Pre-Service Training (That's Happened)

Pre-Service Training..That's Happened*

Written on 8/30/2014

Most importantly, yesterday I was officially sworn in as a Peace Corp Volunteer [YAY!].
As we were listening to the speeches at our swear in ceremony, our Country Director Dee said that when she landed in her first country of service and heard she was a trainee she had the same thought I had....No no...I'm a volunteer! What was all the signing and testing and all the other things that had consumed so much of my time the four months before leaving the states?

But, now I know that I had a lot to learn. Pre-Service Training (PST) is almost impossible to explain. I feel as though most training consisted of sitting in rooms while a PowerPoint was read and doing group activity after group activity after group activity. Everyday was filled with information about language, education, health, safety, security, and probably a few other things that have now gotten lost in the mix along the way.
We spent a few weeks living with host families, learning about the culture and practicing new language skills. After that, we were living in the Training Center in Mantasoa. Living at the training center was an experience that was weirdly like a summer camp. We had breakfast, snack, lunch, and dinner intertwined with classes or other activities. Some days, it felt like every second of my life was scheduled - a challenging change for a recent college grad who was used to do everything the way I wanted when I wanted.

All and all though, I see how this experience, although taxing and exhausting, was a necessary part of this experience. I can tell by the way I accidentally say Malagasy words on the phone with my mom that I have learned the new language, the healthy habits that have become (almost) second nature, and my sometimes overwhelming knowledge of past security issues that I have learned way more than I could have anticipated in 3 months.

But now that that part of this experience is over, tomorrow I will move to my site and will get back to being an independent individual. Making my own meals, taking care of my own schedule and home, and hopefully meeting many new friends :).

*"That's Happened" was something the Training Manager said often when speaking of past experiences with other trainees....and now something the trainees volunteers say just as often.

Three Positive Things

Three Positive Things

Written on 8/18/2014

Two times a year Peace Corp sends out a magazine with whats happening within the Peace Corp Community and with helpful hints to making your years volunteering abroad as successful as possible.

In the last issue, which we actually received about a month ago, had a section about stress relieving techniques. On the list of possible activities was keeping a journal with three positive things that have happened each day. Although writing in a journal every night has been as much as a struggle as trying to blog about things happening in my life here....I decided I would take on the challenge of starting another journal.

My first time writing, I realized how challenging it was to think about the positive things that had happened throughout the day. Normally before bed, I was thinking about what I was going to do the upcoming day, or in the next few weeks, and sometimes even what I was going to do over the next few years. Writing three things that had happened that same day felt awkward.

After a few days, I realized that even throughout the day I was making mental notes of how great the moments I was in were. How beautiful it was that a little girl was coming up to me and showing me her English notebook from a class I taught and was so enthusiastic about having an English conversation with me. The wonderful conversations I had with people who I had just met a few months ago. The pure bliss that came from playing with nine puppies at once.

Doing this little thing each night before I went to bed not only made me lay a head full of positive thoughts down on my pillow, but had also helped me focus more on the present. Don't get me wrong, I still have had a few panicked thoughts about what I am going to do after these two years are over, but they've been happening a little bit less. Instead, I'm finding myself having a lot more moments of just being pleasantly pleased in the moment I am in.

Thanks Peace Corp Times!

The Ebola Virus Outbreak

Ebola Virus Outbreak & Being a Peace Corp Volunteer (in Training).

Written on 8/18/2014

Being abroad with limited internet access means I am the last to know most things, but because of Peace Corps multiple ways of communication, we were all notified of the cautionary evacuation of volunteers in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia due to the Ebola Virus outbreak in those countries.

Once my email updated I learned about the details that caused Peace Corp to decide to evacuate the countries. No Peace Corps Volunteers or Trainees had gotten sick, but many knew people in their community who were sick and some knew host country nationals who had passed away from the virus. The Peace Corp wanted to evacuate their volunteers to make sure everyone in country was kept safe and healthy.

Just a few days before hearing about this, we had done an exercise about teaching students reading comprehension in English using a passage about the Ebola virus. We learned how it spread through all bodily fluids and its symptoms included an excess of bodily fluids (i.e. Diarrhea). Because of limited resources, many countries do not have receptacles for bathroom needs (such as latrines) or ways to easily wash their hands (access to clean water).

My grandmother heard about the news and emailed my mother, who sent me a message on Facebook to notify me. For most news issues, I would've been the last to know, but luckily because of Peace Corps notification system, I was already prepared for my moms worried words. My mom wasn't overwhelmingly worried, but it did spark a conversation I wasn't expecting.

I told my mother that the things that can help prevent or contain the Ebola Virus (such as access to clean water for hand washing and receptacles for bodily fluids such as latrines) are things that even in Madagascar, I use everyday. But in some countries, due to limited resources, many people do not have access to both or one of those essential prevention techniques. My mother remarked on how amazing it is that these little things that we use without even thinking about it protect us everyday. Just another example of something millions of people take for granted every day.

