Sorry for all the Stuffypants updates…

…I’m done, I promise.

But he’s just so freakin’ cute!!!

That Time We Bought A Puppy

May 27, 2012

I have a new addition to the family to announce to all of you!

Please welcome Dr. Stuffypants, M.D.  He’s the newest member of the Env/CED 2011 stage family, as of May 20th.

He is the cutest little puppy in the entire world!  Myself and three other guys from my stage bought him in Tana the Sunday before heading up to the PCTC in Mantasoa.  Our hope was that he would be allowed to live at the Peace Corps Training Center so all stages could play with him forever and ever.  Oh, right, obviously Stuffypants will live forever and forever.  Duh.

He looks exactly like a little Golden Retriever puppy, waaaay healthier than any of the other puppies the sellers were trying to push on us.  Want to know how much we bought him for?

20,000 Ariary.

Yep, that’s right, we bought a freaking puppy for $10!

We took him up to the training center and spoke with the Training Manager, who said that Stuffypants would be allowed to stay!!  We all took that week to bond with Stuffy, then said goodbye until the next time we’re all up in Mantasoa again…he’ll be so big by then!

Anyway, it was good to get this “puppy thing” out of my system.  I’ve wanted to buy one to take to site for the past year, but knew it wasn’t a good idea because of the general Malagasy attitude towards dogs.  Plus, I live right off a major highway, and he probably would have been hit at some point and died.  :(  So I’ve never actually gotten myself a puppy.  But now I realize how much work puppies are!!!  Goodness, they’re fussy!  

(Just kidding…kind of.)

So this blog post is in honor of Dr. Stuffypants, M.D., the greatest dog that ever lived.  May he continue to live on in Peace Corps Madagascar history for years and years to come as my stage’s official mascot!

To Stuffypants!!!!!

Until next time!

T

Mid-Service Conference

Sunday, May 27th

For the last week, myself and the other people from my stage (the ones that were able to make it) went up to the Peace Corps Training Center in Mantasoa for MSC - Mid-Service Conference.

CRAZY!!!

We’ve all officially been in-country for 15 months at this point, eek!

Anyway, it was great to see everyone again and catch up.  We all live so spread out across the country - north, south, east and west - that we rarely see anyone unless they live in our own regions.

One of the main things we did was get trained about the new Food Security program…this time next year, there will no longer be an Environment sector and a Community Enterprise Development sector.  They’ll be joined together under the name “Food Security.”  Unfortunately, this year PC Madagascar lost their Health program (temporarily) so in July we’ll only be getting in a new batch of Education volunteers (instead of the usual Health/Education group each July).  But next year, we will have the new Food Security sector in March (20 people), as well as 20 Education and 20 Health volunteers in July 2013.

We also learned a bit about the Stomp Out Malaria Initiative that is sweeping Africa…here is a short, cool video about malaria and World Malaria Day 2012:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SzfJaRgCKw&feature=share%27%2C%29

Farm field trips were also on the docket - we toured two different farms during the week, particularly the Bevalala farm where students are training in farming, animal raising, etc.  It was a great cultural exchange, as well as a cool chance to learn some new farming techniques, etc.  (Some people were trained in how to castrate a pig…sort-of traumatizing to witness, actually!)

Now we’re all back in Antananarivo.  Some of us left for a vacation to Morondava earlier today, but most of us are heading back to site in the next few days, ready to get back to work!

Until next time!

T

Riots in Tana

I’m sure anyone keeping up with the latest news out of Madagascar has read about the increase in political riots and all of the drama surrounding former president Ravalomanana & current president Rajoelina.

Madagascar is a member of the SADC - South African Development Community - and will be informed this coming Monday, May 28th when they will be allowed to hold new presidential elections later this year.  

The country has been in turmoil since the coup in 2009 when Rajoelina took control of the government from Ravalomanana.  But recently, the government established a “roadmap” to guide the nation towards new, fair elections.  Among that plan was the return of exiles from Madagascar, which would include Ravalomanana.

Ravalomanana has been living in South Africa and has been trying to return to Madagascar, but has so far not been allowed to land in the country.

Lately, there have been weekly riots in the capitol of Antananarivo, and safety in general has been sharply declining in the recent months, due to protestors being called to action by one activist radio station in Tana in particular.

Unfortunately, last weekend a fellow Peace Corps volunteer and I were out in Analakely going fripping (shopping for second-hand clothes out on the street…sounds classy, right??), thinking that we okay to venture out into the city that day and found ourselves smack in the middle of a riot.

We were at a stand that had a ton of cute summer dresses, so of course we were caught up in finding good ones that fit…all of a sudden, my friend says, “Why is everyone running?”  I turn around to see people running down the street, in a huge hurry.  We’re still a little confused, and kind of stand around not sure what to do.  Then off in the distance we hear tear gas being fired off (it sounded like gunshots at the time, but we know now that it was probably just tear gas bombs).  Then my friend notices that the “mpivarotra” (seller) at the stand has turned around and grabbed two huge rocks in her hand and turned to face the oncoming running crowd.

Holllllllllly crap.

At this point, we decide it’s probably wise to start running.  We hear a few more shots/tear gas bombs/whatever as well as a few yells and screams in the distance.  Well, at this point, we take off running down the street, trying to find a fancy restaurant/shop/anything that we’ll feel safe taking shelter in.

As we’re running down the street, my friend asks a Malagasy lady running next to us why exactly we are running (as we’re still not sure what’s happening!)  She says something about people marching and all of a sudden, I feel a thief yank my purse from around my neck.  I turn around and yell, thankfully still holding on to my bag (it was an across-the-shoulder bag, and I was holding onto the body of the purse, so when the strap was ripped off, I was still holding my stuff.)  The Malagasy lady automatically puts her arm around me and we continue running down the road with her, me with my purse tucked under my arm.  Less than two minutes later, that same freaking thief comes back and tries to rip it from me a second time!!  He gets THIS CLOSE to getting it, but I hold on.  The Malagasy lady tries to push him away as my friend yells at him, and we hurry off down the road.

We finally make our way to Hotel de France, a popular hotel/restaurant in the area that a lot of “vazahas” (foreigners) hang out at.  On our way there, we see all the shops close the metal gates and barricade themselves and their customers in.  Thankfully, even though the doors were closed at Hotel de France, they let us in.  We thank the Malagasy angel over and over, and head inside.  Basically, we continue to sit in the restaurant/bar area for around 2 1/2 hours watching about a hundred police/gendarme/special forces/whatever roll in.  More tear gas is set off at different intervals throughout the two hours, but for the most part, the “excitement” is over.

What we ended up finding out was that there was a scheduled march that day and government forces were sent in to use “preventative measures” to keep it from getting violent - i.e. tear gas and smoke bombs.  No one died, nothing bad ended up actually happening…it was just a little bit scary to find ourselves in the midst of it.

After talking with the Madagascar SSO (Safety & Security Officer), we find out that pretty much every single Saturday afternoon (between 10 AM and 6 PM) there will be a political riot, and to avoid certain areas in Tana…including Analakely.

Now we know.

I’m also in the market for a new purse, now that my favorite one is BROKEN!!  Stupid mpangalatras (thieves).

Until next time,

T

Rajoelina after the 2009 political coup:

{photo source}

News sources:

1.  AFP 1, 2

2.  Ground Report

3.  Wikipedia (yea, yea, I know…but still very informative!)

Anonymous asked: Hi Tara! My name is Susan B and my husband and I will be traveling to Mad. this summer to visit our son, Evan, who I believe you just met in Tana. He is a PCV in Ambato, teaching English. We had found your blog before he even left home and love it! We hope to make it to Anja Park this summer and meet you.

It’s so nice to meet you!  Do you know when exactly you’ll be in Madagascar??  I’ll be in Anja Park all throughout June and for most of July and August, so chance are we’ll run into each other.  And yes I did meet Evan recently - sounds like he’s doing great stuff in Ambato!

Training In Mantasoa

April 2012

I have been out of site for a month at this point…waaaaay too long, if you ask me.  I really miss my house, and my park, and my village.  I’m looking forward to going home.  And as of tomorrow, I won’t be living out of a hiking backpack any longer YAY!!

So what have I been doing for the last month, you ask?  Well, for the last three weeks of April, I was in Mantasoa at the Peace Corps Training Center dropping a ton of knowledge bombs on the new crop of Environment trainees.

What what??!

Just kidding.  They weren’t exactly “knowledge bombs” per say.  Sure, I trained them on a lot of stuff - tree nurseries, gardening, women’s groups, Moringa, ecotourism, etc. - but I think my most important role for the trainees was just to be open to any questions that they may have about life in Peace Corps Madagascar.  As most of you know, I love to tell stories about life here (obviously, or I wouldn’t have this blog!), so those three weeks were actually a ton of fun.

And the new crop of volunteers are awesome!  As of May 4th, they are official Peace Corps volunteers, and I already know they are going rock out their next two years here! In the Fianarantsoa region, we’re getting five new volunteers - Lance, Christina, Jesse, Monica & Anne - and I’m pumped to get some new blood around here!  Over the last month, our region lost a lot of great volunteers (they finished up their two years and officially RPCVs - Returned Peace Corps Volunteers), but now we’re getting some equally great ones in return.

Once I get back to site, you know what time it is???

TREE NURSERY TIME!!!!!!!!!

We’re building the nursery and starting to plant the seedlings ASAP!  The new website is going through some final adjustments and soon that will be up and running as well.

This next year is certainly going to fly by, I can already tell.  :)

Until next time!

T