The Lamako Dance

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)

Things I Miss from the States

Of course the number one thing I miss is family and friends but here are a few others that I may not have expected. In no particular order:

-Mint white mochas
-Coffee shops at Christmas time
-Driving
-High speed internet and a reliable connection
-Phone plans
-The ability to easily call anyone anytime
-Cult fan movies and books
-Anonymity
-Hot showers
-Washer and drying machines
-Fast food
-Brown sugar (for baking)
-Lined notebook paper (only graphing paper here)
-Punctuality
-Clean drinking water straight from the tap
-Charging my computer at my house
-Electricity
-Any bed that is not lofted and larger than a twin mattress

Things I don't miss:
-Only half hour lunch breaks (it's 2 hours long here and many people nap including me)
-The amount of time I spent on the internet (though this depends on the day)
-'Hidden' ingredients in food (I enjoy an all natural, locally grown diet)
-Winter/ice/snow/cold
-Not enough sleep (I go to bed around 8pm and wake up around 6:30am)
-Inflexible schedules
-Alarm clocks

Things I thought I would miss but don't really:
-Running water
-Netflix and other TV
-Electricity (it depends on the day if I miss it or not)
-New clothes
-Straightening my hair
-Staying up late

I know a few items overlap (ex. I don't really miss running water but I do miss hot showers). And it's not that I don't miss running water at all-life would certainly be more convenient with it-it's more that I don't really notice not having it. Honestly I'm proud of the callouses on my fingers from fetching water from a well then carrying the full buckets back to my house.

One of the main things I miss about being in the United States is anonymity. I'm stared at constantly. Called out to constantly. Whispered about constantly. Most days it doesn't bother me. I can ignore it and consciously push my shoulders back and lift my chin to appear more confident. But some days I'm still caught off guard. One afternoon I was with another volunteer who was getting ready to manentana. While she and her AC were setting up, I was sitting in a house while roughly 20 kids were gawking at me. There were people sitting all around the room, coming on the doorway, and peering through the window hardly speaking at all. The other volunteer and I tried to ask questions to start a conversation. It didn't work. We told them it was rude to stare, and it made me sad and embarrassed. They didn't move. I eventually went into the other room to be out of view. More adults came and I introduced myself explaining that I didn't like being stared at. The kids ran off after that but I still felt incredibly uncomfortable. I know I didn't handle the situation very well. I didn't mentally prepare myself which I normally do before going out in the town.

Some days being so 'other' doesn't bother me very much and some days it takes a great effort to go out to the market. Some days I walked confidently saying hello to everyone I see thinking 'this must be how Harry Potter feels!' and some days I put on my hat and long sleeves to hide. This is my reality of being perhaps the first person with blonde hair and blue eyes that people in my village have seen. This has made me wonder what it feels like to be an immigrant, a refugee, an outsider in the United States. I try everyday to learn the language, the culture, fit into the community. Sometimes I feel I've succeeded and sometimes not. It's the reality of Peace Corps. My patience, humor, temperament depend on the hour. Sometimes I wish I could quick go home to the States. And sometimes just walking to the market or biking to a fokontany makes me so grateful to be in this country, glad for all the new people I've met, and appreciate the new things I've seen.

You know you're a PCV when:
-You start swearing like a sailor in public and no one can understand you
-You eat your entire care package in one sitting

The Neighbors

Two doors down from me lives the guard and his family. The guard is also the karate master of my town and holds classes every Saturday (I really want to go!). He walks with a limp but said he can protect me and the CSB commune by using his karate skills. His wife's name is Vola who is my best friend in town. We hang out and chat almost everyday, and she really goes out of her way to help me (she even got up early to boil water in order to iron my dress before a wedding. That is love). They have a 9 year old son and 3 year old daughter who frequently visit me and look at my maps, sticker book, and just like to make funny faces in the reflection of my water filter. During the school year, their niece lives with them because her family lives too far for her to walk to school each day. This family of five lives in the exact same size living space as I do which is smaller than a college dorm room. Almost every night, a woman in labor knocks on their door for help and the guard notifies the midwife and then stays awake with her until she is taken care of. They open their kitchen and supplies to family members of the people who stay at the CSB for medical treatment. Whenever I'm away from site, Vola calls to check up and I always say, “inona no vaovao?” (“what's new”) to 3 year old Monica. They are beyond kind to me and are some of the most generous people I have met. I feel lucky to have them as my closest neighbors.

Monica

 You know you're a PCV when:
-You have found worms in your fruit
-You don't send food back at a restaurant even if it has hair, bugs, rocks in it

Home Improvement

I've made a few improvements to my house recently. I finally put together my Peace Corps oven. My neighbor and closest friend, Vola, came with me to the market to buy all the supplies. The venders were more inclined to give me the real price rather than the vazaha price (though Vola told me I was still getting ripped off). I was still satisfied. For example, the original price of my 38cm pot was 38,000ar (about $15) and I got it for 20,000ar (about $8), success! At one point Vola was bargaining for charcoal. I paid for what I thought was a small bag but ended up getting an entire rice goonie of charcoal! At least I can do a lot of baking before I have to buy more. I've baked brownies, banana bread, and quiche in the new oven (I offered to bring zucchini pie to Thanksgiving). I put the bowl of batter on two upside down cans on sand inside the pot over charcoal. The charcoal sits on a 'Gasy stove which looks like scrap metal cut into a square with slits for the ash to fall through. Everything takes about an hour to bake and I fan the charcoal every 15 minutes (I cut up the side gerry can to use as a fan). I'm happy to be baking again!

