So I wanted to take this blog as a chance to describe in some more detail the area that I’m living in. Hopefully the picture I’m going to try and post with this comes out, but that’s always a toss-up whether the upload will work or not. I know I’ve tried to describe some the rolling landscape, harmattan and the trees in the past, but it can never take the place of a decent photo.
Anyway, I took this picture on just about the windiest day we’ve had yet, about a week ago. It felt like a storm was coming through, except all day long and without a trace of rain. Generally, the winds stop during the night. They’ll start to pick up around 9 in the morning (so get your sweeping done early!) and peak around noon. However, they won’t fully stop until the sun starts to set. It can make for a real difficult time biking! I’ve left for work in neighboring villages in the morning and made it with no problem, but had to come back through the wind later in the day. It can make a normal ride seem like a stretch in the Tour de France! Hopefully you can kind of see how the wind is kicking up dust in the background. Fortunately, the winds have since died down some from when I took the picture. I’m told that the coldest weather is now behind us, although the winds could continue until late February when the breeze dies and la chaleur (the hotness) begins.
But this picture also gives you a snapshot of my house. I actually live in what we would call a “compound” here. Most families live in these kind of circular and compartmentalized concessions that have separate little houses/rooms that are built into the wall. There’s usually some kind of gate or door that opens into the compound where the family shares a space you might compare to a crude courtyard. Guard dogs are generally the extent of security for the actual compound interior and then it’s the individual rooms that often have locks on them. In the case of our compound we have a mango tree growing in the middle, popping out from a hole they made in the cement floor. Looking around we have about ten separate rooms, ranging from where the donkeys and goats sleep, the chicken coup, two or three kitchen rooms and then the bedrooms.
For me I have a section blocked off for myself. My portion of the compound consists of a kitchen room, my “house” (two small rooms), my shower and my latrine. I fenced off this area with straw fencing that I had made in village, just to give myself some privacy when I need it. There’s also a section that is shaded with a bit of an outdoor roof. In the picture you can see from the outside the two rooms that make up my house, which are on the right side of the compound.
Little by little it’s starting to feel like home. The difference maker is that I’ve finally starting getting some furniture and wall decorations (besides spiders and geckos) to fill the empty space. With the temperatures relatively cool it’s turning into a cozy little space. However, I think mosquitoes may become an issue as they’ve started showing up in numbers in my kitchen and latrine!
I’m working on putting together a little garden/tree nursery on the opposite side of the compound, close to the well. We’re also shaping up our “peyote” (not sure how to say it in English but it’s like a shaded terrace made from branches and hay, equipped with log benches) outside of the compound where we can greet people under some shade (hard to see in the picture but it’s just to the right of the tree to the left of the compound).
You can’t see it the picture but there is a riverbed in the kind of valley I live near. Right now it’s just about dried up except for a few spots where people go to find water or do their laundry. The other thing that’s worth mentioning, but which may be tough to make out, is the trees that line some of the roads here. In the background you might be able to make out the dirt road that heads up the hill and into a stand of giant trees. One of the neat things about biking the roads here is that a lot of the roads are lined with these huge trees. In French they are known as Kapokier trees, but they were actually planted by the Germans along their roads in the early 20th century when Togo was still a German colony. Although the villagers don’t like the trees because they don’t go well with their millett crops, I appreciate riding into my village center being greeted by the shade of these neat trees.
My house itself is only a five minute walk from the village center where I can get most of my needs (relative to the picture, my village is behind where I stood as I took the photo). There’s a couple of schools, a couple churches, numerous boutiques, a number of street vendors, a handful of buvettes and then the market (which is generally empty except for Tuesday and Friday when the market comes to town). It’s actually a sizeable little village. From there the city is roughly 15k away if I have any more specific needs (such as internet to post this blog!).
So if you were interested I hope that helps out with your vision of my new surroundings. It’s difficult to describe it all, but like I said, it is turning into home for me.
As always I hope everyone is doing well, or as the Moba would say “Lafié” (meaning health). A plus!
