Elfege: My Personal Designer

Yes... you read correctly. I, Shelley Sanders, have a personal designer....Oh I have died and gone to fashionista heaven! His name in Elfege and he is absolutely fabulous.  Today I took him some fabric and he designed my a dress and a long shirt.  The best part about him is that he speaks some English, so we can communicate pretty easily.  He promised to make a one of a kind sexy designer gown...I cannot wait.  My items will be finished on Friday, so I will really try to post pics of the newest pieces to my limited wardrobe. The absolute best part about my designer Elfege is that I can afford him!!!!  This is a dream come true. I paid about 22,000 CFA for my pieces, which is about 44 UDS. Needless to say I have made an executive decision to get two pieces of clothing made a month. I am bursting at the seems right now...Beautiful clothes made specifically to fit my body!!!

The Season of Harmattan

Harmattan is the season between the dry season and the first rainy season of the year, from about Mid- January to the end of February (it ended mid-February this year).  This was the craziest season I have ever experienced.  The winds are blowing South from the Sahara desert, so everything and everyone is covered in dust. All of the dust on the air blocks the sun, so the temperature is cooled down tremendously. One morning it was so cool I walked to school in a long sleeve t-shirt. I had to take it off by 9:30 AM because the temperature had gone up. During this time my skin became painfully dry and brittle and it felt like dust has took up permanent residence in my chest.  I had to drink tea everyday for a week in order to pass the dust that lived inside me.  This was sort of like West Africa's version of winter. Needless to say, I enjoyed the cool weather, but the dust was too much.

Bonne Fete 2009 in Togo

I wish I had an eventful to tale full of fancy and excitement...so sorry to disappoint you. NYE in Togo was very similar to how I celebrate NYE in the states...very low key. My body is till recovering from malaria, so I was pretty fatigued; definately not in a mood to go out in the streets. I did my NYE prayer, made my resolutions, and was in bed by 10:30PM. This would have been okay with me, but the Togolese had different plans for me. At around 11:30 I begin to hear the crackeling of fireworks outside my window. As midnight came and went the fireworks got louder and closer. I was so afraid that one was going to come flying through my window...so why not just close my window??? Well, it is TTTTOOO HHHHOOOTTTTT and I do not have air! Anyway this went on until about 2 AM in the morning. What a New Year!!! The best was this morning when I went to go hang with Toya, everyone was dressed in their Sunday best on their way to church:) I should re-consider how I celebrate NYE.

Ouidah (Wee-dah) and Beyond

The school has a two week vacation for the holidays and I planned on using this time to travel and obtain some knowledge. My original plans were to travel to Cape Coast, Ghana about 6 hours from where I live on December 26th and stay until December 31st. Well Ghana had other plans…the Togo/ Ghana boarder was closed from the 26th to the 29th for the run-off presidential election (remember this fact as it will come up in a later), so I had to revise my plans. One of the revisions was to take a one day visit to Ouidah, Benin (about a two hour rive). This turned out to be a very interesting trip (all in French of course…I am certain a lot was lost in translation). The other revision to my travel schedule was a two day visit to Cape Coast, Ghana.

Ouidah (Wee-dah) and Beyond

The school has a two week vacation for the holidays and I planned on using this time to travel and obtain some knowledge. My original plans were to travel to Cape Coast, Ghana about 6 hours from where I live on December 26th and stay until December 31st. Well Ghana had other plans…the Togo/ Ghana boarder was closed from the 26th to the 29th for the run-off presidential election (remember this fact as it will come up in a later), so I had to revise my plans. One of the revisions was to take a one day visit to Ouidah, Benin (about a two hour rive). This turned out to be a very interesting trip (all in French of course…I am certain a lot was lost on translation). The other revision to my travel schedule was a two day visit to Cape Coast, Ghana.

Malaria, Mayhem, and Civil Unrest: Part 4

Lesson 4: African politics are unpredictable….so stay clear!!

As I am on my exodus out of Cape Coast, the radio is filled with emotion and unrest among the people. As of December 30th the president had not been announced based on the votes from the run off election on December 28th. The people were very upset because the media announced the projected winner based on the information they received from the polling commissions and the government refused to give the actual results. The results were supposed to be officially released on December 30th at 12 noon. The issue: The man who got the most votes is not from the ruling party and it seems the ruling party does not want to relinquish power…since Ghana just found oil and all. The banks were sending their employees home, the military was being called into Accra for reinforcement, and British Airways was delaying flights to Accra until the winner was announced. I was well outside of Accra at 12…but with the come of noon did not come the winner of the election. The government officials were still meeting. Announcing the winner has been pushed back to Friday, January 2, 2009…the government wanted the people to have a peaceful New Year. I see nothing god coming from this. I returned to Togo without delay and am recuperating on the couch. HOME SWEET HOME!!! Hot running water, electricity 80% of the time, and a fan…what more can a girl ask for.

