they make more sense in chronological order, which means from the bottom up. The one on top, being the most recent, will make more sense after you have read the ones written and posted before it. I will date them from now on since I am posting en masse. Also, since I am posting al ot at the same time you may have to click 'older posts' to see them all. Sorry, it's the best I can do with limited resources.
This posting began with one called "Aids Awareness Bike Race" find it and you are at the beginning of October. Maztoa! (enjoy)
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Litchi Madness
If you’ve never eaten a litchi, go do it now. It’s cool, I’ll wait. I live in litchi territory, which means for the last month, our town has been flooded with them. Litchis from here go out by the truckload, in a steady stream of trucks going for weeks on end. It is great that they have an outlet. Most of them go to Tamatave and get shipped to Europe. People make a lot of money off of the litchis. Unfortunately, it is not the farmers, but they make a fair amount as well. More than on any other crops.
Everything had a season, which is kind of cool. No, I can’t get pineapples all year, but when they come in, they are fresh. And I appreciate them even more because I can get them now, and only for this month. Litchis are different. Yes, they are incredibly delicious, the best fruit I have ever eaten, but it would be cool to be able to buy bananas or vegitables in the market to. They are in season, but the people here don’t care about anything but litchis. I ask ‘do you have green-beans?’ they say ‘green-beans?! No! there are litchis!’ ‘yes, but what about something to add nutrition, or to have a little variety? ‘Litchis! Litchis!’ ‘I saw bananas on your tree, are you going to bring those to market tomorrow?’ ‘No, of course not! there are litchis! Litchis!!!’
It is rather amazing, this litchi-madness. I don’t think I have ever seen anything like it. There are so many they can’t eat or sell them all, and believe me, they try. The whole town is just crazy for litchis.
Dec 9, 2008
Everything had a season, which is kind of cool. No, I can’t get pineapples all year, but when they come in, they are fresh. And I appreciate them even more because I can get them now, and only for this month. Litchis are different. Yes, they are incredibly delicious, the best fruit I have ever eaten, but it would be cool to be able to buy bananas or vegitables in the market to. They are in season, but the people here don’t care about anything but litchis. I ask ‘do you have green-beans?’ they say ‘green-beans?! No! there are litchis!’ ‘yes, but what about something to add nutrition, or to have a little variety? ‘Litchis! Litchis!’ ‘I saw bananas on your tree, are you going to bring those to market tomorrow?’ ‘No, of course not! there are litchis! Litchis!!!’
It is rather amazing, this litchi-madness. I don’t think I have ever seen anything like it. There are so many they can’t eat or sell them all, and believe me, they try. The whole town is just crazy for litchis.
Dec 9, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving.
It is 28.5 degrees Celsius here, but the continuous rain and cloudy-ness today help it feel more like Thanksgiving. I won’t be having a turkey, or a feast of any kind today (beans and rice as usual) but in the spirit of the holiday I spent some time reflecting on what I am thankful for. One thing stands out right now and that is the Calixte family. They own the house I live in and are my neighbors. We share the compound (well, yard, laundry lines, washing area) so maybe we are more than neighbors in the usual sense. Think of me as renting a room in their house.
They are amazing and beautiful people. When I need reminding why I am here, I just need to think of them. They are friendly, understanding, extremely helpful and kind. I tutor their kids, they share their watermelon. They provide a real sense of security because I know that if anything ever happened to me, they would do everything they could to help. They really have welcomed me as one of their family.
In fact, I have just been talking to Mr. Calixte about traveling to Antalaha for Christmas and he told me two important things: no matter what anyone operating a boat tells me, they are not safe this time of year, and that when I travel, they worry about me and he wants me to SMS when I get to Tana and again from Antalaha.
I have not written about them before because I felt I would be unable to do them justice, their kindness and generosity are almost beyond description, but suffice to say that on this Thanksgiving, I am giving thanks to living with them.
