in Togo is Making a HUGE Difference
About Us
Tales of Togo was founded by Yoka Heijstek and Saskia van Manen. It has been set up to generate funds for a Togolese non-profit called PDH: Promotion et Développement Humain.
Saskia and Yoka travelled to French speaking Togo in the summer of 2008 to see the problems there firsthand - you can read about their experiences in their Tales of Togo blog.
About Yoka
Yoka was born in 1959 in a small village in the southwestern part of the Netherlands. After finishing high school, she went to a college in Utrecht, and graduated with a degree in Health Education. Together with husband Robbert she has two daughters: Saskia and Erica.
As a family they have lived in The Netherlands, the UK and in 1998 they moved to the USA; Massachusetts is now the place they call home. In 2002 Yoka joined Earthwatch Institute in Maynard, MA where she interned in the Education Department and in 2007 she made a move to Field Management. The whole family has been on several Earthwatch Expeditions and many of those expeditions have had a profound impact in their lives.
About Saskia
Saskia was born in Leiden in the Netherlands in 1984. Together with her family she has lived in The Netherlands, the UK and the US. In 2002 Saskia finished the Dutch curriculum and was awarded a VWO diploma. She followed this up by studying Geophysics at Imperial College London and graduating with a first class masters in 2006. Currently she is a PhD candidate at the Open University in the UK, studying thermal signals of active volcanoes with a view to predict explosive eruptions. She is on track to finish in September 2009.
Throughout her studies Saskia has done various volunteer projects: from volunteering in the head office of Earthwatch Institute to volunteering in a South African wildlife park and on various scientific expeditions. Although immensely fascinated by science the direct impact on people’s lives is often minimal and when her mother Yoka suggested to make a hands-on difference in people’s lives she didn’t have to think twice.
Togo
2006 was the year Yoka was diagnosed with breast cancer. After having gone through all the harsh treatments, she decided it was time to make a difference. In June of 2008, Yoka and her daughter Saskia travelled to Togo, where they volunteered with PDH. The misery, extreme poverty and suffering they saw in Togo made them believe that more permanent help is needed to help the poorest of the poor.
Before they travelled to Togo, Yoka and Saskia started a blog called Tales of Togo to share their experiences in Togo with their family and friends. Now, Tales of Togo has become the name of their organization that is aimed at alleviating the results of poverty in Togo.
Currently Tales of Togo is in its beginning stages and operates one project: Project Echelle. Echelle is the French word for ladder, and Project Echelle provides a metaphorical ladder out of poverty in Togo by providing financial assistance to those who need it most: orphans, people with HIV and AIDS, the extremely impoverished and their families.
