All New Navigator Column: The Batch of Secrets
"2 cups of flour...eggs...oh! Hello there! I was just writing down a recipe my mom told me yesterday. It's a family recipe for steamin'-hot-extra-chewy-melt-in-your-mouth-brownies. I sure don't want to forget it! It's so good!"
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Wow, don't you wish you knew the recipe? I can almost smell those brownies baking! If you're like us and LOVE food, then you're just the person we are looking for! Welcome to the "Batch of Secrets" column! For this column to work we're going to need people to send in their favorite recipes, anything from peanut butter and jam sandwiches to a cultural dish from your side of the world. We would also appreciate volunteer bakers to make some of the recipes we'll be receiving. We'd especially appreciate volunteers who will be able to make recipes that have ingredients found only in some areas. So don't wait! Start sending in your recipes and names for the volunteer list today!!! Just contact Amy Rosenberger or Mary Bellamy. To start off this awesome tasting column we decided to hold a contest for super-fast lunch recipes. It should take under 20 minutes to make, and the winner will receive a special prize! Hurry! Contest closes November 18th, 2007.
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Africa
Lome, Togo
This new column is something that hasn't been done before with the Navigator. The original brain-storm, from which the column started, was quite simple, "Why not interview teens on Northstar about where they live?" I have always had a desire to know more about where my friends from NSA come from. I wanted to know more than just a single line on a rezume which read, “I live in so-and-so.” With this goal in mind in my mind, Laurel, my co-writer, and I started work on this new column. It's branched off with a few new ideas, and I hope that it shall continue to improve as time goes on.
Kylie Nelson gladly agreed to be our first candidate. I personally think she put a lot of time and effort into making her responses quality work. For that, I think she deserves at least my gratitude and thanks. Now, without further ado, here is our interview. I hope you all enjoy learning about Lome...
Interview
Nathan Tilton (NT): So, Kylie, could you tell our readers a little bit about yourself and where you live?
Kylie Nelson (KN): Well, my name is Kylie Ruth Nelson, in case you hadn't figured that out by now. ;D I turned 15 on October 6th, and I'm a sophomore this year on North Star Academy. I live in Lome the capital city of Togo, West Africa, with my parents and three siblings. It's a pretty small country, about the size of the state of West Virginia. I've lived in Africa for almost all of my life and love it here. :] Some of my favorite hobbies include reading, writing and pretty much doing anything creative.
NT: How did you come to live where you are right now, and where did you live before?
KN: I first came to Africa when I was 3 months old, when we went to Cameroon for field training. After three months in Cameroon, we moved to a village in northern Benin to start a language project in the Byali language. After four or five years of living in Benin, Mom and Dad felt God calling them to the next-door country, Togo. After a lot of prayer, we moved to the Lome and Dad began to get involved in administration instead of actually doing translation work, and that's where we've been for the past 10 years or so.
NT: Could you tell us what the culture and people are like, around where you live?
KN: There are a lot of cultural differences between Togo and the United States. In Togo you can find African traditional religions, Christianity and Islam. The official language of Togo is French (because it is a former French colony), but there are 42 African languages. The culture also tends to be more relationship-oriented - people and your relationship with them is of primary importance in every situation, especially to others within your own people group and extended family. While America stresses individual independence, the Togolese rely on a system of inter-dependence. For example, owing someone money isn't a bad thing, it just creates a relationship with that person! They might even be reluctant to pay off the entire debt because then that part of the relationship is over. Also, Togolese tend to be very patient - time is not the primary concern. One example of this stands out in my mind. We were on a trip up north to visit some friends and the car broke down. We were too far away from a town for the cell phone to work. A motorcycle taxi with a passenger on the back stopped to see what was wrong, and the passenger got off the moto and let Dad take his place so he could go to a town to call someone. So this guy just sat patiently by our car on the road for almost an hour, waiting for his taxi to come back and pick him up again. Somehow, I can't picture someone having the time or patience to do that in the States.
