fufu

There are two primary foods that the Togolese people eat on a regular basis. The two staples here are rice and and something known as fufu (pronounced foo-foo). Fufu is made from cassava (also called "yam" here.....but it's nothing like what we know as yams).

If I'm not mistaken, cassava is a root that they dig up, peel, boil for approximately 30 minutes, cut into chunks, throw in to a wooden thing and then beat with wooden poles for a long time until it is the right consistency. It has no flavor but takes on the flavor of whatever sauce they pour on it.

Two of my Togolese friends (pictured above) thought it would be fun if I would pound fufu with them. Apparently I do not have the rhythm, the strength, or the endurance required to properly pound fufu. I tried to pound the fufu in step with the others but I just kept whacking their sticks with my stick which is completely against proper fufu pounding technique. They did get a good laugh so I guess it wasn't a complete loss.

When it was all said and done, we sat down to a plate of fufu with chicken sauce. I ate as much as I possibly could while wondering the entire time why we used up so much of our energy to make such a thing. I still can't figure it out.

Anyway, for those of you who would like to experience a bit of African culture, go to your nearest Wal-Mart or Target (I prefer Target because it's cleaner and there are less people than at Wal-Mart) and buy some play-dough or silly puddy, take it home, whack it with a stick and then eat it.

If you really want to have some fun, buy the glow in the dark silly puddy and eat it with the lights off.

lizards are okay, skinks are not

Here's another story about the "wildlife" here in Togo. Like I said, we haven't seen any elephants but we do see lizards all the time. As a matter of fact we have a couple who have taken up residence in our apartment.

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The other day I came home and found Kevin sitting in the recliner watching a lizard run around the perimeter of the living room. He told me he had been sitting there for 45 minutes watching it go around and around. We need to get that boy a life.

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Anyway, some of the lizards here are colorful and others just look like your run of the mill geckos. They also have skinks here (I don't know if that's how you spell it) but they are more annoying than lizards. Lizards, for the most part, stay on the walls. Skinks go anywhere they want including my bed! That is not okay with me.

a bug's life

Words cannot describe what I saw while walking down the road the other day through the village of Agame (pronounced A-ga-may). I didn't notice what it was until I was right on it and of course I cannot simply walk by and keep my cool....I have to jump up and down and scream and draw more attention to myself (as if there weren't already enough people watching every move I was making).

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Anyway, it was thousands and thousands of centipedes (I think that's what they were). It was absolutely creepy, like something out of a scary movie. I even woke up in the middle of the night thinking about them wondering where they came from and where they were going. Actually, they probably don't even know where they were going so maybe I should stop thinking about it.

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Once I regained my composure I took some pictures for Kevin. The Togolese I was with wanted me to get closer but I assured them that the zoom on my camera worked quite well.

baby on my back

I can't carry big pots on my head but I can carry a baby on my back just like the Togolese! These photos were taken this past weekend in Lome. The baby's mom is in the evangelistic film so I was watching the baby while her mom was busy. The baby got fussy and the others said it was because she wanted to go to sleep and that I needed to put her on my back because that's how she is used to falling asleep. I was afraid of dropping her on her head but as it turns out, the way they carry their babies works quite well!

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I will say that having a baby on my back is much better than that monkey I had on my back a couple weeks ago!

back from lome

We are back from a nice weekend in Lome! We completed the filming there and even had time for some fun! One of the best parts of going to Lome is eating at a few of the nice restaurants that they have there. Friday night we went to "Alt Munchen" for German food and then Saturday we went to China town for lunch and an Italian restaurant for pizza that night! We also did a little work on the film...but that was just an excuse to go to Lome and eat out!

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On Saturday we risked our very lives in order to buy me some fabric in the "Grand Marche" (the grand market). I think they should rename that place "The Scariest Place in the World" but that might hurt their business so maybe they shouldn't rename it after all. We made it out alive and I found the fabric I was looking for. I have enough now to have 7 new skirts made!

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We also drove along the coast and snapped some shots from the van. It's not safe for us to go out on the beach because we could get mugged. Maybe they should name that place "The Second Scariest Place in the World." Actually, if you go to the grand market first the beach looks like a pretty nice place comparatively speaking. It's all about perspective ya know.

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Nevertheless, we had a nice time and ate well so I would call the weekend a success!

chicken herds are funnier than goat herds

Yesterday was day two of the filming and again, I think it went well. If I'm not careful they're gonna kick me off the "set" one of these days. As it turns out, a bunch of chickens running through a scene is actually funnier than goats because the chickens ran into the scene and wouldn't leave! There must have been at least 30 chickens that heard the sound of corn clanking around in a big silver pot during one of the kitchen scenes and they came running from every direction trying to get some! I had to run (okay, walk quickly) behind a hut because I got tickled and couldn't stop laughing. We never did get the scene to work the way it was planned. Those chickens were too persistent.

