Going with the flow

Well, to be honest, it has been a long week here in Madagascar. I left Antananarivo on Tuesday and came to Ambositra where I will be the remainder of my time in Madagascar. The winter months (summer in the northern hemisphere) is a popular time for staff to take annual leave, usually about a month. So I arrived when they were all returning to work and dealing with a month of backed up issues. Come to find out, the regional director in Ambositra, John, thought that I was going to be station in Mananjary, an ADRA site along the coast doing administrative duties. Well, surprise to him, I am in Ambositra doing development. On top of now finding things for me to do, which he wasn't expecting, the language barrier is proving to be more challenging than expected. It came to the point where John could not see past my inabilities to speak French or Malagasy and actually consider my skills, training, and experience. It was then after an hour of brainstorming of how I could fit in here that I realized he had not received my CV (glorified resume) to even know what I was capable of doing. After that was squared away, we have decided that I will be involved with project planning. Come to find out, more people than originally thought, speak English -- at least ADRA staff. So I am no longer Assistant Coordinator of Disaster Prevention and Risk Management but rather somewhere between project planning and M&E (Monitoring and Evaluation).

About the program -there is a consortium made up of four NGO's: ADRA, CARE, Land O'Lakes, and CRS (Catholic Relief Services) working of a five year project funded by USAID fighting food insecurity. Madagascar is the second worst country in the world in regards to food insecurity due to disasters, the current political crisis, and poor quantity and quality of crop production. There are three main strategic objectives (SO) these organizations are working on: SO1 -Health & HIV/Aids, SO2 -Livelihoods (Agriculture stuff), and SO3 -Disaster Prevention. Across these three SO's they are promoting good governance, sustainability, gender, and the environment.

So where do I fit in? I will be helping with USAID food distributions and going out 2-3times a week participating in that. There are food distributions to the most vulnerable, a food for work program (such as building roads, etc), and food provided for those that attend trainings or participate in disaster prevention meetings. I will also be helping to analyze if what is happening in the field is really meeting ADRA's strategic objectives per the USAID project proposal. I have also offered my English services to be a liaison between ADRA HQ in D.C. and USAID, who require English reporting. I also plan on going into the field to see the agriculture projects and health projects just to learn and see what is going on. So, slowly but surely, my new job description is coming together. I am reminded that things move at their own pace in Africa and preparation comes after it's needed. Oh well, go with the flow...things always get figured out one way or another - it just might not be immediately.

I am sure more unexpected and exciting things are to come. Stay tuned...

Oh the market...

This was my first full day in Ambositra. I have a pretty sweet loft above the offices sharing a kitchen with Colin, a Peace Corps volunteer working with ADRA. It is nice to have someone my age and an American to be neighbors with, I feel spoiled to say the least.

Colin took me on a tour of the town and in the afternoon I ventured into the market. It is always an interesting experience going to the market in developing countries, especially when you do not speak the local language. I am grateful that 80% of communication is body language because I am sure I utilize all of that 80% if not more especially in the initial stages of language learning. I first went to the basket vendor to buy a shopping basket. I stayed there a bit longer than necessary in order to make friends with him. In the state of foggy cross-cultural communication, if you could call it that, he told me his name twice and I forgot it immediately. However, he was nice and hope to stop by his place again. I then entered the craziness called the market. It was a bit overwhelming but I accomplished my mission. I discovered that I am yet again in a country where I tower over the vast majority of the population. I hit my head twice on the top of the vegetable stalls while navigating my way through the maze. I am sure it will happen again over the course of the next six months. One of the nice things here is that you don't really bargain; people give you the real price. I did however talk the basket man down 2,000Ariry ($1); it made me feel better and I am sure he still made some money. After that I was exhausted of using my limited mixture of French, Malagasy, and sign language so I just accepted the price of my other goods. I did inquire about prices before I went so I knew I wasn't getting gypped off too badly.

Madagascar is a bit different than East Africa; I was able to walk down the street quite peacefully without a herd of children calling after me or wanting to hold my hand. Despite the nuisance it sometimes is, I kind of miss that. I am ever increasingly grateful for my time in the Tanzanian bush. Due to that experience, I now know tricks such as bleaching my cabbage and sorting my rice from chaff and rocks. I am sure I learn much more, but for right now, I know how to survive! Tanzania was a much rougher experience which is making Madagascar feel like a cake walk, so far that is. I don't think I fully appreciated my time in the TZ bush until today when realizing all the skills I learned, the things I can live without, and joy in simplicity.

