MADA GLOWS

Representing the far northern region of Madagascar at the 2016 National GLOW 
Camp!

We did it...and we rocked it!! For the first time ever, 100 young women from 20 villages across Madagascar gathered for Peace Corps Madagascar's National Girls Leading Our World Camp. This was a huge project that took months of planning, preperation, and problem solving with our team of organizers, Volunteers, partner organizations, and participants. But when it happened, it didn't just happen... it set a high standard for the National GLOW camps we hope to continue for years to come! In other words, it was a total success.

Attending camp was a big and special opportunity for the students, who rarely have the means to travel outside of their villages or regions. For most of them, this was the first time to be in the capital city and experience the people and cultures from other areas of Madagascar! As they united, they were able to learn more about Madagascar's diversity and beauty. Throughout the week, they also leanred about women's health and empowerment, building leadership, teamwork, and goal-setting skills, and how to pursue education and job opportunties. For many of them, camp was a life-changing experience!

The Wonders of Madagascar: World Wise Schools Correspondence

I love sharing Madagascar's culture, people, and land with the rest of the world. During my first year of Peace Corps service, I was able to do this regularly with a few schools back in the States. I was connected with most of these schools already before Peace Corps, but I was matched with one in particular in Massachusetts through Peace Corps' World Wise School program. I corresponded a few times with this school - specifically a second grade class - over email, and boy did they have some great questions about life in Madagascar! In fact, the questions were so good that I decided to turn our correspondence into its very own blog post. So here are some of the cool Malagasy life facts and aspects we discussed in four questions and answers!

Dancing with the Ancestors

So this crazy thing recently happened to me at a Malagasy music concert. The nature of the event that occurred might freak or weird some people out, so before I tell my story, I'm going to give some background information to help make it all a little less...shocking....

Traditionally, Madagascar has animism and ancestral-based spiritual beliefs. Specifically, there is a belief that the spirits of ancestors can reside in sacred places, in certain trees, and in special people. This traditional belief system is still practiced today. Groups who follow this have special possession ceremonies where individuals can gain the spirit of an ancestor to coexist with their own. These ancestral spirits are called "trombas." People who have a tromba are unique but not necessarily uncommon.* For the most part, the people continue to have perfectly normal and functional lives. Sometimes there are diet or other restrictions in accordance with the restrictions of the specific tromba. Then, occasionally, there are instances where the tromba is...activated....

Three Key Lessons Learned in Year One

This month I had my one year anniversary for living in my Malagasy village. I've already spent one whole year in my community! Looking back on this Year One of my Peace Corps service, I definitely can sum it up as a totes adaladala experience. I saw a lot of places, did a lot of things, and felt a lot of feels. Through the adventures, trials, and seasons of it all, the lessons I have learned are beyond measure. And because the lessons are many and sometimes indescribable, it has taken me a while to process them all. But in this reflection, I've identified three lessons that I have had the greatest impact on me at this time...

Lesson 1: Not only can I still be friends with people I disagree with, but I can actually learn a whole lot from them even as we disagree.

Jamie and Brienne in Game of Thrones. Image from tumbler

It's not easy to be around people who don't see eye-to-eye with you, whether that be in politics, values, cultural differences, or the quality of Justin Bieber's music. Because of this, I think it is often too easy for us to surround ourselves with only the people and ideas we agree with and then shut out, dismiss, or even become aggressive towards anything opposite or outside of our set way of thinking. I sometimes did this in the United States whether I meant to or not; I did know several people very different from myself, but I never had to spend time with them on a consistent basis or build more meaningful relationships with them because is was so easy and convenient to surround myself with people just like me. But now that I'm in Madagascar, that is no longer an option simply because people just like me don't exist here. So, in this last year on the Red Island I've been strongly challenged to live, work, and go to a deeper human level with people different from me on an everyday basis.

Babies, Brushes, & Banana Peanut Butter

This April I had the awesome opportunity to work at an orphanage, La Maison d'Arnaud, in northern Madagascar. As part of a site-exchange*, I and two other Volunteers (one third-year education Volunteer who lives at the orphanage and one health Volunteer from my Peace Corps entry group) facilitated a week of health-related activities with the children and staff!

A nutrition cooking demonstration was our first activity on the week's menu. First, we made our own peanut butter with the Malagasy orphanage cooks and nannies, then mashed some sweet bananas into it. We got to feed it to the babies for morning snack, and they went BONKERS for that stuff. One baby actually cried when we ran out of it! Then with enough vegetables to feed a small elephant, we went on to make a hearty, nutrient-rich soup. If you don't believe kids like eating vegetables, then you wouldn't have believed your eyes to see the kids slurpin' up this soup at lunch. But they did enjoy it, and so did the staff! (Shout out to my Volunteer friend Jenna, who was the mastermind behind our cooking plan).

