Starting next week (or so...) I will be moving out to a new town to work on a rice-exportation project. I actually have been working on this project since the beginning of July, commuting from my village once every 1-2 weeks and telecommuting in between these visits. The new town, Amparafa, is on the opposite side of Lac Alaotra from my village, so around 6 hours by Bush Taxi (Taxi Brousse) or around the same by bike, which I did once, about a month after the Fety Riba Mena bike tour, just to remind myself what it was like...
Anyways, I am assisting a KoloHarena group (farmers' cooperative) in producing organic rice and exporting it to a company based in California (USA). This company, Lotus Foods, imports organic and other types of rice from around the world. Check out their website on the Madagascar Pink Rice (this is the rice my co-op grows and exports to Lotus Foods). Growing and processing rice organically is a challenge (and a lot of paperwork!) anywhere, but this is especially true in the developing world where paper trails are hard to maintain and digital databases do not exist. Each step of the process, from preparing a rice field to planting to weeding to harvesting to processing to shipment must be fully documented, and each document and practice must adhere to the strict rules of the certifying agent.
Thus, every time I would head out to Amparafa, there would be a new crisis to deal with (and many times multiple crises). This led to a very stressful few months, especially when coupled with the Fety Riba Mena bike tour and the work I've been doing at site in Antanandava. But things have progressed well, if not always smoothly, and we hope to export our rice harvest within the next month or so. Now that I am moving out there, it should be less stressful! As part of this new position, which will technically be called a Peace Corps Response position, I will be extending my service until May 2011. At this time, hopefully my sister will get her act together and come to visit!
I just finished my COS (Closing of Service) conference, something PCVs a few months before officially leaving to help prepare for life after Peace Corps and readjustment. Now I am in the capital, Tana, and have a strong, FREE internet connection. So enjoy a little bit of what I've been up to recently...
I spent some time planting 100 Moringa seeds in a nursery with a Model Farmer near my village
I spent lots of time in my national park, Zahamena
I have been working a lot with the Zahamena National Park on increasing tourism. As part of this, I put together the below flier/poster for distribution in our regional capital, Ambatondrazaka. Pretty simple, but I hope to get the chance to make a video too in the future. Take a look:
Glad to hear things are going... sounds like a lot is changing and a lot staying the same in Amparafa? You've been busy, poster looks great! Say hi to everybody for us, think we're going to try to call them tomorrow, never seems to work out right. Take care.
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