Hello World!
It's been a while and a lot has
happened. I'll try to touch on everything and include the hopes for
the future. Here we go!
IST
In mid-July my stage had our IST (In
Service Training) conference. All of us gathered in Tana then headed
back to the training center in Mantasoa where it all began. IST is a
two week shindig. The first week was done with all of our Malagasy
counterparts and the second with just the volunteers.
Our Malagasy counterparts are the
people we will be working with the most and the most closely at our
sites. I brought the president of the fikambanana I work with. But
they are not the only people we will be working with by any means. We
will all have many counterparts it just isn't feasible to have them
all come to Mantasoa. So we each chose one to come with us and bring
all of the information back to our villages. The week with our
counterparts was awesome. I got to spend a lot of quality time with
mine and met so many other cool people who are counterparts of other
volunteers. We had meetings both with our counterparts and separate
from them throughout the week. The idea is to get them to understand
the way Peace Corps works, the challenges and opportunities of cross
cultural exchange, project design and management, and the
possibilities that we have going forward. When I finally got back to
my site (This was a long...long trip) we had a meeting with the whole
community about what we learned at the conference.
The second week, with just the
volunteers, was learning how to get projects off the ground during
the next 9 months of service. That includes the design and management
of course but also funding if necessary. There are a few grants we
can apply for for specific things but there is also one for general
projects called the PCPP. It is basically a project funded by outside
donations through Peace Corps. The outside donors can be anyone but
are usually friends and families (who love and care about the
Volunteers and want their projects to go awesome so they donate lots
of money and maybe visit the Volunteers too just for fun). Anyways, I
have a project that will more than likely need funding coming down
the pipeline. It's still very much in it's infancy so I won't bore
you with the details yet but know it is awesome and a worthy project.
During the second week we also learned advanced language skills and
refreshed and improved our technical knowledge. The language stuff is
always fun. It's also always good to see just how much you still have
to learn. Malagasy is a good language for that. Every time I start to
feel really good about my language I have an experience (or 30) that
puts me in my place. The technical training also will be very helpful
going forward. There was a training in particular on business
expansion here in Madagascar that was especially awesome and helpful
(Thanks Lucie!).
IST is also the first time your whole
training group is brought back together as one. It was a blast to see
everyone again and find out about their sites and potential projects.
One of the things we had to do are called CDS (Community Diagnostic
Survey) presentations. We presented them to everyone at IST. There
are about 35 of us so it can drag a bit and get repetitive. But the
section on future projects was very inspiring and exciting. Also the
pictures. Always love the pictures. Seeing all of the Americans was
also a bit overwhelming. Not in a bad way it was just weird to be
back around so many Americans after spending so much time around
Malagasy people. MSC (Mid-Service Conference) is the next big
training in 9 months so I'm sure that will be even more jarring. But
it really was awesome to get everyone back together. I genuinely like
the people I've been sent here with
and consider myself blessed to be here with such a cool group.
Wrapped around IST
were a couple of days in Tana with the whole group as well. Tana is
always interesting and I was by no means done with it.
VACATION!!
After IST myself
and a few friends went on vacation to a place called Mahajanga. It
was awesome. Mahajanga is on the northern west coast of Madagascar on
the Mozambique Channel. It is a beach city with all of the great
beach city attractions. Namely a beach. At the main beach there
(called “Petite Plage” which means “little beach” in French)
you can rent an umbrella for the day for shade. And up and down the
beach there are people walking and selling so much wonderful food and
drink. The seafood was fantastic. I've never eaten so much shrimp and
fish in my life. Needless to say I gained a few pounds on vacation.
There is also a bar on the beach with ice cold beer and other
beverages. I personally recommend bringing rum and buying a coconut
at the beach to drink out of. You can make your first drink with the
coconut water and then you have an awesome natural cup to mix in.
There are also sellers of fresh made juice on the beach so mixers
aren't hard to come by. Sometimes the juice is made in less than
sanitary conditions but the alcohol kills everything so it's fine.
That's how that works right?
Vacation was mostly
the beach and partying so the description isn't really that great.
I'll try to post some pics on here to do it more justice but there
are already some up on Facebook as well. Mahajanga was a great place
that I definitely plan on going back to. There are a few hikes and
such in the area I'd like to do. This time is was just too hard to
drag my ass off the beach.
Fier Mada
After vacation I
headed straight back to Tana for “Fier Mada”. Fier Mada is a
giant agricultural and artisanal fair at a university in the capital.
It was better than similar events I've been to in the States. You can
find so much there. Many NGOs and governmental organizations have
booths as well as individual co-operatives and sellers. I went with
the blacksmiths co-operative I work with in Ankazambo.
