads me to the first of the points that I found particularly interesting while talking to him:

-In order to cross the threshold of subsistence (this threshold being where one can get ahead year after year instead of just producing enough to survive, this is where most of the togolese farmers, who constitute between 70 and 90% of the Togolese workforce, find themselves) Monsieur le botaniste and his family have discovered different ways of saving time. EX: the wife of Monsieur le botaniste no longer has to look for wood, she can dedicate her time to canning tomatoes for the family and income generation, or extracting oil from Neem tree seeds to create natural pesticides.

-Monsieur le botaniste has a principle : one should perfect the activity which allows one to live, in his case the working of the land. This principle, helped by his degree in botany, has led him to better understand the environment in order to better serve that environment which when treated well can serve Monsieur le botaniste so well. He has employed integrated agricultural techniques, agroforestry, innovative animal husbandry and composting, and a healthy dose of allowing nature to regenerate itself. The benefits are too numerous to list off but this creates a cycling of nutrients throughout the farm that leads to richer soil, and more varied diets for the family.

-Monsieur le botaniste believes that transparency and equality should reign in the household. This way everyone is motivated to be involved, everyone benefits from the amelioration of the family's wellbeing, and there isn't the dishonesty such as a wife hiding money from a tyrannical husband that occurs in many families. This equality may have been what led Monsieur to be the first African to reject my thanking him for the tasty dinner, stating that I should thank his wife for having prepared it, others have show little thanks for the work of their wives.

-Monsieur sees humans as having 4 fundamental needs and says the rest is more or less luxury: Nutrition, Health/ Medecine, Clothing, and Education At harvest time Monsieur and the family set aside a certain portion of the harvest for each of these needs and this is their form of accounting and planning.

-At the base of all this one gets the sense in talking to Monsieur le botaniste that he has a different mentality than many around here. Less eloquently stated it is the idea that things can be better and that one can learn how to make them better, a kind of future oriented mentality that reminds me of the United States.

Well, that is all for now, thanks for your good vibrations, If I haven't returned them it is probably the less than speedy metaphysical mail service here in Togo that is at fault...

other things:

First, I had said earlier that Peace Corps never stops impressing on me the ability for governments to create mutual understanding between peoples. I would modify that just a bit to say that governments can create canals between peoples that allow them to understand each other, and this because, as Ms. Difranco states, "God's work isn't done by God, It's done by people." I guess the same goes for government work.

Secondly, The power went out while writing this and a funny thing happened: The Muslim call to prayer over loud-speakers went right on despite the lightening and thunder, while Togo's connection to the high-speed, super-connected world was down. Religion is always there for the Togolese, the benefits are all around them and the mosque is never down like the internet or their hope of actually getting something in return for the university education. All this pushes Togolese towards religion and discourages going the route of the renaissance man, to school and towards the promises of development etc.



I mentioned that Islam seemed to fill an organizational void in my village when it arrived centuries ago. Islam seems to have just done the same in Somalia where newsweek said that "Islam has done in 15 days what the international community hasn't been able to accomplish in 15 years." Islam seems pretty good at this, just yesterday while in the quite muslim Sokodé, our Peace Corps driver said "look at the volunteers they are being proper and taking off their shoes before entering the house just like Muslims."



Also interesting was the fact that while the lights were out many of the folks around spoke French instead of local language, it seems that the type of person who frequents the internet cafe is a pan-Togolese citizen, someone that uses more French because they have gone to school and are connected to a larger base of people with whom communication requires a more widely spoken language than their native local language. An African scholar on the radio referred to the imposed languages, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, as languages of greater access to the outside world. On the other hand, speaking only local language, however brilliant or eloquent one may be, creates a huge barrier that the same African scholar referred to as the African intellectual holocaust.

communication

I committed the grave error of not bringing any of your addresses with me, and would like to correspond with you all. If you want to send me your address by email or a note to the address on the right-hand side of this page (that will be my permanent address here), that would be incredible. I look forward to being in contact with you guys.