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We head down to Lome in just over an hour to do some filming there. We will be back to the compound Sunday evening. My husband is going with us which I am very happy about! Things are always more fun when he's around!

goat herds are funny

Today was the first day of filming and though I didn't understand one word that was spoken I think it went very well! Much of the time we had to be dead quiet which was a difficult task in and of itself...for me anyway.

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Filming a movie in West Africa has its own challenges to say the least. We started filming at 8:30am and went until 1:25pm with all of the filming being outside in the blazing hot sun. My farmer's tan is coming along nicely but it's gonna cost me a heatstroke sooner or later.

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There was one part that was supposed to be a pretty intense scene and we had gotten everyone on the "set" to finally be quiet (including me) and as they were filming, a herd of goats (yes, it was a herd, there were more than 4 of them) came out of nowhere and ran right through the scene.

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Okay, you know how things are funnier in church and at funerals than they normally would be? Well, things that usually wouldn't be hysterical will make you nearly wet your pants when you are on a movie set and you are supposed to be completely quiet. Yes, for those of you who are wondering....I busted out laughing and was the only one laughing because apparently Togolese people don't think goat herds on a movie set are nearly as funny as I do. Anyway, they had to re-do that scene, oddly enough, because of my laughter.....not because of the goats.

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I won't go on and on but I will tell you that random wild chickens on movie sets are funny too, even if I'm the only one who thinks so.

lights, camera, hey who took my camera?

This coming Friday I am heading down to the capitol city of Lome (pronounced Lo-may) for 3 days. I am involved in a film project and the film team from the US just arrived today and we will be doing some filming down there.

Now let me just tell you what a crowd we are going to draw while we are doing this. Just the lily white skin that we walk around with everyday is enough to gather quite an audience. I cannot imagine what it is going to be like when the film crew pulls out cameras and microphones, etc. I'm thinking about wandering off and acting like I don't even know the crazy white people with the movie equipment.

In the past there have been some warnings sent out from the US Embassy in Lome warning US citizens to be extremely careful in Lome because of the muggings, car jackings, etc. As a matter of fact the embassy sent out a list of precautions including one that says we should be aware of EVERYTHING that is going on around us AT ALL TIMES.

Is that even possible? The minute we stop the vehicle anywhere in Lome we have at least 7 people surrounding the van all talking to us at once trying to get us to buy whatever it is they are selling at that particular moment. I did buy a calculator from one of those guys a few weeks ago but I already lost it. Maybe if the calculator salesman is in the mob that surrounds us this weekend I'll be able to get another one.

Anyway, my point (and I do have one) is that I am going to Lome this weekend with a film crew from the US to work on an evangelistic film that will eventually be distributed all over West Africa and that we are going to draw quite a crowd in the process. I'll let you know how it goes.

now that's using your head

Okay, so I've gotta give another point to the women of West Africa. I don't know how they do the stuff they do. I do know that I wouldn't dare pick a fight with any of them. They are strongest women I have ever seen. I have seen them carrying heavy loads on their heads with children on their backs walking up the mountain behind the hospital compound. I don't like to stare but it's difficult not to. I guess I could refrain from standing there with my mouth hanging wide open in sheer amazement while videoing them but I can't promise that I'll stop staring.

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One of my Togolese friends wanted me to put a big bucket of stuff on my head just to see if I could carry it and aside from the fact that it would mess up my hair - it would most likely snap my neck so we decided not to do it. Actually, I couldn't even pick it up so getting it on top of my head was a moot point. Pitiful. In an attempt to do something impressive I told her I could walk and chew gum at the same time but she didn't seem to care.

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I wish I would have had my camera with me two days ago as we were heading down to Kpalime. We drove through a village and I saw a child who could not have been more than 15 months old wobbling around with a little bowl of water on her head. Amazing. What's really funny is when we see someone walking around with a machete or a small bottle of drinking water on their head. At that point I think they are just showing off.

overload

I have never in my life seen such overloaded vehicles. These folks sure do know how to make only one trip if ya know what I mean. What's really interesting is when we are driving down the road in a vehicle that is not overloaded and we are passed by one of these trucks that have 2 tons of cargo, 37 passengers, 3 live goats and 7 chickens in them. All I know is that there can't possibly be 37 seat belts in any of those vans.

low budget safari

One of the highlights of our recent and very short trip to Ghana was the low budget safari we went on. This safari park is great for people who have no money because it's free. Well, it's mostly free. It will cost you a little of your pride as you sit on inanimate objects and have your picture taken while the African passers-by stare at you and wonder if you are dangerous or just crazy or both.

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There's also a nice restaurant right in the park called "Chances." We weren't sure why it was called that until we ate there. Now we know....you order something off the menu and then you take your "Chances" on getting what you actually ordered. My husband ordered pepper steak and I ordered beef stir fry. About 15 minutes after we ordered the waitress came back to the table to tell us that they were out of pepper steak. We're not sure why it took her 15 minutes to figure out that they were out of it but all we can figure is that she looked for it for quite a while and then gave up and came out to ask him to order something different, which he did. He ordered a chicken kabob with french fries.