The fair was
amazing! First the fun. The food was so so good! I had everything
from a delicious pineapple slaw with parsley to a hamburger with an
egg on it. Also on the menu, fresh grilled fish with veggies,
waffles, pate sandwiches, and more I'm sure I am forgetting. The best
part was that all of it was local companies or individuals. I even
got to try, and purchase, the best honey in Madagascar. It's called
BeeFarm (produced by my one of my Peace Corps language trainers Mbola
and her husband Faly with the help of a few hundred thousand bees)
and there are a few excellent flavors. Some of it will be coming home
with me to the US for sure. There were also live music performances
and a visit from the Prime Minister. He even came by our booth and
talked with my counterpart for a photo-op. We go big like that in
Ankazambo. There were also a lot of stands with great crafts to buy.
I will be stocking up on presents to bring home at next years fair
without a doubt. All of the people running the booths were awesome to
interact with as well.
I also got a lot of
work done in between stuffing my face and perusing the goods. We
shared a booth with other people from our region. Everything was run
through a program called Prosperer which does some amazing work here
in Madagascar and who I work with quite a bit. There were three
booths in total reppin' the Sofia Region. Ours had us, another
blacksmiths co-op from Mandritsara, and a chicken farmer from
Mandritsara. In there other two booths was honey from all over the
region, siramamy Gasy (sugar from sugar cane made into big blocks),
peanut butter from Mandritsara, and some hand woven baskets and
purses. We sold a ton of knives! I even got to try my hand at selling
and kind of liked it. Being on the other side of the bargaining
process is surprisingly fun. Plus people get a kick out of
negotiating with a vazaha (foreigner). Networking at the fair was
also a huge success. We met a few people who may be interested in
wholesaling the knives which would be huge. I also was able to meet a
lot of potential work partners for myself and fellow volunteers in
all aspects of agriculture. I purchased quite a few seeds for the
garden including watermelon. I can't wait to grow that. There were
tons of awesome strawberries but I wasn't able to get any for the
garden. They are a pain to grow from seed and I didn't want to
purchase a seedling that needed to be carried around with me for a
few weeks. Hopefully next year. I loved meeting all of the different
groups there and seeing what everyone is working on. I learned
techniques I will definitely use and met people I most certainly will
work with. Such a great experience and I already can't wait for next
year.
It should be
mentioned that many other volunteers came to the fair and represented
Peace Corps well with two others being there and working at a booth
everyday like me. The Volunteers here in Madagascar are a great
group.
One last story from
the fair. In the deep south region of Madagascar there is a dialect
spoken called Tandroey (not sure if that's spelled right). It is
widely known here on the island as the dialect hardest to speak and
be understood. Most native Malagasy speakers can't pick it up. I went
to booth that had some cool stuff from the region and started to talk
to the man running it. He spoke to me in Tandroey and blew my mind. I
kept trying to speak with him in Malagasy Official and he always came
back with Tandroey. It was difficult and a little embarrassing. Turns
out he was messing with me. He also speaks great Official and knows
Peace Corps well. He has been a counter part for volunteers in the
past and, since he figured I was a volunteer when he saw me and I
spoke Malagasy, decided he wanted to give me a bit of a hard time. He
is an awesome guy and I actually may be able to get some help from
him since he uses a type of metal we don't have access to in the
north that I want to try and get for the blacksmiths. He may be able
to help me figure out where I can find it.
Fun, fun at the
fair then off to more adventures!
Lasy ny Ankizy
Next up
on the agenda was helping at my friend's lasy ny ankizy (children's
camp). She is running an 8 week summer camp at her site and a village
close by that will teach English, agricutural techniques, and basic
health and life skills to children. It is a great idea that I expect
will be stolen by many other volunteers in the future including
(maybe) myself. Each week a different volunteer comes to her site to
help with the camp and do trainings on areas they excel in. I was the
first week. We did garden bed preparation which I am very comfortable
with and have done a lot of at my site. On the English side we did
basic greetings, times of day, and simple questions. Basically small
talk. Which is good because I don't really excel at the finer grammar
points of English but can usually handle basic intros.
The camp
went incredibly well, especially considering it was the first week so
bumps in the road were inevitable. The turn out was awesome with
something like 300 kids over 3 days. It was funner than I expected
teaching the kids, who were very well behaved for the most part. At
her site she has 3 separate school gardens and seeing those was great
too. It is a good opportunity to get children started on good farming
practices at a young age. Madagascar is an extremely agrarian society
(something like 80% but it might be even higher than that). Almost
all of these children will grow crops of some sort when they are
adults and hooking them early is key to improving things here.
(Side
note: In the US there are often complaints about class sizes of 30
children which is defintely too much. Here most classes are double
that if not more. The largest class we taught was 95 children. It's
amazing that people are able to teach and learn in that environment.
