I lived in Africa, ask me anything.

In the mid 90s my mom got a job working for the American Department of State as the Peace Corps medical officer for the West African nation of Togo.  One of the perks of the job is that the US government would fly family members over.

So for 6 months of my freshman year of highschool, I lived in the capital city Lomé.  I went to school there, made friends, and the next summer (when I lived there for 3 months) I got a job in the American Embassy.

So ask me anything.  Some topics of interest: funny/interesting experiences I had, working for the government in a foreign country, the expat community, languages, food, authoritarianism/corruption, neighbors, weather, disease, technology, or any other aspect of life that you experience every day.

I also spent a lot of time in Bulgaria, but I'll do another ama for that.

Wow I just looked up Togo on wikipedia, I'd never even heard of that country before. It's a tiny sliver!



How did you get the job at the embassy? What did you do?

So dependants of DOS employees oversees can get jobs depending on their skillset.  All I had to do was sign the form that my mom filled out for me where she lied and said I'd never smoked weed.

The first job I got was in a werehouse (ok it was a warehouse) helping an african guy do inventory.  One of the guys who had previously worked there had convinced his co-workers that he would voodoo them if they didn't help him steal things.  So me and my boss went through the warehouse checking on what things we still had.  Some of the memorable experiences I had were: My boss got his hands on an issue of national enquirer with a story about a "bat-boy" and asked me if it was real; Everyday on my way to work, all my neighbors would want to talk to me.  I didn't realize it at the time, but I must have come off kind of rude by trying to get to work on time.  In the local culture, you're expected to talk to your neighbors for a good hour or so before you get going on your day.  Hopefully, they thought that it was just a novel experience.

Everyday on my way to work, all my neighbors would want to talk to me.  I didn't realize it at the time, but I must have come off kind of rude by trying to get to work on time.  In the local culture, you're expected to talk to your neighbors for a good hour or so before you get going on your day.  Hopefully, they thought that it was just a novel experience.

Wow, that's a cool tradition. I like talking to my neighbors but we usually only talk in the summer when I'm working in the garden. Last week after it snowed they shoveled the sidewalk in front of our house. Seriously they're the best.

Did you see any community initiatives or mutual aid? Meet any leftists?

Did you see any community initiatives or mutual aid? Meet any leftists?

Most of the people my mom hung out with were probably leftists. This included other expats (often various embassy staff for different countries or NGOs, though our friend Yorn worked for a Norwegian cement concern), other people who worked for Peace Corps, and Peace Corps volunteers.  I didn't see any organized examples of mutual aid, but there's a saying in that part of the continent, "How will I know to feed you if you don't tell me that you're hungry?" so it was probably going on all around me.  A story you would hear is where a PC volunteer would be taking a bus to their post up country.  The bus would brake down and someone was sure to collect the volunteer, wait for the next bus, and make sure they got on the next one, all without sharing a language with the volunteer.

Another situation that would happen over and over again is when two people who didn't share a language would meet, start dating, eventually marry, and then have a kid who would know both languages and have to translate back and forth for their parents.  This has nothing to do with mutual aid (per se), but I bring it up to highlight the enduring power of horniness to overcome obstacles.  Make Love not War.

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The username I really wanted was Wetfish Forum Comment Commentator
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