I've Moved!

I’ve now been more than a month in my new home of Tsiko, a village in the western plateau region of Togo. There are rolling hills of palms and baobabs and fresh air and I pick up more of the local language every day. So what am I doing now out here in the bush? You might ask. I will attempt here to give you the short answer:

The Assime Forest, about 900 hectares of hills and valleys surrounded by 11 villages, has been gradually degraded over the last 50 years by local populations harvesting wood for cooking, construction, and other needs. Last year a group of villagers who had become worried about the ensuing reduced rain fall and poor soil quality asked JVE (the NGO I’ve been working with here) to investigate. JVE found some Norwegian funders to back the project and spent a fruitful year studying the forest’s current state and developing a rehabilitation plan. The plan has been scrutinized, debated and validated, village leaders are on board, but one problem brings it all to a grinding halt. They tell me there’s no money to start getting those trees in the ground…waiting to find a generous international donor.

So I begin to pitch other more financially sustainable possibilities, ways to generate revenue like a bit of ecotourism. At the same time, the reforestation plan describes that the forest has been over exploited to the point where the younger generation doesn’t even recognize it as a forest anymore (making teaching them to protect it a bit tricky…) so I’ve begun a story collection project, talking with chiefs, elders, and other villagers about the myths, histories, and cultural aspects of the forest and then putting them into a book. The book will then be used in schools to reinforce the cultural value of the forest and its preservation and sold to tourists (and maybe even online) to help finance tree planting. Hopefully get some local artisans to illustrate. It’s a type of work that I really enjoy; lots of interesting interviews. Working with some women’s groups on a garden project too (showing them how to compost and use natural pesticides, trying to convince them not to burn their field), which is fun, and some community forestry, little by little. Between ecotourism planning, story hunting and gardens I’ve got plenty going on. 

It’s true, I have drifted quite a long way from the original solar water pasteurization project (the fall of which is a whole nother story). In doing so I’ve learned much. About orienting my research toward community needs (a no brainer of course, but difficult to discern needs over the internet before I arrived). About letting go of expectations of others, finding how to be self reliant while also being utterly dependent upon my Togolese colleagues to get anything done. About how clear things seem on paper and how easily the ink bleeds in a tropical rain. About how critical having that paper is regardless. About maintaining a focus while always being open to opportunities. About how at first encounters people will always tell you yes. About knowing when and how to come up with creative ways to say no.

This morning I spent visiting the elders of two villages who shared with me some stories of their forest and knowledge of animals now vanished, of ceremonies and healing herbs they fear are being lost to the next generation. Then a friend took me out to visit his family’s rice patty, blue hills in the distance, birds circling above. We ate with our hands from a big bowl under the shade of dried palms. Spent the rainy afternoon writing. Bought an electric fan (a true treasure). Will likely spend the evening entertaining the 4 children who regularly come by and beg me to play the “jin-tar”. Just a day in the life.