Here, finally, are some pictures of my host family and home in Agou Nyogbo and of Joe's host family and home in Agou Koumawou.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Pictures from Stage!
Here, finally, are some pictures of my host family and home in Agou Nyogbo and of Joe's host family and home in Agou Koumawou.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
End of Stage, Swear-In, and the Beginning of Month Four
When our training (“stage,” to those familiar with the term) started in Agou Nyogbo and Agou Koumawou, time seemed to drag for the first few weeks. Now that we’re finished and have said goodbye to our host families, we’re here in Lomé for our swear-in ceremony, and it seems like we were here just yesterday for our initial orientation. We both agree that our French has improved, and that we’ve learned a lot of really helpful cultural information during our first three months. Our formateurs (technical and language instructors) are some of the best people in the world. They were very patient with our bad (but hopefully much improved now) French throughout our training. We hope we haven’t seen the last of them.
But as wonderful as everyone has been, we’re ready to get to Tabligbo and eat, sleep, drink, and live on our own schedules again! For those of you who are worried about our health (moms!), we’re both just fine, despite some weight loss. As soon as we get to Tabligbo and I can cook my own food, I promise to try to put some weight back onto my husband, whose diminishing frame has caused some alarm here. He worries that people might now confuse him with a certain slender friend of ours with the initials DMN – not to worry, though; I’ll try not to let that happen.
Some of our initial expectations of Africa have changed in the past 11 weeks (gee, what a surprise!). It’s a lot more tropical here and a lot greener than I expected, and our accommodations are a lot more technologically advanced than Joe expected (running water, tile floors, and electricity were not in our list of things to expect!).
Togolese food-wise, I’m a fan of foufou (a big dumpling-like thing that’s made by pounding the crap out of yams) and wagash (a type of fried cheese). Joe seems to be partial to soja (soy that’s fried with sauce). I’ve learned how to make peanut sauce and piment (hot pepper) sauce also. Our Togolese host families had a lot of fun making American-style meals for us with a Togolese spin. We’ve had French toast, garlic bread, pancakes, and spaghetti – all a little different than back home, but good! Things like turkey sandwiches with Sunkist orange pop in a can and strawberry milk are a luxury you can only get in Lomé, but are worth the price once in awhile! Jim Beam is also worth an occasional splurge in Lomé, and I’ve managed to find some tolerable red wine at a couple of “yovo stores.” Lomé is still two hours away from Tabligbo by bush taxi, so we’re not sure how often we’ll get there yet.
Other Togolese news: gas prices have sky-rocketed in Togo (675 CFA per liter last time we checked), 11 bridges in the country have collapsed due to rain and flooding, and both occurrences have made travel throughout the country a lot more difficult and more expensive. The cement shortage has also made for higher prices and had made repairs on bad roads next to impossible. One observation from earlier today: instead of road flares to mark an accident, the people here just tear up big chunks of grass and throw them in the road as a marker for people to watch out!
We hope you’re all having a good summer and doing fun things back in the States. For those who can, please go to Knight’s, have a good steak, and think of us. We’re doing fine, but familiar food seems to dominate our thoughts here! We’ll be back in touch soon!
But as wonderful as everyone has been, we’re ready to get to Tabligbo and eat, sleep, drink, and live on our own schedules again! For those of you who are worried about our health (moms!), we’re both just fine, despite some weight loss. As soon as we get to Tabligbo and I can cook my own food, I promise to try to put some weight back onto my husband, whose diminishing frame has caused some alarm here. He worries that people might now confuse him with a certain slender friend of ours with the initials DMN – not to worry, though; I’ll try not to let that happen.
Some of our initial expectations of Africa have changed in the past 11 weeks (gee, what a surprise!). It’s a lot more tropical here and a lot greener than I expected, and our accommodations are a lot more technologically advanced than Joe expected (running water, tile floors, and electricity were not in our list of things to expect!).
