Oxfam's Cool Planet - On the Line - print-out version of Virtual Journey of Togo

This virtual journey has been transferred to the Cool Planet website from On the Line. Much of the information here relates to the time when the millennium dawned.

The text below has been taken from the virtual journey through Togo and is in a form which can be printed out.

One of the smallest countries in West Africa, never more than 120km wide at any point, Togo is a long narrow country stretching up from the lively maritime region on the Gulf of Guinea to the hot, dry savannahs of the remote North-west. This virtual journey through Togo will give you an interesting visit to this amazing land and its people.

The people of Togo are passionate about soccer, and there are several soccer leagues in the country. Togo's national team has qualified for the final stages of the last two African Nations Cup competitions. Their most spectacular victory was in February ’98, when they defeated Ghana 2-1. While the game was being played the whole nation was huddled around TV sets and when the final whistle blew tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the major towns dancing, singing and waving flags.

Several Togolese players earn a living as professional footballers in Europe. The most successful of them is Bachiro Salou, currently playing for Eintracht Frankfurt. Off the pitch Salou is softly spoken and shy, but on it he is very different. He is over six feet tall, strongly built and terrifies opponents with his speed, skill, physical strength and aggressive, but fair, tackling.

Wrestling is an important feature of cultural life amongst the Kabye people of northern Togo. In days gone by all boys were taught to wrestle and, as young men, they would take part in the Evala wrestling festival as a way of proving their manhood: if a boy performed well he was strong enough to fend for himself, and therefore ready for marriage. This festival, held in the northern city of Kara every July, is still going strong, but is no longer the exclusive preserve of the Kabye; young men come from all over West Africa to wrestle in the tournament. Many of the contestants are members of the Togolese armed forces, where wrestling is part of the training programme.

A large number of people play basketball and handball, and the strong French influence has made cycling quite popular.

Most Togolese people are unable to swim because outside upmarket hotels, there are only a few swimming pools in the country. Togo does, however, have one world-class swimmer. His name is John Dagbovi Senakwami and he represented Togo at the World Swimming Championships in Perth in 1998.

The arts and traditional crafts in Togo are as diverse as the people, but batik, wax-printing and wood-carvings, usually of traditional masks or deities are found everywhere in Togo.

In the thinly populated north-east, the remoteness and limited access to raw materials has lead to different traditional crafts becoming the art of a particular place or people. Ironwork, pottery and weaving are among the crafts found in different places. The traditional hair plaiting, hair-styles and costumes worn throughout Togo also vary from place to place.

In the north-west, decorative wood burning is popular, where wood or calabashes are burnt with elaborate, geometric patterns. Similar patterns can be found on important houses, and also in traditional body decorations and scarification, where the skin is marked with decorative raised scars.

The music of Togo is very varied, as you would expect of a country with around forty different ethnic groups, but all over Togo you will find drumming, a crucial part of any event or celebration.

In the South the fishermen sing as they haul in their nets, sometimes accompanied by musicians playing percussion instruments, such as bells and gongs. Further inland in the Plateaux Region, many of the songs are sung in Fon (a Beninois language) or Yoruba, rather than in Ewé. After the millet harvest has been collected in there are joyous celebrations with music and festivities. The singing and dancing is often accompanied by village children playing lithophones (percussion instruments made of stones). In the Savannah Region traditional music uses flutes and the musical bow, an instrument played while holding an arrow.

Nowadays, the traditional rhythms of bells and drums have fused with modern music from West Africa, West Indies and South America to create a multitude of different styles and sounds. High-life, Soukous and Reggae are all popular, and stars like King Mensah, Nimon Toki Lala, Fifi Rafiatou and Afia Mala are well-known throughout West Africa.

Most famous of all is Bella Bellow, a singer and songwriter who dominated the music scene in Togo for twenty years until her death in 1973.

All over Togo you will find drumming. Every major event in life, every birth, baptism or marriage, every celebration and all festivities are marked by drumming. Drums are played, often for hours, at traditional religious ceremonies, and are also an important part of Christian and Moslem worship.

