Hot Season

Hot season is upon us again here in Savannes. It is usually about 110-115 during the day and cools down to about 85 at night. Because of the heat not much work is done between 10am and 4pm during the day. I generally try to avoid moving around too much this during this time also because heat exhaustion is not much fun. I generally just hang out on my front porch and read or listen to the BBC World Service on my short wave radio. After it cools down a bit and people start to move around a little more I try and stay productive. A few days a week I teach English at the S.O.S Children’s Village in Dapaong, and other days I try to help out with some kids clubs in my area. I recently meet a woman who started a committee that focuses on improving the lives of women in the region, and last week we held a discussion at a local middle school on the importance of gender equity and the splitting of domestic tasks between brothers and sisters. In most Togolese families the girls are burdened with more responsibilities then boys. Doing laundry, watching the infants, cooking and cleaning are jobs set aside only for girls. I know that stigma remains to some extent in the U.S, but nowhere near to the level that it does in Togo. Because of these extra burdens that girls face they have little time to do their school work at home. So during our discussion we challenged the boys in the group to think about ways they could help their sisters succeed in school and how they could help out more at home. It sounds well and good but there are many men and boys in Togo who are resistant to this idea because they will like it will emasculate them. There also a lot of men and boys who want to marry an American woman and live a life of leisure in the states, “well because everyone is rich over there.” I say fine but can you cook? Can you clean? Can you take care of yourself? They usually just shake their heads and laugh.
Many Togolese are amazed at how I am unmarried at 25 with no kids, and that this is a normal way of life in the States. I always try and share stories about my life growing up in America. Like how when my mom was in night classes dad would cook us dinner, how my sister and I both did dishes, and how I would help mom out with laundry when I was in High School. That always gets some wild reactions. “It doesn’t work like that in Africa,” they say, but I always try and remind them that their chances of living a life of leisure in America are pretty slim so how about we try and improve things here in Togo, and we can start by liberating the woman.