TIME FLIES

WOW!!! I'm scared I might sound old saying this, but TIME FLIES!!! I've officially been here for a month now, and it's still so hard for me to believe!!! The past month has been filled with so many emotions and new experiences! I've been presented with so many new challenges... there are new obstacles to overcome every single day, but somehow, someway, Im still making it... And it even seems that in spite of the heat, and the mosquitos, and the latrines, and the fact that I'm living in a world without Daiquiris and ice cream, I'm really starting to enjoy myself here these days!!! Last week, after interviewing and much anticipation, we all found out where we'll be living once training is over. My village is DATCHA, it's a small village of about 4500 people. It's a new post, meaning that I'm going to be the first volunteer to have ever worked with this community, so all the programs will have to be thought of, created, and implemented by me and my local counterpart. I'll be living in a compound with another host family, but I'll have my own "house" that they will not have access to, it has 3 rooms: a bedroom, kitchen, and living room. I'll have electricity but no running water. There's supposed to be a well in my compound though, so it shouldn't be too different than what I'm experiencing now. It was actually my first request, so I'm happy about that and I'm getting excited about meeting people and making myself known in the community. I'll be going to visit my post in 3 weeks, so I'm sure I'll have much more to say about my new village then. The closest volunteers to me are at least 10km away, which is within biking distance for me these days, and they've already contacted me to let me know they are anxiously awaiting my arrival and how great my village is! They really seem like a great group of people!
This week, I realized that being a Peace Corps volunteer is definitely going to be a lot hard work, and I had no idea how stressful and demanding the job really is until just a few days ago. On Wednesday afternoon we went to visit a local school to talk to this committee of concerned parents and students (similar to the PTA at home). We, the new Peace Corps trainees, were told that we were having this session with these parents in order to ask them questions and gain insight regarding the organization and structure of a committee like this, since we're going to have to form these committees once we arrive at our respective posts in December. Well, everyone was shocked at the reception we received... There was music, dancing, all kinds of fruits, and the whole community seemed to be there... It seemed a little odd since this was only supposed to be a session with the volunteers and about 4 parents on the committee, but we were all having a great time so nobody really thought too much about it. When the music stopped, and we got into our discussion though, we realized what was really going on. The people on this committee began telling us about the history of the school itself and why the school is so important to them. We learned that it is a community run school, meaning that it gets no support from the Togolese government; it was organized by the community alone and most of the teachers if they are paid at all, earn their salary from the donations of other parents in the village. Needless to say, neither the school nor the parents have any money. Last year they were having classes in mud huts but when rainy season came, the mud huts all collapsed and washed away. When that happened, some Catholic missionaries allowed them to use one of their buildings to hold classes temporarily, but the missionaries have recently written them a letter telling them that they will need to find another venue for their school within the next two months. Apparently, this community somehow got the impression that we, as Peace Corps volunteers, were there to somehow magically eradicate all their problems. The whole experience was bewildering because nobody was prepared to walk in on a situation like this, and there was no way we could respond to the issues that this community is facing. There were many things we all learned from the experience, and it has definitely opened my eyes to some of the difficulties I will undoubtedly encounter here. The people here are so used to American and European organizations coming in and handing money out, it seems they almost expect it whenever they see a 'yovo' (their local word for foreigner) working in their community. Other volunteers have warned us that this is a problem we will encounter on a regular, ongoing basis, and that we can expect it to make life very stressful. Peace Corps' philosophy is to assist the communities not by giving donations and writing checks, but by empowering them through increased access to information and the skills necessary in order for the people themselves to create their own on-going, sustainable income generating activities long after a Peace Corps volunteer has worked there. I'm just realizing how much truth the Peace Corps slogan "The toughest job you'll ever love" really holds...
I will certainly learn so much more from my community than I will ever be able to leave behind, but hopefully I'll be able to have a positive lasting impact in the life of just while I'm here...
I'll write more soon!!!
Once again, I miss you all!!!
Peace and Love,
Erica

