Last but not least

Hey everyone!!



It's hard to believe I've been back in America over a year. For those of you who have witnessed and helped with my re-integration, thanks for your interest in my experience, patience and understanding! For those of you I have yet to see, I hope our paths cross soon!

Although I am back on US soil, a part of me will always stay in Togo. After coming home, the urge to continue to help my Pagala community was still going strong. As most of you know, I spent a lot of time forming Village Savings and Loans groups in my village. I had been inspired to do this after reading "Banker to the Poor" about Muhammad Yunus' Nobel Peace Prize-winning efforts instituting microfinance at a grassroots level in developing nations. The groups I worked with were highly successful, inspiring and sustainable.

After seeing the success of these groups, I felt compelled to take it to the next level. While living in Pagala I had noticed a sad trend. Students who were children of teachers, government officials and other "well-off" professions were able to go to university after completing high school whereas their less privileged counterparts could not.. The child of an average subsistence farmer cannot afford the luxury of sending their children to university-- a mere couple hundred dollars a year.

With these students and power of the savings and loans groups in mind, I formed an organization called "Sukuvi". In a nutshell, Sukuvi will provide students with low-interest loans to continue their education at the University in the capital city of Lome. Some of the women's groups I formed (and some new ones, too) are now extending loans to local students (after an interview and acceptance process) and will provide students with 20% of the loan they are asking for. Sukuvi lenders will be providing the other 80%. I'm looking for lenders for the 2011-2012 school year. If you'd like to make a loan, please check out my very rudimentary website and make a loan today!

There's a lot more I could say on this subject, but I'll let you check out the website and ask questions as they arise!!

And now, for some updates. Since I've been back everyone has been asking me about the library. As you probably remember, the library I built in Pagala was one of my largest and most time-consuming projects. It would not have been possible without your support (financial or otherwise) so I wanted to share some before and after pictures for you to check out!! And yes, they named it after me...but it was not my idea!!
















This is the outside of the library before a new roof and a coat of paint. This type of building is normally used to store grain.
















This is the outside of the library with some aesthetic and functional improvements.















Here you can see the solar panel mounted on the roof. This was installed so that the librarian (pictured) could operate a side business of charging cell phones and earn income from his work at the library.















This is the inside of the library the first day we broke down the door. Some students volunteered to clean and sort books which were then painstakingly categorized and labeled individually. The inside of the room received a new floor, a new roof and a fresh coat of paint.
















Here is a picture of the initial clean up process.
















With initial donations from local bureau members, shelves were built and the organization began. Unfortunately, it was hot season and the days were longgggg!
















Final product! All books are numbered, fresh paint, spruced up shelves and desks for students!
















I used chalkboard paint on the wall to create writing surfaces, librarian desk, student desks and anatomy drawings as well as world and country maps (not pictured).
















The library bureau during our "opening ceremony". The sign was designed by another volunteer, Emerson Easley.

To see even more pictures, check out this album.

DeaFriends and Family,

Sorry I’ve been out of touch for so long. I’ve found myself very busy in my village and, as a result, haven’t come to our capital city (the only place with fast enough internet to post a blog) in a while. I hope you have all had a good 2010 thus far.

I’m in Lomè preparing for my Close of Service (COS) conference. I’ll be spending a few days at a hotel (with running hot water) outside the city, on the beach, with volunteers who began their service with me in June 2008. As Peace Corps is a government agency, there will be plenty of paperwork and scary words like “resumè” and “health insurance” thrown in throughout the week. I’m not exactly looking forward to it but it will be great to catch up with friends, some of whom I haven’t seen in over a year.

When I left my village for the conference I told my village friends and family I had to come to the conference to learn how to be American again. Even though that’s not the purpose of the conference, it’s true. I need to re-learn some English, be reminded that I can’t pee in the road or eat with my hands (among other things). Be patient with me when I come home!

Speaking of homecoming, I’m hoping to come back to Boston in mid-September, around the 20th. Because I’m bringing my dog Fenway home I’m taking a direct flight from Accra, Ghana to NYC. It’s going to be quite a wake up call for me and the pup. For a girl who has been craving pizza and bagels though, it’s probably the perfect place to touch down. I’m worried, however, about Fenway’s adjustment to America. He is used to running free, killing ducks and living a very laid-back “villageois” life. What’s he going to do with glass windows, a vacuum cleaner and the occasional fire alarm? Every day will be an adventure.

