Initiating Launch

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

First three months down. I’ve done a lot of observing and integrating. My language still has a ways to go before I’m at a professional level, but nevertheless, it’s time to start some projects.

Now, among the many things I’ve learned thus far living in Togo, one is that nothing is going to work out exactly as you’ve planned. So, as I present the following project ideas to you, keep in mind they will most likely fail or be altered significantly.

But, you gotta start somewhere, right?

Ideally, these are the major projects that I will be working to develop throughout my next 21 months.

Care Group

My village has just over 4,000 people, the majority of whom (women and children) only speak Kabiye. I will never be able to host sensibilizations for that many people, nor will I ever be fluent in Kabiye. So, as a health volunteer, it’s a huge obstacle to identify how to reach everyone in the population. The Care Group is a project that will help me bridge that gap.

Let’s say my village has 300 homes. For every 10 homes, there will be 1 woman representative. That’s 30 women to represent all the households in Kemerida. Each month myself and a partner (I’ve chosen the accoucheuse of my dispensaire), will meet with these 30 women and train them on a different health topic. Then, it is those women’s responsibility to go to their 10 homes and regurgitate the same training. It reaches the people of my village in their homes, on their terms, in their language. So much more than I could ever hope to do alone.

The Care Group also has the benefit of being able to provide excellent means of monitoring and evaluation. Each month, I can send my women representatives out with pre and post surveys. I will be able to see how many people they’re reaching with my initial sensibilitazations and determine how the community’s former knowledge evolves with each presentation. I’m also a numbers nerd, so I’m really excited about the possibility of using this information to identify areas of focus in my community for second year projects.

Ideally, the ASCs (community health workers) of Kemerida will be a great resource for helping keep the women of my Care Group motivated and accountable. ASCs already work for the dispensaire doing similar work. The issue is there are significantly less of them and the topics they present to the community are more limited. I hope they will compliment the efforts of my Care Group and work with me to do follow up visits.

Things I’m doing now to prepare:

Using my very limited internet, I was able to download satellite pictures of my village. I’ve spent the last couple weeks copying them over to one large map. I will use this map to try to identify where the majority of people in Kemerida live. 4,000 people. That is not an easy task. In some cases, I will settle for just learning how many households are in each neighborhood. I hope to have this complete by the end of the month.

After getting a better idea of how the population is distributed, I can determine how many women I need and section of the houses into groups that need a representative. I will then work with my homologue, Ben, the ASCs, and the dispensaire staff to identify women one woman in each group that speaks/reads and writes in French and is responsible enough to participate in the Care Group. I would like my women to be selected by the end of the December.

January, we will hold our first meeting. This will give me the opportunity to evaluate the group and determine if any adjustments need to be made.  Our first training/sensibilization will occur in February.

School Health Club

I want to start a health club at the CEG across the street from my house. The last level of education there would be my focus. It includes kids ages 12 to 16ish that are in their last year before high school. They speak and write decent French, so I’d be able to do presentations with them. Also, I’d love to involve them in skits and art projects regarding health issues here in West Africa.

Starting in the second trimester in January (first one already started), I would like to meet once a month. Each month will have a different topic. It will be for girls and boys combined. However, during the month for sexual health, I’ve decided it would allow for a more open, and thus more educational, environment to split up the sexes. Other monthly topics I have in mind are HIV/AIDS, malaria, nutrition, hygiene and sanitation, and life skills. 

Also, if things work out like I’m hoping, we also be able to take a field trip to the University of Kara one month.

Things I’m doing now to prepare:

First, I must meet with the director of the CEG to get his approval. The issue is that, currently, there is a nationwide teacher strike occurring. School has been cancelled until the government reaches a consensus about what the pay raise is going to be.  This post concludes the 3^rd week of no school. Fingers crossed it starts back up soon.

After school is back in session, I plan to sit in on some classes for the duration of this trimester just to get acquainted with the students and learn more about the education system here in Togo. 

Before meetings start, I will also need to find a teacher to help me lead the club. They will be the person I prep to take over the club for me once my service is complete. It’s not worth the effort if I can’t make this project sustainable.

Community Fetes (Festivals)

Using the Care Group and the School Health Club, I’d like to plan village wide fetes every few months.

