Emerald of the Isle

Written October 9, 2011
Manambaro

On Friday the 4th I got word that a package my parents had sent me had arrived in Fort Dauphin.  I was delighted, and I thought that Dawid, the postmaster, had told me that it’d get to Manambaro on Tuesday.  However, I must have misunderstood his Malagasy.  On Tuesday at the post office he gently informed me that, no, I would have to actually travel to Fort Dauphin to pay the customs fee and pick up the package.
    So I’ll take the first bush taxi in on Friday.  Luckily I also found out that Volunteers are allowed to come into the city more often than three days per month, as long as there’s a legitimate reason like picking up a package or meeting with an aid organization.  I doubt the same customs tax will apply to international letters, since there was no fee to receive them during training.
    In the meantime several pursuits have occupied my time.  The first is a duel of wits against the mouse that has taken to snuffling around my kitchen area.  I bought a rattrap at the market, but I haven’t been able to figure out an effective form of bait.  My next step is to buy boards and nail them to seal off the spaces under the interior doors that lead to the other half of the downstairs.  I keep thinking of my neighbor Tracy’s story about the US Park Ranger who would kill mice in his cabin by flinging his Bowie knife at them from across the room.  I kinda want to be that guy.
    And I might be soon!  Just yesterday I bought a hatchet at the market and discovered it’s weighted almost perfectly for throwing.  I practiced on the massive tree just outside my door, then reflected I should probably practice on dead trees.  Axe-throwing may become one of my main stress-relieving activities here.
    Not that there’s been much stress.  The days pass quickly, probably thanks to my two-hour siestas in the middle of them.  Every day it’s eggs for breakfast, salad for lunch, greens for dinner.
    But on Monday I’m beginning the biggest project I will have had since the Project HOPE blog.  I’m starting my Community Diagnostic Survey (CDS), a report intended to give me a clear picture of my town and its needs, strengths, weaknesses, etc.  I plan to interview a handful of key town figures, and do a brief door-to-door questionnaire for the rest.  It’d take a team of census workers to cover all of Manambaro in the month allocated for the report, so I’ve decided just to cover the third of the town where I live.
    I’ll also be able to break out my camera; the next blog post will have pictures.  Hopefully some really expositional shots showing the houses, fields, trees, and especially the people.  Just like in Niger, most Malagasy have a tendency to adopt a sober expression for the camera, which I love.  Smiles, unless they’re really candid and genuine, make photos seem frivolous.  But expressions of gravity, not too grim, just politely serious, are what I really love in my shots.
    This morning I arranged an interview with the mayor for next week.  He also gave me a CD containing the 2009 Plan Communal de Developpement (Development Plan for the Commune) in French.  A commune here is roughly equal to a county in the US.  This document will be invaluable for the CDS because it literally lists Manambaro’s strengths and weaknesses in the areas of Agriculture, Education, Health, etc.
    And I get to see the progression of ideas that led to my coming to Manambaro.  The town could have requested a SED Volunteer to help promote business here, an Environment Volunteer to help curb practices like slash-and-burn pasturage, or an Education Volunteer to bring a fresh perspective to the local school system.  But in the end they decided on a Health Volunteer, because the commune’s report concluded that it is most critical for the townsfolk to learn about basic preventative health practices.
    It’s very interesting to see my mission in this context, and to know that I really will be giving my neighbors what they need most.  Not money, not the English language, not even better crops.  But knowledge about simple things like hand washing, latrines, and the importance of mosquito nets. 
    Of course it’d be ideal for Manambaro to have the full set of Volunteers, Health, Education, Environment, and SED.  There is such incredible potential in this town and all the surrounding villages that it’s all too easy to imagine a future where this area is the jewel of all Madagascar.