November 28, 2008
They are amazing and beautiful people. When I need reminding why I am here, I just need to think of them. They are friendly, understanding, extremely helpful and kind. I tutor their kids, they share their watermelon. They provide a real sense of security because I know that if anything ever happened to me, they would do everything they could to help. They really have welcomed me as one of their family.
In fact, I have just been talking to Mr. Calixte about traveling to Antalaha for Christmas and he told me two important things: no matter what anyone operating a boat tells me, they are not safe this time of year, and that when I travel, they worry about me and he wants me to SMS when I get to Tana and again from Antalaha.
I have not written about them before because I felt I would be unable to do them justice, their kindness and generosity are almost beyond description, but suffice to say that on this Thanksgiving, I am giving thanks to living with them.
November 28, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving.
It is 28.5 degrees Celsius here, but the continuous rain and cloudy-ness today help it feel more like Thanksgiving. I won’t be having a turkey, or a feast of any kind today (beans and rice as usual) but in the spirit of the holiday I spent some time reflecting on what I am thankful for. One thing stands out right now and that is the Calixte family. They own the house I live in and are my neighbors. We share the compound (well, yard, laundry lines, washing area) so maybe we are more than neighbors in the usual sense. Think of me as renting a room in their house.
They are amazing and beautiful people. When I need reminding why I am here, I just need to think of them. They are friendly, understanding, extremely helpful and kind. I tutor their kids, they share their watermelon. They provide a real sense of security because I know that if anything ever happened to me, they would do everything they could to help. They really have welcomed me as one of their family.
In fact, I have just been talking to Mr. Calixte about traveling to Antalaha for Christmas and he told me two important things: no matter what anyone operating a boat tells me, they are not safe this time of year, and that when I travel, they worry about me and he wants me to SMS when I get to Tana and again from Antalaha.
I have not written about them before because I felt I would be unable to do them justice, their kindness and generosity are almost beyond description, but suffice to say that on this Thanksgiving, I am giving thanks to living with them.
November 28, 2008
They are amazing and beautiful people. When I need reminding why I am here, I just need to think of them. They are friendly, understanding, extremely helpful and kind. I tutor their kids, they share their watermelon. They provide a real sense of security because I know that if anything ever happened to me, they would do everything they could to help. They really have welcomed me as one of their family.
In fact, I have just been talking to Mr. Calixte about traveling to Antalaha for Christmas and he told me two important things: no matter what anyone operating a boat tells me, they are not safe this time of year, and that when I travel, they worry about me and he wants me to SMS when I get to Tana and again from Antalaha.
I have not written about them before because I felt I would be unable to do them justice, their kindness and generosity are almost beyond description, but suffice to say that on this Thanksgiving, I am giving thanks to living with them.
November 28, 2008
Vouloir c’est pouvoir:
‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way’, as we are fond of saying, but sometimes you need money too. I have a lot to say about the family with whom I share a ‘yard’ (same idea but concrete). It will have to be a separate entry, but for now I’ll just say that they are amazing people without whom the country would not feel like home to me.
Monsieur Calixte is a successful contractor, fluent in French, with a university degree in engineering. He is a hard worker, though now he has other people to do most of the work for him, but they have been working on the house next to mine since well before I got here. Why is it taking so long? Why do they work hard some weeks and not at all the next?
I asked him one day and was able to piece together this story in 3 languages. Apparently he worked too hard, and cashed out his capital. When he finished university he had capital to build with. This part is kind of hazy, but I know of at least 4 towns he has finished projects in and that he has at least 3 going right now. He gets lots of work from public works (currently building a central power station for the town) and his employees always seem to be busy with odd-jobs. But he is limited by the payment schedule of his finished projects, which in such a limited economy, is slow.
So now he has worked himself to a standstill. He has lots of equity, but no liquidity. That is to say that his completed projects pay off so slowly that he is severely limited in his current ones. There is no bank to loan to his buyers so they can pay him and owe the bank. If he takes a loan to finish his projects, he still has the same problem.