Togolese drummers need to be able to perform for many different occasions, and there are many different rhythms and accompanying songs and dances. Each area of Togo has a unique rhythm that distinguishes its drummers from those in other parts of the country. There are also many different types of drum. In the Aneho district in south-east Togo drummers use Agbadja, Ageche, Aziboloe, Kple, Amedjeame, Akpesse, Grekon, Blekete and Adomdom, which are all different kinds of drums.

Drums play a central role in many traditional ceremonies in Togo. At the Ekpesoso (or Yeke Yeke) Festival celebrated each September by the Ganye people who live in and around the village of Klidji-Podi, in the Aného region. The event begins on a Thursday when a special stone is carried from its resting place in the sacred forest and brought to the village. Two days later a sacred drum is taken out of the chief’s house (where it is kept on every other day of the year) and the celebrations start, which include non-stop drumming.

Bassoguina, aged 10, lives in Ténéga, a village just outside Niamtougou, a town in the Kara Region of Togo. You can find out more about Ténéga by reading this transcript from the Le Togo d'un village à l'autre website, where Bamana Kadira Christophe speaks about his village.

Bassoguina wakes up at 5.30am. She sleeps on the floor, under a piece of cloth. First thing in the morning, the family prays.Bassoguina and her family are devout Baptists and her father is a part-time minister.

When prayer is over, Bassoguina cleans the bedroom and courtyard of the house. Then she lets the chickens out of their coop, and feeds them, before preparing breakfast for the family.

Breakfast is pâtes (a porridge made of maize flour) with sauce. Today the sauce is made of beans. Almost every meal is pâtes with sauce, but the sauce varies.

At 8am, the family goes to church. Church lasts from 8am to 11am, but not many people are here today because of the heavy rain. It is school holidays at the moment, but the children still have work to do. From 8am until 9am, they study the bible, before joining their parents for the end of the services.

Usually in the afternoon, Bassoguina does any household chores which need doing and then plays with her friends.

Every week Bassoguina's mother goes to the market in Niamtougou to sell soap, which she makes out of palm oil and 'potasse' (a sort of potash). There are taxis, but they cost too much, so Bassoguina and her mother walk 7km to town. Bassoguina's mother carries the soap to market on her head. It is a heavy load.

They arrive back home late, for an evening meal of pâtes with a thick vegetable sauce.

On special days, mainly religious festivals, the family eats fufu (a doughy porridge made of pounded up yams) and rice, with smoked fish.

This is a translation of a page from the Togolese web site Le Togo d'un village à l'autre, in which Bamana Kadira Christophe speaks about his home village of Ténéga.

"Ténéga, the village I come from, is situated seven kilometres from the town of Niamtougou, in a valley in the Atakora hills. To the north is Défalé, to the south Niamtougou, on the east is Siou and on the west is Baga. The village was founded by a man called Ti'a Nadada. There are two rivers that flow through Ténéga, one on the north side and one on the south. When Ti'a Nadada first came to the village he saw the river on the north side and he made his home beside it and called it by his own name.

"Ténéga is made up of five separate neighbourhoods - Balley, Bidigou, Natoun, Djofaga, and Djérégou. Balley is between the two rivers, next to the river Nadada. Balley is the oldest part of Ténéga. As you walk alongside the Nadada you hear all sorts of sounds -- the noise of a mill working, people arguing, other people chatting to one another, -- when you can't even tell what might be making the noise. Only a clairvoyant could tell. There is a primary school in the neighbourhood. There are round huts, a lot of clay houses, and some brick-built houses where the chiefs live and the government officials. The name Balley means riverbank.

"Bidigou is the part of Ténéga where the ceremonies take place. There are still some of the traditional-style round huts with small doorways. You can still see the ceremonial huts with the straw roof and no doors. When there's no wind the very old people go and lift up the straw of the roofs of the huts and then the wind starts to blow. There is a Catholic church in this part of the village, near the village cemetery. There is a primary school in Bidigou too. There are medicine-men and quack doctors living there as well. In the Losso language (Naoudoume) Bidigou means "the place of ceremonies". Naoudoume is the language spoken in Ténéga.

