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Past Letters from Sharlot
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E-Mail Received: March
13, 2005 Hey guys out there across the world! So, what do i have to write to you all
about? Well, since the last posted email is from the begining of January
and details Christmas, etc., you'd think i have a lot to write about.
Mostly, i have a project that is actually going, instead of me just
talking about it. I came back to site from Christmas, and started biking
to 20 schools in my area (some pretty far--33km one way!) with my
counterpart. We took down information about the starting situation at each
school and prepared them for the coming planting. Since by January we're
in the middle of the rainy season (which still isn't very heavy in my
region), we had to start planting the living fences and trees pretty
quickly. So, after a quick trip to Ambositra at the end of January
(banking, seeing the new Health PCVs during their installation) I went
back to my little neck of the woods to start that. We got three schools
started on the tree planting before i had to leave again! One of those new health PCVs ended up
being my new 'site-partner' even though our houses are a couple kilometers
apart. She's doing well, and it's nice to have someone to cook with now! So, I had to leave to go to Tana to
learn how to train the new environment PCVs, when they came in country in
mid-February. If this doesn't strike you in any way, let me just say that
there is one group of each sector each year. I got to Tana and thus
celebrated our One Year in Country date with most of my stage (including
people i hadn't seen in six months). Great to see everyone, and celebrate,
but freaky to realize that i'd been here a year...hadn't seen most of you
since then, and my main project is just starting to go! All things
considered, it was great. So was the training, and then meeting the new
guys at the airport. So, then it was back to Fiadanana for
another little while before coming to the training site to actually train
them. But in that little while almost half of the other schools got their
trees in the ground and are so happy to be doing the project. The kids
make it the best of all, when the crowd round and yell out answers to my
questions about what species we're planting, and the proper ways to plant
trees. Some of them even took to climbing other trees around the planting
hole so they could see what i was doing...made thier own amphitheatre. I
think my willingness to get dirty, and excitement about compost/trees/etc.
cracks them up. :-) I also started a pen-pal project with
my WorldWise Schools class in the states. The English students in
Ambondromisotra wrote letters last fall and started recieving the replys
in January/February. They were extatic, confused and honored by it all.
The most surprising bit of cultural difference for me was when the replys
politely told the Malagasy students that they couldn't respond to
questions about height/weight because it wasn't asked in the States (the
Malagasy kids had included thier stats in their original letters). I
totally understood, but had forgotten/gotten used to this kind of stuff
("Sharlot, you've lost weight...you used to be FAT!"). Funny to
be reminded of American ways of doing things. Anyway, a quick stop for another
volunteer's birthday and then it was back to Tana again to do training
with the new folks. We're losing a bunch of volunteers from the Ambositra/Fianar
region since their term is up and they're COSing, but three of this new
group are coming south on the High Plateau and it was good to get to know
them. But now it's back to Fiadanana and to getting as many trees in the
ground as we can before the rains stop and school lets out. I have a
couple trips in the planning stages for the vacation months (since my main
project is based around the schools)...but i guess i'll write about those
when they actually happen. I hope you all had a great begining of
2005 and I can't wait to see you all when i get home in a little more than
year! Love, Sharlot E-Mail Received: January 2, 2005 Dear all! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! My love to all! So, what's there to say? I am on my way back to site from vacation...and it was a great vacation. I started out in Fianar with a cookies, carols and kahloha (sp?) party with some expats. It was a crazy show of Christmas, b/c i could totally have been in the states at a normal christmas party and it have been cold outside, instead of the summer. Then, I went onto Toliara in the south west, where it was hella hot. And humid. Like, i'm saying Phoenix in July. not my favorite type of weather. But, Toliara turned out to be a great city, and we stayed with another volunteer there, so we got to see the "real" Toliara. And they have greek food and Tapas. can you imagine either of those food choices in Madagascar? It's still hard for me to imagine that it's possbile! But it was excellent! Then, we went onto Mangily to the north of Toliara to go to the beaches. The volunteer i was with, and I, ran into four other volunteers who were also vacationing there, and then right after Christmas five other volunteers who had traveled down from the north (and spent Christmas hiking in Isalo National Park!)...we all ended up at the same hotel/bungalow resort on the beach, and by the end had half their bungalows...i hope we didn't scare everyone with our PC volunteer takeover... The beach was awesome, and Christmas day consisted of sleeping in, taking our coffee down to the beach, lounging, going for a walk, shopping a little in the tourist traps...and then snorkeling in the afternoon, going out to the reefs on a pirogue. In the evening we had a great dinner of pizza. It was relaxing, and totally not christmas like, but for not being in the States, and not having the ability to have a real family Christmas, it was good. The only downer was giardia. It hit with full force the day after, and i was pretty sick for a day before i got some medicine. New Years saw me back in Fianar, with five of us making dinner and then missing midnight becuase we were talking. It was pretty chill, but just great too. Everything's gone great! So...now i'm going back to my site, and all of our supplies are purchased, so i should start working with the kids and the schools when school starts in January. I'll let you know how it goes! Much love, Sharlot E-Mail Received: November 30, 2004 Hello all. I hope your Thanksgiving's showed you just what you all are thankful for. For me...i guess it was what my time here has taught me: relationships are the most important thing in life...don't stress about the rest, it'll either fall in place or pass. My Thanksgiving day was ok...i spent it on a taxi-brousse