Monsieur Calixte is not alone in this, there are half finished structures all over the town, and now I know why. There is definitely a will, but it has to wait for the money to come in.
November 13, 2008
Monsieur Calixte is a successful contractor, fluent in French, with a university degree in engineering. He is a hard worker, though now he has other people to do most of the work for him, but they have been working on the house next to mine since well before I got here. Why is it taking so long? Why do they work hard some weeks and not at all the next?
I asked him one day and was able to piece together this story in 3 languages. Apparently he worked too hard, and cashed out his capital. When he finished university he had capital to build with. This part is kind of hazy, but I know of at least 4 towns he has finished projects in and that he has at least 3 going right now. He gets lots of work from public works (currently building a central power station for the town) and his employees always seem to be busy with odd-jobs. But he is limited by the payment schedule of his finished projects, which in such a limited economy, is slow.
So now he has worked himself to a standstill. He has lots of equity, but no liquidity. That is to say that his completed projects pay off so slowly that he is severely limited in his current ones. There is no bank to loan to his buyers so they can pay him and owe the bank. If he takes a loan to finish his projects, he still has the same problem.
Monsieur Calixte is not alone in this, there are half finished structures all over the town, and now I know why. There is definitely a will, but it has to wait for the money to come in.
November 13, 2008
Consider that a warning:
While sitting and looking at my swollen and red foot, I couldn’t help but think, “it could be worse, I could get malaria.” Don’t tell my mother, but I hadn’t been taking my malaria medicine. I am taking it now Mom, no need to worry.
I stopped taking it so I could sleep, which I couldn’t do while I was on it, and I can’t do now. For those non-medical in the audience, mefloquine is a medicine that prevents the effects of malaria from being felt, but it also causes intense night terrors, anxiety, sleeplessness and sometimes waking hallucinations. While I have not had any hallucinations that I know of, I can attest to the rest. Oh, and the long term effects are not well known, sometimes the side effects do not go away when you stop taking the meds.
There were not really many mosquitoes on the Plateau during training and I convinced myself that if I took precautions like using the mosquito net, bug repellent and wearing socks I would be fine. It worked there, but now I live on the coast. There are plenty of mosquitoes and it is definitely a malaria stricken zone. When I got that bite on my foot, I had to be realistic. I have consistently had bites on my ankle (where the malaria ones bite) that I was getting in the evening (when they come out) despite my best efforts with repellent and burning coils. I considered that bite a warning and it has been well heeded.
At least I know I have not gotten malaria yet. Even though its effects can be delayed I can be sure of this. My participation in sometimes-risky outdoor sports has prompted warnings of all kinds from my mother, my friends’ mothers and just about all of my female acquaintances. Their warnings range from general (don’t do anything stupid) to very specific (ex. don’t climb trees when your drunk), but never seem to make much difference. It is always right after I need it that their warnings come back into my brain. I hear their voices, clear as a bell ‘don’t go hiking by the river at night’ right when I’m in the middle of doing something sketchy. I was one mile away from camp on a ridge trail along the side of Eagle Creek in the Gorge in the pitch dark when I heard that one. Where were you when the sun was still up?
This means that since I have not heard the repeated admonishments of my female co-workers to take my medicine replayed in my head, it is not too late. This time I will take their advice, and all it took was three days of excruciating pain.
November 12, 2008
I stopped taking it so I could sleep, which I couldn’t do while I was on it, and I can’t do now. For those non-medical in the audience, mefloquine is a medicine that prevents the effects of malaria from being felt, but it also causes intense night terrors, anxiety, sleeplessness and sometimes waking hallucinations. While I have not had any hallucinations that I know of, I can attest to the rest. Oh, and the long term effects are not well known, sometimes the side effects do not go away when you stop taking the meds.