"When the war was on Nadada sent his son to the frontier between Niamtougou and Ténéga. At night he slept in a tree, which is how Djofaga, the third neighbourhood, acquired its name. Djofaga is where the present village headman lives, it is the built-up centre of the village. This is where the Ténéga secondary school and the clinic are, and there is a small market every Saturday and Sunday. At Christmas time all the inhabitants gather together in front of the village headman's house to dance the Kamou dance, which is one of the traditional dances. Djofaga, where the headman lives, is a neighbourhood of brick-built houses, with two storeys, where the rich people live. Djofaga means to sleep upstairs.

"Natoum is where the buffaloes used to live. This was where Ti'a had a farm. He used to send his second son out to chase the wild animals away. Whenever he went there it rained and he used to say that it was buffalo rain, but he never left his post and that was how Natoum got its name, which means the place where the buffaloes are. At Natoum you used to be able to see a wood which the people living there considered to be sacred. Over towards the hill known as Mont Défalé there is a weather station which is often visited by outsiders. There is a primary school here as well.

"The last neighbourhood is Djérégou, which used to be occupied by refugees from Benin. At Djérégou there is a sacred wood called Tikpoume Ragou, or the wood of the rains. When there hasn't been any rain in Ténéga the old people who chant sacred songs go into the wood to ask what's wrong and they immediately sort out what's wrong and then it begins to rain, even before they have got back home.

"Ténéga is a village with lots of ceremonies. So when someone dies the local people put the body in a casket -- each neighbourhood has its own casket -- and transport it. The casket is carried by two people. The oldest member of the family asks the person who has died who was the person responsible for their death. The dead person directs the two people carrying them towards the person responsible for their death, so that they are positioned in front of the person. The person who originally asked the question repeats it. "Was this really the person who caused your death?" The dead person instructs the people carrying them to take three steps forward. Then everybody knows what has happened. After the burial on the third day is the ceremony, on the fourth day there is the second ceremony and then one year later the final ceremony takes place.

"The people who live in Ténéga are farmers, craftspeople and traders. They often grow maize, millet, sorghum and groundnuts. During the rainy season crops like millet cover the whole of the village. The village is completely green. The village can only be seen in the dry season after the millet stalks have been cut down. Every family has seven or eight fields including at least one orchard of oil palms, which is the village's main tree. The Europeans insisted that our forefathers should plant mango trees, which is why we have mango trees in my village.

"The people of Ténéga are great craftspeople. They weave baskets and sieves which the white people find attractive. The oil palm is the most important tree in the village because it can be used to make a lot of different things. The long stem provides timber for building while the branches can be used for sieves and baskets. There are clusters of fruit which are used to make palm oil and palm-kernel oil.

"The people of Ténéga are traders as well. The women still go in for bartering. Men and women sell sieves, baskets and agricultural produce in the markets at Niamtougou on Sundays, at Siou on Tuesdays, at Kpayala on Fridays and at Gnamtè on Mondays. The women barter red oil and sieves in exchange for rice, millet, etc. They buy chicken, goats and sheep for the ceremonies.

"Before the boys can become adults there are ceremonies they have to undergo, they dance the Essikpa and then five years later the Sintime. The local drink is Tchoukoutou which is prepared from ground millet. That is the reason why so much millet is grown.

"The best known people in the village are the village headmen. The head of the village, Mister Makote 1er, is very strict. Mgbawena is a very well known figure among the inhabitants of Ténéga, he beats the children who go swimming in the river. The quack doctors are well known too.

"Because the market at Niamtougou is held on a Sunday the people from Défalé who are known as the Lamba, used to go and stay with the people of Kouna, in the village of Baga, on the Saturday night and they used to eat with them and finish off all their food. So the people of Kouna decided that they wouldn't prepare a meal on Saturdays and would go to bed hungry, so if you are in a house in Ténéga and they say they are going to sleep like the people of Kouna that means that they are going to sleep on an empty stomach."

