My home for the next 2 years:
I just arrived back from site visit which was a whirlwind experience. I am in a great little town NE of the capitol of Madagascar. It is the highest rice producing area of the country. They were not joking when they said I would be surrounded by rice fields. The town is just the right size, it has a small town feel but amenities of a larger town (lots of restaurants and a large market). When I arrived I was introduced to the medical officer for the region and the doctor who runs the small health clinic(CSB). The doctor and his staff gave me a nice tour of the clinic and let me sit in on a pre-natal class. The staff was all really friendly and helpful in explaining the weekly schedule and the services they provide at the health clinic. In my self guided tour I found a store that sells post-it notes, two carpenters who are willing to build shelves and other furniture, and a large track next to a basketball court. I am sure there are lots of other things to explore in the town and the 22 surrounding neighborhoods (fokotonys). Even though it was a really short visit, I felt at home there are am excited to learn more about the people and become a member of the community.
There are a number of other Peace Corps Volunteers who are situated around the lake(I think that I am about an hour bike ride from the lake) that have the same banking town as me. This includes one other health volunteer in my training group and several current health, education, and environment volunteers. I had an opportunity to meet them when we stayed in the banking town (Ambatondrazaka). We stayed in a really nice hotel that had a pool that overlooked the city. I had a really nice swim on one of the warm days. (picture is of me sitting by the pool)
Taxi Brousse Intro:
I am sure that I will have many stories to tell about my experiences in a taxi brousse. This is the primary means of transportation that I will use to get around Madagascar. A taxi brousse is a large van with a large luggage rack up top. The national taxi brousses that go from the major cities have a limit as to how many people can be in each row, but the regional ones that run between the small towns pack as many people as they can into each row which can be interesting. My first taxi brousse ride/nightmare was with one other Peace Corps Volunteer and our Language teacher going to site visit. We arrived at 8am to board the taxi brousse. The driver of the taxi brousse forgot to put water into the water coolant into the engine and so we had to stop several times (and this was on the good road) and finally the taxi brousse overheated so we had to transfer all our stuff to another taxi brousse. The next leg of our trip consisted of several more breakdowns in the second taxi brousse on a very bad dirt road. I think the fastest we went on that road was 10mph. We finally arrived 14 hours later at 11pm. I guess it was a good introduction to transportation in Madagascar and a great reminder to bring snacks along.
Are you from Madagascar or Mauritius?
Are you from Madagascar or Mauritius? This is the question that I got a lot at site visit. It was interesting to see how many people were confused as to why I didn’t speak Malagasy better. Several people said; well you look Malagasy; but you don’t speak it. I am hoping this will be an asset for integration when my language skills are better, but right now it is more a source of confusion when I interact with people.
I just arrived back from site visit which was a whirlwind experience. I am in a great little town NE of the capitol of Madagascar. It is the highest rice producing area of the country. They were not joking when they said I would be surrounded by rice fields. The town is just the right size, it has a small town feel but amenities of a larger town (lots of restaurants and a large market). When I arrived I was introduced to the medical officer for the region and the doctor who runs the small health clinic(CSB). The doctor and his staff gave me a nice tour of the clinic and let me sit in on a pre-natal class. The staff was all really friendly and helpful in explaining the weekly schedule and the services they provide at the health clinic. In my self guided tour I found a store that sells post-it notes, two carpenters who are willing to build shelves and other furniture, and a large track next to a basketball court. I am sure there are lots of other things to explore in the town and the 22 surrounding neighborhoods (fokotonys). Even though it was a really short visit, I felt at home there are am excited to learn more about the people and become a member of the community.
There are a number of other Peace Corps Volunteers who are situated around the lake(I think that I am about an hour bike ride from the lake) that have the same banking town as me. This includes one other health volunteer in my training group and several current health, education, and environment volunteers. I had an opportunity to meet them when we stayed in the banking town (Ambatondrazaka). We stayed in a really nice hotel that had a pool that overlooked the city. I had a really nice swim on one of the warm days. (picture is of me sitting by the pool)
Taxi Brousse Intro:
I am sure that I will have many stories to tell about my experiences in a taxi brousse. This is the primary means of transportation that I will use to get around Madagascar. A taxi brousse is a large van with a large luggage rack up top. The national taxi brousses that go from the major cities have a limit as to how many people can be in each row, but the regional ones that run between the small towns pack as many people as they can into each row which can be interesting. My first taxi brousse ride/nightmare was with one other Peace Corps Volunteer and our Language teacher going to site visit. We arrived at 8am to board the taxi brousse. The driver of the taxi brousse forgot to put water into the water coolant into the engine and so we had to stop several times (and this was on the good road) and finally the taxi brousse overheated so we had to transfer all our stuff to another taxi brousse. The next leg of our trip consisted of several more breakdowns in the second taxi brousse on a very bad dirt road. I think the fastest we went on that road was 10mph. We finally arrived 14 hours later at 11pm. I guess it was a good introduction to transportation in Madagascar and a great reminder to bring snacks along.
Are you from Madagascar or Mauritius?
Are you from Madagascar or Mauritius? This is the question that I got a lot at site visit. It was interesting to see how many people were confused as to why I didn’t speak Malagasy better. Several people said; well you look Malagasy; but you don’t speak it. I am hoping this will be an asset for integration when my language skills are better, but right now it is more a source of confusion when I interact with people.
I posted a few pics on facebook (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2628045&id=10718571&l=65b1d31bf5)
I'm so glad you're enjoying yourself - and that you're near Ambatondrazaka and not out in the middle of nowhere in a village of six people. Wonderful that you're in proximity to other Peace Corps volunteers. It sounds like everything is off to a good start.
ReplyDeleteIs there an internet cafe in Ambatondrazaka? And do you have an iPhone over there? I'm trying to figure out how you're updating.