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