Wrapping things up

I should have posted my final blog a long time ago, but I honestly believe that it took me a semester to process through everything that I have learned from this summer. From the initial cultural shock to the eventual appreciation of the rich Kabiye culture, I had come a long way from my days as an over-the-top-enthusiastic-service-learning student who thinks that she can "help" these people with book smarts. In reality, listening, empowering and being there for the people in Togo was the best thing I could do to "help" them.



I had went into CMS expecting to observe some major need and being able to help them to create a plan to solve it. As my summer progressed, I realized that the CMS was a well established clinic. Their programs were running fine. The issues that they had weren't anything that I could help to fix in a two month period, especially when I did not observe them until the last few weeks.

For example, the French Ministry of Health decided to discontinue medical donations to this region of West Africa due to the abuse in distributing these drugs. There was nothing I could do while in Africa to help them. I did come back and inquire about medical bridegate, but they requested that only doctors can request for these supplies. Another example was the need for more public health education. The l'assistant d'hygiene was not doing all part of his job. So I suggested for the next student intern to take on the job of the public health educator and visit villages. Of course, I only realized this need when I was ready to leave.



However, through my shadowing and endless conversations with the nurses and the staff at CMS, I realized that they had a non-medical need that I did not anticipate--encouragements on their jobs. From my observations, most of the staff comes from the Southern part of Togo, which is culturally different from the North. Most of them were sent by someone to work in the rural region. They had given up electricity, time with family and kids to come to work in Farendé. The director had been a successful young nurse in Lomé, but when the village asked him to come back and serve the people of his parent's village, he reluctantly left a life of exploration at the age of twenty-seven to work in a somewhat dead-end job in this rural village. Several nurses live away from their families and miss their children terribly. The accountant hardly ever leaves the clinic ground (since he lives on the grounds of CMS) to mingle with the local population. This lack of social support is affecting the staff's enthusiasm for their jobs and the turn-over rate at the clinic.

Thus, the only thing I could do for them is to encourage and confirm what they have done for the health of the people in the village is worth it. I spend whatever time I could find listening to these nurses talk about how they miss their families. I sent a thank you card to the director at the end of summer and said that though no thanks are uttered, many (including me) are grateful for their sacrifices to bring basic care to the local people. I hope that with this poster and their pictures (they don't get to take photos much at all), they would feel more uplifted in their spirits.

With the case de sante in Kuwde, I was able to set up an insurance system and drafted an insurance policy in French for the village. But for CMS, I took a lot more from them through my shadowing experience with them. Being there, encouraging them was all that I could do. Yet, knowing those people's more-than-adequate abilities, maybe what I did was all that they needed.

For me, I will somehow incorporate this summer into the rest of my time at Duke. I will be taking some more development and service courses. With that said, I had an awesome time, and I will not forget the lives that have touched mine.


Here are some links to the photos that are on facebook (I will try to find a way to use Pisca online album):

Highlights from Togo


I ended up taking a trip to Ghana after my time in Togo. We ended up in a Benin middle school touring group and visited a national park as well as the slave castles. Here are the photos.

In Touch With Nature Part II

As I was saying, I love my job because it allows me to go up and down the mountain and enjoy the view of the valley and the mountain tops. Plus, walking outside always puts one in intimate contact with nature. First of all, I am never really sure what animals I would encounter. My room has housed crickets, lizards, large spiders, mice (like the one i found in my suitcase...) and your other normal critters. In the households, the dogs and the chickens are allowed to run freely while the goats and sheeps are tied up. But in the moutains, animals are allowed even more freedom. You can see pigs, baby goats and everything moving around. I encountered two baby goats the other day while climbing up the rocks to Kuwdé. They were so tiny and fuzzy that I really thought about having a pet goat.

Today, as it turns out, I would be surprised at what animal I would meet. I had gone up the Kuwdé for a meeting with the committee of the case de santé and the families that have participated in the pilot health program. Since there were no other modes of transportation other than by foot, I arrived late due to my previous meeting. I hurriedly moved to my seat in front of the classroom and looked around at the participants, "One person, two person... good.... a monkey... another person... WHAT? There is a monkey at my meeting?"

It turns out that Odile, one of the community health workers had a son with a pet monkey that replied to the name "C'est moi" (it's me). Madeline had asked if the monkey could join the meeting and was granted permission. Thus, there was a monkey at my meeting. He was a very good and quiet monkey even though I believe that the meeting about health insurance seriously bored him. At one point, he was lying on the table looking like he wanted to take a nap. I was cracking up, but I had to keep a strict face for the sake of everyone else.

