5 Avril 2011

Had a good past week at site and now I’m up in Andapa doing HIV/AIDS education at a fellow volunteer’s middle and high schools for a week. The women’s group in my village decided they wanted to start getting serious about soccer ever since we had a mini tournament with all the women’s teams in the area earlier in March for International Women’s Day. So we actually had practice on the local pitch the other day. We had to fight with the guys’ team to get them to lend us their ball and to let us play on the field for a little while before they started their practice. Unfortunately we only got to practice for 30 minutes, but it was still really fun. We just split into two teams and scrimmaged against each other. My skills have really gone downhill, since I haven’t played in over four years. It’s really great to see women out playing sports though, even if it was more like volleyball than soccer After practice the team was even strategizing about how they could increase practice time—like perhaps purchasing a ball for our own use and being more forceful with the guys’ teams to make sure we get an adequate amount of time on the field to practice. I’m also looking into getting uniforms for the team.

Last Tuesday I biked to the middle school 30 minutes up the road to meet with the elected officers of the Healthy Teens Club along with the English Teacher who’s helping me with the group. We strategized and brainstormed some potential activities we could do with the members of the organization. It’s really great that the teacher and the officers of the club are eager for me to hold some training sessions with them so that they will feel prepared to continue the club next year when I am no longer there.

Back in the village on Thursday we had vaccines, baby weighing and a cooking demonstration at the clinic. After helping with the paperwork I gave a health talk on vaccines, family planning and nutritious foods. The cooking demo went really well. The doctor’s wife cooked a rice porridge mixed with a sauce made from dried shrimp, tomatoes, onions, salt and a little oil. Before all the mothers and their children tasted the food, I did a handwashing demonstration and then had them all wash their hands with well water and soap to emphasize prevention against diarrheal diseases. In the afternoon I held my weekly adult English class, during which I taught them the English alphabet using the ABC’s song. It was a nice low-key session. I think they are even planning to meet up next Thursday and practice conversing with one another on their own, even though I’ll still be in Andapa.

On Sunday morning I got left my village at 6:30 in the morning and hiked a kilometer up to the main road to catch a bush taxi so that I would arrive in Sambava early enough to take care of some business in town before transferring to another bush taxi to head up to Andapa. I was able to finish up in Sambava and get on another bus around 10:30. Since the vehicle was pretty much full, I assumed we would be leaving for Andapa fairly soon. Little did I know that the driver was still planning to take several grand tours through Sambava again to pick up more passengers and then sit for another 45 minutes to load up more luggage on top of the bus. We didn’t end up getting on the road until around noon.

The road up to Andapa weaves up and around into the mountains towards the plateau of the island, so there are steep grades and sharp curves the whole way. The nature of the road and probably the excessive heat and stuffiness from cramming in too many passengers gave the toddlers riding with us car sickness. One kid in front of me threw up almost the whole way and two other mothers had their plastic bags ready in hand for their queasy youngsters. Because we had to stop and let off or load on more passengers every 20km and since we broke down twice and had to wait for the driver to tinker around with the engine until he could get the car started again, a 120km drive that should probably take no more than two hours in a normal vehicle ended up taking us four hours…five and a half if you count the time we spent sitting around in Sambava.

At least the scenery was breathtakingly gorgeous. This was my first time on the road to Andapa, and I was swept away by how beautiful and grand the lush, forested mountains were, standing tall among the misty, swirling clouds above and the pristine, winding rivers, and the brilliant green rice paddies and banana plantations below. The roadside sparkled with dewy ferns, shiny breadfruit and banana tree leaves and brilliant blue orchids and white wildflowers. The great Mount Marojejy stood towering above everything else. I basically just stared out the window in awe for the whole four hour ride.