zaterdag 27 december 2008
donderdag 4 december 2008
everywhere I go I hear music
all I can say is that there is music everywhere and in everything here.....just look and listen here:
Funeral celebration (because funerals in Africa really are parties) for a village elder in Danyi (on top of the mountain near Tsiko) with lots of spirited dancing. Oh man, those Togolese grannies really know how to shake it:)
Moussa and Bawa, the musicians form Burkina Faso who I met on the beach
in Ghana where they are squatting making traditional instruments (check out the xylophone and the sitar) while playing in the Pan-African Orchestra (watch/listen to the videos). I was invited to their rehearsal and then their concert at the National Theater in Accra. Even though their house is on the verge of being bulldozed any day now (notice the 'Move Immediately' painted in red) musically they are actually doing really well and have been invited to England to play.
In a village on the Benin/Nigerian border reached by pirogue, I spontaneously met and stayed a couple days with a family who fabricates drums (in pic is the djembé they made me)
La Semaine de la Biodiversité Culturelle is a week of events and workshops that JVE organizes every year in Tsiko in September to make the link between traditional Togolese culture and environmental protection. One of the highlights is a dance/theater competition where groups coreograph performances that have a message about the importance of the forest in their community. (I'm looking for the pictures I have from this, but no luck at the moment)
And then there is the other 'music' of: the prayer call from the mosque at 4:30 every morning followed only shortly the singing and drumming for Jehovah from the christian churches, the calls of women for customers as they walk through the streets with baskets of bananas, the motos, tro-tro minibuses and taxis passing by, the rhythmic music from the street bar
Zebidjan Diaries
For miles and miles, forests and mountains and dirt trails dotted by villages; exploring all of it from the seat of a motorcycle, singing Christmas carols under the hot sun….back in
And for your amusement, the famous Too Fan 'taxi moto' song : it's kind of catchy and you gotta love African urban pop culture
Miaga Do Go. (=Until the next time)
donderdag 6 november 2008
On the Road
Long time no blog. Not because nothing has happened to report but because too much has happened. While I want to keep giving some info on where I am, I’m giving up on my original intention in this blog and will just give some brief update...I’ve hit the road since early October doing some wandering (combined with some work-related research visits) through West Africa by car, by foot, by boat, motorcycle...from Togo to Benin, Ghana, and now am in Ivory Coast since last week...this last month has been filled with encounters and experiences with incredible people in each step of my journey. People that were just contacts or chance meetings but after staying with them in their homes and exploring their villages,cities, areas and their lives with them, they have become friends. People who did not know me at all and invited me to stay in their homes with their families, gave me rides, who took care of me, who offered me everything they have even when they had next to nothing.
Right now, it’s Wednesday November 5th afternoon as I’m writing this and I haven’t slept since yesterday; I was up all night crowded around a television along with my Ivorian friends and their families watching the news from the USA elections right up until this morning when Obama gave his beautiful speech in Chicago. I guarantee you that Africa is probably at least as excited as America if not more.(Ghana is getting ready for its own elections in erarly December and in fact I met the NPP party’s candidate at a village rally a couple weeks back, while here in Ivory Coast elections that were supposed to happen right now are being pushed back because of gov’t tensions and instabilities in voter registration) I personally am so happy, relieved, proud, hopeful (more than I expected to be)...a change has arrived in America (a place that I call home but that I have felt a stranger in for some time now) and also for the world. My to vote after faxes, emails, and navigating through markets of Kumassi for a Fed-Ex office to mail my absentee ballot was worth it for this new chance.
ok...December I am back in Togo at JVE ‘headquarters’ until X-mas celebration in Tsiko...and then....well, I’ll let you know then
Right now, it’s Wednesday November 5th afternoon as I’m writing this and I haven’t slept since yesterday; I was up all night crowded around a television along with my Ivorian friends and their families watching the news from the USA elections right up until this morning when Obama gave his beautiful speech in Chicago. I guarantee you that Africa is probably at least as excited as America if not more.(Ghana is getting ready for its own elections in erarly December and in fact I met the NPP party’s candidate at a village rally a couple weeks back, while here in Ivory Coast elections that were supposed to happen right now are being pushed back because of gov’t tensions and instabilities in voter registration) I personally am so happy, relieved, proud, hopeful (more than I expected to be)...a change has arrived in America (a place that I call home but that I have felt a stranger in for some time now) and also for the world. My to vote after faxes, emails, and navigating through markets of Kumassi for a Fed-Ex office to mail my absentee ballot was worth it for this new chance.