On my way home, I marveled at how much outdoor experiences that I have had here. Almost every moment is occupied outside. My shoes are always caked with mud, and I can never cease to admire the beauty of the savana and the rosy color of the sunset. Now that it is night, there is a concert outside my room performed by crickets, frogs and toads. Every time that I try to walk outside at night, I never fail to step on some kind of toad. Since there is no electricity here, the sky is perfect for star gazing.

I am surprised at how well i have adapted to no electricity, no running water and plumbing system. I have officially learned how to follow the schedule of the sun and how to shower with only a half bucket of water. Here, nature is at a finger's touch, and I liked how I know my surroundings.

In Touch With Nature

July 30, 2009
There is so much to write, but perhaps I will just describe my day. It is amazing how I have become accustomed to the way of life in the village of Farendé.

I woke up at 5:30am to get ready to find François, the clinic director, at 6am. I have to say that at the present, I am incapable of sleeping pass 5:30am. In the US, I would never be able to wake up at 5:30am even if I tried. But here, I wake up when the sun comes up and I rest and stop working when the sun goes down. I have never lived so near nature and animals in my life than I have done so here in Farendé.

In the US, I pretty much spend my day in a building and never pay attention to the nature around me. The West has essentially created a system where we are completely separated and work independently from nature. Nature can have no impact on our lives until it destroys something like with Hurricane Katrina. My life in the US is basically moving from one building to another, using cars as medium. I do not ever have to be outside unless I decide to be "more" in contact with nation, like going for a run outside, or persuading my parents to go on a hike. In the US, I have to go somewhere to "experience" nature.

Here, it is completely different. Nature is such an integral part of my life that my activities depends on nature and the weather. First of all, there is no such thing as a living room. Once I step outside my room, it is the outside courtyard where any visitor can just come in without being invited. I have no glass on my window. It consists of just a few metal bars and a curtain with wooden shutters. Above my head is a tin roof that magnifies the sound of rain by at least 100 times. Besides the fact that my room put me at constant contact with nature, I find that I am hardly ever in my room, or in a building in general when I work. Today, for example, I have hardly been in a room at all. Starting at 6am, I ran over to Françcois's house to give him my goodbye gift to him. After a day of meetings, I finally returned to my room at 7pm after the community meeting in Kuwdé, and it is almost time for bed.

Another thing about Africa and its nature is that the rain comes only in extremely hard down-pours, and that it has a mystical power to stop all activities. One automatically knows that whatever is planned will be canceled or pushed back to a later date if it rains at all. I have so grown into this mentality that I know my appointment with the chef du village would be pushed back or be totally canceled today due to the 5:30am rain.

The protocol for when it rains that you must find a place to hideout and stop all activities until the rain stops. Most people have a good reason to do so because the road is unnavigable when it rains. The usual red-as-blood dirt road turns into a giant red-ish orange mud puddle that engulfs your shoe if you try to walk in it. But, the rain is absolutely frustrating if one wants to accomplish anything useful because no one does any work when it rains. For example, if you are to meet with a group about a project, you would almost have no chance to meet if it rains. First of all, since African time already dictates that everything actually happens at 2 hours after the scheduled time. If it rained and no one wants to leave the house, you would be at the mercy of the rain as to when it would stop and the people would come out. The rain has almost complete power over one's schedule.

Besides the weather, I also feel more attached to nature by my increased knowledge in the local plants. In the US, I think I label anything that's green into the category of plants and leave it as that. But here, everyone knows at least a plant or two and what each does.

I followed the Chef du Village today to find the plants of the traditional medicines here. The moment we stepped out of the house, he began to point to trees and grass (that I had dismissed as annoying weeds) to be the main ingredients in many of his herbal remedies. It turns out that most Kabiyé people keep only useful trees (as in trees that can give you medicines and fruits) in the fields and cut down all other ones.

In addition, the people here uses every piece of land to gain the maximum yield. The moment you step out of the house; you are in a corn field. No such thought is given over to decorative grass. If there is a tree to give shade, it is usually a mango tree or a Barbabe (?) tree that give useful ingredients for cooking or treating diseases. Even the flowers they plant are more useful than just to decorate. They are the type that releases a scent to chase away snakes. People here have an incredible knowledge of which grass or tree (which may just look like a decorative bush to non-locals) can be eaten or used as sauces.

My morning with the chief ended at 1pm, and I promptly ate and went to my afternoon meetings. The first one was at the foot of the mountain in Farendé, while the second one was at the top of the mountain in Kuwdé. I love how my job takes me to both of the villages. I am always walking between the two, but I will have to describe my walk another time.