I, myself, am excited about the new adventures to be had at home (especially ones that involve cheese) but leaving will be bittersweet. After two years I have people in my village that I consider my family and friends and it will be hard to say goodbye. Here are some pictures of the people I spend most of my time with:


Top to Bottom:

Photo 1: Irenèe Dirboga, a high school student in Pagala. He is the President of my Peer Educator group and a motivated individual. He helps me with many of my projects, professional and otherwise. He translates at meetings for me, tends to my garden and watches my pets when I'm away.

Photo 2: Maman and Papa Adanou. My unofficial host family, the Adanous adopted me into their family. I eat meals with them, work on projects with them and am always welcomed into their house without question. When someone asks Maman about me she says "god gave me 2 boys and 2 girls. One of them came out white but that was god's decision."

Photo 3: To the right is my best friend and confidant in village, Hortense, and her son Melki. Hortense has lived in several African countries and understands how difficult my life can be as an outsider. She is the closest thing I have ever had to a sister.

In addition to my waning grasp of the English language, my once extraordinary life has become ordinary to me. I struggled for a while to write this blog post because I wasn’t sure what would interest my friends. Is it interesting that I killed my own turkey for thanksgiving (See PHOTOS) or that people call me “Obama!” just because I’m American? I think I wrote about this before, but two years later people are still asking to buy my dog. (Probably for eating although some just comment about how good-looking he is. It’s gone to his head a little bit in my opinion, but take a look at this handsome wild African jackal.):

Unfortunately my cat, Wrigley, passed away around Christmastime while I was in Ghana on vacation. My friend in village who was watching my house and feeding the cat noticed he hadn’t eaten anything in a couple of days and went looking for him. He found him in my neighbor’s kitchen and buried him in my yard. I was touched that no one ate him and he now has a peaceful resting place that I can see from my window.

On a happier note, I was fortunate enough to see my family on a safari in Tanzania in September. Everything was amazing! It was great to see a different side of Africa, spend time with my family and eat delicious food. The hot showers were also a plus!

I’ve also been fortunate to have some time to travel around West Africa. I have been to all the countries surrounding Togo (Ghana, Burkina Faso and Benin). I have been to Ghana several times and it continues to blow my mind. It’s so close in distance to Togo but the difference is night and day. It’s nice to go there to escape and feel a little pampered (they have a movie theatre!) but it’s always nice to come home where everyone knows your name.

As for the projects that have been keeping me busy in my village, here are some headlines:

Village Soccer Tournament: In April, my cluster mates (the volunteers who live within a 60K radius of me) and I organized soccer tournaments in my village and two surrounding villages. The tournament took place on a long weekend and we organized a Peace Corps volunteer team to play against the village teams. At the half time, volunteers and local students spoke on the importance of public hygiene and potable water.

Above: My clustermate Ben's cleats after our FIRST game!

Below: The Peer Educators of Pagala after the match

Above: The Peace Corps soccer team (including my friend Irenèe who played for our team)

Below: The Peer Educators doing a skit. The student in red is imitating a fly.

Below: Team PROPRE warming up before the game

Above: In the heat of the game (in more ways than one)

Above: The opposing team in one of the villages

Above: The Peace Corps team and the Pagala team (in red)
Above: PC volunteer Sekou jumping on Irenèe after his goal

Above: Irenee and me acting tough before a game

World Aids’ Day: For those of you unaware, December 1st is World Aids’ day. This year my peer educator group organized skits and talking points to disseminate information at all of the local schools. We marched through the village and although it was a hectic day with lots of noisy student audience members, it was a success. Below are pictures of the group marching with our banner, posed in front of our banner, acting out skits and doing a condom demonstration.

Village Savings and Loan Groups: I continue to work with several womens’ groups. I do business classes, savings and loans groups and combinations of both with them. This has been a great experience for me. I love being surrounded by women, making them laugh and watching them make positive changes in their lives by saving, taking loans and making investments into their businesses. The two pictures on the top are a group of women conserving tomatoes. The picture on the bottom is a meeting with a Village Savings and Loan group.