ok...December I am back in Togo at JVE ‘headquarters’ until X-mas celebration in Tsiko...and then....well, I’ll let you know then
dinsdag 23 september 2008
dinsdag 19 augustus 2008
La Pluie
Rain season is taking its toll here. This article gives a pretty accurate account of the situation. http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43500
maandag 11 augustus 2008
Efoa? ça va? Yo!
Oh this is going to be a hard entry because there’s lots to share, but as usual, I don’t know how to describe so much of what I’m experiencing! Words don’t seem to do justice, but I’m going to try.
So first a scattered update on my life here:
A little while ago, I was pretty sick for several days but after sweating, vomiting, and a visit to the local hospital the worst passed and now I am in good health….. This week I moved out of my host family in Lomé and instead am splitting my time between a room in a housing commune in the city (where a couple of Togolese friends including Mama also live) and living in the rural areas. There are a lot of reasons (including that it cost even less) so that both me and the organization can afford for me to stay on) and allow me to move around more freely but also moreso because now I feel much more integrated into how Togolese life goes as far as market shopping, cooking, finding water, transport, language, etc. so that I can take care of finding my own water and coal, preparing food on fire outside, etc. I am glad to be spending more time in the country although I also have to admit that I am starting to have much more of an appreciation for life in Lomé (especially the beach in the evenings)
And the reason I will be moving around outside the city more is because my role at JVE is shifting a bit to work more on the solar oven project as well as doing research on starting a new solar energy project with women who work in the markets in the Vogan region to replace their kerosene lanterns with photovolitc ones..after being here 7 weeks and getting acquainted with the projects here (and the ins and outs of researching, writing, and finding grants) and during that time getting an intensive education on solar energy, I'm excited to get more involved in it. It combines my interests in anthro, food, environment, people?etc. I will be working with several groups of women to understand their perceptions about using the solar cookers and lamps and thus if and how the use of the solar energy can be used and promoted by them in their communities. I will also continue research and project proposals that I have been working on relate directly or indirectly to alternative energy like the one on deforestation and the alternatives to wood as a fuel source. Also am working with a group of community (from the young to the old) to teach solar energy fabrication so that they can aid in spreading the method to rural areas. This past week we had an incredible training week with 40 people from the local neighborhood around the JVE office as we constructed over 150 solar cookers. This group of people has been incredible and a source of many new friends. The week was filled with lots of singing (lots of king Mensah, a Togolese singer who defines everyday life here and that everyone should look up…good stuff), dancing, discussing, playing soccer in the mud…
Some more about Tsiko: The trip to Tsiko means packing myself into a bush taxi with no less than 7 people in a car made for 4 to Kpalimé, then changing taxis to get to Adeta, where I take a zebidjan (taxi motorcycle) to get up to the mountain village of Tsiko. But it’s worth it when I arrive and am greeted by lots of smiling faces in the place that I feel most at home here. When I am there I live with Mama and her family. There is no semblance of privacy as I share a roomwith Mama and we share a bedroom with her 5 year old son and we live with her parents, brother, and 6 of her female cousins who range from 6 to 22 and two of which have babies of their own. Needless to say it’s a full house (my new place in Lomé is almost the same situation except I do have my own room), but I love it.
the village politics and relations. Just last weekend there was a public meeting in the village with all the chiefs from the surrounding communities to discuss a case of witchcraft: the story is a bit complicated and crazy (it took many translations into French before I got everything straight): family with two sets of half-siblings (polygamy is common practice here) where a sister and brother visited a shaman medicine man to ask for a safe delivery of her baby and after this ritual she gave the shaman a list of people who she thought were her enemies in the village as well as her half sister who they thought was taking too much of their father’s attention and money.