Once again, my time is almost out and I must return another time to finish this post.

Initiations Explained

As promised, I'll finish my explaination of the initiations. As i said before, the dances in the village shows everyone that the young men have matured. It si like a debutante ball, but for guys.

Besides the initiations, there is a large wrestling match every year in the Lama-Kara region called Evala. This ceremony is for young men, 18-20, to show their strength to the public and the fact taht they are mature ane ready for marriage. This is a huge ceremony that people from around the world fly in to watch. The president takes a week off just to attend the matches. Rumors have it that the president invites the winners into his army.

I went to watch a wrestling match in Kouméa with Alex, Madeline, Jeff and Jesper. With our cameras held tightly in our hands, and money around our necks, we came upon a field of hundreds of people. There were wrestlers flexing their their muscles, red-cross personnels walking around, vendors and beer-sellers milling around, and a huge group of women [in matching pagnés (skirts from a piece of cloth) and T-shirts that has a photo of the president in the front (he is up for reelection next year) and the words, 'Kouméa supports you!' in the back] singing and dancing together to the rythym of the drums. Besides the civilians, there were lots of military personnel aith their green berets, black vests and serious machine guns hung around their necks. Military trucks and machine guns were all prepped for the safety of the president.

There were two teams, red and white. Each round of wrestling consisted of 5 men from each side. Which team wins the most matches for the round wins the round. On each side, there's also a "cheerleading" team of 10 or so men dressed in feathers and fur, dancing to the beats of traditional music of drums and shakers. I heard from the people around me that each time a team wins a round; the "cheerleading" team shouts out some smart insult at the other team like in a rap show-down.

A friend of Jesper, a wrestling coach, told us the wrestling matches represents how one lives in life. Unlike when you are younger, you can no longer turn away from a fight. Like in life, you must fight.

Initiations

In the region of Kabiyé, you have to prove that you are ready for adulthood and marriage. This means that both men and women go through initiations as a sign of their maturity. Men have to go through 5 initiations while women only have one. As a sign of how this community has changed with the times, these initiations are completely voluntary.

Last Monday, right after I left the market in Kara, I went directly to an initiation ceremony. Like all "scheduled" meetings or events in Africa, this didn't start on time (more on the concept of African time later). The initiation was held in the homestead of the first chief of Conton (like a county) in the region. One of the grandsons of the family, Henri, is a director for the PeaceCorps in Togo, and he knows basically everyone who is anyone in Togo. Everyone who is even slightly related to the 4 initiates were invited to attend the ceremony.

As I waited with Madeline, Alex, and Jesper, Jesper explained about what these initiates had to do the night before the initiation. It turned out that each initiate had to do "kidnap" a child, half their age, whom they believe to resemble them. I am not all sure why they needed to kidnap the child, but I know that this is one way for the people here to build relationships with those who are younger than them. These young children become life-long friends with the initiates who chose them. The initiates take care of the kid like their own sibling.

After making our rounds of typical greetings, and photo taking, the initiation finally starts. First, we see a man leading the initiate and the young child to the center of the courtyard, all with their head ducked (not exactly sure why, but it could be for respect for something). They stop in the middle of the yard, and both the initiate and the child crouches in waiting for the initiation. Then, we see a woman of the initiate's family rubbing red palm oil on the initiate and the child. Afterwards, an uncle, or the father of the initiate makes a big speech to the entire town announcing that the boy has become a man. Now he is capable of building his household, and he is now ready to marry. Then, the same woman from the household offers the initiate a calabash of beer. But the initiate has to refuse because it is to show that he can resist something so good as a calabash of beer. Afterwards, the initiate runs away with the child behind him.

This repeated for each initiate. Later that week, I witnessed a traditional dance in the market by younger initiates. While the traditional music played, young men, shirtless, wore skins of dead animals around their necks stumped around the market. Unfortunately, I am running out of time and have to explain this later.

Brief intercession

I have to say that every time I am in Kara alone, I end up finding friends and Chinese people. First, I saw Laby, who is a master in linguistics from my village. He helped me out, but had to leave with his girlfriend to go back home. Right now, I am actually in the house of some Chinese people who were sent by the government to aid Togo. Howdid that happen? Well, I was buying bananas when two chinese men approached me and said, "Ni Hao." I was so taken aback by correct Chinese that I immediately responded in Chinese as well. It turned out that there was a van full of Chinese people from Sheng Yang who worked with the Chinese hospital here in Kara. They were so surprised to find a Chinese in Togo that they immediately took me to their house for lunch. There a lady who is the head of the team. There are 4 other men, and a young translator. All of them thought that I was too young to a college student. Some of them said that their daughters are older than me. Well, I can't help it. Because all Chinese people are endearing to each other outside of China, they stuffed my bag with gifts of food and drink. They felt sorry that I have to live in a village with no electricity or running water. I am grateful to them, but I told them that life in the village was fine.

