About two and a half years ago, while sitting in the middle of a deserted newsroom in the middle of the night, I started thinking that I might be more useful [to the world in general] if I did something about all the horrible things I was writing in the news as opposed to just writing and complaining to my coworkers about how awful people can be. That is when I started doing Habitat for Humanity pretty regularly. I really enjoyed the work and the people I was working with so I got to thinking about a mission trip. Unfortunately, most of these trips were either religiously affiliated or extremely expensive. Peace Corps was neither.
Fast forward to today. It’s pretty wild to think I’ve been here in Madagascar for a year.
In a year of Peace Corps service I have been lucky enough to experience things that some people will not be able to experience in their lifetime. I have met hundreds of different people and tons of volunteers. These are some of the coolest, most interesting and down-to-earth people on this planet. I have learned a new language and adopted what I once thought to be the craziest of cultural behaviors as my own (I eat rice twice a day at site). I have pooped in a hole and in my pants (you won’t believe the things this country does to your bowels). I have hit the highest of highs and lowest of lows. I love my job and I am excited about the next year.
This past week I was at the Peace Corps Training Center about 2.5 hours east of the capital city here in Mada. I was lucky in that I got to be around other Americans for July 4th and I have spent the last week and a half hanging out with other volunteers (something you are always looking forward to when you are at site). Unfortunately, while I was with these great people, I missed yet another major event back home: my cousin’s wedding. CONGRATULATIONS SHANNON AND JOHN! Shannon, I am imagining a wedding of spotlight, sevens, volleyball, monopoly and hundreds of other games. Whether they were involved or not, I hope you guys had a great time and are now enjoying a honeymoon somewhere. Sorry I missed it. Congrats to the happy couple.
I am going to try and sum up the last few months because I know it has been a while since I posted anything. Here goes…
8 new volunteers landed down in the southeast a few months ago. They are all cool and it seems like we are all getting along really well. It’s pretty wild to think about all the people who apply to Peace Corps, all the people who get selected, then those who are sent to Madagascar and then those who are sent to the sudest. No one picked Madagascar and a lot of us didn’t pick the places we now live in within Madagascar, but we all seem to get along really well.
Every 4 months all the volunteers from each region in Madagascar get together for a meeting to talk about new Peace Corps policies and rules. I am the representative for the sudest region, so I am supposed to decide where and when we have the meeting, conduct it, and then report back to Peace Corps when it is over. A few weeks ago, our region went on a camping trip in what could vaguely be described as the top of a hill in the middle of nowhere. We biked, swam in a waterfall, hiked a few moutains, roasted smores, had bonfires and enjoyed ourselves. It seemed to be a hit with everyone, so that was nice. There were a lot of things that could have gone really wrong, but nothing did. I am excited to start planning another one in October.
I have now finished a full year of teaching. I don’t really have the memory to recollect all the major events that happened during the past school year, but a few things come to mind. For example, I remember the shock I felt standing in front of my first class and wondering how I would ever get them to understand what I am saying let alone teach them the English language. Another day I watched as a student was forced to kneel in a puddle of mud and water because he tried to climb through a window when he was late to class. I continued to teach oblivious to the fact that the lycee secretary was stealing several million Ariary from the lycee. I also remember a significant amount of frustration coming from how often classes were cancelled.
Don’t worry. It’s not all bad, but usually things that are bad have more of a shock value and I remember them better.
I should say that while not all students have the dedication to learn English, there is a select few with motivation unlike any I have ever seen. I have one seconde student named Tokishery. I originally thought about donating an entire blog post to him, but I think these few paragraphs will suffice:
Tokishery wakes up at 3:30 every morning to make food for his entire family (about 6 people). While cooking rice is not difficult, it is still time consuming. When he is done cleaning up he leaves the house to bring his two younger sisters to school – an hour and a half walk without shoes to the main part of town. More recently it has gotten pretty cold in the morning, so he walks to school in colder weather without any warm clothes (because he doesn’t have any) or shoes along a dewy, dirt road.