Everyone came to listen and participate and it was one of the most expressive events even by African standards. In the end, the chiefs deliberated and found in favour of the cursed half sister (white powder was thrown on her to exonerate her) and the other side of the family had to pay in forms of several bottles of liquor….oh and there are so many ins and outs of relations between families and friends in the village that I’m becoming aware of….There is no barrier between my public and private life which is really true in my situation as my work and leisure time are so intertwined. And everything is open and warm and everywhere you go you hear, ‘Woezon’ or ‘Bonne Arrivée’ (to which in Ewe you respond ‘Yo’) Communication wise, French is now going very well and now I’m also working on learning more Ewe, the local language. It’s going slowly but surely especially in the rural regions where many in the older generation can’t read or write at all and don’t speak French.
You Dutchies will be proud to know that bike is still one of my main forms of transport: I have a shitty but working one that I use in Lomé to get to work and around the city. At first I was sure there was no way that I would manage as there are so many motorcycles and very little road rules, but I’m taking it doucement and managing….And out in Tsiko I share a bike with a neighbour and I have been taking beautiful cycle tours from village to village. By now the village people I’ve also been hiking in the mountains in the morning as my only time alone and I can’t describe how breathtakingly beautiful it is especially once you reach the top and look out over the forests and valleys and waterfalls.
Gateau de Ahkoroo – Since there are plenty of bananas here and I wanted to share some of my familiar cuisine I made banana bread! Baking is an adventure since there is only one lady that has an oven, an oven in which you have to burn a fire for several hours to heat up inside and then remove the coals before starting to bake. But it was worth it and it’s a huge hit. It’s just different enough that it’s an exotic treat but still it uses the staple familiar ingredients. This week I will make it using the solar ovens which are fabricated in the training! And there are already ideas and plans for starting a petite enterprise of selling gateau de akohroo en four solaire with some of the women I have been working with J
I have been assured that already I am on my way to becoming a true Togolese. Here are some of the apparent signs:
-My new Togolese name is Ami Vi: Ami because I am born on Saturday and Vi because it means ‘little’ in Ewe and as my coworker is already named Ami, I am the junior in the organization.
-have been practicing carrying basins on my head and can almost make it along the whole path that goes from our house into town.
-When in Tsiko I help harvest the farm fields of corn, yams, etc. Everyone from grandparents to kids help with this And the walk out to the farm is my favourite. Today we gathered the remains of the corn husk which we later crushed to make farine (cornmeal flour). I’m also mastering pounding foufou which is a mashed paste of yams that among with pate is a staple food here. (Basically two people have two large wooden poles which they alternate pounding into a wooden pot to create the paste.) Other food that my stomach is being filled with: fish, rice, peanuts, cocao, avocados, and my favorites pineapple and mango…..
-My dresses and skirts of beautiful African fabric are being made by my new neighbour who is a seamstress and who is teaching me to sew
-and if I really want to become Togolese there are marriage proposals readily available (just kidding.. at least I think;)
And I also wanted to give some brief background about Togo since it’s not a place that one hears about often (except that everyone knows this tiny strip of land had qualified for the World CupJ)
The Togolese population is the result of a number of migrations that happened from the north east centuries ago. The Ewe came all the way from Egypt and settling for a period in Nigeria and Benin before mainly populating present day Togo and parts of Ghana. (There are several large celebrations coming up in September to celebrate this migration and the Ewe diaspora.)
As far as European influence, the Germans occupied Togo after WWI when it came under French rule until its independence in 1960….The 1990’s were major crisis years for Togo and most notably the military coup and ‘election’ of Eyadema Ganssingbe. Economic and political turmoil during this time have had severe consequences for the country from which it has not recovered. It is significantly less developed economically and politically than its neighbors in Ghana and Nigeria. There is very little faith or trust in the current government although things have been fairly stable in recent years…..
I will have to continue the history and culture info later….plus I think you are getting tired of reading my news by now…I'll try to write shorter updates and info more often so I don't end up writing ramblings like this....Hope all is well is your corner of the world wherever that may be!
