Our reporting “from the front lines” has been minimal. We’ve stayed pretty busy with travel to various sites and participation with different services, conferences, village encounters, etc. It would take a couple of hours to relate the greatest experiences and a couple of days to convey most of our stories. So Laura and I will keep posting for another week or two when we get back.
Today is our last day in Togo. We fly out (Lord willing and the creek don’t rise) tonight, Sunday, May 31st, at 11:15pm. We should be home (in Tampa) about 5:20pm tomorrow (barring flight delays, flight cancellations, missed flights, etc.).
Some of the big “take-aways” are in the cultural contrasts and and expectations. For example, yesterday we passed by a moto accident on the streets of Lome. A woman was laying on the sidewalk with a makeshift bandage on her foot and ankle and there was a fair amount of blood streaming across the sidewalk. This prompted multiple conversations about Togolese legal culture.
For example, no one around the woman on the sidewalk did anything to help. By Togolese law, if they “assist” her in anyway, they become responsible for all of her expenses and if she were to die, they could go to jail – and that is just for the bystanders and witnesses. For the other person that was involved in the accident, it is their financial responsibility regardless of fault. Even if she pulled out into traffic, driving against the flow and suddenly darted in front of the car which was doing everything right, it would still be the driver of the car (or owner of the car) on the hook for all expenses simply because they had more money. In Togo, whoever has the most money pays.
If you steal something from your own “clan” or within your own village, they will hunt you down and perhaps even beat you to death. “We have so little, how could you steal from your own?” You don’t steal. Officially, it is frowned upon, of course, but there would likely be no consequences for the vigilantes. However, if you broke into a home and stole from a rich person … well, they can afford it. Officially, there is nothing to do but fill out an insurance report.
Bribery is a common practice. Usually, they are referred to as “fines”, but there is no official record, no receipt and no accounting for which pocket the money went into and no recourse.
In one of the villages, the chief won’t allow an NGO to dig the village a deep well for clean water at no expense … unless they pay him.
And yet at the same time, complete strangers will invite you in, insist you take the best seats in the home, offer you something to drink or even eat if it is anywhere near a meal time. They will ask about your health, your family and how you slept. They will share with you family history and village history. They will listen politely and even ask questions to clarify what they don’t understand even when they are absolutely opposed to your viewpoint (for example a witch doctor who was the village chief and insistent that we would not share the Gospel (or even speak with) his people), being genuinely warm and pleasant throughout the conversational conflict.
There is a scarcity mentality yet a generous spirit. There is a desire to “have things”, but not at the expense of the community. There is individual ownership and personal prosperity (or at least a desire for comfort) without ever forgetting about the village. They use technology as we do (when they are able to get their hands on it) with cellphones, laptops and social media and it doesn’t diminish their spirituality.
Then there are our brothers and sisters in Christ.
When they stop their voodoo practice, they lose their family and community. They are outcasts. By refusing to participate in the rituals, they “invite evil spirits” into the village. They become responsible for every little problem/crisis/loss in the village because they have selfishly turned their back on their family practice. They are truly outcast and isolated. But they keep coming.
They also keep going.
There are so many stories of young men and women (I’ll introduce you to some in the next week or so) whose lives are transformed by the Gospel and desire to live out “all the things [Jesus] commanded”. Who actually believe that they are to “go into all the world and make disciples” as they are disciples. Who worship in spirit and truth. Who are “new creations” for whom all the former things “passed away”.
We hear the stories, but to actually get to meet them …