Togolese food-wise, I’m a fan of foufou (a big dumpling-like thing that’s made by pounding the crap out of yams) and wagash (a type of fried cheese). Joe seems to be partial to soja (soy that’s fried with sauce). I’ve learned how to make peanut sauce and piment (hot pepper) sauce also. Our Togolese host families had a lot of fun making American-style meals for us with a Togolese spin. We’ve had French toast, garlic bread, pancakes, and spaghetti – all a little different than back home, but good! Things like turkey sandwiches with Sunkist orange pop in a can and strawberry milk are a luxury you can only get in Lomé, but are worth the price once in awhile! Jim Beam is also worth an occasional splurge in Lomé, and I’ve managed to find some tolerable red wine at a couple of “yovo stores.” Lomé is still two hours away from Tabligbo by bush taxi, so we’re not sure how often we’ll get there yet.
Other Togolese news: gas prices have sky-rocketed in Togo (675 CFA per liter last time we checked), 11 bridges in the country have collapsed due to rain and flooding, and both occurrences have made travel throughout the country a lot more difficult and more expensive. The cement shortage has also made for higher prices and had made repairs on bad roads next to impossible. One observation from earlier today: instead of road flares to mark an accident, the people here just tear up big chunks of grass and throw them in the road as a marker for people to watch out!
We hope you’re all having a good summer and doing fun things back in the States. For those who can, please go to Knight’s, have a good steak, and think of us. We’re doing fine, but familiar food seems to dominate our thoughts here! We’ll be back in touch soon!
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Finishing up week 7 of Stage...
Hello family and friends! Joe and I have just finished week 7 of our training, a week we spent visiting our post (the city of Tabligbo in the Maritime region). We have a compound that has a space for another family, but no one is currently living there, so it’s just us along with the dog and cat we inherited from the previous volunteer who lived here. It's nice to have pets again!
Training continues in Agou Nyogbo (for me) and Agou Koumawou (for Joe) for 3 more weeks. We’ve started a little bit of language training in Ewé, which we discovered this week will come in handy at post, since many people in Tabligbo speak a mixture of Ewé and French. Our French is improving a little, at least according to our language trainers, who rated us both as proficient enough to go to post during our mid-stage language test a couple of weeks ago. A subjective test, for certain, since they rated me as “Intermediate High,” and Joe as “Intermediate Mid.” (Those of you who know us know that’s completely impossible – I must have just been having a good test day!)
At the end of week 8, I have a project to do with three other trainees that involves teaching young girls in my village about AIDS and possibly starting a health club. The local president of the Red Cross is helping us and hopes to continue the club after we leave for post. Joe is currently business shadowing a seamstress in his village, and he’s supposed to make some recommendations about growing her business at the end of training. As a result of this experience, Joey has learned a new skill. He wants you all to know that he is now proficient in the art of the pedal sewing machine, and we promise to post a picture that a fellow trainee took of his experience when we can get it from her.
At the end of week 11, we’ll be heading back to Lomé for the swearing-in ceremony, and we’ll be back in Tabligbo at the end of August to settle in for good. Training is going by fast!
Our week-long visit in Tabligbo was spent learning where things are (like the Prefet, the police, the post office, the market, etc.), meeting a few notables, and drawing a map of our immediate area. We also met a couple of the volunteers who live nearby and came to welcome us. We also met two girls who teach the children of American missionaries who are living in Tabligbo until the end of this year. They made us chocolate chip cookies! It must be nice to have an oven, but we really can’t complain since we have running water and electricity, two things that many volunteers don’t have. We spent the week cooking on a charcoal stove (just like camping on the Au Sable – those were the days, weren’t they?!), but hope to buy a propane stove in Lomé after swear-in.
We spent a lot of time in the market on market day, which was a bit of an overwhelming experience. It was the biggest crowd of people I’ve seen yet in Togo! We successfully purchased a number of items, and managed to dispute the price (discuter le prix) a few times successfully as well.
We also got to know our homologues (the Togolese counterparts we’ve been assigned) and learned a little about what our work will be like in Tabligbo. These are just the possibilities so far, so things are bound to change once we get situated in village. One project that I’m going to work on is starting an organization for counseling people living with AIDS on health and nutrition. I also might work with one of the schools on teaching a health class. Joey has plans to work with a mechanics’ union, a women-owned and operated purse business, and a group of farmers on increasing productivity. We’ll let you know how those plans pan out in the coming months.
Thanks for the phone calls and the letters – we hope you all continue to stay in touch that way until we can get the Internet thing figured out. Hopefully, our letters home to you have been arriving without a problem. We’re sorry we haven’t been able to post much so far, but soon we’ll be in Tabligbo and may be able to get reliable Internet access and post more often. Bear with us!