Weekend Update

(This is a picture of ADRA Headquarters in Antananarivo)

Today is the first day I have felt like a full-functioning human being; not foggy headed in the morning, etc. I feel like I am getting old since it normally only takes me 1-2 days to get over jet lag.

I went over to the Delhove's for lunch this afternoon. It was nice to get out and eat something besides my supply of corn flakes, tomatoes, oranges, cucumber and bread. Once I leave this temporary situation I plan on having more variety of food options but still plan on eating locally and not spending money on imported goods.

A couple and their little girl arrived from Ambositra today -- where I will be headed on Tuesday. They came to do some shopping. I met them briefly; it seems as though they will be becoming my family once I leave since there are limited non-Malagasy people where I am going. I am looking forward to that though and having more contact with the local people and culture. Their little girl is friendly and I have already learned her favorite color, which is blue and purple, as well as her family members -- which I think to her and my surprise, her brother's is pink! I hope to go out and do some shopping with them tomorrow as well as get a cell phone and my visa squared away.

Throughout the weekend I have learned numbers 1-10 in Malagasy: Iray, Rao, Telo, Efatra, Dimy, Enina, Fito, Volo, Sivy, and Folo. I think it will come in handy when I go shopping in the market. I am working on the higher numbers so I will know much things cost since the exchange rate is about $1 to 2,000Airy.

Hope you are all doing well and enjoying your weekend in your respective locations.
~K

First Twenty-four Hours

It seems like flying to Africa is always just as adventurous as my experiences there. My first itinerary was to fly from Rochester, NY to Cincinnati, OH to Paris, France to Antananarivo, Madagascar. Fifteen minutes before walking out the door to get on that flight I got a call that my Rochester flight was cancelled and was then re-routed for a later flight leaving Rochester to JFK to Paris to Antananarivo. When I got to the airport for the second flight I found out it was delayed and was forced to change airlines now going from Rochester to Newark to Paris to Antananarivo because of layover conflicts. Well, it only took about a two-minute walk from security to find out that my Newark flight was also delayed. If I arrived in Newark on time, I would have one hour to get my boarding pass, go through security again, get to my gate and board my next flight in another terminal, keeping in mind that international flights board one hour ahead of departure.

Thankfully my flight landed in Newark at the delayed projected time and that is when a sprint fueled by a panic attack began. This was my time to be that frantic traveler who doesn’t get to their gate on time running through the airport like a banshee hair flying and backpack bouncing all over the place. I was directed to the airline check-in to obtain my boarding pass only to find it shut down and dark except for one lady at a side kiosk. I pleaded my case as if before a judge in control of my fate who immediately told me I had to go back to my arrival gate and re-book my flight because there was no way I was going to make it. However, she called my departure gate as a perfunctory gesture just to “allow me a deep breath” in preparation for my walk back and to demonstrate that she “tried” to get me on the flight. All the while I am thinking, Woman- I don’t care about a deep breath just get my on that plane! At this point the tears began to form in disbelief I missed my flight and questioning if I am supposed to be going to Madagascar? Is all of this a sign? In that moment I whispered to God, “get me on that plane!” This wasn’t exactly a request and probably wasn’t one of my most reverent moments before the Big Man but I didn’t have time to be eloquent.

At that moment a ticket agent walked by who said he could check me in and get my boarding pass and the gate agreed to hold the plane for me. I couldn’t believe it! And I didn’t believe it while I stood there for what felt like forever waiting for that magic paper that would allow me entrance through the forbidden zone armed with metal detectors and fake police in TSA uniforms. An older couple and myself were the last ones on the plane. Finally my heart slowed, adrenaline subsided, and it became real yet again that God answers prayers and I am really on my way Madagascar!

So here I sit on the plane two hours until touch down in Antananarivo. I would like to hope that the last 24hrs aren’t an indication of the next six months, but I guess only time will tell. Regardless, I know that the God that got me on this flight will be deplaneing along with me in Madagascar.