Malaria, Mayhem, and Civil Unrest: Part 3

Lesson 3: Never travel alone.

I thank Nadim and Meagan for taking care of me and hunting down medicine by any means necessary. It is always good to have somebody watching your back while you are traveling.

Malaria, Mayhem, and Civil Unrest: Part 2

Lesson 2: I am so not the Peace Corp type (I say this with the utmost respect for the Peace Corp…I wish I was this hardcore).

We stayed in Samoos Guest House for 12 Cedi a night and I cried inside when I saw the rooms. The people I travelled with are amazing and they work and live in a village in Sierra Leone doing NGO work (the village means no inside plumbing and generator electricity one a week), so this Guest House was a step up from their normal accommodations. Details of the room: no toilet paper, cold running water, a fan bolted to the ceiling, bed with a mattress cover and pillows (no sheets or towels), vanity, and chair. I am sure you all are thinking…Shelley is being a bit dramatic; it does not sound that bad. Well, I say to you hear the rest of the story before you pass judgment!!!

At around 10 PM after I had been heavily medicated for malaria and was about to doze off, the electricity goes out. This is normal for Africa so I did not think much of it until 1AM when I woke up in a cold sweat. The fan was not on, which meant the electricity had not come back on…WHAT!!!! 6AM rolls around and still no electricity and no running water. See…I told you too wait before passing judgment. I gather up enough energy to walk downstairs and see when the power and water will be in working order.

In regards to power I was told that they ran out and the owner went out to buy some more…yeah I know…I am confused also. Does that mean he did not pay the bill or he went to buy a generator? The next order of business was running water and she said she would take care of it. About 5 minutes later there is a knock on my door and there she is with a bucket of water!!!!! I politely asked her what this was for and she told me the water in the pipes didn’t come up in the mornings (I was on the third floor). Needless to say I packed my bags and hopped on the first bus back home.

Malaria, Mayhem, and Civil Unrest: Part One

Where do I begin???? Okay, I will just start by saying I learned several lessons about life on this trip.

Lesson 1: If you are not feeling well when it is time to travel…DO NOT TRAVEL.

I was feeling a little fatigued when I started my six hour trip to Cape Coast, but I had knowledge I wanted to obtain (I was not going to be stopped) and OBTAIN KNOWLEDGE I DID. I felt really out of sorts the entire trip, which started at 8 AM, December 29th. We arrived at Cape Coast, Ghana at 4:30 PM. I had not eaten this entire time and was completely drained of energy. We found a Guest House (will discuss this further in lesson 2) for 12 Cedi a night and unloaded our bags. We went to the roof top restaurant for dinner and guess what???? I could not eat my food…NO APPETITE. I returned to my room to lie down and in about an hour my muscles began to ache severely…I had a fever. To make a long story short I had come down with a case of malaria…OMG!!!

Temple of the Python (Ouidah, Benin):

How do I explain this place…it was very simple and understated (not what you would imagine a temple to look like). There was a tree at the entrance of the temple that was over 400 years old and massive. The temple consisted of about 3 thatched roofed buildings what were used for prayers to pythons and were sacred, so entrance was not permitted and a python cemetery. The main building of this temple was a larger thatched roofed building that housed over 50 pythons…WOW!!!! It seems that the pythons are pretty inactive during the day and at night the door is left open and the pythons are allowed to roam around the city. The local people return the snakes in the morning!!! I will answer the question before you even ask…NO I did not touch or carry the pythons. I did, however, step into the pit…PROGRESS.

The most interesting part was the building directly across the street that towers far above the small temple and can be seen from the temple…the Catholic Church. According to the guide (who spoke English), the Python Temple was built in 1663 and the Catholic Church in 1909. The local people pray at the Catholic Church during the day and worship at the Python Temple at night. This was amazing to me: the co-existence of two religions among the same people. In a place where successful kingdoms existed for centuries, the slave trade suffocated the people for centuries, and colonial rule replaced African kingdoms and empires until the 1960s…I guess God is needed in massive doses from all sources to keep the spirits of the people above water.

