Field Trip Part Deux

Day 2 was very busy. After an egg sandwich for breakfast and French class at the hotel we drove north to Defale where we learned about terrace farming systems, fish culture, and grafting. Grafting was awesome. It's basically growing one species of tree off another species. We all got to graft a tree and it went well except Kati cut herself twice with a razor blade. After grafting we went and had lunch with a man named Ali in Baga. Ali showed us his fields, progressive composting (which I will need to learn because I'm in the north) and his reforestation project which is quite a struggle. Deforestation is a huge problem in Togo. I'm sure there are forests I just have yet to see them. The only forests I've seen so far are tiny sacred forests. At Ali's house there was a Spanish girl who worked for an NGO. It's so weird seeing other yovos (white people) that aren't with the Peace Corps. I find myself just staring at them just like the Africans stare at me. The only other white people we've come across are French, a couple of whom were quite snobby (imagine that!). After leaving Baga we continued south to Niamtougou. There we briefly stopped at CODHANI (Cooperative des Handicapes de Niamtougou) an association for the handicapped. They had a store where they sold some of what they make like beautiful pagnes and tapestries. We all bought some gifts. I had left most of my money at the hotel so I was only able to buy a couple of cards but I plan on returning. From there we were supposed to visit Sarakawa National Park but it was too expensive and not worth it. I still want to see a zebra dammit! Instead we drove to one of the most interesting things I've seen since I've been in country. On January 24, 1974 Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema (who served basically from independence in 1960 until his death in 2005) was flying when his plan crashed. Everyone on board the plane was killed except for Eyadema. There is now a monument at the crash site at Sarakawa. Driving up we pulled in front of a huge statue of Eyadema dressed in his military suit. The towering Eyadema is pointing a commanding finger downward, for what reason I'm not sure. Behind the statue there is a large compound surrounding a courtyard. There in the courtyard is the plane. The wreckage unmoved and splayed around in pieces just as it had crashed. What was absurd about the whole thing was that you could walk on top of and around the wreckage. This would never fly in the States, they'd have the whole thing roped off. It would be a law suit waiting to happen but it was pretty cool to walk through the wreckage. At one point a couple of us climbed through a hole into one part of the destroyed plane and were greeted with surprised bats that flew right past our faces. The whole visit to the monument seems a bit surreal now that I reflect on it. Back in Kara we ate cheeseburgers for dinner! Cheeseburgers! There are only a couple of places in the country, Kara and Lome, where you can get them. Of course they weren't very good although the fries weren't bad, but I didn't care. I was dying to have a cheeseburger. Now if only I could find a place where I can get a draft beer. I'll probably have to go to Ghana for that. Beat and sunburned I slept like a log that night.