When it rains…

…Togo is messy. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really enjoying the cool weather, but it’s been raining since about 4 or 5 am and the dirt roads make it impossible to go out in the field, and the walk to the office was not an easy one. All of the trash and discarded liquids of all sorts on the streets are mixing together, and vcry few people have shown up to work, one key missing person being the secretary who has the key to the director’s office where I can hook up to the (very slow) internet. But I’m very happy because I’m feeling much better today, pretty well rested, and it’s not hot out. I’m a bit bored, though, since I’ve already finished my office work and I’m itching to go meet more clients.

Saturday was a fun-filled day. In the morning we went to drop off the grandma in her house, which is not in great shape, and then we went to the “grand marche,” the huge outdoor market (although it’s so packed you can’t really tell you’re outdoors (and some of it is indoors) where they sell everything from laundry detergent, to fried fish and fresh meat to cloths and necklaces…really anything you could possibly need here. Maybe nto electronics, but definitely batteries, and there might be electronics tucked away somewhere. Being a white person “yovo” makes it even more difficult to make it through to where you want to go, and I wanted to buy cloths, but it was too dark to see them inside the building so I will go this afternoon to where the mom “Mme Bella” buys her fabrics.

The afternoon felt more like an American summer vacation day. I invited the kids to go to the pool (a nice pool with lots of chlorine in a small pool and tennis club inside of the very rich neighborhood). It was the first place in Lomé where I saw as many white people (including Lebanese and many Asians) as there where black Africans (and not all Togolese). After the pool, I took them to a pizzeria that’s right nearby, and first we went into their supermarket which was basically a very expensive small French supermarket with mostly imported French products…lots of butter. The pizza was very expensive for here ($10 for the large, which was only about 12”), and a very crappy dough. I’m going to try to make my own pizza for them next week if Mme Bella gets the gas range going for it.

On Sunday we went to the beach, altough i was hoping to stay and hang out, but they hurried me around to see all the sites....i explained that next time i'd like to just hang out...

One of the things I really love about Togo is that there are fruit trees everywhere, at the pool there were mango trees, and mangoes kept falling, so I ate one (which I guess isn’t done too often…even though they are everywhere, people still buy the fruit). My favorite mangoes, however, are the small yellow ones that are really stringy to eat, but super sweet. Apparently I haven’t been eating them the right way, but they just told me this last night so hopefully it’ll be easier from now on….but they are definitely well worth it.

The food is really an issue on my sensitive stomach, especially since it’s so oily, but I’m getting used to it.

On another note, one of the things that all of the clients that I’ve visited complain about is that the government will tax them as soon as they open up a business, but they do nothing helpful with the money, which is definitely true. They do not fix the problems with the electricity, which is a political issue apparently. They don’t fix the roads, people put coconut shells or tree branches in the big holes for drivers to watch out. Speaking of driving, the rules of the road are that you don’t follow any rules except that you get out of the way of whoever’s bigger. The trucks out on the small dirt roads are the worst, but everywhere you go pedestrians better move out. And the police only control the streets to collect or ticket motorcycles without license plates (more money coming in that isn’t use for a useful purpose), and they occasionally help direct traffic in really busy intersections during rush hour. Other times, you can get cars that all want to go at once and completely stop traffic. But for the most part, things somehow keep moving, except for the huge delivery truck that turned on its side the other day (probably tried to go too fast through the curve).

It seems like the rain has stopped for now, and the power is out this morning, but I still wish I could be out in the field (as tiring as it can be at times). I’m going to try to post up more pics.

(The pictures are of Microfund Togo offices in the rain this morning and the other is at teh beach yesterday....sorry about the formatting)

Dalia