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!