I'm going back to Africa soon.

This required a blog.

And yes, I know I'm going to Togo, and yes, I know Mandinka is spoken in Senegal. Until about 10 days ago I was going to Senegal, and I thought Mandinka was the funkiest name for a language ever, so I stole it. And Senegal itself looks so funky I intend to go there anyway, and I will learn some mandinka solely to validate the title of the blog. Ewe and Mina (the two most spoken languages in Togo) weren't half as memorable.

Aside from a handful of people I've grown rather fond of, Africa and languages are the two things I love most in the whole world. Which is why I'm going to Togo as part of my third year abroad, being a linguist (French and Linguistics at Oxford in case you were curious and/or considering stalking me) to volunteer with a women's organisation. The organisation works on promoting gender equality, creating jobs and HIV/AIDS awareness, though I think my role is going to be largely fund-raising and translating things into English. Still, if I have to get stuck in a desk job, this sounds pretty exciting.

The organisation I'm going with have been wonderfully helpful (albeit in a very African way: lovely and well-meaning but sometimes need a bit of prodding) and just emailed me to wish me a happy birthday and ask me if I want to design more programmes and projects for Togo during my stay. Visas, however, are another story. Given as Air France want to charge me £1000 to fly direct to Lome, it looks like it'll be easier to fly into Accra (capital of Ghana, just next door) and organise another flight or catch a bus when I'm there. On the plus side, I can get a visa for Togo there, i.e. a proper one that allows me to go in and out of the country many, many times, as opposed to the stupid two-day airport visa which is all the French embassy will condescend to give me. On the negative side, this depends on:
1) being able to find somewhere to stay in Accra;
2) being able to find two people to act as referees for my Ghanaian visa;
3) being confident I can handle African public transport so soon after arriving.

I'm going to be living on my own. Abroad. In a developing country.

I'm scared. And excited. Mostly excited. And frustrated about visas.