Togo: A Travel Memoir

Product Description

West Africa, 1971. Two old friends rendezvous in Black Star Square, the heart of Accra, the Ghanaian capital, to see Ike and Tina Turner, the Staples Singers, Roberta Flack, Wilson Picket, Santana and other black American performers at the mammoth Soul to Soul music festival― the first time native African musicians join these super-stars, soul-to-soul, on the same stage. After a wild night of hugely amplified music, blinding stage lights and disco dancing with 100,000 delirious fellow-revelers, the two friends set out for Lomé, the capital of tiny neighboring Togo, to enjoy the quieter life of that laid-back, neighborly city. All the ethnicities of West Africa crowd Lomé’s picturesque market, the Rex cinema and the endless beach. The pair soon, however, travel much further afield: into the countryside and villages of northern Togo, to a sprawling royal palace in Benin, on a steam-powered train through Nigeria and then into the desert cultures of the Sahel, where they visit the adobe splendors of Islamic cities like Kano and Djenné, and witness the intense traditional spirituality of the Dogon people.
There are no game parks in this book; the two travelers are in search of the humanity, not the wildlife, of West Africa. They travel simply by local means, they eat with their hands at roadside stalls and family tables, their friends are variously farmers and students and cabinet ministers. They engage, participate and observe without judgment, finding common ground everywhere by putting aside their own cultural habits and expectations, and by being unafraid of intimacy. In their sympathetic, free-wheeling company, the reader takes tea with veiled Tuareg warriors, reclines among the roots of a gigantic tree to get a shave, watches fetish women in trance try to throw themselves into the sea, or just waits out a rainy-season downpour in a dismal hotel. Marvelous places are vividly described, and throughout this book, the author evinces respect and affection for the people he encounters.
Many of the places visited are unsafe for travel now. Nigeria is fighting widespread gangs and kidnappings. The Sahel, tormented by climate change, is a battleground of ethnic militias, Islamic extremists and Western forces. Violence and displacement imperil the confident, dignified traditional people the author describes. This book is a valuable witness to their deeply human communal societies, where the travelers find that they, too, have African roots.
TOGO Being Human is illustrated with brilliant black-and-white photographs by Lucas Kiers.

Review

“A fascinating account of my country, one that brings back memories. Mr Heckscher observes my people and their customs with affection and accuracy. This book shows the true value of Togolese traditions and ways of life that we have managed to preserve from our ancestors, despite the difficulties we have encountered.” — Yawo Frédéric Yévu, Assistant to the Ambassador, Mission of Togo to the United Nations

Thank you for bringing me to West Africa, a transformative experience! Your writing is so evocative and atmospheric that it reads as if these adventures had only just happened. Your mind was open to everything and the way you process your experiences is uniquely insightful, and brings us to a thoughtful and fulfilling conclusion. — Lisa Donovan, Editor, Simon & Schuster

This book is beautiful, truthful and well written, and brings us back deeply to West African traditions. Every page here is a hymn to life, love and friendship. From town to town, village to village, market to market, we discover that our best and ultimate resource is each other. All human beings, during this time of virtual relations, should read this book. — Idrissa Fall, Voice of America

“Togo, Being Human is a magic memoire. In Togo, being truly human is an everyday occurrence and Heckscher was its enchanted witness, and finally a participant himself. On a bridge at night, he tossed a soothsayer’s cha