la vie au village

Well, if there are 9 hills to Nambonkaha, there are six to my village who's cool name must unfortunately go unmentionned. The past week in the village, where I will be an inhabitant for 2 years, was so often filled with disbelief that I could possibly be doing what I am doing where I am doing it. The village is quite far off in the bush (20km + or -) from the electrified and phone serviced prefectoral capital town . The red dirt roads bring one through the enclaves of Fulani/ Moba/ and Kabye farmers as you come into town, mosques built by Middle Eastern governments spring out of the landscape with their minarets and starred crescents. You get the sense talking to folks that Islam filled an organizational void and brought rules and even honesty to trade. The chief says I am the first white to sleep in their village in 100 yrs. The village had become known for its rejection of outsiders. But times have changed according to the chief after youth began to return to the village from Ghana. At the official welcoming ceremony, the round pink court house 30 ft wide began to fill, the men lining the wall in chairs with their gowns, muslim caps, and beards. The women and children assembled on colorful rugs in the center of the room surpassing the color intensity of the rugs with their veils and gowns of 1000 and 1 colors. Greetings were commenced and followed by the introduction of the Imam and the village nobles and heads of boroughs all wearing their finest. We moved quickly to the selection of my new name which the chief proposed I select from a list but I ceded this decision to my new chief, and the suggestions came pouring in from those present. "Kabir" fell as the final choice from a list of 3 that included Mohamed. Kabir apparently means 'great' in Arabic, and folks love being greated in Arabic. As tradition dictates, a woman is to cry out the new name, and that woman is to be given a small sum of money by her husband who happened to be the chief. The cry was a shrill almost squeal capped off by the pronunciation of the name itself. The week included many moments like this where I truly marveled at the universe I had just entered: The palm wine shared under a straw hut out in the bush with the nomad fulanis. The gift of peanuts and corn by a teacher who's salary paid by the community totals 11 US dollars a month, the very milky Milky Way high above the open air shower, the innumerable bent knee and back salutations from neighbors and from those come from afar having heard of my arrival. The community is rearing to go, meetings with the head of the village development committee and the heads of the women's groups give your heart the most humble of feelings as their eyes, smiles, and words say that they are eager to try anything and everything to improve their lot. The women are eager to learn canning and application of natural pesticides so their tomatoes grow well and don't rot so darn quick. With revenu from tomato sales they hope to better help out their members financially during hard times and pay for their children to go to school. The same women are very enthusiastic about incorporating the leaves and seeds of the nutritous Moringa tree into their families' diets. The chief immediately gave blessing to the idea of making a sacred forest out of their patch of 200 ft tall trees engulfed in a jungle like mix of plants and birds. According to elders the entire landscape resembled that lonely patch of ancient forest not even a generation ago, and the reasons for the lack of rain become more apparent...

blessed be

Ahhh…my friends, how much I have desired to give you news! Not knowing where to start I will say that today the PC trainees met our counterparts from the respective posts where we will be sent in late august. My post will be in the northern half of Togo extremely close to Bénin in a nearly homogenously muslim village. Improvement areas include: human trafficking to and from Nigeria in border towns, diminishing rainfall/ desertification/ deforestation, reduced soil productivity, HIV/ AIDS (as everywhere), Soy processing, cashews as a cash crop, etc. My Counterpart is a farmer that was educated in Ghana and Nigeria, in Geography and Marketing, he lived for a time in English Togo before the referendum that joined it to present day Ghana. News from the host family is happy with the newborn in good health. We organized the "sortie de l'enfant" or the bringing out of the newborn, this is a gathering of the village to welcome the baby into the community. The concept of an African family is a beautifully inclusive thing. I have met so many of Togolese whose lives are wholly inspiring, their courage, mental strength to find a path and make a difference is superhuman.

Tomorrow the PC trainees will be heading off for a week at our future posts. I must say that Peace Corps never stops impressing on me what governments can do to encourage empathy between peoples and increase peoples' capacity to improve their own lives.