This made me think back to my years in high school and the American mentality in general. Most high school students would probably fight our parents every step of the way if we were asked to drop off and/or pick up our siblings from school. If it were cold outside, we would grab the nearest North Face jacket, a hat and a pair of gloves and be on our toasty warm way. You might even thrown on boots if it was particularly cold or if you just thought it had been a long time since you wore them. Plenty of us probably utilized before- or after-school time to talk with teachers, but if any of us ever had to wake up at 3:30 am to do so you can be pretty sure no one ever would. Lastly, before we got in our cars to drive the few miles to school, we would probably run the engine for a few minutes – cranking up the hot air and defrosting the windows – because taking that 10-minute ride without a warm car or clear windows would be downright miserable. I hope I am not offending anyone because I am literally only speaking from my own experiences. It just seemed/seems as though this is a cultural norm (at least in suburban Detroit).
Anyways, back to Tokishery. Once he has dropped off his sisters, he backtracks 40 minutes to get to my house roughly a half an hour before classes start so he can speak English. In addition to his two younger sisters who live in Ampasimanjeva, Tokishery has another younger brother and a younger sister. For some reason, Tokishery’s parents chose them as the two to send to Manakara for their education, an expensive privilege that (from my experiences) is usually given to the oldest child. How about that for a slap in the face? He said his parents need him to work in their rice fields and help with the manual labor around the house. Now, he is trying to learn English to hopefully find his way out of Ampasimanjeva. A few weeks before classes ended he asked me if I could help him find a job before I leave this country. He wants to either work on a boat in Mahajunga or Tamatave or be a tourist guide. I have no idea how I can help him with that, but I’m gonna try.
The Library Project…
The last time I posted I said that I had just sent in my first proposal for the library. Well, it was not approved. Peace Corps prides itself on investing in low-cost projects and building capacity, not monuments. My project was slated to cost about $8,000. While the cost was not the only problem with the proposal, it was the one that stuck out the most. Other flaws in the plan included how I would impart knowledge on my community about running a library in order to help it thrive long after I leave this country. I have since fixed these issues and re-sent my proposal. Unfortunately, making all these changes took about a month for several reasons. First, I don’t have electricity and the report is a formal one, completed on a computer. Minor problem. Second, I live 3 hours from my builder who I had to meet with twice to make the library smaller and cheaper. Third, a French man in my town was going to donate a solar panel and computers to the library, which would have been a huge part of the 25% contribution that all Peace Corps volunteers must get from their community. Unfortunately (but still good at the same time), he is building new classrooms now so he is going to add the computers and solar panel to his new building. With that decision, I lost about 3 million ariary worth of community contribution so I went back to Manakara to talk to the education and regional government ministers to ask for money. They promised to give the money, but saying is one thing and doing is another. I will sleep better when that money is actually in my hand or bank account.
I will admit that Peace Corps not accepting my first proposal was a pretty low point, but I didn’t mind going back out and putting in the leg work to do what I needed to do to fix it. I don’t imagine I will find the same drive if it is denied a second time with all the changes I have made. I imagine it will be pretty difficult for me to get back on the saddle and use another month or so to make the necessary changes. Finally, I have now passed the one-year mark of my service, so it goes without saying that if any library is going to happen, I need to be able to start fundraising soon if I am going to finish everything before my COS date.
So the school year is now over. As taxpayers, I’m sure you would all like to know why Peace Corps is giving me a monthly allowance to live in this country when I have no formal work during the vacation.
Well, I just finished a weeklong training to train the new education volunteers that will be arrivingon Thursday afternoon. I will be training themfrom the 22nd to the 27th of July doing presentations about how to teach English as a Foreign Language as well as just telling them about my personal experiences from the past year. After that, I am headed to Manakara to teach English to terminale students for a few weeks before their BACC exam. In order to pass high school, all terminale (the equivalent of a high school senior) must pass the BACC exam. It is an exciting job because it is with students who are choosing to study English outside of class. Similar to an English club, you don’t have to worry about the attentiveness or motivation of your students in this situation. After the teaching gig in Manakara I will head to another volunteer’s site to help out with a soccer tournament she is organizing. I believe we are also going to give smaller presentations about things like malaria, HIV/AIDS, gardening, and other Peace Corps initiatives while the tournament is going on. After that, I am hoping to go on a small vacation before my parents visit for a week. Very excited to see them and watch them rough it for a week in Madagascar. After they leave I will go back to Tana for a conference with the group of volunteers that I came into this country with to talk about what we have experienced in the first year and what we are planning for the next year. After that, I am headed back to my village again to start another school year. Hopefully by that time, my library project will be approved and will have started fundraising.
I hope everyone is doing well wherever you are. So long for now.
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