Schools: I have also continued to work in the school systems. I work with the English club every week, aide a student-run peer educator group and taught a 10 week business class for middle school students.

Above: Working with the Peer Educators and working with high school students on English and math.

Above: Middle school students receiving their certificates after a ten week "Junior Achievement" course.

Library Project:

First I would like to say a giant THANK YOU to all of you who have donated money and books to the library of Pagala. This project would not be possible without you.

For those of you I haven’t spoken to in a while, here is some information on the project that has taken up the most of my time this year:

When I first got to my village, a lot of things were shocking and sad to me, among them, the lack of reading material (even textbooks) for students. "Is there a library here?" I asked. I was told there was, at one of the two middle schools. I decided to visit and found sacks of grain stored among books (novels and textbooks among them). The dust and debris confirmed that no one had entered the room in a long time. I started asking around and found that even when there are libraries in villages, they are generally closed (all the time) because the person in charge doesn't want the books ruined. I was also told that it would be impossible to find a volunteer librarian. Discouraged but undeterred, I kept asking around throughout the past year and a half without much success.

The English teacher at my high school, a friend and work colleague, told me he collected money from students interested in reading books and when he had enough money he would go to Lomè and buy books and loan them out of his house. I, too, began sharing my books with students in this way.

About 9 months ago I learned that the first volunteer in my village (over 10 years ago) had received funding and had built a library furnished with thousands of books and even some generator-powered computers. A week after the volunteer left, the man left in charge stole everything (or so we believed) and left. He hasn't been seen since.

Miraculously, the English teacher and I discovered that the thief had left some books in a village storage shed (normally used to store grain). The door was blocked and in order to get the chief's permission to break it down we needed a plan. I formed a bureau of my favorite and most trusted people in village (6 men and 4 women (including myself)). At our first meeting we came up with a proposal to present to the chief. If he would allow us to knock down the door, we would clean the books and building and open the library. We would start small and hopefully expand in books and open hours.

After breaking down the door, we discovered hundreds of books, many that had been ruined by years of neglect. Some had survived rain, termites, bats, mice, etc. for 10 years! We enlisted the help of 10 high school students (and the bureau) and cleaned the library and books. Every villager that passed offered to help or gave words of encouragement. Even the adults that were cleaning books couldn't resist looking at the treasures inside the pages. It was an exciting day. The outside of the library

Above and Below: What we discovered inside

The books outside, before cleaning

Above and Below: Students clearing the land around the library and cleaning books

Above: Students scrounging for scraps of books we threw away

Our bureau members have been donating money as necessary to build bookshelves, which is necessary to keep the books from deteriorating further. There are other repairs to made, however, including a new roof, cement repairs on the floor and wall, painting of the room, etc. We are also hoping to build a small outdoor seating area where kids can read and study (Togolese homes are generally so loud kids can't concentrate well enough to study). We are also hoping to install solar panels with which to charge cell phones so the librarian can be paid enough to keep the library open all week.

If any of you would like to donate money to this project, feel free to mail a check to mother:

Lucinda Lagasse
381 Dutton Road
Sudbury, MA 01776

If you have any questions, you may want to get in touch with her (l.lagasse@comcast.net) since I’m not generally accessible.

While we have many books for younger children, we are lacking novels for young adults and adults. As children study French, English and German at school, they are interested in books in all of these languages. We don't have dictionaries in any of these languages. If youwould prefer to send used (or new) books directly to me that would also be great.

My address* is:
Emily Lagasse
BP 55
Pagala, Togo

*Please note: This is a new address!!!

With the help of your donations and the national library association the library is coming along well and we're getting ready for our grand opening, hopefully at the end of this month.

Present day (as you can see we're also lacking tables and chairs!)

Camp Informatique:

My boyfriend, Drew, is also fundraising for a computer camp he is running in June. If any of you would like to read more or donate, go to this site: Click HERE

Two high school students from my high school with directly benefit from this great program and I encourage you to give what you can, even if it’s only 5 dollars.

To help you put a name to the face, here's a picture of Drew cooking with my host mother on Thanksgiving:


Thanks again to all of you have stayed in touch and made my life and experiences here richer! Thank you for all of your love and support.

See you SOON!!!

Emily