Schemes and Dreams

There are three of us who were hired from the U.S. to teach at the school this year. There is an older lady who technically was a missionary teacher here in Togo for 11 years but when the mission closed last year she returned to the States and tried to find a way back here. Then there is Gabe. Gabe is around 21 or 22, fresh out of college, grown up in a large family who has traveled and lived overseas a lot. He is connected to the family who runs the school so even though he has no experience teaching what-so-ever he teaches kids at the secondary school (middle and high school) English. Gabe reads a lot so he has a lot of one sided information at times, but his heart is good and I can mess with him sometimes like he’s my little brother and he doesn’t get bent out of shape so its cool. Oh and he has a nice ability to blend on the account that he is black, but he is very American and so it’s fun to see him interact with the Togolese too.

Gabe has decided that since there is no recycling program in this country that he would start a non-profit company that gets the public schools here in Lome to collect cans and crush them. His company will then pickup the cans, weight them, have them melted down, and ship them, sell them to be recycled. The idea is that the schools will have a list of supplies that they can order from. The more aluminum weight they have the more it is worth to get supplies for the students and the teachers in the public schools.
Gabe has begun collecting and even buying cans to kick this thing off. He is making all kinds of connections with people all over the city and it’s fun to kind of see the network build. I am also apart of the network in a few ways. I am storing the cans in my yard. Roxy thinks the cans are her new toys so she scatters them, much to Gabe’s chagrin. Then I am also helping Gabe compile the supply list or catalog. I am thinking of this like the green stamps we used to get at the grocery store when I was a kid. We would collect them and then we could order fun things when we had enough books of the green stamps.

I should mention that Gabe has hired, at my suggestion, this 18 year old kid that is like my little brother. He plays soccer for a team in Ghana but this is off season so he stays down the street with his brother and I’ve gotten to know him quite well over the months. He doesn’t have a job but he is a hard worker. He loves soccer very much and plays every day and runs on the beach almost every day. I really hope that his dream to play on a professional team comes true. So Gabe has him hauling the cans to my house and squishing them and bagging them in these bags that are big enough to fit 2 or 3 people inside. I’m glad that I got to help pick who he hired as I wouldn’t just want anyone in my yard a few times a week working.

I am really hoping that this not only works, but that Gabe can find a way to keep it going with enthusiasm after he leaves. I know that if it can just work once then it will be a huge help as the public schools here are in dire straits and I know that this will be a welcomed partnership.