Finally, happy birthday to Heather and Mommies (both of you!) from Togo! More information coming soon!
Training continues in Agou Nyogbo (for me) and Agou Koumawou (for Joe) for 3 more weeks. We’ve started a little bit of language training in Ewé, which we discovered this week will come in handy at post, since many people in Tabligbo speak a mixture of Ewé and French. Our French is improving a little, at least according to our language trainers, who rated us both as proficient enough to go to post during our mid-stage language test a couple of weeks ago. A subjective test, for certain, since they rated me as “Intermediate High,” and Joe as “Intermediate Mid.” (Those of you who know us know that’s completely impossible – I must have just been having a good test day!)
At the end of week 8, I have a project to do with three other trainees that involves teaching young girls in my village about AIDS and possibly starting a health club. The local president of the Red Cross is helping us and hopes to continue the club after we leave for post. Joe is currently business shadowing a seamstress in his village, and he’s supposed to make some recommendations about growing her business at the end of training. As a result of this experience, Joey has learned a new skill. He wants you all to know that he is now proficient in the art of the pedal sewing machine, and we promise to post a picture that a fellow trainee took of his experience when we can get it from her.
At the end of week 11, we’ll be heading back to Lomé for the swearing-in ceremony, and we’ll be back in Tabligbo at the end of August to settle in for good. Training is going by fast!
Our week-long visit in Tabligbo was spent learning where things are (like the Prefet, the police, the post office, the market, etc.), meeting a few notables, and drawing a map of our immediate area. We also met a couple of the volunteers who live nearby and came to welcome us. We also met two girls who teach the children of American missionaries who are living in Tabligbo until the end of this year. They made us chocolate chip cookies! It must be nice to have an oven, but we really can’t complain since we have running water and electricity, two things that many volunteers don’t have. We spent the week cooking on a charcoal stove (just like camping on the Au Sable – those were the days, weren’t they?!), but hope to buy a propane stove in Lomé after swear-in.
We spent a lot of time in the market on market day, which was a bit of an overwhelming experience. It was the biggest crowd of people I’ve seen yet in Togo! We successfully purchased a number of items, and managed to dispute the price (discuter le prix) a few times successfully as well.
We also got to know our homologues (the Togolese counterparts we’ve been assigned) and learned a little about what our work will be like in Tabligbo. These are just the possibilities so far, so things are bound to change once we get situated in village. One project that I’m going to work on is starting an organization for counseling people living with AIDS on health and nutrition. I also might work with one of the schools on teaching a health class. Joey has plans to work with a mechanics’ union, a women-owned and operated purse business, and a group of farmers on increasing productivity. We’ll let you know how those plans pan out in the coming months.
Thanks for the phone calls and the letters – we hope you all continue to stay in touch that way until we can get the Internet thing figured out. Hopefully, our letters home to you have been arriving without a problem. We’re sorry we haven’t been able to post much so far, but soon we’ll be in Tabligbo and may be able to get reliable Internet access and post more often. Bear with us!
Finally, happy birthday to Heather and Mommies (both of you!) from Togo! More information coming soon!
Sunday, June 29, 2008
About a month into training...
Joey and I have been at our training sites in Agou Nyogbo and Agou Koumawou for a few weeks now. The rainy season is in full swing, so it rains almost every day. We’re right at the base of Mount Agou, and the view is awesome. We both have electricity and no running water, which I haven’t missed as much as I thought I would. We’re both enjoying getting to know our host families and speaking French on a daily basis. I have a host mom, a sister (she’s 17), a brother (he’s 7), an aunt and a grandma in my compound, and Joey has a host mom, and two little host sisters (ages 9 and 13) in his village. We’re starting to learn a tiny bit of Ewé (ev-ay), the local language that they speak in this area.
We also found out this week that our post site is going to be Tabligbo, which is in the Maritime region about two hours northeast from Lomé. From what we’ve heard so far, it’s a city of about 18,000, and the main employer is a big cement factory. Ewé happens to be the local language there as well, so I think we’re going to start getting a little more education in that area soon. We’ll be doing a post visit to Tagligbo during week 7 of training (at the time I’m writing this, we’re getting ready to start week 4). We do our swear-in at the end of August, so that’s when we’ll be off to our post together.
