There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.


Nelson Mandela

November 16th 2011

                                             

STAY CALM WORLD I AM STILL ALIVE!! Although I will not lie, there were many times and ways in which I could have met an untimely death in the last 10 days. I was in the field doing research with my awesome translator Bako about an hour outside of Ambositra in this incredibly isolated village called Anjoman’Ankona. Here are the various worst-case scenarios I managed to strategically escape:

1.     Being slowly eaten alive by an ARMY of flesh eating bedbugs 10 nights in a row

2.     Mysteriously disappearing somewhere in the 150 hectare endemic Tapia forest with my highly knowledgeable, sole French-speaking, and perpetually wasted local guide Jean-Claude

3.     Exploding from being force-fed SO much food. Literally every person I encountered showered me with fried something or other or a plate of corn or a plate of manioc or a bowl of sugar and it is REALLY rude not to eat food your given so naturally I always obliged.

4.     Getting attacked by the dola dola, the town crazy lady who was really, really into me (Sidenote: she was literally the most interesting person I have met in Madagascar and used to be a university student before going crazy with what appeared to be schizophrenia. She was clearly way more intelligent than everyone else tho and I really just wanted to do my ISP on her life.)

5.     Being carried off by Anjoman’ Akona’s Least Eligible Bachelors

6.     Death by boredom. Nothing but Hortencia the mayor’s 5 year old daughter and a My Little Pony coloring book to entertain me for the three days my translator left me.

7.     Drowning in a rice paddy.

It was supposed to be a brief sojourn, return to town, and then another brief sojourn the next week but I was quite literally taken hostage, largely due to the fact that by the time the first period came to an end I had essentially (and completely unintentionally) risen to celebrity status. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I was living with the mayor, who is already a highly mysterious figure. His father was mayor before him and is now a member of Parliament in the capitol Antananarivo. His family is extremely wealthy because of the monopoly they have on oranges and citrus fruits in the Hautes Plateux, which after tasting several specimens I totally understand. He also comes across as really cold and uninviting but that’s really just because he’s uber shy, his sister explained to me. His house is one palacial pad, lavish to say the least. It’s three stories high and newly constructed with crown moldings and light fixtures and really upscale latrines. When it gets electricity it will be the only building in the commune to have it. I stayed on the third story right off of the balcony, which was visible by everyone who walked by. Basically I felt like repunsal the whole week, except when I wasn’t in my tower and I felt like the Princess Diana or the Dhali Lama. I shook hands with more people than I can tell you, upwards of 1,000 and kissed more babies than is probably considered healthy. It’s a miracle I didn’t get sick again, haha. I think I really clinched my celebrity status when I went to Catholic church on Sunday, not sure why but it  seemed like that was when my star peaked. I also contribute my celebrity status to the fact that Eddy the Albino Peace Corps Volunteer wasn’t there this week so the title of Anjoman’ Akona’s Next Top Vazha was mine for the taking. And I did. However, for the first few days a lot of people thought my name was also Eddy and yelled “BONJOUR EDDY!!” everytime they saw me.

The mayor’s wife is a chubby lady named Marguerite who runs a local grain co-op in the bottom floor of the house. She was super sweet and fed me lots of snacks and spoke to me slowly in Malgache and was just generally cool. Then there were the two “bonnes,” or girls who do all the domestic work around the house and in return receive a place to sleep and food to eat. Their names were Farisoa, who is 21, and Hainko, who is 25. They were incredible. So happy and always laughing. I wish we had a common language so we could have chatted for real. They found out that I like coffee and brought me coffee every day. SO SWEET. They also took me on walks and helped me menasha lamba (wash clothes) once they realized I had no idea what I was doing. Uh, I miss them already. Then there was Mamy, who is 27 and is the brother of Hainko. He was clearly really cool but our conversations really only consisted of “Marie!!” and then “Mamy!!” (pronounced like “Mommy!!”). Uh so great.

Yay, I got to speak with so many amazing people this week. I interviewed a total of 20 people and got to talk with so many others. One of my favorites was Madame Jacqueline who is the president of one of the two weaving associations in town. She showed me all the steps of silk making so now I am an expert. And also she is clearly magic, you can tell just by looking at her. I also got to visit the village of the descendants of the king, which is another incredibly isolated village within Faliarivo. We had to ask them for permission to visit days in advance and then brought lots of local vanilla rum as an offering. They told me the story of the King of Faliarivo, Ramonjamanana of which they have the original manuscript from the 1800’s (and of which they spilled rum on…). He was super powerful and gracious and had a palace with one hundred rooms (now just the foundation) and was the first person to learn how to read and write. He also has a GIANT tomb with lots of secret doors. O man it was the most beautiful little hamlet I have ever seen and I can only imagine was it looked like during his reign.

