Recent Happenings

Since the AIDS festival things have been quieter at site. Vola's interest in the Insanity workouts have withered and she now bikes in the early morning instead. My midwife is teaching me to crochet. All the CSB workers crochet which reminds me of the episode of Friends where Rachel takes up smoking to attend 'meetings' to get the latest updates on work. Crocheting at the CSB is similar to that. I've also started learning to play the guitar. My dad and I have a competition to see who can play the guitar better by the end of my service. So far he is winning. 

In April I met with an NGO (non-government organization) about fixing the pumps in the community. The doctor wanted a new pump but the NGO is not able to provide that (to my relief, why build a new pump when we can fix the existing?). We are also talking about building a public well and public restrooms. This project is in the very beginning stages so we'll see what is actually feasible and sustainable. 

At the last AC meeting, I talked about the upcoming projects. One project is the GLOW camp, and we are now advertising the camp, the speakers that will come in June, and the opportunity to go to Tana. However, when I was explaining what the camp was about I kept saying 'fihaizana miteraka' instead of 'fihaizana mitarika.' The former means birthing skills when I meant the latter, leadership skills. Needless to say the AC were very confused. Even worse, I emphasized that the camp was for girls 13 years and older. I had to send out a mass text correcting the mistake. 

Every few weeks there is an outbreak of some type of bug. This months type is ants. They are everywhere and in the thousands. On my countertop, dishes, food, it's gross and there's nothing to do but wait them out. I asked Vola if she was experiencing the same problem. She told me her older kids sleep on the floor at grandmas house (because hers is too small to fit everyone comfortably) and they wake up at night to ants crawling all over and biting them. This broke my heart a little. 

I help one of the elementary teachers in town with English about once per week. He said he wants to learn well enough to teach though doesn't have much experience speaking it. The other day he came over with snacks and soda and asked me what age women typically get married in the US. He then talked about how it is time for him to get married (he's 24 years old). He said in English that he loved me and asked me to stay in Madagasar forever (although in Malagasy the word for like and love is the same). I explained that I would miss family and friends too much and the United States is too far and too expensive just to visit. I told him the price and he understood. Hopefully we can continue just being friends. 

In May I am going first to Tana for a malaria training because I am the regional malaria coordinator for my area. Then I will head to Mantasoa for Mid-Service Conference (MSC). Volunteers attend three trainings with their stage during service. The first is IST (In-Service Training-I attended last July), MSC, and COS (Close of Service-in January). It's crazy that we only have one more training left of service! 

You know you're a PCV when

-you are back to pre internet times. If you and your friends have a disagreement about some obscure fact, it may be weeks before you find the answer. 

-you make a list of things to google the next time you have internet. 

HIV/AIDS Festival

Last June, the volunteers in my region began planning a traveling HIV/AIDS festival in which we would bike to each site and carry out the festival. We decided not to write a grant for the project and instead asked for community contributions and a partnership with PSI (a Malagasy NGO that promotes healthy lifestyles). Five volunteers held five festivals in five different towns, biked 180km (115 miles) and reached over 2,200 people! It was a long but rewarding week and is definitely a highlight of service.

Each festival contained speeches made by the hosting volunteer, mayor, and doctor or AC, music, and many dances. We planned five different booths run by the Acs and volunteers that included true/false AIDS facts, STDs and their symptoms, condom demonstration, whole person treatment, and women and AIDS. Some festivals included a booth with food for sale to raise money for other projects (ex. health resource center renovation in my town). My town also held HIV testing.

The festival in my town was held on April 8th and was a success in my opinion! The last few weeks were spent planning with the mayor about location, party set-up, and music; holding trainings with the doctor for the Acs; talking to the gendarmes (police) about security; creating flipcharts; and handing out flyers and putting up advertisements (plus a million other small details that go into planning a large community event). We arrived in my town at 10:30am after biking 4 hours (more on biking below) and immediately began getting ourselves and the materials ready. However, right when I arrived we ran into the problem of who was providing gas for the generator to run the music, then next problem was figuring the line-up for the speeches and performances, then the main doctor (my supervisor) couldn't come to the festival and therefore couldn't give an overview of AIDS, then we were missing cords for the speakers, then the PSI guy was missing... many problems arose that I had to deal with. Everything worked out though, the person bringing gas made it in time, an AC wrote the line-up, another doctor gave the speech, we found extra cords, as well as the PSI guy. I tried to be as relaxed and go-with-the-flow as I could and really did have a lot of fun. 

