Thanksgiving!!!

The fabulous female quad of the west met up for an early Thanksgiving...and it was perfect! That's Tara, me, Lauren, and Lucy with our feast!!! We all brought stuff and had a suprisingly traditional meal: Lauren brought, killed, and cooked the chicken (a turkey was too expensive and too much!) and the mashed potatoes, Lucy brought stuffing mix, cranberry sauce, gravy mix, and pumpkin pie mix from the states. Tara provided us with shelter, kitchen, veggies from her garden, and I brought all the rest of the vazaha needs from Majunga on my way through. And! we even were able to share our meal with a vahiny (visitor), a tour guide for Holland that was in Katsepy waiting for a car headed further south. It was really a fabulous, tender and special day.
Just like at home, although the meal was amazing and delicious, the best part was spending time with "family." Lucy and I met up in Mahajunga Thursday evening, stayed the nite at the worst hotel...cause our fave was booked...ran around getting stuff Friday morning in time to catch the Ferry across the bay to Katsepy. When we arrived, we settled into the twin bungalow across from Tara's (the charge gifted to us, because her counterpart said that we were "family" and family doesn't pay to stay...nice!). Then we walked to the market, which is tiny! Had a snack and chatted with people. Katsepy has the most amazing little sweet breads!!!!! Oh my goodness! Mokary, Gudru gudru, Fleurs, Mofo bolls...oh my gosh! ahhhhh!!!! I want it all in my mouth right now! (I would not have lost 10 lbs if I were living in Katsepy...) We made coconut fish with coconut rice for dinner along with chips and salsa! (which means we made tortillas and then we made them into chips...eating well is so much work here!)
Saturday, we work up to a cool rainy day. WHAT!? It was actually a really nice change because when I say cool I mean like 75. But for once in a very long day I spent my day not dripping sweat! So nice! We spent the morning and afternoon wandering around, and working with Tara. First to her tree nursury, a project with the students of the town, reforestation, yay! Second, we met her counterpart, the Senator-Farmer. He is an amazing man...so incredible brillant. someone in PC said if there were more people like him here, Madagascar would be a completely different country. Anyway, we checked out Tara's rice paddy, wow. We checked out her garden, not so hot. It flooded with the rain so we picked all the produce we could salvage and transplanted her young plants. The best part was being with the people she farms with everyday. Seeing how much they love her is something I can't describle. Her life and work here is beautiful. Environmental education and conservation is so important in Madagascar...and I wish you could see the way people respond to her and her dedication to her community and work. It is beautiful. USAID and other NGOs mass edu projects are never really going to affect these peoples lives, but dedicated Peace Corps volunteers can...one rice paddy, one village at a time. wow.
Third, we went to Tara's EEP English Club. We taught them, It's sunny, It's rainy, It's windy, It's cold, It's hot! It was fun. And then we taught them "rain rain go away..." So much more fun than my classes...cause it was just fun! Mostly...you can tell the kids just love Tara and it is an hour every week that they know Tara will play with them. Then we returned home to start cooking our feast! It took about 2 hours altogether and we all agreed it was the least stressful Thanksgiving we have ever experienced. And it was clearly the best meal we have had in country...and do worry, we were all ridiculously full when we finished eating! Lovely. that is how I will describe the weekend. everything was perfectly lovely!
As of now, I am going to grab some lunch here in Majunga and then head home to Marovoay. Of course last week was exam week...so I have boookaaa work to do! 300 exams to grade...and I only got through about 30 this weekend so far. Ugh...not to mention still planning the weeks lessons and exercises. Hmmm. I see a few late nights ahead of me! But that is all part of life. :D
I have about 3 weeks at site before I head out again...We have our In-Service Training in Montasoa (aka PC summer camp) the 3rd week in December and then I am headed up North to Antalaha for Xmas time with friend. They call the road the "trail of tears." It will be an adventure for sure! I am sure there will be an epic blog post about it in January...so stay tuned! In the meantime, I am hoping this cooler weather sticks around for a few days...it is such a nice change! Next weekend I have plans to go to the national forest near me, Ankarafansika, and see the lemurs, tourtiouse, crocodiles!? and other animals and plants! Also, I am going to bake cookies and make some candies to give to people for xmas...to share my traditions of sugar-overload with them! I have a long list of people I want to give stuff to, but we'll see how motivated I am after an hour or two with the peace corps oven....ha ha ha.