Onto more productive topics. I am working with the insurance system more and more. The plan is to go over Tara's budget for the cas de Sante. Kalina, Charlie's daughter, and her boyfriend are both here to work with the medical system with me. I am really excited because Jeff is supposed to be a medical management major, so his expertise would be greatly appreciated in this project. Presently, I am working on writing up forms and future evaluations. I am trying to work out all sort of kinks. I will talk to many of the people who participated in the insurance system last year and have their inputs. Hopefully, everything will work out.

Now I feel obliged to talk to the Chinese before I have to leave for Farende. Watch out for next week's blog though, because there are lot of initiations that will go on this week.

What does a chemistry major do in Togo?

On the way up to my host family in northern Togo, Dr. Piot asked all of us students to tell him of our majors. Madeline: cultural antrhopology, Alex: Political science/government. So far, so good. Dr. Piot nodded his head as he could see why these humanity majors would come to Togo to work on their respective projects. Then it my turn. "Chemistry," I said. He literally turned around and said "WHAT are you doing in Africa?"

So I am here trying to answer that question. As I have already said in my profile, I want to learn about how doctors heal patients in an environment where health is understood as a physical and spiritual matter. I am also here to give my service to best help the need of the organzation. My time here in split between working in a decent size clinic in the bigger village of Farendé, interviewing local healers, and developing a feasible action plan for the local insurance system that they want to implement in a small village up the moutain, called Kuwdé.

The clinic in Farendé is called Centre Medicale Sociale, or CMS for short. It is a part of the Evangelic Church, but it serves as the local health institute. It is responsible for everything ranging from primary care and birthing to vaccination and public health education. However, like many of the health institutions in Togo, they are understaffed and underfunded. For example, there are three nurses and one l'assistant mediacal (almost, but not quite a doctor) who have to manage consultation room, injection room, wound dressing room and the two hospital rooms. The nurses each take a 24 hour rotation to take care of the patients, so there's actually only one to two people who can monitor the entire facility at one time. In addition, out of 10 people who comes to the clinic, about only 4 can actually pay for their medecine and consultation fees. Sometimes, I wonder how this instituion is even able to stay in business at all with their limited revenue. There is no government aid or any outside help except for the once-a-year medicine donation from Doctor without boarders. In order to help the clinic, they have used all extra space at the center to plant peanuts to support the staff. Right now, my goal is to work with the education programs that they have at the center to better the curriculum and to find people to teach them about how to prevent infectious diseases.

My other big project is working with the assurance system for the little village of Kuwdé. Tara, a student who came up with this idea last year, wanted to start an insurance system so that the people in the region do not have to pay very much when they come to the clinic. The problem in this village is that people cannot pay in full for their medicines. This is partly due to the poverty in this region as well as the way of life here. Most people do not practice saving money because they have never experienced what it means to have a steady income. The only way of life that they understand is the subsistance living where they toil all day to make just enough for that day. Thus, there is never the occasion to save, and they hardly ever have a sum of money set aside for rainy days. When they have to come up with a large sum of money for pay for things like medical expenses, their instinct is to sell something in their house, like a goat, chicken, or grains, to pay for the expenses. This practice, however, puts people at the mercy of the market. They can only make however much the market dictates. Thus, these people can never be sure of whether they can pay for the medicine or not. This chain of events ultimately affects the health insititute because the health worker cannot turn a sick person away due to his/her ability to pay. Thus, it is the health institution that ends up going into debt, and the personnels are not paid. This insurance system is here to provide some security.

Becoming Kabré (Kabiyé)

Due to excess of excitment from last week, I was unable to give a basic description of my setting here in Africa. But here are the basics:

The family:Kabiyé families are unique in that they use words like brothers and sisters to refer to cousins and grandpapa or grandmama to refer to elders. Thus, it is always confusing about who are actually the biological children of the parents. In addition, children often lived in aunt and uncle's houses depending on whether those houses needed extra help. To complicate things more, men could also have multiple wives.

