Manakory aby!!!

Its week three here in Madagascar, and I'm currently en route to my future home in the country for a short visit (assuming the cyclone has passed). I have been assigned to a village called Soavina (which means “to be blessed”) on the northeast coast of the island near a town called Mananara. This weekend I will be visiting Soavina for the first time.

So far, training in Anjozoro has been fun and challenging. The schedule has been hectic. We’ve built fences and started vegetable gardens. We started a tree nursery. We’ve learned several techniques for preventing soil erosion, and we’ve learned an improved rice farming method (SRI), which was originally developed in Madagascar by the local Malagasy. The training is awesome because we’re not only learning all kinds of great practical information, we’re also putting our new knowledge to good use in the local community. In addition, we’re learning all the terminology in Malagasy, and have each had to make individual presentations in Malagasy to the local community.

I love living the Malagasy life in Anjozoro with my precious host family. The village itself is small set in a highland landscape of rice fields and eucalyptus trees. In Anjozoro, the Peace Corps volunteers are practically celebrities. I’m living with a family of six, my host mom and dad, and four younger sisters (age 4, 9, 12, and 14). They have all been really great and so patient with me. I’m so grateful for them. The language barrier is the biggest challenge. It’s frustrating not being able to communicate with these sweet beautiful people who are taking care of me and letting me live in their home.

For now, I’m off to Soavina. I don’t know too much about it at this point. I’ll be moving there in May after training. So think good thoughts for me this weekend. I’ve been dreaming about my beach front property…. Maybe with a vanilla farm nearby…. And lemurs hanging out in the mango trees in my yard. Not really. Mostly I’m just looking forward to my very own private kabone (that’s Malagasy for “hole in the ground where you shit”). How glamorous, I know.

Oh, and just for the record…. I’ve been here for three weeks now, and have not received any mail. Where’s the love?

This is Helen, signing out from Madagascar. Check ya later….