The Acs and doctor ran the show. At one point the doctor asked questions about AIDS to the audience and kids answered to receive a prize. I gave a formal speech explaining the importance of STD and HIV/AIDS education and prevention, and also thanked everyone who helped make the festival possible. The dance group I'm apart of brought me a lambahoany (a traditional patterned cloth worn around the waist or chest) and a sun hat. Everyone was surprised when I walked out with them to dance, and they cheered us on like crazy! Dancing with the youth group is now one of my favorite moments of service and I felt like I belonged there. I made up another dance that was open to youth, adults, PCVs, anyone who wanted to learn. That was also a huge hit during party. Once the performance and education portions were done around 5:00pm, the two PSI workers set up a projector and played an educational movie that everyone seemed to enjoy. The movie ended about 7:30pm and then the other PCVs and I headed to my friend, Rosety's house to sleep (since my house is too small to host 5 people). My community really came together to make the festival possible and about 800 people came to listen to the health messages and watch the performances. It was an amazing experience.

In between festivals we biked to one another's site. My region is in the shape of a circle with one paved road. The middle of the circle holds Lake Alaotra, kilometers of rice fields, and very few towns. The region is surrounded by mountains which most towns reside in (not mine, we are in the middle surrounded by rice and vegetable fields). We stuck together and rode in a line with the first person carrying a Peace Corps flag on their bike to help advertise. Each morning we rode our bikes to the next town and each afternoon we held a festival. The second day (day 1 was festival number one located in the northwestern 'corner' of the region) we biked 55km to my town. We left at 6:30am and were pressed for time. We stopped every 45 minutes and kept a quick pace. The road seemed like a steady incline the entire way and this ride was the hardest. Day 3 we biked another 55km. We were the most nervous for this portion of the bike ride because the last 20km became mountainous with very long and very steep hills. We rode at a slower pace, stopped more often, and actually this was the most enjoyable ride. We biked 36km on day 4, 20km on day 5, and 10km on the last day. Everybody fell off their bike once, we made five trips to bicycle repair shops, one person's front and back tires popped, two peoples chains fell off, one person crashed into a pedestrian (though no injuries, everyone involved was fine), there were countless close calls, two stops by the police to show our passports, and many sore muscles. Some days we had to wear flip flops because we had to stop, get off, and cross streams so often. People were very surprised to see five vazaha ride by. Many waved hello to us but many called out words of harassment. Although one town even applauded us as we rode through!

The traveling HIV/AIDS festivals were really awesome events to be a part of. I was so impressed with each of the sites, but my town in particular after being a part of the preparation then seeing the result of our labor. As a health volunteer, it is often difficult to see actual behavior change as a result of health presentations. But during the preparation and over the last week, I taught both teens and adults how to properly use a condom, that AIDS cannot be spread through mosquitoes, helped Acs become more confident in their own presentation skills, and watched several people be tested for HIV that otherwise would not have been. It was rewarding to see people learning the material then demonstrating their knowledge through the games. Each volunteer and their community put a lot of work into making the festivals a success. Each PCV ran into different and unexpected problems, but every one of us was able to improvise and help provide direction despite only speaking the language for one year. We held the same activities at each site, but each town and each PCV is unique making each festival their own. We supported each other through everything in the last week creating lasting memories, and I feel so lucky to be a part of this region in Madagascar.

You know you're a PCV when:
-you can talk about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING with other PCVs.
-you can't remember the last you biked before Peace Corps, you relearned in country, and now you can bike over 100 miles.
-you know how to gracefully bail off of your bike

Wearing a lambahoany

Giving a kabary (speech)

My doctor asking kids questions for prizes

Dancing with the youth group

Youth, adults, and PCVs dancing together

Wearing the lambahoany

Dressed in traditional clothing for a dance

 

Trying to fix the bike chain

Walking our bikes through the bad parts of the road

The ladies of the lake