And that conversation reminded me of why I felt it was important to volunteer abroad. Its true many people in America need assistance. But its also true that our country has more resources than many countries all over the world. This was just one basic example. Later that week, we were told about a volunteer in Madagascar who helped a community by working with them to create and receive grants for a latrine building project. It doesn't seem like a life altering project, but makes a small difference towards a happy, healthier community, country, and world.

Book Review 3: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman Review

Written on 8/19/2014

When someone in my literary journalism course spoke of this book in my last semester of college, I knew I had to read it. The way she spoke of the journalistic nature of this non-fiction work, the acute description of culture, and the simplistic yet complicated angle of modern medicine intrigued me. Before I came to Madagascar, I was searching through the social sciences section of Half Priced Books and I stumbled upon it. I couldn't be happier with my decision to purchase this book and take it with me on this journey. It even had a reference to a Returned Peace Corp Volunteer from Micronesia! How relevant!

The first thing that struck me was Fadimans way of creating the tension between the shaman healing ideals of the Hmong people and the techniques of modern medicine. The main character of this story is Lia Lee, a hmong girl who was born with Epilepsy, described by the Hmong as a disease where "the spirit catches you and you fall down."

Modern medcine cures ailments of the body, which conflicts with the Hmong idea that illnesses and problems come from ailments of the soul. As Lia's mother, Foua Lee states, "Your soul is like your shadow. Sometimes it just wanders off like a butterfly and that is when you are sad, and that's when you get sick and if it comes back to you, that is when you are happy and well again."

The concept that problems and illnesses are associated with the soul and not directly to the body make it difficult for modern medical professionals to treat patients from the Hmong culture, not to mention stark differences in other cultural practice and the limited communication between them because of lack of interpreters and if interpreters are present, a difficult time interpreting medical jargon into easily digestible concepts in a language that does not have words for diseases, but instead different ways your soul can wander or be taken away.

Fadiman explains in exceptional detail through extremely immersive reporting why the Hmong have kept so strong to their traditions and why they, for lack of a better expression, do what they do. The Hmong are a people without a distinct nationality because they have never belonged to a nation. The history of their voyages from country to country are astounding and inspiring.

Similarly, the story of the Hmong's immigration into America is astounding...and profoundly troubling. In a country that preaches freedom for all and was begun as a place to escape prosecution for belief systems - the way the Hmong were and are treated is appalling. Fadiman shows readers how the Hmong were spread throughout the country and the goal was to assimilate in the "American ideal of assimilation in which immigrants are expected to submerge their cultural differences in order to embrace one shared national identity. E. pluribus unum: from many, one."

Perhaps one of the most heartbreaking instances of how America has failed to live up to its preached freedom for all comes from Foua who states, "What I miss in Laos is that free spirit, doing what you want to do. You own your own fields, your own rice, your own plants, your own fruit trees. I miss that feeling of freeness. I miss having something that really belongs to me."

This feeling of dependence and loss of freedom goes strongly against the feeling that many American's have that, as Judge Michael Hider stated at a Nationalization Ceremony Fadiman attended, "everyone...has the same opportunity as the person sitting next to you," which is an American ideal that has proven time and time again to be, unfortunately, far from the truth.

Fadiman researched the many different ways the Hmong refugees were mistreated and misunderstood by policy makers, medical professionals, government officials, and members of their community just because they held strongly to their cultural beliefs and didn't assimilate in the ways American culture pushes many to assimilate.

This beautifully written and wonderfully reported really made me think about cultures independently and what happens where cultures collide - a topic very near and dear as I get closer and closer to my journey as a Peace Corp Volunteer. This book not only had me thinking about what values and ideals the Malagasy people around me may hold on to, but also what parts of the American culture that I've brought with me that I will need to let loose from my grasp.

As Fadiman states near the end of this work, "If you can't see that your own culture has its own set of interests, emotions, and biases how can you expect to deal successfully with someone else's culture?"

If you don't immediately go find and read this book, you're making a mistake. I've passed it along to another PCT and she is thoroughly enjoying it already!

Why "What's your typical day like?" is an impossible question to answer

Written on: 8/3/2014

The concept of explaining what I do on a daily basis is so varied that to get into the details of what I do everyday has already proved to be confusing and I'm not even at site yet.

Overall, its not much different than a typical day in the states: I wake up. I eat breakfast. I get ready for the day. I do some things until its lunch time. I eat lunch. I do things until dinner. I eat dinner. I chill for a bit and get some things done. I go to bed and then do it all over again.

