My expertise
Before coming to sub-Saharan Africa I had a really blurry idea about the country. I don't have any idea about Togo, I knew anybody who were there, and didn't knew nothing about Humanitarian Mission. This lack of information about the country, unclear news made by the media, the apprehension of individuals give me the desire to discover by myself the country to make my own opinion.
Togo, with it's 7.6 million people (World Bank, 2016) is a country of incredible richness, both in terms of its natural and cultural heritage. However, it is a developing country with a high poverty rate 53.5% in 2018 (RepublicofTogo, 27/06/2018) this is why associations as ESDEV fight agains't disparities and helps people in need. I knew before coming that my mission was separate in two ; 1 month in total immersion in Zogbépimé about 40 minutes from the Lomé capital to better understand the purpose of my mission and 1 month in the capital Lomé to build what I learned during the first month. I knew that the first month will be in poor condition of living compared to my daily life, no electricity and water which is totally new for me. I was not really stressed just curious and eager to discover. I was less stressed about the second month because it was in the capital city Lomé so I supposed that it will be more comfortable. I didn't know many thing about humanitarian mission, I searched informations on ESDEV website, contacted former volunteers and spoke with the Togolese team already in place. My mission was focused on the help and development of income-generating revenues in Togo, I didn't really known the exact mission that will be asked to me because it is an association so the mean of work is different than a startup or a company. This is why I was looking forward to going there.
When I arrived in Togo, I went in total immersion in Zogbépimé I had to adapt to life quite different from France without running water and electricity. It took me a time of adaptation to adjust and then I quickly got a taste for life in the village. A typical day for example I would get up (quite early because the Togolese people usually wake up at 6am) then I would spend the morning with the children or in the village to discover the different jobs that the habitants of Zobépimé do. As I explained in the previous article, I discovered the manufacturing process of manioc, palm oil, Sodabi...
The second month was less rudimentary and more administrative, we were based in Lomé. The purpose of this second month was to create a crowdfunding page to buy a new cassava grinding machine for the women of Zogbépimé. So I created the page with Constantin, the second volunteer of my mission, and then communicated as much as possible about our project in order to achieve our objective.
Today we have achieved our goal. This experience was very enriching for me, I met extraordinary people, had the chance to discover a country with a lot of resources not necessarily known by all. I was fortunate to be very well surrounded by ESDEV local volunteers, they took the time to explain and show me their beautiful country.
In an other hand, the condition of living are really limited, it was sometimes hard to faced some situation because of the lack of resources for both education and health. I brought very simple gifts for children and they were really happy. People lives in very rudimentary conditions. You feel sometimes useless because you arrived in a country were no one is used to see white people so when you want to give them advice or help according to your mission you feel a bit uncomfortable. So this is why you need to adapt yourself, be brave and grateful.
This internship, confirm my vision of an humanitarian mission and definitively reconfirm that you must discover by yourself to make your own opinion.