Portuguese Fort (Ouidah, Benin):

This tour was given in French, so I had to rely solely on my limited French vocabulary and translations. The slaves who left this Portuguese Fort were sent to Brazil and took with them the religion of Voodoo, which can be found and practiced in present day Brazil. Many Brazilians can trace their ancestry back to Benin. This fort was a functioning post in the African Slave Trade until 1737…over 300 years. The fort has been restored into a museum. There are 13 rooms filled with artifacts found on the beaches or in the forest. There is an outdoor section of the fort that was used to store slaves for 15 days in heat, rain, and minimum food; if the slaves survived these 15 days it was determined they were healthy enough to make the journey.

After surviving the 15 days the slaves were chained together and marched to the “Point of No Return,” which is about 3 km. The “Point of No Return,” is where the slaves were told to forget their former lives and anything related to the past. I actually got the opportunity to walk the last 300 meters of the slaves’ journey…I was speechless and still am. Irony: This is the most beautiful beach I have ever seen and in this beauty so many souls were tormented and abandoned…in such beauty lies immense ugliness.

In 2001, a “Door of Return” was built for people returning back to their ancestry. I RETURNED!!!!!!! It is a feeling that I wish my ancestors could have experienced.

What is in a name???

Sunny Lady...Pretty Girl...??? I give you unitl the count of five to guess what these names are for...5...4...3...2..1...0...WRONG!!! These are names of sanitary napkins!! I was sitting in the van at the market waiting and I just happened to see a stand where the lady was selling feminine products. What baffles me is why in the world would someone or something give sanitary napkins such names...I know I am not only speaking for myself when I say, "I DO NOT feel sunny or preety during that time of the month!" So cut the crap and give them names that accurately describe how women feel...Pain Pads...Bloated Butt...Cranky Girl...just to name a few!
If you come up with a good one please share:)

Perspective

This morning I was included in a conversation with a parent and the dicrector of the school...in French of course...so the director did some translating for me. The parent was discussing the conditions of one of the local public schools. From what I could gather...in one class of students ranging from ages 5 or so to 10 there were 150 STUDENTS, 1 TEACHER, 1 CHALKBOARD, and 0 SUPPLIES (no books, pencils, chalk, etc). The government told the school that it did not have the funds to fund it...so there is no money. Normally the families are required to pay a yearly fee to send students to public schools, but I guess not in this case. Some of the high school students at my school will be going to do service work at there and will let me tag along...I have found my life's work!!!

I title this perspective because I constantly remember myself, as a teacher, complaining and moaning about school facilities, decreasing personal supply budget, and so on... Or watching the news and seeing that classrooms are overcrowded with 36 students, not enough books for each child, under qualified teachers, lack of attendence, and so on...

And here is a school with one very underqualified teacher, NO books or supplies (by the way there are no textbooks in the local schools...all notes from the blackboard), no bathroom facilities, 150 sets of parents who send their 150 students to this school, and the students are sent daily without complaint because they recognize that without EDUCATION there is NO PROGRESS...So you make the best out of what you have.

I shall say that we as Americans need to take some perspective, stop complaining, and recognize!

HOT!!!

Where do I begin to attempt to explain the intensity of the heat in Lome this time of the year. The weather is currently in the dry season and man it is hot. The mornings and evenings are cool (80 degrees F or so) and all the time in between is well over 100 degrees F. Even the water at the pool is consistantly warm... When I walk to work I feel as if I am walking in the misdt of fire sometimes. I start the trek to school with huge smile plastered across my face...7 minutes later that smile is turned upside down and I am suffering from heat stroke. For those of you who now me very well get a hold of this...I sweated through a shirt. I mean dripping wet...like I just stepped out of the shower. Now I know why some people here change clothes two to three times a day (unfortunately I do have this luxuary as I only brought enought clothes for 10 days):-)

Outside My Window Part Duex

As I rise from my daily nap, I hear the most bizarre noise. The sound was a mix between a rooster crowing and a baby crying...so being the "curious" person I am I peep out the window to check out the situation. I will give you one guess about what I saw when I went to the window. You have until 5: 1...2...3...4...5. Okay here it goes... two men were tying together the legs of a goat and the goat was crying out in agony. It took about two minutes for me to register why they would be tying up the goat in such a manner...well it soon became very appartent what was happening before my very eyes. If you already have not figured it out...after tying up the goat, the two men proceeded to cut the goat's throat and drian out the blood.

At first I was a bit disgusted by this whole scene, but then I had to remember the journey the beef cubes had to take to get in the rice I ate for lunch. This is a part of the process I stayed voluntarily ignorant to until now. Reality: In order for me to live something had die!!! The circle of LIFE!