NT: Could you tell us what the scenery is like?
KN: Well, there are two seasons in Togo - rainy season and dry season. During the rainy season, everything is lush and green, and you can see a lot of fields of corn, millet and other crops. It's very beautiful. During the dry season, it's the exact opposite. It's very hot and can be very dry, resulting in brown and dusty scenery. In the southern part of the country - on the coast - it's more tropical, while the northern part is a little more like the stereotypical African savannah.
NT: 5. So Kylie, before you go, could you share some pictures of where you live with us?
KN: Of course. :-)
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Laurel Bates (LB): Hey Kylie, I have a couple of questions for you too.
KN: Hey Laurel :-)
LB: So Kylie, what kinds of animals live in the areas around Togo?
KN: There aren't many wild animals left in Togo. Around twenty years ago, you could still see elephants in northern Togo, but sadly, they're not there anymore. You can occasionally see some baboons and other monkeys up north as well, but not as often as you could even a decade ago. I remember seeing monkeys at the side of the road every once in a while when I was little. There are still quite a few snakes, but you don't see them very often, either, since they tend to hide. Animals that you can see on a day to day basis are domesticated, like skinny cows, chickens, goats, sheep, and there are also lizards. Lots of lizards. I've heard the abundance of lizards put humorously in the statement, "lizards are the squirrels of Africa." There are also a good many birds and all sorts of interesting bugs.
LB: How do kids and teens like to enjoy themselves there?
KN: Well, kids and teens here don't have very much free time. They go to school early and aren't done until 5, and then they have homework. But, when they do have free time, kids of all ages will play soccer, anywhere and with anything. During summer vacation, we often have to slow the car down driving down our road so that the kids can move the soccer game to the side so we can drive past. Another past-time out in the villages is hitting a bike tire with a stick and driving it along (and they're really good at it, too!)
LB: Can you tell us what the economy is like in that area of Africa?
KN: Mostly there is subsistence level farming in Togo, which means that families grow enough food to feed themselves and maybe a little to sell in the market, but no more. Cotton and coffee are the main exported cash crops, and two other exports are phosphate and teak wood.
LB: What is your favorite food that people eat there?
KN: We don't actually eat many of the local foods, but one meal we particularly like is peanut sauce on rice. It's a tomato-based sauce with spices and peanut butter, and it's really good (though the description might not sound very good). Another common food here is fu-fu. It's made from the igname yam that is chopped up, boiled, and then pounded with big, heavy pounding-sticks until it's a rubbery consistency. Once formed into balls, it's ready to serve. Since it really doesn't taste like much, it is usually served with some kind of spicy sauce like the peanut sauce.
LB: How can we pray for the people of Togo?
KN: You can pray for the power cuts that are hitting most of West Africa, especially during the dry season (which is quickly approaching). A hydroelectric dam in Ghana seems to be the source of most of the trouble - in Togo, anyway (the dam is where Togo gets most of its power). The water levels weren't high enough last year, so Ghana didn't have nearly as much electricity to give to Togo, which resulted in long periods without electricity last year. These power cuts really hurt a lot of small businesses that depended on refrigeration. There has been a lot of rain this year, so we hope the power cuts won't be as bad, but we just don't know. And that brings me to another prayer request - there's actually been TOO much rain and it has been damaging crops and the typical mud-brick houses in villages. So you can pray for the rain to stop and that the people who have had their crops destroyed will be able to find a way to support themselves. One last thing you can pray about is that the people would discover that Christ can give them peace even in despairing situations.
NT: Well, I suppose that’s all, Kylie. Thanks for you time and effort for the interview. I hope to see you around. In other words, ttyl?
KN: Yeah, ttyl! =D
Interview End
I suppose that is all that we have to offer for this issue. It may seem rather long, but that is what we set out to do: to give you a bigger picture of what it is like to live Lome, Africa. Until next time...
Nathan Tilton and Laurel Bates