Togolese cuisine is renowned throughout the region and Togolese chefs are found working in restaurants and hotels all over West Africa.

The most widely eaten food is maize, which is ground into flour and mixed with water to make a porridge called pâtes, (a French word) or akume (the same thing in Ewé). Pâtes is always served with 'sauces' -- thick stews usually made of vegetables, like okra and ademe and spinach. Sauces are also made with meat, most often smoked fish, but all sorts of other meats are eaten, including fish heads, cow skin and large bush rats, known locally as ‘grasscutters’ or agouti.

Another very famous Togolese food is fufu. The preparation of fufu is a communal ritual; a hard, laborious task done by women. First yams are washed, peeled, cut up and boiled until soft. Then two or three women pound the cooked yams in a pestle with thick sticks until the yam has the consistency of baker’s dough. The noise the fufu pounders make is one of the most instantly recognisable sounds in Togo. Like pâtes, fufu is eaten with sauces. Groundnut, goat and palm nut are popular flavours.

N.B. Instead of chicken, you can use almost any other meat. In Togo you might even use a bush rat, although outside West Africa, you might have problems finding them. Don’t be tempted to use European brown or black rats. They are not an adequate substitute – not even big, fat juicy ones!

"I study hard because when I am older I want to be a medical assistant so I can help my little brothers and sisters in the Foyer. When I leave the Foyer I’ll still live nearby and come back to help the children."
Jacqueline Houndoga, Foyer Nanoviwo orphanage

"I’d like to become a lawyer and to have a successful career, of course. I’d like to go to England to study because if I studied in England my qualifications would be accepted all over Europe, and I want to work in Europe, or America, where lawyers make a lot of money. And of course I’d like to have a very nice family, and to die peacefully in my bed at 80!"
Licia Brunet-Veneroni, 14, British school of Lomé, Togo
Licia is from France but has spent most of her life in Togo

"My biggest wish is to be an air hostess because if I could be an air hostess I would earn a lot of money to help my brothers and sisters here in the Foyer. I want to travel to other countries to see how other people live. I don’t know anything about any other countries, I have never been anywhere but Togo. In order to train as an air hostess I would have to go to Europe."
Julienne Houndoga, 15, Foyer Nanoviwo orphanage

"I hope to become either an architect, because I like fashionable houses and I also like drawing, or else an economist, in order to help develop my country’s economy for the future. I may go back to Ghana to work, or I may go to Canada because I really like the way they design their buildings in Canada."
Selon Ahadji, 13, British school of Lomé, Togo
Selon is from Ghana but has spent almost all his life in Togo

"I would like to be a journalist when I’m older because my favourite subjects are French and composition... I’m very optimistic for my future, but not really for the future of Togo. In many ways I fear things are going from bad to worse for the country and I would prefer to go and live in Europe than to stay here in Togo."
Kounalé Yves Apedoh, 16, Foyer Nanoviwo orphanage

"I hope to be a journalist when I’ve finished my studies but even if I succeed in becoming a journalist I would still want to stay close to the Foyer in order to help. I would like to travel to other countries, particularly to England so that I could improve my English. I don’t really know anything about England, but I do want to learn to speak English well because that would help me in my career."
Roger Yao Zakpa, 15, Foyer Nanoviwo orphanage

2. What percentage of children in Togo go to primary school for more than five years?

6. What is the name of the famous wrestling festival which takes place in Kara every year?

2. What percentage of children in Togo go to primary school for more than five years?
The answer is 70%. Education is considered very important in Togo, and there are many state schools.

3. What is the standard language spoken in Togolese schools?
The answer is French. Though French is the official language and the language used in schools, many people in Togo speak Ewé, Kabye, or other local languages.

4. What is the harmattan?
The answer is a dry wind from the Sahara desert.

5. Name two of Togo's major exports
Togo's major exports are phosphates, cocoa, coffee and cotton.

6. What is the name of the famous wrestling festival which takes place in Kara every year?
The answer is the Evala Wrestling festival.

