Since last post, we have talked to Katie several times. She says the weeks are going by very quickly and her Malagasy language skills are greatly improved! On a walk from the Peace Corp training center back to her host family home, she was able to have a conversation with one her mom’s friends all in Malagasy.
The second week of training included a trip to the market to learn how to haggle for the best price with the local vendors. They were each given a list of items to purchase. Katie list mainly fruit and vegetables. Another volunteer’s list included a chicken and then the chicken had to sit on the volunteer’s lap during the bus ride back to the village.
Katie will be in the Lake Alaotra region for her permanent village posting. Lake Alaotra is a large lake about 80km north of Tana (Antananarivo). Her new village speaks Malagasy and she is happy not to have the added challenge of learning another dialect. There will be other Peace Corps health volunteers posted to villages in this region and there are also several PC education volunteers in the area. She will live in a 2 room hut in the health clinic compound. It is 2 rooms, but they are not actually connected to each other. It also has a private fenced bathroom/shower area. The village has no electricity or running water, bus she will have cell phone service. She will work with the health clinic to provide education and training to local community health workers in the area of nutrition and other health concerns. These local community health works will then take that information back to their villages. Katie will also travel to the smaller villages surrounding her main community.
Katie is experiencing local life and she went to a celebration for International Women’s Day on March 8. There was music and dancing (hip hop) and basketball. She spent time playing with the local kids, dancing and watching the festivities. She said the local kids were very amused by her dancing!
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