The History of the Togo Project

By Deacon Earl Weisenhorn

We, the citizens of the United States are a generous people. We know we have been blessed with much that is not available to peoples of other nations, particularly the people of Africa. Today I want to describe for you a few aspects of daily living that exist for a particular group of Christians, in a particular village, in a particular country of Africa: The parishioners of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, in the village of Nyassivé, Togo West Africa.

Unlike us, tropical diseases shorten their lives, leaving them unable to work a full day to provide for their families, diseases which leave their children orphaned. Like us, they have hopes and dreams of a better life and better lives for their children. Like us they know that obtaining an education is a key component in providing better lives for their children. Like us they know that working hard every day is key to providing enough food and nourishment for their families to remain healthy. The people arise each day at 5am to the call of the trumpet blown by the “Town Crier” announcing that it is time to awaken and prepare to go into the fields and tend the crops. They wash several times a day, knowing that cleanliness is an essential component of healthy living. With no electricity or running water, they do their best to use clean water for cooking and bathing. However, the tropics being what they are, there is little defense against innumerable diseases such as malaria and these infections frequently take their toll on a courageous people struggling against all odds to build a life.

Is God constantly at work directing events in our world over time in such a way that, at a moment He decides is most appropriate, those events intersect with our own lives?  Such would seem to be the case regarding events which have transpired in the intervening years in this small rural village of Nyassivé.

In 1999, after years of struggling to improve the lives of the people of the village, the elders felt new leadership was called for and so, selected as their leader and Chief a tailor who had worked and lived among them. Michael Dunya was a kind family man, one who always exhibited an approach to life most reflective of the example of Christ: concern for others, love for his fellow Africans (indeed all peoples) and a strong desire to do all he could to improve the lives of those in his community and help build the local economy.

Knowing the benefits of having an education and having seen the positive impact the presence of a Peace Corps volunteer had on other communities, Chief Michael with support from the Village Development Committee petitioned the United States Peace Corps to send a volunteer to his village. In time his request was accepted.

This was when Nina Weisenhorn, a recent graduate of the University of Missouri, Columbia, decided she would spend the next two years working as a Peace Corps volunteer. In 2003 Nina was accepted into the US Peace Corps and assigned to work on the girls education and empowerment project in the French-speaking West African country of Togo. I believe this was the first of many God-driven intersections mentioned earlier in this article.

After in-country orientation and training was complete she requested placement in a community which had not previously had a Peace Corps volunteer and was assigned to village of Nyassivé. A three hour drive from the capital of Lomé over deeply rutted dirt roads, having no electricity or running water, Chief Michael and the villagers welcomed her with open arms, truly accepting her as their own sister, aunt and mother.

One of the Peace Corps objectives is to help communities help themselves. The design of this key tenet  reminds us of the often quoted phrase: “Give a person a fish, feed him for a day; Teach a person to fish, feed him for a lifetime.”

Establishing the Girl’s Education and Empowerment program in Nyassivé, Nina began helping the villagers understand the benefits of education for all, especially girls. Given the subsistence-based living standards that existed, and the need to spend virtually every waking moment growing their own food, the challenge was huge to say the least. Nina’s work progressed apace and that following spring my wife & I traveled to Togo to spend time with her and to experience life in Nyassivé for ourselves. We were also interested in seeing the impact of the programs she was spearheading.

Over the next 3 weeks we were welcomed into the people’s lives, accepted as members of their families. The experience warmed our hearts. During our visit we attended Mass at the  Catholic church in the village – St. Theresa of the Child Jesus. Was this an additional connection God wanted us to make with a people so distant from our own home? I believe it was. When it came time for us to return home to Des Moines, the parishioners of St. Theresa’s (Nyassivé) asked to begin a Spiritual relationship with our own parish based on our mutual love of Jesus Christ. We brought that request home to our own parish where it was welcomed most readily.

After discussions with Chief Michael and the village elders, the community decided to build a Library and Cultural Center as had been identified in their village development plan. The Library and Cultural Center supports the efforts to encourage as many young people as possible to attend school, providing them with reading materials and a place for study and homework at the end of the school day. With the people of Nyassivè providing about 40% of the required funding, Nina began reaching out to her supporters in the United States for the remaining balance of the project’s cost.

When the people of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus (Des Moines) heard of the Spiritual outreach to them from the people of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus (Nyassivé), and the need for funding to complete the Library, they embraced both lovingly. With one request prayers and letters were exchanged, funding needs were completed and construction could begin.

God chose that moment to touch the hearts of the school children in our parish grade school. At the initiative of student Elizabeth Rodriguez, the children pooled their resources so the children of Nyassivè could buy the supplies needed to attend school. AND THUS WAS ESTABLISHED The Children’s Scholarship Fund for Nyassivé, or in its formal French title Plan d’Aide aux Enfants Dèmunis (PAED.)

In time, Nina’s Peace Corps service came to an end and she returned home after heartfelt farewells by Chief Michael and all the people of Nyassivé. If one imagines how difficult it is to leave family and home one can understand how difficult it was for Nina to leave her “family” in village and how much they did not want to see her go. Again God stepped in to maintain this beautiful relationship based on the adoration of His Son Jesus Christ. The parishioners of St. Theresa’s (Des Moines) wanted to continue to support the children of Nyassivé in their pursuit of education. The contributions to the scholarship fund accumulated, initially funding, at the request of the people of Nyassivé, for the educational needs of 20 of the most disadvantaged among them (primarily orphans.) Over the intervening 7 years, beginning with a program for scholarship assistance designed by the committee leaders of Nyassivé, and with input from our own committee, the program has grown significantly, now providing schooling for 70 students, all progressing well, seven of which began with scholarship funding for grade school & now they attend the University of Lomé.

In 2011 five members of the Des Moines committee, headed by Chairwoman Liz Youngwirth, traveled to Nyassivé as part of the ongoing efforts to ensure the success of the Scholarship Program, audit the results of the program, meet with Nyassivé Committee members and Chief Michael, discuss ways to maximize the benefits received by the children and discuss the future direction of our mutual efforts. The Des Moines visitors were amazed with the communities’ innovation and commitment to improving the lives of their people.  Committee members were also able to celebrate Mass with their counterparts in Nyassivé, indeed, with some 300 fellow Catholics. The Mass was celebrated in the present open-air church which has a capacity of about 150. The overflow section outside the church surpasses the number inside.  Each week their parishioners pass the plate for a larger church, so they may have a priest and weekly communion. They do not have a priest shortage, but rather a housing shortage for the priests.  Prayers continue to flow between these two parishes separated by miles, oceans and continents but bound most closely by the love of Christ. This October, while our local parish began a month-long Novena to St. Theresa, we were joined by our fellow worshipers in Nyassivé.

The success of these mutual efforts to provide education for the most disadvantaged children of Nyassivé has been a blessing. Just like here at home, there are ongoing challenges both financially and philosophically.  : Basic needs such as health, food, and family support are critical to student success.  Supplies, technology, facilities, teachers, and curriculum are also critical parts of creating a self-sustaining society of educated citizens.  Most importantly, at the center of all we do, we are focused on growing our relationship with Jesus Christ, and demonstrating His priorities in all He asks us do.  The committee here in Des Moines continues grow the spiritual relationship and  works to provide several support services in addition to scholarships including:

•  Computers for the village
• Long-term funding strategies for the scholarship needs of individual students
• Agricultural & Health education and improvement strategies
• Church construction