african musings

Hey!

so just some random interesting facts...

Guess which movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1985 (the year I was born)? Out of Africa! It's a sign I was meant to go to the great continent lol. Mom says its a really good movie so I guess I'll have to order it through Netflix at somepoint.

Also I recently watched The English Patient, mainly because I watched Atonement a while back and everyone kept comparing it to The English Patient (which is rubbish because they don't really have anything in common and The English Patient was way better). Anyways, the point of the story is there was this one quote, about the Harmattan wind that I thought appropriate to post since I will be experiencing this Harmattan at some point in Togo between January/February.

Almásy: "And then there is the harmattan, a red wind, which mariners call the sea of darkness. And red sand from this wind has flown as far as the south coast of England, apparently producing showers so dense they were mistaken for blood."

I wonder if it will rain like blood when I am in Togo. hmm...

ciao for now,

-Nikhil

aspiration statement

Hey!

As an example for others, I have posted my aspiration statement here. It's way longer than most other aspiration statements I have seen but I feel like I needed to write a lot to properly and effectively answer all the questions. For obvious reasons, I'm not going to post my PC-adapted resume but if you want to see mine as an example, just let me know. I would be happy to e-mail it to you. Anyways, happy reading...

*************************************************

ASPIRATION STATEMENT

Nikhil Dharmaraj Patil

Togo

June 3rd, 2008

1. The professional attributes that you plan to use, and what aspirations you hope to fulfill, during your Peace Corps service

Throughout my tenure at Georgia Tech and my current job, I have had countless opportunities to develop professional attributes that will be critical to fulfilling my service in the Peace Corps. I know that as a Peace Corps volunteer I will need to apply all these skills in various tasks throughout my two and a half years of service. My current job as a case manager for an international pediatric health non-profit has given me tremendous professional experience in not just “hard” skills such as foreign language application, database management and exposure to medical decision making, but also in “soft” skills such as cultural sensitivity and interpersonal communication. Other jobs I have held throughout college have helped me develop skills in other areas such as research, education and public speaking. Lastly, as a bilingual customer service volunteer for a local children’s hospital, I not only gained significant first-hand exposure to patient care but I also witnessed the inadequacies prevalent in minority access to healthcare. I plan to apply all these experiences by possibly helping out at local Togolese clinics or dispensaries.

Perhaps my biggest professional attribute is my desire to help others in need. Through the Georgia Tech Office of Community Service I was given the opportunity to develop my leadership skills in a variety of areas across campus as an outlet to fuel this desire. I gained valuable experience in starting organizations from the ground up; for example I served as President for Fountain of Youth, a fundraising organization that benefited a national retreat for teenagers with cancer. Under Fountain of Youth I learned how to plan and market events, effectively run meetings and the importance of delegation. As the Advocacy Chair for the Georgia Tech chapter of the American Medical Student Association I educated my campus about various public health issues from global health challenges to the national healthcare debate, which also served to help me better understand these issues. To be a volunteer in the Peace Corps is to be a leader in the community and I hope to not just apply my leadership skills to my new community but to also transfer some of the health knowledge I gained through these organizations.

Other skills that I hope to use involve my drama experience, not just on-stage experience but off-stage experience as well. In addition to having musical experience (I have been playing the violin since I was ten), I participated as an actor/dancer/singer in various musicals and shows throughout high school and college. Through my fraternity I took it upon myself to choreograph, script write and direct multiple productions for inter-Greek competitions. I hope my theater and musical experience will translate well to West African culture as dancing and singing are a huge part of local traditions and festivals. I look forward to utilizing my artistic vision to perhaps encourage my community to use art and theater as an outlet for educating and discussing various health topics.

One of my main Peace Corps aspirations involves maximizing the unique public health experience I can gain as a volunteer in Togo and West Africa. Although I am not a new witness to poverty, this will be my first time getting hands-on experience with people being afflicted with the precise public health problems that I hope to one day eradicate from this world. The impact of HIV/AIDS in my Atlanta community is very different from the devastating impact HIV/AIDS has in a developing country that lacks appropriate access to not just the essential drugs needed to rid the people of this disease but also the necessary infrastructure and educational resources to prevent its spread. Add this to other health challenges of the tropical world such as malaria, guinea worm, and malnutrition and Togo becomes a microcosm of global health problems in which to study, observe, and gain valuable future professional skills. I particularly hope to educate myself while in Togo in the areas of health information dissemination, disease prevention, and general international development.