24th Birthday Peace Corps Madagascar Style!!!

I am happy to report that I had an amazing birthday. In fact, I can’t actually remember when I have had such a fun birthday in recent years…maybe it is because when you are living abroad in the third world having expectations for anything can just lead to serious disappointment, but my day was amazing.

1^st of all: I am in Mahajunga which is such a cool city!

2^nd: I’m here with Peace Corps people…sometimes I wonder how so many very different people can get along, but shared experience accounts for A LOT!

3^rd: PRESIDENT OBAMA!!!! Wow. Amazing. Seriously the best beginning to my birthday ever. We all got up at 5:30 and went down to the Hotel Baobab. It’s a super nice hotel, with a plasma (what!?) screen TV in their lobby and we drank overpriced coffee and ate Magnums at 6000AR a pop! (whoa! That’s like what I spend in 2 days at site…) But it was so amazing and great!

4^th: I’m basically on vacation right now…so I spent my day wandering around Mahajunga visiting all of the cute little tourist shops that PCVs can’t afford…but it doesn’t hurt to look right!? I had an espresso and palmier and not a single person bothered me while I enjoyed it, which is basically a miracle!

5^th: PIZZA, ICE CREAM AND WINE! We splurged for my birthday and it was delicious!

Thanks to all of you who sent me messages! It just added to the great day I had here! Love you all!

Pics from the President's Visit to Marovoay

My Malagasy Vacation.

Work? what is that?! I sure don't know! I walked home the other day from my students seemingly never ending “kilalao” (game) with my neighbors joking about how little work the teachers of the CEG have been doing since the school year started. Me included. The President, Marc Ravelomanana, came to Marovoay this week and instead of studying every afternoon the past two months, the students have been preparing a show for him. I wonder how the president would feel to know that students, who he came to recognize, have only been in class sometimes since the school year commenced preparing for his visit...
When the practice first started, I was informed (by my students, not the administration, surprise surprise) that there were no 4 pm classes. Students were to report to the stadium to practice their “show.” Cool! I thought. I'm all about the performing arts, what a great activity, even though it was taking class time away from half of my classes! Initially, I was told the show was planned for the 10th of October, but no one would tell me what the show was exactly about. So the week of the tenth arrived, I ask students, teachers, administrators, friends: what is going on the 10th? what time is the show? No one knows...surprise, surprise. So like almost everything here, I never have all the necessary information...over the course of all this, sometimes there actually were afternoon classes, other times not with no rhyme or reason to it. I asked Bonne to keep me posted about when the “show” was and when we had class and when we didn't. The afternoon of the 9th, I had given up that anything was happening the 10th, and then the Surriviant came to class announcing that students were to arrive at 7am dressed in clean, pressed uniforms, the Ministry of Education was coming. Bonne told me there would be Kibary (Malagasy speech) and more talking. It will be boring, don't bother coming. Awesome.
But, after the 10th the kids continued missing afternoon classes to practice the “ballet.” I was provided with new information: the President is visiting Marovoay! (I thought to myself: I'll believe it when I see it!)
...It happened. I went for the big day. The big HOT day of the President's arrival. All dressed up = not cool, and I mean temp wise. Oh man...and crammed into a stadium with too many people too. I wore super-suncreen, carried an umbrella (the fashion for women here...oh la la), and sat in the shade the entire time and I still got sunburned from the reflection off the ground, that is how INTENSE the sun is here. Madame Soa and I arrive at about 9:30 and of course the government caravan didn't arrive until about 12:30! Ela-be! (very late!) and of course I forgot my book...so i was hot and bored!
