RAIN! Woke up this AM to significant rain. Despite the still approaching
rainy season, this is apparently the first time that a daily distribution will
be made in the rain. About to head out to Amoussime (92km). Should be a hoot!
Rain stopped in transit and after over 2 hours in that cramped damn Hyundai van, we had
the pleasure of working in the frigid temperature of about 85 degrees and
endurable humidity - which changed around 1:00, just reverted to 95 and high humidity after we finished. The gods were with us. We took
a 45 minute detour ("roads" very loosely used term in this case - were unbelievable) on leaving the
distribution site to a remote village (Asso) - there is no electricity in the village and it is what would be considered a poor village. SCAW is building a new school here with
construction starting next month. Let me add some perspective, a new school
here is a 120 feet by 30 cement block structure on a cement slab with a tin
roof in which there 3 classrooms with construction brick walls (with every 5 or
6 bricks left purposely out for ventilation). After that, we walked around the
"text-book" African village - see following pictures. It had 2 hand dug wells, a cow, a bull, a few chickens, and goats as well as a few fruit bearing trees in the gathering areas. We remained for about an hour but before we headed back to the van, the chief presented us with a very generous gift considering the state of the village. 2 live chickens. Bill the cook will be happy! We then started back to Lome and got a flat on the bush road just out of town. The chief quickly arranged to have a local chap fix it for us and off we were. Upon arrival in Lome, the chickens are still alive but will be our dinner on Friday. White men 1,
chickens 0. Made it back to Lome after a total 2:15 drive back (arrived at
4:15) with all being famished (no lunch).
We have distribution process down pat at this point and we can distribute 500 kits to 500 kids and take their pictures in 90 minutes.
All are just winding down after a marathon day (were up at 6:00am) with a cool drink
and a rehash of the day.
Closing thought at end of day?
Funny how it is, there are happy kids all around
the world regardless of wealth with education and health being the only apparent
pre-requisites.
We were always the centre of attention!
This is what the school yards looked liked as parents and kids headed out with kits in hand.
The kids absolutely loved having their pictures taken. Can you tell?
One of my partners in crime - Eleanor a lawyer from Boston - great to know and work with
"Main" road between Amoussime and Asso.
Gift and future dinner - RIP!
Day
two of delivery of another 500 kits. Hot, hot, hot, muggy, muggy, muggy and due to the layout at the
distribution site (school) the whole affair was under the sun. One of my
associates, a woman of a certain age had a bit of a rough go in the heat. I
noticed from my post about 20 yards away that she did not look well at the
table which she working at. I passed my task over to a local volunteer and went
to her side and she was clearly not lucid and just staring into space. Helped her over to the
air conditioned van and she came about. Only took 2 hours to deliver the 500
kits but all of us were physically beat.
The travel to and from the site is a bitch with early starts in the AM. But so
it goes, the kids and parents were very happy to see us upon arrival
In the afternoon went to visit 2 sites of Brian's Well's in the greater Lome
area. Both sites were in very wanting neighbourhoods and it was quite a humbling
experience.
Went out to a top shelf restaurant this evening instead of eating "at
home". The pizza and beer tasted extraordinary (I can now sympathize of how the players on Survivor feel when they win access to recognizable comfort food) providing a temporary
flashback to western cuisine and there was, to top it off a high speed Wi-Fi connection:-) Would have taken this place over a topless bar in a heartbeat. :-)
Over and out for today. A demain et une autre 500 kits!
Closing thought at end of day?
The ingestion of familiar food somehow raises spirits, tastes twice as good as when at home, and apparently cures all ills.
Lome early morning traffic
Colorful uniforms provided by the charity
Handsome young chap!
Another young gentleman, what a smile!
This school was built by SCAW charity a few years ago. (note the local entertainment!)
Next day's shipment being loaded. They drive to the village the night before (including 9 people shoehorned with the mattresses etc), sleep with the gear and prepare a few things for the next morning's delivery.
Mangos, mangos, everywhere! They grow wild in Togo, no different than our pines or maples.