There were not really many mosquitoes on the Plateau during training and I convinced myself that if I took precautions like using the mosquito net, bug repellent and wearing socks I would be fine. It worked there, but now I live on the coast. There are plenty of mosquitoes and it is definitely a malaria stricken zone. When I got that bite on my foot, I had to be realistic. I have consistently had bites on my ankle (where the malaria ones bite) that I was getting in the evening (when they come out) despite my best efforts with repellent and burning coils. I considered that bite a warning and it has been well heeded.
At least I know I have not gotten malaria yet. Even though its effects can be delayed I can be sure of this. My participation in sometimes-risky outdoor sports has prompted warnings of all kinds from my mother, my friends’ mothers and just about all of my female acquaintances. Their warnings range from general (don’t do anything stupid) to very specific (ex. don’t climb trees when your drunk), but never seem to make much difference. It is always right after I need it that their warnings come back into my brain. I hear their voices, clear as a bell ‘don’t go hiking by the river at night’ right when I’m in the middle of doing something sketchy. I was one mile away from camp on a ridge trail along the side of Eagle Creek in the Gorge in the pitch dark when I heard that one. Where were you when the sun was still up?
This means that since I have not heard the repeated admonishments of my female co-workers to take my medicine replayed in my head, it is not too late. This time I will take their advice, and all it took was three days of excruciating pain.
November 12, 2008
A drama in three parts:
11/9/08, 7am: While in Vatomandry, I was bit by some unknown creature. It is somewhere between a mosquito bite and a bee sting. The bite is on the top of my left foot. It looks like a mosquito bite that I scratched, but has a four-inch red, painful and hot-to-the-touch circle around it. It is bad enough to make me limp and cancel my trip to the market. It is noticeably swollen. I don’t know what it was or if I should be worried, but for whatever reason I’m not. If it isn’t better tomorrow I might be. But it has been getting worse for the last 2 days and should get better soon.
11/9/08, 1:30: Ok, don’t ask me why I wasn’t worried earlier, but I am now. I circled the bite this morning, thinking to compare it’s size in the morning tomorrow, but it is growing before my eyes. It has already expanded half an inch beyond the line and I can no longer pretend I just did a bad job circling it. I can’t walk at all, it is continuously leaking fluid and my foot has swollen to about 3 times its normal size. Now I am a little worried; maybe it is time to call the doctors.
11/10/08, 11:30: Well, I can’t really walk. Yesterday one of my neighbors went to the hospital to get some medicine that the PC doctor prescribed for me. I am extremely grateful for his help, I couldn’t have gotten it myself. When I woke up today it had not gotten worse, which the doctor said was a good sign. However I still had to walk 1.5km to school on a foot so infected it would barely fit into my shoe. Now I am sitting again (see vacation) but this time with a good reason: if I put my foot down there is a terrible throbbing pain. I probably shouldn’t have gone to class, but there is so much to cover in the curriculum and not enough time to do it.
Update: Foot is getting better, I can walk. The real bummer is that I will never know what actually bit me. Somebody do some research and find the meanest-looking bug on the island and we’ll all agree on that.
11/9/08, 1:30: Ok, don’t ask me why I wasn’t worried earlier, but I am now. I circled the bite this morning, thinking to compare it’s size in the morning tomorrow, but it is growing before my eyes. It has already expanded half an inch beyond the line and I can no longer pretend I just did a bad job circling it. I can’t walk at all, it is continuously leaking fluid and my foot has swollen to about 3 times its normal size. Now I am a little worried; maybe it is time to call the doctors.
11/10/08, 11:30: Well, I can’t really walk. Yesterday one of my neighbors went to the hospital to get some medicine that the PC doctor prescribed for me. I am extremely grateful for his help, I couldn’t have gotten it myself. When I woke up today it had not gotten worse, which the doctor said was a good sign. However I still had to walk 1.5km to school on a foot so infected it would barely fit into my shoe. Now I am sitting again (see vacation) but this time with a good reason: if I put my foot down there is a terrible throbbing pain. I probably shouldn’t have gone to class, but there is so much to cover in the curriculum and not enough time to do it.
