Sharing a Beach Adventure in Lomé, Togo

As I mentioned in my previous post, I didn’t do much sight seeing in Lomé, Togo as I spent most of my time teaching. However, on the final Saturday I did have an opportunity to go out and see some of the sights. The fun part was that I didn’t go alone. I shared that experience with a high school student from Togo.

Many organizations try to help children around the world. One of the ways they do this is through sponsorship programs. My denomination has that kind of program, and we have sponsored a child in Brazil for quite a few years. A few years ago we took on a second sponsored child. He had a previous sponsor who was unable to continue sponsoring him. Since he was older, we felt like we could sponsor him as well for a few years.

As I was planning the trip to Togo, I received a letter from the young man we had started to sponsor and realized that he lived in Togo. I was surprised as I had forgotten what country he was from. Since I was going to Togo, I wondered if I would have the opportunity to meet him. I reached out to the child sponsorship program, and they assured me it would be possible. I was excited for that opportunity.

The leadership in Togo was very excited that I was going to meet the boy we sponsor. They said this had never happened before. I think they were more excited than I was. My assumption was that the teenager lived near Lomé, where I would be. I pictured in my mind that I would go to his home and spend a half hour or so meeting him and his family, and that would be it. My assumption was wrong, and the reality was quite different.

As I tried to work out the details of this meeting, reality struck. He did not live close to Lomé. If I were to visit him, I would need to take a six hour bus ride to his home town, spend the night there, and then take the bus back to Lomé the next day. I didn’t think I could do that. There were too many challenges to deal with. If I had been younger, yes, I would have done it. However, I am not young, and this wouldn’t work.

So the alternative was for the young man to come to Lomé. He would take the bus ride down, stay in the dormitory with the students over the weekend and return home by bus on Monday. G (I’m not going to use his name here) just turned 16 so the idea that he would be taking this journey alone concerned me, but the leaders didn’t seem too concerned about it.

So G arrived in Lomé early Friday afternoon. He came over and had lunch with me. Assah (my class interpreter) and Dosseh (Leader of the school) were both there to help translate for me. I learned that he is the youngest in his family. His father is a subsistence farmer, and his mother sells charcoal. He has two sisters both of whom are married and I think three brothers. He said he liked English in school and had studied it for five years, but he didn’t want to try out his English with me.

I asked him if he was thinking of going to college, and his answer was kind of sad. He said his family didn’t have money for college so he had never considered it. So I asked what he wanted to do for a job. He informed me he wanted to work at the border in immigration. I found that an interesting answer. Ghana is right next to Togo, and we saw the border crossing on numerous occasions. It was good to know that he at least had some goal in mind for himself.

I had bought a t-shirt from Seattle’s soccer team, the Sounder, to give him. I figured he would relate to a soccer team better than American football or baseball. Unfortunately I bought it took big. Hopefully he will grow into it. The funny thing is I asked him what his favorite sport was, and he replied rope climbing. I didn’t have a t-shirt for that. Having chatted a while, he settled into the dorm, and I didn’t see him the rest of the day. The students took care of him for the evening.

The next day we went to the beach. Lomé is right on the Atlantic Ocean. Assah joined us to be with G. It took us nearly an hour to get to the beach as the school is on the opposite side of town. On our way in, I stuck my camera out the window and took this video as we drove along. This is not the center of town but more of the outer edge of town.

One thing you may have noticed are the motorcycles. They are a major form of transportation in Togo. The good news is that they are required to wear helmets so everyone does. However, that doesn’t mean they are always buckled. Here are some photos of various other spots around Lomé.

We finally arrived at the beach and Dosseh found a place to park. G had never been to Lomé before and had never seen the ocean so all of this was a new experience for him. Dosseh took him out to the water’s edge so the waves would wash over their feet. Dosseh told me initially he was nervous about taking him into the water, but it turned out fine. G seemed quite fascinated by the water and waves.

I was fascinated by an old metal structure that jutted out into the ocean. It had apparently been constructed by the Germans years ago when they had control over Togo. After WW I France took over the country which is why French is the official language. This dock has deteriorated over the years, but still attracts people and kids who like to climb on it.

We didn’t spend a long time at the beach. We drove to a nearby hotel where we were going to have lunch and parked in their parking lot. From there we walked to a market. I was looking for a key chain a friend asked me to find for her. Of course once they see an American, everyone wants to sell you something. Fortunately Dosseh was there to guide me along, and I found a key chain pretty quickly. I would have liked to have wandered around the market more just to see what they had to offer, but I really didn’t like the attention. Everyone wanted to show me their shop so I decided we should just go.

For lunch Dosseh planned for us to have pizza. I asked G if he knew what pizza was. He didn’t. Assah had also never had pizza. We picked out three different kinds. They were actually pretty good. G seemed to like it as he ate quite a few slices.

That day G was wearing a colorful t-shirt with Michael Jordan on the front of the shirt. I asked him if he knew who Michael Jordan was. He didn’t. I asked him if he knew what basketball was. He didn’t. So when we got back to the guest house, I pulled out my laptop and found a YouTube highlight video of Michael Jordan. G seemed appropriately impressed by Jordan’s moves in the video.

Sunday G went to church with us. He had said his church was about 15 people so being in a larger church was a new experience for him as well. I led in a communion service so that may have been new for him also. That evening after dinner Assah took G home with him as he was going to take him to the bus early Monday morning so we said our goodbyes.

It was great to share some time with G and provide him some experiences that he had not had. He told me his favorite experience was being at the ocean. I felt bad we could not spend more time together since we couldn’t communicate well. However, I appreciated the opportunity to get to know him better and know that he is benefiting in some ways from the financial help we are giving him.

Child sponsorship is one way to make a difference in the life of a child, but there are other ways. I hope that you have found a way to help a child who can use a helping hand. A small investment on your part can make a huge difference to a child or family. If you need help connecting with an organization, let me know. I’d be glad to help you find a good organization.

Next week Andrea returns to share about her trip in the interior of Africa. She has a lot to share so be sure to check out her post next week. If you haven’t subscribed to my blog, be sure to do so. It’s easy and that way you won’t miss any posts.

Credits: The photos of G and me in the guest house and me with G at the beach were taken by Dosseh.