Togolais Diaries: Ewilooo 09

Le 6th May, 2009
Bonjour!

It seems almost unbelievable as I sit dsown to write this. It has been a month since I arrived here in Togo and the time seems to have passed in a flash. I doubt that there has been another month like this which has opened my eyes to so many things and made me realize so many things and made me discover a facet of life which I didn’t even know existed.
At this point last year, I was still confused about the college, which I wanted to go to though my eyes were set on Stephens. There was still confusion within my mind whether I would do C.A. or take a ‘risk’ and do economics. One year hence I almost feel proud of choosing the subject which I wanted to take and at the same time experiencing so many different things like going to Pakistan, travelling to Chennai, Delhi, meeting different kinds of people but still all of those pale in comparison to my experiences here in Togo.
It was a kind of a dream to come and work here on a micro finance internship through AIESEC and many people merely scoffed when I told them that I was planning to do something like this. Honestly I wasn’t sure myself if I would seriously follow up on something so ‘ridiculous’ and actually go to Africa but then as time passed the resolve only grew stronger and finally this dream was realized on 29th of March when I finally landed at Lome international airport.
Tough at least initially, Africa and Togo grew on me. The hardships so visible initially, now inspire me to continue working here so as to make a difference in the lives of some people. The fact which I have realized that there is absolutely no purpose served in criticising the attitude of people here because their attitude has been shaped and moulded by the conditions both social as well as economic prevalent here. The biggest impediment to development here has been nothing else but the Government itself with its bureaucratic nature with a despotic head. As such people see no opportunities here with few openings in the Government sector and few opportunities in the private sector as well which, the government suppress through exorbitant tax rates, unfriendly business environment. So how can people be blamed if outsiders find their attitude unprofessional because the conditions prevalent here don’t necessitate a person to be professional and people in power are only to keen to make good use of their position.
One thing though I really feel that people like us need to watch out for is cynicism because it is just too easy to dismiss the country and its prospects for a better future but a change can be achieved only when it is actually aspired for so with hope in my heart and optimism in my thoughts I have set out to do something worthwhile with my life so as to make the lives of some people worthwhile.
Till now I have loved my stay here, have had a chance to travel a bit and see first hand the diversity of West Africa and appreciate its beauty. Its an absolute pity that this place and this continent in general has been so undiscovered. This fact has of course been compounded due the political problems here along with a non-existent infrastructure for tourism. Still nothing takes away the virgin beauty of the place. This is exactly what makes the place so heartbreakingly beautiful as well as completely enchanting.
On one hand I completely miss home and my city Mumbai with its bustling pace but at the same time somewhere deep down I am actually sad this great sojourn of mine is passing so rapidly and is soon going to end. The sights and sounds, the people I have interacted with, the talks on political problems of Togo, coping up with French, the excessively complicated named yet absolutely delicious local food, the music, the infectious spirit and energy are things which I am definitely definitely going to miss. But this feeling also coincides with an understanding, an understanding that I belong here and this is the work, which I would like to do all my life and would love to discover hidden treasures such as West Africa. Looking forward to my next month here and my life discovering unknown lands!!

P.S. Just returned from Ewilooo 2009, the NLDS of AIESEC in Togo. A rocking conference with an inspirational chair who was the President of AIESEC in Nigeria. People from 9 countries including ones from Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Benin, Netherlands and of course me from India were present apart from the AIESECers from Togo. To describe it as an absolute fantastic experience would be an understatement. Met such different kinds of people from different nations, cultures, languages and even races but what the heck one thing which I realized that more different these factors are the more similar are the people. Sure there are cultural differences all right but then what comes through is the common human spirit to actually strive for excellence and work for a better future. It was fantastic to dance late into the night (A hallmark of every AIESEC conference), learn new roll calls, make people dance to tunak tunak which just keeps on growing in popularity, teach them our very own malhar shout (Dhaka laga laga laga!! Hoo Haa Hoo Haa!!! Yes!! No kidding ). The amount of love and support, which I received from people, was overwhelming to say the least. They openly thanked me fro being so nice; the messages, which I got at the end of the conference, are something, which I am going to treasure for my entire life. Made dozens of new friends for life, got invitations to attend countries like Ivory Coast, Ghana, Burkina Faso and today if I visit these countries I know for sure that there will be people who will willingly host me and make sure that I am taken care of. Truly the power of AIESEC in absolutely fantastic, this I have realized after attending places like Pakistan, Togo and honestly has made me fall in love with the organization all over again.

The coming week though doesn’t look very promising as the two Dutch interns in whom I found great company and fantastic friends are leaving for their country and thus I will be the only foreign intern left here in Togo. Not a very comforting thought as I am definitely going to miss them and the whale of a time we had travelling to Benin, Kpalime, roaming on the streets of Lome, sitting at random bars and having what else but spaghetti, shopping for African stuff, trying to cook eatable food (which did turn out to be pretty awesome), throwing random surprises and just talking and being for one another in this new land. Though one thing is for sure that now I definitely have to make a trip to Netherlands as well to meet two of the nicest and fun loving people I have met in a long long time and I think I have been able to convince them to come to India as well. So should be cool. Rest is pretty normal as such if anything here can be referred to as normal here. Have eaten more beef and even chicken though the thought of eating fish still absolutely disgusts me. But then I don’t want to turn into a non-vegetarian so planning to give up non-veg voluntarily to preserve the integrity of all the animals including the very delicious cows as well!

One month left for my trip to end. Looking forward to travel more, to Ghana and maybe to the north or if I am extremely fortunate to the place where I want to go the most, Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso. Lets see how it shapes up.