Update: Foot is getting better, I can walk. The real bummer is that I will never know what actually bit me. Somebody do some research and find the meanest-looking bug on the island and we’ll all agree on that.
Accentuating the unfamiliar:
With all of the PCVs in town for Jerijery (10 of us total), we decided to celebrate Halloween. I assumed it was going to give us a reminder of home and help us feel somewhat normal. Kathryne (Environment PCV 12 km from Vavatenina) wanted to carve a pumpkin, she had candy and some decorations.
The overall effect was very different. The juxtaposition of the traditional American holiday in Madagascar actually highlighted the strangeness. I ended up trick-or-treating for M&Ms at my own house. We carved a giant papaya. It was a lot of fun, but the absurdity of the papaya especially was a stark reminder that we were half the world away.
Watching Barack Obama’s acceptance speech had the same effect. It was broadcast live from Chicago on a cool autumn evening but we watched it at 8am when its already 85 degrees outside. Every once in a while things like this happen to me and it is then that I feel the most isolated. I am already very accustomed to the way things are here. I just take it as it comes and it feels like home. But when I dwell on the past or future in the U.S.A., I am confronted by a dichotomy that makes me feel both homesick and excited to be having this experience.
November 9, 2008
The overall effect was very different. The juxtaposition of the traditional American holiday in Madagascar actually highlighted the strangeness. I ended up trick-or-treating for M&Ms at my own house. We carved a giant papaya. It was a lot of fun, but the absurdity of the papaya especially was a stark reminder that we were half the world away.
Watching Barack Obama’s acceptance speech had the same effect. It was broadcast live from Chicago on a cool autumn evening but we watched it at 8am when its already 85 degrees outside. Every once in a while things like this happen to me and it is then that I feel the most isolated. I am already very accustomed to the way things are here. I just take it as it comes and it feels like home. But when I dwell on the past or future in the U.S.A., I am confronted by a dichotomy that makes me feel both homesick and excited to be having this experience.
November 9, 2008
Jerijery
Jerijery is the music festival that happens in my town that I promised to write about in a previous blog. It is just before the week long All-Saints vacation and basically the town is overrun by Malagasy tourists who come to buy, sell, and see the show. There was easily 5 times the normal amount of people in town. The sides of the street were covered with temporary stands and people selling things of all kinds on blankets.
Every day between Thursday and Sunday, there were two performing artistes on stage. They began around 3:30 and went until about 7:30. There was a 2,000 ariary cover to the outdoor theatre.
Five other volunteers from my stage came from their sites to see mine and the show. Two came from from Tamatave and Kathryne came in from Fiadanana, making 10 in total (only 2 guys, a classic PC ratio). We went to two shows, went hiking, ate out, spoke English and had a really good time.
Malagasy shows are different than the shows I saw in the U.S.A. They are full of choreographed dancing and costume changes. Depending on the artist, the dancing was either really good and impressive, or vulgar and graphic. I actually asked a Malagasy friend of mine if some of the dancing was ok, since there was children present. Apparently it was.
One notable thing about the concert is that people in the crowd generally didn’t dance. When they want to, an average Malagasy can out-shake even the best dancers I knew in the states. I can’t say why, but they really just didn’t do much of it until it got dark (or they got drunk), except in isolated sections of the crowd. Also, it is perfectly normal for two guys to dance together in ways that would be odd for two heterosexual guys at home. The culture in general is homophobic (and Catholic), but dancing is not as sexually oriented is it seemed to be at home.
November 9, 2008
Every day between Thursday and Sunday, there were two performing artistes on stage. They began around 3:30 and went until about 7:30. There was a 2,000 ariary cover to the outdoor theatre.