Women gathering fresh and clean water from one of the Ryan's Wells sites. Cost is about 40 cents Cdn for a bucket which helps pays for the operational costs of the well (ex: pump's electricity, repairs, etc)
This is what a bed kit looks like. Items include:
- malaria net (blue in back)
- knapsack (black)
- water bottle
- towel
- material
- copy books and covers
- compass set
- color pencils
- small slate board
- the kit bag itself (red)
My
oh my what a day! It was our first of 2 days off in the total of 16 days (Sundays). Slept
in and took our time before heading out to the central market in Lome. Sunday
is the quiet day in the market with only half the stalls open. native styled cloth was
purchased at a stand by all - it was a huge jackpot day for her! ! From there
we went to the "supermarket / general store" and replenished our
supplies and libations (women focused on gin, men on beer and rum). As per usual we were heavily hustled in the parking lot
- gee do you think 6 white people walking together in West Africa draws
attention? Then headed over to artisans souvenir district where the fun and action really started.
Long story short we counted on our Togolese partners to assist in bargaining
which they did marvellously. For some reason though the hawkers (products sold were only displayed and sold there, manufactured elsewhere in Lome which we visited later in the week) they took exception to being
called a bunch of thieves by one of our Togolese friends. This happened when I was being
swarmed by about a dozen vendors. BTW, based on how I was addressed by many of
the vendors, I apparently, to my surprise, have several unknown
"brothers" in the Lome tourist trap area. And as they say, , , , ,
that's when the fun started. After the transactions were finally completed,
several vendors who were not fortunate enough to be our vendors of choice felt
it important to let us know how they felt about our mini-bus load of white tourists
accompanied by 4 black advisors. Leave it to say it ended up with a bit of a
struggle to get back in the van and get the door closed. After much yelling, we
high tailed it out of there and had to laugh when the chap I was using in
bargaining (Bill) pulled me aside when we arrived home at Casa Blanca and said, "Mr. Dan, I
was very afraid today. I do not want to do that again.". I respect his
point of view - it was indeed a bit nuts but what a cool experience!
At 6:00pm were were invited by our guests to their Presbyterian church ceremony. In their semi open aired chhurch they had with 2 choirs (adult and youth) as well as a small musical section. I can simply say the songs sung in the African tongue and the associated rhythms were beautiful, mystical, and very impactful. What an honor
and I look forward to attending next week!
Food cooked up by our chef Bill is not bad, not very spicy or overly favorable
but greatly appreciated after lots of work in the heat. Our local NGO partner - Laurent - visited with his wife and beautiful and tall 14 year old daughter (pic below). She was cool but as with any 14 year old would rather have been with here friends listening to music or anything else than being with 6 foreigners 4 times her age speaking a language she could not speak.
Closing thought at end of day?
The centre of the world is not in North America - it is everywhere / nowhere.
Where we stayed in Lome - Casa Blanca (looks much more elaborate / refined than it actually was)
Market activity (before the shit hit the fan!)
Bill our cook with wife and 3 year old daughter with a gift from Georgetown Canada.
Laurent's daughter
First day of work which means the delivery of bed-kits (photo of contents below). Delivered 500 bed kits to the little village of Agbessia.
Early start (7:00) and a long but quite "interesting" drive. While driving
through Lome at the start it was rush hour mayhem with a 10 to 1 ratio of
motorcycles to cars, everybody weaving around potholes in which a nation of
pygmies could be lost. Infrastructure is in very rough shape - BUT so it goes , , Remember TIA! Once about 20km north of Lome the road narrowed, gained in altitude, and the
vegetation came very close to the side of the road. Some coco plants were
pointed out to us in a forest right beside the road as well as teak trees (lots),
corn, cassava (lots) manioc (lots) as well as stands everywhere with mangos,
papaya, pineapple and fresh bread! Upon arrival another wonderful reception by students performing native dance and song. Beautiful. I am somehow living in a National Geographic edition.
In closing, Togo Team Canada as well as out Togo partner organizers had an
absolutely great day. That said, Bill our cook has once again pulled a magic
and wonderful set of meals from his tiny and crazy hot kitchen. We decided to
give him an extendable floor fan tomorrow. Such a gentleman! He is bringing his
wife and 3 year old daughter into visit us at Casa Blanca this evening. I have a wee
gift that I have carried from a neighbour's daughter in Georgetown and will took a picture
for her.
Well, after 3 hours in a crowded hot minivan, 4 hours standing in the sun
distributing kits I do not feel shy to state that, my associates in the team
hit their rooms an hour before having a bite in order to have a much needed shower and a snooze..