These will require a lot of planning and will occur every few months. They will focus on the topics I would like to stress in my community. Ideas I have currently are a Paludisme fete (malaria), VIH/SIDA fete (HIV/AIDS), a Family Planning fete, and a Hygiene and Sanitiation fete.

Things I’m doing now to prepare:

Creating a calendar for potential fetes.

I made a chart of 6 calendars starting January 2014 through September 2015 (end of my service).

Calendar 1: World Wide Holidays (Worlds AIDS day, Women’s day, Malaria Day, etc)

Calendar 2: Togo’s School Calendar (which is actually, for the most part, unpredictable)

Calendar 3: Preliminary Care Group Calendar

Calendar 4: Preliminary Health Club Calendar

Calendar 5: Already established Community Events (i.e. Whipping Fete)

Calendar 6: Seasons of Togo (Rainy season, Harvest, Harmatan, Hot season)

By combining all of these, I am able to get a bigger picture of how all of my schedules can work together.

For example, April 25^th is World Malaria Day. In March, I can give a presentation to my Care Group about malaria (causes, prevention, etc). They will then take a pre-survey out to evaluate the knowledge and prevention practices of the 10 households they represent. That same month, since it’s during the school year, I will give a malaria presentation to my health club. They will work on a malaria skit and hopefully we will be able to get permission to paint a malaria mural at the dispensaire.

Beginning of April, my Care Group will invite all their households to the fete later that month. Around the 25^th, Kemerida will have its first annual Paludisme Fete. It will be the in front of the recently completed malaria mural and will have a skit performed by the health club. The major of the dispensaire will give a sensibilization in Kabiye to address the knowledge and prevention practices I gathered information on from the pre-surveys. There will be a net-washing station, repairing station, and a net hanging demonstration. Also, what’s a Kabiye fete without some Tchouk?

In May, after the fete, the Care Group will be able to give a post surveys to gather data on how the community felt about the fete and what they learned. If it was successful, hopefully they’ll make it a yearly event.

Constructing a pre-birth house (not sure of the official name) for my dispensaire

Kemerida is the center of 4 villages that make up a canton. They are Kemerida, Teroda, Pyode, and Atchao. The dispensaire is easily accessible by residents of Kemerida, but those in the other three village have to travel quite a ways to access health care (and it’s typically by foot).

During my first few weeks at post, my major and another community leader asked my if I could make one of my projects building a house near the dispensaire for women to stay when they’re close to giving birth. This would encourage women from the more isolated areas to come to the dispensaire to have an assisted birth in a safe environment to help reduce infant mortality.

At the time, I told them I wanted to first observe the village and determine what health problems I thought needed to be addressed. After having the idea to start a Care Group, I returned to their initial request and told them that if I can gather data proving that it would be a benefit to the community, I would do what I could to make it happen. Using surveys, I plan to do just that. If my village demonstrates a genuine interest in the possibility and I can guarantee that it will be used for the right reasons, I will work to raise the funds with my position as a Peace Corps volunteer.

I warned both of them, however, that I would not be the leader of the project. I wanted the people of my village to do it themselves. I will attend all meetings, help decide the amount of material needed, and work within the establish timetable, but one person, or a committee of people, needed to lead the project. I believe that by giving people ownership of these types of projects, they are more likely to be protected against misuse – a big issue with development projects where money and/or materials are just handed over.

Lastly, I’m also part of the World Wise Schools Correspondence Match Program. I’m currently collaborating with a French teacher in Massachusetts. Her students send me questions about the Peace Corps and life in Togo that I respond to in French for their class. Eventually, I want to match them with the English class at my village’s CEG and start a pen pal program.

So, that’s it. Those are the things I’m working on now and praying will work out in the future.

One thing here I’ve come to miss is EFFICIENCY. You guys in America, be glad 95% of everything there is dictated by it. It makes your work much less of a guessing game and a hell of a lot less frustrating.

Again, I’ll have to let you know more month by month as things develop.

Don’t be surprised if this all changes completely. I just wanted you to get an idea of how I’m trying to make a difference here in my village and inform you that I’m not just doing yoga and reading books.

3-2-1 Blast Off.