Five other volunteers from my stage came from their sites to see mine and the show. Two came from from Tamatave and Kathryne came in from Fiadanana, making 10 in total (only 2 guys, a classic PC ratio). We went to two shows, went hiking, ate out, spoke English and had a really good time.
Malagasy shows are different than the shows I saw in the U.S.A. They are full of choreographed dancing and costume changes. Depending on the artist, the dancing was either really good and impressive, or vulgar and graphic. I actually asked a Malagasy friend of mine if some of the dancing was ok, since there was children present. Apparently it was.
One notable thing about the concert is that people in the crowd generally didn’t dance. When they want to, an average Malagasy can out-shake even the best dancers I knew in the states. I can’t say why, but they really just didn’t do much of it until it got dark (or they got drunk), except in isolated sections of the crowd. Also, it is perfectly normal for two guys to dance together in ways that would be odd for two heterosexual guys at home. The culture in general is homophobic (and Catholic), but dancing is not as sexually oriented is it seemed to be at home.
November 9, 2008
All-saints vacation:
The school calendar here (and I assume in France) goes in sets of six weeks with a vacation in between. The first of these vacations is All-Saints for the first week of November. There were already 5 girls from my Education stage in my site for Jerijery and we all decided to go to Megan’s site in Vatomandry for business. PC gives you 2 days a month for vacation, but if you have approved business, you are able to travel without spending them. If PC asks, we were working, even though they already know that we weren’t. It is a strange policy, but we were able to go on vacation without using our days.
We spent most of our time relaxing, by which I mean sitting in various places. We sat a the beach, in the shade, at Megan’s place. We cooked, swapped Malagasy vocab and project ideas and stories from site. Mostly we spoke English and had a good time. We celebrated Barack Obama, traded books and pictures and drank beer.
It is sometimes strange to be surrounded by female company, but that is just the way PC is. More girls than boys.
We spent most of our time relaxing, by which I mean sitting in various places. We sat a the beach, in the shade, at Megan’s place. We cooked, swapped Malagasy vocab and project ideas and stories from site. Mostly we spoke English and had a good time. We celebrated Barack Obama, traded books and pictures and drank beer.
It is sometimes strange to be surrounded by female company, but that is just the way PC is. More girls than boys.
Life is calling...
but I can’t reach the phone from my chair.
So far, everyone I have talked to in country has been amazed by the amount of nothing we all do. I recently was with a RPCV (what you are called after service) and asked him: Do you remember sitting around a lot in the first 3 months? Danny’s reply “you mean the first two years?” really sums it up. Recently on vacation in Vatomandry it became a running joke and spawned some new Peace Corps motto suggestions:
Might as well, got nothing else to do.
How long have we been sitting here?
I was going to do it, but then I didn’t.
Doing nothing never looked so good on your resume.
We all thought we were self motivated people, but now none of us really seem to want to do anything. Perhaps it is just an adjustment to the pace of life here. We have slowed down, but it still seems a little awkward. Maybe because everything we have tried to do so far has just not happened or failed. I could teach 16 hours a week, but the school hasn’t given me a schedule yet. Guess what I do with all of my free time. Nothing productive. I have been playing guitar, and running (not today because of the mysterious and painful bite on my foot), but I have been doing more sitting around than I ever thought I could. Here’s my final submission for new mottos: It is amazing what you can get used to.
So far, everyone I have talked to in country has been amazed by the amount of nothing we all do. I recently was with a RPCV (what you are called after service) and asked him: Do you remember sitting around a lot in the first 3 months? Danny’s reply “you mean the first two years?” really sums it up. Recently on vacation in Vatomandry it became a running joke and spawned some new Peace Corps motto suggestions:
Might as well, got nothing else to do.
How long have we been sitting here?
I was going to do it, but then I didn’t.
Doing nothing never looked so good on your resume.
