Awesome

Today for the third time one of the field agents asked me how much I weigh.  (different one each time, not one asking 3 times)  I know that I am fatter right now than I have been in quite awhile, but Jesus Effing Christ.  There are plenty of Malagasy women who are fatter than me even if I’m taller than most of the population here.  When one of them asked me what my hobbies were a few weeks ago and I mentioned that I liked running, he smiled and sort of laughed like he didn’t believe me.  And, all of the weight questions have come out of the blue, not during a discussion about nutrition, food, exercise, or clothes.  I’m eating nothing but lettuce for the next month.

Irony

There are dogs running around all over the place here.  Yet, there is way more dog shit on the sidewalks of Paris.

Oh joyous day

I’ve been quite fortunate so far in avoiding 3rd world illness, like malaria, rabies, food poisoning, and the like.  I almost feel cheated because all has gone so smoothly healthwise.  While in the village of Ranomafana for the Koloharena farmer field training (like farmer summer camp, which will be detailed soon), Sidonie had a ‘puce’ in her foot.  Anicet used a safety pin and tweezers to get it out, and there was no big deal.  Now, when she told me it was a “puce”, I wasn’t quite sure what that meant.  ”Puce” is French for flea, but fleas don’t burrow into feet.  Then she said the Malagasy word for it, which is “parasit”  (not sure of the spelling.  ”Oh, I get it!  Some sort of parasite was in your foot…word.”, I thought.  That was on Thursday.  On Friday, I looked at my own foot, and saw a suspicious black spot surround by a small white area.  I showed it to Sidonie and Anicet, who confirmed that I also had a “puce”.  Anicet then explained to me that the black spot was the thing itself, and that the white area around it was eggs.  *barfs*  To remove it, you have to use a pin or something, carefully remove the skin around it, and sort of flick everything out.  A small hole will remain that might itch.  Apparantly it’s key to not tear the eggsack.  I don’t really know what happens if you do.  I messed with it a little with tweezers, but sort of chickened out.  When I joked with the field agents that maybe I should name my new Malagasy critter after my ex boyfriend, they all got quite a kick out of that.  I sort of feel like I’ve now completed the initiation into the club of “roughing it in the developing world” or something.

My new Malagasy friend

I was a bit chicken to deal with it last night, plus I didn’t have any good light.  Gabe has agreed to help me perform surgery sometime this afternoon.  If we don’t figure it out, Anicet will help me on Monday as the Success Story workshop gets going.  After looking in the Madagascar Bradt guide, I think it’s called a ‘jigger’, which I’m guessing is the same as a ‘chigger’ like is found in the States in the South?  Photodocumentation of little Josh’s removal to follow…

The FCE Railway

So, for the last field mission, I took the FCE (Fianar-Côte-Est) railway to get there.  Now, from a tourist standpoint, i had been hoping to take the train somewhere anyway, so I was like half intern, half tourist. Around the year 2000, there was a huge restoration project for the railway.  It’s really key to the food security of the people who live along it, as many of the villages along the railway have little or no access to roads.  During harvests, the rail line is often the only way to get goods to market (thus essential to farmers’ incomes), and it also brings needed goods to the communities.  

it's bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s

However, after rehabilitation, the FCE has rapidly fallen into disrepair due to lack of investment after the original restoration project.  It is unreliable, moderately safe, and goes by its own schedule.  Even the FCE guidebook says that if you’re on a tight schedule, find another way.  However, despite its problems, it has a lot of character.  At every stop there are villagers selling all sorts of food – sambos (like samosas, but with meat and onion inside), crayfish, koba, rolls, bread, bananas, and all manner of things.  

people lean out the window at stops to buy things

The scenery is beautiful, and the section before Tolongoina is the 3rd steepest (non-cog) railway in the world.  

looking out the window

On the way to Tolongoina, I got a second class ticket, and was perfectly satisfied with it.  On the way back from Manampatrana though, I decided to try out the first class car (which is filled almost exclusively with tourists).  I had plenty of space, and a nice Dutch couple sat next to me.  After the journey to Tolongoina, and the fact that the train was only an hour late getting to Manampatrana, I was beginning to feel that my FCE experience was not authentic!  I mean, taking the FCE anywhere is supposed to be almost a crapshoot for those with adventurous spirits!  

 

Oops! The train derailed!

 

Going up one of the hills, suddenly we stopped.  The first class car and the one ahead of it (the last 2 cars in the line of 5) derailed going around a curve.  (very slowly…it wasn’t nearly as exciting as it sounds)  After the train employees recanoidered for a bit, it was decided that everyone in the last 2 cars would pile into the first 3, and we would continue on our way, leaving the others on (well, off rather) the tracks.  

