Something New

It’s been a busy couple of weeks since I got back from Manakara. I finally have a project that is getting going, so that has kept me busy at site. 

I’m working with four other volunteers to plan and organize a girls camp to bring girls from our sites on the East Coast, to the capital. We’re going to focus on health and education through visits to the University the American Embassy and some health NGOs. Its going to be a really great project if we can pull it off. However, like everything in this country, things are complicated.  For example, timing. This was/is a huge issue because I had to start advertising before I knew if we had funding. So I crossed (and am still crossing) my fingers and hoping we get funding so the thing I’ve been advertising actually happens.

 Since each volunteer can only bring four girls, its very competitive. All expenses for the girls are paid, and to select the girls, we have an application that will be read by a selection committee. However the fact that its an application process is a new concept for many people at my site. Most things are decided in informal ways (i.e. the mayor decides, the people with money decide, anyone important decides…you get the point). The fact that girls are going to be chosen based on their essays is a new idea. When I went to talk to the mayor about the project he said, ‘So, you’ll choose a girl from my house, right?…’ and when I told the head of the village that the girls had to fill out the essays themselves he said, ‘but they have bad handwriting…can’t the parents do it for them?’ 

 I also made the mistake of telling a few girls about the camp before it was publicized in town…this backfired because within 5 minutes of mentioning a trip to Tana, all the kids in the neighborhood were saying ‘Corey is taking Litisia to Tana for free!’ I had Litisia’s dad come to my house (seriously 3 minutes later) asking when and why I was taking his daughter to Tana. Never underestimate how fast word spreads in a tiny village…

So that’s the news with my new project…I go back to my site in the next few days, and I’m interested to see all the rumors that have been started about the project in the week and a half I’ve been gone…

Pickpocket 1 Corey 0

I was recently in Manakara (a town on the South East coast of Mada) for a malaria training with PC. After three days of travel, I arrived on Monday and met up with the other volunteers participating. A group of 15 of us, PCVs and staff, went to the 'best pizza place in town' for dinner, and all was well until I went inside to pay. When I opened my purse my wallet was missing. Weird. So I went outside to look around, and my friend picked it up off the ground. Weirder. And then I opened it to find that all my money and ATM card was gone. Damn. I had managed to go a year without being pickpocketed, but it finally happened...

The whole situation was strange though. First of all, there was both a fence and bushes in between where I was sitting and the street, there were 15 of us at dinner and no one saw anything, my purse was a few inches from me at all times, and the restaurant had a guard out front. But despite all that, I was still robbed. Luckily I had taken out most of my money before going out, so only about $15 was stolen, but the ATM card was a bigger deal. I never thought the pickpocket would actually use the card, but the thought of having to go through the beaurocracy at the bank was a terrible thought.

Luckily my PC bosses were still around, so they helped figure out what to do. The owner and guard thought they knew the pickpocket...so the owner said he would watch out for him and try to talk him into giving my stuff back. The owner, a really nice French man, felt so bad and said he would call me if he heard anything. So I called our security officer and then went back to the hotel since there was nothing else to do that night. The next morning we started our training, but I skipped out on a few sessions to go to the police department. I was really lucky that I happened to be with Peace Corps during this whole fiasco because I couldn't have done it by myself, and it was nice to have a PC car and driver to take me to run errands, not to mention help me speak Malagasy. Going to the police and the bank made me realize how much Malagasy I still don't know! I couldn't answer 90% of the questions I was asked, so thanks PC for being my interpreter. 

 

 Anyway, I spent about an hour and a half at the police station handwriting a declaration, taking it to make a photocopy across the street, watching the police officer type my declaration into the computer, having him print it out and then use a typewriter (they still exist here!) to add stuff to the printed form...(I have a few suggestions for increased efficiency here...but thats a whole other story)

From the police station we went to the bank where I was expecting to spend another 4 hours. But surprisingly, the bank was the quickest stop! I filled out a form, they said I would have a new card in 20 days, and in 10 minutes I was done. From there we stopped by the restaurant where I talked to the owner to check on the status of finding the pickpocket. Still nothing...But later that night I was at dinner and I got a call from the restaurant owner. He had found the robber, the robber had confessed to taking some money, and he gave it back. He also said that he had never taken my card, but pulled it out, decided not to steal it, and put it in a different pocket. Sure enough, I opened an unused pocket in my wallet, and my ATM card was there! (A little embarrassing that I had it the whole time...) I was pretty happy at this turn of events, but the only issue was that I had already cancelled the ATM card...so I had to go back to the bank the next day.

Expecting the bank to still have the report from the day before, I planned to just tear it up. But, uncharacteristically, the bank had been super fast and had already sent my report to Tana. So I had to write up another report explaining what had happened...meanwhile everyone in the bank was asking questions about everything and offering their own advice for avoiding pickpockets. By the time I was done in the bank, everyone had been filled in on my entire story, from what I had to dinner to how I got my money back. Overall, it turned into a pretty funny story, and considering the pickpocketing stories from other PCVs, I got really lucky.

Operation Smile 2012



First kid out of surgery!

I just finished helping out with an Operation Smile mission here in Madagascar, and it was one of my favorite experiences here in Madagascar . For those that don’t know, Operation Smile is an international NGO that works in developing countries performing free surgeries on children with cleft lips and cleft palates. The team of 60+ doctors, surgeons, anesthesiologists, child therapists, photographers, speech therapists, nurses, etc. arrived on August 7, for a week and a half of surgery. They brought all of their own medical and surgical equipment, computers, and medicine. Most of the Op Smile volunteers came from South Africa, but there were others who came from Egypt, Jordan, UK, US, and Canada. A group of 21 Peace Corps volunteers helped the team with translation as well as other random tasks that needed to be done. The work was exhausting, but one of the most worthwhile things I have done here.



The Op Smile mission began with screening, which required all families of children with cleft lips or palates to come to Tana and go through an entire day of visits. Kids visited nurses, doctors, surgeons, dentists, speech therapists and photographers over two days to establish whether or not the child was eligible for surgery with Op Smile. About 280 families showed up for screening, and in the end, 136 were selected for surgery. Needless to say, the two days of screening were LONG. We started work at 7am, which meant leaving our PC house at 6am, and waking up before that. And the days didn’t end until after 7pm. But despite the stressful two days of screening, everyone kept a really positive, upbeat attitude. Doctors and surgeons walked around in face paint and bunny ears, and there was always a volunteer blowing bubbles in the halls, or playing with the children waiting in line.




Before surgery.

Throughout the Op Smile mission, the PC volunteers stayed at the PC house in Tana, although one night it was overbooked, and the 20 of us were kicked out of our house. We planned to get a cheap hotel downtown for a night, but we had a nice surprise when we showed up at work to find out the Lion’s Club had arranged rooms for us at the Carlton hotel, a 5 star hotel where the rest of the team was staying. It was culture shock for sure, but a good kind. After work on Friday we sat by the pool, took long hot showers, had a drink in the bar, watched BBC in English and some people even worked out in the gym. It seriously felt like we had stepped out of Madagascar from the minute we entered the hotel. We had a whole afternoon to hang out, and then we stopped by an Operation Smile cocktail party hosted by the South African embassy. After the cocktail party, about 30 of the Operation Smile staff came out with the PCVs, and it was a pretty fun night. With a group of 40, we took over every bar and restaurant we stopped at, and to top it all off, we got to go back to a 5 star hotel and sleep on the most comfortable beds in the country. (Thanks Lion’s Club!)



After surgery.

Saturday was announcement day, and families found out if/when they were eligible for surgery. While announcements were being made, Op smile set up their pre/post-op wards and operating rooms to be ready for the first patients on Monday. The week of surgery began on Monday, and it was a crazy, hectic, first day as everyone tried to figure out where and how to be useful. Surgeries began at 8, and each of the 6 surgeons had 5 surgeries a day. The first day, surgeons were working until 11pm, but by the second day everyone had gotten into a rhythm and were much quicker. While surgeons were operating, dentists were pulling teeth and building obdurators (?), speech therapists were working with patients, child life therapists were playing with kids and calming them down before surgery, and student volunteers were visiting local orphanages to teach about health and talk about Operation Smile. The team kept busy! As translators, we got to work at different stations and help explain to the patients and their families what was going on. It was stressful at times, but it also felt really nice to be useful, and be able to communicate with the families. I worked at a variety of stations, including child life and the post/op ward. In child life we had to play with the kids as they waited for surgery, and try to make sure they were calm before leaving their moms and going with the doctors into surgery. In the post-op ward we helped distribute medicine and check in patients who had just gotten out of surgery. There were also a few days where I helped translate for nursing students who were helping out for the day and learning about Operation Smile. Since that was an unexpected job, I wasn’t prepared for all the technical language I would need to translate how to perform a cleft palate surgery. I got the point across as best as I could, but I was a little worried when I saw the nursing students taking notes on what I was saying. I have no idea if they actually understood what I was saying….but I tried! On Thursday we got to observe the beginning of surgery and watch the kids get put under anesthesia. Even though I had seen my fair share of Grey’s Anatomy, seeing it in person was way more interesting.


Operation Smile PCVs at the final banquet.

Friday was the last day of surgery, and by the afternoon, surgeries were done and everything was packed up to be shipped back to South Africa. To celebrate the successful mission (136 new smiles!) there was a banquet at the Carlton hotel. Peace Corps volunteers don’t usually have an excuse to get dressed up, but tonight was the night! Walking into the banquet felt like walking into a wedding reception, but it was super fun. Open bar, buffet dinner, dance floor and live band. When musical chairs began and then the YMCA came on, I was pretty sure I had accidentally walked into someone’s wedding party! But no, just an Operation Smile banquet. It was a great way to end the week, and everyone was happy and emotional about the successful mission. It really was amazing to see the before and after pictures of these kids, and to see how much their lives could change in a 45 minute surgery. I’m lucky to have been able to help with this amazing mission, and I hope I can help out again when they return in March!

Habitat

My summer is turning out to be busier than I expected. Two weeks ago I got to help out with a Global Village Habitat for Humanity build in Moramanga. There were 23 volunteers from the US, Australia, Singapore, and Canada who arrived for 10 days of building houses. The group was an interesting mix of retired business people, a working dentist, a military guy on leave, a contractor, a maintenance person and a random college girl. But this was the most well traveled group of people I had ever met. One of the older volunteers told me he had been to 88 countries, and was still going! He was at least 75 years old… There was even a returned Peace Corps Volunteer who had served in Pakistan in 1961, he was 82. I hope that I can still be traveling at that age.

Myself and six other Peace Corps volunteers helped out as translators, and brick carriers, and kid entertainers, and tourguides. We thought we would be just translating, but were happily allowed to help with everything else…sometimes telling three year olds not to stand on a pile of bricks, and other times asking how our bricklaying was looking. I thought the building was the best part though. Getting to talk to the homeowners and see the walls of a house go up within a week was such a nice change from normal Peace Corps work. Throughout the week we rotated between five different houses and got to do a variety of different things. Most of the jobs we could do were moving bricks, laying bricks, shoveling dirt, and entertaining the kids at each house. But compared to a normal day at site, I was happy for even the most mindless work. At least I felt productive! And it was a good workout to say the least. At the end of 10 days I actually felt like I had some arm muscle…a rare occurrence.

First few days at house 5

My best friend at house 2

Laying bricks at house 1

PCV Mada and RPCV Pakistan

Ribbon cutting at house 3

Another perk of the build was our accommodations. The church compound we were supposed to stay in was booked, so we ended up staying at the nicest hotel in Moramanga. And my friend Kim and I ended up with the suite on the top floor. King size bed, couches, flat screen tv and a bathroom bigger than my house at site. It was pretty amazing. When we first got to our room I ran and jumped onto the bed, expecting there to be a mattress…it was a painful surprise when I bounced off the wood planks that served in place of a mattress. It was interesting though, for such a nice looking hotel, there were some serious issues that we don’t usually have at the cheap hotels volunteers usually stay in. For example, one morning Kim and I work up to find our bathroom had flooded….water was leaking out of the walls. Another night someone’s door lock completely broke and hotel staff had to climb in through the balcony. Another room had their balcony door fall out their balcony, and lots of others heard rats every night….I guess you can’t win them all. The hot showers were enough to keep me happy. I probably set a record for how many showers I took in a week…it was amazing.

We didn’t finish the houses by the end of the week, but most of them were very close. A few of them just had the roof and plaster left, or the flooring left. All except one house which was the least favorite of the group. The Malagasy workers who were in charge of house one didn’t like to work but would rather smoke all day and watch the vazaha carry bricks. So that slowed down the build. They also had interesting working technique. In one case they had to pull a wooden branch out of a brick wall which was holding up scaffolding. One end of the branch was significantly larger than the other, and they tried to pull that end through the small hole…It was clearly not going to fit. They didn’t try to switch directions, they brought over a huge sledgehammer and enlarged the hole. The whole house was shaking…and I’m wondering how long those walls are going to stand.

By the end of the 10 days everyone was pretty exhausted, but really happy with the progress we had made. Of the five houses, we had finished the walls of all of them, the rooves on some of them, and the floors on others. This was probably my favorite part of Peace Corps so far. The people, the work, the experience….it was a great 10 days. Another group is coming for a build in October, and hopefully I’ll be able to help out with that one, too.

One year ago...

...

I was in Philadelphia meeting my PC stage-mates for the first time, eating Philly Cheese steaks, and getting ready to leave for Madagascar. Now, one year later...I'm poking a living mouse with a stick which has conveniently gotten stuck to my glue trap and the floor a few inches from my bed. Glue traps are highly effective but really disgusting. Basically I covered a piece of cardboard with really sticky glue and waited for the mice to come. The first night I didn't get any...then night two I caught one. But I didn't realize it until I had climbed out of my bed and looked for my flip flops which were a few inches from something that looked like it crawled out of a sewer (if they had those here).

The problem with glue traps are they catch the mouse, but you have to kill it. And I've never had to kill a mouse before... When my dad would find them at our cottage, I would hide in my room until they were gone. And the one summer when Mere and I found a mouse in the house where she was housesitting, we managed to trap it in a closet with two cats. And then I didn't have to think about them anymore. But now I didn't have my dad to kill it, or a closet and two cats....so I could have hit it with a shovel like most volunteers, but that's gross. I didn't want to look at it or hear its high pitched obnoxious squeaking noise, so I got my speakers out and put on my ipod really loud to try to drown out the noise...and then I covered my broom with plastic bags so it wouldn't also get stuck to my floor. And then I covered the mouse with a piece of cardboard so I wouldn't have to look at it...and then I poked at it for awhile until it became unstuck and I pushed it onto another a piece of cardboard and threw it down my hill. I didn't even throw up. But unfortunately it landed face up, so everytime I went outside that day, the sticky mouse on the cardboard would taunt me. Eventually it 'disappeared'...which means either the kids got to it...or the chickens, or dogs, or who knows. But it was out of my house!

Corey 1, mice 0.

The next night I caught another mouse, but didn't realize it until I was sitting in my chair, happily eating my oatmeal, when I saw a sticky mouse tail under my shelves. So I had to start the whole ordeal all over again....loud music, broom covered in plastic bags, and holding back my nausea. I eventually got rid of this one too, but it was equally disgusting.

Corey 2, mice 0.

Now that I've disposed of two living mice in my house (both before 8am!), I feel like I can do anything! But I'm over the glue trap thing....I got rid of them. I'd rather hear them squeaking under my bed than try to unstick them from my floor. This whole experience makes me grateful for parents who kill mice, and cats. Nevertheless, I'm pretty sure I won.

By the way...

Things I wish pepole would tell me...'hey, today at 3 we're going to set the rice paddy behind your house on fire...'

Instead, I get to find this out on my own. I go to take a shower, and I come out 10 minutes later to find a 13 year old carrying a flaming torch through the rice paddy behind my house. Uhhh. Not a normal sight, so I was a little confused. I was reassured when I looked across the rice paddy to see a group of 3 year olds dancing in the smoke...if they weren't concerned, I didn't need to be. I think this is the next step after harvesting rice, but it would have been nice to have a warning.

Translations I'm Working On...

*Just because you have big speakers doesn't mean you have to use them to play the same three songs for 12 hours a day...I know they're there and I believe you that they work.

*Just because the tree by my shower blocks my solar panel for a few hours a day doesn't mean you have to chop the whole tree down

*Just because my window is open and doors are closed doesn't mean you should use my window as a door, especially while I'm napping. That's awkward.

*Just because the sun is up before 6am doesn't mean I want to be

*Just because there are 2 “walls” and a whole 6 inches between your house and mine, doesn't mean I can't hear everything you say, especially when you're recapping the whole conversation we just had