Back to the Port

Mbolatsara e! Since the beginning of January, I had looked forward to the March 10 vacation with my family and then In-Service Training two weeks later. Well, they are both over now, and it is time to venture back to the Port. I go back to Port Berge with some very fond memories and good feelings about what the future holds.
I arrived in Tana on Apr. 1 after spending a couple lackluster days in the hot, dusty truck stop I know as my banking town of Antsohihy. Upon arriving, I met up with Abby. We enjoyed being in Tana, catching up on each other’s lives, and dining at some good restaurants. We especially enjoyed a newly found restaurant, named Villa Vanille, which served exquisite French and North African cuisine. As the name might suggest, they specialized in dishes seasoned with vanilla. We thoroughly enjoyed some vanilla flavored cocktails, our delicious meals, and a vanilla crepe with vanilla ice cream. It’s amazing that you can get a meal in Tana for less than 15 bucks. It would certainly cost twice that much in the States.
Since it was our first IST, all the people from my training stage were in Tana as well, and so it was great to meet up with them and hear about their respective lives as PC volunteers in Madagascar. We traveled to the Peace Corps training site on Lake Montasoa and spent three days there. It was good to see everyone, learn about each other’s experiences, hear about activities that worked and those that failed, eat good food, and do some much needed partying. Another beneficial aspect of IST was that we learned how to apply for grants and get money for various projects that we might start in the future. This bit of info was helpful as I do have possible access to various grant and aid money which could be applied to some projects at the hospital or help jumpstart some of the floundering health associations in PB.
After IST, Abby, myself and a fellow volunteer, Mike, made our way to Antsirabe. On the way Abby and I thought it would be cool to try and play my ipod with itrip through the Taxi Brousse radio. We eventually figured out how to get it to work and we cruised into Antsirabe jamming to Sean Paul and Bob Marley. Everyone in the Brousse enjoyed the music and the driver cranked up the tunes to max volume so that we were really bumpin as we rolled down the Gasy highway. Antsirabe is a beautiful city. It was settled and established by Norwegians and the town does not feel like any other Gasy city. It has wide streets, neighborhoods, landscaping, public parks and many good places to eat and drink. The main mode of transportation in A/be is pousse pousse, a small two seater cart pulled by a Malagasy man. At first I had some major issues with the idea of a fellow human being pulling my fat butt around town. It sounds a little colonial, but the fact of the matter is that everyone, including fellow Gasy, use the pousse pousse to get around and this is how many of the men make a living. Abstaining from riding the pousse pousse denies a person the money they need to live. There are so many pousse pousse in Antsirabe and after a while it gets quite annoying to deal with the constant harassment of men wanting to pull you around. We took the pousse pousse when we had to transport our luggage but otherwise we walked.
So, our first night in A/be we dined at an establishment owned by a man of Greek and Italian heritage. He spoke around 7 different languages and sat and chatted with us and a European couple who were also dining in his restaurant. There was a mix of English, French, Gasy, and Italian languages being tossed around. The food was some of the best I’ve ever had and the owner also brought out some sakay (hot pepper) sauce which torched the mouth. Our friend Mike loved the pizza, but he could not get enough of the sakay. It was one of the more impressive feats I’ve seen as Mike not only dipped his pizza in the stuff, but also wiped the bowl dry. Mike, you will be sorely missed, good luck! A great night was had by everyone and we all went home to sleep feeling uncomfortably full. Mike departed the next day and so Abby and I spent the next day strolling around this beautiful city and doing some grocery shopping for our impending stay at Abby’s site.
We left the next day for Abby’s site. Her site is located in a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains and the temp can be very cold at times. The back of her house faces a large mountain called Bevoka (pregnant woman) because it looks like a pregnant woman lying on her back. Pregnant women seemed to be a theme of my time in this village. It required a two hour hike to arrive at the village. It was a pleasant hike and it was interesting to traverse through the varying mountain scenery. In order to get our luggage across the mountains, we hired a man to carry it. This was some heavy luggage and our small Gasy sherpa put one piece on his head and another on his back and moved forward at an incredible pace. Abby and I, with our small packs, struggled to keep up in the beginning. After finishing ¾ of the hike we got deluged by the afternoon rain storm. The next day was spent meeting Abby’s friends and neighbors who I have heard so much about. It was nice to finally meet the young woman who runs the epicerie and has the only phone in town, as I have called there frequently and talked to her in hopes that she could get Abby. We went to the market and bought some fresh produce and then went to the home of Abby’s friend, Jeanine, for a Gasy meal of rice, beans and beef.
The next day we went to the maternity ward where Abby sometimes works and I had the privilege of seeing a birth for the first time in my life. The girl (and yes, she was a girl, not a woman) was quite small and without any noise gave birth to her first child, a healthy baby boy. When we arrived, the girl lay on a bare metal table and commenced pushing. There was no anesthesia, no husband videotaping, let alone holding her hand and telling her to breathe. Eventually, the midwife harshly told the girl (I think at this point she had become a woman, no matter how old she is) to push harder and began manipulating her abdomen and the fetus. The baby’s head then appeared and the midwife grabbed a hold, yanking the baby right out. It should be said again, this young woman had no pharmaceutical assistance and she did not utter a sound while she delivered a small human into the world. I had always thought that watching a birth was a little too much blood and guts for me to handle, but I must say that after this experience I am overwhelmed at the miracle of birth. Now, in the immediate aftermath, I did get a little queasy and unsteady as the room became stifling hot. I had to leave and get some air, but this did not diminish the feeling of amazement that I felt at watching something so miraculous. The limp baby was snipped from its mother and then whacked on the back several times until the child uttered its first sounds. Absolutely amazing! We then proceeded to the local baby weighing building where a few zazas (babies) were weighed and then the mothers were taught how to make a good weaning food of guava jelly. I found this weaning food to be very delicious as did all the zazas present. We went back to Abby’s house where we cooked up a delicious meal, drank some wine (thanks Dix and Heekin, it was delicious), and watched some Seinfeld episodes on the computer.
A subsequent morning, we watched a woman, who had recently given birth, receive stitches. Again there was no anesthetic. This was possibly one of the more painful procedures I have ever seen performed on a person and this woman did not utter a sound. I wanted to scream and holler for her, my god! I again got a little woozy and thought I might lose my oatmeal, but kept it down because if this woman could endure what she was experiencing without making a sound, then the least I could do was be present without vomiting or passing out. Again, absolutely unbelievable! Abby and I then proceeded to the CPN room where women who have never received prenatal consultation come on Tuesday mornings to get measured and vaccinated. Abby gave a nice, brief talk on healthy eating for pregnant mothers. Several women were present and they were measured and their stats were recorded. We then spent the rest of the day enjoying each other’s company as it will be another month and a half before we see each other again. Abby lives in a very nice little house, and it was very enjoyable to see where she lives, meet her friends and briefly experience the life in her village. She has a great doctor/counterpart who is supportive and committed to his community’s health, she lives in a gorgeous mountainous setting, and everyone there knows her and is happy that she is there.
Now its back to the hot Port and hopefully the readjustment won’t take too long and I’ll fall right back into the swing of things.

My regards to all! Take Care.

Chlogan

These are my own opinions and not those of Peace Corps Madagascar