Jiujitsu

It has come to our attention that we have a Jiujitsu master in our company on female health volunteers. Shanon, a petite young woman with an extremely ourgoing personality was training in Brazil right up until the point where she got on a plane for Togo. As we have found ourselves in a developing country and in the company of very few men, we felt self defence might be a handy skill. This past wednesday we had the afternoon off. Shanon organized a class for a few of the volunteers, myself included. We walked out to this open soccer field less than a mile from our village. When we got there it seemed to be fairly secluded and there werent many other people around besides a few members of Shanon's family who wanted to see her in action. Shanon shared with us that she finds that women think themselves most vulnerable once they are on the ground. It is at that point that many women think the fight is over...according the Shanon it has only just begun. So basically we paired up, one person acting as the victim the other as the attacker and we learned some stealth moves for how to get out of an on-the-ground holding situations. Before we knew it, as we were so intent on practicing our new skills, a crowd had gathered around us. We were surrounded by adults and young kids wondering what these crazy Yovo women were doing! People began to get involved as if they were watching a sporting event, cheering us on and yelling encouragement when we were able to escape a hold. A few of the teenage boys watching asked if they could learn too. The gender dynamics here in Togo are a bit different from in the states, and I wondered how the young men would respond to being taught how to fight by a woman half their size. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they resonded with respect...kindof hard not to when this self-described "peanut" has you in a choke hold, asking, "are you gonna tap out yet?" After an hour we were hot, sweaty and happy and ready to retire. One of the young men however, decided he really wanted to see what Shanon was made of. They began to fight and it was clear who was the stronger among the two - Shanon very quickly found herself on the ground. Fortunately, that's where Shanon likes to be. She was able to wrestle her way into the offensive position and the young man tapped the ground, indicating he had had enough. As I was in the experience I was unsure how it was going to pan out- whether the cultural differences would prove to vast for us to be able to continue in such a public place - but in the end it was one of the best experiences I have had so far.

Just a side note - I have gotten a letter from Helen - she wins by the way for being my first piece of Togo mail - and also a package from the Halls. Thank you all so much for thinking of me, getting mail is such a treat here. If you are thinking of sending packages (which you should be) padded envelopes are best because I dont have to pay the delvery fee, and writing "God Bless" and drawing crosses is a good way to assure a safe delivery(and yes I find that as amusind as you do). My internet access here is quite unreliable so I am doing the best I can to post as often as possible. Please leave me messages I love reading them and feel free to ask questions. Love you all and miss you every day.