My host family is one of the less complicated cases. There's the mom (Justine) and dad (Monsieur Kofi). They have 5 daughters: Vivian (10), Destiné (9), Flora (6?), Florine (6?), Adeline (18 months). The girls are vibrant and intelligent, and the personalities of each family member is comparable to the girls in Jane Austen's novel.

The oldest daughter Vivian is like the eldest daughter who likes to be carefree, but she holds herself back because she knows that she has the most responsibilities. The second oldest, Destiné, is like Liz, in that she knows that she has lots of responsibilities, but she is free to express her feelings. She dances and sing the best out of all of them. Since she has more free time than Vivian, she gets to perfect her card-playing and hop-scotching skills. She is the most delightful to me, at least. The twins (Flora and Florine) are kind of overshadowed by their older sisters and by each other. Flora is girlier than Florine. The youngest, Adelline, is the darling of the family. Her forever-smiling face and tackle hugs warns your heart ever time you look at her. She can't speak quite yet, but she is always making noises like "Tanti" (refering to mom), and "Bee" (refering to me).

I actually have a Kabiyé name now, and it is Tchilalou, which means that I am the daughter of Wednesday, the day I arrived. Rui turned out to be too complicated for them to pronounce, so Tchilalou would have to do. Most everyone calls and knows me by that now. The other day, a bunch of children were chanting "En-Sa-ra," which means white person, to me. I told them that my name was Tchilalou, so instead of chanting "ensara," they chanted "Tchilalou" with a rythym that made me feel like I had my personal cheer-leading squad.

The family also has three other older boys who are middle school students. They are the cousins of the family, but they eat, live and cultivate with my host family due to reasons that I still have not figured out. I think that this family needed more help, so these boys help them out in return for food. They are super smart, funny, and good humored guys. They are Kofi (the younger), Tami, Aklam. I am not exactly sure how their Kabiyé names are spelled, but here's my best try. With these boys, I learned the several popular card games, including one that is called the American game. It is really like Uno but with playing cards. I am proud to say that I have won several games so far.

The rest of the household consists of at least 5 dogs, 10 chickens, several lamb, and a few pigs. I have never lived close to so many animals in my life, and I have never realized that each of them has a unique characteristic. For example, there's a crippled chicken who likes to go into my room a lot. I think that it thinks that my room is the grain storage or something. One time, I came back to my room and found two chickens under my desk. Aw, gotta love my family.

A typical day:
Each day, I get up at around 5:30am. Don't worry, this is fairly normal because due to a lack of electricity, I go to bed around 8:30pm or 9:00pm. When the sun rises at around 5am, I am up as well. Just this week, my host family decided that I don't exercise enough (meaning walking to work, going up the mountain at least twice at week is not enough), and got me to go running at 6am everyday. My host dad used to work with the Chinese at the hospital in the nearest big city, so he said that I should be more like the other Chinese who exercise every morning. I agreed that I needed to be in shape, so this Monday morning, I got my personal training schedule. Basically, I go running with one of the older daughters in the morning at the soccer field behind the middle school. It is refreshing, I have to say. I am glad that I am running with one of the girls, because at least this way, I can still out-run them.

By 7:30am, I usually have already taken a shower and have eaten my oatmeal breakfast. By 8am, I am at work shadowing the nurses and medical assistant. So far, I have gone through pretty much all of the functions of the small medical clinic. I will talk about my work more next time. At noon exactly, everyone leaves to eat lunch and rest away from the unforgiving sun. By three in the afternoon, everyone goes back or work, but the afternoon is never that important, so there are hardly any patients by then. I just take that time to reflect, write, or read.
Every Wednesday, I go to the market in the big city, Kara, and every Friday, I climb up the mountain to work with the villages and the medical insurance system. I am really excited about what I am doing, and I will tell you about it next week.

The Chinese, we will always find each other

I have just survived through my first power outage in Kara, and almost my first day in the markets. This first experience has been so surreal that I am going to slowly reflect on all of the things that happenedtoday and end with how fortunate I am.

I was initially very apprehensive about my trip to the market in Kara.The main reasons were: My French is still very broken; I have no bargaining skills; and I had to do this all alone. Alex and Madeline had left with Dr. Piot on Tuesday--the day before the big Wednesday's market day--to Lomé because Alex needed medical attention and Madeline had work to do in Lomé. I was the only one who stayed in the village to continue my work. Fortunately, my mentor in Farendé, Jespère, decided that he would train me on the basics of bargaining.