Koumealo

Kemerida's Kabiye Whipping Fete

On October 26^th, the village of Kemerida had its annual Kabiye Whipping Fete.

And it was one of the coolest cultural experiences I could ever hope to be a part of.

Since I first arrived at post back in August, people in my community have been asking me if I was going to be in village for the fete on October 26^th. Fresh out of stage (training), I was still wide-eyed and severely disoriented from the transition to village life. I pretty much said yes to any question I was asked.. mostly because I couldn’t understand what was being asked. When I heard “vingt-seis Octobre” and “fete”, I just nodded and assured them I’d be present. At the time, I couldn’t comprehend just how important this tradition was to my village and how critical it was for me, as their personal Peace Corps volunteer, to be there.  Guess I’m glad I automatically said yes to everything in the beginning instead of no. (Probably not the best idea though.. who knows, I could be married and not even know it.)

Once October hit, the fete was THE topic of discussion. People asked more frequently if I’d be there and I began to pose more questions to learn about exactly what it was..

The conversations were obviously in French, so give or take a few details to account for human error, this is what I learned:

For boys from traditional Kabiye families to be initiated into manhood, they must take part in this huge celebration that involves, essentially, whipping duels. Yes. Actual whipping. But it’s not as barbaric as it sounds. (At least I didn’t think so..)

Boys can start participating from age 6 and continue to do it every year until they are 22. If you decide to participate in the duels, you are matched with someone your own age/size. Even if you don’t participate in the duels, you can still come decked out with your own traditional outfit and strut/dance around the designated performance area. Every boy brings his own whip and stick-shield (?) thing used for defense. (This was recently implemented in response to the increasing awareness of HIV/AIDS and its prevention. I believe they used to use the same two whips for every duel.)

The morning of the fete, starting at 7am, each quartier (neighborhood) has it’s own mini fete prior to the main event.  This is where boys of any age who are paired up can participate. After the quartier celebrations, there is one large arena that everyone migrates to around 8am. The boys that are designated to duel here can be identified by their attire. They usually have more elaborate outfits, wear headdresses of feathers and rhino horns (I KNOW! RHINO HORNS!), have more legitimate whips and shields, and are blowing whistles. I believe they’re the boys who are near the conclusion of their initiation and maybe in their last years of eligibility.

During the duel, they each take turns lashing each other. After each has landed a few good licks, older men serving as “referees” will break up the duel. Each boy will retreat and be rushed by his friends and family. They will shower him with chants and bowing while he assumes a masculine stance and blasts long breaths of air into the whistle gripped between his teeth. During the quartier duels, this can happen several times. However, once they transition to the large arena, each boy gets one chance to publicly demonstrate his masculinity.

Some of the scars that they earn will last for life. Forever a Kabiye man. (In my earliest days at post, my homologue’s oldest son once showed me the two or three massive, raised scars down his left arm while beaming with pride. I didn’t really get it until I learned more about the fete..)

Also, the whipping fete is a custom unique to Kabiye. Villages in my area with a significant Kabiye population usually celebrate this tradition on some scale. However, the fetes in Kemerida and Pagouda are the only one’s that involve the entire village. People come from all over to see it and (though I’m not sure how it’s possible) it’s even televised.

So that’s what it is and how it works. Now for a little on my own personal experience:

The entire week leading up to the fete, I was asked if I was having a special outfit made, invited to pre-fete dinners, and repeatedly asked if I’d be present.  Any meetings I wanted to schedule or work I tried to do was postponed until after the fete. Every one was gearing up for their biggest event of the year.

A few days beforehand, my friend Judith invited me to celebrate the night before the fete at her house with her family. She told me to come at 20h and be ready for food, drink, and dancing. Iain and Alicia, other Peace Corps volunteers, decided to visit my village to see the fete, so I asked her if they could come along to. She was absolutely thrilled to be the one hosting us.

The night before, Judith showed up at my house an hour early. She said her younger brother was getting whipped tonight, so instead we were going to go to her mother’s house to watch it happen.

