Wazzurp

Hello World!

It's been a while and I know the 6 people who read this probably really missed this. I've been a busy boy with a lot to talk about.

I recently had a training with the Food Security Committee, of which I am a member, at the Peace Corps Training Center in lovely Mantasoa, Madagascar. An expert was brought in to teach the members of the committee and their Malagasy counterparts about permagardening. Specifically the construction and maintenance of a year round garden even in semi-arid conditions like those in my town. We also touched on composting, charcoal making (as a soil amendment), and the scientific reasoning behind the technique and how to help plants grow well in general among other things. It's a really wonderful technique and I am happily implementing it in my site already. I won't bore you with all of the details but there was an amazing take away from the training.

One thing that is a constant worry for a Peace Corps volunteer is the sustainability of your work. It weighs heavily on my mind here. The idea is to create change on a local level that can contiue once the volunteer is gone. Both with the people that you worked directly with and also those who they come in contact with and train in the future. It sounds great and not too difficult but it is very hard. Behavior change is a hard nut to crack in general but adding to it language and cultural barriers it becomes even more difficult. Think about how hard it is to change behavior. Millions of people in America know they should eat better. Know they should workout more. Know they are obese. But they do nothing about it. They are informed and educated on the topic but they do nothing about it. I've been in that boat myself for a time. Trying to get people to change habits and behaviors they and their ancestors have been practicing for generations, while learning their language and culture and being an outsider, is something that keeps me up at nights. However, it is possible. And at the training we talked about good strategies for affecting behavior change.

I've done a lot of trainings here with a good number of people. Sometimes 30 or 35 people. It feels good to know that that many people are interested in what you are teaching and motivated to learn. It also feels like you are reaching a lot of people at once. But really most of the people there will not get the training and almost none of them will do what they were taught. Whenever a large number of people are brought together, inevitably, about 5 of the biggest personalities take over the room. They answer the trainers questions and ask questions of their own. Everyone else is a passive listener at that point. There is almost no way they will remember what was taught. Especially 6 months from now when they might actually want to or see the opportunity to use it. And if the whole training is in a classroom setting then even the big, active personalities will have a hard time remembering and implementing the information. So, while good intentioned, I was doing things wrong. People were getting a basic idea of the information but not enough experience and knowledge to actually use it. With behavior change a fear of change and new things is also an impediment to people and by talking about things only I was not showing people just how easy the new techniques are. Only telling them. And why should they trust me?

Which brings us to the training. One of the main tenants of the training was that, in order to effectively train people and turn them into trainers or change agents themselves, you have to train them in small groups. Preferably 10 or less. And the training should be a hands on experience out in the field if at all possible. Make sure to make the training easy to follow and do and get people outside to actually do it. I have started doing this with great success. We have 3 permagardens in the works as well as 3 compost piles. There are more in the pipeline for the upcoming weeks. These seem like small numbers but they are encouraging. One of the first things I tried to do was get people to make compost. Until I broke it into small groups and brought it to their territory they never did. Now they are. At one of the compost trainings there were 4 people. I know they got it. I know one of them is doing her own pile with out me. I love that. I've told them that, by the end of my service, I want them to do the trainings and I can be a tall, sun-burnt, extremely conspicuous camera man only. None of the trainings have been with more than 6 people. I am confident when we finish that everyone gets it. And I can follow up with people because the numbers are so much less.

The absolute best part is that one of my counterparts, the one who came to the training with me, is already taking charge and training people. She is an incredible asset to the community and a great person. It's crazy to think how high she could have risen if she was born somewhere else or able to get an education above middle school level. But then she probably wouldn't be here and they need her. She motivates people and challenges them. She just gets it. There are times when I want to throw my hands up and just do things for people so they'll get done. She won't let it happen because she knows that, if we do that, everyone will be lazy and wait for me or her to do it for them next time. So she trains people. I am still at every training. There are still things she isn't up to speed on yet and techniques we haven't trained on yet. But the ones we have she knows well and she leads things. I am there to lend a hand and guide things but she does the bulk of the talking. I know she will do this long after I am gone. If everything else fails I know she'll be practicing these things and leading trainings years down the road.

I'd like to think that because of Peace Corps' presence in their community the town of Ankazambo Atsimo in the Sofia Region of Madagascar will be changed for the better. 20 years from now their children will eat better. People will make more money. This will allow more children to go to school for longer periods of time. They will go to college. And the community will continue to rise and improve. I'd like to think that my work and the work of my predecessor here have set them on that path. This new training concept makes me believe this is possible and gives me hope I can move the ball forward significantly these 2 years. The fact that I have at least one change agent ready to work, and already working, gives me more hope. I am extremely cautiously optimistic. Now if I can find a few more like her I can work on my photography skills.