V to Z

Written August 5, 2011

Hey everyone, things are going really well at Camp Scientifille, a science camp organized by Peace Corps volunteers and their counterparts. 11 villages sent 2 or 3 middle school students, a middle school science teacher, and a Peace Corps volunteer to attend the camp. Several more volunteers and counterparts organized the sessions. We’ve looked at bacteria under microscopes (which the participants get to take home with them), taken a tour through a giant maze-like re-creation of the female reproductive system, and talked with a panel of Togolese women who work in science related careers. I helped out with a session on geology, though the girls were already really well versed in it. Camp has been great for the enthusiasm of all the participants. It’s been fun and informative, and should serve as a great launching pad for more projects back in village. That’s what I’ve been up to lately; I hope you’re all doing well and would love to hear from you.

And now, the final installment of Togo A to Z:

V: Vers
“Vers” is the French word for “worms.” Togolese and volunteers alike are stricken by a variety of intestinal parasites here in Togo. Swollen bellies are a possible indicator of an intestinal parasite, and are seen all the time on little kids here. When everyone poops in the grass, works or plays in the dirt, drinks untreated water, and eats without washing their hands, you end up with a lot of water-borne illnesses. We volunteers do our best to poop in our latrines, treat our water, and wash our hands, but sometimes Togo just gets the better of you. Volunteers have been known to have as many as four parasites at once. I’ve been fortunate to avoid any major issues of this sort. (Knock on wood.) I tried to promote earthworm composting here, and always had to explain that it’s not stomach worms I’m interested in. One guy told me he had what I wanted in his stomach, and that if I could get them out, I could use them. I politely declined the offer.

W: Wives
Yes, plural. Having multiple wives is fairly common here in Togo. The main criterion for joining the two wife club is having the money to support an enormous family. Affection-based marriages, aka, where people marry each other because they’re in love, aren’t the norm here. As far as I can tell, they’re barely even on the radar. That’s not to say that mutual affection doesn’t exist between married couples here. But once a man has the money to support a wife, he, or his family, can find him one in fairly short order. The lack of a long courtship, a healthy relationship, and mutual affection before marriage has been one of the most mind-blowing things about life here. I’d heard about arranged marriages, and things like that, but didn’t realize quite how contrary to my beliefs they could be, and how alien my beliefs could be to my neighbors here. There are, of course, many people here who share my belief in fidelity and equality in a relationship. But there are also men who would like to have five wives, and see nothing wrong with sleeping around. The leniency towards sleeping around does not, as a rule, apply to their wives. I guess the ubiquity of the affection-based relationship is a relatively new phenomenon in the world, and there are indeed places it has yet to become the norm.

X: X (A mark)
I’m using X as a stand in for illiteracy. Every now and then you’ll need a signature for something, and the signer will somewhat sheepishly draw an X, or a swirl, or some other mark in place of their name. At village meetings where attendance is taken, thumb printing is the preferred method of verification. The point is that illiteracy is very common here, and even those who can read can’t necessarily read well. As one member of an NGO put it to me, “I can read the words, but I don’t know how to use the book.” There just aren’t many books around for kids to read, especially in little villages. Bigger cities have public libraries, but they aren’t used like ours are in the States. Computers, newspapers, and magazines aren’t used by many. Instead, radio is the preferred medium.

I, on the other hand, have read a ton since I got here. I’m reading about a book a week, including Moby Dick, Cultural Amnesia, and Infinite Jest, each of which took over my life for too long. I’ve read a bunch of basketball books, too. Best fiction award goes to Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. Best nonfiction goes to The Breaks of the Game by David Halberstam, though I’ve read that before, so I’ll give an honorable mention to Pacific Rims by Rafe Bartholomew. Best short-story goes to After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned by Dave Eggers, from the collection Speaking With the Angel by Nick Hornsby. But, there’s still a lot of time, and a lot of books to read, so these may not retain their winner’s status forever.

Y: Yovo Song
The Yovo Song is a song sung by Togolese children, and occasionally by very childish Togolese adults to people who are obviously foreigners. It goes something like this:

Yovo, yovo, bon soir.
Yovo, yovo, ca va?
Yovo, yovo, merci !

Up north, we’ve also got the name “Anasarra,” too. I occasionally hear a song in Kotokoli that’s just beyond my skill to transcribe. But I think the gist of it is:

Anasarra, yovo, yovo!
(Give me money!)
(I’ll buy bread!) OR (I’ll buy candy!)

These songs can get pretty annoying, especially when you’ve lived in Togo for a while and don’t feel like the moniker of Yovo or Anasarra is deserved. My reaction depends on my mood. If I’m feeling happy I’ll just laugh it off. If I’m feeling enterprising I’ll tell the kids that my name is Akim (my name in village).. If I’m pissed off I might yell that my name is Akim. But it’s just kids being kids, so I try not to get too bent out of shape about the singing. With adults it’s a little touchier. It feels a little more hostile, so I’ll either shake my head and walk away, or ask them why they’re singing it, and if they’re a child. That usually gets the message across. Walking around village, or biking back into village, nothing feels better than hearing a friendly chorus of “Akimou!”

Z: Zamboni
The zamboni is a machine used to smooth ice rinks. It is a machine whose purpose is utterly incomprehensible to the people of Togo.

I hope you all enjoyed the A to Z’s of Togo. Next up, I’m going to write up a packing list of all the best things that I brought with me. My cashmere sweater will not be on that list.