So first a scattered update on my life here:
A little while ago, I was pretty sick for several days but after sweating, vomiting, and a visit to the local hospital the worst passed and now I am in good health….. This week I moved out of my host family in Lomé and instead am splitting my time between a room in a housing commune in the city (where a couple of Togolese friends including Mama also live) and living in the rural areas. There are a lot of reasons (including that it cost even less) so that both me and the organization can afford for me to stay on) and allow me to move around more freely but also moreso because now I feel much more integrated into how Togolese life goes as far as market shopping, cooking, finding water, transport, language, etc. so that I can take care of finding my own water and coal, preparing food on fire outside, etc. I am glad to be spending more time in the country although I also have to admit that I am starting to have much more of an appreciation for life in Lomé (especially the beach in the evenings)
And the reason I will be moving around outside the city more is because my role at JVE is shifting a bit to work more on the solar oven project as well as doing research on starting a new solar energy project with women who work in the markets in the Vogan region to replace their kerosene lanterns with photovolitc ones..after being here 7 weeks and getting acquainted with the projects here (and the ins and outs of researching, writing, and finding grants) and during that time getting an intensive education on solar energy, I'm excited to get more involved in it. It combines my interests in anthro, food, environment, people?etc. I will be working with several groups of women to understand their perceptions about using the solar cookers and lamps and thus if and how the use of the solar energy can be used and promoted by them in their communities. I will also continue research and project proposals that I have been working on relate directly or indirectly to alternative energy like the one on deforestation and the alternatives to wood as a fuel source. Also am working with a group of community (from the young to the old) to teach solar energy fabrication so that they can aid in spreading the method to rural areas. This past week we had an incredible training week with 40 people from the local neighborhood around the JVE office as we constructed over 150 solar cookers. This group of people has been incredible and a source of many new friends. The week was filled with lots of singing (lots of king Mensah, a Togolese singer who defines everyday life here and that everyone should look up…good stuff), dancing, discussing, playing soccer in the mud…
Some more about Tsiko: The trip to Tsiko means packing myself into a bush taxi with no less than 7 people in a car made for 4 to Kpalimé, then changing taxis to get to Adeta, where I take a zebidjan (taxi motorcycle) to get up to the mountain village of Tsiko. But it’s worth it when I arrive and am greeted by lots of smiling faces in the place that I feel most at home here. When I am there I live with Mama and her family. There is no semblance of privacy as I share a roomwith Mama and we share a bedroom with her 5 year old son and we live with her parents, brother, and 6 of her female cousins who range from 6 to 22 and two of which have babies of their own. Needless to say it’s a full house (my new place in Lomé is almost the same situation except I do have my own room), but I love it.
the village politics and relations. Just last weekend there was a public meeting in the village with all the chiefs from the surrounding communities to discuss a case of witchcraft: the story is a bit complicated and crazy (it took many translations into French before I got everything straight): family with two sets of half-siblings (polygamy is common practice here) where a sister and brother visited a shaman medicine man to ask for a safe delivery of her baby and after this ritual she gave the shaman a list of people who she thought were her enemies in the village as well as her half sister who they thought was taking too much of their father’s attention and money.
Everyone came to listen and participate and it was one of the most expressive events even by African standards. In the end, the chiefs deliberated and found in favour of the cursed half sister (white powder was thrown on her to exonerate her) and the other side of the family had to pay in forms of several bottles of liquor….oh and there are so many ins and outs of relations between families and friends in the village that I’m becoming aware of….There is no barrier between my public and private life which is really true in my situation as my work and leisure time are so intertwined. And everything is open and warm and everywhere you go you hear, ‘Woezon’ or ‘Bonne Arrivée’ (to which in Ewe you respond ‘Yo’) Communication wise, French is now going very well and now I’m also working on learning more Ewe, the local language. It’s going slowly but surely especially in the rural regions where many in the older generation can’t read or write at all and don’t speak French.