Making the Adjustment: Petit a Petit

Hello friends and family!!! Its taken me a while to send another email out because the internet cafe in this town always seems to be closed or when its open, the server just suddenly goes down, so checking my email has been very frustrating these days. The lack of communication is kiling me slowly but surely!!! Anyway, lots of things have been going on...Last Wednesday we moved from Lomé to Adéta, where we met our host families and officially started our training program. My family is great! I have a mother, Maman Jeanne, a father Pere Honkpo, 2 sisters, Gentille 18 and Cheritta 23, and 3 brothers, Koffi Dodgi 21, Komi Jean 12, and Ametepé 8. On the day that I met them, I was completely overwhelmed by their hospitality immediately. I dont think Ive ever seen people more excited to see me or more welcoming of me EVER! The mother is a schoolteacher and the father also teaches, but he works at a school in another village and is only home on the weekends. He just recently got promoted to the position of headmaster, which means hes the director of the math department at the school. All of the kids are very smart, theyre all in school, even the girls, which is somewhat rare out here. Communicaton between us can be tricky now because right now my French is basic but luckily Koffi Dodgi speaks a little English, so we find a way to get the point across. They have a yard full of animals, its a bit overboard, even for out here... theyve got a cat, 4 dogs, chickens, roosters, ducks, goats, and a turkey!!! And they used to have pigs too!!! Sleeping at night is definitely a challenge, and even with earplugs in, the roosters and goats wake me up every morning at 4:30 on the dot. My diet was a bit of a problem for my host family up until yesterday. Im not eating any of the meat at all out here just because the markets here arent among the most sanitary places in the world, and I really am trying to take all precautions to prevent getting sick. Yesterday the directors of the program had to come to my host mom's house to actually show her what kinds of foods she should cook for me, and how to properly clean and treat my water and vegetables when she cooks with them. I had been getting sick because she wasnt cleaning the vegetables properly and she was just using the untreated water from the well to cook with... YUMMY, right? Now all that has been resolved though and so Im hoping things will be better in that department from now on. We do have electricity right now, but theres no running water, so everytime I need water, yes I have to throw a bucket down the well and pull it up! I can deal with the lack of running water and the cold water bucket baths now, but something I know Im never gonna get accustomed to using is the latrine. Its gotta be the nastiest thing Ive ever seen, and just the smell alone is enough to have me on the next plane back to the states. The latrine is their version of a toilet, but its pretty much nothing more than a fancy hole in the ground that you have to squat over everytime you have to use the bathroom... theres no flushing and all toilet paper must be put in a basket on the side. Very unsanitary! But hygiene here isnt of much importance to very many people it seems. Theres no sink to brush your teeth, you just spit right there on the ground, if you actually do brush; I dont think anybody in my host family does because when they were showing me around on the first night, they didnt know what I was talking about when I was asking about where ! I was supposed to brush my teeth. I said it in French so they shouldve understood; but they didnt get the hand motions either, so Im not so sure what they do yet. I do have to sleep under a mosquito net, and theres no way Id ever sleep anywhere here without one. Its the best thing to have out here because it keeps all the bugs out of the bed, not just mosquitos. My family is Baptist, and they are very religious. I went to church with them on Sunday that was interesting, but not that much different from what you would see at a Baptist church in the states. The musical instruments and the choir were the main differences. Im gonna try to go to some traditional African ceremonies while Im out here too, just to witness it and experience it for myself. Yesterday we went to visit an elementary school out here, and that was definitely an eye opening experience. Theres about 90 kids in each classroom, with one teacher to maintain order. Everything is so strict, it almost reminds me of military type discipline, but the kids are very well behaved and focused in class. The teachers will use corporal punishment out here if not. There's definitley a huge majority of boys in the classrooms, especially when you get to the higher levels. Girls are the ones that end up having to help out with the housework or they get married early; its just not a priority for a girl to actually go far in school here. (Thats part of the reason my program was created) I'll write more soon, I should get off the computer because theres a line of people waiting to use the internet, and I know what that wait is like. I hope everyone is great, and I hope to hear fro! m you soon! Write me! If you send packages, keep them small because Im hearing its expensive. They also say that getting the insurance isnt worth the money.
My address is:
Erica Rachal
Corps de la Paix
BP 3194
Lomé, Togo
West Africa
Take Care!!! I miss you all!!!