Sunday, December 27, 2009
Christmas is all Around You
I Don’t Know How They Manage But Believe Me Mister They Do
(Written December 11, 2009)
Back at it again. Not sure how well I can keep my promise of more frequent blog updates, but what did you expect?
I have been in my new town just over 2 weeks, and am settling in pretty well (efa Tamana tsara). I continue to be amazed at how little Madagascar has changed. It’s like I was just here… over half a year passed by to the outside world and yet it seems like mere days here. Of course, I am in the small village out in the sticks, or what Malagasy call the “Ambanivohitra.” Life here changes little, or very slowly. In fact, that leads me to the title of this blog. I was in my new market town/postal town, and was talking with one of the postal employees (Sidenote: New address – BP 17, Imerimandroso Alaotra, 503 Ambatondrazaka, Madagascar !) We were talking about why Peace Corps left, citing the uncertain safety situation as a result of the “transfer of power” without getting into politics. I said we were able to return, and that living in the Ambanivohitra we are removed from all the danger and political rallies and general craziness. His response was very poignant; he said that life in the ambanivohitra never really changes, no matter who is in power or what the people in the cities are doing. “Life is always hard in the ambanivohitra,” he said, “always difficult – sarotra faona.” It’s true, and I guess that is the aim of development work / Peace Corps, to alleviate some of that difficulty and struggle, yet over time very little has changed. Now, I won’t go into the meaning of development work too much here, or Peace Corps’ role in it, because that could take up a lot of space (check out White Man’s Burden for a good break down of the failures, and some successes, of aid and assistance to the developing world, and the continuing argument between Robert Strauss and others about the future aim or purpose of Peace Corps). Needless to say, it puts things in perspective. It doesn’t matter who is toppling who, or who is rallying about what, in the capital or elsewhere; people here are still plowing their rice fields with oxen, or turning the hard, sapped soil by hand, or scrubbing their few pairs of clothes clean as they hang by threads, or walking 30 km over mountains from the rainforest to bring their baby to get vaccinated.
Well, I suppose that was a bit of a tangent, or some verbal diarrhea perhaps? (Cue the SRO packets!) Sorry to get off like that, but that comment, “Sarotra faona,” struck me. And I don’t know what I will accomplish here, or how to put my PC service into perspective with this… I just found it interesting to think about! Maybe you will too?
As for life here, for me, things are going pretty well. People are getting to know me, and seem to like having me around, even as they struggle to fully grasp what I am doing here. I have some potential coworker lined up and some project hopes, so maybe things will come together and I can post about work in future entries. For now I’ve mostly been singing Christmas songs with the kids (we’re working on Joy to the World in English, which for some reason their teacher had them copy down), enjoying the lengthy services at various churches (and singing very poorly in Malagasy), playing games with kids, and of course tsangatsanga-ing (walking around for countless hours aimlessly).
I’d like to take a moment for my fellow RPCVs reading (I figure there are at least a few of you hoping to live vicariously through me). Other readers are welcome to skip ahead to the next paragraph! Madagascar is mostly how we left it. Jumbo Score is open again, although Zoom is in a temporary-looking state of being open. The store fronts are the temporary sort with metal shutters, and sit in the parking lot. Magro and the radio station are both still nothing but burnt out heaps of metal. Still no sign of anything Tiko. Most importantly, THB has a new beer: THB Special. It is a bit stronger and tastes like Gold, which is now in the big bottles as well. The PC staff is working like crazy, and they all miss you. Env PCVs will be glad to know that Stan greeted us with his $ hat, showing he was all business as usual. (Brendan[s], It was a little too warm for his sweet fur hat). Gaby is retiring, which is sad, but he put on quite the show during our reinstatement workshop at Mantasoa, producing all of his classic meals. The Daline Skyway (Skyway to Daline) still stands in all of its glory, and most of the other improvements like the map art have survived. The rock garden/pathway has grown over, but Chase’s classic reminder to Keep It Real will last throughout the generations. Everything is pretty much how we left it, oh except some nice speakers have been added for dance party fun (dance parties were not the same without all of you, but especially without the Pargees). Just know that when you come back to visit, Madagascar will be very similar, and will remember you.
Picking up where I left off, things are going well. I still am occasionally living off my Kabary fame, the speech I made at our swearing-in in Malagasy in front of some Lehibes (or big shots), which was apparently televised. Not in my town though, no TV here, so I “only” stand out for being the tall awkward white guy. OK, time to go, as the nightly movie / music videos blasting out of my neighbor’s house is winding down. Hope everyone is well, and I really hope ND made a good hire for once… (2 out of the four teams I root for made coaching changes recently, the Indians and the Irish, and the Browns might be close behind… even from such a distance I continue to be a curse on my favorite teams!)