Ca Va Aller!

            So I must apologize for long gaps between my blogs, but with my second computer in its coffin, finding a time and place to write has become a bit more complicated. Wow, it’s been 6 months since my last post… where to even begin!? I have been here nearly 10 months now and I can hardly believe it. My life is like nothing I could have ever imagined- for instance, the other day I was walking around the fields near my house, metal bucket in one hand, the other equipped with a gardening glove ready to grab any and all cow dung I came across. The first hour or so of this work I didn't think much of it, just another day in the life, but then I took a minute to think about what was happening. I found myself laughing alone out in the middle of a field, with only the goats to share the moment with- who would ever thought I would be taking hours out of my day to search for the fecal matter of a cow, had to get that much needed ingredient for my compost pile. As you can tell I have settled in and am comfortable here, it no longer feels foreign, unbearably difficult or lonely- often it feels like I have been living like this my entire life. Since Christmas things have really fallen into place, my house is finally in living order, I have a brand new latrine and the old one is in the process of being converted into a chicken coop, I have wonderful relationships in my village and I have had success and failures with projects.

In February I started to work with the Red Cross mother's club in my village- we have had some triumphs and well… our fair share of difficulties. At our first formation I demonstrated how to make and use liquid soap as an income generating activity, and introduced the wonders of an amazing tree called Moringa. All was going smoothly, the women were excited, asking questions, and lending their hands in any way they could. We mixed, tested, and bottled the soap  only to move on to our next task, tree planting! Each women had collected 5 pure water saches  (little plastic clear bags of water, when the water is down they get thrown all over the place.) As the women were stuffing their saches with a mixture of dirt, sand, and manure- all felt blissful. I took a few steps back to watch what was being accomplished- I was so proud and sneering at horror stories of my fellow volunteers about their failed formations, meetings, and projects. My first attempt- it was all too easy. My sneering came back to bite me right in the ass, I was not exempt to those horrors. Suddenly all hell broke loose and I found myself in the middle of a fist fight, screaming stop in all the languages I know, finally retreating to my house; I wasn’t about to put up with such nonsense from a bunch of grown women. When Alice (the young mom I live with) came to get me, I was dumbfounded by the reasoning they gave for the boxing match. Apparently, once the mix of manure and dirt ran out the women were afraid they weren't going to get a sache to plant their tree (because we all know there aren't enough animals defecating in this village and dirt to go around.) Taking 5 minutes to gather more dirt and manure never crossed their minds- so it was a free for all, the women grabbing full saches and trying to steal them from one another,CHAOS. Alas, my first formation began beautifully and ended terribly- but not to worry the next few meetings went marvelously before failing again.

A few weeks after the “incident” and after the women proved they could be adults and successfully grow a tree on their own we began our Moringa pépinière (nursery). Before I continue, let me tell you a little more about this special tree. Moringa Oleifera is a native tree of India and is now widespread throughout Africa. It has multiple benefits and uses, but most importantly it is a nutritional goddess of a tree. The leaves are packed with vitamins and nutrients including protein, calcium, vitamin C, vitamin A, iron and more.

What were we going to do with it? Our plans; once the trees were large and strong enough we would plant them in the ground near the local health clinic- in hopes that people would inquire and subsequently be informed about it nutritional benefits. Once the trees gave leaves our plan was to harvest them, dry them, and pound them into a powder that could be added to their local food/sauces. The women would provide the hospital with free powder that would be given out to malnourished children and pregnant women, and sell sacs full to the general public on market days. I was thrilled with how motivated the women were-they gathered their own money to pay for the fencing and collectively decided to place the nursery next to our furthest pump to keep them away from children. We spent 6 hours in the sun cutting open saches, searching for dirt, sand, and manure, filling the saches and planting the trees. At the end of the day we had planted over 700 trees, all that was left was to give them water daily and wait for them to be big enough to plant in the ground. Four months later, June 1^st, Togo's national tree planting day; our trees were ready. I thought I had worked out all the logistics with the Major (head nurse) of the clinic, I spoke with him about 7 different times discussing where we would plant the trees and how we would protect them from the hungry goats and cows. We agreed to put the trees in a space on the right side of the clinic and close them in with local fencing material, but on planting day he changed his mind and wanted to put them around the perimeter of the hospital and save the other space for bigger wind breaking trees. I started firing questions; how would we protect them from the animals? From the bush fires? From the pesticides that they spray everywhere? All I received in return were a slurry of vague responses such as "ca va aller" (it will happen), “pas de problem” (no problem) and guarantee that nothing would happen to our trees. So together the women and children from my environmental club worked for hours planting the trees around the perimeter of the clinic, at the end of the day things felt like a success. I left for PDM (a training with other volunteers and our village work partners) returning less than a week later only to have my fears validated.  All 500 trees (200 never germinated) had been eaten by goats- as the people of Takpapieni say “Ca va aller!”

Outcome: Project #1- Fail But we still have hopes that the trees will grow back and by the time animals are let loose again they will be tall and out of the reach of the pesky goats!
As for the liquid soap, 3 women including Alice are making the soap and selling it the Marché (market)- and they are all thrilled with the extra income they are earning! Every week Alice and I make the soap together and it is one of my favorite days of the week, at the end of soap making we are both laughing so hard it hurts. She has truly become one of my best friends in village, I constantly hear and observe the difficulties many volunteers have making real relationships, and I feel very fortunate to have her in my life. Without Alice, the rest of my host family, and a few other friends I can honestly say I would have ended my service a long time ago!
That was my February and some of my June! I have so much more to write; March, April, May!  But I will keep it short for now…

I just had an amazing week with Katy, and now I have an exciting month to look forward to- the biggest excitement- I will be an Aunt in the next week or so!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to meet baby Parker!  Miss you all and hope you are enjoying Oregon summer!