Thursday, May 3, 2007

Casablanca and the trip to Togo

28 avril 2007

 

In Casablanca, I met a kind older Malian businessman who was going into town from the hotel and invited me to come along in the cab to visit the central market.  It was alright and he bought some clothes for his brother, but there wasn't much there.  Hopefully I will make it back to the other cities in Morocco soon. 

 

After having spent 11 hours in Casablanca (mostly in a hotel near the airport) waiting for my flight to Lomé (with mounting excitement and my first stomach troubles) I was on the plane (not very full) going to Lomé and then headed to Cotonou, Benin.  Upon arriving in Lome, and stepping out to the warm, humid air that I definitely enjoyed, I experienced my first temporary blackout while completing the immigration form.  I was a bit nervous because I was coming into the country with 4 cameras sent as presents from Kiva.  I had no problems going through immigration in this tiny airport, and then found my backpack quickly and intact.  Customs, however, meant putting my luggage through an X-ray machine, at which point I was directed to the customs officer to declare what I had brought.  I then said that I had my computer.  He asked if there was anything else, and so I said 4 small cameras that were presents to the NGO I was coming to volunteer with.  This led to my going to another room following two other Togolese women who had also brought in goods.  He had me open my bag with the cameras and I estimated that they were each worth about USD$100.  He came up with some calculation that I needed to pay about USD$200.  At which point I said that was a very high price, that I could not pay, and that I could leave him 1 camera in the place of paying.  This was not accepted and I finally ended paying $100 right before the Director of Microfund Togo walked in looking for me and was very kind and it was really a pleasure and quite calming to finally meet him.

 

He and his brother came to pick me and took me to a hotel near the hotel where I am staying for the first 2 nights before heading to stay with the family of Microfund Togo's President (Mme…)  Joseph is really a great person and has been very kind to me.  The most encouraging has been the discussions we have had about microfinance and poverty and his true desire to help the people of his country and for thus having started his own MFI after having worked at the largest MFI in Togo, FUCEC.  I understand why Chelsa at Kiva said that this is her favorite partner and why she loves to work with Joseph.  He has the kindest smile and his eyes almost shine when he speaks.  He believes that Africa has great wealth that is poorly managed and he is truly doing his part to help the poor, and is even working to try to conduct impact studies to be able to see the social impact of this work through a formal study. 

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I liked your trip, Morocco has become one of the major holiday destinations in the Mediterranean, an exotic location with extraordinary natural and cultural wealth. A rapidly growing holiday market, focused on quality. I like Casablanca most of all in Morocco, modern Casablanca is just that – a throbbing, vibrant metropolis which bears much more in common with the cities of southern Europe than other African cities. Indeed, while Casablanca’s old medina is an astonishing and engaging place to walk around, it attracts far fewer tourists than those of other towns. Maybe that's why people investing money in Casablanca property! However, tourism is becoming more and more important to Casablanca and parts of the medina are now being restored.