Village boy!
That’s how my friends affectionately call me.
The reason why I chose to live in countryside is because I want to be able to speak my mother language most of the time. 99% of the time.
I’ll speak colonial languages only when I have to deal with the colonial state apparatus here.
I’m depressed when I have to interact with any fellow togolese in French or any other colonial languages. It makes me sad, uneasy, hollow.
I feel good when I talk to people in my language, and the only place I could do that is in the countryside.
In Lomé the capital, endlessly people trap you in the colonial languages. I hate that.
Slowly, with group of friends we are doing our mother languages only whatsapp groups and social gatherings. You pay a $0.20 fine for every foreign words used during the conversation.
Furthermore, we are lobbying for making mandatory learning of any togolese language before a foreigner would get residence permit.