We all thought we were self motivated people, but now none of us really seem to want to do anything. Perhaps it is just an adjustment to the pace of life here. We have slowed down, but it still seems a little awkward. Maybe because everything we have tried to do so far has just not happened or failed. I could teach 16 hours a week, but the school hasn’t given me a schedule yet. Guess what I do with all of my free time. Nothing productive. I have been playing guitar, and running (not today because of the mysterious and painful bite on my foot), but I have been doing more sitting around than I ever thought I could. Here’s my final submission for new mottos: It is amazing what you can get used to.
Update on unwanted guests:
Recently I had some other volunteers over to my house for Jerijery (see other entry). While they were all here we had a mattress on the floor, and also a scorpion. One of the girls woke up at 5 am and thought her hand was asleep, then thought she cut it, then asked for help opening the door because it hurt so bad and was shaking. Kinsey impressed me by how calm she kept. We gave her some benadryl, called the doctors and I found looked for anything that might have been the culprit. I turned up a small brown scorpion with black markings on it’s back. Kinsey was fine. It was kind of like a bee sting, but worse. No problem.
November 9, 2008
November 9, 2008
Ma grand-mère serait fier:
(My grandmother would be proud)
There is not much foreign tourism to Vavaten, but I have already met six aid workers from France. While I am able to speak French with selected Malagasy, it is not the same French that is spoken in France, so I always try to take the opportunity to spend time with the aid workers. The most recent were two middle aged ladies. I offered to take them on a hike to see some birds in the hills near the town and was able to successfully give them a tour of some of the local flora and fauna in French. I even did a little Malagasy-French translating without my head exploding.
I ran into them recently and they were on their way out. There is not much crime here in Vavaten, but someone broke into their room and stole a lot of money and their passports. They had to cut their trip short. Que honte.
There is not much foreign tourism to Vavaten, but I have already met six aid workers from France. While I am able to speak French with selected Malagasy, it is not the same French that is spoken in France, so I always try to take the opportunity to spend time with the aid workers. The most recent were two middle aged ladies. I offered to take them on a hike to see some birds in the hills near the town and was able to successfully give them a tour of some of the local flora and fauna in French. I even did a little Malagasy-French translating without my head exploding.
I ran into them recently and they were on their way out. There is not much crime here in Vavaten, but someone broke into their room and stole a lot of money and their passports. They had to cut their trip short. Que honte.
Packed lunch:
I think I mentioned that many of my students come in from the countryside for school. Many of them walk more than 20 km and stay in town all week. When they go home on the weekends, they help their parents with farming, then bring some of the harvest with them back to town. Just like we pack lunches to school, they bring rice for the week. You may recall that Malagasy people eat a lot of rice. And you probably know that people in their teens eat more than others. Now try to imagine the students walking through the countryside with huge bags of rice on bamboo poles over their shoulders, or on their heads to get to school every week.
October 2, 2008
October 2, 2008
The water has not yet arrived:
The cyclone season is just beginning here and I am beginning to find out what it will be like. The dry season lasted for about one month, now we will have alternating multiple-day rainstorms and periods of sun and heat. The next 5 months will be like this, punctuated by the occasional cyclone. In the last two weeks we have had two three-day storms. It rains hard and makes going anywhere difficult since most of the roads and paths get muddy and slippery.
People here like to talk about the obvious. If it is hot, they will tell you, ‘its hot today’, and the same for rain. When I mention the rain, however, they are always quick to point out ‘mbola tsy tonga ny rano’, or ‘the water has not yet arrived’. I am not yet sure whether this is a reference to the rainy season or the impending cyclones, but I am sure I am in for a unique experience. In Seattle, the rain is plentiful, but always just a dribble compared to the tropical storms here, and the fact that the people of Vavatenina don’t even call it rain is ominous. When the water arrives, I will be in for a whole new atmospheric experience.