Since I needed the side of my gerry can to fan charcoal, I used the top and bottom for pots. I planted flowers, parsley, and cilantro. I was afraid to plant in the ground because the chickens might eat the seeds. I casually mentioned to a friend that I needed manure for my garden and he showed up with three buckets full! Nothing has sprouted yet but I'm still hopeful.

I asked a local carpenter to build a set of shelves that look identical to existing shelves in my kitchen. I need more space to prepare food and store dishes. He came over to take measurements and agree on a price. One week later he dropped off the supposed identical table. It ended up being shorter and longer than the other set. It seems he mixed up the length and width when building! No matter, I'm still very happy with my new furniture even if I have a little less leg room.

You know you're a PCV when:
-Pests include rats. bats, chickens, frogs, lizards, cockroaches...
-The pests of your house sound like the seven plagues of Egypt

Project Ideas

Since first applying to Peace Corps, I've often received the question: 'So what is it you actually do?' I didn't have a concrete answer pretty much up until now.

Before the invitation I would say, "help create sustainable change...but I don't really know."
After the invitation: "I'm a Community Health Advisor...whatever that means."
During PST: "Provide health education to my community...but I don't know my community yet so it's hard to say..."
During the first three months at site: "Integrate and complete my CDS...but after that I don't know."

And now, after almost 7 months in this country, I finally have a work plan for the next year or so (although still vague). My first primary project is called Healthy Households or 'Fandaram-asa ho an'ny Tokan-Trano Salama' in Malagasy. I plan to start this program towards the end of January and implement it until July/August. Ideally, 18 healthcare workers from each of the 6 fokontany would have 6 households that they visit twice per month. This totals 108 households, each household averaging 6 people meaning 648 people reached with health education that have limited access to the CSB. Each month the ACs will undergo a training lead by me about various topics such as prenatal consultations, family planning, nutrition, vaccines, and water, hygiene, and sanitation. The ACs will deliver the health message one-on-one to the household and do a different activity each month such as building hand washing stations, drawing vaccine timelines, making water covers, etc. Then the AC will visit a second time to administer a post test. I'm focusing on healthcare for pregnant women and children under 5 years. I've asked the medicine inspector at the district health level to partner with the program but need to finish and present the training manual before they decide. I'm currently working on writing a grant to pay for the necessary materials to complete the trainings and demonstrations.

I've had a lot of requests to teach English and after 4 months of saying, 'I'm a health volunteer ,not an English teacher,' I broke down and started a club. It's every Monday afternoon for 6 weeks only. They requested to learn the lyrics to a song and so I chose 'Waka Waka' by Shakira. In hindsight this may have been a bad choice since the chorus is in another language besides English but I have a lot of memories with this song and plan to teach them the dance to the chorus. Also, I was teaching vowel pronunciation last week and noticed they kept spelling words with 'o' as having a long 'a' instead (ex. dog but spelled dag). Soon there will be an entire village in Madagascar that speaks English with a Minnesotan accent.

In October I'm starting a Youth Club with my ACs. I plan to have weekly meetings with lessons on life skills such as peer leadership and effective communication skills. I also want to talk about education and job opportunities beyond middle school and high school level, dating, and safe sex. The main goal of the club is to provide a safe place for 15 girls ages 13-20 years to ask questions about health, education, and life where they may not have had a person they felt comfortable asking before. Ideally two ACs each week will help me plan and conduct the meetings.

The kids are on winter vacation right now but start school again in October. I plan to continue handwashing and hygiene education with them and have a goal to build a few handwashing stations at each school (there are maybe 12 schools in my community). Also, a past volunteer published a children's book in Malagasy about Malaria and I hope to have a book reading at each school.

Lastly, I plan to increase the number of cooking demos. Right now I do one or two each month in one fokontany. There are two other fokontany that have a health resource center that I'd like us to use. There are some barriers to this, the main being not enough money to buy the food and supplies. I suggested us starting a garden specifically for cooking demos at each location. I then asked who is willing to keep up the garden. They said, 'you are!' We are still working out the logistics on that project idea.

So on top of preparing these programs and projects, I am working at my CSB two mornings per week either helping with the prenatal consultations or the baby vaccinations. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with the work ahead of me in the next few months but really, it feels good to have a clear idea of what I am actually doing here.

You know you're a PCV when:
-Natural objects become obscure landmarks. Ex. Turn left at the second boulder, pass the ugly cactus-like plant, climb up the red wall and that's where you get reso
-Finding phone reso at site becomes a yoga exercise.
-8am and 4pm have become 'cow rush hour,' and it's terrifying.