7. What is fufu made out of?
The answer is yams. Fufu is made by pounding peeled, cooked yams to a doughy consistency.

8. Who signed a treaty with Gustav Nachtigal on July 4-5th 1884?
The answer is Chief Mlapa III.

9. What is a lithophone?
The answer is a traditional percussion instrument made out of stones.

10. Name three Togolese drums?
Agbadja, Ageche, Aziboloe, Kple, Amedjeame, Akpesse, Grekon, Blekete and Adomdom are all names of drums from Togo.

The history of Togo goes back to the 11th and 14th centuries, when the Ewé people moved into the area from the Niger River Valley. During the 14th and 15th centuries Portuguese explorers and traders visited the area, and because of its central position on what was then called the Slave Coast, Togo became a trading centre for slaves.

During the 18th century the area that would become Togo was under pressure from the Akwamu Confederacy and the Ashanti Kingdom to the west, and from the Kingdom of Dahomey to the east. However, powers from Europe also wanted control.

In 1884, a German Diplomat, Gustav Nachtigal, arrived at the village of Togo (modern Togoville). On July 4th-5th the chief of Togoville, Mlapa III, signed a treaty with Nachtigal that led to the creation of German Togoland. Between 1887 and 1889, Germany, Great Britain, and France decided the boundaries of Togoland. The Germans created the port of Lomé and developed the region.

Following the defeat of Germany in the First World War, Togoland was divided in two between Britain and France. Western Togo came under British rule, and now forms part of modern Ghana. French Togo became modern-day Togo, and gained independence in 1960.

The first years of independence saw power struggles between various political groups. In 1963, President Olympio was assassinated, and Grunitzky became the new head of state, voted in by the army. He was deposed by the army four years later, to be replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Eyadéma, the army chief of staff.

The German colony of Togoland covered 90,500 sq. km, but when it was divided up after the First World War the British added their portion to the Gold Coast (now Ghana). Today, at 56,785 sq. km, Togo is one of the smallest counties in Africa. Even so, it is bigger than Belgium (30,500 sq. km), Switzerland (41,000 sq. km) or Wales (20,768 sq. km).

Togo is between Ghana to the west and Benin to the east, with Burkina Faso to the north and the Gulf of Guinea to the south. It is a long, narrow country. In the south Togo is just 55km from west to east. In the extreme north-west of the country a narrow finger of land stretches out to cross the Prime Meridian.

Most of Togo is relatively flat, but a chain of mountains extends from the Kpalimé area in the south-west to the north-eastern part of the country. The summit of the highest peak, Mt. Agou, is 986 metres above sea level.

Despite being well within the tropics, Togo’s climate is not too hot. In Lomé daytime temperatures rarely exceed 32^oc even in the hottest months (February-April), although temperatures of over 40^oc are not uncommon in the dry north. Most of the rainfall comes in the wet season, between March and November. The dry months bring the harmattan, a dusty wind from the Sahara Desert which dramatically lowers temperatures and reduces visibility.

Farming is very important for Togo's economy. Major food crops are cassava, yams, maize and millet, plus a large variety of other fruits and vegetables including pineapples, mangoes, papayas and bananas. Cash crops include coffee, cocoa, palm kernels, groundnuts, castor beans, and kapok. Coffee, cotton and cocoa make up most of Togo's agricultural exports, and more than one-third of foreign earnings.

Mining of phosphates, used in the making of chemical fertilizers, is an important part of the economy and Togo is one of the top-ten world producers. High quality marble is also mined.

The Republic of Togo is also called La République Togolaise.
Capital	Lomé
Population	4.3 million
Size	56,785 square km
Languages	French, Ewé, Kabye, and others
Average life expectancy	Male 49, Female 52
Infant deaths per 1000 births	78
Currency	CFA franc
Major exports	phosphates, cocoa, coffee, cotton
Communications	212 radios, 10 TV sets and five main phone lines per 1000 people
Climate	Tropical, drier in the North
Time	GMT
Places on the line	Dapaong

Sources: Economist Intelligence Unit Country Report 1999-2000, Togo's official country web site http://www.afrika.com/togo/, The World Guide 2000

Togo is hot and humid in the south and dry in the north. The arid savannah in the north is divided from the low coastal plain of the south by central hills and a southern plateau. The low coastal plain has many lagoons and marshes.