Ok…to bring you into one moment with me, sitting under straw roofed shelter like a large slightly flattened 2 sided A-frame tent without ends raised with wooden legs and sharing a calabash of Tchouk, the local beverage made from millet (I believe), your choice is fermented or sweet tchouk. we sit on the bamboo benches across from the bucket of tchouk and a family member of the owner serving from her chair, at our left and right are togolese just like yourself who have come out of the downpour to drink. The ground is 'cleaned' dirt and the back of your head nearly touches one of the sides of the roof…how about another calabash?…

Arriving and meeting family

** Josh here- I'm pretty sure Chris called me in the middle of the night asking him to make some changes to this post. I could have been dreaming, but I knew the password so it must be real. The name of the village and family have been removed at his request. **

Arriving in **** a few days back the village engulfed the Peace Corps trainees dancing and clapping in a parade toward our training center. Once there the parade became a circle dance, then all sat for the introductions between the trainees and their new families. We sat facing each other as if we were experiencing the last moments of cultural quarantine, I soon met my family and my sisters.

Dad runs an apprenticeship center for rural students that have fallen out of the school system, aiming primarily at giving them work in the rural areas in order to slow the rural exodus of youth. Woodworking, Tailoring, Car Mechanics, and Agriculture are among the apprenticeships offered. Yesterday, sister led me through the fields of Teck and palm trees, while eating the red skin of palm nuts, to join brothers clearing the fields with Machetes for planting . Nou Fo, a middleschooler, carries 3 ft wide basins full of water back and forth from the creek or water pump, a bucket full hurts my neck, Mother is due to give birth soon, but still has the energy to pestle Manioc into paste involving full upperbody thrusts in the mortar in order to attain the right consistency.

I had an appreticeship of my own today with the women who taught me to wash my clothes à la African. The scrubbing motion is a true challenge to master but incredibly effective when well executed.

We are double digging a garden in Ag. Class and I spent time in the garden with teacher spreading organic pesticides made of basil and other plants, learning the trees, the nitrogen fixing plants. I get to do this for 2 years ! what work, what good sleep after long days… feeling well, miss you all, love, chris

Bonne Arrivée

oh foin, Hello! Since arriving in Philidelphia and now Lomé Togo I have been feeling blessed. The fellow volunteers in my staging group aswell as the Togo volunteers already here are wonderful and enchanting, and Togo is a smiling, calmly bustling wonder of a place... now the volunteers are staying at a guesthouse for the introduction and placement tests, then up country in a couple days to begin training... watch for Togo in the World Cup, people are gearing up on this end... love, chris

Leaving you (all)

"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."

--John Muir



Our separation is in some sense true of course, more universe is now between, but whether thoughts sent into a night sky or compassion for a stranger, our communication can manifest now, and traveling the roads of the great tapestry find its addressee. These will be unmistakable signs of our love.

-chris

In country training

Basic Methodology of Training :

"At ... [the] training site, all training activities center on formalized language learning, the host family experience, and technical, cultural and language exercises emphasizing community involvement. These experiences are integrated with a series of safety and security, health, bike, and cross-cultural sessions. These sessions are designed as a forum for teaching specific skills and for sharing information that will be necessary to function well as a Volunteer in a particular job assignment."

***

June - August schedule

Overview of Training Schedule

Type of training: Full Community-Based Training

June 10: Trainees arrive in Lomé

June 10 -14: Orientation in Lomé

June 14: Departure for Training Sites



*Trainees will eat all meals with their host families



Phase I:

-June 14-July 22 6 wks Homestay

-July 21, workshop with counterparts



Site Visit

-July 22-29 One week site (of post) Visit



Phase II

-July 30 - Aug 23 3 wks Homestay in the same family as phase I. Intensive local language instruction.



Phase III

- Aug 24 – Aug 28 Lomé: Admin. issues, Swearing-In on Aug 24. Departure for post on Aug 28.

