What am I doing with my life?

I have been in village for eight weeks now.  What have I been doing?  After all, I’m here to work, right?  The first ten weeks of my time in village is to acclimate, integrate, learn, develop relationships, and become a member of my community.  That’s right – settle in, and very little “measurable” progress.  However, I can say that I feel the progress.  My house is feeling like home, I have developed routines, and my language is certainly improving.  

So what am I doing?I help with the monitoring of babies’ and pregnant women’s growth.  This looks like a large room full of mothers with babies, the babies receiving immunizations, drops of vitamin A, and being weighed.  It looks like mothers being weighed, measured, examined, and given proper drugs if necessary to ensure a health pregnancy.  It looks like Sarah making smiling at babies.  It looks like infants being scared of the white skinned girl.  It looks like infants crying after they receive a needle in their skin.  Don’t worry – I’m not administering the shots – I’m only helping to document the immunizations.  

I shadow my Togolese work partner (homologue) on hygiene and sanitation related activities at local schools.  We visit schools to monitor how food that students purchase is kept.  We ensure that the vendors of food are washing and preparing food properly and that the children are washing properly.  Food is made in the homes of women, transported to each school by the women, and with a ratio of about 50 kids to each woman, kids swarm the women when it’s time to eat.  The students buy the food, and the women serve the kids the food, usually in a bowl.  What is the food?  Food is fried bread, rice and beans, spaghetti with sauce, variations of cornmeal in water, tapioca, putty potatoes with sauce (fou fou with sauce).  Hands are used to eat.  Water and other juices are sold in little plastic bags – to drink, you tear off a corner of the plastic.  
I shadow my homologue in giving hygiene and sanitation sessions to local women who make food alongside the street.  He gives sessions in local language, and after the session, updates the women’s cards that authorize the women to sell street food.  Sessions review instructions such as hand washing, dish washing, heating food, keeping food, and ensuring that the food is made in a hygienic environment.    
I join other PCVs for a monthly session with local children who are HIV+.  The session is about two hours long.  We play games, sing songs, and encourage kids to be kids.  Our time looks like frequent laughter, cheering, and singing.  The children range from about 4-15 years old.  There are about 20 kids at each session.  In September the kids listened to a presentation about school, and preparing for school.  This month, we gave a presentation - which included a catchy song - about the importance of brushing teeth.  This session is called, “Club Espoir”  and is a monthly component to a summer camp, “Camp Espoir” for Togolese kids who are infected with HIV or AIDS.
I observe classes at the local school.  School and classes looks different here in Togo than it does in America.  How do kids learn?  How do teachers teach?  What are challenges?  What works well?  How can I, as a health volunteer, help to improve this environment of learning?  I observed English, French, Geography/History, Mathematics, and Science classes to begin to form answers to  these questions.I take walks around my town.  In order to become acquainted with locals, and the composition of the town, I take walks, greet people along the way, and become familiar with the routine involved in a day.  
I take bike rides around my town.  One of my favorite afternoons involved an afternoon-evening bike ride exploring more distant villages.  It was during this bike ride that I had an, “Oh yeah, I now live in Africa” moment.  Living in a city, it is sometimes easy to forget about my surroundings.  Riding through fields, viewing small villages and mud huts, seeing people returning from cultivating, and taking in the scenery, it is undeniable - I am in Africa.  ...and it is beautiful.
I study French.  This looks like listening to French radio, taking every opportunity to engage someone in conversation, completing exercises in my French books, and listening to those around me.  
I spend time with neighbors and locals.  This looks like sitting down with women who prepare food, and purely enjoying time with them.  
I shadow volunteers who have been here for more than a year.  I watched a volunteer give a lesson to village women about how to make a nutritious juice using a local plant that is rich in vitamins.  I accompanied a volunteer to a meeting about organizing a women’s conference.  I am learning how each volunteer has shaped his or her time here to create a service that is appropriate for both them and their community.  
I spend time walking around the market and talking with women.  I love markets.  I love exploring markets, I love sampling local food, and I love observing the interactions in markets.  I make a point to walk around my market at least once a day - usually during the evening, when it’s cooler.  
I spend time with other volunteers.  Since I am in a larger town, I am lucky to host visiting volunteers from surrounding villages.  I also share this town with another volunteers, whose sector is education.  I am thankful to be able to share my time with other volunteers, contrast experiences, and learn from one another.
I settle into my house, and develop routines for daily chores.  I am a lucky volunteer with running water and electricity, but the daily chores - such as cooking, doing laundry, cleaning, and disposing of trash - are still an adjustment.  However, the transition has been going well, and I am very happy in my house, and my town.  