After at ten-minute walk through cornfields in the pitch-black night, we arrived at a compound. There were a few people already sitting outside in the courtyard that you could only make out by the light of a dim fire. There was a young man coming in and out of the gap in the wall being followed by others as they helped him assemble his outfit. They were wrapping his forearms and shins in torn white rags. Iain said he heard they had anaesthetizing properties to help minimize the pain. Turns out they were just to attach more things to for ornamentation. While all of this was going on, the three of us were served unfermented Tchouk. I secretly poured mine out behind me because it tasted terrible, but it’d be impolite for me to return a full calabash. Throughout the preparations, people continuously arrived – mostly other young men carrying whips, but not wearing any traditional clothes. After his headdress was in place, the final touch, the ceremony began! Or so we thought..

The family members, including Judith, stood and rushed the young man while screaming chants at him. He started blowing his whistle and violently pounded his feet on the concrete with the other men. The congregation worked their way around the courtyard and eventually migrated to outside the gate. In my mind, this must be it! He’s going to go outside and the other men are going to hit him with their whips. The shouting and whistling continued, but the shift outside turned into another ten-minute walk through the cornfield.

As we drew in closer from the outskirts of the village, we could here more whistling and shouting in the distance. Approaching the main road, the distance shouts began to merge into the hum of a large crowd. It was clear we weren’t the only ones celebrating tonight.

We ended up in a clearing underneath a street lamp outside the chief’s compound. There were already hundreds of people gathered there forming a huge circle. In the middle were many more young men with whistles and headdresses. Turns out that the entire fete includes the night before the official matches. The night before is more personal to the village since the main event in the morning is broadcasted and brings in a ton of visitors. I was proud to have the opportunity to be a part of it as a resident of the village and not as a tourist.

Once it seemed like most of the participants had arrived, drums were brought into the middle of the circle and the celebration began. Young women formed a long line that moved within the circle, walking and dancing simultaneously. Shortly after we’d arrived, a little girl became attached to me. Holding my hand, she dragged me to the back of the dance line and we moved with the crowd around the circle.  After one rotation, Judith pulled us out and said it was about to be dangerous for us to be in the circle. Sure enough, a few minutes later, you heard the crack of a whip. Two of the young men had rushed each other to start the duels. Pairs of young men took turns initiating their battles. One pair would go at a time and the crowd would rush to encircle each one. When the whips got too close to the spectators, everyone would run away while older men broke it up and tried to coerce the heated young men back towards the middle.  The crowd would return and quickly fill in the gaps created during the scatter. This cycle of events would repeat itself for over an hour.  Crack of the whip. Rushing. Whip. Dueling. Whip. Whip. Whip. Drums. Whip. Fear. Whip. Retreating. Returning. Crack of the whip.

After watching for an hour, tired from all the excitement and hungry from skipping dinner with the expectation of being fed, we finally headed to Judith’s.  And then got sidetracked to another quartier’s night celebration. We thought we were going to have to watch the same thing all over again. We ended up not staying long. We met up with Judith’s husband and went back to their compound. Where we actually did watch everything all over again. On video. From the year before.  There was no food because Judith didn’t have time to cook before going to see her brother. The Tchouk was all gone because all the drinking took place before the evening festivities. Wish we’d known that… So all there was for us to do was a little bit of dancing. Like most things here, things don’t usually turn out like you’d expect. I think the three of us were too tired to be good company for long, but the night was already so full of so many unexpected events that none of us were too disappointed by the lack of an after party at their place. After hanging around for almost an hour, we decided to call it a night to save some energy for tomorrow.

We headed to bed around 1am. And were expected to meet at Judith’s for breakfast at 6am..

Woke up at late. 5:50am. Perfectly on schedule, Roman, Judith’s son, showed up at my door at 6am. He actually brought breakfast to us. Bean beignets with pimante. One of my favorites. We dressed in a hurry and walked with him back to their house. Once we arrived, we were actually redirected to the neighboring compound. There were several males of all ages there getting their attire assembled just like the previous night. I recognized my homologue’s son to be one of the main participants as another man helped secure his headdress. He had on a bottle cap skirt, leather straps lay over his chest, and shin guards made of folded palm frauds. Others were wearing normal clothes and covered with baby powder. These were the men that were too older to participate in the duel, but could be a part of literally, every other aspect. Then there were a couple of younger boys wearing grass skirts with smaller whips who would just get the chance to dance around the main area. While watching the preparations, one of the older men jumped in from of us and showered us in baby powder. He got the back of Iain’s neck and Alicia and I were lucky enough to have our entire fronts covered. It’s custom for the female dancers and all male participants, no matter what age, to wear baby powder. Basically if you were going to be in the arena at any point, you were marked by white powder. We weren’t included in any of these groups, but I guess being a yovo (foreigner) was good enough to earn us the distinction.

