Sent to school thanks to his strong will…
Messan was born in 1960. He is one of 26 children his father had with 6 different wives. His father used to be absent from home for days hunting for hares, boars, giraffes and elephants. Thus, going to school was unimaginable due to the family’s poor standard of living. That is why Messan was not sent to school before the age of 10, which only became possible thanks to his strong will. He made his first school uniform out of bedsheets. His father did anything possible for his numerous children, so that finally every single one of them could go to school.
Even though Messan proved to be one of the best in his class, he was not especially liked by the teachers. He struggled vehemently with the arbitrary punches he received from them, which is why he had to change schools multiple times. After a couple of years, Messan, thanks to his good marks, was allowed to attend grammar school in the coastal town of Aneho. In the beginning, he had a hard time being far away from home. He was the poorest in his class and had no friends at first. With time passing, he made friends with some richer classmates. Even in grammar school, Messan had no problems learning and, given his aptitude, was allowed to skip several school years.
His migratory years (Benin and Nigeria) …
The families Messan became friends with during his time in Aneho made it possible for him to travel to Nigeria right after his graduation. But Messan did not feel comfortable around the rich families over there, the luxurious lifestyle did not please him. He travelled to Benin, hoping to learn a profession. He got an apprenticeship as a welder and lived a plain life during that time. At night, he slept in the workshop between iron bars. Every Saturday, he went to the beach to collect crabs. He used some of them to nourish himself and sold the rest.
Concert-organiser and petrol-smuggler
During his apprenticeship, Messan became friends with a singer who had his studio right next to the workshop. Messan wrote song lyrics for him. After he had finished his apprenticeship three years later, the befriended singer made it possible for him to get involved in the world of concerts. Messan organized multiple concerts in Togo, given by west-African singers. However, there were not always enough jobs for him to gain enough money. During the hard times, he smuggled petrol between Benin and Nigeria. It was a dangerous job, many of his colleagues lost their lives during their tours at night time. Messan, though, was lucky, maybe a bit more skillful and intelligent than the others, and was able to save a lot of money with his successful smuggling.
A first contact with Europe…
It was a thorn in Messan’s flesh that cars were scrapped in Europe that could have been of use in Africa. From Togo, together with his brother, he started dealing pre-owned cars from Germany. One day, he thought of circumventing the provision for German merchants. He took a bank advance and got on his way to Germany. His wife and two sons followed him shortly after.
In Germany...
In 1995, Messan arrived in Halle an der Saale in Germany. He could speak English and French, but was not able to speak fluent German. In the beginning, he struggled to pull through, despite his involvement in car exports. Soon, the dealing of cars became a secondary business to him. Since he knew various languages from Nigeria, Benin and Togo, he got a job as a court translator. First, he translated everything into English, but soon he started to learn German on the streets and was able to translate the African languages directly into German. Apart from being a translator, he helped, together with local authorities, Caritas and Amnesty International Germany, Africans who were being sued or had other difficulties. Messan developed into an appreciated intermediary, which is why he was even allowed to visit African drug merchants in prison and, thanks to his language skills, ask them for their needs to stop dealing drugs. He says: “I get along with everybody and to me, the most important thing is keeping a clear conscience.” The well-needed intermediary and language skills provided by Messan were responsible for his transfers to Cologne and Hanover. He obtained the German citizenship shortly before the turn of the millennium.
Indeed, Messan’s occupation was very satisfying to him, since he could help many African people in Germany who were in trouble. His biggest wish, though, was helping the people in his homeland Togo directly. In 1999, he went back to Togo and founded the association AGERTO, aiming at providing training possibilities for troubled juveniles. However, an association without money was not of any use.
Earning money for his project in Europe and the USA…
To earn money for his project, Messan went abroad again. First, he worked two years as the boss of the packaging section of a cereal factory in the Bretagne region (France). Right after, he went working in New York as a translator and for one month as a security expert. This employment stopped abruptly when he faced a robbery and did not see the chance to chase the robbers away with his pistol, but decided to run away himself.
Messan happily remembers his time as a court translator when he used to earn a lot of money. He then got an employment and moved to Würzburg in Bavaria. Over there, he made many contacts that would prove to be essential to his upcoming AGERTO project.
The starting shot…
It finally happened in the year 2006. Messan went back to Togo for good and founded his first training centre for apprentices in Kpalimé. The local government provided land for him and Messan started to build on his property. A hospital, one workshop for each field (carpentry, metal work, tailoring, weaving), a computer room for the apprentices, accommodations, a storehouse, pigsties and a draw well soon became part of the premises. Numerous volunteers and different sponsors from Germany supported him. The number of German inscriptions on the walls of the buildings are proof for that support.
Furthermore, the German influence is visible in the way the apprentices are treated. Every apprentice knows the German and the Togolese national anthem by heart. Every day at 7:30 am, the two anthems are sung by the trainees while the flags are being set up at the flagpole.
AGERTO today…
By today, AGERTO has spread to three different locations. Financial difficulties remain a big problem. Messan has a lot of different projects in mind, but lacks the financial resources to realize them. Nevertheless, he keeps fighting for all “his” children. By now, there are about 100 apprentices at AGERTO. Thanks to his German premature pension and the financial aids sent by associations like Hilfe für Togo, the Protestant parish Esslingen and other sponsors, he is able to keep the centres active and even expand them. He says AGERTO is his life and his thoughts always circle around the project. One has to hope that this story of success keeps developing over the next years and that Messan keeps bringing up the power to fight selflessly for his plan, a better future thanks to an apprenticeship for poor and indigent juveniles.