But What Is and What Should Never Be…

I recently passed a few milestones: 2 year anniversary of my (initial) arrival in Madagascar (late February), 1 year anniversary of my evacuation and Close of Service (the week of St. Paddy’s Day)… Which made me realize that, had things turned out differently, I would be finishing up my Peace Corps service by the beginning of May. I would probably cavort around Africa a bit more before flying home and heading to my 5 year college reunion in sunny South Bend, IN (sun only valid May-August)*. Instead, I have just returned from a great week up north in Diego, but before we get to that, let’s back up a bit…
What have I been up to?
-Gardening classes: I have been teaching weekly gardening classes at the local EPPs (Public Primary School). I have four classes, with students around the American fourth grade level, maybe? The gardening classes focus on Permagardens, a form of gardening that combines Permaculture and Bio-Intensive Gardening. In brief, this means creating an exterior planting area around the garden where “permanent” crops such as papaya trees, lemongrass, aloe vera, and sweet potato vine are grown. Then, in the interior, small beds are created, compost and other organic improvements are added, and various vegetables are planted in close proximity to maximize yield in a small area. Techniques utilized include companion planting and agroforestry. You can Google any of these terms for more information! So far, we have some great gardens growing outside of the school buildings in three villages, and the children are excited about my education techniques. These techniques are usually song-, game-, and practical-heavy. The Permaculture aspect has gone over well, and future lessons will include a tree nursery, in-depth gardening, nutrition, and general environmental education. This ongoing project has been a lot of fun and is a good way to create some sort of a schedule to my work, at least some of the time!
-Moringa trees: I probably have mentioned Moringa trees a few times over the past two years. Nicknamed the Drumstick Tree or Horseradish Tree in English, this tree provides all sorts of vitamins from its leaves. For instance, in a gram-for-gram comparison, Moringa leaves have: 7 times the Vitamin C of Oranges; 4 times the Vitamin A of Carrots; 4 times the Calcium of Milk; 3 times the Potassium of bananas; and 2 times the Protein of Yogurt (See Trees For Life for more details, www.treesforlife.org ). Couple these nutritional benefits with a fast growing tree that can be coppiced (cut back) multiple times and continue producing leaves, even in poor soils and with little maintenance necessary, and you have a tree tailor-made to attack rural malnutrition in a country like Madagascar. Through demonstrations, sensitizations and other word-of-mouth, I have helped create massive interest in Moringa in my village. Almost every day someone approaches me about planting Moringa. For a small fee, I give them some seeds and we plant them together (usually 10 or so for 100 Ariary, about a nickel maybe?). I am hoping to plant some tree nurseries for Moringa with some of the organizations in my town, both to produce quality tree seedlings to plant and to sell the produce for some income-generation. I hope to be telling you a lot more about these projects in the near future!
-Library project? We have had preliminary meetings to create a community library. One of the main issues facing our community is a lack of knowledge. There are many individuals who are knowledgeable about complex techniques like SRI (System of Rice Intensification) or beekeeping, but they are not able to share this knowledge with others. In many cases, there is nowhere for a mazoto (hard-working) person to find the learning materials he/she needs to better his/her own life. Thus, my village has created the idea of a community library, both for young students and for adults. It would not only be a place for reading books and studying manuals, but also a place to hold classes on agricultural techniques, language lessons, adult literacy, etc. It is an ambitious project, and one that is still in the infancy stage. Still, should it proceed, the plan will likely be relatively easy to implement, as a building is already in top shape for this purpose. The middle school is planning to move into a new building to expand its enrollment, and the old middle school would make for perfect small-scale library. Thus it would be mostly resources that would be needed, such as books, maps, tables, shelves, etc. I may solicit your help in this, through a Peace Corps Partnership (a tax-deductible way of donating directly to a Peace Corps Volunteer’s project), but not for some time yet. Details, hopefully, to follow!
IST: Diego – Finally, I spent a week in Diego, the main port city in northern Madagascar. Its full name is Diego Suarez, named for two Portuguese explorers who landed at the port and proceeded to rape and pillage. The Malagasy name is Antsiranana, meaning Port, but most people just call it “Diego.” I was in Diego with my 10 fellow Reinstatement Volunteers, those PCVs who previously served in Madagascar before our evacuation and returned at the same time as me. We focused on HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, a cross-sector theme in Peace Corps (the PCVs in my group are from the Environment, Health and Education sectors). We met with people living with HIV in Diego, as well as an association of Commercial Sex Workers (CSWs) working on prevention of STDs and HIV. We also held an AIDS awareness event in fellow PCV Brittany’s village, where I fell in love with the outgoing culture of the North. We danced and sang and danced some more, and it was a lot of fun. In fact, I was given a new name by the President Fokontany (the village president): “Joe Meringue,” apparently due to my dance “skills” and enthusiasm. Although some thought it was “Joe Moringa,” because I am tall like the Moringa tree? We also met in Diego with the head of the Anglo-American Department at the University of Diego, and learned about his exciting program. Throw in a trip to the Amber Mountain National Park, and it turned out to be a pretty great trip. I even saw, from a distance, my first Baobab tree in Madagascar!

So that is what I have been up to. Now I am helping train another group of new Peace Corps Volunteers, including a couple of ND grads. After another week or so of this, it will be back to site to prepare for a few big events in the coming months. But more about that later!

*Fellow 2005 ND Grads: Are any of you planning to go to the reunion? If so, and you gather together with one of the many groups that I was a periphery member of, be sure to have a cheap beer for me (Natty/Keystone, etc.). Such groups may include: London 8Ballers; Straight Shooters – The Perry Smith Fan Club; Challey House; Lewis Ladies and their Admirers; etc… Love Thee Notre Dame!