$4 to my name...

If you all visit, you'll all walk on unpaved pothole filled dirt paths and by all of these houses that are made of concrete with tin roofs, some homes with thatched roofs and even some adobe huts. Most these people can't afford to buy these homes so they go on leases. Most of the people never finished school, so really make what their businesses bring in, and generally, it's not a lot. So, you'll also see small crops of corn being grown right outside of their homes. Shoot, even I have a crop of something or another growing on the side of my house, though it's not mine and I have no clue who it belongs to.

Property rights here are really non existent, so you have to make sure EVERYONE around you know what's yours and what's not. In fact, you'll see chicken and goats running around being all free range (for all you P.E.T.A. members) competing for whatever food they find. With malnutrition being a problem, you'd think that you could just pick up a chicken and take it home.

Oh no my friends.

The owners know what chicken is theirs. Quite literally, the neighbors can look at a chicken out of dozens and say that it's not theirs, or even tell you who that chicken belongs to. I remember trying to kick a goat away from my meal that I put on the ground and the rice lady said that it was some dude's goat that lives across the street and that he'd get mad. I was like... really? he'd know if I kicked his goat? How well do Togolese know their animals anyway?? Apparently way too well. Anyway, the point is not to kick goats and chicken no matter how tempted you are to see feathers fly, because someone will find out, and tell on you, and they'll sic a sorcerer on your butt to place a spell on you...well maybe not a spell, but I digress. The point that I'm trying to make is that they're poor. Dirt poor in fact. So poor that they go to the measure of memorizing their flippin' live stock's face. The richest person in my village isn't me, because I'm flat broke (end of pay period anywhere in the world means being broke, especially for a volunteer). It's the government workers and his cronies that drive around in cars, have blackberry's and fancy suits paid for off the backs of the average villager. It's the military that walk around town with guns, as if they accomplished something more than extort the villagers by forcing a bribe system.

Anyway, in lieu of me finding out and being outraged at the corruption, coupled with having $4 to my name, I decided that I wanted to see if I could really live off of less than a $1 a day for a week. Well, more like forced, but I'd like to think it was a choice. The days still consisted of my regular activities of going to these places and talking with people about everything, and eventually getting nothing done. These seemingly pointless activities, however, made me walk around 10k a day. I started with the intent of not even using my fridge, and realllly going for the authentic feel. " HA. Stupid Mike," you would say, and you would be right. After the first day, I pretty much gave up on the prospect of adhering to a "no-cold-drinks" policy. Besides that, I really did live in poverty (besides the 6 rooms and stuff. I mean, can walls feed you? NO. So my mansion doesn't count either).

My diet consisted of rice.... a lot of rice. In fact, rice three times a day. If you're thinking that I should be used to that...i can't even get offended, because it's true. BUT, the difference was the protein. Most Africans can barely afford to eat meat, so I too deprived myself of the meat. This meant rice, with beans, spaghetti, gari(dried and pounded yam powder) and oily sauce. This was for about a small cereal bowl's amount for 100 F, which is about 21 cents. So that meant that I ate everyday for 60 cents a day for almost exactly a week. I think I lost around 3 lbs this week. I still had to walk that lousy 10 k a day and felt like dying every time, and i couldn't blame me being out of shape on it either. When I got home, I wasn't even able to function. Cold water with crystal light, and sleep kept me sane.

Mind you that most Togolese go through the same thing, BUT they not only walk the 10k but also have to work the Field for food, and they don't get cold crystal light lemonade. They eat a corn paste that has less nutritional value than the rice that I ate. They amaze me in every aspect of their physiological ability to survive. No wonder they sleep for 2 hours at noon.

Anyway, when you hear that people have to earn more than a $1.50 a day, they're absolutely right. I just was forced to experience that this week because of my brokeness. It stunk. Like really stunk. I saw meat and I salivated. I consider myself incredible lucky to be an American who has the option of going back to a country where I have the possibility of pulling myself from poverty. These people really don't. As a Togolese friend of mine put it. " You chose to be poor. We were born and will stay poor."

I hope that even in the midst of the economic crisis, you can still appreciate the endless opportunities and possibilities we have and don't have to live off less than a dollar a day. Also, appreciate that we all don't have to memorize the faces of goats, and that we don't have chicken running around that are tempting to punt. Take my word for it.

God bless the United States of America.

Next Post: Togolese Public Transportation

McCain? Il est qui?

As I was walking around my town, just soaking up the Togolese, exhaust saturated air, I was approached by one of the younger people of my town. Probably no older than 21. He and I discussed how I was American and how things were different in both our backwards world. He asked if I liked hip hop. 50 cent and Akon to be specific. I asked if he knew or understood the meaning of some of his lyrics, and when he said no, I began to disillusion him from what he thought American culture was. Hey it's my job. I'm sensibilizing Togo. He then asked if I was voting for Obama.

Shoot, some people here think that he's already the president.

Me, being one of the few "conservatives" (more central than ascribing to any party) in a predominately "liberal" government agency, let alone being on the continent where the democratic candidate claims descendants, I said, "Bien sur!" ( of course!). I then asked him if he's heard of McCain. The response was , " McCain? Il est qui? Il est le Blanc n'est ce pas?" (McCain? Who's he? He's the white man right?). I then concurred and explained that he was in fact the candidate of the opposing party, the Republicans. This was approximately 2 months ago. Today, the day of the election, was an amazing sight. When my fellow volunteers and I were walking around, they chanted,

"OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA!"

And of course, we chanted with them, not to offend. Well, most of us chanted because we genuinely loved Obama. We then continued to go to Al Sultan, a Lebanese restaurant and saw that even the Lebanese were captivated by the U.S. Presidential election. Whenever a news flash came across their television screen regarding the elections, silence fell upon the entire restaurant, and the hummus went cold. Obama must win. It wasn't said, but rather felt.

Whether or not one's political leanings is "left" or "right", we can not deny the rhetoric that these marketers have pushed on us regarding the "suaveness", "savvy" and the "forward thinking" of Obama.

"It's time for a change." And according to them, he's the only one who can provide it.

He, himself, never needed the assistance, as he was and is fully capable of captivating an audience. Regardless, we can not deny the infatuation of the nation, and more importantly the infatuation/biasedness of the media.

Even in Africa, people revere him as a demi-god, and hope for Africa itself.

I have to admit, I, though leaning ever so slightly to the right, had fallen under the spell of what is "OBAMA." Despite his view on abortion, despite his socialist views, I like him. I genuinely like him. This is why I'm happy that I never will have a chance to vote. This is why I'm glad that here, in Togo, I won't be able to choose a person based upon me "liking him." Because, honestly, I would have felt horrible for voting for Obama, when I know I don't agree with the most important issue that lies in my heart, and I would have felt guilty for not choosing the only African American that ever had a shot for the Presidency.

Either way, Obama is the president here in Togo, and it'll be difficult to explain why he lost, if he doubtfully does.

Either way, who ever wins, history has been and will be made.