2. Your strategies for working effectively with host country partners to meet expressed needs

As a volunteer in Togo, I hope to employ one of my greatest strengths to work effectively with my host country partners: my ability to listen. One of the Peace Corps philosophies that attracted me most to service was the idea that we integrate ourselves into our communities to best develop “appropriate technologies” based on community needs, not based on what I think the community needs. This can only be achieved through listening: listening to what my host family wants, listening to what the village elders want, listening to what the men and what the women want. By developing community-centered initiatives that stress community investment and ownership of them, these programs will most likely be sustainable long after I leave. Knowledge is the most renewable of all resources since knowledge can’t be depleted and I hope that my role as an advisor and educator in the health sector will lead to sustainable community owned projects.

Another strategy that I plan to employ involves complete integration into the community. Another Peace Corps philosophy that attracted me to the organization was the idea that we live on the level of our communities. This will engender respect, as I will hopefully be seen as helping my own community as opposed to helping just their community. Additionally, as mentioned earlier, through integration I can better understand the needs of the community through bottom-up development. I plan to integrate to the best of my ability into the community by studying hard to learn the local languages and also by adhering to the local customs and traditions of my community. Learning the local language will definitely be a challenge for me as I will be moving to the République Togolaise, a francophone country with only a semester and half of basic college-level French under my belt. On top of that, I will have to master a local dialect based on to what region of the country I am assigned. I do have about ten years of experience speaking Spanish, yet I am still nervous at having to learn a foreign language through immersion as opposed to the formal education that I am used to. As a source of personal inspiration, I remind myself of Nelson Mandela’s famous quote, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

3. Your strategies for adapting to a new culture with respect to your own cultural background

My main strategy for adapting and surviving in a new culture will be to remain as open-minded as possible, something I have had to hone throughout my life. As an East Indian who was born in England I was forced to adapt to cultures on four different continents thanks partly to job re-location for my parents (specifically my father) and partly of my own accord. After England I spent a few years in Saudi Arabia where although I was aware of my Islamic surroundings, I remained largely unaffected. Following Saudi Arabia I moved to my motherland, India, where I spent most of my time as largely a foreigner in a country I should have been able to call home. Then I moved to the United States where I eventually became the Americanized amalgamation I am today. My most recent trip to another continent involved studying abroad in South America a few summers ago where I learned how knowing the local language can lead to an inherently more satisfying cultural experience. Though most of my international experiences have not been voluntary, I have learned the importance of being open to all experiences.

Unlike most of the other volunteers in my group, I am going to have the additional challenge of integrating into the Togolese concept of “yovo” or “foreigner”. Due to my brown skin and East Indian background, they may be reluctant at first to perceive me as being an American at all as “American” is usually synonymous with “white man”. However, this will be an excellent opportunity to fulfill the Peace Corps’ second goal of “helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served” as I am an example of the ethnic diversity that exists in America.

Additionally, unlike other volunteers I have experience “living” at the levels of “poverty” experienced by most Togolese people. My father grew up in a rural village in Southern India so whenever we return to visit family, we always end up spending time at the family farm. Although conditions in the village today are very different from fifteen years ago when I used to live in India, I have had the experience of being in places with no running water, sporadic electricity, and pit latrines. I don’t know whether or not this prior experience is going to make living any easier for the next two and a half years; if anything though, my transition to my new environment won’t be as much of a culture shock.

4. The skills and knowledge you hope to gain during pre-service training to best serve your future community and project

According to my assignment book, pre-service training will be composed of three components: cross-culture training, language training and technical training. Although I am apprehensive about all three, I am going into training with an open mind and I will do my best to study as hard as possible in order to be the best trained volunteer (that I can be) before I arrive at my permanent site. I understand that a good majority of my training will be done on site and my implicit knowledge will develop as I slowly integrate into the culture, but I do want to learn as much explicit knowledge as possible in my structured classroom settings. Language training in French and my local language will probably be the toughest aspect of pre-service training as I will be learning through immersion; however, this training will also be my most important training for my capacity to serve successfully will depend entirely on the degree of my ability to communicate effectively in both languages.

One component of pre-service training that I am most excited about is meeting and befriending the rest of the CHAP volunteers in Togo, not just those who come in with me in June, but also those already in Togo from whom I hope to learn a great deal. To me, my friends have always been my family and I know that, with all of us moving into a foreign environment, it will be imperative that we bond and create our own support system to help each other through the rough times we are bound to face over our two and half years abroad. Additionally, by learning from current CHAP volunteers I want to better understand the system of best practices that works in Togo and use these practices to effectively design and promote sustainable and successful projects in my village.

Another component of pre-service training that I am excited about involves getting adopted into my first host family. I pray that I get matched with a very patient host family that will be able to deal with me as I attempt to integrate into Togolese culture to the best of my ability. I am looking forward to all that my host family can teach me and I am also looking forward to teaching them about America.

