Shameless Plug for My Project (Yay!)

I know, I know, I’m sorry. I’m here. My excuse is that I’ve actually been productive lately!
I have registered for the GREs (April 29th) and have begun studying in earnest. Since I’m so bad at math it’s actually taking up a lot of my time at post. Getting myself motivated to study was hard at first but as the time looms near, I’m embracing my geeky side and spending hours making vocabulary flashcards and looking up words in every magazine, book and newspaper I read. David (my sitemate) is taking them the same day in Ghana, so we’ve been quizzing each other on random vocabulary words (perfidious is my current favorite) and keeping each other motivated. We get three paid days off to go over and take the test, so we plan on going to the mall (!!) and the beach…and somewhere in there hopefully take the test as well. I’ve heard Accra’s streets are paved with gold. I can’t wait to see.

This past week I went up to the Peace Corps training center for the yearly All Volunteer conference as well as my in service training. AllVol is a two day event that is mostly made up of drinking and spending money on auction items such as peanut M&Ms ($25), dinner with the director ($140), a shirt with an eagle eating a cobra on it ($200), etc. Amazing what our $8/day goes towards. I bought overpriced salsa lessons from my friend Jesse, which seemed like a really good idea after a few Sex on the Beaches and beers. There was a talent show as well that included choreographed dances, a back flip off a table, and one girl who can audibly flap her butt cheeks together. Togo PCVs are a classy bunch. Overall it was really fun, although when I first got there I realized I was going through culture shock, since it’s been so long since I’ve been around 100 Americans. After two nights with an average of 3 hours’ sleep, training for the next 4 days was rough, but somehow I made it through. The training was motivating, which is always welcome.

I have also been putting a lot of effort into a Peace Corps Partnership proposal that will hopefully go up on the web in the next couple of weeks. My Togolese counterpart, Michel, is an amazing youth educator and advisor. For the past few years he has worked with an NGO called CASIEJ and has basically been paying out of pocket to continue lecturing kids on issues such as HIV/AIDS transmission, risky behavior, life skills and other health topics. He’s the most motivated individual I’ve ever met. Since the beginning of my service he has expressed an interest in starting his own NGO and opening a proper youth center for the youth of Vogan. I put my foot down at the beginning, since building a center would simply be too expensive. However, recently his own landlord came to him with an interest in selling the house that Michel currently rents. He and his wife have decided that if we can come up with the money to buy the building, they will move and we can use the building for a youth center.

Peace Corps Partnership isn’t a grant program; rather it’s a way for people from the US to be able to donate to a specific project as a tax-deductible charitable donation. 100% of the funds go directly to the project. I am finishing the budget now and it seems that the total cost of the project will be about $10,000. However, the community is coming up with 30% of the cost, so I will be appealing to Americans (like YOU!) for about $7,000. I’m extremely excited about this project, although I realize the cost is huge. It would be absolutely amazing to be able to do this for my village. The area is plagued by child trafficking, prostitution, a low rate of girls continuing school, HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, illiteracy, and malnutrition. We’re hoping that a youth center will give us the opportunity to offer classes in literacy, computer skills, income-generating activities and life skills that will give kids the tools to make good decisions. I’m going to be making a facebook group once the project is up on the web, and hopefully through word of mouth (start talking!) and the internet I’ll be able to raise the funds. This project is truly my baby here in country.

The house we're hoping to buy and renovate

Regardless of what happens, it’s been transformative having something useful to do here. For so long I felt like I was relatively useless, since my counterpart is so capable of doing everything much better than I can, and in local language to boot. This project has given me something tangible to work on that will hopefully make a difference. Between the proposal and studying, my days are full and productive for the first time since I’ve been in country. Michel and I also recently received a small grant from Friends of Togo to tour the countryside, giving lectures on health issues to students and apprentices in neighboring villages. I usually just go along for the ride, since Michel is so great with the kids, but I’m getting to see a lot of the surrounding area, and it really is breathtaking. It’s so easy here to look around and just see the trash, the naked children, the malnutrition and the ramshackle houses. Riding to these villages reminds me to stop and look around at what a beautiful country I live in. Since the rains have started again, everything has become green and lush again, which is a beautiful contrast to the red soil of Africa.