***

Coverdell World Wise Schools

During service I will be in contact with a classroom of students in Forrest City Arkansas. Check out the program through which we are connected:

Coverdell World Wise Schools

The Green Belt Movement

In search of pre-peace corps service literature, Wangari Maathai's "The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the Approach and the Experience" seems like a tutorial on how to accomplish the job I am about to be charged to perform. Nobel Peace Prize winner Maathai chronicles the growth of a movement that she sowed and gives a step-by-step on how to recreate grassroots environmental change in her native Kenya and Africa.

The Green Belt Movement's website

Ordering Wangari Maathai's book

Togo Independence Day Party/ Fête de l'Indépendance du Togo

The Community of Togolese Residing in Oregon and Washington (CTROW) threw an Independence Day party at Portland State University yesterday. I could have been in Togo even if I haven't stepped foot there yet, we danced, we ate, we saw photos, we shared contact info in Togo and in the US. Kids scurried around, the children have a one head majority in CTROW, 26 kids, 25 adults. Folks from Senegal and Ghana were there, and Teresa, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer from Togo and active member in CTROW was on hand as well. Many Thanks to Moutari, the President of CTROW and to Teresa for sending along the invitation, and to Christophe for inviting me to his family's place in Lomé.

cwt

Africa's "Community School" Movement Brings Education to Rural Areas/ Togo Independence

Voici a couple articles that you might find of interest:

- Africa's "Community School" Movement Brings Education to Rural Areas

- Togo Celebrates Independence Day for First Time in Decades

cwt

PC Togo links

Friends of Togo - Les Amis du Togo

The above link is a site started by Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) for RPCVs and current PCVs and their families and of course anyone else interested.

Togo PC Trainees Yahoo! Group

Above is a link to the Yahoo! Group for Peace Corps trainees in Togo. Though it is not open to visitors there is a great photo on the opening page viewable by all.

Peace Corps volunteer in Togo's blog

Peace Corps Volunteer blog. Have a looksy, great pictures, I hope I get to meet this guy ;-)

cwt

intro to politics of Togolese agriculture

Here is an article that I found on the state run radiolome.tg site on a new national agriculture initiative. Though there is no telling the veracity of the story it might serve as a good intro to the Togolese agriculture scene:

French:

L’OSAT lance son opération d'appui aux paysans

English (google translated):

Togo's National Food Security Observatory launches its peasant support operation

cwt

round table on teaching wilderness medicine in developing countries

Bonjour à toutes et à tous,

By chance I received an email a week back mentioning that a round table discussion on wilderness medicine in developing countries was going to be held at Doernbecher hospital here in Portland, OR. Hoping to get an earful of tricks of the trade, I arrived, and was not to be disappointed. Medical folks having worked on every continent were represented including a director of Northwest Medical Teams just back from Uzbekistan, an instructor from the Wilderness Medicine Institute working in S. America, a returned Peace Corps volunteer from Guinea, West Africa, a doctor/volunteer with NW Medical Teams that has invented an easily reproducible traction splint for busted femurs, folks from Intl Medical Core, Remote Medical, OESP.net, and others including myself a wilderness first responder and future PCV.

I couldn't list everything but here is a slice of my minutes:

-Using a garbage bag and erasable pens as makeshift white board

-Using a surgical glove as a CPR mask (by cutting a finger tip off)

-A skit to explain the importance of not moving a victim with possible spinal injuries

-The greatest effect a western Health worker can have in terms of EMS work is avoiding secondary injuries often caused by lack of splinting and or bad post injury transport

-the concept of Health Equity, meaning achieving developed world health standards with local means such as plastic bags for cravats.

-CPR is really only useful for cold water drownings in the underdeveloped world.

-Mnemonics are useless

-the goal is teaching people to fish, that is teaching them to continue the teaching process after we are gone.

