#herdofcows

It's roughly 9 pm. I'm lying in bed, just about to set down my book and try to get some sleep. (Don't judge - village bedtime.) More importantly, I'm not in village but in Pagala for the week for a Peace Corps training. I'm enjoying a little break from village, free from my usual worries and cares.

Until...

My phone buzzes. A text message! To be fair, most of my friends in country are here in Pagala and it is unlikely that they'd be texting me from across the hall. Who could it be?

I open the message. It's from Msr. Yovo, one of the teachers who helps me with the environmental club. My inbox labels the text "Incomplet," meaning that the characters in the message exceed the limit and the text will come in two parts, if at all. Togolese cell service - not the most reliable. But I open up the message to read at least the first part.

"BONSOIR ABLA." Yes, my Togolese homologues text in all capitals. Don't ask me why. "COMMENT VAS-TU? LES PIEDS SONT BIEN ARRIVES ET ON LES ARROSE." My director had dropped off some small seedlings for the kids to water while I'm gone in Pagala - we're going to plant them at the school in a couple weeks when the global PC director visits.

"LE JARDIN SE PORTE BIEN, JUSQU'A CE SOIR QUAND UN TROUPEAU DE BOEUX A FAILLI DE SACCAGER..." And there the message cuts off. So the garden was doing well, until this afternoon when a troop of cows - and then I have no idea how to translate the French. But saccager really doesn't sound so good, and the grammatical construction is hinting that what happened was in opposition to the garden doing well. So something bad happened. And the global Peace Corps director is coming to visit the garden in two weeks to see a PCV project.

WHAT??!!!???

Thankfully, I only have a couple minutes to start hyperventilating before the rest of the message arrives. "...UN TROUPEAU DE BOEUX A FAILLI DE SACCAGER LA CLOTURE MAIS ILS ONT ETE VITE MAITRISE. IL Y A EU PLUS DE PEUR QUE DE MAL. BON SEJOUR A PAGALA. YOVO."

The troop of cows did whatever they did to the fence but they were quickly rounded up, and apparently there was more concern/fear than actual damage.

Uh, am I supposed to be comforted by that?

Thankfully, I am exhausted enough (notice how that seems to play a big role in the daily life of a PCV) from GI issues and subsequent lack of sleep the night before that I don't really process the text until the next day. And in the afternoon my homologue calls to saluer me, and as I anxiously demand more information he assures me that there was some slight damage, but no real harm done.

Well, um, OK. It's not like I can do anything from here in Pagala. I have to congratulate myself for not completely losing it, although I know I'll be a bit anxious until I return to post and see the situation for myself.