24 December - Friends and Philosophies

Sitting on the veranda (after I got my usual chiding for sitting in the sun) Maman Mathilde and I “cose.”

Coser (Ko-zay): to sit and chat. But it is more than just gossiping and talking, it is a way of passing the time, enjoying each others’ company and, for me, understanding the world around me. Togolese love to coser…they will cose for hours and hours and hours…to keep out of trouble, to keep from being bored, to simply take pleasure in their relationships with each other. Inno and his work friends cose about repayments and microcredit clients; Akpene and her ladies cose whose mother is sick and why men are such dogs; Me? I always want to cose about politics…but around election time, getting people to talk about opposition parties and corruption is like pulling teeth (However I do have some fairly unique relationships with people on the ground here and am slowly gleaning what I can about the atmosphere surrounding February’s presidential election…will write on that soon.)

Maman Mathilde and I talk about the French yovos in Kpalime and how they always (almost without exception, I will never understand…) walk the streets with the Rastamen…reinforcing stereotypes with every late night rendezvous and purchase of a djembe.

While I will always be a Yovo above anything else, I have true friends here that don’t just want my money or the social boost it gives them to lead me around town to buy artwork from their frères and soeurs. That know I will be back. That know I am different. I appreciate and respect my Togolese friends so much for this simple recognition and respect – and I in turn give them the same. Africa is complicated and people are at once incredibly transparent and extremely difficult to figure out, but one thing is universal I suppose: good folks are hard to find.

Last night, after fufu at Atsou’s, I went to a local bar with my FECECAV crew. Whenever I meet Yovos coming to Togo, whether for work or pleasure, they all want to know the same things: Where can I find the ex-pats? Where are the Yovo bars? Is it weird or real that either I don’t know or I stay away from these places as much as possible…I do all I can to separate myself from the European accents, the excessive drinking, the condescending , and even more upsetting, often subconscious, comments and looks…

I have written about this before, but every time I come back here and spend weeks on end without speaking to another Yovo I realize how abnormal that is…without any intention of sounding completely obnoxious, I prefer my Togolese friends, and am always surrounded by them. I am not here for some romantic or exotic experience, and this is wholly in line with my philosophy on international development, and hence, my projects and choices.

Peace Corps and Embassy jobs do not interest me…how can you put a timeline on how long you are willing to help people? After your service or contract you leave…with a full heart, a pat on your back, a bullet point on your resume, having built one clinic or temporarily assisted one farmers’ co-op. But where is the sustainability? Where is the genuinely-intentioned capacity building and giving the responsibility to Africans themselves, with some infusion of resources of course, to develop (NOT to their governments! Let me be very clear about this!) All of that said, I do not mean to cruelly devalue to work of Peace Corps volunteers, as I have known some great ones.

But without energy, liquidity and functioning telecommunications networks, this “development” seems so far out of reach. It is both wonderful and bizarre that I don’t get discouraged very often.

After energy, telecommunications is the next most important thing for economic development. Moov has still not returned, and TogoTelecom’s network is now so saturated that not only can you not get any calls though without redialing 10 times, but apparently Togocell has run out of new numbers…

But even in its absence, Togolese hearts still belong to Moov. Is it a sign of the population's tacit resistance to their corrupt state-run market. Everyone continues to talk about Moov’s free weekends and that “when Moov comes back” they will offer 5 free days of communication.