Neighborhood scenery

This evening I delivered a watermelon to my site mate, Tamar.  We decided to use the opportunity to capture a few photos of the moment.

A few of Tamar's neighborhood kids

Far top left: The edge of the local Islamic school building.

Top left: Smoke from the trash that is burning directly below the cloud.

Next to the smoke: Ali, Tamar's neighbor who gave her a quick 101 this evening on how the immediate neighborhood handles its trash.  The trash is burned once a week, here in this potion of the field.

Distance to the left: Neighborhood homes, and between the homes and the school is a soccer field.  The soccer goals are composed by three logs. 

Distance to the right: More neighborhood homes.

Immediate right: Tamar's house, and the wall that encloses the "compound" in which she lives.  A "compound" sometimes includes one home, or more.  In this case, the compound includes about six separate smaller/apartment-sized homes.  These six homes share one well of water, a few clotheslines, and a concrete area.  This compound contains all of the essentials, is extremely well kept, and is relatively modern.

Immediate center: Sarah attempting to encourage beautiful young children to smile, with our teeth, when having a picture taken.  Local children laughing at, or perhaps being scared of, Sarah.

Sunset

"Field notes": Health care worker training

Two weeks ago, I had the privilege of joining about 70 Togolese volunteers in an international organization’s annual regional training.  The volunteers are healthcare representatives in their communities and the training was an opportunity for me to practice my French, local language, network, and begin to build relationships with potential work partners.  Also, the training provided me with some valuable insight into what a professional training session can look like here in Togo. 

The training is scheduled to start at 8:00am, most of us are in attendance by 8:30am and we begin by 9:00am at the latest.  As we ease into our structured training, both in the morning and in the afternoon, the program begins with someone telling a story – which is not at all necessarily related to health work – this gives someone other than the instructor the floor, and assembles everyone’s listening ears.  If it is the beginning of the day, after the story we establish group norms and designate the chief of the group and six group leaders for the day.  If it is the afternoon, the group chief recounts our morning lesson.  About 30 minutes later, the topic of our segment begins.  The instructor discusses, writes the key points on the blackboard, and the students dutifully take notes in their notebooks with two different colored writing utensils.  When making straight lines – such as underlining a word – students use one utensil as a ruler.  The instructor involves students by recalling their background knowledge, asking about local beliefs, inquiring “vrai, or faux?”, and encouraging questions throughout the lesson.  At the conclusion of each segment, there is a designated time for questions.  Students answer one another’s questions and the instructor reinforces correct answers, allows peers to correct inaccuracies, and jumps in when truth needs to be solidified.

We are in a classroom – a concrete room.  Two sides of the room allow sunlight and air through as these walls look to be made of cinderblocks, without cement between the holes.  Each set of desks is composed of two bench-like structures, the chair shorter than, and behind, the desk.  We fit two students comfortably to each set.  Of the 35 students in class, there are about five mothers.  The babies’ coos are a constant background noise and neighbors contribute to each infant’s entertainment, sometimes lending an orange, a water bottle, or another potential amusement.  We are all adults – ages about 24-50 – so we leave and attend to other business at our own freewill.  We support particularly insightful responses and with a clap routine.  If the class has lost attention, the group chief initiates a call and response of the international organization.  He calls, we respond, we are all focused again.  At the end of the day, we sing. 

We break in the morning around 10:00am, share sodas and a local snack for 30 minutes.  We break again 12:00pm-2:30pm for lunch.  Although everyone has a mobile phone, I notice only one other wristwatch in the room.  I suppress my urgency when I am about to rush back after lunch – being only 5 minutes early, rather than the professional 15, is not reason to fret – in fact, I make a quick pause for a treat.  After class starts around 3:00pm, we share refreshments around 4:00pm.  Training is over by 5:30pm at the latest.  The day has cooled; it is time to go home.  I enjoy this pace of life.  I feel healthier, calmer, refreshed, balanced.

Visual representation: A day in the life of a baby

Babies spend the day on the backs of their mothers.  Whether preparing food, walking to get water, attending a training, dancing, singing, at the market, the mother always has her baby on her back.  Surprisingly - despite the surrounding commotion - the baby is usually asleep.  One day during training, I had the privilege of trying the method on for size.  If you ask me, it looks quite cozy:

Fastening the baby

A day in the life of a baby

(Photo credit to Ruth, a fellow PCV)

The walk home from the hospital

It’s the beginning of my time here in village.  Everything is new – the scenery, the people, the language, the “routine”.  After two months in country, many every day happenings have become “normalized” – the melody of pounding baked yams to make fou fou, the sight of vehicles that seem to squeeze people and balance items only appropriate for Harry Potter’s Knight Bus, young children wandering unattended – however, the vernal nature that is a new place inspires a foreigner to create romanticized observations. 

