Packed and Heading Out

...Well, almost.

I've spent a good part of the day corralling my stuff and stuffing it into luggage. I think I've done an all right job, though I won't know if I've met the Peace Corps weight limit of 80 lbs til I get to the airport! Space was not much of an issue, but the weight'll always getcha. (This isn't helped by the fact that I'm bringing a small library of books, without which weight wouldn't be a problem. :)

Anyway, I'll have limited internet from here on out, but as the Peace Corps reminded us to tell family and friends: No news is good news. It means we're learning and doing instead of sitting in front of a computer. :) Up next: four flights to the Eighth Continent. Talk to you not-so-soon...~R

Middlebury-Madagascar Connection

My friend Avery pointed me to this video, which interviews a Middlebury student who went to Madagascar and did some photography. The tribe he mentions photographing, the Antrandroy, are a poorer tribe in the southern deserts who rely on the prickly pear cactus for part of their livelihood, hence their name, which means "people of the thorns".

Contact Info

Hello family, friends, and hey, strangers too:

I know I'm living on the opposite side of the world and am not available for the usual tech-based contact, but that doesn't mean I don't want to stay in touch! I want to hear from you! I have internet access about every 2 weeks, and here's the other way to reach me:

My address at site is:
Rowan Braybrook

MBG

Anjangoveratra

Sambava (208)

MADAGASCAR

Letters and envelope packages take anywhere between 2 weeks and 2 months to get here. Boxes, maybe a bit longer, but it's surprisingly not too bad!

Snail Mail Notes:

• Snail mail letters and pictures are greatly GREATLY appreciated, since my internet (coughcoughFacebookcough) access will be limited. Let me know what you're up to!
• Tape packages securely so people are less likely to tamper with them.
• Write Airmail or Par Avion on the envelope. Ground mail takes months!
• Padded envelopes are usually the best way to go for larger things, since they're treated like letters. If you're thinking of sending something heavier, you might want to check on the price of a flat-rate box or envelope.
  
• For package customs forms, declare a value of under $20 and make the content description sound boring--"used school supplies" rather than "awesome CDs". 'Religious materials' also works well.

And as requested, a wish list the I will keep updated (but feel free to surprise me!)

• Letters and pictures! Letters are honestly almost as good as packages!
• Drink additives like Emergen-C, On-The-Go packets or tea (favorites teas are Lady Grey, English Breakfast, Rajini, and Jasmine Green)
• Magazines, especially current events mags like the Atlantic or the Economist
• Dried fruit like apricots and cherries; any nuts besides peanuts
• Any American candy, especially dark chocolate M&Ms
• Grated parmesan cheese!!!
• Bear Creek soup mixes (just add water) or anything similar
• Chocolate chip cookie mix (with patience, I can make these on stovetop)
• Salmon or tuna in pouches
• Annie's purple box (or just Annie's cheese packets--I can get pasta here and save you the weight!)
• Kid's books and any other educational materials I can share--for example, a wall map of the U.S., or easy books in English to give as prizes to my English Club. French-English dictionaries for the library.

Haven't had much luck with people calling my cell, but if you ask and send me your number, I'm happy to call you!

I'll keep this post updated and there's a link to it on the right sidebar.

The 2-Minute Tour

I guess when people first hear the name Madagascar, they think of this:

Or this:

(Awww...)

On the whole, not bad stereotypes for an African country to have! But there's a lot more to Madagascar, and if you have a few minutes to read what I lifted off the internet and Peace Corps reading materials, you might find some of it fascinating. (And for those of you who haven't read my blogs before, this is me going into academic lecture mode, so bear with me... :)

Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world, a footprint-shaped (if you squint) landmass the size of Texas off the southeast coast of Africa. It's one of the most important biodiversity hotspots an earth: about 90% (exact amount up for debate) of its plants and animals are found nowhere else, leading some biologists to refer to it as the "eighth continent"or "the island ark". It was separated from the African mainland about 165 million years ago, and since there were no large predators in Madagascar, the animals didn't need to evolve and as such are living fossils.

But this diversity is seriously threatened by poaching, severe erosion, and deforestation (it's lost nearly 90% of its original forests due to the lumber trade and slash-and-burn agriculture). Madagascar is also one of the poorest countries in the world: with a per capital gross national income of about $233 per person per year, it ranks 152nd out of 170 countries. Around 80% of Malagasies rely on subsistence agriculture to survive.

The Malagasy population of around 18-20 million is comprised of 18(ish) different ethnic groups/"tribes", each of which speaks a dialect of the Malagasy language. French is another official language, but its use is mainly confined to urban areas. Malagasy, from my limited exposure, seems to combine vowel-happy Hawaiian with length-happy German to create words like varavarankely (window) and mandrapihaona (see you later). It's most closely related to the languages of Borneo, a fact that illustrates Madagascar's diverse cultural background of African, Southeast Asian, and Arabic contact.

Before Madagascar was officially colonized by the French in 1895, it was ruled by dominant regional kingdoms, with influence from Arabic and European coastal trading posts. Resistance against the colonizing French heightened during the Malagasy Uprising of 1947, and full independence was achieved in 1960.

More recently, Madagascar has continued to have political struggles. The Peace Corps actually left the country for about 9 months of 2009 after Rajoelina ousted Ravalomanana in a coup. The situation has now calmed enough to send volunteers back.

Made it this far? Yay, thanks for reading! You now know more about Madagascar than about 95% of your peers. And if you're interested in reading more, you can:

• visit some more volunteer blogs
• click on some of the "Madagascar Links" on the right side of the blog (I especially like Wild Madagascar)
• pick up a book! I'd particularly recommend The Eighth Continent, by Peter Tyson (yup, that's where I got the idea for the blog name).

The Whole Peace Corps Thing

You're going where? To do what? For HOW long? How much are they paying you, anyway?

So here's the deal: In two weeks, I'll be leaving for Madagascar. After I meet up with other volunteers in DC, we will travel to Madagascar together for three months of training. We'll be learning Malagasy (the national language) and working on a series of diverse projects such as soil improvement and building fuel-efficient cookstoves. The idea being that we can then be a resource for the community we are placed in, collaborating on projects in the local language.

I don't know yet which community I'll be placed in or what projects I'll be focusing on--we don't receive specifics until we're well into training, when our skills and preferences can be evaluated. The broad job title I've been given is Natural Resource Manager in the Environment program. Once I am placed in a village for two years, I'll be receiving a small stipend that allows volunteers to live at the level of their neighbors and perhaps save a little for in-country travel.

Now, why am I doing this? Some people are understandably a bit baffled that I'm willingly giving up the amenities of Western living (hot showers, high speed internet) to go live in a hut on the other side of the world. But all in all, the job has advantages and is a good fit for me. It's a great skill-building job with benefits (government health care!) which allows me to work how I work best, by being self-motivated. And more importantly, I get to live in a fascinating country while doing it!

I am (I hope) realistic about how effective I will be while serving. How effective I am depends in large part on how much my community wants my input and is willing to team up on projects. Thankfully, technical help is not the only goal of the Peace Corps. Since its inception, the Peace Corps has had three goals as its mission statement:

1. Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.

2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.

3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

So 2/3 of the job is cultural exchange: acting as an on-the-ground ambassador for the U.S. and also conveying the experience of a different culture to people in the U.S. This blog is acting as part of the third goal--creating a better understanding of other peoples among Americans.