Tuesday, April 6, 2010

5 April 2010

I’ve been at site for a little over two months now…can hardly believe it’s already been that long! I’m still helping with prenatal consultations and family planning twice a week, only I’ve started giving health talks on safe motherhood and reproductive health to all the women beforehand now that my Malagasy is a little better. I also help with baby weighing on Mondays and Tuesdays, and I’m still teaching at the local secondary school as well. I recently had a nice chat with one of the teachers from the primary school and it looks like I might be able to help out with health education there as well. I also found out that a project might be starting up in our town soon to build several latrines for public use (with government money no less), which I’m really excited about. Even though we have electricity and public taps around town, many people still don’t have latrines and use the woods instead. Then when it rains, the river is really dirty. Many people still wash dishes and bathe in the river, so one can easily imagine the hygiene and sanitation problems the situation causes. Hopefully I’ll be able to assist with the project and help it come to fruition.

I’ve also slowly been exploring more of the countryside on the outskirts of town where everyone farms rice. I’ve traveled with the SEECALINE (nutrition/baby weighing) lady to two nearby villages to weigh children under five and do some cooking demos on nutritious weaning foods. I’ve also walked with some friends to a village 2hrs away to visit with their relatives. The families who live out in the fields are always so friendly and seem genuinely excited to have visitors. Every time I’ve come back from the fields I’m laden with gifts: oranges, avocadoes, cucumbers, rice, coconuts…even a live chicken the last time (which one of my friends promptly sold for me to a passerby on the way back home, as I’m vegetarian and don’t know the first thing about raising chickens)! I can’t get over how nice everyone is here, sometimes.
The other day I rode my bicycle to explore some of the smaller towns just south of me. There are some more schools and a smaller clinic in one of the towns I passed, so I definitely want to go back soon to see if there’s any health programs I might be able to help with. Not only that, but I’ve been getting a little tired and overwhelmed with playing nanny for all the rambunctious neighborhood kids and so have consequently been making an effort to get out of the house more, although I still do enjoy them visiting from time to time. All joking aside though, I am always stunned by how beautiful this country is every time I go exploring around the area. The forests, rivers and mountains are breathtaking, and I still find it so surreal that Madagascar is actually going to be my home for the next two years.