It is out of my league and knowledge to write intelligently about the
topic nor could I begin to address it. I only bring it up to say the
teachers here as a whole do a pretty good job with the hand they're
dealt and every kid who comes out of there and excels is extremely
deserving to say the least. Disappearing into the crowd would be very
easy to do.)
The
other cool thing about working at the camp was seeing another
person's site. Her site is in the highlands around Tana so the
environment couldn't be more different than mine. Right now it's hot
and dry in my region and cold and wet in her's. She is from Portland
in the States and she said it is wetter here than there. So yeah it's
different. But very pretty. It still has some forests unlike mine
including a protected area I didn't get to check out but that sounds
cool. We got to bike around a lot as well so I got to know the
terrain very well. But the best part was meeting all of the people in
town and who she works with. I love meeting and talking with new
people here. I could bounce around the island just conversing with
people forever. I love it. I love hearing their point of view on
things and what they would like to do for themselves and their
communities. It's inspiring for me and so great to hear. Plus I can
be a bit of a talker as some may know.
Lasy ny
ankizy was a success and then it was back to Tana.
COSers
and Biz-nass Time
I headed
back to Tana because myself and the closest Ag volunteer to me in my
region had some business to do in Tana and the timing was great
because I was already in the area. We needed to contact some people
about projects we have coming up (including the unnamed super awesome
project from earlier in this novel of a post). We also wanted to meet
with some ministries and NGOs that have offices in Tana to see if
they work in our region and if so what we can do with them. It was a
productive trip and we got some good information and started the ball
rolling on some great stuff.
While we
were there it was also the first week of COSers for the Education
stage that is finishing up (COS stands for Close of Service. It's the
people who are finishing their 2 years of Peace Corps). Included in
this group were both of our site mates and some other Volunteers who
we have become good friends with over the past few months. It was so
nice to be in town as they were closing things up to be able to say
good bye. We had some good nights out and some excellent dinners. If
there is one thing Tana has more than enough of (besides trash) it's
good, over-priced, almost but not quite there American and other
kinds of food.
It's
funny because I have only known my site mate for a few months but we
have become very good friends. I think it is a combination of being
so close geographically which inevitably means you see each other
often, having another American around who is experiencing what you
are so you have something to bond over, and my being a super awesome
person...just kidding it's definitely the other way around. I'm just
grateful she was able to put up with me while she did and will miss
her very much.
The good news is I get a new site mate. I've already met her and she
is great. The black hole is getting some good new volunteers who will
hopefully love the region as much as all of us here do. Unfortunately
I will be in Tana for the committee meeting when she gets installed
at her site. We will (actually already have by the time this gets
posted) miss each other by a couple hours. Luckily the trip for the
meeting is very short and I can welcome her to the area when I get
back. I'm excited to introduce her to all of the nice people in the
market and the best hotelys (restaurants) in town. This group coming
in now is the group my stage will be here with the longest so it's
exciting to meet them and welcome them to the country. Everyone I've
met from there stage seems great so they should do well here.
So after
doing some big city business and seeing some friends off it was back
to site for me. Finally. It was much too long away and I missed
everybody. Now that I am back for the foreseeable future (other than
a quick trip back to Tana for a committee meeting that I'll write
about in another post) I am excited to get to work here. I have so
many things I want to do. The garden needs to be re-planted for a new
season and many other things big and small need to be done. Although
I have only lived here a short time this is very much my home now so
it is also just so great to be home. Back to rice every meal and my
rat and cockroach roommates. Home sweet home.
I'll
have a post about the committee meeting and future plans up soonish
and of course anything else that comes up. Let me know what you like,
dislike, hate, whatever about the blog by the way. I am enjoying
writing it and am trying to improve it so any feedback would be nice.
I know there is only about 10 people or so who read it so feel free
to eviscerate me via email or comment on the blog. Thanks!
(Quick
garden update since I apparently can't get enough parentheses. Most
of the first batch of things are done and it was overall a success.
The greens and onions kicked major ass. The beans were okay but not
spectacular. Tomatoes the same. The potatoes were a bit of a
disappointment because, although tasty, they are very small. The bok
choi was also apparently good and much enjoyed during my extended
absence. Carrots are still going. Black eyed peas died but I want to
try again. Peppers look promising but they started later than others.
Overall a solid start. Okay, now I'm done. I promise.....SYKE! I miss
all of you guys back in the States and abroad, especially in Moldova,
who support me. I love it here but dream of 2016 and seeing all of
your lovely faces then. A special thanks to the Hams for the care
packages. You guys are too nice to me. Now I'm done. End scene.)
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