although it's kinda way too late to say.. yes i arrived in Togo!
i wanted to write a new post earlier but also wanted to wait until i find a japanese-reading computer. turned out there seems to be none in this little african country... so excuse me ppl, i also wish i could write this in japanese. but i guess it's better than nothing, huh?
so. my life in togo has been going pretty well. the funny thing is; i expected it to be the most different, most unimaginable place on this earth, but it feels closer to what i have already known than those middle east countries i have visited. it's pretty hard to explain but something like "logic of the society" seems to have accepted a lot of that of the developed countries like Europe and the U.S., that is to say, those who bring money to this country and lead them to the direction that they want. it's pretty interesting to see how many ONGs (in french, NGO is spelled in this order) exist and how most of them have acquired some kind of "certificate of training" from UN orgs or western NGOs. on the other hand, how things work here proves that those techniques are such superficial qualifications. somewhere in between those "western" and "african traditional" rules of society, i sometimes feel completely lost, not knowing what is good or bad for people here, or what i can or should do for them. but hey, it's only been a month and i think it's too early to find a conclusion. in another 4 months of fun and struggle and excitement and hesitation and all that, i hope the world becomes a little bit clearer for me.
anyways, the organization i work for here is called JADI, Jeunesse en Action pour Developpement Integré. the director stéphane is also the coordinator of RAJES, a network of VIH/SIDA(again, it's like this in french)-related orgs in togo, and because of this i have rather been travelling a lot to visit different orgs in RAJES than sit inside the office of JADI in Lomé. it is pretty interesting to compare different orgs and find similarities and differences.
another very interesting thing: there is such a great variation of religions here in togo. and what's more, i have found 2 religions here of japanese origin. one is nichiren-shu, and the other is something called "mahikari." i am ambitious to find out how these religions came and are spreading in such a country like togo.
ok, now it's time for me to go! i don't have a very frequent access to the internet, but will update when i can! ciao
