Bean Cakes for Breakfast

Once again, it’s been some time since I’ve been able to update this blog, so I ask your forgiveness. In the past few weeks, we have welcomed some new volunteers to our region and said farewell to some others who finished their service. I have begun some new work which is both challenging and rewarding, and I have survived my first illnesses as a Peace Corps Volunteer (super fun!). Also, I have begun to be efficient at killing the mice who are trying to take over my life. In short, a lot has been going on. As I get busier in my village, I find my time there more and more enjoyable. I’ve said before that virtually everyone I meet is friendly and helpful, and as I get to know these friends and neighbors better, I genuinely enjoy their company. Namon is beginning to feel like home for me.

Despite all that, I still look forward to visiting other volunteers from time to time. Because there is no electricity or cell phone coverage in my village, I usually make my way to a nearby volunteer’s house once a week or so to make phone calls and recharge both my electronics and my personal energy. These are great times to relax a little bit, hear about other people’s work and ask for help with my own, and speak English! For the moment, my closest two volunteers are 27km and 39km away (in opposite directions), which is longer than it sounds like given the condition of the roads, so more often than not, I spend the night when I make these visits. The idea is to take advantage of the electricity, hang out with some people, and head back to work the next morning.

In my village, I find myself going to bed pretty early because there’s only so much you can find to do after the sun sets at six o’clock. When I visit other people, however, the electricity is so miraculous to me that I find myself staying up as late as midnight working on my computer and making phone calls (crazy night life, I know). Many of you will also remember that I am not at my personal best early in the morning, so it’s also a nice chance to reclaim my old life by sleeping in a bit. This is great except for two things: the call to prayer and bean cakes.

The part of Togo where I am is largely Muslim, and I am enjoying learning about a religion and culture I didn’t understand well when I came. People are very open to explaining their beliefs and customs to me, and I am learning a lot. One of the thing I learned is that there is a call to prayer several times a day, and I like that I’m beginning to understand how that is structured. What I do not like is that the first one is at 4:30am. In my village, someone just stands outside the mosque and cries out that the prayer is about to begin, but I can’t hear it from my house. In cities with electricity, however, there are loudspeakers. I am beginning to hate loudspeakers. There is a cry loud enough to wake the dead and more importantly, me. Three times for several minutes each between 4:30 and 5:00am. This does no wonders for my beauty rest, and I am beginning to see the benefits of an electricity free lifestyle.

After the call to prayer stops, since I don’t have work in these villages, it’s usually possible to go back to sleep for an hour or two, which is blissful. Except at my friend M’s house. At his house, the call to prayer is followed by his neighbor screaming at the top of her voice. At first I thought something might be wrong, but M explained that she is screaming at the top of her lungs in local language, “I HAVE BEAN CAKES!” I asked why she does this, assuming that it was more than her joy over her breakfast selection. As it turns out, she sells the bean cakes to people who are on their way to work, school, the market, or their fields, which is fairly standard, but rather than selling them on the road where people will see her, she just cooks them at her house and periodically screams out that the bean cakes are there for the desirous. Somehow, this seems to work.

Which leads me to my new idea. I think when I get back to the US, I’m going to open an advertising firm. We won’t use any radio spots or television commercials. There will be no ads in magazines, no promotional offers, no posters, billboards, slogans, or signs. I’m simply going to hire people to walk around screaming about my clients’ products. Something along the lines of, “GEICO HAS CAR INSURANCE!” or “BUDWEISER MAKES BEER!” Given my experience here, I can see no way in which this business plan could fail. Plus, I know how much people will appreciate it. I think nothing will endear our products to the general public as much as someone screaming about them at sunrise. I’m going to make a killing. Interested investors can send cash any time.