Now I am back in Ambositra living with Bako (so nice of her to take me in!!) and am compiling all of my research and writing my final paper for the semester. So close to being done with the semester I can almost taste it!! The 40 pages ahead of me are just a minor detail that I’m choosing not to give too much thought.

In other news, last night at dinner Bako asked me if pousses exist in America, referring to rickshaws. However, I though she was talking about bed bugs, which are also called pousse and was like, “YES. They are a MAJOR problem, especially in New York City. They’re impossible to get rid of and you have to use a ton of insecticide to kill them. They’re in all the hotels and movie theaters. It’s a HUGE epidemic. They’re spreading all over the place. My sister had them in her apartment. DISGUSTING!!” and Bako was like “…oh…does it cost money?” and I was like, “what, to kill them?” and she was like “god, no…to ride them” and then things clicked in my head hahaha.

Bako, My Translator

Tomorrow is market day in Ambositra and I’m gonna try to encourage Bako and teenage kids Lalandy and Ikajshdbaijsdb to visit the clairvoyant teenager here who died for two hours and came back to life and now can tell who is in heaven and who is in hell. Apparently both Michael Jackson AND Bob Marley are in hell. Huh.

Bako and her teenage Children

Miss you and see you all real soon!

Mairi

La nouvelle venue

 Whoa. Today was such an incredible day I have to record it. I made my first contacts with the first site I’ll be working at for my ISP. The town is called Anjoman’Ankona and is about an hour taxi-brousse ride outside of Ambositra. I’ll be researching 2km north with the people in the Faliarivo tapia forest (not sure if there village has its own name but I’m assuming it does. Guess I’ll find out!). Stanila (a Ny Tanintsika employee), Touavinah (awesome translator for the day and friend) and I left Ambositra at 7 this morning and got to Anjoman’Ankona at 8. We were scheduled to meet with the mayor but, alas things move slowly in this mora mora culture. So we decided to investigate the atelier de la soie down the road and then somehow ended up in Mm Jacqueline’s home. She is a silk maker and a weaver and showed us basically the whole process. Yay!! So cool!! Then the mayor came and it was time for us to meet. He is actually the joint mayor, having just retired a week ago and getting ready to hand the torch over to the deputy mayor. The point of the meeting was really just to say hello and ensure them that my intentions are pure. It went really, really great. He was this awesome oldish guy, taller than most Malagasy men and definitely more rotund. He was wearing a fleecey sweatshirt with fiercesome looking grey wolves, adding to his regal and omnipotent presence.

            Then the VOE of the Faliarivo village came and met us and I explained who I was and what I was doing all over again. They were all really awesome and seemed like good characters. They will be escorting us to the village from Anjoman’Ankona everyday, which I don’t know is totally necessary considering I’m (HOPEFULLY) bringing a guide but I’m just gonna go with it haha. I’m also gonna try to organize a focus session sometime this week with the VOE so hopefully they’ll be into it. One is named Jean-Claude and he’s a tiny tiny giggley giggley man who is possibly the funniest character I’ve met in Madagascar and also possibly an alcoholic. During our interactions with the VOE the mayor chimed in periodically in his booming mayor voice with a long-windedly beautiful sentiment about how we must treat the crazy American chick with respect and tell her everything we can because it is very important to the people and will bring good things, maybe one day someone will come and build schools and then Anjoman’Ankona will become a city that is revered and respected by all the people of the world. So yeah, there’s like totally no pressure or anything. Then they decided that it wasn’t safe for me to stay in the actual village soooo I’m gonna live with the mayor!!!! So incredibly nice!!! At least I think I am…I might also be living with the deputy mayor…I have no idea…but Jean-Claude it gonna meet us on Sunday when we arrive (me and my imaginary guide/translator, that is) and take us to our place of lodging.