 

the cars we left behind (clearly not even close to on the tracks...)

 

So, all the first class vazahas had to pile in with the Malagasy folks, and we all had a big party.  People’s spirits were optimistic, and I’m glad I wound up having to stand packed into a train for the remaining 3 hours of the trip.  I talked to quite a few French people, and Patrick and I are invited to Belgium any time we wish to stay with an older couple I met – the guy has worked with the UN, and he’s been to the states numerous times for UN stuff and a few conferences about nuclear energy.

taken from one of the stops

Arriving back in Fianar, 2 hours late, and tired and dirty as all get up, I hardly even bickered for my taxi fare home.  I’ve realized how comfortable I’ve come to feel up in the old city.  As I walked into our courtyard, Mama Tendry was already there saying a warm “Tonga Soa” (welcome), and asking if I needed ranomafana (hot water) for a shower.  I was immediately comfortable after a week of not really ever knowing what the hell was going on…  But, I think it’s always good to push our personal comfort limits – not only does it make us stronger, and more appreciative of what we have day to day, but it makes for some decent stories too.

Field Visits – Part Deux

Danny, the med student next door, was leaving on the train to go all the way to Manakara in the morning, so we walked down together and got 2^nd class tickets.  It took about 3 hours to get to Tolongoina, where I was getting off to meet Bruno.  He was at the train station to pick me up (which was a little strange, as I couldn’t remember what he looked like).  Tolongoina was very small, but beautiful.

Tolongoina's lively and colorful market street.

countryside in Tolongoina

A few passing zebu as we walked to the PV

Bruno introduced me to various people who have in some way had some help from ERI, and we took pictures of all of them.  This woman works for an organization called ‘Meva’, which is a women’s organization.  They had a sewing machine donated to them by a former Peace Corps volunteer a few years ago, and they’ve since bought a second one with profits. 

one of the sewing machines that allows this group to sell clothing

 

We also walked 2km over to another PV’s area to see rizipisciculture, and some more apiculture.  Rizipisciculture is the growing of rice and fish in the same space at the same time.  It is a little more labor intensive during harvest, but the fish fertilize the rice (but don’t eat it), and both products grow together – pretty cool.  The fish are usually either royal carp or tilapia  

Rizipisciculture

 

I almost stepped on a snake, and gasped like a little girl, but it was fine.  After that, Bruno and I were going to head out to see some sites further out in the country, but first it was lunchtime.  The woman who worked with Meva organization ran a hotely, and Bruno ordered food for us.  What was delivered to our table?….rice and tongue, of course!  Joy.  Actually, it was really pretty good – very tender, and not quite as weirdly tonguey as when I accidentally ordered it.  The coffee in this corridor region is good, so at least there was some of that.  

We then took off en moto through the countryside.  It was a beautiful day, and a beautiful ride.  

The waterfall we passed

 

Also, this picture shows ‘tavy’ (slash and burn).  There are many places where farmers burn before planting, but it’s only really considered ‘tavy’ if they’ve cut down rainforest trees, or really anything that was forested (with something besides eucalyptus) even if it’s not virgin.  Bruno estimated that  in the next few years the chunk of forest on the right will likely be gone too.

Tavy

 

We arrived in the very small village of Andemaka to see another ‘décortiquese’ and another farmer’s beehives.  I really think that the beekeeping thing is great in this area – provides an alternative source of revenue without having to cut down trees.  We spent a few hours waiting around for someone Bruno knew to stop through, so I just walked around, took some pictures, and talked to Bruno. 

This little guy was pretty fascinated with my camera

This girl hung around for awhile talking to Bruno

 

Then, we headed to Manampatrana where I would stay the night, taking the train home around noon on Friday.  The “hotel” Bruno took me to wound up being great.  Manampatrana is really small, but Bruno assured me that I would feel at home at the hotel run by Claude, a friend of Mark’s who really likes to talk.  Claude is a Malagasy guy who does a bit of everything.  Coffee, vanilla, hotel, fish, honey, coqs, etc. 

