Sunday, January 31, 2010

I've Arrived at Post

1-31-10

I’m sitting in my room right now and it is 99 degrees Fahrenheit! THIS IS THE PEACE CORPS!

Getting here was an adventure. After we had our swearing in ceremony, Maya and I got a flight via Air Madagascar from Tana to Sambava. A Peace Corps escort and a driver met us. We did some shopping for pots & pans and other household items. We then drove about an hour and a half to Maya’s town. There are police stops along the road where the gendarmes stop everyone asking for ID cards and vehicles are inspected. Peace Corps has given us a “Laissé Passe” ID card, so we can travel freely.

Maya has a lovely house that is completely furnished with electricity and running water. Basically all she had to do was move in. I was not so lucky. We (Maya) came along too, continued northward another hour to my village. The Mayor of the village had the keys to the house, but he was not there. We were told that he was, “on his way”, but in Malagasy terms that doesn’t mean a whole lot. He could have been there in a couple of hours or a couple of days. We continued on another hour to my banking town, the closest major town to me which is 30Km away, to set up bank accounts and get our post office boxes. We spent the night at a hotel in Vohemar and it was lovely.

We then drove back to Fanambana and I finally got to see my house on Friday. The house was completely empty. There is no electricity and no running water. We went drove back to Sambava and bought a gas camping stove, then back to Vohemar where I purchased a bed, table and chairs. I have no refrigerator, nor oven.

The house itself has 2 rooms (sort of). It is made of corrugated tin and reinforced with some wooden beams. A bamboo wall separates the living area from my sleeping area. The tin walls are painted white. The bathroom is a separate little building – nothing more than a hole in the ground and filled with creepy crawly things. I wash my clothes with a bucket. I wash my dishes in a bucket and I wash my body with a bucket. The town well is about 200 meters down the road and yes I have to get my own water and carry it back to my house.

There are tons of mosquitoes, especially at night and in the early morning so I am sleeping with my mosquito net tucked in around my bed.

I did go to a Catholic Church Service today, but there was no Communion service. The people seemed very friendly. I did meet the Malagasy nurse/midwife who I will work with. She is going to teach me Malagasy and I will teach her English.

Well that is it for now. Send magazines. I am dying for news updates.


Love,

Jessica

Saturday, January 30, 2010

I have a new address. It is:

Jessica Wisecarver
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 02 Iharana
MADAGASCAR

Country Code 261
330-590-176

Note: If sending packages, please write my telephone number on the side or back of the package. THANKS

Sunday, January 24, 2010

More from Madagascar

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Dear Mom & Dad,

Things are pretty good. It is pouring rain right now. It rains every night. While I was walking, it got so muddy, I slipped right out of my shoe.

I did two presentations called “Kabarys” in Malagasy. They were about acute respiratory infections and HIV/safe sex. One of the presentations was for my professor, the other I did at a local school.

I did go to church again and I thought the bench was going to break. The benches are made of plywood with no real center support. I was sitting next to the father of the family I am living with and two other rather large people sat next to me. I could feel the bench bowing. They read the Bible and then there is a sermon with lots of singing, but with no kind of communion service.

There was a solar eclipse the other night. One little 7-year old girl said, “Look! It’s the Apocalypse!”

I have discovered that the little children I live with do not understand the concept of “personal space”. They come to my room and just stare at me while I am studying. I made the mistake of allowing them to come in and watch the movie, Madagascar, on my computer. They have returned every afternoon to watch more videos. I told them it was broken. They are also very curious about my skin coloring. They pointed to my freckles and asked, “What is this?”

I heard about the horrible earthquake in Haiti. One of the other health volunteers has friends volunteering in Haiti. I understand the devastation is terrible.

Thank you very much. I did get the package you sent with the candy, nutria-grain bars, calendar and pill box. The candy is almost gone. I also received a postcard from Jon from Budapest dated 12-15-09

Could you please look into flights for me to return for Jon’s wedding?

Our swearing-in ceremony is Tuesday January 26th and then we should go to post right after that.

I will keep you posted.


Love,


Jessica

Living with a Malagasy Family


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I moved in with my host family.  My mom is 32 years old, dad is 38 and they have 3 children, a boy 9 years old, a girl, 7, and a girl 5.  They are very nice.  The house is in a small village.  The road to get here is horrible and requires a 4-wheel drive vehicle.  It is about a 20-minute drive from the Peace Corps complex.  We all had bruises from the car ride.

We went to Church earlier today.  The service was 2 hours long and the bench was rough.  There was a lot of singing, which was nice.  In the afternoon, my "mom" and I took a hike up to a big rock/mountain with Matt, Joanna and their "mothers:".  It was about a 30 minute hike and all the way up.  At the top we sang a  Malagasy version of “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.”

The bathroom is called a “kabone” It is basically a wooden outhouse on higher ground in the compound.  I have to duck to get through the door and the ceiling is so low that I cannot really stand up straight.  It is a hole in the ground and it is full of spidery things.

I have discovered why people here are so sick.  It is because of the way they prepare their meals.  They make mini-fires inside the house and the house fills up with smoke.  Almost everyone has an upper respiratory infection due to smoke inhalation.  Peace Corps is going to try to teach us to make a “cook stove” which should cut down on the amount of smoke and lessens the amount of firewood needed.  I did teach the little kids to cough and sneeze into their arms. 

Laundry is an interesting situation.  Nothing dries completely because of the dampness in the air.  I went to put on a shirt this morning and noticed that it was dry enough, but then the mom took it from me to check herself.  She put it to her face and said it was dry enough to wear.   Then one of the little girls put the shirt to her face so she could feel it too and a huge snot-bubble came out of her nose onto the shirt.  I had to wear it anyway, since I had no other dry semi-clean clothes.  So gross.

We actually wash our clothes in a pond in a rice field.  To get to the pond, there is a path about a foot wide. It is always slippery, muddy, and full of gnats and flies.  As I was trying to wash my clothes, I decided that it would be easier just to sit-down rather than fall down, so the pants I was wearing got filthy with mud.  My “mom” just started laughing and instructed her daughter to run back to the house and get a towel.  They had me take off my pants right in the rice field so I could wash them right then and there. 

We get water from a well that is at the corner of the rice fields, the path to which is steep and slippery.  The family gets income by farming, mostly rice.  They also have some livestock – chickens and a cow.  It is really cute when the mama chicken sits on top of the baby chicks when it is cold and you can’t even see them, except for a few beaks and feet sticking out.  Then she will stand up a little and you can see the little chicken feet sticking out.  Then, randomly all the baby chicks run out and it looks like a little clown car.  I help the family with the dishes, getting the water and taking care of the children.  Although, I can only carry one bucket of water and the boy can carry two buckets at the same time.  Peace Corps gives them money for food.  The food is great.  There are lots of fruits and vegetables – cucumbers, tomatoes, cassava.  They also make a wonderful fried banana bread.  

I am doing language training with Maya as we will be in the same part of the country.  The dialect is Sakalava.  It is very similar to French.  We should arrive to post at the end of January.  I will call you as soon as I find out what my mailing address is. 

I haven’t received any packages from you, but no one has yet to receive packages. 

I love you.



                                                                        Jessica