with my mom, and trying to change money. But then we got to Kyley's site and had dinner, and Kyley had bought and had killed for us a chicken, which she cooked with curry and peas. It was excellent. And we all said what we were happy for. And in the morning, we looked at silk scarves, and my mom had a great time picking out stuff. then we went to my site, and despite the never sure conditions of transport in this country, we still got to my site in the mid afternoon. It was about the end of my good charma! :-) anyway, Saturday was "our malagasy thanksgiving" I had one of my friends, who is a weaver, help me out and basicly cater the entire meal. Except that i made mashed potatoes. And this is how it went: Morning went to market in Ambondromisotra. Mom a little startled. Took lots of pictures. Tons of 'em. then a stop at a friends house for the traditional "moonshine rum, coke and biscuits" hospitality. Then back to Fiadanana, for lunch with my counterpart and his wife. Then, Bridget showed up (a little late due to a lying taxibrousse station attendent), and we relaxed in my house for an hour or two. Then, we started on the meal. My friend and her family showed up, and for the next three hours, using my two gas burners, her one charcoal stove, six women, a man and a boy, we put together (mostly due to my malagasy friends) a dinner made of two turkeys, mashed garlic potatoes, peas and rice. The wine drinking started a little early, and by the time the dinner was served we were having an awesome time. this despite my lack of thinking when i played music off the porch for kids to dance to. this would normally be ok, except that there had been a death the day we arrived in my village, and the cultural stance is no dancing for the period of mourning. Oops. In the end, everything went fine though, and with the four of us, at the table were the heads of family of my three closest friends. All the kids (from 3 years to 19) sat on the floor. My counter part was almost delirious with the news that this was the first time that ALL his children had eaten turkey. We fed around 30 people for less than $30. And that included two liters of wine, a liter of moonshine rum, and litchi juice. I'd say a great Thanksgiving. The rest fo the time at my site was pretty chill, talking with my neighbors and friends, and with Kyley doing a birthcontrol talk with four of my neighbor teenage girls. It seemed affective and I have high hopes for their futures. The highlite (at least for the kids from the town) being Monday morning, when my mom and I and Bridget and Kyley went outside. We were all armed, mom with toothbrushes from our dentist in the states, I with Matchbox cars, and Bridget with bouncy balls. Kyley had my camera to catch the feeding frenzy. And that it was. As we walked in the general direction of the primary school, word spread like wildfire and the ground resounded with the thud of children running to join the throng that concealed mom from view. She had to hold the toothbrushes high above her head to avoid being brought down with them. There should be some good pictuers of this on the web later... And we took some good pictures of the recipients of the brushes, since as my mom said "i've got to show them [the dentist & co] where these went. i don't think they had any idea...i know i didn't." And with that, perhaps i shall sign off, but i'll have my mom write a letter to the website too. She seems to think that i don't explain what's going on here, maybe she'll be able to better. And of course, there's more to come from our next week at the beach in Ft. Dauphin!! Love, Sharlot Letter
Dated: October 15, 2004 Dear Everyone, I recently realized that since I tend to write only emails anymore, I forget what goes on at site daily. So, here is a little diary for you of my last week and the following one-"Two Weeks in My Life." 10/7 (Thursday): Return to site from Andringitra National Park in PC vehicle. This is very exciting, not only b/c it almost never happens, but b/c I don't have to pay for, wait for, or get cramped on a Taxi-brousse! I'm being driven back to site so that PC can install a BLU short-wave radio, so that I don't get lost or anything. Really, if I broke my leg again, and there was no kind doctor & wheelchair nearby (which there aren't) this will prove invaluable in contacting PC. If only it worked. After 5-6 hours of trying to raise PC Tana and erecting a 15 foot pole in the ground, then moving it, to anchor one end of the antenna, we give up for the day. 10/8: PC technician returns. We move the antenna from a N-S orientation to a W-E orientation. That means we dug up the pole & moved it again. I guess I should be fair…I made coffee. But that looked like hard work and everyone said they were tired. So, can we get Tana? No. We can hear everyone from Diego to Tulear, but it still doesn't work. After shots of rum to thank everyone for their hard work, we call it a day (PC tech already left to take my radio to Tana.) Then the kids, my neighbor and I went to the garden to water. I'm discouraged as the caterpillars have eaten all but one zucchini, the lettuce is getting old and thus bitter and there is someone stealing our carrots. 10/9: Market Day! I awake w/ renewed hopes. I had come home on Thursday to find that 2 of the 4 pillars for my porch had been built…and today we're buying the wood for the deck. All morning at the market buying the planks trucked in from Ambositra, and then groceries. There are even green beans now, as we come out of winter! In the afternoon the construction worker comes over and builds a ¼ of the deck. I can now walk into my kitchen! 10/10: Spent the morning finishing the book, "The Bean Trees," by Kingsolover, and writing letters. Made fried rice w/ the carrots and green beans from the Market the day before. In the afternoon went to the silk weaver's President's house. We planted some more of the endemic mulberry trees in her pepinere and thin I returned home to write more letters and listen to CDs. 10/11 (Monday): Felt a little sick in the morning so stayed around the house and read "Roots." Ate leftover fried rice, listened to BBC. Finally in the afternoon had a mtg. w/ my counter-part and some of the new pepinerists. It looks like this project will work, and a meeting of the elected Board is scheduled for the next week. 10/12: In the morning unloaded the ox-cart full of bricks for the last 2 columns. Then took the rest of the morning (8-11) to take a bike ride. I decided just to go, and not worry about where the road took me, although my main objective was this mountain in the North. Well, I saw the mountain much closer, but the road turned and then petered-out. Finally I was a among the rice fields. I ended up carrying the bike ½ the way back as I tried not to fall in. I finally got to a good road (after many amazed stares) and ½ way back on this road ran into a construction crew. The road was being fixed, putting pounded granite blocks in the most likely to flood areas, by hundreds of men from around the commune. 