I left with just enough time to get home before the daily rainstorm.  I watched the clouds move over distant villages, and approach mine.  I felt the cool winds that carry a fresh storm.  I was a spectator of a bath along the road – a fully lathered brother and sister pouring bowls of water over one another.  Sounds were of work – carpenters shaping wood, motorbikes honking, women boiling oil and frying yams.  Sounds were of greetings – there is always time to inquire about one’s family, work, and health.  Traffic moved from mosques, as men exited from the most recent worship.  Women and children passed by with items – bread, tomatoes, chili peppers, sandals, soap, beauty products, school supplies – the day’s work was complete, and it was time to go home for shelter before the storm arrived. 

Such seems to be the walk home from the hospital during this season.  I remind myself of my time and place as I find myself surpassing others along the route.  The only reason that a quick pace is necessary here is to beat the rain.  

My host family

From left to right: My host sister, me, my host father, my host mother.
Location: Palais de Congres; Lome, Togo
Occasion: Peace Corps Volunteer Swear-in Ceremony, Peace Corps Togo 50th Anniversary

From left to right: My host mother, me, my oldest host brother (Dad's brother, so technically uncle), my youngest host brother (sister's son, so technically nephew)

Location: Pre-Service Training site

Occasion: Welcome ceremony in our Pre-Service Training village

Moving treats

I am in village –visiting the local market, sitting and having a drink, going for a walk – how do I buy my favorite things?  I keep my eyes peeled, and when the moment is right, I gesture as if I am waving to a young child – opening and closing my hand – to a young 12-15 year old who is walking around with my item of choice on his or her head.  “How much?” “Okay, four please.” “Good work, good day.”  Of course, this all occurs in French, and sometimes I buy one, other times I buy eight, but either way many of my favorite things are balanced on the heads of young adolescents. 

What are these ‘favorite things’?  Pineapples, oranges, spicy tofu, sticks of homemade peanut brittle…and in about 9 months, mangoes will be on this list.

My other favorite thing, of course, resembles ice cream.  This favorite thing is transported in a cooler, and the person selling and transporting is a man on a bicycle who indicates his presence by honking his bicycle horn.  There is a horn melody that all of these magical bicycle men seem to know – regardless of the location in Togo. 

The beauty of this system?  Items come to you.  Yes, it’s sometimes challenging to locate items that are on the go.  However, when you’re having a drink or walking around and crave some fresh tofu, your life is made the moment that kid turns the corner with your craving on his or her head.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

How to explain a brief week’s insight to a new place, new people, new workplace, new home for the next two years?  How to explain the feeling of having completed two-thirds of the training that I receive before I am released to a village for two years?  How to explain the fact that 10 days from now I will be “officially sworn in” as a Peace Corps volunteer? 

Time has certainly felt different this past month and a half than it did this time last year.  I remember thinking, “how am I going to have time to sleep?”  The constant challenge of balancing my daily activities, priorities, and mental space still exists.  However, I have noticed that the motor behind finding the harmony within a day is completely self-motivated, and the melody can be just as pleasant with a slower tempo… and just as rewarding with a significant amount of sleep.  The beat of my daily life over these past few months has been anything but regular.  With the ebb and flow that is a day, week, month, hour, it is curious to examine the passing of any length of time.  Somehow, the concept of days or weeks has transformed from a calculation of hours and minutes to a broader balance of energy and goals. 

Perhaps the best way to explain is quantitatively – Over this past month and a half, I have completed about 100 hours of language training, 50 hours of cross-cultural training, 30 hours of technical training, and many other hours of training related to how to live safely in Togo.  Monday-Friday, I attend class from 7:30am-5:00pm.  Mondays and Thursdays I have French tutoring 5:30pm-6:00pm.  Saturday I have class until 12:30pm.  Sundays I take some time to myself, attend church with my host family, work on my French, and complete assignments for the upcoming week. 

And now some details about my post visit – I met most of the local authorities (chief, mayor, county-head, police staff, military personnel, hospital workers, health clinic staff, school director, and other potential work partners), I visited a smaller village outside of my “grand ville” where I visited a health clinic and monitored the progress and upkeep of 24 new latrines (a project with the Red Cross), I visited a cashew factory (who knew, right?), and I started the process of making a new house and new town a home.  I am ready to return.

