This little piece of Togo

I realized today that I haven’t ever sat down and really described what this part of Togo is like.  Let’s start with the hospital.  The whole hospital compound is surrounded by a huge cement wall that encompasses both the hospital and beyond where many of the missionaries are living.  There is the guest house for short term people like me and for longer term people there are actual houses that have been built for them to live in with bedrooms, living areas and kitchens.  The concrete wall surrounds all of this which is actually quite a bit of property.   The compound it self is landscaped with grass and trees that are well taken care of.  There is plenty of space for a good game of soccer.  I have been impressed with the set up for the compound and hospital.  Whoever started this place knew what they were doing.  The picked out plenty of space and even put in a basketball court and a swimming pool.  They knew enough to dig a well to provide fresh water to everyone living within the concrete wall including the hospital which is key.  Almost half of third world illnesses can be attributed to unclean water.  They also set up a generator system so that every time the power goes out (almost daily) the generator kicks on in 3 seconds.  Mango, lemon and grapefruit trees were planted all over the compound property.  The hospital itself is made up of a bunch of different buildings that are all connected to each other one way or another.  Very well done.

When you step outside the concrete wall (which is normal for all hospitals here to have walls and guards around them) you walk out onto a sort of paved road which is littered with potholes.  The dirt on the side of the road and in the potholes has a red tinge to it.  This is the only road around and runs north south connecting small little villages with each other along the way.  If you head south from the hospital you are heading towards some of the bigger villages and if you go north you immediately start climbing up a steep mountain.  Because it rains so much here it is more like a jungle than a dessert.  There are lots of tall green trees and grasses as well as vines and other jungle like plants.  Just outside of the hospital along the road a few people have settled and set up little shops, but I wouldn’t really call this a village.  It is just that a few people found a way to make a living just outside the hospital gates as they sell their things to those that come and go.  Their houses are made of mud and cement walls with either tin roofs or roofs made out of tree branches that have been tied together.  Most houses are one room with a dirt floor. No bathroom.  This one room is where they sleep, eat, cook and do laundry.  There are lines strung up between houses and trees where the wash is hung to dry.  All of the paths between the houses are dirt with children running around playing amongst the goats and chickens that are free roaming.  Half of the time the children have clothes on and half of the time they do not.  The women carry huge baskets of laundry, goods to sell or oranges or lemons they just picked from one of the local trees on their heads.  I can only dream of ever having such balance.  Sometimes they have huge loads (one of the missionaries weighed one of their baskets once and it weighed 65lbs!) on their head and have a baby strapped to their back.  They basically just take a long piece of cloth and wrap it around their baby and then tie it around their waist.  The babies sort of sit in it like a sling.  The women sit around cooking or doing laundry talking loudly to each other either in French or their native language.  They laugh very easily.  You don’t see the men around in the day very much.   I haven’t been off the compound at night (not super recommended for safety reasons), but I am sure these mud/concrete huts don’t have electricity so I am not sure what they do once the sun goes down.  Most people in Togo seem to get up early (4 or 5 am) and work until the hottest part of the day and then they rest and resume work until 8 or so at night.  I for some reason have found myself waking up around 4 am every morning on my own too.  It is nice to have the morning to get some things done.  Anyway, I hope this gives you a better idea of what life is like here.  With how slowly the computers and internet work here I haven’t found a very feasible way to post pictures.  I will definitely add some pics to my blog when I get back to the States.