            After our meeting with the major we walked through the town and stopped about every five feet to shake hands with everyone. He is literally the coolest mayor ever and clearly makes good things happen in the town and therefore everyone wants to shake his hand. I feel genuinely honored that he is letting me stay with him (at least I think he is…).  THEN he took us to a Peace Corps volunteer’s house! So basically everyone in town had been describing this fellow to us all morning and by that point we had his appearance down to a T. Like, I could have literally drawn this person with my eyes closed. A tall, African American man named Addi (Ahhh-dee) who is very, VERY fat. However, we got to the house and knocked on the door and were like “Salam – oh…” and had to stifle our giggle because Addi was actually a slender medium sized Jesus-look alike American with a shock of curly platinum hair and the palest skin I have seen in three months. Also his name is the significantly less exotic Eddy, short for Edward. Bahahaha hilarious. But he was so great!! And really freaked out to see a white person speaking English in his village. Apparently he’s doing a lot of work with the silk weavers there so help them sell their products and come up with business plans maybe? He’s also considering starting up an Alcoholics Anonymous for the town, which I though was pretty interesting. After we left we went and bought rice and duck eggs and cucumbers and invited ourselves back over for lunch hehe. I think we might have been the first guests he’s had haha. Oh yeah and on Sunday he’s hosting a showcasing kind of thing where all the weavers are gonna bring their things and then they’re gonna try to make a catalogue. So if I ever make it back to the town I’m gonna stop by yay!

            Also, little side note. It turns out the other vizaha, Annabelle, who works in Soatanana (the weaving village where I want to go during week two) wants to start researching eco-tourism development in Faliarivo also. Yeah, so basically the biggest challenge of this project (apart from obtaining useful information) is gonna be NOT creating or stirring up new problems and not messing it up for anyone who comes in after me. It’s proving to be really challenging though because it’s such a short-term project. It’s hard not to be distruptive. I’m gonna meet with her tomorrow though I hope to figure out how we can work together and how I can avoid stepping on her toes. Hopefully I can help get her research rolling…hopefully.

Time to go find a translator!

Love marmar

Google Map of Where Mairi Is

Ambrositra, Madagascar

This is the area where Mairi will be for the next month working on her independent study.

Two nuns and a legendary boxer walk into a bar…

Yay! My ISP might actually happen! This morning my mission was to scope out the office of Ny Taninstika and have a meeting with Ifalina. The whole ordeal took me about 4 hours start to finish, but it was a great success and I now know my way around the city better. However, Malagasy people are THE WORST at giving you directions and for some reason assume that when they give you landmarks that are about 2 miles apart along very windy roads you can’t get lost and then say things like, “Oh, it’s not far just like 5km or so.” “WHAT 5k?!?!” “Oh, I meant like 50 meters…” “Wait is it 5k away or 50 meters?” “You can’t miss it!” So basically my landmarks were a church, a sign, and a yellow building. Not kidding, I probably saw 10 yellow churches with signs along the way. So then I started asking for directions again. Some people were kinda helpful but then I decided to “step up my game” so to speak and made friends with two cute little nuns who then proceeded to keep me company on my mission. They didn’t really know either, it turned out, but things worked out find because then some random dude skidded to a halt on his motorcycle in the middle of the road right in front of us. It turned out to be their good friend/ Muhammad Ali’s doppelganger.  After a brief discussion between the nuns and Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Ali’s face lit up. He knew where the office was!!! Then I broke the last cardinal rule of the program and hopped on the back of Muhammad Ali’s motorcycle and we drove off into the sunset, and by that I mean down the street 500 feet to the Ny Taninstika office.

Everyone at the office was really nice and I learned everybody’s name and then subsequently forgot them despite intensive repetition. It turns out Ifalina speaks English, which is GREAT for my project but not so great for my French skills…The meeting went really well, except for the fact that the theme of my project is to develop sustainable tourism strategies in the Faliarivo forest and she wasn’t aware that it needed more development…awkward. However, I can still look for ways where they can improve and grow and also collect local opinions, which is something they should probably be doing periodically anyway. I also met my translator this afternoon, who is Ifalina’s sister. She is super cool and speaks awesome English/ French/ German and is really fun and seems genuinely interested in the project. Way better than any translator I imagined getting haha. Only, she has a super complicated Malagasy name that of course I can’t remember…(Sidenote: she is no longer my translator…she got a better job offer…I am translatorless again but I met this person today who speaks really good English and seems like he is a legitimate guide, or in his words “I am not one of those spidey-full boys.” “What you’re not Spidey? OH you’re not spiteful. Well great!” He looks like my best option thus far)

On Friday I’m going to the forest and meeting the community as well as their mayor. Next week I’m hopefully gonna be able to survey people in the Faliarivo forest and collect their opinions on how they want their forest to develop and then the week after that I’m trying to go to Soatanana (the weaving village) to collect their opinions. I’m super worried because there is only 20 days and literally no time to mess up and I might not even be able to work with the weaving project, which is really the main reason why I decided to come here. Regardless, I know I’ll learn a lot even if my project is terrible haha. We’ll see.