5. How you think Peace Corps service will influence your personal and professional aspirations after your service ends

One of the main reasons I decided to serve in the Peace Corps is because I believe that to live a life of service, one’s life has to be built on a foundation of service. I am hoping that the Peace Corps will be that foundation on which I hope to build a future career in medicine. Following the Peace Corps, my professional aspirations include attending graduate school to receive a Masters in Public Health, concentrating in international/global health, and to eventually attend medical school so that I can practice medicine in an international setting, preferably in developing countries. I would like to work in these countries not only to improve local access to healthcare, but also to organize rural health education programs. These are skills that I can hone while serving in Togo.

Moving to Africa, would not just fulfill a personal aspiration of mine, as I have always wanted to travel to the continent; it would also fulfill a professional aspiration, as service there would be the opportunity of a lifetime to gain first hand experience in a field that I hope to devote my life to: international health. The kind of public health experience I can gain in Togo will be unique to my situation in Africa (which I mentioned in the first part of this aspiration statement) as I will be able to witness first hand not just the devastating impact of AIDS in a developing country, but also I would also gain valuable exposure to tropical diseases. In addition, my perspective of Africa is that, because it is home to a large proportion of the international public health challenges, if we can’t solve the problems in Africa, we won’t be able to solve the problems anywhere else in the world. My service in Africa will hopefully reaffirm my interest in the continent and motivate me to return in the future.

My love of languages has inspired me to learn as many languages as I possibly can. I learned Spanish initially for practical reasons (with Hispanics soon-to-be the largest minority in the United States, it only seemed prudent to learn Spanish on a professional basis). I am thrilled to learn French before I depart for Togo as it is a beautiful language and one of the first languages I originally wanted to learn; ironically, as I am poised to enter the field of international health in Africa, French adds to my professional development as a critical tool. However learning a local language in Togo will serve two purposes: first it will allow me to better integrate into my community, and second it will be fun as I have always wanted to learn an uncommon “tribal” language. Having learned two new languages in the Peace Corps will only fuel my passion to learn further languages.

One final musing: I cannot even begin to comprehend how my service in the Peace Corps will influence me personally in the future. I know it will be a life-changing experience but I don’t know to what degree; I may come back enlightened or I may come back a cynic. I can only hope my change will be for the better and I know this will be possible as long as I remain open-minded about all that I witness. However, I do know that my Peace Corps service will not be something I will ever regret and I am eager for my adventure to begin.

togolese republic of west africa

Hey!

So I know that I promised you more information about Togo and here it is. I apologize for taking so long (and trust me, it shouldn't have taken me very long since there is very little to say about the country) but the Peace Corps had me running around the past two weeks scrambling to get paperwork turned into them. Like I've said before, the Peace Corps has incredible timing *note the hint of sarcasm*. Not only did I have to turn in my aspiration statement and updated resume to the PC Togo Office, I also had to turn in all my visa and passport forms into SATO Travel. Unfortunately PC sent me the wrong forms in the mail (they has JUST updated the passport forms) so I had to redo them at the post office. Then I kinda got freaked out because even though I filled out the DS-11 because I wanted to keep my personal American Passport (the PC issues all volunteer government passports) for travel before I head to Togo (I'm planning a trip to Costa Rica to visit Michelle), they took up my passport as proof of citizenship. So I really hope I get it back before May!!!

Anyways, enough Peace Corps drama...welcome to the lovely country of Togo:

Togo - "Travail, Liberte, Patrie"/"Work, Liberty, Homeland"

Official Name: Le Republique Togolaise or Togolese Republic

Official Language: French (but they speak a variety of Gbe languages across the country such as Ewe, Mina and Kabiye)*

Location: Togo is located on the "Slave Coast" in West Africa, bordered by Ghana to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Benin to the east and the Bight of Benin to the south.

Capital: Lome

Population: 5.7 million

Area: 56, 785 km^2

Government: Democratic Republic (President Faure Gnassingbe & Prime Minister Komlan Mally)**

Highest Point/Lowest Point: Mt. Agou (986 m)/Atlantic Ocean (0 m)

Human Development Index: 0.512 (152/175 in 2007)

Currency: CFA Franc (655.957 CFA franc = 1 euro)

Economy: Subsistence/commercial agriculture; main exports include cotton, coffee, cocao, phosphate (4th largest producer in the world)

Religion: Christianity (29%); Islam (21%); Animism/Indigenous Beliefs (50%)

Health Statistics:-

Birth Rate/Death Rate: 36.83/1000 ; 9.65/1000

Life Expectancy (male/female): 57.86 years (55.81 years/59.96 years)

HIV/AIDS Adult Prevalence: 4.1% = ~110,000 people living with HIV/AIDS (2003 est.)

Major Infectious Diseases: HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Yellow Fever, Schistosomiasis, Guinea Worm, Meningococcal Meningitis, Typhoid Fever, Hepatitis A & Diarrhea

Other Interesting Pieces of Information:

- Togo is approximately the size of West Virginia

- Togo is one of Peace Corps' longest running programs of uninterrupted service (~40 years) meaning the PC has never had to evacuate from the country; this is impressive since PC is typically one of the first programs to leave at the slightest hint of violence.

