Back in America

I'm back in the United States. I wouldn't be honest if I said I wasn't sad, and I wouldn't be honest if I said I wasn't happy. Leaving Madagascar was very quick and unexpected, and I arrived in the States on Christmas Eve welcomed by hugs, tears, and surprised family members. My good friends organized a small New Years party last minute where I got hang out with friends I haven't seen or talked to in two years. I was able to spend my birthday with my best friend in California, and was able to see her choose a wedding dress. I'm happy to see family and friends, and feel grateful that so many people welcomed me back into their lives. 

However, leaving Madagascar was the most difficult part of Peace Corps service. Once I made the decision, the turnaround was very quick leaving me with just one day at site to pack up and say goodbye. I called my good friends the night before I reached site to tell them the news, and friends visited all day starting from 7:30am to 8:00pm. The ACs called an impromptu meeting and 11 people were able to make it despite the sudden news and in some cases, an hour and a half walk. I was so touched by the level of support my Malagasy friends gave me saying that "work is just work, family comes first," and "this is all a part of God's plan." They bought me a Malagasy scarf and told me I could only wear it Malagasy style, not American style. We decided to put the Pumps and Wells project on hold until the replacement arrives and feels comfortable to continue. The hardest parts-the grant writing and review, and the water testing-are complete. The ACs know their roles in the project and I have no doubt they will help the next volunteer through every step of the process.

It was the most difficult saying goodbye to Vola and Monica. Vola worked in the rice fields all that day even though it was a taboo day to work. She arrived at my house at 6pm and helped me finish packing up my house (I was amazed with all the stuff I fit in that tiny two room house, and also grossed out by the critters that had secretly been living in it.) We talked about our futures and plans to keep in touch despite her very limited access to internet or a telephone. The taxi-brousse arrived an hour early the next morning which was ironic considering all the hours I spent waiting for a taxi to show up in the past. I quickly said goodbye to the CSB staff, the doctor, Vola, and the compound kids. The older kids were crying with me while the younger kids didn't understand. I gave Monica three kisses on the cheek and hugged her tight, then I was on a brousse back to the capital.

I experienced so many highs and lows in two years. So many successes and failures. Many bumps, bruises, illnesses, infections, and even a hospital stay. I experienced harassment almost every day of service. I experienced countless hours sitting in a taxi-brousse and have no shortage of 'taxi-brousse rides from Hell' stories. I experienced language barriers and mishaps that I could laugh about later. I experienced a new culture so different from mine yet we still found similarities. I met the most amazing, strong, and compassionate people, and I know I've made lasting relationships with friends from my community and in other Peace Corps volunteers. I learned so much about project management and development work from the ground up. I learned more about myself in the last two years than I thought possible. I definitely gained much more than I gave throughout this part of my life. While I am glad to be back, I know I left a piece of my heart in Madagascar.

The ACs

Vola

Monica

Fety ny AC

December 5th was health volunteer appreciation day. Last year we threw a small party at the hospital with food, drinks, and dancing. The ACs have been so busy lately we decided to go bigger this year and visit a large park near Ambato that offers swimming, canoe rides, gazebos, and playgrounds. We brought our own food, beer, music, and had a fantastic time! It was one of my favorite days in Madagascar hanging out with my closest friends at site and their families. I think a few pictures will say more about the day than I could describe.

You know you're a PCV when
-you can eat a kilo of litchis no problem
-you are very resourceful

Recent Happenings

After the WASH festival at the beginning of November things were a bit slow at site. The ACs were incredibly busy administering more polio vaccines, distributing mosquito nets and doing follow up visits, and handing out vitamin A and deworming pills to pregnant women and children under 5 years. Due to all these events, Healthy Households has been on hold since the end of October. We resume on December 8 with a training on how to plant Moringa saplings and it's nutritional value. I invited the Ministry of Forestry to head the training and motivate the ACs to finish the program strong. Once the nutrition month is done we will administer baseline surveys again, compare data, and wrap up. Overall a quick 8 months!

On December 4, we tested the water at the three locations we hope to fix. This was quite the ordeal. Andry, the water tester arrived at 3:00pm ad we reserved a spot in the last taxi-brousse for him to return to Tana at 3:45. That didn't leave us much time, and we were literally running to each location with a bucket full of water. We passed out 12 small water bottles to people to quickly chug (to not waste new clean water) then fetched water to fill the bottles. We got back to hospital at 4:15 dripping sweat (it was close to 100 degrees). We quickly duct taped coolers shut to travel to Tana and Andry was on his way.

I went to Tana the last week of November to attend a health sector meeting. 12 PCVs representing the health sector, Peace Corps staff including the country director, and representatives from the Ministry of Health and other NGOs attended. We discussed partnerships between PCVs, MOH, and NGOs, what was working well, and what could be improved. We also discussed a new anchor activity for health PCVs that will be implemented starting with the newest group. I think this will be a positive change providing a little more structure for volunteers while still allowing time for other projects. 

I went to Thanksgiving dinner hosted by the US Ambassador along with other PCVs and Peace Corps staff, US marines, USAID members, and embassy employees. The food was delicious and it was fun to mingle with other Americans living in Madagascar. As soon as everyone sat down to eat it started pouring rain. That didn't stop us from running tent to tent getting more food, drink, and dessert. People sitting near the outside had to be careful because every so often the tent dumped a bucket of water. We were able to dodge and everyone had a good laugh. 

