September 9: Closing ceremony and return to Lome
The closing ceremony
We had our final seminar in the morning, and a raffle in which I gave away some materials including a dictionary. The teachers had fun with that. The closing ceremony began more or less on time. We had to wait of course until the inspector generale arrived. Fortunately he wasn’t late; sometimes officials run half an hour late, and in Togo you must wait for that person to arrive before starting. I was surprised when the Inspector Generale stayed in his seat and read his speech in French. It seemed poor form to me. Only the last two lines were in English. Then it was my turn to give a brief closing speech, followed by one of the participants who expressed gratitude on behalf of everyone. I didn’t think I’d done that much; it seemed teachers knew most of what I was saying already. But they feel I gave them confidence to go back to their schools. Next, it was time to give out certificates. Four officials including me were sitting at the table with certificates (signed by me and Mary and stamped by the US Embassy, just like in Moldova). I said when teachers came to my table, they would shake my right hand and take the certificate with the left. The other officials agreed to handle it the same way, which I thought was very progressive of them. Some of the teachers didn’t know whether to put their shaking hand above or below the certificate hand, causing some awkwardness. But it all worked out okay. After the certificates had been given out, the teachers stood up and broke out into song: “Goodbye Bridget/Goodbye Bridget” “Goodbye Bridget Goodbye” (repeat) “We’ll see you in our dreams.” I’m not sure where they learned the song. But I was touched nearly to the point of tears. I was really gonna miss working with them. However, they repeated the song with about 15 other names. By then I was ready for them to stop.It was time to go out for the group picture and then “refreshment”. In true form for a hierarchical society, the other officials and I had to leave first. Then when we went to the cafeteria, we had to sit at a separate table. Some of the younger teachers opened our beer bottles for us and served food to us. It was very unsettling. I would rather have stood and mingled with people as in a coffee break.
Return to Lome and night on the town
Around 12:30, we started driving back to Lome. We stopped at a hotel in Atakpame for lunch, and we arrived at the Hotel Ibis before 6. I took a little rest, cleaned up, and then Mary picked me up a little after 9 to go to a club she knew with live music. It was called “54”, which is a reference to the 54 countries in Africa. The entryway had beautiful artwork for sale. The second room felt more like a beach with some covering and stage. We sat at a table and at Mary’s suggestion I ordered djambe, a kind of pot that has tomato and onion mixed in before heating. It was better in my opinion than regular pot.
As we sat and ate and tried to talk, I was introduced to customs of listening live music in Africa. Mary complained that the music was too loud, and I had to agree. This problem was compounded by the fact that the musicians never stopped to take a break the whole time we were there. People in the audience showed their appreciation for musicians by sticking a 1000 CFA note to their sweaty foreheads. We stayed listening to music and watching bills go on sweaty foreheads until about 11:30 pm.
Tags: Africa, music, Togo, Travel
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