2 of my neighbors among them! And I hadn't heard a word of this. I filled out the afternoon with making banana bread in my PC oven, watering the garden (where I took home carrots to avoid the thief) and listening to BBC/writing letters. 10/13: After my daily morning routine of BBC, breakfast, sweeping and watering the hedge around my house, I decided it was time to wax my wood floors again. They were looking pretty sad after 6 months of wear, and my counter-part's wife kept trying to get me to let her wax them for me. But we all know how independent I am…and her insistence had pushed my desire to wax my floors back about 2 months. So, starting at 8:30 am, I didn't finish until after 1pm with all the sweeping, brushing, and hand applying of candle wax and petrol mixture. Some commission in the US would probably outlaw this flammable mixture in a house consistently using candles…but, you know… Took a shower, went to see how the Mulberry trees were doing, watered the garden, and descended to blessed sleep. 10/14: Today was a slow day. I spent most of the morning reading "Paradise Lost." In the afternoon, I sat outside with my neighbors holding the newest: 4 month old Faneua. Then had another meeting w/ my counterpart about the tree nursery project. Pending 2 questions at Tuesday's meeting things will go really well w/ the project. Watered the garden. 10/15: And today…Friday. I spent the morning sitting w/ my neighbors playing cards and being peed-on by Faneua. Then had my hair braided, before making macaroni & cheese w/ Velveeta cheese so graciously sent in a care package! :0) Gave out some natural pesticide recipes before settling down to read some more…but it started pouring! I must shut most of my windows as there's no glass & it got dark quick. But 2 of my neighbors came over and we talked through the thunder. I'm a little worried, as we had another big rain 2 weeks ago, it sprinkled 2 days ago and it's been raining off and on all afternoon-the rainy season just might be starting a month early, which will mean the cut off of the road before my mom gets here. I foresee a hard working vacation. 10/16: Dressed in my Saturday finest I went to market this morning-people dress up for market here like you wouldn't believe. Had a good time and came back to fix myself some curry w/ the carrots and green beans I got. And then had just enough time to eat it before walking back again to Ambondromisotra to talk w/ the English teacher there. I had been discussing doing an environment lesson for the 16-17 year old English students, and had thought that the teacher was coming to talk w/ me on Monday…but my go-between came to my house last Friday to say that all was set up for me to teach on Monday…uh, oh! I have no idea how to teach. So my student friend and I went to meet the prof. today. It was an excellent meeting and not only will the hour lesson go well, I was received very kindly…and even invited for Christmas! I returned to Fiadanana…listened to my neighbors play my guitar and then was accosted by children wanting to know if I play "kisabaka." "No, what's that?" "It's a form of hop-scotch w/ 8 squares in a rectangle, and you jump consecutively to the farthest square, hoping out of the full rectangle back through the remaining squares. I taught Hop-scotch to them, and I think they got as much enjoyment out of the hopping and saying "hop-scotch," as they did out of the game. No sidewalk chalk needed of course-a rock scratched in the hard packed, red earth suffices well! 10/17: A very windy & cloudy morning. This does not bode well for my mother. I spent it reading my Bible, "Paradise Lost," baking more banana bread, and doing a little laundry. After macaroni and tomato sauce for lunch I wrote letters, talked with my neighbors, went to check on the garden and listened to music. The neighbor kids discovered my CD-walkman about 2 months ago, and since then LOVE it-adults, too! Our session today was marked by the fact that my batteries are dead-the last from the States. I've gone through over 20 AA batteries in my 1st 6 months! So, time to try the Malagasy brands. The first wouldn't even get the thing to play, and the second brand died after about 4 CDs. This proves to be a problem. My neighbors use the innards for home tattooing. At least they're good for something…even if frightening. 10/18: Teaching today went well. I prepared my vocabulary about "slash and burn" in the morning for an hour-long class. I thought I'd teach the two classes one hour each…it turns out that one class gets 2 hours and the other 1 hour…and switch on Wednesday. But that was good, as what I'd prepared took 2 hours! This was way easier than class presentations. Now I'm thinking that maybe I should have been a teacher! All the teachers and principal/office workers that I met before teaching were very excited and talked to me for ½ hour into class time. As most times, talk went to the wealth of the Americans. I was trying to convince them that not all Americans are rich-indeed, some are poor-when one hard woman said, "Americans might not have everything, but they ALL have money." It took some very serious descriptions of people living on the streets to turn her mind from our roads paved in gold [perception]. In fact, I'm not sure I changed her mind, but everyone else was shocked. 10/19: So! I'm pooped! I was in my 1st all day meeting. Seriously. We started at 8:30/9am and I didn't leave till 4pm. And we only discussed 6 items of business. At least lunch was included-Malagasy style. Each person brought a kapoaka (standard measurement) of rice with them, and 500fmg for the loaka (whatever you put with your rice). Then the wife of the President of the new pepinere's cooperative and the other women associated cooked beans for us. The meeting did bring up good points and resolved them, even if I thought that 15 people was way too many (I'd ask for a Board meeting-this was way more than a board). It also added 9 new tree nurseries into the co-op. Ambondromisotra is going to be reforested… and now, I'm preparing for a trip to Ambositra. So, I lock all my valuable is my PC trunk, get last minute requests from my neighbors, and am surprised that my landlord kindly told a new chauffeur to pick me up in the morning, so I don't have to ride my bike the 3km to Ambondromisotra (the chauffeur who lives in Fiadanana is sick.) Time for sleep. 