There is a popular attention grabber that seems to be universally known here in Madagascar no matter the region. I call it the 'lamako' clap and it goes like this: one person/the leader yells, 'Lamako!' Everyone claps four times. The leader yells, 'Avereno!' Everyone claps ten times. The leader yells, 'Atambaro!' Everyone claps once. It works very well to get people to stop talking no matter the age. During IST another volunteer and her counterpart taught everyone a dance to the popular clap that consisted of fist pumping and singing. It was a hit. So then I taught it to my ACs at the beginning of a monthly meeting. They loved it and requested to dance it again at the end of the meeting. Then they began requesting the dance during manentana-ing (this 'Gasy word literally translate to 'moving others toward action' and is the verb used for giving health talk to either large groups or one-on-one. It's what my primary role is here). The dance succeeds each time to get people laughing.
I visited another volunteer's site recently and watched her manentana about ARIs (acute respiratory infections). We tweaked the lamako dance from four fist pumps to four fake coughs into the arm (the take-away message was to cover their mouth when coughing/sneezing), then the rest of the dance/message was that we were happy no one was sick anymore. Men, women, adults, children, everyone loved the lamako dance! It has become a frequent request, wonderful motivator, and great way for people to remember the health message.
You know you're a PCV when:
-Working more than three hours in a day is exhausting
-Fripping has become a national sport among volunteers (at least in Lac Alaotra)
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