 Living conditionsSonya Heleno — Shelburne, NS Living conditions in Togo are definitely not up to Canadian standards. The main housing in the villages of Togo consists of shacks, supported by wooden poles, with either palm fronds, or rusted corrugated tin roofs, and little to no walls to protect the family within. There are also many mud structures and concrete homes. The mud houses don‘t seem to be ideal, as there were many we saw on our travels that were ruined due to inclement weather damage. There were also one-room, concrete homes which were grouped together. We visited two homes of children who had received bedkits, and all there is to see is one room (with no door to enter, maybe a curtain covering) with very few possessions within. Human beings, just like you and me, are forced to live in these horrific conditions. It’s all so unimaginable to a citizen of Canada like myself because their homes look like something a five-year-old would build in Canada in the woods for a ‘secret hideout.’ Unlike the kids who build these in Canada and can go home to a warm bed at night, these people are forced to live in them each and every day. In Togo, everything that people do, they do to survive. They work hard on the farms, sell things like soap, toothpaste and corn for hours upon hours, and all to be able to afford a meal for supper, if they are lucky. Water here is polluted with parasites and bacteria, yet that is all they drink for those who can not afford bottled water. Some places are lucky enough to have a well, so they don’t have to walk far for water, but the well water isn’t treated and would be unsafe to drink in the eyes of Canadians. 
In Canada, we take for granted how switching on a light switch gives us light automatically, but here electricity is a luxury. Some people have it, but most don’t, but even for those who have it, it is an unreliable source. Almost every day the communities experience blackouts for several hours, but still have to pay full price. Therefore, things like refrigerators are not always reliable, so shopping, if any, has to happen mostly on a daily basis. Think how easy it is for us to pick up the phone and call a friend. Here, that isn’t an option. There are no telephones in the homes — instead, people set up booths on the side of the road where they charge locals to use their cellphones to make calls. It’s also nice in Canada, for the most part, to feel safe in your home. Although where we stayed was relatively safe, there is minimal security and an untrustworthy police force. As citizens of Canada, we don’t realize how lucky we really are. We buy things just to ‘look good,’ we waste so much, and we take for granted all that we have. The people of Togo have little to nothing, but they have each other. The villages love and support each other and everyone takes care of every one else. There is a strong feeling of euphoria and generosity. We Canadians could learn a thing or two from the citizens of the Togolaise Republic. |