You Dutchies will be proud to know that bike is still one of my main forms of transport: I have a shitty but working one that I use in Lomé to get to work and around the city. At first I was sure there was no way that I would manage as there are so many motorcycles and very little road rules, but I’m taking it doucement and managing….And out in Tsiko I share a bike with a neighbour and I have been taking beautiful cycle tours from village to village. By now the village people I’ve also been hiking in the mountains in the morning as my only time alone and I can’t describe how breathtakingly beautiful it is especially once you reach the top and look out over the forests and valleys and waterfalls.
Gateau de Ahkoroo – Since there are plenty of bananas here and I wanted to share some of my familiar cuisine I made banana bread! Baking is an adventure since there is only one lady that has an oven, an oven in which you have to burn a fire for several hours to heat up inside and then remove the coals before starting to bake. But it was worth it and it’s a huge hit. It’s just different enough that it’s an exotic treat but still it uses the staple familiar ingredients. This week I will make it using the solar ovens which are fabricated in the training! And there are already ideas and plans for starting a petite enterprise of selling gateau de akohroo en four solaire with some of the women I have been working with J
I have been assured that already I am on my way to becoming a true Togolese. Here are some of the apparent signs:
-My new Togolese name is Ami Vi: Ami because I am born on Saturday and Vi because it means ‘little’ in Ewe and as my coworker is already named Ami, I am the junior in the organization.
-have been practicing carrying basins on my head and can almost make it along the whole path that goes from our house into town.
-When in Tsiko I help harvest the farm fields of corn, yams, etc. Everyone from grandparents to kids help with this And the walk out to the farm is my favourite. Today we gathered the remains of the corn husk which we later crushed to make farine (cornmeal flour). I’m also mastering pounding foufou which is a mashed paste of yams that among with pate is a staple food here. (Basically two people have two large wooden poles which they alternate pounding into a wooden pot to create the paste.) Other food that my stomach is being filled with: fish, rice, peanuts, cocao, avocados, and my favorites pineapple and mango…..
-My dresses and skirts of beautiful African fabric are being made by my new neighbour who is a seamstress and who is teaching me to sew
-and if I really want to become Togolese there are marriage proposals readily available (just kidding.. at least I think;)
And I also wanted to give some brief background about Togo since it’s not a place that one hears about often (except that everyone knows this tiny strip of land had qualified for the World CupJ)
The Togolese population is the result of a number of migrations that happened from the north east centuries ago. The Ewe came all the way from Egypt and settling for a period in Nigeria and Benin before mainly populating present day Togo and parts of Ghana. (There are several large celebrations coming up in September to celebrate this migration and the Ewe diaspora.)
As far as European influence, the Germans occupied Togo after WWI when it came under French rule until its independence in 1960….The 1990’s were major crisis years for Togo and most notably the military coup and ‘election’ of Eyadema Ganssingbe. Economic and political turmoil during this time have had severe consequences for the country from which it has not recovered. It is significantly less developed economically and politically than its neighbors in Ghana and Nigeria. There is very little faith or trust in the current government although things have been fairly stable in recent years…..
I will have to continue the history and culture info later….plus I think you are getting tired of reading my news by now…I'll try to write shorter updates and info more often so I don't end up writing ramblings like this....Hope all is well is your corner of the world wherever that may be!
donderdag 10 juli 2008
Hello!
There’s so much to tell and nowhere to start! I just returned to Lomé a couple days ago after spending 5 days in the village of Tsiko where my boss and several of my coworkers are from. It is incredibly beautiful with mountains and forests and everywhere knows everyone and it is here that JVE first got started. In fact there was a celebration in the village to celebrate it’s commencement 8 years ago..it’s very inspiring and refreshing to see how a now international organization began with a group of young people in a small town in Africa. It’s always remarkable to see that everywhere people are starting movements and making real changes. It is especially powerful here where daily life takes so much more effort and yet it is because the issues have a much more acute and daily affect for people here that is also why there is much more energy
I was warmly welcomed into the village and it wasn’t long before I felt completely at home there. I learned from the women how to prepare Togolese cuisine (including slaughtering and cooking a goat for our celebration), went to my first African Jehovah’s Witness service (which I found really interesting, but no worries: I won’t be converting any time soon), played soccer, explored the mountain, and slept out on the roof….
