Feet on the Ground in Togo

Yes, I am quoting Shakespeare’s "Romeo and Juliet" for this blog post because it is an accurate representation of my life right now. Most of you know me as Sofia Howson—that would be my legal American name. But here in Togo I am HOWSON Kossiwa. Yep, Sofia no more—only Kossiwa. Kossiwa is the name given to me by the community in the local language Ewe. When translated, it means “born on Sunday.” Names given in Ewe are based on the day on which you were born, so there are seven root names, but the names are also distinguished by gender, so there are actually 14 names. My name, Kossiwa, distinguishes that I was both born on Sunday, and I am also a girl (If I were a boy, I’d be named Kossi). I am known as Kossiwa in a village of 1,500 inhabitants—a village that is neither too large nor too small. There is a primary school (an elementary school) and a secondary school (middle school) both of which holds 80 students in each classroom. There is a small health clinic which is st...

A Host of New Experiences As a Peace Corps volunteer, I work every day of the week, every hour of the day, and I don’t have the weekend days of Saturday and Sunday to relax. Those two days, in fact, are some of the busiest I’ve experienced when it comes to my work. Two important jobs I hold as a volunteer are 1) to stay alive and 2) to integrate into my community. With regard to these roles, Saturday and Sunday are invaluable days to me. Saturday was the market day in my training village. Each Saturday after eating lunch with my host family I would visit the market with the other volunteers. We would buy the basic necessities such as soap, peanut butter, toilet paper, and of course the wonderful fabric pagne (and a lot of it) to make new clothes. The market is not like any other grocery shopping experience: the prices are not fixed, the items are not arranged in any type of pattern, and the language spoken is most certainly not English. With that being said, the market is both e...

Remember that incessant ad in movie theatres that reminds theatre-goers to silence their phones because “silence is golden”? Well, that saying feels like my life in Togo right now. I have been here for two months, and even with my improving French and beginner’s level Ewe (the local language), I still find most of my time spent in silence. Right now, I write to you in silence, in my two-room home (with electricity and internet!) in my site for my next two years. I have been assigned to a small village in the Plateaux region of Togo, the second southernmost region. I am here now because, as Peace Corps trainees, we have a two-week site visit before we swear-in as volunteers in August. The silence I am experiencing at my site and I had experienced with my host family is not necessarily due to the language barrier but is rather intentional. The silence I experience is not the lonely kind but a social silence. This silence is something that Peace Corps Togo has pushed us to discover—a ...

The most delicious beignets from the local market The friendly neighborhood sheep loitering around my outdoor French class This Togolese moth is about five inches across A Peace Corps jeep on the way to our host families! Baker's oven with the most amazing smelling bread View of Lomé from the roof of Peace Corps headquarters A sample of the many varieties of pagne offered at the local market. Pagne is the beautiful fabric that is worn in Togo. Just buy the fabric and then bring it a tailor to make a custom-made suit, dress, skirt etc. for about $7 total. Sundays are for laundry. The only washing machines they have here are the people themselves, so we must handwash all laundry, and it’s incredibly difficult Togolese soda that tastes like bubblegum This is my youngest host brother Edoh. Just under two years old, he is a true adventurer. He loves chasing around the chickens. It’s hard to be mad at him when he tries to ...