10/20: Okay, so now I'm waiting for the taxi brousse. It might come at any moment, so I'll have to go, maybe in the middle of a story: it's a life on the edge here. I'm also taking a chance and putting this letter in a regular envelope, to see price difference. We'll see if it gets to you! At the moment my porch is being built. Well, more of it. The last 2 pillars are being put in, and I'm glad I wasn't here for the 1st two. Mark said something 6 months ago about not wanting to be around when his house here got built…to stressful the standards. Yeah. I made them re-measure the distances twice. And I'm still not really satisfied. And the mortar for the bricks is only a mud mixture! No cement for me. It's a wonder my house doesn't fall down. But, it's not all that bad, really. It'll work, and then I'll have a kick-ass porch, and I'll be able to watch the stars and laugh at the kids from out of their reach, and write letters to you about it all. It'll be a nice perch up here! So, to tell you about my creative side-I like crayons. And each month I draw a picture about what I thought most represented that month. So, my wall is slowly filling up, proving how long I've been here. I started it actually, when I was all depressed and needed to see some movement towards the light at the end of the tunnel. But now w/ 6 pictures, I like the decoration. It's also funny what struck me at the time. Otherwise, I color in my CareBears Coloring Book. :0) Good times, good times… Well, I better get going…good thing the taxi brousse didn't come while I was writing you. Oh! Gotta chase a chicken out of the house too! Miss you! Much Love! --Sharlot Aerogram Letter Dated: September 21, 2004 Dear Everyone! Well, how does it go in the US? I get frequent reports, listening to the BBC, about the presidential election, Bush’s campaign ads including the Olympics and Kerry’s now firm stance as opposing he war. Is it too late? Has he waivered too much? This is what my radio discusses in the morning. But what do American Political Analysts say? I haven’t gotten a letter from my mom in a while! At night I now listen to the VOA’s “Talk to America.” Another volunteer persuaded me. And despite my lack of interest in their, “opening week of football” episode, I’m liking the show and glad to know things that the BBC doesn’t report on: like the Smithsonian’s new Native American Museum. This is, of course, if I can stay up until 8pm and then get reception. Work comes in fits and starts. When I got home from our In-Service Training, it seemed like everyone wanted advice and tree seeds. Things slowed down for a while, but I feel like people view me as a now permanent resource. I hung up educational posters and compost posters in my downstairs room. A composition book of natural insecticides and pictures detailing improved rice-planting techniques complete my education center of sorts. So, some days I sit and play Rummy with the kids and some days I talk to 3 different groups about starting pepineres, planting leguminous spp. As fences and new compost techniques. And still other days I help with the recent Measles vaccine extravaganza at the local primary school. At least it varies. Carrots are pretty much ready in the community garden. The lettuce would be too if chickens didn’t eat all of it. We really need a fence, or better yet the chickens need a coop. I’ve made a joke about eating all the chickens to a couple people. Only one really got it, but he loved it. Anyway, when I return home (I’m just starting out on a work trip to Tana and then to Andringitra National Park) we should be having some excellent, vitamin filled salads and stews. My trip comes right in the middle of getting my porch done. 5 months later… I realized about a month ago that the impetus solely rested with me. No more waiting for the Commune! So my landlord and I bought bricks and then wood beams. He found a guy to build the thing. There are only 2 things that worry me—1) It was left up to me and my landlord to compose the porch. There are no architects here. And we have disputes about how many bricks are needed. 2) The mpandrafitra (carpenter) failed to show up on the day work was to start. This might be an issue… Otherwise, life is good. Just living day in and day out, hoping that I can get some trees planted. And now, sorry to all those of you who aren’t plant geeks, but I went on a hike today and found exciting stuff. 1st is this plant I found growing in a crowded, covered ravine along a creek. I found 2 of them about 30 meters apart. The first one didn’t have flowers, but the 2nd one did. They’re small plants, maybe big house plant size, with long pointed leaves (80cm) originating from the stalk, which is palm like. The flower stalk came from the bottom of the vegetative plant and was a good meter tall. With at least 6 flowers, the shock of white was gorgeous in this green world emerging from winter. [6 long white petals with 6 stamens to match. The pistil was long with the ovaries at the end of the long stalk.] This is not to say that I discovered a new plant or anything, but that I rarely get to see thing like this in my town, with all of our deforested hills. I’m lucky to see something that’s not pine or eucalyptus. I was also really excited to identify correctly the ovaries from the 1st look at the flowers, where there was a noticeable bulge just where they met the main stalk (sorry I can’t remember the technical names!) And then when I snapped off part of this long individual flower stalk, just above the ovaries, the entire pistil cam through, still attached to the ovaries, leaving the petals and stamens still all connected to the stalk and looking like a nice flower. Further dissection revealed fairly large ovaries. It was a good botanical day! (For a sketch, see Teresa—if you want!) But, it’s not over there! Then I went to check on some silk cocoons we feared were home to dead silk worms. But they had hatched! 5-6 months in a cocoon, but they survived and are now flying around new woods. It was excellent. So, I hope you all are doing well. I do get reports from most everyone, filtered through letters and family and friends. Keep the letters and pictures coming, it’s always nice to still feel connected to family and friends left behind. Love, Sharlot August
8, 2004 Hello all! The last couple weeks have been pretty hectic, and this is only going to be a rough sketch of all that. The first thing is that the Marathon for the Giant Jumping Rat in Morondava went really well, as did my birthday. Good times, good times... Next, I met up with some former volunteers who are doing a hike across madagascar as they passed through Ambostira. If you want to learn more about thier hike, go to thier webstie at www.hikemadagascar.com. Then we have my trip to Tsiroanomandidy, with SAF/FJKM. It was a great learning experience for me, and also allowed me to see the Environmental Education program that they've already worked up in the primary schools. It seems like we should be able to implement it quite well in my area. Then, I went home for 3 days before having to return to Tana for I(n)S(ervice)T(raining) (this week). Those three days at site were very eventful though. I got home to an oddly crowded street scene, with many unfamiliar faces staring as if I didn't belong in my own town. I was a little put out; this is MY home afterall. But, it turns out that these were family relations of one of my neighbor s, as they were having a Lanona (turning of the bones) which happens every 8 years or so. They have a very expensive party (this one lasted three days), and (asfar as I understood it all) dig up the bodies of those who have been burried outside of the tomb in the last 8 years. In the midst of dancing and rum drinking, the bodies are wrapped in another layer of white cloth, and placed in the tomb. Then a cow is killed and everyone dances and cooks and partakes of the meat. My neighbors were very excited to see me dance with them, and although I felt like I was more of a distraction than anything, it was a good time. I hope you're all doing well, and that my letters have gotten through. Good luck with school starting and the fall coming on (it should be cooling off soon, yes? Maybe not, it's winter here, so I don't think about these things...) Love, Sharlot June
16, 2004 Hi Everyone! It strikes me that this weekend will be a month since I sent off my last letter, which means that it’s been more than a month since I wrote that letter, and you’ve had news. But, I guess that’s just the characteristic of the communication situation in which I live. I did, however, just recently find out that there is a post office in the big town 3km from me. Who knew?! Anyway, the last month hasn’t been that exciting. My counterpart was gone for nearly a month, and people seemed to think that I couldn’t work without him. That coupled with the rice harvest, led to a month of reading and watching the rice dry. And more watching the rice dry. However, some highlights included: --My 1st banking trip to Fianarantsoa. I had a good time seeing other volunteers, and despite being thrown-up on by a child on the taxi-brousse, the trip there and back wasn’t so bad. Sadly, I myself got sick the second day, and my poor mom talked to me on the phone, while and all I could think was “Man I feel nauseated!” --Finished 6 books and I am ½ way through 2 others. --Recently made friends with one of the local dogs. The kids tell me his name is Rookie, and everyone laughs when I pet him. Dogs are not the same sort of pet here. --Made my “Peace Corps Oven.” This consists of a large stock-pot with sand in the bottom and empty tomato paste cans for a rack. My banana bread has now become something of a legend, with kids asking when I’m going to make it again. Last Sunday, I also had one of my neighbors and my counter-part’s wife over and showed them how to make the “cake” as the kids insist on calling it. (They can’t just call it banana bread, because the Malagasy have their own “banana bread” which consists of a whole banana dipped in batter and fired. It reminds me of a corn-dog, but is much more tasty.) --I had an unexpected “site visit” from one of the Medical Officers. These unexpected visits tend to send my neighbors into a little bit of shock, and I think they’re nervous that I’m going to be taken away. (And since I was once, taken away by an unexpected PC visitor, I guess I don’t blame them.) But everyone seemed to think that the Medical Officer was my mother, since they’d seen pictures and thought there was resemblance. I found this funny since my mom is taller than I am and the MO shorter than I am. This little mix-up provided conversation for days. --Guitar practice not going so well. (ie. I don’t practice.) That always seemed to be my problem with the clarinet… --As the rice harvest slowed down about 2 weeks ago, I finally got a group of women to meet about a community garden. I was surprised, after my near month of trying to get them to meet, when they said they wanted to start work the next day. They explained, “well the rice is almost done, and it’s getting late. We want to eat the vegetables soon!” It seems I wasn’t the only one who was anxious to get started. So, despite set backs regarding my poor explanation of “double digging,” my resulting frustration and my odd insistence on planting crops together, instead of completely different beds (this helps with pests if it’s garlic, tomato flavor if it’s basil, etc) things have been going well, and we’ll all be eating green beans and cucumbers in another couple months. The group consists of about 7 women from different families, but they asked me if it was ok if men joined. I hadn’t realized that we were being seriously exclusive until that point and was delighted when the first man joined the work yesterday. --Last Thursday, Friday and Saturday there was a sort of fair at the local military unit. Thursday and Friday had soccer games, and I watched as eleven and thirteen year old boys played on the hard dirt and dried grass in bare feet. Sadly, the Fiadanana school lost to Soavina. Oh, and goals are called “deaths.” But on Saturday, all other local markets were cancelled, and everyone from the communities of Ambondromisotra, Soavina, etc came to this one market at the military camp. It was just like a county fair, complete with cows (one decided to run away, and charged my neighbors and me), a stage with music and an oddly flexible man, and a sort-of tractor ride for the kids. Plus, tons of stalls with straw on the floor selling food and beer. Back in town, you could tell the men who were coming home in the late afternoon from the fair, as they zig-zagged to their houses (and one proclaimed his love for me). Personally, I kept looking for the Fry Bread and Navajo Tacos, but couldn’t find them. --Lastly, there was the first time that I really laughed here. One day on the way back from the community garden a couple of the neighbor girls were carrying cane on their heads (for my neighbors to apparently make rum) and one of the girls had 2 canes that were longer than the rest. She kept turning around and hitting other people with them, but not realizing what she was doing. One of the other women and I giggled a little, and when the girl finally realized what she was doing, she seemed to start doing it on purpose! It was so much like a Three Stooges skit that I outright laughed. And by the time that the vine holding the load together broke and the girl had pick-up her un-wieldy bunch from the ground, I was laughing so hard I had to stop walking. Well, that’s about it. Have a great month! Love, Sharlot P.S. A quick word on clothes.
Many/much of the clothes sold in the markets here are used donations.
I keep seeing Pokemon shirts, etc. And in my village there is a boy
with a U of A baseball hat! When I got excited and tried to explain
what it was, no one seemed impressed. Email Received: June 2, 2004 Hi Everyone! I'm doing well. I've started a community garden. In fact, I'm in town right now, buying seeds. After the rice harvest ended, I got more work than I know what to do with! For weeks, I was just "watching the rice dry" and reading about a book a week. And now, I have three different co-ops asking me "what ideas do you have for us?" I don't know. What do you expect? I've been sitting around forever, and now my two ideas are gone. Should have been first in line. Haha! Anyway, I'll send a real letter in about a month. Love, Sharlot May
13, 2004 Good Afternoon! I'm nearing the end of my third week here in Fiadanana and sitting in the doorway of my 2nd story where there should be a porch connecting to my kitchen, but there isn't. I cook in my 2nd room. In my past 2 ½ weeks, I've had a cold, fleas and 4 more "parassy" (worms or ticks or some kind of parasite that gets in your feet--I did get them out with needle and tweezers and burn them in with my candles). But, I've also been to a silk weaver's party, ridden my bike around the area, discovered the joys of short wave radio, planted oranges, cypress, and eucalyptus, gotten support for a community garden and been inundated with presents of flowering plants (including a mother of millions all my own--sorry Shea!). I think that in the end I'll have more house plants here than I did in Tucson. Oh, and I've read 2 ½ books, too. And sewed (hand-sewed) my own curtains. You'd think I'd be more tired! So, here are some differences I was noticing today as I planned out my garden; between my life here and in Tucson: --I don't really need an alarm clock. I'm woken up every morning by an ox-cart going by between 5:30 am and 6 am. --Instead of the occasional gun shot and helicopter search lights, I have the crack of the cow whip and a sky full of stars you wouldn't believe. --Children here run all over the village, asking me every hour and a half if they can play with my Frisbee. There is no safe back yard surrounded by a fence. The only reason for a fence would be if you wanted to keep chickens (which also run around all day) from eating your vegetable seeds. --And the head of the local militia unit (gendarmes) comes to your house to make sure everything is going fine and tell you to let him know if there are problems and whenever you leave the village for vacation, at least when you're the new foreigner in town. Can you imagine the local police captain coming to your new house to your new house for a courtesy visit? May 14, 2004 Just returned from a 22 km bike ride. 3 hours there and 3 hours back for a ½ hour meeting (if that). But, the meeting was good. We're adding 14 schools to the Green Schools program (teaching environment to kids while planting trees and hedges at the schools). That makes a total of 23 schools--that doesn't leave a lot of time for anything else, when some of these schools are farther than I biked today, and a month would be over visiting one per day. But the desire is there and that alone is great. Oh the environmental side of today, it rained yesterday afternoon (in the dry season) and this morning I woke to fog. A huge cloud that didn't let me see 100 yards away. I was very excited, and my neighbors were almost shocked to learn that this doesn't happen in Tucson. Apparently in the Plateau this is very common for May/June and then in the afternoon it gets hot. Yeah, it gets hot. I didn't put on sun block before I left because of the fog; it's a good thing I took it with me. As it is, I have a tan line from my rings. Stuff I want! REMEMBER, please don't send anything you'd be devastated I didn't get. Also, packages which go to the PC Tana address might not get opened, etc, as fewer people handle them…but, it will take longer for me to get them, than the new Ambositra address. 1) Books--any books
will do, but I also figure I have time to read the classics. Send paperbacks,
cheaper for you. And, I can trade them. These are just suggestions since many people asked before I left to let them know what I needed. Wow – there's a lot! You don't have to send anything, of course! May
1, 2004 Good Evening, and
Happy May Day! p.s. Happily for Kristen, they also have Mother of Millions. Although, I've only seen them in pots--not wild. April
25, 2004 I finished my week in Tana last Thursday in a frenzy of trying to get pictures emailed to Teresa before the driver was done fixing the tires on our Land Rover. I thought we were leaving at 9 am. We didn't leave until Noon. Then something else went wrong on the car and we had to have PC people drive another one to us and exchange. Needless to say, we didn't make it to our final destination and had plenty of time to play cards. Saturday found the 3 of us (my installer, driver and me) having bought most everything I needed, (save a bed frame) and we were still 45 minutes late to meet 2 volunteers for lunch in my banking town of Ambrositra. Apparently my internal sense of time fits right in with "Gasy-time" as in Malagasy always being late. Saturday night there was a concert, Din Rotsaka played in Ambositra and it was quite the event. All the hotels were full. This sort of thing is unusual, but to put things in perspective tickets cost 7,500 fmg less than a dollar at the current exchange rate. Sunday found us more time for cards, since one of the officials I had to pay a courtesy vistit to hadn't been around on Fri/Sat and more officials in Fiadanana wouldn't be there on Sunday anyway. So, that left Monday to do something like 5 courtesy visits/presentations to the police/gendarmes/mayor/etc, plus my installation into my house. But then, when we got to Fiadanana (which by the way means "laid-back") my house wasn't done! My counter-part and people from the commune have prepared another house for me to live in for one week only (they promise) until the floors are finished for my real house. Oh, and in all of the confusion of safety/where am I staying/”oh here's another official--we forgot to go order my bed frame. By the time everyone left and I got to be alone for the 1st time all day I decided not even to have dinner, but go right to bed, on my foam mattress "eponge" (=sponge) still in it's plastic wrapper. I did use sheets though. This morning I awoke to an ox-cart going through town @ 5:30 am. Ah...my first day in Fiadanana… |
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Email Received: 4/16/04 Greetings Everyone! I'm sorry that it's been a while since I've written. Some of you know what's gone on, and some don't so here's the scoop and my life, for almost the last month: I wrote my last email on a Tuesday or Wednesday. I got back to Anjiro (home stay) from my site visit to Ambositra and Ambondromisotra the next day quite late; it took most of the day to travel by bush taxi all the way. The next day, we had class all together, and the people from the fly sites were late, but we all shared stories from our sites, and learned that yes, everyone found a lack of vegetables and fruit at their sites. Basically, there's rice and meat. That night we went out, and had a nice time talking . I don't remember what the weekend contained, but then there was school again that Monday (22 March), and we learned all about how to raise chickens (for both meat and eggs). After lunch, I spent my time talking to Maya, and avoiding looking at the chicken as they taught us how to kill and clean a chicken. (Yeah, I'm not eating chicken at site) While this was going on, my Dad was dying. The training Director came to my host families house that night after dark (remember how you're not supposed to go out after dark?) and told me she had to take me to Tana. Soemthing had happened, but she didn't know what. when I got to the capital (an hour and a half later) the APCD for environment (ie my boss) told me that my dad had died, and that I was scheduled on a plane home the next day. I must say that the PC acted amazingly quickly in getting me home; those policies impressed me. So, the next two weeks had me in Phoenix and Tucson. I'm sorry to all those of you who I didn't manage to see. As you can imagine, it was an incredibly tough time, and I appreciate all the allowances I was/am given. To all those of you who I did see, thank you so much for your outpouring of support. The plane rides and time alone it took to get to Phoenix were a lonely time, and it was wonderful to have such a loving family to come back to. I returned to Madagascar on April 6. At least I left Phoenix on the 6th. I didn't arrive in Madagascar (after Atlanta, NYC, Johannesburgh and then Tana) until two days later, on thursday the 8th. At night. All in all, about 50 hours of travel. Again, it was an intense time of alone and questioning. My return to Tana, though, made all the right sense. I got to the PC house in Tana, thinking that I would be alone for the night and head back to Anjiro the next day. Instead, the group was there, and invited me back so warmly that I knew I'd made the right decision. That Saturday, we went to a PC sponsored AIDS run, and spent the day in Moramanga. Sunday I was back in Anjiro with my (extatic) host family for Easter. I have lovely pictures, that I will send as soon as I get the chance. We had a HUGE meal with relatives from Tana in town. As always there was tons of rice, and loaka. My host brother Johnathan looked very cute in his tux (the Malagasy dress up! My host family was not impressed that I didn't want to iron my shirt, which I thought looked pretty good for just getting out of my hiking back pack. Although everyone admired my new green skirt ala Stephanie and Ariel) So, we spent Monday and Tuesday preparing for swearing in, and Wednesday (14 April) was the big day. i have pictures from that as well. Plus, the national tv station came and interviewed, I beleive, Maya and Paul. Today, a Malagasy told me she saw me on the tv yesterday, holding up my hand and being sworn in! I was on national Malagasy TV. Crazy! And now, for this week, as all the rest of the new volunteers get installed at thier sites, I am remaining in Tana for some extra language and training. Although I am an official volunteer, my two weeks abscense has me here making up time and taking a test. So, you all get me at email for now. Oh ok, the one last thing. Yesterday, I went to a lunch with my counterpart organization SAF/FJKM (the church of Christ in Madagascar). I thought it was going to be an informal thing, but it turned out that the President (yes, the President of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana) was there. The meeting portion went quickly, and he left without having lunch (i was a little relieved becuase of my poor dress). But, then, last night I got a call that all the foreigners that were at the lunch were invited to a meeting today with the President. Oh my. I dressed up. It turns out that the meeting didn't really involve me, but it was good all the same. And I got my picture with him. I miss you all. Hope all is going well at home! Love, Sharlot |
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Aerogramme Received: 3/18/04 Feb. 16: We started the week by building a cook stove that will conserve energy. Made of clay and ashes, this round structure reduces use of charcoal and contains fire so that little children don't run into it. All of our host families were invited to learn with us and they were just as excited (or more so!), pounding the mixture and smoothing the edges so it looked perfect. Sadly, one of our fellow trainees went home today. She'll be missed. Feb. 17: Today we learned about compost in addition to too much language. All of the volunteer/trainers come from hugely varying backgrounds and it was interesting to see/hear experiences w/ composting. After school most of us (from all 3 sites) met up in Anjiro at a bar for some beers. Our contingent from Ambodimanga didn't know where the bar was, so we walked up and down the main street. On our way back the volunteer who had taught us composting starting yelling <<vazaha>> at us, to get our attention. Vazaha is the malagasy term for foreigner, and hearing one yell it at us was prettly startling and funny. The beer was a great treat though, and seeing all the trainees was a big stress relief...although someone did point out that we complain about the language and then only talk about the language! Feb. 18: Since I'm really writing this on Friday, I can't remember what we did on Wed., except to say that we had language all day. My butt hurt from being in the chair that long. So, I'll tell you about seeing my first firefly, which really happened the Sunday before. I SAW A FIREFLY!!! Just one that night, but then Thursday (2/19), I saw bunches! They're kinda greenish blue and they're just there, blinking in the air. Nature is so cool! Feb. 19: Okay, Thursday. We had technical training at Tranobe all together (the 3 sites) the whole day. Sore butts again, as there was little hands-on and many slide-show health lectures. But we did get a great speech from the PC Med. officer who is leaving. He's from Modova and said some great things about underneath it all having the same blood. And what a gift it is to have a strong country behind us, ideologies aside. He also will be missed...Here's the kicker though: The trainers/PC staff meet with the host families once a week. When they came back from the meeting they told us that our little trip to the bar had caused quite a stir. The familes as a whole were worried for us, since going to a "bar" (not drinking) is apparently not very respected. Oops! Talk about small town gossip, everyone knew. Feb. 20: And finally Friday. It's been a good day. It's starting to rain more. Some of it is like the rain that floods Tucson's streets, but some is just mist. Emma and I did laundry in the rain at the edge of the porch; it's a good way to use all that water! Feb. 21: A very full day! By 9:20 am, I'd eaten, been to the market, finished laundry, and was starting to build a compost pile. But now I'm running out of room [on this aerogramme] and my little host brother and sister seem to want my attention. Love you all! Sharlot First Email from Sharlot Hey,I finally made it to an internet cafe. God! I miss you all! I will probably have email access again in about two weeks to four. Write me back! Ok...
so here's the last two weeks, I figure this saves me on postage. It's
not in depth, because I haven't been keeping track. I just copied stuff
out of my journal. In the end, there should be one week missing. I was
at Montasoa, the PC 3/1: We practiced SALT techniques (sloping agriculture land 3/2: Had our midterms today. I passed...the language test was performed in the PC car, because, well, there wasn't quiet room in the learning center (don't be fooled by the name...it's really just someone's house). But I think that's the only time I'll ever take a test in a car. 3/3: Ack! More shots! Hepatitus B for those keeping track out there. Luckily, that's the last one for a couple months, until we finish up both Hep. series. 3/4: Left our HOST families for two weeks. The first week is a field trip to see Lemurs (who's jealous?) and the second part is a week long trip to see our sites. We have to get back to Anjiro by ourselves! At night we took a hike in Andasibe (take out your maps...its a National Park on the road from Tana to Moramonga). We saw dwarf brown lemurs in the trees, and one even on an electricity wire. 3/5: Morning hike in Andasibe. Saw indris. Completely @%#$ing
amazing. Seriously. We saw them making their morning greeting calls,
stood right underneath one families' tree while they socially groomed
each other (my 3/6: At a "model farm" we learned about vetiver (cool ass grass) and litchi air layering. Thanks to my incredilble education, i have actually helped in answering questions about grafting, air layering, etc. when my fellow PCVs have questions and the malagasy translation is difficult. By the way, litchi fruit/nut is great. Mmmmmmmm. Then, the cyclone started. 3/7: We got back to Montasoa just as the real stuff from the cyclone picked up on the 6th. So, all day Sunday we just played cards and watched the exotic pine trees fall over. Really, they fell on some of the dorm rooms. But no one was hurt, except the trees, and it was pretty cool to watch "big ass trees" fall over. 3/8 and 3/9: Ummm...we met our partners and talked with them. I don't remember too much else. 3/10: Went from Montasoa to Tana to spend the day meeting the head offices of whatever NGO were paired with. It was a good day, but the best part was the end, when five other volunteers and I ordered pizza, and had it delivered. Oh yes, this does happen. In a country where I will live without electricity or running water, I had pizza delivered! 3/11: Spent most of the day in the PCs Land Rover, just getting to my site. I had been told that you could get there in something like 4 hours...yeah, ok. Then, since it's the rainy season, the road was too bad passed the end of the pavement, so Nicholas (my counter part) and I walked the last 3k. Tons of mud! For the next four days everyone I met made some comment on the bad roads, if not commenting on the mud on my jeans from where I had fallen! haha 3/12
to 3/15: In my village, it's very nice and it looks like I'll be 3/16: Which brings me to today, sitting in an internet cafe in Ambositra, on my way back to Anjiro. It will tak me two days to get back, and this is the stop over point. I am going back all alone, so that we volunteers/trainees can prove that we can use the taxi brousse system, and I suppose actually function in Madagascar. Its working so far. I even got to ride in a pousse pousse today! I hope everyone is having fun, and very happy. I miss all of you, and should have email access again in two to four weeks. Please
email me! Sharlot |
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Aerogramme Received: 3/02/04 Feb. 10: The sun is up by 5:30 and the roosters start way before that. Today we were supposed to follow around our host family and learn technical skills from them: ie. rice farming from the fields. I followed Njat (who told me he is an electrician--did I mention we have electircity? A T.V. & Radio? No running water, though. I have gotten GREAT at drawing from the well.) to a covered area. It turns out he also makes leather with his father-in-law. I didn't whether to laugh or cry! In the end, I just followed him as he explained in words I didn't understand the whole process. Then I watched him clean/disect a turkey, which I'm sure I'll end up eating tonight. At least I know what's there...although the neck stayed in. And I do have many new vocab words! Feb 11: Today we walked to "Trano-be" the meeting center for all of us trainees to come together for technical training. They were cutting down a tree nearby, so they took down electrical lines, so they wouldn't be cut when the tree fell! So we went to the church compound for class, just gotta change the way you think. Oh! I have pineapple plants in my front yard...and we have fruit after every meal. (It's still not dessert, though!) Don't you all wish you were here? Feb 12: Happy Birthday, Teresa!!! Feb 13: Friday the 13th! Considering this is the one year aniversary of my 2nd surgery, all went well. We had a training session on Malaria today and after we all had to practice poking ourselves and making malaria swipe slides with our own blood! Feb 14: Went to the market today. Tons of people, food, and cloth. Bought myself a hat and helped grocery shop. Funny the dogs and flies around the meat didn't bother me as much as they should have. Love you All! Sharlot |
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Aerogramme Received: 2/26/04 I love you all and miss you! I'll write again soon!!! Love, Sharlot |
| Last Updated: 8/20/05 | ||
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