Closing thought at end of day?
Kids are kids regardless of where we are - laugh, scream, jump, yell. However our kids are, in general, terribly spoiled.
Our reception entertainment:
Big day for all :-)
Our cook Bill and his wife and daughter with the stuffed bear that my neighbour's child asked me to distribute.
Visited
the school mentioned in my prior blog and how exciting! We were met by a troop of perhaps 25 8 - 14 year old girls dancing several native interpretive dances - all
the while singing acapella in their native Ewe tribal tongue with only a drum to
keep the beat. A truly beautiful and most wonderful sound. A few pics can bee seen below. I used my camera to great advantage by taking a bunch of pictures at
short range then turned the camera around and showed them the pics, there was
great laughter and was a move used for the remainder of the visits. Somehow, I felt very much at ease buried amongst these young children.
These kids are visually stunning with quite dark complexion and the
most amazing smiles. And, all - boys and girls included - have incredibly short
hair which simply accentuates their natural beauty. These are a beautiful
people. At the end of the visit, we met with the principal and her teachers who
were very thankful for the new building built last year which replaces a straw
hut. They provided us with cold drinks and fresh fruit upon departure. A great
day, very grounding, and a learning experience. Clearly one does not need to be
wealthy from a possession perspective to be happy.
Closing thought at end of day?
We are far far more privileged than we can ever imagine.
Next 2 pics: Our reception in the village of Agomé
This is the definition of a rural 2 classroom / 1 office school in Togo.
Next 2: Beautiful features of the Ewe people of central and southern Togo
Hi all. First and foremost, my apologies for the very late update - will not
get in to detail other than to state access to dependable net access is THE
golden gem here. Doing the best we can :-) As they say here , , , "Remember TIA - This is Africa!" Which I subsequently found out was mentioned several times in the movie Blood Diamonds.
Toronto to Lome
Made it to Lome Togo as planned and
on time (9:30pm) yesterday - including baggage! While in Brussels I was planning
to head downtown for about 1.5 hours for some sights and a Belgian beer but the
train folks were on strike so x-nay on that. Had the beer though at 10:00am in
the airport :-o and was not alone in having one as the terminal we were waiting is the Belgian International hub with folks from North America, China, etc
taking off or arriving. On such a long day of travel, time of day was hard to follow and actually a bit of a mere concept. Had 5 hours between flights so, after pulling an all nighter winging across
the pond, caught about 90 min snooze on a couch at the very
modern airport. Felt great. So in all by end of day, about 15 hours in the air excluding a
quick stop over in Cote d'Ivoire.
Lome
After walking across the tarmac (jet bridge? I think not, got blasted by the temperature and humidity at 9:30pm) in Lome a bus took us
to nearby customs which took about 30 minutes to clear following which our Togolese hosts met us and
brought us to the apt building (Casa Blanca). After intros, they fed us and that was it for
the day other than a wonderful shower at the end which removed the scum and
grime associated with long air travel.
Tomorrow it’s off to visit a school that SCAW's sister organization built
followed by a tour of with our hosts in Lome for some grocery shopping, etc. The local support staff is great. We have been assigned a driver (Messah) for our van as well as a cook (Bill - yes that is is official Togolese given name) and 3 university students to act as interpreters and general friends and helpers. They are: Dosseh, Segnon, and Messanh. All boys - related cousins - that are between 20 and 23 I would say. Superb young men - so helping and willing to go out of their way.
It is indeed f@cking humid! 85 degrees upon arrival at night, add in humidex, ,
, 157 degrees. Thank god for the ac in the room!
Closing thought at end of day? The world seems to be huge, intriguing and very diverse in many ways but we all appear to share many things in common. Joy, concerns,
laughter, at times sadness, and love of family and friends.
Pics
My chariot from Toronto to Brussels (jet Airways A330-300) as well as from Brussels to Lome via Cote d'Ivoire)
April 9 - All shots taken care of, start packing tomorrow and round up cash on Wednesday. Have to pick up some small gifts to hand out myself (same as did in Cuba with soccer balls). Last Saturday was at SCAW offices for 4 hours doing prep work and met 2 of my travel companions. If things allow me in Brussels to leave airport I will make a dash downtown to see main square and have an Abbey beer or two ;-) Onwards and upwards!