Togolese discuss the issue of the urbanization that has occurred here like in most African countries; Young people come to the city for education and work, but most people and especially my coworkers miss and prefer their hometown village life to life in the capital. After my experiences in both places over these last couple weeks I have similar sentiments and I have been invited to split my time between living in Lome and living with them up in Tsiko… I’ve been so happy to find that I already have found good friends here: in particular my boss Sena and my coworker, Mama. Getting to know Mama and spending the past days with her and others in Tsiko has been one of the most wonderful things about my time here so far… we were able to discuss and share much. She was recently one of five youths who was a ‘climate witness’ at the Global Humanitarian Forum headed by Kofi Anan in Geneva last week. The Forum brought together 250 political, economic, and scientific experts with the intention of uniting those who work in fields that do not collaborate enough to meet on this issue of climate change and show its real and acute consequences for people (and especially youth) around the world. Mama spoke about what she has seen and experienced in Togo. corn disappearing, mountain forests being chopped down, no clean drinking water, wildlife and plants disappearing...(watch these video links to see mama speak along with the others at the Forum and also for a brief news report summarizing the forum: http://www2.ghf-ge.org/multimediacentre.cfm?tab=20&id=73 and http://www2.ghf-ge.org/multimediacentre.cfm?tab=20&id=64 ) It was her first travel outside West Africa, and if was fun to hear her reactions to Switzerland when I picked her up at the airport (The Swiss are way too organized and eat too much cheese).
At work I have been working on editing and creating grant proposals to get further funding for several of the JVE projects which relate to among other subjects reforestation, solar cooking, and a dam construction dialogue in Togo. I spend a lot of time sitting with my coworkers discussing in French the projects including purpose, logistics, budgets, contextual information, etc. and then work on writing an outline in English in order to get funding: I spent almost all of today side-by-side with two coworkers going through the deforestation research project and its budget proposal line-by-line to accurately describe what JVE wants to accomplish as well as to fit what the donors are willing to finance. …More specifically it is a grant proposal for a deforestation research and adjoining workshop with farmers, community women and local authorities in the Kloto region of Togo. These are the populations that should be informed and consulted in order to find alternatives as well as ways to best meet their needs. After being in the mountains, land, and forests and meeting/talking with the people in Tsiko (almost all who are farmers who grow corn for a living) it shed new light on the issues that we are outlining in the project proposals: the challenges of protecting the area and the interests of the people who live there… That is also the case with the solar cooking project: young women’s groups learning to make and promote solar cookers that can reduce their workload of searching for wood and coal to prepare food while also reducing deforestation and fossil fuel carbon burning…
In addition to the grant proposals I’m also doing a lot of keeping in contact (written, telephone, personal) with representatives of organizations abroad who are existing or potential donors of JVE since almost no one here speaks English (and surprisingly at times in dutch as well since many dutch NGOs and government fund such projects). While there is a fair share of administrative work and things move slower also just because of unreliable electricity, computers, and internet/phone connections I find the work interesting and challenging..and while I can’t say that I’m sure the projects and approaches are the solutions to the profound problems here, I am positive about the small but definite steps and involvement that I see in what is being done…
Another subject at work is CDM (Clean Development Mechanism): this involves Kyoto countries that are struggling to meet their carbon emissions reductions targets (so most northern developed countries) to implement sustainable business plans in southern developing countries to essentially buy credits to offset their own emissions. For example JVE has links with a sustainable investment company in Europe that wants to start a rubber tree planting project here which has the intention of both reducing carbon, aiding reforestation, and creating jobs...while of course also generating revenue for their company. CDM projects may be a way to address carbon emissions while also aiding social-economic development but it may also be a market strategy that lets developed countries avoid having to change practices by starting business projects in the south. The CDM plan has a lot of critics and at the moment JVE is working on informing themselves about the pros and cons of implementing such a project here in Togo. So, I’ve also been reviewing the information and communicating with that company to help look more into that …
Okay that’s enough for now, but next time, more about Togo itself as I’ve been learning lots about politics, government, food, music, etc….