Its the details of my day where explaining what a "typical day" is like to my friends in the states gets sticky. To explain the encounters with my host family, friends, PC staff and community, you would have to know the people I'm talking about or I would spend so much time explaining the particularities of personas and relationships. Its seems so impossible to explain a typical activity like walking to class because I would have to explain what the roads are like and listening for bikes, motos, and brousses or saying "manahoana/salama" in different ways to every person you see. To explain daily activities like cleaning my PO or coco-brushing my floor gets sticky just because they are concepts that seem so foreign to many people from the states but have a come a part of every day's routine.

Think of explaining a typical winter routine - starting your car a few moments before you leave, putting all that clothing on, shoveling snow and putting salt down - to someone who has never experienced cold weather or snow and can't really conceptualize what that would be like. Its not easy!

Try just explaining what you do everyday, most of the time I ask for updates and get "nothing much is going on." Because when you are living your life its hard to explain how you get from day to day, you just do it. That's what I'm doing, just on the other side of the world!

Basically, though, I know what my friends and family are really asking is - how are things? Are they feeling normal yet? Are you happy?

Things are going well. Normal is a beyond relative term and every day can have its own surprises - making a day without something new and unfamiliar irregular. And yes, I am happy.

That's really all most people want to know? Right?

Magical Moments from Tech Trip

Written on: 8/3/2014
Tech Trip from 7/14/2014 - 7/19/2014

 

About two weeks ago my stage split into two groups and went on our "Tech Trip." Half of us were sent first to Antananarivo and the other sixteen took the grudging 5-6 hour trip to Antsirabe.

Luckily, I was in the first group and only had to spend a few hours at a time in the Peace Corps vans on the windy roads to Tana and then Antsirabe. To put it simply, we visted schools, universities, and English clubs to get a feel of what teaching English in Madagascar would be like.

Although there were moments of confusion, a bout of food poisoning, and lots of time spent in the Peace Corp Vehicles, it was a trip that reminded me of why I decided to do the Peace Corp and revved up my enthusiasm to start my work as an Ed Volunteer here.

On the first day, we went to an English Center in Tana and after learning about their services to get students enrolled in colleges abroad and help them with standardized tests like the SAT/ACT or LSAT, we went in groups of three to talk to class rooms.

This was the first time, but not the last time on our trip, we would see how excited and extremely nervous the Malgasy people are to speak English with Native Speakers. While explaining things like what exactly the Peace Corp is and our different reasons for joining, and answering complex questions like "Do you believe in God?" or "Does everyone in America look like you?" A young woman stated she had less of a question and more of a comment. She said something along the lines of, "It is so courageous of you to leave your families and everything you have to come help our country. Thank you."

How could you not tear up at a moment like that? We haven't even started working yet and I was getting thanked for just making the decision to come to Madagascar. It was a wonderful, beautiful moment. We were thanked many more times on our trip for speaking English with students, or taking time to visit their school. It was one of those moments where I was so happy I was where I was, but yet conflicted because I didn't feel like I had really done anything to have such gracious amounts of gratitude sent my way.

The most thrilling, beautiful, and magical moments from the trip was when a school in Antsirabe welcomed us by performing a dance, singing their anthem, a speach by the principle, and then small performances by their cheerleaders, paton groups, and a male table jumping team that was a mix between gymnastics and cheerleading.

After this amazing performance, we were taking on a tour through the school by the principle, who spoke of the schools dedication to its students with such passion that a part of me just wanted to stay their to help. One of the things he said was how valuable it was to have volunteers, and that not only did they have one PCV at their school, but many of their Malagasy teachers were volunteers who dedicated their time to keeping the school going. Not only because many of the paid staff would retire soon and he wasn't sure what they would do, but because it showed students role models who were willing to help others without asking for much in return.

I knew this was a school in a fairly large city, and I couldn't imagine what my future site's situation may be, but again - its a reminder that these students need teachers and I'm being trained to fill that role. It felt like a large load to take on, but knowing that other volunteers had helped meant that I could also be a contributing factor to improving their education system and as the principle stated, by teaching students to take care of each other and themselves, improving the future of a country through the faith and hope we have for the students. A message that I feel is applicable everywhere in the world.

Lastly, after my return from Tech Trip I travled to the market with my host mom to get groceries to make spaghetti and sauce to make lunch for my host family. As we were leaving the market, a little girl asked her father, "Vazaha ve?" (Vazaha is the word for any type of foreigner - but particularily it is used for French people, whom don't look too much different than I do) her father looked at me and said "Tsia Vazaha. Americana izy." (Not a Vazaha, She is an American).

It felt really special to be placed in a category where I wasn't a foreigner french person, but a American who the community knows (because of its long history with Peace Corp) is their to help. I felt like I had represented my country well in that moment. I wasn't a tourist to that father & daughter pair, but an American.

So magical!