The Foreign Service Journal, October 2013

42 OCTOBER 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL greeted me warmly, the only time that I met any Togolese who remembered me. I am still glad I learned to play ten- nis in Togo. I counted 50 ships anchored offshore in the har- bor, most of them bound for ports in Cotonou and Lagos. Each one paid an anchorage fee to the Togolese government. There were traffic police on every corner, but no more road- blocks, thankfully. Payment of a modest toll is now required on the Lomé-Kpalimé road. It’s still hard to see where the western side of Lomé ends and Ghana begins, as there is urban sprawl on both sides of this artificial border. The concrete podium on which President Eyadema’s huge statue once stood, before it was demolished in 1991 by rioting protesters, is still there. (I still have a piece of marble from the statue.) The Dove of Peace statue on the road leading to the airport still stands, as if it is waiting for a genuine period of peace that has not yet arrived. If You Know Togo’s Problems… I am glad I took this trip, but I remain confused by what I observed. I suffer from a strong case of nostalgia, so it is likely that my views are warped. Or maybe it’s just not possible to look back over 43 years and tell a country’s story in just a few words. Much development progress still needs to be achieved. Sadly, Togo has already lost too much time, and a country as poor as Togo has no time to lose. Sometimes I think that tourist poster I saw in 1970 should have read, “If you know Togo’s problems, you know Africa’s problems.” Today I could make my own sign: “If you knew Togo 40 years ago, you don’t know Togo now.” n Today I couldmake my own sign: “If you knew Togo 40 years ago, you don’t know Togo now.” The old wharf in Lomé, as it looks today.