Sights and Sounds, and an Ewe lesson

Favorite Togolese Quotes

“You are going to give me your outfit.”

“[The Germans] are the owners of our language.”

“God made whites before he made blacks.”

“Do you have the sun where you’re from?”

“You don’t have grigri where you live? But where do you find the powers to build lightbulbs and cars?”

“Oh, no, it’s never impolite [to refuse a drink]. They just might think you don’t like them.”

Most Amazing Things I’ve Seen in Togo

A five-year-old girl sporting a wig.

A six-year-old at the top of a tree that has no limbs. Holding a machete.

A village elder wearing a pimp hat.

A baby clinging to its mother’s back (not held there with a cloth) as its mother runs with buckets of water to put out a bush fire.

A guy gargling sodabi [hard alcohol] before swallowing.

A guy eating fufu with a spoon.

A mother pulling down her six-year-old son’s pants on the street to show the neighbor his penis.

Harry Potter pagne [printed cloth].

Best English-Language Shirts

Front: “Bomb squad specialist”; Back: “If you see me running, try to keep up with me.”

“Bald is sexy.”

“Damn seagulls.”

“Boy, am I enthusiastic!”

“My invisible friend created me.”

Front: “This is what I learned from the little bird [picture of bird saying “yak yak yak yak yak…”]; Back: “KBG 2004”

And as a holiday bonus, here’s a lesson in Ewe language:

Ga=hour

Ga=money

Ga=again

Ga=large

Gba=to break

Kpa= to peel

Kpa=to close

Kpa=to make (a table)

Akpa=part

Akpa=side

Akpa=too much

Akpe=thank you

Akpe= one thousand

Akpe akpe=one million

Gbe=day

Gbe=greeting

Gbe=to neglect

Gbe=language

Gbe=to forbid, to refuse

Gbe=toward

Gbegble=destruction

Gbegble=bad

Kpe=voice

Kpe=cough

Kpe=battery

Kpe=to invite

Kpe=to meet

Kpe=stone

Kpekpe=heavy

Kple=with

Agbe=life

Da gbe=to cure

Agba=bridge

Agba=luggage

Agba=plate

Agbagobo=bowl

Gbagba=stammering

Agbagba=effort

Gagbagba=change

Gbogbo=a lot of

Gbugbo=to suck

Agbo=large ram

Agbo=gate

Abo=garden

Aklo=canoe

Kplo=to accompany

Kplo=table

Kplola=leader

Kpo=to receive

Ekpo=cheap

Gbo=goat

Gbo=at the house of

Gblo=to say