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. 

Swimming with Sharks

I jumped from the boat and plunged feet-first into the ocean. As the water gently swirled around me, my body breached back to the surface with natural saltwater buoyancy. Submerged in the sea with eyes wide open and a snorkel full of air, I stared down into the clear cyan depths...and into a mouth large enough to bite me in half.

Three Times the Malagasy Nailed Texan Lifestyle

As Texas is globally famous, I often entertain humorous conversations with people when they find out I hail from the great Lone Star State. Most people naturally turn the topic to core Texas stereotypes, such as cowboys and guns, or whatever they have seen in the movies. Some people, however, seem to have a broader understanding of Texas culture, and their ideas about Texas are hilariously accurate. Such Malagasy people thus nailed Texan lifestyle...


1) When they understood the love for steak and BBQ...

Neighbor: Where are you going?

Me: I'm going to the market to buy meat. 

Neighbor: You really like eating meat. Is it because you're from Texas?

I'm sure there's a few vegetarians in Austin or something, but otherwise... Yes. Nailed it. (We're not the largest beef cattle producing state for nothing!)

2) When they totally comprehended the capricious nature of Texas weather...

Friend: Does the weather today feel hot to you?

Me: Yeah, it does feel hot. 

Friend: Yeah, it's hot every day here. But in Texas the weather is hot-cold-hot-cold?

Cold today and hot tomorrow... Or, as I would say, chili today and hot tamale. Yeah, you nailed it!

My Home Life in Madagascar, As Told by Snapchat

My Home Life in Madagascar, As Told by Snapchat from Darcy Rae Jacoby on Vimeo.


What is a typical day for you in Madagascar like? How is the weather? What are your living conditions? What do you do with your trash? How is your cat???

At last, all these questions answered and more! This compliation of Snapchat videos and pictures offers a short glimpse of my little hut-life on a normal day. But for real, what could depict my life better than on-the-scene footage through a social media app?

Amongst the musical ambiance and to-the-death battles, you'll see quite a few stand-out characters of my homestead, such as my trusty appliance Grandpa Stove, my comically ferocious feline, and various invasive creatures. All-in-all, the Snaps truly do speak for themselves to paint a true picture of my true life (except for the part about the narcotic effect of mangos, but wouldn't that be something?)

Darcy vs. Nature: The Mango Tree

I've had an interesting problem at my house lately. 

Mango tree branches hang 12 feet over my tin roof, and while raindrops pattering on a tin roof sound nice, big fat mangos hailing down on it do not. It is full into mango season right now, and I love mangos, but many of these looming tropical frenemies have been gracing me with their booming arrivals. Either the neighborhood kids shake the mangos down while I'm inside the house, which sounds like WWIII has descended upon me, or the mangos go unshaken and drop on their own in the middle of the night to wake me up. So I've been caught in a lose-lose situation... Until today. 

Laughing Linguistics

Learning a new language takes patience and practice. The process of mastering foreign tongue is often challenging, frustrating, confusing, and exasperating. My experience of learning Malagasy is no exception. Fortunately, however, in my plight of this arduous task I have encountered moments of happy sunshine beaming through in the forms of hilarious-sounding vocabulary and phrases. Even more fortunately, enough of this candescent hilarity has occurred to inspire a list of my 10 favorite Malagasy words to say, which I now present. I am also sharing 10 of my favorite Malagasy proverbs (in their English translations), which I value for both humor and wisdom.


My favorite Malagasy words

» Adaladala (ah-dahlla-dahlla): adj. Kind of crazy

» Migaka (me-gack-ah): v. To drink (Antakarana dialect)

» Madinky (ma-dinky): adj. Small or Tiny (Antakarana dialect)

Ex"Site"ing Times

At last, after 10 weeks of training and one week of traveling, I am moved into my Peace Corps site where I will live for two years of service. Revealing the diversity of Madagascar, my site is quite different from the community I lived in during training. Fortunately, I am fond of these differences, and am rather excited to be in this region. What's it all like, you ask? Well, here's a glance at my new life:

First-World Withdrawal

"I'm here...and they have everything...and I can buy it!!" 

Floating through the aisles, I filled my shopping cart with the desires of my heart: Milk, rocky road ice cream, Columbian coffee, trail mix, Pop-Tarts, and more. Nearly to the point of tears, I was flooded with overwhelming joy. Even the store floor tiles shone with the light of Heaven, with the promise of all things good.

Secret Police

It is nearly impossible to remember every person you meet the first few days after moving to a new place. This is true at least for my experience of installing at Peace Corps site. There are few people I actually remember meeting, and even fewer names that I can recall.  Yet, even in the blurred flood of names and faces, there is one encounter from my first week at site I will never forget. 

It was my third day in my new home. While sitting in my doorway doing laundry, I heard a "hodio!" called from my gate. In Madagascar, "hodio" is the equivalent to a knock, meaning "can I come in?" I looked and saw I man I hadn't met yet, so I went to meet him at my gate to see what he wanted. He seemed a bit strange, but not threatening, so I commenced speaking to him with the gate in between us. 

Cat's in the Bag

Covered in blue paint and weary from my toils, I sat down with the setting sun, thinking I was finished with a long day of painting my kitchen. Indeed, the painting for the day was over... but the day itself was far from it. In fact, the most eventful part of my day was just then walking in my back door. 

Four neighborhood school girls, some of my newest friends in this first week at Peace Corps site, eagerly entered my half-painted kitchen. 

By their timing and excitement, I knew they had come for more than a casual visit. We exchanged a few words in Malagasy, and I came to understand they had brought a gift for me. They presented a tied-up, nearly empty rice sack...but judging by the size and shape, whatever was inside certainly wasn't rice.

Nutshell

This is the end my friend, this is the end....

...of Pre-Service Training!

As described before, PST was a whirlwind experience. I did everything from planting pineapples, to bargaining for a live chicken, to learning how to say "smell ya later!" in Malagasy, to beyond. It's been an educational 10 weeks, a tough 10 weeks, a wild 10 weeks. I wish I could capture and depict the experience in its entirety, but my mind is still exhausted and currently doesn't have the capacity for that level of processing. (And how can you truly describe PST, anyway?). So I've selected three major components of my PST experiences to feature "in a nutshell": Homestay, Technical Training, and PCTC Life. 

Viewfinder

Pictures convey what words cannot explain. 

My best description of the Peace Corps training, communities, and nature I've experienced my first six weeks in Madagascar are in the photos below. Enjoy!

Whirlwinded

Overwhelming. Enthralling. Stressful. Exhausting. Vibrant. Grounding. Confounding. Riveting. Intriguing. Intense.

Many words can describe Peace Corps training. It's a multifaceted experience. You are plunged into a new language, culture, and lifestyle. Amidst the rapid adaptation, you are fed a vast wealth of information. Survival skills, technical skills, and logistics are all crammed into your head in a thimble of time. You are immersed in your new life, absorbing as much as you can...You are constantly adjusting, growing, and learning....and it is stressful, but absolutely fantastic. 

It is fantastic because the experience produces high yields. Greater perspective, capability, knowledge, and strength are fostered by all I see and learn. The adventure of a new land and the passion for purpose stimulate my progression. The stress is real, but I take it in stride. I know all I am gaining is worth the stress. I embrace the whirlwind.

So training is fun. Training is challenging. Some of training builds off my previous knowledge and experience. Some training is relatively new. All-in-all, it's an experience of a lifetime. And I've only been here two weeks!

Here's some details of my Peace Corps Madagascar lifestyle, observations, and experiences thus far: