After a few weeks at
site I headed to Tamatave to help with a medical mission. I managed to catch a
private taxi brousse which was great...until they told me I had to pretend to be married to the guy if the police asked...something about not having the right permits to be driving a non-family member? Who knows. Anyway...
I got to Tamatave and met up with a
medical team from the NGO Caring Response Madagascar Foundation and they needed
PCVs to help translate. It was a two week medical mission, the first week was
spent training Malagasy midwives and doctors and doing a practicum at the
clinic, and the second week was free clinics in rural areas. I got to translate
for pediatric consultations, ultrasound appointments, and other random things
that popped up . It was nice to feel useful, and I definitely learned a lot…
I also saw some pretty crazy things. Live birth...so messy. And then I saw a doctor milking a
baby boy. (True story! Apparently babies, regardless of gender, can grow
breasts from the hormones in breast milk, and therefore can be milked). One of
the doctors wanted to show my friend and I this…so she milked the baby boy. I
was supposed to explain to the medical student and the mother what was
happening…but the entire thing was lost in translation. It’s hard to explain in
Malagasy why its possible to milk a baby boy…I’m pretty sure the mother was
very confused.
I could only help them for a week because then I had to go to Tana for my one year
conference with my entire stage. One year into our service and our entire group
(27 of us) are still here! That is rare in PC so we felt
pretty good. And Peace Corps rewarded us with good food…The week of training
was really helpful and it was so nice to see everyone again. Back in Tana
we went out for lots of good food
(BAGELS AND LOX HAS COME TO MADA) and caught up on internet time. All good things. And now back to site for a few busy weeks until girls camp!
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