There’s so much to tell and nowhere to start! I just returned to Lomé a couple days ago after spending 5 days in the village of Tsiko where my boss and several of my coworkers are from. It is incredibly beautiful with mountains and forests and everywhere knows everyone and it is here that JVE first got started. In fact there was a celebration in the village to celebrate it’s commencement 8 years ago..it’s very inspiring and refreshing to see how a now international organization began with a group of young people in a small town in Africa. It’s always remarkable to see that everywhere people are starting movements and making real changes. It is especially powerful here where daily life takes so much more effort and yet it is because the issues have a much more acute and daily affect for people here that is also why there is much more energy
I was warmly welcomed into the village and it wasn’t long before I felt completely at home there. I learned from the women how to prepare Togolese cuisine (including slaughtering and cooking a goat for our celebration), went to my first African Jehovah’s Witness service (which I found really interesting, but no worries: I won’t be converting any time soon), played soccer, explored the mountain, and slept out on the roof….
Togolese discuss the issue of the urbanization that has occurred here like in most African countries; Young people come to the city for education and work, but most people and especially my coworkers miss and prefer their hometown village life to life in the capital. After my experiences in both places over these last couple weeks I have similar sentiments and I have been invited to split my time between living in Lome and living with them up in Tsiko… I’ve been so happy to find that I already have found good friends here: in particular my boss Sena and my coworker, Mama. Getting to know Mama and spending the past days with her and others in Tsiko has been one of the most wonderful things about my time here so far… we were able to discuss and share much. She was recently one of five youths who was a ‘climate witness’ at the Global Humanitarian Forum headed by Kofi Anan in Geneva last week. The Forum brought together 250 political, economic, and scientific experts with the intention of uniting those who work in fields that do not collaborate enough to meet on this issue of climate change and show its real and acute consequences for people (and especially youth) around the world. Mama spoke about what she has seen and experienced in Togo. corn disappearing, mountain forests being chopped down, no clean drinking water, wildlife and plants disappearing...(watch these video links to see mama speak along with the others at the Forum and also for a brief news report summarizing the forum: http://www2.ghf-ge.org/multimediacentre.cfm?tab=20&id=73 and http://www2.ghf-ge.org/multimediacentre.cfm?tab=20&id=64 ) It was her first travel outside West Africa, and if was fun to hear her reactions to Switzerland when I picked her up at the airport (The Swiss are way too organized and eat too much cheese).
At work I have been working on editing and creating grant proposals to get further funding for several of the JVE projects which relate to among other subjects reforestation, solar cooking, and a dam construction dialogue in Togo. I spend a lot of time sitting with my coworkers discussing in French the projects including purpose, logistics, budgets, contextual information, etc. and then work on writing an outline in English in order to get funding: I spent almost all of today side-by-side with two coworkers going through the deforestation research project and its budget proposal line-by-line to accurately describe what JVE wants to accomplish as well as to fit what the donors are willing to finance. …More specifically it is a grant proposal for a deforestation research and adjoining workshop with farmers, community women and local authorities in the Kloto region of Togo. These are the populations that should be informed and consulted in order to find alternatives as well as ways to best meet their needs. After being in the mountains, land, and forests and meeting/talking with the people in Tsiko (almost all who are farmers who grow corn for a living) it shed new light on the issues that we are outlining in the project proposals: the challenges of protecting the area and the interests of the people who live there… That is also the case with the solar cooking project: young women’s groups learning to make and promote solar cookers that can reduce their workload of searching for wood and coal to prepare food while also reducing deforestation and fossil fuel carbon burning…
In addition to the grant proposals I’m also doing a lot of keeping in contact (written, telephone, personal) with representatives of organizations abroad who are existing or potential donors of JVE since almost no one here speaks English (and surprisingly at times in dutch as well since many dutch NGOs and government fund such projects). While there is a fair share of administrative work and things move slower also just because of unreliable electricity, computers, and internet/phone connections I find the work interesting and challenging..and while I can’t say that I’m sure the projects and approaches are the solutions to the profound problems here, I am positive about the small but definite steps and involvement that I see in what is being done…
Another subject at work is CDM (Clean Development Mechanism): this involves Kyoto countries that are struggling to meet their carbon emissions reductions targets (so most northern developed countries) to implement sustainable business plans in southern developing countries to essentially buy credits to offset their own emissions. For example JVE has links with a sustainable investment company in Europe that wants to start a rubber tree planting project here which has the intention of both reducing carbon, aiding reforestation, and creating jobs...while of course also generating revenue for their company. CDM projects may be a way to address carbon emissions while also aiding social-economic development but it may also be a market strategy that lets developed countries avoid having to change practices by starting business projects in the south. The CDM plan has a lot of critics and at the moment JVE is working on informing themselves about the pros and cons of implementing such a project here in Togo. So, I’ve also been reviewing the information and communicating with that company to help look more into that …
Okay that’s enough for now, but next time, more about Togo itself as I’ve been learning lots about politics, government, food, music, etc….