The climate is tropical, affected by the south-east monsoon which brings rain, and the harmattan, a wind from the Sahara, which heralds the dry season. From time to time, Togo is affected by droughts and by flooding.

Some of the drier areas of Togo are prone to desertification. Desertification happens when too many trees are cut down. For many people, wood is an important fuel. It is freely available, and can be sold, either as wood or charcoal. But without tree cover, the topsoil is damaged and the land becomes drier and less fertile.

Togo's population is composed of thirty or forty ethnic groups, and as many languages are spoken. The two major groups are the Ewé and the Kabye. The Gurma, Kebu, and Ane (or Mina) peoples are significant minorities.

The highest concentration of people is along the coast, in the Maritime Region, which is home to the capital city Lomé, and Aného, Togo's colonial capital until 1920. The markets are busy, the bars and clubs are popular, and French and Ewé are the dominant languages. In the North of the country life is centred around villages, areas of the country which are very distinct, each having their own traditions, music, dance and arts.

Although Christianity has had a powerful effect on the country, around half the people in Togo still follow traditional African animist beliefs. The main Protestant church is led by Togolese moderators, and the Roman Catholic church has been headed by a Togolese Archbishop since independence. Voudou (or Voodoo), a religion which combines animist beliefs with elements of Roman Catholicism, is also popular, especially along the coast.

There are many stories about people in Togo: this is just one, about the Foyer Nanaviwo orphanage.

Because family ties in Africa are strong, most orphaned children are raised by relatives; but every so often situations arise where nobody is willing or able to accept responsibility for a child, and the only option is an orphanage. The Foyer Nanoviwo, one of Togo's orphanages was featured in a short film shown on Channel Four in the UK as part of their special On the Line season.

The Foyer Nanoviwo is close to the town of Atakpamé, and was set up by Germaine Nicod, who was born in Togo, but moved to France when she married. Later in her life, she moved back to Togo, to set up the orphanage. Exchanging a relatively easy life in one of the world’s most prosperous countries for a precarious existence in one of the poorest was a brave move on her part, but she is a devout Christian and believed that God would protect her and ensure that her venture was a success.

The orphanage opened its doors in 1981 and since then Germaine has looked after hundreds of children. Not all are orphans in the strict sense of the word. Some of the children have been abandoned, or have mothers who are unable to raise them. At present there are just over 70 children at the Foyer Nanoviwo. Germaine receives no assistance from the Government, so she has to rely on donations from generous individuals and organisations.

'Nanoviwo’ is an Ewé word that means ‘share what you have with your brothers and sisters’.

"My name is Joseph and I’m 8 years old. I’ve been in the Foyer since I was one year old. I like living here – it’s a good life here, with all my brothers and sisters. We’re not just friends here in the Foyer, we’re brothers and sisters". Joseph Komi Omou, aged 8

Education is felt to be very important in Togo. The Togolese government has built primary schools all over the country, and 70% of children in Togo spend at least five years in primary education. The authorities would like to provide free schooling, but do not have enough money, so parents have to pay fees. The annual cost per child is around £15, a considerable sum in a country where unemployment levels are very high, wages are low and people may go for months without receiving their wages. Many thousands of Togolese parents cannot afford to send their children to school.

Most of the schools in Togo are state schools, but there are also private schools, run by Christian or Islamic organisations, or by individuals (usually former teachers). Some of the private schools in Lomé have excellent facilities and provide a first-rate education.

The secondary schools in Togo follow a similar curriculum to those in France and French is the language used in school (at primary level children are taught in French and the local tribal language). Only a small proportion of Togolese children go to high school.

Most of the schools in Togo have little in the way of equipment, no electricity, and the language spoken in the classroom is the second or even third language for most children. Despite these difficulties, literacy rates are among the highest in Africa.