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Every place that we have lived has certain sights, sounds, and smells attached to it. Here are some from Mango, Togo, that I want to remember…
Tuffs of dust puffing up with each step during dry season.
Noah effortlessly learning to ride a bike before age 3. Oh, the freedom that comes with two wheels of your own!
The huge glossy green leaves of the teak trees in contrast to the whispy, slender branches of the eucalyptus – nymphs garbed in peeling pale bark, like the birch’s African cousin.
Eight toads on my porch.
A hundred geckos scuttering up the wall in the space of a quarter mile (and two more living in my laundry sink).
The constant skittering of the pigeons on the roof.
Waking up to the call to prayer at 5am (and the “wake up call” an hour earlier), followed by a gradual stirring of life both animal and human. There is a trade school right across the wall from our house, and one morning in my sleepy stupor I thought all the moto drivers honking were purposely trying to play a song with their different pitches. People here are early risers. No wonder they take naps from 12-2pm!
Ryan running with the boys every evening before supper.
The beautiful light of golden hour, from 5-6pm, illuminating the peacock flowers.
Sheep and goats wandering anywhere and everywhere. The sheep here look like some breeds of goats in the States, but even Hadassah can tell you that a tail up is a goat and a tail down is a sheep.
Children playing for hours making houses out of cement blocks or digging in the dirt.
Magnetile creations (one of the few toys we brought with us).
Wagash frying in an open kettle in market.
Bonbons (the generic word for candy) in market, 4 lollipops for 100CFA (about 20 cents USD).
Vegetables bleaching in the sink after a shopping trip.
Atchomon – a delicious crunchy fried snack that the children love. Made by a hospital employee and then sold in empty 1.5 liter water bottles.
The joy of watching my oldest child sound out words and realizing that yes, we can do this!
Women (and children) effortlessly balancing anything and everything on their heads in plastic buckets or big metal bowls.
Rafi peering out the screen door, longing to go outside.
Moto taxis carrying everything from live goats to bidons of water to people who get tired of walking and can afford 300CFA ($0.60USD) for the fare.
Weevils in the flour and crawling out of the mixing bowl when I’m trying to make granola.
Freak afternoon storms that used to wake Noah from his nap and send him running to my bed.
Muddy children.
Corn shooting up a foot in the space of a week in the greenhouse atmosphere of rainy season.
Laundry drying in the grass in the miracle of a sunny afternoon when I needed to do many loads for a friend leaving on furlough (whose house in town had no water).
Storm air with a tinge of eucalyptus and an unexpected wave of coolness. The deafening thunder of rain on a metal roof. Life-giving liquid sheeting down from the porch overhang…children racing outside in shrieking delight to fill old tomato paste cans and stamp in puddles…when it doesn’t rain for 6 months, you never get tired of the miracle!
And one of my favorites – all the waves and cries of “Bah-choo-lay” (spelled phonetically because I have no idea of the language or the spelling…this is the universal word for “white person” here in Mango, in northern Togo) when I happened to be cycling home from market during the lunch hour with a new broom. A white woman with a broom on a bike made quite a scene.
Oh, and I can’t forget Rafi, always outside with Noah’s yellow Crocs or another pair of shoes on his hands.
If you missed it, check out the previous posts in this series about our life in Togo:
TOGO SERIES
- Life in Togo
- Life in Togo: the Basics
- Life in Togo: the Arrival
- Life in Togo: Culture
- Life in Togo: Climate & Cooking
- Life in Togo: Language & Church
- Life in Togo: Fabric (Pagne)
- A Week in Togo
- Life in Togo: Things I’ll Miss and Things I Won’t
- Life in Togo: Common Scenes
I have enjoyed your Togo series immensely. I was so sad to finish it. I just wanted to read more! I learned a lot and appreciated learning a bit about an area and way of life that I previously knew nothing about. You are a wonderful writer. Thank you for sharing your experiences in such an engaging way. You and your family are great examples of service, charity, and sharing your love.
This is a wonderful series and I’ve enjoyed reading it so much. Thank you for sharing your experience.
LOVED the entire Togo series. My husband is Indian, born and raised in Uganda. He and his family were refugees to the U.S. when he was 10 (escaping Amin) and it’s a really long story. But loved your pictures and some similarities. His family were the “rich” people in their little community as his father had a business sewing clothing (he still has two shirts!) and owned the only motor vehicle (an old truck) so helped by driving all the containers to the lone well for water. The floors were dirt, the cook stove was a small fire pit in the dirt floor, and he LIVED on mangoes in season. Which is why he prefers them hard and green, lol. He’s not into soft and sweet. He still talks about climbing the mango trees, playing in the dirt with his friends.
Your pictures were amazing and loved the outfits you made out of the beautiful fabrics. Memories to treasure and guard in your hearts for sure.
It’s been a privilege to watch you grow and spread your wings. A beautiful family blessed by the good Lord. All the best to your family as you prepare to return to America.
Thank you for sharing so much of your life with us.
Wow, it sounds like you all could write a very interesting book! I loved hearing those similarities.