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When our food came we began eating and my husband immediately recognized the fact that he was not eating chicken. We still haven't figured out what kind of meat it was but he's still alive so we're not too concerned about it. We may never know what kind of meat he ate but we do know why they named the restaurant "Chances!"

going to ghana

We are leaving in a little while to head over the border to Ghana for a couple of days. We came through Ghana when we first came to Africa and this will be our first trip back into that country. Maybe we'll see more wild baboons along the side of the road. I'm smarter now though....I won't give them my crackers! Actually, I don't have any more crackers. All of the American food we brought with us is long gone!

Well, I'll try to get back to the computer shortly after we return from Ghana. I'm sure there will be a story or two to tell when we get back! The drive is about 6 hours over both paved and dirt roads and we have to go through many checkpoints along the way but my husband doesn't mind because the guards at the checkpoints carry AK-47's and he likes to look at them! Whatever floats your boat, ya know what I mean?

monkey on my back

Well, here's another story from the "stupid things I do" file. Remember the 2 monkeys I told you about that live here on the compound? Well, they are a lot of fun to watch...from a distance. These monkeys are each tied to a tire on a chains that are about 8ft. long. So as long as you are about 9 ft. away from them you're okay.

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Yesterday, a couple of young boys decided to feed pound cake to the monkeys and I went over to watch. I asked them why they were only feeding one of the monkeys and they said that the other monkey was mean and that they did not like him.

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Well, I felt sorry for the other monkey and told the boys that they should give the other one some pound cake too. They threw him a little and then continued feeding "Yoda." The boys soon grew tired of this activity and moved on to something else leaving a good amount of pound cake on the ground in front of Yoda who, by this time, was full and was just picking up the pound cake and throwing it back down.

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When the monkey wandered off I decided that I should quickly (quickly being the key word...) take the excess pound cake from within his reach and give it to the other monkey and the goats.

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Now, keep in mind that the monkey was not paying any attention to me and was a good 10 or 15 ft. away from where I was standing. I quickly walked toward the pound cake, bent over and grabbed 2 hand fulls. Before I could even think about standing up that stupid monkey came from no where and in one leap was on my back!

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I screamed like a girl and stood up straight trying to fling the thing off of me! I ran straight ahead trying to get away from it only to run right into the other pound cake deprived monkey that I was trying to help in the first place! In the end I got away with 2 hand fulls of pound cake to feed to the goats who I'm sure I heard laughing at me from the other side of the yard.

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Now I know where they get that saying "I've gotta get that monkey off my back!"

termite mounds

Well, since the topic lately seems to be termites I thought I'd post a couple pictures of two of the termite mounds on the hospital compound. I wish I could give you a better idea of how tall these mounds are. Perhaps I should make my husband stand by one and then take a picture. That would give you an idea unless, of course, he was 20 ft. tall. In that case you wouldn't really be able to tell.

another termite story

Just thought I'd post some pictures of a few of the various types of pretty flowers that we have here on the compound. I do not know the names of any of these flowers, I simply refer to them as the "little red flowers" or the "yellow and white flowers," etc. Works for me. :)

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This has been an interesting week so far as I have been designated as the chauffeur for the nursing students who need to teach community health in various villages as part of their course work for the nursing program. All I have to do is get them there and back! Yesterday we left the compound at 7:15am and drove about 30 minutes north to the village of T'savie. When we got there the chief told us that because of the rain the day before, everyone was out working in their fields and if we wanted a better audience we should come back at 6pm.

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Well, we went back to the village at 6pm and about 50 people gathered to hear the presentation. The topic was on how to purify water. Here in Togo it gets dark (I mean pitch dark) every evening at 6pm so there we were, ready to begin and not one person could see the two nursing students who were supposed to teach them! I had a 2 flashlights in my back pack and so we (me and the nursing instructor) sat off to the side and pointed the light at the nursing students. It reminded me of someone telling a scary story while shining a flashlight under their chin to light up their face.

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Okay, here's another fact about termites...they are attracted to light. So picture us, sitting off to the side of the crowd but still basically in the front, in view of the entire audience and the only 2 people with lights. Within seconds termites were all around and I was on the verge of freaking out. I knew I had to keep the light on the students who were teaching but I also knew that I was very capable of causing quite a scene in the event that one of those termites found its way down my shirt.

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I had lost all concentration and was swatting termite after termite while still trying to keep the light on the students. I'm sure the people in the audience thought they were at a disco or something the way that light was bouncing around. I think a couple of them in the back started to dance but I can't be sure.

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Anyway, the students finished and I didn't freak out so I think we can call it a successful night!