Now in Togo
Trip Start
Jun 06, 2006
1
6
79
Trip End
Aug 22, 2006
Lomé,
Togo
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Prosper was quite a good driver and we arrived at the border at about 12:30 in spite of the fact that the Isuzu had seen better days. The shocks were so old that we bottomed out on even small potholes, and the transmission slipped if too much acceleration was attempted.
The first half of the road, up until the Volta River bridge, is in quite good repair. The last half is very uneven and full of holes. The slalom-style driving required on the poor section of the road slowed us down quite a bit. Just passed the bridge we were stopped at a police checkpoint
Tatiana with some of the children
. An officer motioned for me to lower my window. "Hello Mr. White man" he began "do you have any cedis for me?" I smiled and said I did not. "How about some CFA, any CFA? [the currency used in most French-African countries]" I said, "no, sorry." "How about some dollars, then?" I again said I didn't have any for him, but maybe next time.... "You are not my very good friend" he said sullenly as he walked away.I don't enjoy the border crossing at Aflao. I have crossed here many times, and always have to be alert for scams and even outright theft. I had arranged for Prosper to drive us all the way in to Lomé, not just drop us at the border as is often the case. To cross the border one must clear immigration and customs on the Ghanaian side, then clear immigration and customs on the Togolese side. Things went smoothly and quickly on the Ghanaian side. Customs didn't even ask to go through our suitcases, Prosper probably gave an official a "tip" for this favor, but I didn't ask any details.
We didn't have visas for Togo. A Togolese visa from their embassy in Washington DC costs $100 per person, plus processing fees that can be up to another $50. Getting a visa at the border only costs 17000 CFA (a little over $30). It can take some time, so patience is required, but by doing so we saved three or four hundred dollars
The chorale singing
. We'll do the same again at the Benin border in a few days. It took about an hour to get the visas in our passports, and Togolese customs didn't ask to see our luggage either, Prosper at work again no doubt....Aflao is on the outskirts of Lomé, so once over the border we arrived quickly at the Mercure, which is my favorite hotel in West Africa. It located a few hundred meters from the ocean, has beautiful gardens and a large, inviting pool. We had a late lunch while we waited for our room to be cleaned. Fiona and Tatiana then napped, still trying to catch up on sleep after jet-lag. Shortly after lunch, Kossi Fiaboé, our church deacon in Lomé called to make sure we had arrived safely. He came to the hotel about 15:30 to welcome us and to meet Marjolaine. We discussed our plans for the next few days, and then he left just ahead of a terrific storm that blew in. This is the rainy season in West Africa and it rains most days, sometimes quite heavily. After Mr. Fiaboé left, I took a taxi to a local supermarket to buy bottled water for the next few days.
We turned in early.
Saturday morning Mr. Fiaboé was to pick us up for church services at 8:30
The ladies with their new cooking spoons
. Traffic slowed him down and he didn't arrive until almost 9:30. He works for ASECNA, the pan-African civil aviation authority, a great job especially by African standards. He actually receives his salary promptly at the end of each month, which is a rarity in this part of the world. His job allows him to own a pickup truck, which is my usual mode of transportation when I visit Lomé. But since we were four people this time, he had borrowed a cousin's old BMW. We rode to church in style!Services in Lomé are held in a vacant shop stall that belongs to Mr. Fiaboé, and is located in front of his house. Nearly 30 people were present. Since we had arrived late, we started the service right away. The small choral sang special music, one of our English hymns translated into Ewe. They sang very well. I gave some news of the Church, and then the sermon on lessons from the character of Barnabas, and the choral sang again at the end. The ladies served us a very fine meal: fish, beef, fried rice, couscous, french-fries and several kinds of salad. It was delicious. The ladies had spent a lot of time preparing, and took great care to make sure everything was prepared in such a way that we wouldn't become ill from anything.
When the meal was finished, Fiona and Tatiana handed out candy and Marjolaine thanked the ladies for their work preparing the meal and gave them strong wooden cooking spoons that we had brought with us from the States
The Lome, Togo congregation
. This wouldn't seem like much to westerners, but wooden cooking spoons are used almost every day in many parts of Africa, and it can be difficult to find good quality spoons. The ladies were very touched by the gesture and we were happy to be able to show our appreciation in some small way for their work.We watched several videos from previous trips of mine through Africa including my visit to Lomé last autumn. A roar of laughter and cheers went up several times when they recognized either themselves or friends in the videos.
Tatiana was feeling a little sick to her stomach by this time (we're sure it wasn't due to the lunch), so we decided to return to the hotel. Before leaving I looked at the schematics for the Church building we'll be constructing here as soon as the rains stop. One of Mr. Fiaboé's sons is an architect. He had prepared the plans for the building and they were asking for approval. We discussed a few points, and I made one or two suggestions, but overall things looked great. It will be wonderful for them to have a proper church hall here. Much of the financing came from the UCG Good Works program, which has been very generous in French Africa.
Back at the hotel, Marjolaine, Fiona and Tatiana couldn't believe it was only 16:00. It felt later because the tropical heat fatigues quickly. We recuperated in the air conditioning for a while, and the girls took naps until dinner time. Tatiana didn't feel well enough to eat and stayed in the room. After dinner Fiona and Marjolaine went down to the pool, while I stayed with Tatiana.
At the pool were three young Lebanese men. The Lebanese have been called the Jews of the Arab world. They are often adept at business, and most francophone African countries have a Lebanese expatriate community that controls a big part of national business. Togo is no exception.
One of the men tried to flirt with Fiona in the pool(she looks older than her 15 years), while his friend struck up an enlightening conversation with Marjolaine who was sitting on a pool-side chair. The conversation was enlightening because he defended both terrorism in the Middle East (essentially: "Israel and America deserve it because they're so evil") and the Muslim practice of wife-beating (essentially: "you can't really trust women to tell the truth so you kind of have to beat it out of them"). His reasoning didn't hold up well under scrutiny and Marjolaine pointed this out to him, but he still maintained he was right. He wasn't really interested in logical reasoning anyway. He was just right because he was right. They then asked if they could take Fiona out "dancing." Yeah right....