I’m kinda torn because right now I’m staying in the hotel called Hotel du Centre, which was really just because the hotel next door never wrote down my reservation so I had nowhere to stay the first night BUT it’s turned out to be a gem. The only thing is it’s a little bit pricy. However, it’s owned by an ADORABLE group of elderly Chinese people and they’ve been SO incredibly kind. Last night the 3pm thunderstorm was particularly severe and the hotel lost power and one of the owners came and brought me a candle and matches (which was also slightly worrisome, because, well, fire…)!!! So nice! Today they gave me really thorough direction to the (which actually were not helpful AT ALL but really really thoughtful nonetheless) to the office and even gave me a shiny tourist map. Plus, they are also a pharmacy and sell funny miracle cures, like Spirolina, Madagascar blue-green algea that is part plant, part bacteria, part animal…don’t ask me. It cures everything – indigestion, cancer, you name it. Clearly they are very nurturing and good-hearted people so I think I might just decide I’m going over budget and stick with them. Tonight or tomorrow I’m gonna eat at the restaurant on the first floor so I guess that might tip the scales one way or another. 

Trick or treat, smell my feet…

Happy Halloween!!

So today I stepped in a huge pile of poop. People poop. In sandals. It happened right after I had taken a nap on the taxi-brousse and then got out during a bathroom break. I now understand the importance of remaining vigilant and replacing contacts with a fresh pair before exiting a parked taxi-brousse. Lord there was so much poop. It’s as if all the taxi-brousse drivers in Madagascar had a convened and declared these clusters of bushes as the national pooping grounds. Sweet Jesus was that place a warzone; generous brown landmines covered the hillsides, camouflaged by a smattering of broad, freshly fallen leaves…In a moment of weakness I rubbed my eyes, foggy from napping on the early morning taxi, and then BAM. The second it happened I immediately flashed back to my little kid self stepping in a cow pie in those nice clean white sandals I used to own, being horribly traumatized as my dad hosed off my foot. This was SO much worse.

            Thankfully though, I was not alone. Stu and Amanda took the same taxi-brousse as me (today is the first day of our independent study projects where we all split up and do research on our own) and were there to laugh with me about it after I disinfected my foot and said GOOD RIDDANCE to my sandals. Stu pointed out that this is probably just one of those things that has to happen periodically for a person to get rid of all their bad luck, so in the greater scheme of things, the fact that I stepped sandal-footed in a steaming pile of people poo on the first day of ISPs actually bodes well for the project as a whole…Thanks Stu.

            Nonetheless, I made it safe and sound to Ambositra, where I will be staying during my ISP. I really really like it. I think it might actually be my favorite town I’ve been to yet. There are about 30,000 people and the roads are nicely paved. There’s not that much traffic or crowds and it’s also the artisanal/ handicraft capitol of Madagascar. All of the people I’ve encountered so far have been exceedingly nice, which bodes well. My pousse-pousse driver carried me and ALL of my bags to the hotel for just 1,000 ariary (I gave him 2,000 because it was uphill and I’ve also been eating a lot of pain au chocolats lately) without even trying to overcharge me. So kind. Also I’ve only been called vizha like 5 times since being here. Incredible!! It’s too late/ rainy to wonder around now but I’m gonna use tomorrow to get myself situated. On Wednesday I’m meeting all the staff of Ny Taninstika (if I find the office that is…) ad will try to figure out what the heck I’m gonna do with my project. They all seem really great so far and I’m so excited to get the opportunity to (hopefully) contribute some good work to their projects. On Thursday I’ll be going out to the sites where I’ll be conducting research and meeting the communities. I hope they like me!!

So before leaving we all got really nervous (obviously) and so all 24 of us decided to write affirmations for everyone (which are basically like anonymous compliments that make people feel awesome about themselves) to take with us on our ISPS. It turned out so great and was really nice considering the entire group has been communicating via nothing but “indri call” (the coolest lemur known to man) ever since we say them in Ambolobe the other day (here’s an idea of what all our conversations sounded like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGdVz8VEQ-M

Affirmation Highlight:

“You are the definition of cool.”  (Agreed.)

Rural Village Stay

Host Family

Bubbles

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