Well, the elections are over and I am out of "lock-down." Thankfully there were no major problems. GNASSINGBE Faure was reelected and will serve for five more years. Now let me catch you up on how I spent me time in "lock-down."

There was a week long voodoo festival in my village, more specifically my house, and I got to see a lot of interesting stuff. There were about 100 plus people in attendance and the festivities went nonstop, 24/7, for a week. That means I had about 10 drummers pounding away on their instruments right outside my window all hours of the day and night. There was a lot of dancing and chanting and periodically throughout the week people would get possessed by spirits. They would start speaking in tongues and thrashing all over the place. This would continue sometimes for hours. When a person was possessed they had to be covered in white powder and wear special clothing. There was LARGE amounts of Sodabi consumed and they also regularly ate cola nuts which are loaded with caffeine to help them fight off the effects of sleep deprivation and drunkenness. They also did a couple mass animal sacrifices, at which time I hid in my house trying to block out the sound of 10 screaming goats.


Sadly one of my chickens was stolen during the week and although I can't confirm it, I am pretty sure she got offered up as a sacrifice. Poor Lola. That puts me down to 5 chickens, Sam, Sarah, Zena, Hercules, and Tarzan. Whenever I walk to my shower I get harassed by Samantha in her never-ending quest for food. I have gotten used to this by now but it appears Sam has developed a new tactic to get food from me. Here is how it happened: after getting into the shower and shutting the door in Sam's face I got lathered up and was in the process of shaving my armpits when all of a sudden I hear wings flapping. Horrified, I looked up to see Samantha's massive form flying at me over the shower wall. She then landed in the shower and started trying to peak me. Since I was stuck in there with her, I had to hurriedly rinse off while holding her at bay with my shower squeegee. I only managed to get one armpit shaved and I still have no idea how Samantha managed to get all of her weight over my shower wall, she must have really wanted some corn.

My village Mom, Adjowa, told me a story about when she was a teenager living in Lome spending her days walking around the market and beach area selling things. One day when she was down by the ocean she saw Mama Water. When I asked her who Mama Water is she explained that Mama Water is a spirit that lives in the ocean and she is half fish, half human, and very beautiful. She said she saw Mama Water hanging out near the shore and she was smiling and laughing at everybody. One man on shore tried to take a picture of her but the camera wouldn't take it because Mama Water is a spirit and you can't take pictures of spirits. I wanted to clarify that I was understanding correctly so I got one of the children's book I have "The Little Mermaid". When I gave Adjowa the book and asked her if Mama Water was similar to Ariel, she started freaking out and yelling "That's her! That's Mama Water. I saw her with my own eyes." I was completely baffled by this conversation but instead of trying to fight it I have decided to take Adjowa's word for it. Apparently The Little Mermaid lives in the Gulf of Guinea, just off the coast of Togo. Adjowa also informed me that when she got home that night and told her mom she had seen Mama Water, her mom said it was a bad omen to see spirits and Mama Water was going to come in the night and kill her. Adjowa didn't sleep a wink that night. She also recalls needing to go to the bathroom really bad during the night but she was forced to hold it because she was afraid to get out of bed. So Ariel is a killer as well, Disney needs to get their facts straightened out.

With the help of Kelsey Nameck and her Girl Scout troop I was able to do an art project with one of the classes at the elementary school. Kelsey and her troop did a project where they decorated masks cut out of paper and attached to Popsicle sticks. She then sent me all of the materials, including pipe cleaners, feathers, and sequence, to do the same project with the kids in my village. First let me say that students here rarely get an opportunity to be creative, so when I first explained the project to them and showed them the photos of Kelsey and her troop with their masks, the kids just kind of all looked at each not sure what to do. Once I finally got them to just have fun with it they couldn't be stopped. Some of them even wanted to turn their own faces into the mask. I have to admit I was tempted to let them do it, but I was a little worried the glue dots I was using might not come off that easily. Overall, we had a lot of fun and the kids got an opportunity to be creative.

As far as work goes, I am in the process of doing a hand washing campaign with my village and I am teaching a couple of women how to make liquid soap and bars of soap to sell in the market. We are also about to plant a Moringa orchard. Moringa leaves are super rich in vitamins and can be eaten fresh or transformed into powder to add to sauces. It is an easy and inexpensive way to get children their necessary vitamins. Now I just need to pray for rain.

That's about all for now. My paper chain to count down the days until I come home is getting shorter and shorter. 5 months to go!!