The One That Preludes the Other Ones

Greetings from Togo! Wow, I’m truly sorry it’s been so long – so long, in fact, that I actually forgot my blog username and password haha. So… How are you?! Wherever you are in life, I hope you are well and finding joy in the new year. It’s crazy to think about all of you immersed in the full swing of American life, busy with work and school and family and friends. While I don’t know the details of what’s going on in your world, I can only imagine you are as strong and awesome as ever 🙂

It’s hard to believe that five months have passed since my stage (training group) and I landed in Togo. Since our arrival, we have completed 9 weeks of training (during which we lived with host families in a village in the Maritime Region down south) and survived nearly 3 months at our posts (our individual homes for 2 years of PC service, scattered throughout the country). Right after Thanksgiving (which, thanks to a determined team of PCVs, included all the traditional staples and even, in true pilgrim fashion, the slaughter of a live turkey) I made the move to my post, a mellow little village in the middle of nowhere – more specifically, in the Savanes Region, less than 10 kilometers from the Burkina Faso border. That may not mean much to you, but basically those of us living in Savanes are super far away from everything, like a 12-hour drive from the capital. Due to our relative isolation, we have a really close-knit Volunteer family up here, which is awesome. I feel very lucky to have the friends I do up here.

To summarize my living situation, I have a nice tin-roofed house with two rooms that share walls with my neighbors, duplex-style. Other than the crumbling mud-brick walls that seem to crumble more every time I look at them, I really like my house. I also have a latrine/shower combo, small courtyard with a paillote (straw-roofed gazebo thing for shade), guest hut (which is empty… you are always welcome!), and animal hut (soon to be filled with chickens!). No host family, which has its pros and cons. But I’m happy, healthy, and taking it easy.

To summarize my work situation, I’m at the point in my service where my only actual job responsibilities are to settle in and “integrate” into my community – as much as a single white female can. For me this consists of hanging out, trying to get to know my neighbors, and working on my still-feeble French and Moba (the local language spoken way more than French). Some may call this doing nothing. I call it becoming bien integré. Or, in the brilliant phrasing of my favorite wordsmith Brynna Nichols, “professional friend-making.”

Oh, so about why this is the first time I’ve updated the blog. In case you couldn’t tell, moving to Togo caused me to develop cyberphobia, seeing as I can only drag myself to the internet once a month, if that. And for some reason I am finding blogging really intimidating, so even though I’ve been handwriting the occasional entry in my journal, I haven’t posted anything… until now. So I hope you enjoy the entries below for what they are, which is nothing more than a humble and unrepresentative peek into life here.

Thinking of you often! Keep on keeping on. And treat yourselves to a pint of Ben & Jerry’s on my behalf – you definitely deserve it 🙂

All my love,
Heidi

(a.k.a. Pak-yendu, which means “Thanks, God! ” in Moba)