But the kids were great. They performed about a 20 minute routine. Choreographically, it was not a wonder, but 1) it was choreographed by 7 male PE teachers and 2) they had to be able to teach it to a few hundred kids. I actually think that in 6 weeks time, it was pretty impressive. (It would have been hard to get that many American kids to do so much running and arm movements with the right beat!) So all the kids run out and they are wearing red, green, or white and they form the Malagasy flag. Then they move formations and make the island of Madagascar with students as the waves in the Indian Ocean and Mozambique Channel, and then the group of girls wearing short little skirts who do a lot of hip swiveling through the whole show run out to be all the regional capitals on the map...it was pretty cute. The rountine moves on and 8 different groups rotate around, and each do a sampling of the dances to the music from each region. It was really great and definitely the highlight of the “fety” (celebration), certainly not the kibary from each of the Ministers and President...it is really unnecessary for 12 people to all give basically the same speech when it is 100 degrees out and past lunch time (and let me tell you the Malagasy take meal time seriously!) I didn't actually make it the end of the fety, at 3pm I was too hot and hungry to stay any longer. I went home, wrapped myself in my lamba, and ate and read on my lamaka(straw mat) outside of my house.
So here is the state of my work life here: Six weeks of school have passed and I have taught about 2.5 weeks of lesson material. And I have had to fight for it! I've been making students study on Saturday,(I'm so mean, I know!) trying to keep the class sections on the same lesson, since there is usually class at 2 but not at 4. Saturday classes mean that lots of students don't show up and therefore don't learn the material and there are no classrooms available during the week to hold classes...I'm at this crossroads of needing to stick with the national curriculum, which is huge! and of needing to actually teach in a way that students understand and can actually learn. By biggest issue: two hour classes, once a week. It's almost a joke. Who can learn anything really in 2 hours, once a week without textbooks and materials to aide students outside of class... and right, that certainly doesn't exist in this country! The only resource to learn and study must be copied from the blackboard into a notebook that usually is wrought with copying mistakes and errors...so what is a Peace Corps volunteer to do, but role with the punches...
So that's where I'm at. I'm on my first official school “vacation” - Vacance Touissant – but hardly feel like I've worked enough or taught enough for the first bimester to be done...but alas, it is. I am reworking my whole “scheme du clase” figuring out how to get though all the required material when I am essentially 4 weeks behind right now! Arg! My favorite part of this situation...I seem to be the only teacher who is annoyed and upset about six weeks of missed classes. My co-workers have been enjoying their afternoons off, relaxing at home and not stressing about covering the curriculum material like me! Clearly, I am not “tamana” (adjusted) to the “fomba ny asa” (the culture of work) here in Madagascar. Which is work when there is work and relax when there isn't....I feel like I've spent the last 2 months at site relaxing and I'm ready to get down to business! My frustrations are met with a big “mazoto anao!” (You are motivated!) And for a woman, unless this refers to housework, it is kind of an insult. I'm trying to strike a balance between finding projects that are 1) useful and necessary to my community, and 2) move at a crawl (which drives me crazy, but doesn't threaten the way things work here and alienate people from working with me; cause “it's not development work if you are working alone.”)
Entonces, sigo luchando...(I continue struggling...in Spanish. *I really do enjoy the people and culture here, but honestly I do really miss Latin culture and it makes me sad that my Spanish is getting pushed behind Malagasy which I will never use again once I leave here! frustrations, frustrations.)