Stomping Out Malaria in Madagascar!

Shaking. Chills. Vomiting. Sweating. Aching.  

It's anything but fun. It's painful. It damages your body. It can even kill you. It's malaria: the world's buzz kill.

Malaria cases and deaths are prevalent in multiple regions of the world. Just in 2015, there were about 214 million malaria cases and 438,000 deaths throughout the globe. However, while malaria can be devastating, it is also completely preventable! One day, it can be totally eradicated. So as part of the global effort to eradicate malaria through education and resources, April is designated as World Malaria Month and April 25th (today!) is World Malaria Day.

In accordance with World Malaria Month, I and two other Peace Corps Volunteers facilitated a malaria training over two days at a women's prison in Madagascar. In our training we discussed malaria symptoms, science, and prevention methods. All the women participated with excitement and especially had fun acting out how malaria is transmitted! On the second day, we hung bed nets for all the women in the dormitory, which is one of the most practical and effective methods for malaria prevention. The women created a great atmosphere with their enthusiasm and energy during the activities. In the end, we had 40 women empowered to stomp out malaria with their new prevention education and resources!

Jesus Jukin': An African Easter

The congregation sings a Malagasy song while a group of women preform a choreographed dance.*

The sun is rising
The Son is risen
And I rise with them

I watched the soft pastels of early morning play across my yard. There was no doubt this was the dawning of an eventful day. Eventful not just because it was Easter Sunday, but because it was Easter Sunday in Madagascar; eventful not just because it was Easter Sunday in Madagascar, but because I was going to church on Easter Sunday in Madagascar. Chances are, if you attend church in Africa on Easter of all days, there will be dynamic energy and color. I could already sense the day's vibrance as I stood in the morning light.

Dressed up and ready to go, I sauntered over to the village Catholic church with my neighbor. As expected, Easter church hit the ground running in eventfulness from my fist step over the sanctuary's threshold. As unexpected, the actual first eventful occurrence was getting my hair caught in the priest's goatee scruff during the cultural cheek air-kiss, which almost led us to miss and kiss each other on the lips. (Truly, I am the master of first impressions).

Tropical Depression

Wow, has it really been five months since I've written my last blog post?

Oops.

Well, anyway, the good news is that I'm still kickin' and livin' in Madagascar, and despite my blogging silence, these last few months have indeed been eventful. For example, I:

-Went on a Thanksgiving trip to the east coast (50% work, 50% play)
-Facilitated volleyball games and drills at a Peace Corps sports camp
-Went on a Christmas/New Years trip on the west coast
-Taught nutrition at a school's youth health club in my region
-Visited a cocoa farm
-Visited an awesome national park near my home (Ankarana Park)
-Hung out with my awesome community
-Started a Volunteer sports and fitness group
-Completed more of my home gym
-Began planning activities and projects for my second year of service
-Survived rainy season!!!

Yet, while these last few months didn't lack in eventfulness, they weren't exactly easy, either. During the rainy season (December-March) travel and work become much more difficult. Road outages were a huge problem all throughout my region, and otherwise it wasn't unusual for me to often be stuck inside my house. So things felt a bit slooooooooooow, and, at times slightly depressing. Doesn't it sound so poetic, though, to feel depressed while it's raining? I thought so, which led me to write this about rainy season:

Rainy season in Madagascar
A season of grey and green
A season of cloudy days
A season of cool nights
A season of stillness
A season of growth
A season of mold and mildew
A season of trial
A season of thought
A tropical depression 

It's no top 20 country song, but you get the point. And while rainy season was a little slow, depressing, and inconvenient, there was, if you will, also a silver lining. First of all, the crops and vegetation were pretty happy from the rain at least. Second of all, coming out of rainy season, I actually feel much more connected with and comfortable in my community and Madagascar. I think that might be because I really had to buckle down in life to keep myself from going totally insane; in the process, I was reminded of how much I truly love being here in Madagascar, how great my neighbors are, and how much I care about fulfilling my two-year mission and commitment. Now I'm even happier and more confident about where I am and what I'm doing here. 

That's the neat thing about rain...a tropical depression might be a storm, but its nature facilitates growth. And a period of depression might be a tribulation, but it can be an opportunity to foster strength. So it goes with my rainy season in Madagascar.