Besides the French, my training so far has been on things like malaria, nutrition, HIV/AIDS, and gardening (you’ll be hearing more about the moringa tree soon!). The group of health trainees I’m with have been to a hospital and a dispensaire (like a pharmacy run by a nurse); we’ve also had practice doing baby weighing and been to a training session on how to make enriched food for malnourished kids. Joey’s training so far has mostly been about microfinance and tantines (the Togolese version of a personal savings). He also visited a microfinance bank in Kpalimé.
Our first experience at the marché (market) was interesting. The piles and piles of whole smoked fish made for an interesting aromatic experience, and it took a long time to figure out that there was a structure to the way things are organized. I managed to successfully buy some vegetables for my host mom there.
The wildlife in village mostly consists of sheep, goats, and chickens, with a few small dogs and cats here and there. The lizards are everywhere, and they’re fun to watch. For those of you who are interested in the insect life, the mosquitoes are a bit of a pain, and the spiders (at least the ones I’ve seen!) are fast, but not too big. Joey apparently has some killer spiders that live in his latrine, but no one else has seen one yet, and he’s promised to get a picture the next time he sees one to post on the blog.
Pictures are currently not posting, so I'm going to email some to all of you. Will be sure to try to post them here next time!
We also found out this week that our post site is going to be Tabligbo, which is in the Maritime region about two hours northeast from Lomé. From what we’ve heard so far, it’s a city of about 18,000, and the main employer is a big cement factory. Ewé happens to be the local language there as well, so I think we’re going to start getting a little more education in that area soon. We’ll be doing a post visit to Tagligbo during week 7 of training (at the time I’m writing this, we’re getting ready to start week 4). We do our swear-in at the end of August, so that’s when we’ll be off to our post together.
Besides the French, my training so far has been on things like malaria, nutrition, HIV/AIDS, and gardening (you’ll be hearing more about the moringa tree soon!). The group of health trainees I’m with have been to a hospital and a dispensaire (like a pharmacy run by a nurse); we’ve also had practice doing baby weighing and been to a training session on how to make enriched food for malnourished kids. Joey’s training so far has mostly been about microfinance and tantines (the Togolese version of a personal savings). He also visited a microfinance bank in Kpalimé.
Our first experience at the marché (market) was interesting. The piles and piles of whole smoked fish made for an interesting aromatic experience, and it took a long time to figure out that there was a structure to the way things are organized. I managed to successfully buy some vegetables for my host mom there.
The wildlife in village mostly consists of sheep, goats, and chickens, with a few small dogs and cats here and there. The lizards are everywhere, and they’re fun to watch. For those of you who are interested in the insect life, the mosquitoes are a bit of a pain, and the spiders (at least the ones I’ve seen!) are fast, but not too big. Joey apparently has some killer spiders that live in his latrine, but no one else has seen one yet, and he’s promised to get a picture the next time he sees one to post on the blog.
Pictures are currently not posting, so I'm going to email some to all of you. Will be sure to try to post them here next time!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
To call us...
Joe and I now have an international cell phone number, but apparently my training area in Agou doesn't get good reception, so Joe is going to take it with him to his training area (the areas are 5km apart). We doubt we'll be able to be placed together for stage (we'll find out for sure tomorrow), but we'll be in class together twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and together on the weekends. So, you can get in touch with both of us on those days.
Our number is: 011 228 938 5479.
Calls to the States are rather expensive for us, but incoming calls are free. So, if international calls aren't too bad on your phone plan, give us a call!
Our number is: 011 228 938 5479.
Calls to the States are rather expensive for us, but incoming calls are free. So, if international calls aren't too bad on your phone plan, give us a call!