Dear Ms. Burns and Class....

**Peace Corps has a project connecting volunteers with American students and I write to my best friend Carolyn's class in the Phx area about my life and work as a Peace Corps volunteer in Madagascar. I thought it might make an interesting post...a little taste of the challenges of education here. **


October 31, 2008

Dear Ms. Burns and Class,

Salama Dahoalo! (Hello All! – sa-la-ma da-hoo-loo)

I am just finishing my sixth week of school here in Madagascar. It is hard to believe that so many weeks have already gone by and yet, I feel like I have not taught near enough of the curriculum material that I am supposed to cover for the cinq-eme grade level! In the letters that you all sent me in August, many of you asked about the differences between school in the United States and in Madagascar. The answer is: they are very, very different! The challenges of education here start way up in the highest part of the government. Madagascar is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. The current President here, Marc Ravelomanana, has great and far reaching plans for developing the nation and making it a world trading partner, increasing industry and trade, as well as for improving education. But the issue in the developing world where money is so scarce, is that more energy is put into making money, like trade, and less into education which takes a lot of money. And honestly, there just isn't enough money here to things well.
At home, in the US, we all pay taxes to the government to ensure the workings of our country, states, counties, and cities. This money goes to everything from building and maintaining roads, ensuring clean water, sewer systems, efficient mail services, quality public education for all, the operations of government offices, as well as various social services provided by local, state, and federal government to help people. With exceptions, the United States is a very efficient and prosperous nation. Here in Madagascar, it's a fact of life that most people live without the amenities we consider as basic and necessary. Almost no one has water inside of their house, but carry it from pumps wells, rivers or lakes around their neighborhoods. Many people still live with no electricity, this means they have no refrigeration for food, they cook their meals on fires or with charcoal, and students must study by candlelight each night. There are not government resources for the poor or the hungry because that is how you would classify the majority of the population. However, I would have to say that that daily life is not a struggle for the Malagasy people, because they have been living this way for many years. They are used to it, it is normal. But life is certainly not easy.
For me, I still live a very privileged life. I have plenty of money and food to live well, electricity, medical care, a job, etc. But I spend a lot of time thinking about the “world” I will return home to the United States in a few short years, and to all the amenities that I took for granted there: my indoor plumbing and running water, electricity 24 hours a day, full kitchen, paved roads, public transit, grocery stores, and countless other things.
What I am getting at, is that education is fundamentally different because the governments and countries that the school systems operate in are so fundamentally different. I have no doubt that the government here in Madagascar is doing good work to improve the lives of the Malagasy, but there is just so much to be done that every step of development seems too little too late. In many ways it seems that the structure and way of life here is maybe 70 to 100 years behind our way of life in the United States. As a consequence, education is unfortunately not at the highest priority. Here there just isn't enough money and resources to do it right, yet.
For example at my school, there are just enough teachers to teach all the required classes, but each class has 60+ students in it! Also, there simply are not enough classrooms at my school! Every classroom is full from 6am til noon and then from 2pm until 6pm. And even with that there isn't enough classroom time to comply with the national cirriculum. For example, students need 3 hours per week to complete the annual English curriculum, ideally a two hour class to focus on lesson material and a one hour class to focus on exercises. I see each section of cinq-eme for only two hours once a week. NOT ENOUGH! It is really challenging to spend enough time teaching material and still leave time for students to get to practice the material and do activities.
Aside from not enough space and time for classes, there are literally no resources for students and teachers to utilize. Text books do not exist here. This is how students learn: for each class, students have two notebooks, an exercise cahier and a lesson cahier. Teachers write on the blackboard, the entire lesson and students copy it. Teachers write out exercises on the blackboard and students copy them and then do them. Not only is there not enough time in the week to teach with the limited classrooms available, but students are basically handwriting their own textbook which is incredibly time consuming! There is no copy machine or computer at my school. To type out additional resources and make copies for students to have is just not feasible. For me to give my students a one page copied resource it would cost me 37,000 Ariary out of my personal money, which is about 9,000 Ariary more than I spend a week on my living expenses!
Needless to say, teaching and educating students is challenging here. Also, students have been trained that when they come to class they sit, copy, do exercises and make corrections. The speak quietly when called on because it is not okay to make a mistake and many teachers will publicly ridicule a student for a mistake, with the rational that the student will never make that mistake again, remembering the humiliation. (Rule #6 of my classroom: Mistakes are okay. Everyone makes them, they are how we learn new things.) Also, these students have never been asked to do group work and activities as a way to learn, and trying to teach these tools for the first time to 12 to 16 year olds is a challenge all in itself.
The American education model is very much about creativity, problem solving and thinking skills. The Malagasy education model is unfortunately not. The Ministry of Education is supposedly changing the model of education to a more American and European model of problem solving in 2010. I think this is amazing and a right step for the Malagasy, but there are bigger problems to address before sending out the new curriculum books. Like training teachers. Very few teachers here, aside from Lycee (high school) teachers have a college education. How can the already untrained teachers of Madagascar teach a problem solving approach to learning when they themselves don't possess the skills and are not going to be given the opportunity to learn? But reprinting a curriculum and sending it to schools is more economical than prioritizing having enough classrooms, books and materials for students to reference and learn with! I whole heartedly know that the government wants to educate the students of Madagascar well, but right now it's like trying fill a bucket with a teaspoon. It's possible, but it takes a lot more work and time than it could if you could just get a cup or moved the bucket under the pump. It is the sad fact that things will continue to progress slowly in this nation because education is not given the adequate resources.
To these ends, I am trying to be positive with other teachers and talk about what we can do, like be positive and excited about education for our students. To be the best teachers we can be, prepare lessons to the best of our ability, and try to reach every student.

Keep up the good work with your studies at home!
Veloma! (Goodbye!)
Miss Whitney