A thank you to the village children

I have learned that every Togolese child comes out of the womb knowing the “Yovo” song.  Yovo translates to “whitey”.  When I first arrived to my village, most community members would exclaim, “Yovo!” when I passed with other volunteers – we kind of stick out.  This initial greeting has transformed to a song that children in villages throughout Togo seem to know, “Yovo, Yovo, bon soir, ca va bien, merci!”  Interpret the jingle as you may, I take it as a mockery of my French.  All of us “Yovos” here in Togo have different methods of coping with this jingle that we encounter at least ten times each day.  One volunteer cleverly realized that “Togo” can easily replace “Yovo”.  Sometimes we respond to the greeting, “Togo, Togo, bon soir!”  However, after having children ages 2 to 8 literally sprint – partially clothed, mid-bath, mid-meal, mid-game and all – to greet me, I decided that their enthusiasm demanded I step up my response.  I started to interrupt the greeting and explain that my name is Sarah hoping that the kids would give “Yovo” a rest.  It worked.  “Sarah!”  I awarded the kids with high-5s, and to my surprise this sent the youngest kids sprinting in the other direction.  What?  You were just so eager to greet me.  Each day the same groups of kids greeted me, “Sarah!” and I distributed a mix of high-5s and petite handshakes.  After a few days, the youngest kids stopped sprinting in the other direction. 

There is something about this exchange that makes my village feel like home.  It may be because the kids and I both worked a bit to build our new exchange, or it may be because the genuine nature and excitement of children is universal – either way, I would like to thank the village kids because now I too, am sprinting (inside) to greet them.  

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Today was a major day!  Although the sites are not 100% final as of yet, we health volunteers learned about the sites in which we are most likely to be placed for the next two years.  It sounds like I will be placed in a site concentrated on monitoring and evaluation of my CHAP projects.  My “medium-sized village” is on the east coast of the Central region of Togo.  The volunteer before me established effective care group projects with women – which are small group of women that talk about health issues.  New project opportunities are related to trash and waste collection.  The hospital in the village is also fairly organized and there are many opportunities for me to partner with hospital staff in relation to maternal and child health, family planning, hygiene, and sanitation.  A common thread through all of these activities will be developing methods to monitor, measure, and evaluate all activities, processes, outcomes, etc.  I am excited to apply and develop these skills on multiple levels, to multiple projects, and to many different issues.  For those of you that know me really well, you may know that although I am enthusiastic about health, my interest especially lies in effective evaluation for the purpose of development.  I cannot wait to apply and further these skills here in Togo.

The second exciting activity of the day was meeting the chief of our village.  We learned about the importance of establishing respect with the chief – especially as this respect pertains to our credibility as leaders and members of our communities.  It was an honor to meet the chief of our village, and a valuable insight into the functioning of the village.  We learned that the chief assists with many matters, especially those that involve major disputes between community members.  The chief is also the major connector between the President of Togo and the village.  I am thankful that we learned about many different norms that surround our relationship with the chief and I am excited to learn about the system that exists within my future community. 

Overall, everything is going really well here half way through week two of our training.  The site placements have certainly excited the group and for me, motivated me even more to focus on the training that we have for the next 1.5 months.  I committed to the Peace Corps to work at a site and to improve the community in which I was placed.  I am extremely excited that the work I have committed to involves examining systems and practices for in order to promote program improvement.  I am also excited for the opportunity to suggest evaluation methods and hopefully create a practice for others to continue to analyze future programs.

A bien tot,

Sarah

Saturday, July 21, 2012

I have been in Togo for a week and a half now and in Davie – my homestay village – for just under a week.  Each day has been completely filled with activities.  Since last week, we’ve had 16 hours of French lessons, 11.5 hours of cross-cultural training, and 9 hours of health technical training.  I can tell that my French is improving as the conversations with my host family are becoming more complex and we are able to talk about topics such as the Togolese government, the health care system, and topics that I have learned in “school” each day. 

For those of you who do not know this already, I am here in Togo as a health volunteer.  My title is “Community Health Educator/ Public Health Advisor” and our health program is called the “CHAP” (Community Health and AIDS Prevention) program.  The work of each volunteer will depend on the needs of the community and the region of Togo in which the community is placed.  From what I have learned so far, it sounds like all of our program work will be related to a) maternal and child health and b) malaria and HIV prevention.  Just like in America, there are many different levels of health care here in Togo.  Most likely, our work here will be with smaller community clinics that are located in villages or smaller towns. 