Bruno hung out for long enough for me to feel comfortable and meet Claude, and then he took off to get some more work done.  There were 3 French people staying there too, so while dinner was being prepared they invited me to their little sitting room to have a pre-diner beer with them.  Marc, Jean, and Cécile were in Manampatrana for a week researching a project of rural electrification.  There’s not much electricity there (just generators), so they were looking into possibilities of using various hydro sources in the area.  (the organization was electriciens-sans-frontieres – pretty cool if you ask me)  They had met a lot of people in the village during their studies, and a women’s foundation invited them to a ball being held that night, so they and Claude invited me too.  My response was, “on y va!”  Claude was quite a character.  At dinner (which was spaghetti and chicken!  Not rice!) we had some great conversation, and then got ready to head to this community dance party not quite knowing what to expect.

When we arrived, the mayor got chairs for us so that we could sit at his table.   The room was sort of a big warehouse with a stage at one end, and just like the ball at the Carlton in Tana, the first dance was led by the mayor to open up the evening.  I’m hoping the the French people email me the picture they took, so that I can prove that the mayor of Manampatrana, Madagascar looks like Barack Obama.  

In the morning, I walked around the town a little bit (which didn’t take long), and then bought my train ticket. 

Looking at the village of Manampatrana

Train station in Manampatrana

 

This crazy tree was in Ialamarina, but I forgot to post it previously. Rodolphe wanted to dig it up and use it as a decoration somewhere. The roots apparently go down quite deep.

 

I decided to opt for first class, since I took second class to get to Tolongoina.  However, I really think the FCE (Fianar-Côte-Est) railway deserves its own post, so I’ll leave it at that…

Field Missions – Part I

Ca fait longtemps…  Last week I went on 2 different field missions – Ialamarina with André from Tuesday to Wednesday, and Tolongoina/Andrambovato/Manampatrana from Thursday to Friday with Bruno.  The purpose of sending me to these places was to allow me to learn about them, and thereby lend my own perspective to the Success Stories, and also to take care of photodocumentation.  This post will be longish since it covers a whole week, but I will detail events including, but not limited to:

• eating tongue yet again
• the derailment of the FCE train I took home on Friday
• going to a ball with some French people and the mayor of Manampatrana, who looks like Barack Obama
• riding on a motorcycle for the first time ever

So, to start from the beginning of the week:

Trip to Ialamarina:

On Tuesday, Christian (one of our drivers) took me out to Ambalaké to meet up with André, where we would start our journey on moto.  So, I’ve obviously met all of the field agents before, but their offices are in a separate building, and I certainly don’t know them very well.  So, it was a little weird to be like, “hey, André…I don’t know you much, but let’s hop on this motorcycle in the rain together… ” Yeah, it was raining.  I do have to say that I liked riding on the motorcycle though (never had before), and it is a lovely way to see the countryside.  It is less lovely with rain and mud everywhere, but overall a great method of transportation.  We stopped for lunch at a hotely in Sahambavy, which is also where the paved road pretty much ended, and continued along through the muddy, curvy, hilly ‘road’ for about 3 hours to get to Ialamarina, where we dropped off our stuff.  Originally André told me there was a building of some sort there that we could set up sleeping bags in.  What actually happened was that we stayed with a family who had ties with the Koloharena.  After dropping off our bags, we went for a ride a bit further to see the land of a Paysan Vulgarisateur in the area and take pictures of how well they were doing.  Apiculture (beekeeping) is quite a big new thing for many Koloharena farmers.  This facility had beehives, fish ponds, and off season white beans planted.  The house on top of the hill was in the process of being added to, demonstrating how well the farmer was doing.  It was a beautiful ride, and it quit raining for a lot of it.  Here are a few photos, as well as a photo showing the moto and the ‘road’.

where we had to leave the motorcycle before continuing to see the PV's field

seemed a little like motorcross sometimes...

one of the many beehives (producing eucalyptus honey)

The house we stayed at did have a nice spare room with beds.  However, it was quite a primitive accommodation compared to what I’m used to.  André showed me the small bucket on the back porch that was the ‘toilette portable’ for nighttime (the pit latrine was across the street and locked most of the time).  We had our meals at the house as well, so I had rice for like 4 meals in a row.  They were very accommodating and nice, but I can’t say that I really felt 100% comfortable there.

