Dzogbegan

We took off at 4 this morning. I swear on my name as Grégoir that I am going to hibernate for a week when I go home. We drove about 4½ hours north of Lomé towards Kpalimé, where I saw a cute white girl for the briefest of moments before getting jolted around by the makeshift speed bumps and holes in the road. Yes, making speed bumps is as easy as throwing a tree in the road and putting some dirt around it. No government intervention necessary. I can just see Pacific Street lined with downed trees and makeshift signs.

Anywho, I found out during the ride that the main purpose for the trip was to go the golden (50th) jubilee for a monastery that is much better known than the one in Agbang. I immediately started prepping myself for a 3 hour mass followed by a few hours of wondering around, then getting a bit of decent food, and finishing off the night with a late arrival in Lomé. I was almost dead on. We show up and surprisingly a good majority of the monks there knew of me somehow. I had about 30 minutes to kill before mass started from the time we arrived. I spend that wondering around the grounds after telling the local monk that I didn’t need a babysitter and I could find my way around (the Agbang monks were getting ready for mass and greeting friends). The grounds were amazingly nice as the monastery is in the mountains so the temperature was cooler and everything was really green and lush. I made it back in time to find a seat close to the door. From experience, if you’re gonna sit for a few hours you might as well be near a breeze. Other than having 15 traditionally dressed village chiefs (whose crowns made them look like big teddy bears wearing dyed cotton clothes) there was nothing different about this mass – long sermons and jokes in a language that I don’t understand. After mass, I waited outside watching some of the dancers before being told to follow Bernard to get some grub. I followed him up until he stopped at the Bishop’s table and sat down. No room for me at that one, I guess ill turn around and go find someone else to tell me where the lesser beings eat.

By the time I got to the line there was hardly any food left, but I managed to get enough to stave off the hunger. The next few hours were spent searching for any of the Agbang monks and breaking into our own van, which I did successfully. Once everyone was back in the van along with a few randos looking to hitch a ride, we took off on the journey back to Lomé. Successfully I spent almost twice as much time on the road than I did in Dzobegan, breaking my first rule of road trips – if the time spent driving isn’t the same as the amount of time you’re going to spend there, you had better have a darn good reason to go. Not that a 50th jubilee celebration isn’t a good reason, its just that the whole 3+ hour mass in Kabiyé followed by awkwardly standing around or being forgotten about and left to tend to the car is getting old. Fast.

I realize the novelty of being a white person here, and one who is working in a community as closely as I am, but feeling like I am being led around by a leash to these events was interesting and even fun, at first. But now it’s getting to a point where it is almost degrading. “Ok, you’ve put your face time in and said ‘hi I am the white guy working in Agbang and yes the other white guy is back in America’ now go find something to do or eat until we leave.” Not that I expect to be waited on hand and foot by any means, but if you're going to bring me to an event like this you can't put me in a corner with a plate of food and hope that I will be content.

Aside from that, the monastery is more of the Mt. Michael sorts than Agbang. It’s a quaint little complex tucked into the heart of the mountain forests, with fields and gardens surrounding it on three sides. There is running water, constant electricity (coming from Ghana I believe), a cooler climate, and well aside from the obvious it’s everything that Agbang is trying to be – self-sufficient. It’s been around for twice as long sure, but the place runs like a well-oiled machine and its got more of a traditional monastery feel to it. But then again, I only got a superficial look at the place, I am not living there.