donderdag 26 juni 2008
Le commencement
Dear Friends,
Salut de Lome! It was a long but smooth journey that got me here in the early morning hours. And although it's far from home, the pouring down rain (it's rainy season) on the day of my arrival made the transition from Holland to Togo a bit less strange. I'm living with a very nice family and especially the two daughters are incredibly sweet...I spent my first day sleeping and reading and resting but after that the only way to describe being here is intense. It's extremely densely populated, African french is also melanged with Ewe, the local language, which means I have to spend a lot of energy concentrating on understanding especially when all my colleagues start talking at once. It's very hot and there are tons of motorbikes which I've already have become acquainted with riding on the back of (a bit nervewrecking with all the traffic and people, but fun). And beyond one other volunteer who is also interning at an organization in Lome and who lives at the house as well, I haven't seen another white person yet. Luckily, the small group of people I work with (we're eleven people total at the office) are very patient and helpful in helping me get adjusted to their life. My boss at work is away and will arrive tomorrow so I have been at work but haven't really started yet with anything except acquainting myself with the projects, which mainly consist of solar oven promotion among women's groups in a region just north of the city and envrionmental education for Togolese highschool students. It's going to be slow but steadily I hope to get to know how things work in this city. Right now I'm content with mastering just the basic challenges of figuring out the currencey, getting my visa sorted out, and finding a bike.
I have come to this country, this job, and this experience with little expectations or preparation and I hope to be able to share with you what I learn and discover and hopefully come to better understand the political, social, and cultural sides. My motives for coming here and the terms on which I came were because of deeply personal desires to learn more of myself and what I want as well as intellectual desire to engage in West Africa...on verra.
Salut de Lome! It was a long but smooth journey that got me here in the early morning hours. And although it's far from home, the pouring down rain (it's rainy season) on the day of my arrival made the transition from Holland to Togo a bit less strange. I'm living with a very nice family and especially the two daughters are incredibly sweet...I spent my first day sleeping and reading and resting but after that the only way to describe being here is intense. It's extremely densely populated, African french is also melanged with Ewe, the local language, which means I have to spend a lot of energy concentrating on understanding especially when all my colleagues start talking at once. It's very hot and there are tons of motorbikes which I've already have become acquainted with riding on the back of (a bit nervewrecking with all the traffic and people, but fun). And beyond one other volunteer who is also interning at an organization in Lome and who lives at the house as well, I haven't seen another white person yet. Luckily, the small group of people I work with (we're eleven people total at the office) are very patient and helpful in helping me get adjusted to their life. My boss at work is away and will arrive tomorrow so I have been at work but haven't really started yet with anything except acquainting myself with the projects, which mainly consist of solar oven promotion among women's groups in a region just north of the city and envrionmental education for Togolese highschool students. It's going to be slow but steadily I hope to get to know how things work in this city. Right now I'm content with mastering just the basic challenges of figuring out the currencey, getting my visa sorted out, and finding a bike.
I have come to this country, this job, and this experience with little expectations or preparation and I hope to be able to share with you what I learn and discover and hopefully come to better understand the political, social, and cultural sides. My motives for coming here and the terms on which I came were because of deeply personal desires to learn more of myself and what I want as well as intellectual desire to engage in West Africa...on verra.
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