our dinner, hanging from the same back porch that contained the portable toilet

They spoke some French, but mostly it was André translating.  He is a nice guy – he much prefers being in the field to being at the office, which is where the field agents have largely been the last few months, in an effort to see what the effects of ERI’s impending shutdown will be.  In the morning, we were meeting with the Ialamarina Koloharena president for me to “ask my questions” and take some pictures etc.  I can’t say that I was looking forward with confidence to the meeting, but I wrote down a series of questions, and decided not to act like a pussy about it.  Rodolphe, the president, was absolutely wonderful it turned out.  He spoke French well, and was excited to tell a visitor about the evolution of the facilities there during the last 10 years.  After talking for 20 or 30 minutes, he said he would take me on a tour of the champs, a short walk away.  André had other business to attend to, but I felt totally at ease talking to Rodolphe, so off we went.  I have to say, that the field area was quite impressive – it’s a little like an example field that they use for farmer training, but also for harvesting from of course.  Here are photos of various crops:

a young pineapple

Rodolphe picking the best orange on the tree for me

Rodolphe chastised me for not bringing a big enough sac, as he just kept giving and giving me fruit.  He showed me the different species of oranges, picking one of each for me so that I could taste everything.  From one of the bigger orange trees, he made sure to find me the prettiest one, which was like the size of a grapefruit, and it was delicious.  These terraced plantings he hand dug with the help of just one other.  When I expressed amazement at it, he said they just did it little by little, and eventually it was done.  The same with the steps that lead down to the whole field – every time someone came down or up, they’d dig a step or two, and after a while there were steps.  After our visit of the field was over, he had me stop at his house to taste some of the honey that comes from the beehives there.  I thought it was excellent, so I asked if I could buy some.  It is a very high quality dense honey, usually sold to very nice bakeries apparently.  I could buy some, but he had a liter and a half bottle, that would be hard to transfer to something else, so I bought a liter and a half of honey…

He was so generous, and excited to show off his hard work in the field, and I had a wonderful time learning from him.

Part of the field that Rodolphe (Koloharena president in Ialamarina) gave me a tour of

press for extracting sugar cane juice - really hard to turn...

The juice is used to make ’sucre naturel’, which is sort of like candy.  Sugar cane juice gets cooked, molded, and dried, and produces a moderately hard substance, that can be chewed and eaten.  My understanding is that it is given to children/others who feel hungry to get hunger pangs to go away.  (But is also eaten as a sweet treat)

water lily near the field

During the ride, I had a moment of reflection where my approximate thoughts were, “How on earth did I arrive to be here, riding around on the back of a motorcycle through the deep rural countryside of Madagascar?”.  It was sort of a weird sensation.  Sometimes it’s just so interesting to see how situations evolve, and how we find ourselves in different places, or with different people.

After lunch, André and I took off, for him to take me back to Ambalaké to catch a taxi-brousse back into Fianar.  The route we took was shorter, but also really near some cliffs and hilly terrain.  I wasn’t really ever scared, as André was very careful about everything (and it wasn’t raining, so there wasn’t mud, which was nice), but it was a pretty intense road.  Arriving back in Fianar, I had had a great time, but wasn’t necessarily looking forward to setting off for the train in the morning for the next field visit.

I got my iPod back out this weekend…

What ever happened to this?  Have a listen to Ani’s wisdom:

Paradigm – Ani DiFranco

My absentee ballot had better come…

Now, to just browse around online to see what’s going on in the political world without having to be subjected to it every minute is definately a blessing.  I was convinced that being geographically away from the election would allow me to stay interested in what’s happening longer, and to not just feel fed up with it and sick of it.  However, even trying to keep up with the news, all I seem to be reading about is lipstick!  Not much on anything seems to be said about real issues (which is nothing new, I guess).  If McCain wins this election by distracting the American public with “sexist” out of context comments by Obama, it will be a sad day.  Not the only sad day – hell, Bush didn’t even win the first time, but a sad day none the less.  I don’t believe the debates have started yet.  I believe they will soonish?  Maybe the state of the union drinking game mandating a drink for every word Bush mispronounces or every time he says “terrist”, or “axis of evil” should be replaced by a debate drinking game mandating a drink for every uttered “lipstick”, “teen pregnancy”, or “shooting game from helicoptors”.

One thing that bugs me is this:  thus far, from what I can tell, Obama has mostly taken the high road and not been too involved in petty arguments.  Some say he needs to play dirtier to keep up.   To me though, even addressing things as stupid as people being offended by the pig/lipstick thing (which McCain has said before anyway) is absolutely idocy! It dosen’t deserve anyone’s time, so why even bother to play dirty and hit back from that?  (ironic that i’m spending my time writing my thouhts about it, eh?)