October 2, 2008
People here like to talk about the obvious. If it is hot, they will tell you, ‘its hot today’, and the same for rain. When I mention the rain, however, they are always quick to point out ‘mbola tsy tonga ny rano’, or ‘the water has not yet arrived’. I am not yet sure whether this is a reference to the rainy season or the impending cyclones, but I am sure I am in for a unique experience. In Seattle, the rain is plentiful, but always just a dribble compared to the tropical storms here, and the fact that the people of Vavatenina don’t even call it rain is ominous. When the water arrives, I will be in for a whole new atmospheric experience.
October 2, 2008
AIDS awareness bike race:
This is a program that is on it’s third year in Madagascar. Each previous year it has been a huge success, but it was also largely funded by individual volunteers in Tamatave. The volunteer this year rightly expressed the opinion that ‘if it isn’t run and supported by the people here, it is time for it to die’. PC is about sustainable development after all.
That said, Dalene worked tirelessly to make it happen and it went really well this year, entirely funded outside of PC. Dalene worked with the planning committee and many of us other volunteers provided help on the days of the race.
Before the race there were teams of PCVs and Malagasy doing ‘sensitizations’, having demos and making speeches about AIDS prevention and general awareness. There were random AIDS tests and free condoms for everyone. All in all, it was a huge success.
This was a foot race, a bike race and a pousse-pousse (rickshaw) race. They were supposed to be 3km, 25km, and 5km respectively. They were in fact much longer: 8km, 67km and 12km. Those of you with any running experience will know how much this will affect the competitors. If you set a 3km pace, then try to keep it up for almost 3 times that distance, you will most likely collapse. That was the case for many. I was near the finish line directing the racers to get their prizes and most of them couldn’t walk on their own. Red Cross was there with stretchers and water and many of the local people helping out ended up just carrying their compatriots to the prize booth.
I would like to restate that the operation was a huge success. This country has an incredibly low AIDS rate, especially considering it’s proximity to South Africa, and the random tests can confirm or deny that. It could be that there is just no good data. The info about prevention may not be received well, or practiced, but at least it is out there and that is all we can do.
It is important to know that there is a large mining company here now with many of it’s workers coming from South Africa. Without getting into the overall effects of this (which would be a huge project) I will just point out that this could be an in-road for AIDS if people are not careful. The rate could jump, and fast. It is heartening to see the Malagasy people taking it upon themselves to work for this cause, not just NGOs and PC.
October 2, 2008
That said, Dalene worked tirelessly to make it happen and it went really well this year, entirely funded outside of PC. Dalene worked with the planning committee and many of us other volunteers provided help on the days of the race.
Before the race there were teams of PCVs and Malagasy doing ‘sensitizations’, having demos and making speeches about AIDS prevention and general awareness. There were random AIDS tests and free condoms for everyone. All in all, it was a huge success.
This was a foot race, a bike race and a pousse-pousse (rickshaw) race. They were supposed to be 3km, 25km, and 5km respectively. They were in fact much longer: 8km, 67km and 12km. Those of you with any running experience will know how much this will affect the competitors. If you set a 3km pace, then try to keep it up for almost 3 times that distance, you will most likely collapse. That was the case for many. I was near the finish line directing the racers to get their prizes and most of them couldn’t walk on their own. Red Cross was there with stretchers and water and many of the local people helping out ended up just carrying their compatriots to the prize booth.
I would like to restate that the operation was a huge success. This country has an incredibly low AIDS rate, especially considering it’s proximity to South Africa, and the random tests can confirm or deny that. It could be that there is just no good data. The info about prevention may not be received well, or practiced, but at least it is out there and that is all we can do.
It is important to know that there is a large mining company here now with many of it’s workers coming from South Africa. Without getting into the overall effects of this (which would be a huge project) I will just point out that this could be an in-road for AIDS if people are not careful. The rate could jump, and fast. It is heartening to see the Malagasy people taking it upon themselves to work for this cause, not just NGOs and PC.
October 2, 2008
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