Finally.

Hello! I apologize for the long wait before my first blog post – I’ve been distracted by things like lack of electricity, internet, paved roads and discernible infrastructure. I’ll try to get better at avoiding those snags.

Before I begin I have to inform anyone reading this that the Peace Corps in no way condones or is behind anything I write on this blog. This is all me and my personal experiences and opinions.

Who am I and where am I? My name is Maggie and I am serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo, a tiny francophone country in West Africa. I live in a tiny farming village called Dampiong, which is about 12km North-East of Dapaong, the regional capital of the Savanes region which is the furthest North in Togo. It also so happens to be the poorest region here. I graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz in June, 2010 with a degree in Politics, moved to Philadelphia for a year and worked a string of odd jobs before leaving for Togo in June, 2011. If all goes well I’ll be in Togo until August of 2013.

Togo was colonized by the French and Germans before attaining status as an independent nation in 1960. The Peace Corps has been here since 1961, meaning that 2011 was the 50^th anniversary of Volunteer service in Togo. Kind of a dubious cause for celebration, I’d think. But hey, we got tee-shirts, right?!

I’ll be using this blog to fulfill one of the three goals of Peace Corps: the sharing of a foreign culture and experiences with people back in America. The other goals are sending skilled volunteers abroad to developing countries who ask for them, and sharing American culture with the people we meet in these countries. I’ll also probably end up ranting occasionally, so please bear with me for those more incoherent entries.

First Entry: P.C.A.s

The title for this entry is in honor of a story I heard about a couple of Volunteers at their Mid-Service Conference:
Administration: “What do you all hope to accomplish in this conference?”
Volunteer 1: “Frankly I want to learn some more Peace Corps acronyms.”
Volunteer 2: “Oh, you mean P.C.A.s?”

Let me say that there are a LOT of acronyms here that my posts will undoubtedly be inundated with. This list will hopefully help you navigate the often non-intuitive (for a non-Volunteer) capital letters I’ll be throwing around. Peace Corps is not only a job, people, but a state of mind.

P.C.V.: Peace Corps Volunteer. Also, people capitalize “Volunteer” here. I’m not being pretentious.
E.T.: Early Termination. When a Volunteer chooses to go home for one reason or another. Thus far in my service (a little less than three months) three people have E.T.’d.
Ad-Sep: Administrative Separation. Administration decides to send you home for one reason or another. Anything from discussing politics with an official, not wearing your helmet on a bike or a moto, or the rumor of illegal drug use is grounds for an Ad-Sep. Scary, yeah.
Med-Sep: Medical Separation. Due to chronic illness or a bad accident that cannot be properly treated in country, the nurses (P.C.M.O.s: Peace Corps Medical Officers) sign off to send you home. Even scarier, and one person’s already been Med-Sep’d – I miss you!
Motos: Motorcycle taxis, which basically the best way to get from one place to another. You sit on the back and tell the driver where to go. The heart-stopping terror I originally felt on these beasts is giving way to giddy thrill. I’ll probably end up with carpal tunnel from the death-grip I keep on the bars in the back, though.

C.H.A.P. (Gryffindor): Community Health and AIDS Prevention. One of the four groups (or Houses, if you will) of Peace Corps in Togo; my own illustrious crew, in fact. I’m not really sure why I’m in it except for the fact that I was a lifeguard for a couple of summers.
S.E.D. (Slytherin): Small Enterprise Development. Introducing small Togolese vendors to the wonders of the international free market. You should all know my opinion on that.
G.E.E. (Ravenclaw): Girls Education and Empowerment.
“Look at you broads, yapping away… I fully support your right to do that.” – Current G.E.E. Volunteer
Self-explanatory, yeah?
N.R.M. (Hufflepuff): Natural Resource Management. The die-hard, genuine PCV articles. Living out in the boonies and teaching people how to get the most out of their dirt. Every time I help one out with their job that day I end up with a sun burn.

It should also be noted that in francophone Africa, “franglais” is a reality for Volunteers. I tend to slip random, poorly pronounced French words and phrases into my conversations and even my thoughts. Here are a few big ones that may end up in my blog:

Vrai(e): Means “true” in French, but also used as “real.” As in, “I was sitting on a VRAI camel. Couldn’t believe it!”
Même: Means “self.” Used as “itself” or simply to give clout to a noun. “Is it in Lomé-même or the outskirts?” “It’s the MAISON-MÊME!!”
Quoi: Means “what” or “that.” Put after a noun here for whatever reason. It makes no sense to me, however I do have it on good authority that the French drop the “quoi” in Northern France. I’ve been catching myself doing it, too: “It’s over there, quoi.” “C’est bonne chose, quoi!”
En brousse: “In the bush.” When you live outside of a major city (such as your humble author). No electricity, no running water, no market, but ALL the street cred.
Dispensaire: “Dispensary.” A mélange of hospital/doctor’s office that they have en brousse. As a CHAP volunteer, I work with mine a fair amount.
Marché: “Market.” In Togo, this means open-air markets with women screaming at you to buy their product, because their tomatoes are better than their neighbor’s. More seasonal than your average Farmer’s Market – for about half the year up here there are no fruits or vegetables to be found. Scurvy is something we have to be aware of, yes.
Yovo: “Whitey.” Not exactly French, but a term that people (mostly children, or “petits”) like to scream at a white person while they’re walking by. It comes in three forms: “Yovo-yovo!” “Yovo?” and a little ditty called the Yovo song: “Yovo, Yovo, bon soir, ça va? Très bien, merci!” It begins to grate, even though older Togolese will tell you that it’s actually a compliment to call someone “whitey.” Let’s not get into that right now.
Stage/Stagiaire: “Stage” is the training period Volunteers receive before being sent to post, “Stagiaire” is the person (i.e., future PCVs) being trained. For Togo it was a two-month period where we had language and culture lessons and lived with a host family.

I hope that will help clear up any confusion you all might have in reading future posts and of course I’ll be sure to translate anything that comes up in writing that hasn’t been mentioned.

I love and miss you all, and I’ll be updating more. Promise.