I have a hard time believing what the polls are telling us – Obama falling and McCain shooting up.  (now, if I were the Republican party, I supposed I’d read the previous sentence as Callista accusing McCain of doing herion…)  I find it very hard to believe that the annoncement of a pretty, conservative, much more lacking in ‘experience’ than any of the candidates leading up to primaries running mate would really persuade so many over to the dark side.  Did you know that the only interview the Palinator (I’m picturing her dressed as a bumblebee for Halloween) has done thus far was with People magazine!?  People magazine…come on!  I barely even read that trash when I go to the salon!   I know I surround myself with like minded people, but I still just do not believe that Obama can lose a fair election.  Gabe made a good point at lunch the other day about polling.  Most polling at this point is still done by telephone.  But, how many people in my age group have land lines?  Almost all of my friends have only cell phones, and polling in general hasn’t quite figured out how to deal with that.  Therefore, many polls aren’t accurate.  Yet, they can still have a huge effect on what people think, and how people sway.  (Although, in my opinion, if you’re basing the way you vote solely on who the polls say is ahead, you should have your right to vote revoked…)

Yikes…it’s only September, I’m not even in the country, and I’m already ranting….

On a mostly unrelated note, I was looking into how to see a taping of “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” for the Chicago trip my mom and I are planning, and I put myself into the pool of people who could be called to play.  I would just crap myself with glee if I ever had Carl Kassel’s voice on my home answering machine… (wait, my cell phone voicemail rather – although i’d go back into the land line generation if i had to…)

Here’s the pathetic note I sent them:

Dear Producers of Wait Wait,
My name is Callista Meeusen, and I’m a 26-year old grad student in the UW Madison’s Professional French Master’s program.  I’m currently living in  Madagascar for 4 months where I’m completing my internship requirement.  One of the things I miss most about the states is listening to Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me.  I know I know, “Subscribe to the podcast”, you say.  The thing about Madagascar is…my iTunes tells me that downloading just one episode of your show will take me 47 hours – and that’s if the internet doesn’t get interrupted at some point.  So, this is my hopeless plea to be on the show, and therefore be able to at least listen to the part I’d be on.
I do not promise to get all of the questions right – I get my news from the same internet that doesn’t allow me to listen to your show.  But, I do have a cell phone that has free incoming calls (I’m afraid that I can’t afford to call you to leave the message to be on the show – but, I have a BA in vocal music, and am not a smoker.), and am willing to get up at any time of day to answer your call.
Looking forward to listening to the show when I get home even if I don’t make the cut,
Callista Meeusen

I think that I might just be odd/desperate enough for them to call me.  They look for people to come on the show that they can crack jokes about, and I have a weird name to boot!  Here’s hoping….

Also

Has the Large Hadron Collider destroyed the world yet?  Find out here.   Pretty interesting stuff that makes me wish I was a character in a Dan Brown book.  The real story is here…

I have to admit, that all of this ‘answering questions about the creation of the universe/big bang’ stuff brings to mind the Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Perhaps the LHC’s answer will also be ‘42′.

Progress at Work

I must admit that the last few weeks I’ve been feeling that my ‘job’ has stagnated a bit.  I more or less finished the background reading and other articles I was given a few weeks ago.  So, I mentioned that to Haja (Mark’s remplacement), and he gave me some more recent reading from the Stocktaking meeting with USAID in Tana a few weeks ago, and promised that we’d figure out what I’d be doing for the few weeks before the workshop during which the Success Stories will be hammered out.  I was worried that I wouldn’t have much.  However, a meeting was had today, and I’m going to be going “out in the field” for most of the next few weeks.  I am not sure what exactly is happening at each site, but here’s the plan:

16-17 September: Lalamarina (will involve overnight stay in my tent)

18-19 September: Andrambovato/Tolongoina – I know there are a few ecotourism sites here we’ll be looking at

24-28 September:  Ranomafana (the city not the park I believe) – sounds like there is some sort of get together by the Paysan Animateur/Paysan Vulgarisateurs from the Koloharena farming movement

29 September – 1 October: Success Story workshop in Sahambavy – this is a town only a half hour or so from Fianar.  I believe we’re going there just to have somewhere calm to work (there are a lot of distractions at the office for those who truly work here).  My guess would be that we’re staying here.  As far as I know there aren’t really any other hotels there… 

At this point, I’m just extremely glad that the Success Story project is getting off the ground – I was beginning to feel bored, and therefore a little down, but having real things going on and being busy will be just the jump start I need.  Plus, after being in and out of town for a few weeks, I’m sure I’ll be happy to be hanging out relaxing in Fianar on the weekends.  Also, working over a weekend or two will allow me to not feel too bad if I take an extra couple days in mid October to visit the Avenue de Baobabs, a place I desperately want to go…  Here are some interesting baobab facts.