Here are the protocols:
1. You must greet the seller either in Kabiyé (prefered b/c it showed that you are trying to be a part of their culture) or in French;
2. Ask for the price, or ask for the name of the product if you have no idea what the pile of stuff in front of you is;
3. Ask them to lower their price, but only on items that they have grown and never on packaged items (according to Jaspère, they are there b/c they need money; thus to ask for a price that is too low is inhumane. There are also different prices at different time of the dayas well, so you can do your bargaining accordingly);
4. Discuss theprice with the seller;
5. Ask for a final price;
6. After the transaction, be sure to say goodbye as you leave.
If you do these steps well, not only will you get a good price, you will also have established a relationship with the seller. The next time that you buy from them, you can call them friends and get a better price (maybe).

With these protocols, I went around the little night market in Farendé with Jespère and Tako (one of the nurses at CMS) and practiced these bargaining skills. Jespère made me do it over and over until I was comfortable with the whole thing.

Now Wednesday arrives with a brilliant sunrise. I put on my entire market gear (backpack, water, notebooks, camera, money, a thick layer of sunblock), adjusted my cap and was ready for this first day in the markets. I initially met up with the cousin of Jespère, who showed me the taxi that would take me to Ketao (a town inbetween Farendé and Kara). Then I met Laby, a linguist at the University of Kara whom I met the day before while walking home.

Both of us were crammed into a beat-up volts-wagon, which is designed for 5 or 6 people at max (as far as safety goes), with a total of 9 people. I was sharing the front seat with an old man, trying not to hit the break or the stick-shift while shielding my ears from the blasting music and the random shouts from the driver. It was an interesting ride, to say the least.

Once I reached Katow, the old man who was sitting beside me was going to Kara as well, so he took me to my next taxi, which had much more room, and I had a proper seat. The entire ride was absolutely scenic with the mountains, palm trees and rolling grasslands.

Once I reached Kara, the kind young driver decided to take me to the market. It seemed that he had nothing to do in Kara so he was going to be my personal tour guide. He showed me where to find all the things I needed, including important information like where one can find the best mango, clothe, and so forth.

I knew that there were Chinese people who lived here, so I asked to meet some. He told me that he had a friend in the police station who could give us some directions, so off I went to the police station in Kara. I find it amusing that I would end up in a police station talking to an officer about the local culture. He invited me to watch the local wrestling matches that occurs every July. In addition, I learned that my driver and him were friends from Pagouda (another city north of where I live), and both of them played soccer in Kara. At the end, he gave us the directions to the Chniese pharmacy just a few steps away from the police station. Oh, the driver's name was Gafar.

Gafar and I arrived at the pharmacy, and an old to middle aged Chinese man sat at the counter. I gave my proper Chinese greetings, and we begin to chat in Chinese. It turns out that the Chinese man, Mr. Cao, is from the same area where I was born in China. He had the same accent, and even a similar history as my grandpa.

Imagine what I was feeling and thinking. Wow, in the middle of Africa, I would find an old relative (or that's how we call people who comes from the same place in China) who loved to talk about Chinese history and politics. In addition to our conversations about the local culture, he also gave me a brief history lesson on China. I learned that he was exiled during the Culture Revolution (like my grandpa), worked in the Chinese army, became an official in a factory, and came to Togo through a random turn of events. His entire family is still in China, and he had just came back from visiting them.

At the end of our conversation, he invited me and my friend to eat. It was great to taste some Chinese food at last. I promised that I would regard him as my uncle now and will come to greet him every time I am in Kara. So through these amazing turn of events, I am here in the small internet café writing up this blog. I promise that I will give more context details in the next blog. There are just too many things to write, and I could go on for longer than my time limit allows. So signing off from Togo, until next time, take care.

First Act: Bienvenue à Lomé!

The crew:
Dr. Piot: our anthropologist, historian, tour-guide, contact, tech
person... etc. in residence
Fidèle: Dr. Piot's assistant, a law-student, and basically the mom of
the group. She is absolutely charming, friendly, caring, and full of
spirit.
Serra, Alex, Madeline, Emmanualle and me: students who are on this
trip to learn about Togo and hopefully contribute to it.

The story:
Today, the schedule included breakfasting at Dr. Piot's palce with
local breads, mountain honey and fruits,
visiting a Penacostal Church worship assembly, eating fufu and a
fish/vegetable sauce, drinking and talking at Niko Mom's house,
walking on the beach, and discussing about what
to do for the next few days.I won't attempt to describe everything,
but here are the highlights.