Arrival in Lomé
We’re now in Lomé, Togo, and have been here for a few days at a hostel owned by Mamy, a little Asian woman. She has a nice cat named Milo who loves the volunteers because they like to pet him, and she cooks excellent food. Spicy and good! It’s a little weird living with all these people after living on our own for more than ten years, though. But everyone seems to get along really well, so we’ve been having fun so far. We’re up to six shots with more to come, and have gotten educated on malaria and other maladies, and have gotten instructions on the basic day-to-day stuff. Our language tests were an individual question and answer session in French. We find out at stage what level we’ll be placed at. Yesterday was, I think, the most helpful training session so far – all about how to wash clothes, take a bucket shower, use the lanterns, etc. We also went to our Country Director’s house for a reception last night – une grande maison! We also met the U.S. Ambassador to Togo. This afternoon, we got to go shopping and buy shower buckets and supplies and cell phones. I’ll post our number tomorrow – we likely won’t be calling anyone in the States, but incoming calls are free for us.
Granda will be disappointed to hear that my only encounter with bugs so far has been flies (it’s fly season here), and a few mosquitoes. Once we get to our training site and live with our host families, I heard we’ll have all kinds of interesting things living in our latrine. So more soon on that front.
The kids between Mamy’s and the Peace Corps office a few blocks away seem pretty used to seeing the volunteers around, but they like to wave at us and giggle. This area of Lomé has lots of chickens along with a few goats and dogs wandering around. You can hear the Togolese playing American music from their homes and from local bars (I’ve heard Bryan Adams, Celine Dion, and Tina Turner). Lomé is interesting (and living conditions are much better than we expected), but I think we’re a little impatient (and a little anxious…at least I am) to see what life with our host families. Tomorrow evening we head off to meet them.
Also, for a fellow volunteer’s mom named Elizabeth T., your daughter loves you, and is telling you not to worry. She’s very happy, excited, and making a lot of friends (she’s one of my favorite people, so I promise to stay in touch with her as much as possible!).
To my own Mom, and to Joe’s Mom and Dad, and everyone else (family, friends, and ex-coworkers), we’re feeling good about everything so far. Please send us news of home (via the blog, email, or letter)!
Granda will be disappointed to hear that my only encounter with bugs so far has been flies (it’s fly season here), and a few mosquitoes. Once we get to our training site and live with our host families, I heard we’ll have all kinds of interesting things living in our latrine. So more soon on that front.
The kids between Mamy’s and the Peace Corps office a few blocks away seem pretty used to seeing the volunteers around, but they like to wave at us and giggle. This area of Lomé has lots of chickens along with a few goats and dogs wandering around. You can hear the Togolese playing American music from their homes and from local bars (I’ve heard Bryan Adams, Celine Dion, and Tina Turner). Lomé is interesting (and living conditions are much better than we expected), but I think we’re a little impatient (and a little anxious…at least I am) to see what life with our host families. Tomorrow evening we head off to meet them.
Also, for a fellow volunteer’s mom named Elizabeth T., your daughter loves you, and is telling you not to worry. She’s very happy, excited, and making a lot of friends (she’s one of my favorite people, so I promise to stay in touch with her as much as possible!).
To my own Mom, and to Joe’s Mom and Dad, and everyone else (family, friends, and ex-coworkers), we’re feeling good about everything so far. Please send us news of home (via the blog, email, or letter)!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Leaving tomorrow...
We completed day two of staging in Philadelphia today. We head to clinic tomorrow morning for some shots and then we'll be off to the airport where we'll leave for Paris at 6:45pm. On Saturday morning we'll arrive in Paris, and take off for Togo in the afternoon. Orientation over the last two days has been long, but getting to know the other 29 people in our Togo class has been fun. There's actually one other married couple - we were surprised to see them! The demographics of the class (for my demographer friends) is generally younger than us with one exception. We heard today that the oldest current PC volunteer in Togo is 37 - we suppose we'll bring the age average up some more (the current average is 25).
Thanks to those who have posted messages in the last few days - we appreciate your support! Please keep in touch and let us know what's going on back home.
A final tip that we learned today: if you want to send mail or packages, it helps get them delivered if you draw a religious symbol on the envelope or address it to "Sister Bree Gunter" or "Brother Joe Gunter" - we'll let you know if it works!
The next time you hear from us, we'll be in Togo (finally...)...
Thanks to those who have posted messages in the last few days - we appreciate your support! Please keep in touch and let us know what's going on back home.
A final tip that we learned today: if you want to send mail or packages, it helps get them delivered if you draw a religious symbol on the envelope or address it to "Sister Bree Gunter" or "Brother Joe Gunter" - we'll let you know if it works!
The next time you hear from us, we'll be in Togo (finally...)...
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