Lastly but most importantly, I completed a personal Peace Corps goal and one I like to consider a secondary project I've been wanting to do since I arrived at site. I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from scratch. It took me 4 hours but I baked English muffins, roasted and pounded peanuts, and cooked mango jam. It took all of two minutes to eat. I made sandwiches for a few Malagasy friends and they didn't quite appreciate the sandwich the same way I did. Project compete: I can go home happy. 

You know you're a PCV when

-it doesn't matter if you live in the bush with no electricity or internet access, the rumor mill is so strong that you are always caught up on the latest gossip

-you are no longer shy to dance in front of people-sometimes hundreds at a festival

bed net distribution

bed net distribution

bed net distribution

Thanksgiving 2015

Pc staff, volunteers, and the Ambassador

water testing

homemade peanut butter and jelly sandwich

Project Funded

Project update: the pumps and wells grant has been fully funded thanks to the generous contributions of family, friends and Water Charity. I'm now waiting for Peace Corps to finish processing the grant and can hopefully begin soon. The first step will be to test the water at each location to ensure the sources are not contaminated. We'll wait 10 days for the results and then can begin construction in December. We are cutting it close with rainy season on its way but my community is very motivated to start. They estimated construction to be completed within one month. I'm skeptical on that timeline but ho hitatsika eo (we'll see). I'm excited to begin soon and a huge thank you to everyone who supports this project!

WASH festival

Last April the ladies of the lake held 5 festivals educating our communities on HIV/AIDS and STDs. We felt the festivals were successful enough to hold another traveling festival about water, hygiene, ad sanitation (WASH). What we didn't anticipate was how much busier we would be at this point in service with less than 5 months remaining at site. We all had multiple other projects and the WASH festival really snuck up on us.

During the last festivals we biked to each site and almost completely around the region. This time we decided last minute to just taxi-brousse to each festival (we've biked around the region once, did we really need to do it again?), and I decided to just hold my festival and attend one other rather than participating in all four festivals.
My festival was a mess to put it lightly. It was held on a Wednesday and I found out on Monday that everyone had the wrong date thinking the festival would be on Friday. So the day before the festival I had to bike to the schools, gendarmes, and mayor's office to correct the date (and all before 8am because we distributed mosquito nets that day). Speaking of, Madagascar holds a mass mosquito net distribution every few years and this year was the biggest yet handing out 11 million nets for about 22 million people. The distribution dates for my region changed from September to the first two weeks in November crossing over the WASH festival in which we couldn't change the date. So only 6 out of 19 ACs were available to help with the festival.

The festival was scheduled to start at 2pm but started at 3pm which is to be expected. The location was different than the last festival and was not ideal. We asked health-related questions for prizes and the kids were pushing each other to be picked. There was not enough space for dances and the ACs had to use a stick to push the crowd back. The ACs each gave a talk about different WASH related topics and did demonstrations but we had to cancel the booths due to poor crowd control. The day was also hot (about 100 degrees), humid and looked like a storm was rolling in. PSI, a healthcare organization, brought a cinema-mobile and set up a movie which everyone seemed to enjoy and ended the festival around 8pm.

So things didn't go as planned but I was still proud of my ACs for giving demonstrations in front of roughly 600 people. I was much more relaxed during this festival since I'm farther along and service and I understand how important it is to just go with the flow. Maybe the festival wasn't exactly a success but that's how projects go in peace corps: some work out and some fall short. I was at least able to hold an event for the community, introduce the pumps/wells project on a large scale, and the doctor and ACs could educate on serious health issues in the community.

You know you're a PCV when:
-you've had a parasy (a parasite that buries into feet and lays eggs under the skin)
-despite no electricity you've watched more tv shows than in the states

Famadihana

Famadihana means 'turning of the bones' and is a traditional practice done in some regions of Madagascar. At my site, Famadihana is typically done in September. I unfortunately missed it this year but attended last year and forgot to write about it. How I understand Famadihana performed at my site is how Vola explained it to me. If a somebody passes away in an another area that is not the town they are from, family members wrap the body in white cloth then place the body in a tomb near the area the person died. Then come September, before the ceremony, family members retrieve the body, wrap it in new white cloth and bring the body back to the hometown. Then during the ceremony, family members dance while carrying the body over their heads in place it in a tomb. Only family members may enter the tomb during the famadihana.

The ceremony I attended last September was a festival and celebration of the deceased. Many booths were lined up on the road leading to the tomb selling snacks, street food, and alcohol. Many people were watching, drinking, and dancing. Family members participating in in the ceremony wore red. A man stood on top of the tomb pointing a shotgun at the sky. A few people made speeches then the bodies were carried into the tomb. The tombs are painted white with brightly colored accents and it is taboo to point at a tomb or take pictures of it. This was a unique cultural ceremony that I felt honored to be a part of and I think it made other community members happy to see me there paying my respects.

You know you're a PCV when:
-Time doesn't mean much. A volunteer lives close to you if she is within a three hour drive
-You understand that stuff is just stuff