- Although African voodoo-ism (as opposed to the more prolific Haitian/Creole voodoo-ism) originated in Benin, it is practiced widely throughout the country

- Togo sprung onto the international sports arena when it qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany

*Point of Information: French Togoland was made up of approximately 37 different tribes stacked horizontally across the west coast. When the amazingly smart Europeans decided to cut up Africa into countries such as Togo & Benin, they did so vertically, instead of partitioning them along the horizontal tribal boundaries. This is why many West African tribes are dispersed between several countries. In Togo, as you travel north, not only does the scenery change but so does the language.

**Many people have been asking me if Togo is a stable democracy and the answer is, right now, yes. Togo recieved it's independance from France on April 27th, 1960. Since independance it was stable until 2005 when the ruling "president" for about 40 years, Eyadema Gnassingbe, died of a heart attack throwing the country into "unrest". His son Faure was installed as president by the military against parliamentary procedure but after months of sanctions from the international community, free elections were held and Faure won.

In other interesting news, my friend Megan who I've been talking with for a few months since we had similar nominations is headed to Lesotho in June for Community Health & Economic Development. Additionally, my co-worker Pete recieved an invitation for Fiji in May for New Resource Management! I am so excited for the both of them and wish they weren't in countries so far away so that I could have visited lol. Okay, that's it for now folks! I'll have more interesting and pertinent information when I actually get to Togo in June.

ciao,

-Nikhil

accepting my invitation...

Hey!

So after playing phone tag with my PO in DC for a few days, I finally got in touch with him to ask him a few questions before I accepted my invitation. I was really concerned about the whole "learning french" thing before I leave to a predominantly french-speaking country lol (I only have one semester of college french under my belt...eek!). He reassured me that I mainly had to reach an intermediate level and that there were several resources at my disposal. I'm still super nervous so I guess just take it one day at a time right? Well after I officially accepted my invitation, I got thrown for a loop because he wanted to "quiz" me on my invitation to make sure that I knew what I was getting myself into for the next few years. I'm really glad that I read that info sheet like 100 times and knew a little about Togo. Perhaps now would be a good time to check out my welcome book to Togo and learn more info. Actually, if you want to check out my welcome book, go to:

https://www.peacecorps.gov/welcomebooks/TGWB693.pdf

I'll post more info about Togo later so that we can learn about the country together :)

btw I had a mini panic attack this afternoon after the phone call because Steven said that I had 5 days from accepting my invitation to mail my visa and passport forms and 10 days to e-mail my updated resume and aspiration statement. of course this has to happen right when i have two major projects for work due along with my parent's surprise 25th anniversary party this weekend. great timing again peace corps...*breathing exercises*

ciao,
-Nikhil

p.s. for your viewing pleasure...the picture in the header is a view from Mt. Agou, the highest point in Togo at 986m (they use the metric system there so for all you standard system users, 3,234ft) and below, a map of Togo :)

to go or not to go to togo...

"Congratulations! It is with great pleasure that we invite you to begin training in Togo for Peace Corps Service..."

Country: Togo

Program: Community Health & AIDS Prevention (CHAP)

Job Title: Health & HIV/AIDS Prevention Extension Agent

Dates of Service: August 21st, 2008 - August 20th, 2010

Orientation Dates: June 3rd, 2008-June 5th, 2008

Pre-Service Training (in Togo): June 6th, 2008-August 21st, 2008

:)

p.s. this invitation to Togo totally came from left field. but c'est la vie. oh and I even got an impersonally stamped letter from President Bush! sweet...

Community Health & AIDS Prevention (CHAP):-

The purpose of the CHAP project is to assist the Togolese Ministry of Health and other partners in the improvement and expansion of community health education, mainly in the following domains: the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic; the fight against malaria; infant growth monitoring and nutritional education and; family planning education. The CHAP project focuses on public health education on four main health development programs:

1) Child growth monitoring and nutrition education for mothers

2) Family planning: childbirth spacing, reproductive health and sexual education for young people

3) Fight against malaria

4) Prevention of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections and support for people living with HIV/AIDS

The other possible domains include hygiene and sanitation education, community organization and mobilization, vaccinations, guinea worm eradication and diarrhea treatment. CHAP project primary collaborators and counterparts potentially include the following: agents of HIV/AIDS prevention and care, NGOs, leaders of the association of people living with HIV/AIDS, nurses, sanitation/hygiene agents, midwives, and personnel of the regional and/or prefecture health offices. There are currently about 30 CHAP PCVs in the field. The June 2008 CHAP group will be the 14th to join the project.