Evala, Kondana, Akpema and more!!

Hello everyone!  I hope you are all enjoying summer.  Things are going great in Togo, and I'd like to share some things I've been up to.

Work related, I've started working at the village dispensary.  They have no running water, but do have electricity which is essential for keeping vaccines cold in the refrigerator. Each Thursday I go to help weigh babies, something mothers try to do monthly to keep track of their babies weight gain.  Mothers are given a little booklet with a graph designating curves for health weight gain, mediocre weight gain and unhealthy or lack of weight gain.  I get really excited when I see a baby who is gaining weight well, following the highest curve,  but it's hard to see some babies that aren't gaining much weight, or babies that are below the mediocre or even unhealthy weight gain curve.  It's for this reason that we've started planting moringa trees (awesome protein, vitamin, potassium and calcium packed tree leaves) around the dispensary, and started to talk about nutrition for babies and mothers. Moringa leaf powder can be added to porridge and given to babies.  My counterpart planted some moringa trees a few years ago, and we collected a ton of seeds this year, which is enabling us to start a lot of moringa projects.  If you want more info about moringa, check out this website:
Trees for Life

Additonally, our community recently received funding for a Small Project Assistance project, funded by USAID and Peace Corps.  The grant money will be used to construct a well at the middle school where currently there is no available drinking water and also to create a school/community garden, which will become permanetly fenced in at the school.  We received the funds, but won't begin the project until February, during dry season when it is well digging season.  Basically, funds will pay for cemeny, fencing, etc, and our community witll provide the work force as their contribution.  It is our hope that the project will not only provide clean drinking water to students, but also that the availability of water and a fenced garden will enable our community to grow vegetables during the dry season, when it is otherwise impossible due to lack of water.  We will also use the garden as a learning place to hold classes on organic gardening, and sustainable farming practices that hopefully people will then bring  home and use in their own fields.  More info on this project later!

The past few weeks our community has been really busy with traditional ceremonies and parties.  First there was Evala, the annual men's wrestling festival.  It is held only in our prefecture, Kozah, but all Kabiye through the country come to Kozah during this time.  This was awesome, and I really enjoyed watching my friends wrestle.  Pretty much all men from the age of 18 to 23 can wrestle and also want to wrestle.  Younger boys are challenging each other in the courtyards of their houses constantly.  The first day, my neighborhood fought against another neighborhood, then our neighborhoods joined together and fought against another, and fighting went on like this each day until the final where our village fought another village.  I also got to see the president, Faure Gnassingbe, when he came to watch the final!  It was a week of dancing, watching wrestling, eating and drinking local beer and I have to say I really enjoyed it.  Also, if the young men have enough money, they buy a dog to wrestle, kill and eat to give them the strength to fight.  Only a few of my friends did this, as dogs, along with all types of meat, are expensive.

Kondana (not sure on spelling here really) is the ceremony of 25 years.  It is held to celebrate boys becoming men and is held every 5 years, so I was lucky to see it.  Various ceremonies are held, offering of chickens and goats, and those men participating wear a thick silver band around their neck; and aren't supposed to leave their house until the final day of the ceremony, where they dance and run up a huge mound of dirt (it's really big) and bang a big piece of metal.  Then there is drinking at each of the kondo's house, and you must remove your shoes and make a call before you are allowed to enter.  I guess this is kind of hard to explain, but I hope you get the idea.  I'll be putting up some pictures when I go to Lomé begining of September. 

Finally, there is Akpema.  Honestly, I've not even seen to much of this.  Men's ceremonies and Evala greatly overshadow that of the girls, even though Kondana relies on women to dance with them, scream for and fan the men participating in the ceremony.  I asked my friend if men show the same amount of support for the girls doing Akpema, and of course, the answer was no.   The men do play drums for them though.  Anyway, Akpema, is the girls coming of age ceremony, and traditionally, girls are to walk naked up a mountain.  This year, apparently most girls refused to walk naked and so they wear small shorts, a bra and a silky cape to show them are participating in the festival.  There are also the specific Akpema songs which they sing and dance. 

Ok, that's about it!  A long blog, so hopefully it's not too heavy.  I'll make another update and upload more picutres when I am in Lomé the begining of September.  Until then, be well!