Dr. Piot has been researching on the Churches in Togo, so
we were fortunate enough to visit one. The church was like a modern
day gospel church (like a huge First Baptist Church). It was inside a
spacious concrete lot with a tin roof and walls that
did not reach the ceiling (to allow fresh-air to flow into the
building in the humid hot heat). The entire place was filled with plastic chairs like the ones you find
at stadiums. Rows of fans lined the ceiling to circulate the air as
hundreds of people sang and danced for worship. The sermon was given
in the local language, which was probably Ewe. The translator beside
him spoke in French. The style of the sermon was very much like a
Baptist Pastor's sermon with repeats of words and idea
and Halleluia and Amens dispersed throughout. Like my church back in
the US, they prayed outloud as the pastor asked for the Holy Spirit to
be on them. I can't say that I understood much of the sermon, but it
was a good experience nevertheless.

After Church, we went for our first lunch. Dr. Piot's good Friend,
Niko, joined us for our first-ever-tasting of fufu. Fufu is not tofu.
it is a white, soft ball of mashed yams. I had it with a fish
and vegetable sauce. By sauce, I mean a cooked dish with
a meat, spice and vegetables. We all learned how to eat with our
right-hand only, and how to pick up the fufu, dip it in the sauce,
roll them up and put it in our mouths. The following picture shows us
at our first meal. The food is incredibly flavorful, and I am all up
for licking my fingers.



As I learned during the meal, buying food in
Togo is based on a price-fixed system. It means that when you order,
you give the waitor a certain price that you want to pay. Based on the
market value, the waitor brings out how much food your money could buy
for you. In contrast, the US is based on a quantity-fixed system where
the serving of a hamberger never changes, but the price of it changes
depending on the market. This was new to me, but at least I can make
sure I don't over-spend, kind of.

The second memorable experience was visiting Niko's mom's homestead. It was
located in the sub-burbs of Lomé, which was more like the country-side
of Lomé. There, we sat in wooden chairs underneath a mango tree
(mangiere) in the court-yard and chatted with Niko's mom, aunt, uncle,
and brothers. Now I know why Dr. Piot says that the Kabiyé people are
very friendly. The moment we were seated, Niko's mom brought out her
best batch of sorgum beer (According to Dr. Piot, she is the best
sorgum beer maker that he has ever met). Sorgum beer is a drink that
has a tangy-bitter and sparkling taste to it. The closest that I can
compare it to is the fermented bread drink that I had in the food-lab
for microbiology. The first sip is never that great because it is an
aquired taste. But after a few sips, I begin to get used to the taste.
Just so you know, I am not a drinker at all. The last time I tasted
beer must have been when I was back in China when even kids were
allowed to taste and drink some beer. Tasting this beer is out of my
courtesy to the host, and I only drank about half a cup. However, this
was a very good drink when coupled to a greasy pancake (made from
smashed beans and vegetable) and a hot green peper sauce. The
tangy-bitterness washes down everything pretty well.



Our conversation revolved around people moving down from Northern Togo
and the latest developments of the Togo soccer team. Can't say that I
contributed much to the conversation because I am still struggling to
understand everything in French. After our conversation, we had a mall
tour of the yard. The family has a small patch of corn and other
vegetable near the back of the yard. There were at least two mango
trees and a papaya tree. The family also had around three hens and
several chicklets, three dogs, a cat, two goats... and I think that is
it. Oh, we also found a blackboard, on which the boy in the family has
worked out some physics problems about momentum. It was a delight, to
say the least, to see someone who liked physics in the middle of Lomé.
After the tour, I said that I wished I could climb the mango tree like
the boy in the house when he retrieved mangos. Well, Alex challenged
me to it, so up I went. It was a great experience becase the tree was
very easy to clim. But nevertheless, What was I thinking climbing a
tree?! I can't say that alcohol, even in small amounts, did not have
an effect...

By the time we left Niko mom's house, we were stuffed. Dr. Piot wanted
to show us the beach, so we made a nice stop there. The sand was
absolutely beautiful, and there was a big beach party happening on the
beach. Hundreds of people, couples and families strolled along the
white-sand beach that was beaten by the foamy white waves. Several brave
souls attempted to swim in the deep blue ocean. Gigantic colonial
mansions in white lime stood along the beach with palm trees hiding
them in their shades. Unfortuantely, many of these mansions were left
to ruins after the colonial period and no body has had the money or
time to renovate them. It's too bad that the government cannot protect
these historial treasures.

All in all, I have had a great first day experience, and I have no
fear that I shall find exciting things to do in Togo with my crew. Sorry for the lack of photos. Hopefully, I will have learned how to upload the photos in the cyber cafe by the next post.
Until next time, take care!