-You cannot work slow enough in developing local health strategies and programs, take the time to get to know who provides what services already in the community so as to empower the system already in place and not usurp a function from locals

-always have a local champion for any project, this person can carry on after you are gone and has connections locally, can think like locals, and can answer their questions in a culturally competent way

-watch out for the local/underground politics

-modern equipment always becomes useless due to a lack of replacement parts and the fact that if locals learn with modern equipment they will not always have this on hand, thus we should only use locally available stuff.

The email address dedicated to this group of professionals and laywomen/men at the round table if you would like to be on the mailing list or want more info:

dondenohayems@gmail.com

cwt

partenariat de correspondance / correspondence match

Bonjour à tout le monde,

Last evening, a friend of mine, Graham, who is teaching with the Teach For America program at a High School in Arkansas, and I decided that we would start a correspondence between his students and myself while I am in Togo, hopefully also to include people in my future village of residence. Bringing rural Togo to classrooms back home would be a great beginning to fulfilling my mission as a Peace Corps volunteer (PCV)

Graham, whom I first met when we were fellow exchange students in France, and myself are both fresh college graduates. This partnership is an especially neat opportunity in my eyes because we will be able to help enrich eachother's first few professional/ post-college steps...

I also hope to start a correspondance with a classroom headed by a former teacher of mine at elementary or middle school...

à plus,

cwt

Hello all,

Here are a couple edifying links:

Togolese education system:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/

education/4897394.stm

Website of a PC Volunteer in what I think will be my program:

http://peacecorps.mtu.edu/kenny.htm

cwt

Reading

Doing some research on Agroforestry, I have come across some literature that you might find of interest:

- Agro-forestry in the African Humid Tropics - UN University English: http://www.unu.edu/unupress/
unupbooks/80364e/80364E00.htm#Contents


Francais:

http://www.unu.edu/unupress/
unupbooks/80467f/80467F00.htm#Contents


- The acacia albida agropastoral system in Africa [Not necessarily practiced in Togo] - International Livestock Research Institute http://www.ilri.cgiar.org/InfoServ/Webpub/Fulldocs/
Browse_in_Africa/Chapter48.htm#P35_2800


Unrelated to Agroforestry, I am currently reading a book, written by a Peace Corps volunteer returned from Cote d'Ivoire, that was suggested to me as a good pre-service read... Here is a review of

- Nine Hills to Nambonkaha: Two Years in the Heart of an African Village by Sarah Erdman

http://www.peacecorpswriters.org/pages/
2003/0309/309rvninehls.html


cwt

the Program/ Project

Here is a concise description of my future program in Togo: "The Natural Resource Management Project is focused on assisting individuals, extension agents, groups/associations and communities to evaluate the condition of and plan for the sustainable utilization of their existing local natural resources. The project focuses on promoting a wise and sustainable use of natural resources through forestry and agroforestry techniques to improve the general environmental condition and the quality of life in the communities where we work." In addition, Peace Corps volunteers have the option to pursue a second project in a field of their choice, whether this be HIV/AIDS, Computer Science, tutoring etc...

Indian/ Togolese Auto Rickshaws (Tempos)

Well, I have found a link between my time in India and my Peace Corps placement in Togo. It happens that a Togolese entrepreneur is the first in Africa to import Indian taxis, called "tempos" with 2 or 4 stroke engines. So, the two places in the world where one can be sure to find Indian tempos (or taxi tempos as they are called in Togo) are downtown Delhi and downtown Lomé, the capital of Togo. Apparently Togolese women prefer the taxi tempo because its comfort far surpasses that of the back of a scooter or motorcycle that was often the only taxi-like transport available in town...

Here is a photo of the inside of one and one in the distance: http://www.flickr.com/photos

/thompsoncw/117671912/

Togo or not to go

Well, in the mail this morning I found an invitation from the Peace Corps to spend 2 years in a small West African country...have a look at the links to the right for more information on the Republic of Togo. Departure is scheduled for June 6, 2006.