*I wrote this about 4 days ago when my computer battery
was dead, we have since successfully taught our first English course for the
village, and am in currently in Manakara attempting to fully charge up all
electronic devises before going back to Anosimparihy on Sunday.
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| Creating an "affiche" advertising free English course |
Well its been a while. I don’t really know where to start.
How about now? I have gold dust on my ankle, mixed nicely with a smudge of dirt. Did
I already mention that there’s gold in the river here? You get little flakes of
it that stick to you when fetching water, and you can see it sparkling in the
sand alongside the river. Some of the people here spend their time in the river
searching for gold when the river is low and season is wrong for bringing money
from their crops.
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| One of the rainy days in Anosimparihy |
What else? Today is hot. One of the hottest days since I’ve
been here, about 90 degrees F inside. I don’t think it’s just because of my
Oregonian background that I’ve usually enjoyed the times it rains here. The
rain also means we rush to put buckets outside under holes in the gutter of the
school building. And on a good day, that means we won’t need to go to the river
to fetch water.
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| My English class of 3ieme |
I’m done as the teacher for the class of “3ieme” for the
time being. We will start doing an English class for the general public this
Friday and I’m slightly terrified, but it’s great to see how much interest
there has been. The results of my teaching (although most of the credit goes to
the other teachers here) was a success in respect to the standard “BEPC” test
that my students were preparing for. This was the first time there has been a
class of 3ieme in Anosimparihy. 7 out of 9 students passed, a result everyon
was pleased with- including an organization of parents, whose “thank you” to
the teachers included a quantity of toka gasy.
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| Fete for the teachers, for the success of the class of 3ieme |
We’ve been able to spend some time talking to the mayor and fokontany
(sector) president about what development issues there are in Anosimparihy, and
what kind of projects have already been undertaken. From this we’ve learned
that potable water is a big issue here. While there aren’t too many problems
using the river water now, then the rainy season comes, the water level rises
so much that the village becomes an island at times. The name Anosimparihy
literally translates to mean “island of the lake” (anosy= island & farihy=
lake). When the river is high, the water gets contaminated and leads to health
problems in the village.
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| Maka rano (fetching water) |
We also finally got the chance to visit Ambalona, the
village where most of Hope for Madagascar’s projects are targeted. We joined a
going away get-together for a Peace Corps volunteer, Rebekah, who has been
helping with Hope for Madagascar’s projects in Ambalona. Between visiting
Ambalona and the discussions in the village, we have something of a better idea
of what we’re doing here in Anosimparihy.
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| Laundry in the river |
I can’t believe it’s September already, and that I’ve been
living here for over a month. It’s been enough time that I understand maybe the
topic of conversations in Malagasy, maybe 50% of the time. We’ve had the
occasion to eat copious quantities of bananas, try a “pocannelle” and pick a
few raspberries off of bushes that grow alongside some of the paths. I’ve also
now done laundry in the river several times, and seen coffee trees bloom and
then wilt, three days later. I never knew that coffee flowers are incredibly
fragrant until walking through a coffee plantation in full bloom on the path to
Bac Namorona.
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| Tropical fruit galore: pocannelle, bananas, Jackfruit |
I still haven’t gotten my bronze bracelet to swim in the
river (they were apparently lany or gone when we searched for them in
the city of Manakara the last time), and luckily haven’t spotted any crocodiles
in the river either.
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| Banana pancakes, pineapple, jam & coffee for breakfast= : ) |
I’ve gotten really good at creative baking for the village
kitchen. Besides frequent pancakes and crepes, I’ve also managed to figure out
baking a basic scone in the marmite (pot), as well as an invented banana cake
for breakfast this morning, which turned out quite well despite having no eggs.
We were also happy to discover that you can purchase films
to put on a flash drive for 1000 Ariary (50 cents), at the video clubs that
sell CD’s of pirate movies. The films are often translated into French, or
poorly translated into Malagasy- meaning that I’ve now seen The Matrix
and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days in French, while in the village.
So there you have it, the vaovao (news) from
Anosimparihy. Gotta find a way to charge my computer battery so as to put this
online. Until next time, hopefully sooner than this time. Veloma!
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| A very full classroom for our first general English course |