I have been living with a host family since Monday and everything has been great.  This is the first time that Davie has hosted PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) and the families have been extremely accommodating.  There are twelve other families that are hosting volunteers – there are 10 other health volunteers and 2 small enterprise development volunteers.  I have found that one of the best methods of bonding with all of my host family members – from my mother to my 2 year old brother – is through the universal language of dance.  The highlight of my week family-wise was an impromptu dance party a few nights ago with my host family and our neighbors. 

Work-wise, the highlight of the past week was definitely the visits that we have had to two health clinics in the area.  It was great to visit the health clinics and gain insight into the sector of the healthcare system in which we will be working the next two years.  These visits have allowed us to begin to envision our time working with the workers of the clinics and the communities. 

From what I have gathered, I do not have much access to internet between now and the end of September.  The best way to contact me is through letters or phone.  

Images from the roof of Amy's Hotel

What does it look like?  Here's the view from the roof of our hotel.  It's a grey morning, around 6am.  Add some sun, a few motorbikes, cars, younger boys, and women in bright colors with younger kids, or women selling items such as boiled peanuts or pineapple to this picture and you have yourself my view.

What are the sounds?  Birds chirping, motors from a busy road about three NYC block away, roosters crowing, people sweeping their floors, and everyone once in awhile some family or friend communication.

It's breezy here as we are near the coast.  The temperature is around 78 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you ask me, it is a beautiful morning.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

By the time I post this, I will have settled in Togo but as I write this, it’s 11:00am here in Brussels (5:00am EST), and we have ten more hours until we land in Togo.  We are due to arrive around 9:15pm Togo time (5:15pm EST, totaling about 32 hours travelled).  Upon our arrival we will go to the hotel where we will have training through Monday, July 16th, after which we will move in with host families where we will stay through the end of pre-service training (PST).  PST is scheduled to end in early September.  Travelling has been flawless thus far, and the whole process has been enjoyable with 37 other individuals to talk to, play cards with, and explore.

Everyone that I have talked to is excited; we all have our own motivations driving us to serve as Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs), and although these reasons are scattered, all of these reasons are easily understood.  From what I have seen, we have an extremely easy going and supportive group of PCVs – I am excited to serve with them, lean on them, and support them, for the next 27 months. 

Learning a bit about everyone’s application process, I have realized that my year-long application process was very lucky.  Some volunteers waited more than 2 years in the application process.  Some volunteers were invited to serve in Togo 6 weeks before departure, and others received even shorter notice as other variables appeared at the last minute.  I am thankful that I received 2 months’ notice, that my location remained constant, and that there weren’t any extra variables preventing me from serving as scheduled. 

After reading more information about PST, I believe that I will have access to Internet every week or two through PST (which end in early September).  PST is largely intensive language training and skills building.  My guess is that I will be exhausted after training each day – being inundated with a new language, health lessons, and lifestyle habits will be draining. 

I am excited to begin training, and excited to become accustomed to the new lifestyle.  The sooner I start, the sooner I can acclimate and concentrate on learning about how I can best serve as a volunteer.  Hopefully I will be able to provide a much better explanation of what I will be doing as a Community Health Educator/Public Health Advisor in a week or two!

Connection

"Peace requires the simple but powerful recognition that what we have in common as human beings is more important and crucial than what divides us."
- Sargent Shriver

True wealth

"The real wealth of a nation is its people. And the purpose of development is to create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy, and creative lives."
- Mahbub ul Haq, in a 1990 Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme

Fuel

My desire to connect with others motivates me to serve with the Peace Corps.  I like to think that all humans are somehow connected and I am excited to deepen my connections with others in a setting that is different than the one which I am accustomed. In this new setting, I am excited to challenge my perceptions of the world and the norms that I have known. I am excited to further develop my own framework for interpreting the world around me.

My desire to  purposefully contribute to the well-being of a community motives my desire to serve with the Peace Corps. What good are connections if you're not improving the world around you?  I hope to build connections to understand perspectives and needs among community members.  I hope to learn new approaches to living and collaborate around ways to positively develop the community which I am placed, and the community around the globe. I am excited about building understanding and hopeful about what collaboration can create. 

My desire to be challenged on a level I am not aware of as of yet motivates my desire to serve with the Peace Corps. I am excited for the challenge of the unexpected. I am prepared to be pushed outside of my comfort zone, and move to both physical and mental places that are unknown. I am excited to learn. 

My Assignment