Brief history, culture and social norms of Kabre, Togo

Brief History:

According to the local legend, the first Kabre human, Kumberito, landed in this region and lived for several years before the hooting of an owl-like bird (mututukuγu) scared him into the mountains where he and his descendants lived ever since (Piot, 29-30). Historically speaking, the Kabre people probably migrated into this region during the time of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1700-1850 (Piot 30). During that time, villages were often violently raided for slaves, so many communities retreated to the mountains where it was easier to defend (Piot, 31). However, no researches have been done to confirm this hypothesis.

(Picture from http://z.about.com/d/africanhistory/1/0/5/2/Trans-Atlantic1.jpg)

After the slave raids ended, there was a period of peace where the Kabre people developed their excellent agricultural skills. However, when the German colonized the area, the Kabre people were forced to work on the infrastructure of the country, and they built much of Togo’s roads and railroads. When the Germans lost World War I, they ceded “Togoland” to France and Britain. The French had the portion that is now known as Togo (Piot, 35, 41).

In 1963, Gnassingbé Eyadéma (see photo to the left), a young Kabre soldier, overthrew the government and became the sole ruler from 1967 until his death in 2005. Eyadéma is somewhat of a legend in Togo. During his reign as a dictator, he miraculous survived a plane crash where everyone died except him, and he survived several assassination attempts. Due to his identity as a northerner, a Kabre, tension often formed between him and the southern Togolese, which is from a different ethnic group. Upon his death, his son Faure Gnassingbé came to power and was elected as the president.

(Picture from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Gnassingbe_Eyadema_detail2_DF-SC-84-10025.jpg)

Local Culture and Social Norms:

In Togo, there are two major ethic groups: one that speaks Kabiyé (or Kabye) and lives in the North, and the one that speaks Ewe and lives in the South. From general observation, the South is considered to be more prosperous than the North, which is considered to be more “backwards."

The northern region, where I am headed, is known as the Kabre (Kabiyé) region. The people there believe strongly in ancestral spirits and are spiritually led by the local diviners. Although there is a chief for the village, his major responsibilities are only to collect taxes and act as judge for local disputes. Most of the power in the village rest on people who perform the traditional rituals (Piot, 148-149).

A village in Kabre is made up of many homesteads, which are groups of mud-brick homes with a central courtyard. The father is the head of the household, with one or more wives.

(Picture from http://www.travelswithsheila.com/wtchdr2village.jpg)

The society in Kabre values dependency on others rather than individualism. According to Dr. Piot, “The general view [in Kabre] is that such individuals—the person who stands apart, the isolated individual—are abnormal” (Piot, 67).

For example, people are constantly borrowing things from each other. On one hand, they are satisfying their own needs. On the other hand, they are building up relationships through these exchanges of things. Dr. Piot told a story of how a rich man borrowed land from his friends even though the land borrowed was not as fertile as his own. The reason that the man gave was that “it is not good to die without having eaten off someone else’s plate” (Piot, 56). However, it is advisable to not romanticize about this gift exchange system because Dr. Piot suggests that gifts could be a way that the locals put control over the foreigners--by indebting the foreigners (70). Nevertheless, I am looking forward to being in this community and learn much more about this fascinating culture.

Source:

Piot, Charles, Remotely Global: Village Modernity in West Africa. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1999.

Bienvenu à Togo!

Hi there! Thanks for following me as I go on my journey to northern Togo for my global health field work. My trip will start on June 5th, and I will stay in Lome, Togo with several other Duke students and Dr. Charles Piot (my supervising professor) for a week before heading up to northern Togo. Once I am settled in northern Togo, I will be working in a local clinic. In addition, I will be working closely with the village and the local diviners to bring about a collaboration between the modern clinic and the local healers.

Now it is time for a brief profile on Togo:

My version of the CIA country profile on Togo

Capital: Lome Size: About the size of West Virginia Total population: 6,019,877 (CIA estimate expected for July 2009)

• Just to give a perspective, New York City has about 8.2 million inhabitants.

Language: French is the official language even though are are many local languages. The two major local languages are: Ewe (south), Kabiyé (north)
Major Industry: commercial and subsistence farming, cotton
Favorite National Sport: Soccer
Location: On the coast of West Africa, in the region between Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria. It is situated between Ghana and Benin and is South of Burkina Faso.

• Where am I going? Farendé and Kuwdé, both are villages north of Lama-Kara in northern Togo. The northern region is also known as the Kabre region or the Kabiyé region.