After everyone was ready, we moved out of the compound to a large crowd under a tree. They formed a large circle with the young men in the middle, just like the night before. This quartier’s first battle of the day was about to be underway. Judith’s husband Ayim was in the center playing the drums and my homologue’s son was part of the first pair to initiate their duel. Being able to identify people in the action made this particular part of the fete even more memorable for me. I wasn’t just an American visiting Africa who got to see a cool tradition take place. I was a member of a community getting to watch her friends perform in one of the most important traditions of their culture.

The fete proceeded just like the previous evening. Duels. Break ups. Drums. Dancing. Scattering. Whips. We left halfway through this quartier’s duel to revisit the quartier from last night. Again, same thing. Just daylight. We left a little prior to 8am to make our way to the large arena for good seats.  Iain and Alicia stopped on the way for Tchouk, but because this was my village, I felt it was necessary for me to be able to see the action. I wanted to have a full understanding of the fete since it was so crucial to the culture of my village. I didn’t have to go alone though. The little girl from the day before found me again and accompanied me there.

The arena was set up behind the elementary school just off the main road. All the tables and desks from inside the school had been pulled out early that morning and arranged into a huge circle in the cleared field behind the school buildings. I kept thinking it looked like a West African version of gladiator. It crossed my mind to look for lions in cages situated around the perimeter. The seats were all already filled upon our arrival. In the back of the circle though, there was still a little space left for standing room just behind the people seated. The perfect place for two short people to get a good view. We took our places just in time for another large wave of people to fill in behind us.

We waited about 20 minutes until the crowds of men from the quartier battles began to trickle into the arena. As it began to fill up, the drums from each quartier collected in the middle. They started a beat and the crowd within the desks began to move. They danced laps around the circle. Stopping briefly in front of various groups to do a mock duel or strike a pose. Baby powder was being thrown around left and right, covering anyone that stepped through the barrier. Being at the front of the standing crowd, we were shoved forward more and more until we were hovering over the people seated in the desks. I could smell the breath of the old lady underneath me.

The pre-ceremonial dancing took about 30 minutes. Eventually, the men in the middle segregated themselves into different groups around the arena and took a seat. Each group represented a different quartier. The drums continued. A man with a chalkboard walked out into the center and circled the perimeter. This was the way to announce which two young men would be participating in the next duel.  After he completed a revolution, two young men would emerge from the crowds and take their place just off the center of the circle. They were to duel between the drums and the shaded pavilion set up for the chief and other important figures in the village. The young men stood facing each other, whips and shield raised. The old man refereeing would call for it to begin. Lash for lash the boys would duel - trying to strategically land a hit on the other while using their shield to defend themselves. Each individual match lasted only a few minutes. The ref would blow his whistle and the crowds of men bordering the arena would rush the participant belonging to them. After things settled down and people returned to their places, the chalkboard would come back around and another duel would begin. It took about 30 minutes for all the main duels to take place.

The fete finished by 9am. Well, the whipping part anyway. The drinking, dancing, and celebrating would continue for the remainder of the day. I met up with Iain and Alicia around the front of the school. We wandered through the dispersing crowds so that I could find my homologue’s son for a picture. I got my picture and we settled in for some Tchouk and bean beignets.  We found my homologue soon after and he invited us to his place to continue the celebrations. After some saluering (greeting) and Tchouk, we decided it was time to reposer (rest). My homologue’s wife, Marie, told us to come back a 23h for fufu and cake.

This was by far one of my favorite things to have experienced since being in Togo. I have a new appreciation for the Kabiye culture and feel proud to be a part of the village of Kemerida.

I’ve always wanted to travel the world, but in a way that allows me to experiences places. Not just see them. That’s exactly what I’m getting to do here.

Go experience something.

Koumealo.