Welcoming Presents

Hey there everybody. Aren't you impressed with how quickly I created a new post? Well I just got back from two weeks worth of travel around Togo. I started by taking a car up to Dapong where Aimee and I went on our first group run with the two girls with whom we are in marathon training. We did the run at night, a first for Aimee me, and it was a bit disorienting to only be able to see a few feet in front of you. But the run was successful, and we had a fun night hanging out with volunteers in the Savannes region. The next day I took a car all the way down to Lome, it was a long ride, but I made it and got my visa for Ghana without a problem. Then I went up to my friend Nori's village for the night before heading to Pagala for the All Volunteer Conference. All Vol, as it is referred to by PCVs, was a lot of fun; I got to know people I had never met before, there was a talent show and a live auction to raise money, and people were chosen for various PC committees. I am now the new House Manager for the Kara region and the Kara representative to the Volunteer Action Committee (VAC). I am also the regional coordinator for Camp Espoire, which is the camp run by AED for kids infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. After All Vol the other CHAP volunteers and I stayed in Pagala for our In Service Training (IST). At out last training we decided IST should focus on Family Planning and Hygiene and Sanitation projects. It was interesting, but by the end of 4 days I was totally exhausted and ready to head back to village.
Whenever I am out of village for a long period of time, I kind of dread going back to my house for fear of what might be awaiting me. I dont think I have told these stories on past blogs, but it has reached a point where it needs to be shared. The first time I went away for an extended period of time, I came back and my house definitely possessed a rather pungent sent of death. I assumed that one of the mice I hear scurrying between my ceiling and roof had died. Unfortunately, the next night I was sitting on my couch and felt something brush my leg, only to find a totally flattened, dried out mouse carcass sticking up between the cushions. Gross. I put a plastic bag over my hand, picked the thing up and threw it outside. A few days later, I walked into my living room and found a live mouse huddled in the corner. He seemed very sluggish and disoriented and I was able to scoot him out the door with a broom. An hour or so later I walked out on my porch and found the mouse dead on my doorstep. Gross. Several weeks later I spent another few days out of village and without realizing it had left a few inches of standing water in my wash basin, which I keep under my water filter since it tends to leak. When I returned I found a drowned and decomposing mouse floating in my basin. I threw the water and the mouse outside and did my best to scrub out the basin. Again...gross. But wait...I'm not finished. One morning a week or so later, I awoke and wandered into my kitchen, I was a bit groggy so it took me a minute to figure out what I was looking at. There was some sort of smear on my floor and upon closer inspection I realized it was blood. I took stock of all my appendages and confirmed I was neither cut nor bleeding. I began to survey my kitchen and noticed another blood smear on my kitchen table. I began moving things around and when I picked up the aforementioned water basin, I found behind it a dead mouse with a sizable chunk removed from its midsection. In all of these cases I have been fairly surprised by my own reaction, mostly because I don't run screaming from the house. As I had done with the previous carcasses, I grabbed a plastic bag, put it over my hand, picked up the mouse, carried it outside, and threw it over the wall. But this mouse was a bit more disconcerting than the others. The previous three died of (somewhat) natural causes, but in this case I suspected foul play. The question I asked myself was, did the mouse get attacked outside and sought my house as a quiet and cozy place to die, or was the attacker inside my house? And also, how worried should I be about the type of animal that could take that big of a bite out of a mouse? The truth of the matter is, I will never know for sure, and I must simply hope for the former over the later. But wait...still not finished. When I returned from my latest cross-country adventure I was prepared to find another little Mickey who had met their doom in my humble abode. I arrived home yesterday afternoon, greeted my neighbors, went inside and began to survey my house. I checked under the kitchen table, behind the water basin, under my couch, under my bed, behind my dresser and in various corners and found nothing. I was breathing a sigh of relief and beginning to unpack my things when I noticed a fluffy pile of what looked like thistle flowers on my couch cushion. I thought maybe they had blown in through the window, or perhaps that some sort of critter was creating a nest on my couch. So again, I grabbed the first handy plastic bag and went to pick up the pile and throw it outside. However, once I got my hand over it, something sharp poked through the plastic and I quickly pulled back my hand. Upon closer observation of the fluffy pile I realized it had talons, and also a few little friends that had begun eating away at it. I remembered my neighbors had bought several baby chicks before I left for my trip, so I went outside and called my neighbor Ferdinand into the house (something I very rarely do) and told him I thought I had something that belonged to him. He and his wife seemed to think it was just as much of a mystery as I did. The best theory that we could come up with was that something, perhaps a large mouse, had killed the chick and dragged it into my house. So I think I have the situation figured out: The mice really like me. Like the mice in Cinderella they think of themselves as my pets. They find my house comfy and cozy, and if they know they are dying it seems like a happy resting place. Just as pet cats will bring their owners mice as a token of affection, apparently my pet mice left me the chick to welcome me home!
On an unrelated note, a few of you have expressed interest in getting involved with some of the things I am doing over here. I was sent this email by another volunteer; it is not something I am involved in, but it is a good cause and I thought I would pass it along. By no means should you feel obligated to do anything with this information, but if you are interested I know my colleagues would appreciate your contribution. The information is as follows:

Dear Family and Friends,

The Girls Bike Tourney began in 2006 with the main objective of raising awareness on the importance of sending girls to school. Each region of Togo, of which there are five, chooses ten girls to participate in a two-day training and a five-day bicycle tourney. The girls are trained on various subjects (HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy, forced marriage, child trafficking), they are trained on how to speak in public, how to ride a bicycle (a novelty for most), and how to create and perform educational skits. Armed with knowledge, a bike, and lots of energy, ten girls along with two Togolese homologues and two Peace Corps Volunteers spend the next five days biking and performing at schools, markets and village squares.

The transformation that the girls undergo is quite miraculous. Girls come in barely able to say their name to a group of their peers and leave having presented skits and question and answer sessions in front of hundreds of people. They gain a deeper understanding of major social problems and how to overcome them, self-confidence, and an overall greater desire to succeed. After the five day tourney, the girls return to their respective villages with their new bicycles and are expected to continue training and working with people in their communities.

Peace Corps Partnership enables friends and family of Peace Corps Volunteers to donate to projects that volunteers are trying to complete during their service. Volunteers first submit a grant application to Peace Corps Washington who then puts the project description on the Peace Corps website where interested parties are just a click away from donating.

As a Peace Corps Togo Volunteer, I ask those who are interested in donating to visit: https://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/donors/contribute/projdetail.cfm?projdesc=693-303&region=africa


Love you all very much and am counting down the days until I am back in Ohio. See you soon!