Perhaps the last highlight of market day that I want to bring to you is what we volunteers call “the dead yovo” market. In Togo, “yovo” is the ubiquitous word for white person. It comes from the Ewe language, which is the most widely spoken language along with French and it means something like the “one who shines”. Normally, it might be a compliment, but thanks to it’s over abuse, especially by anxious singing children, it’s more or less a word we dread being called. Nonetheless, the word is just another cultural difference we’ve adapted to and even employ on our own at times, as is the case in calling used clothing “dead white people’s clothing”.
But I digress! Anyway, all over Africa, second hand clothing from the western world is shipped to Africa. It’s all donated, however the fees for transport make it so that the clothes need to be bought and sold for a price. It some senses, it’s a controversial business. The enormous surplus of old clothing from the West makes large amounts of perfectly useful clothing available to poor people across the world. Instead of being wasted, clothes are recycled by very eager poor people. Nonetheless, it has an effect on the development of local economy. Although Africa would benefit from the work of producing its own clothing, all this cheep clothing makes big clothing factories few and no doubt subtracts from the work of local tailors. In one way, the whole dynamic may be compared to that of Wal-Mart in local economies.
One way or the other however, I love this market, for the simple reason that it’s the closest thing I get to a dose of home in village. Only rarely do I not stop and take the time to poke around the piles of cheap clothing lining the main road on market day. T-shirts are especially fun, since I happen across some pretty hilarious designs, including one of my favorite shirts for a joint called “Lobster Louis’” in Orlando, FL, advertising “the best tail in town”. Other times, it’s just comforting to see familiar labels and logos I wouldn’t otherwise see. So on market say, the least desireable used clothing gets heaped in piles on the side of the road and sold for rarely more than 10-20 cents. This is the second picture I posted.
But like any yard sale, some “junk” is better than others. Typically, merchants scour the huge piles of clothing upon entering the port in Lomé. They take out all the best stuff and sell it like it was brand new (and sometimes it is). Hence, in Lomé an old stadium has been turned into a giant salvation army, where countless peddlers come out daily to sell the best second hand clothing for decent prices. When I wanted to find a Red Sox hat and soccer cleats, this is where I went. Sure enough, I got my quality Sox hat for about 50 cents and some beat up, but original, Adidas cleats for 8 bucks, then fixed up by a cobbler for another buck. And if you ask me no other new shoe I could find in country would be better!
In my village as well, there’s a version of this “organized yard sale”. Merchants set up stalls and display their quality pants, dress shirts, t-shirts, jackets and such in rows of hangers, where you can stroll through and see what you find. Of course, it’s very hit or miss to find the clothes you like and fit at the same time, but especially in the case of pants, tailors are used to retrofitting for small fees. I must say, almost all my favorite clothes I find in this way, but that’s because it’s a small important thing that helps make me feel a little more at home in this very different corner of the world.
