Letter to Mr. Kramer's class
Trip Start
Nov 02, 2003
1
32
70
Trip End
Feb 14, 2006
Jessica's site,
Madagascar
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Hello again! Thanks so much for all your letters - it really made me happy to read them. Like last time, I'll write a little in general and then try to answer each of your letters.
There's been some big news since the last time I was in touch with you guys. First of all, the other Peace Corps Volunteer in my town, Callie, and I each got a puppy. Callie named hers "Bisky," which is like the French and Malagasy word for cookie ("bisquit")and I named mine "Lulu" (the Malagasy word for "butterfly.") We're having a lot of fun playing with them, but having a puppy is hard work!
I've also lived through my first 3 cyclones (like hurricanes, but they go the opposite direction because I'm in the southern hemisphere - maybe Mr. Kramer can explain this to you, but I don't really understand it myself!) Anyway, during the first cyclone, the wind was so strong that I thought my house might blow away. Everyone just stayed in their houses, and didn't go anywhere for days. The second and third cyclones weren't very bad in my town, but the third one did a lot of damage, especially on the east coast of the island. More than 100 people died and the United Nations, an organization representing almost every country in the world, is going to send two tons of food to help replace all the crops that were destroyed.
OK, I'l go on to your letters now and maybe I'll think of more general stuff to tell you later.
Perla G: I'll tell you about the food. I usually eat the food Malagasy people in this area of the country usually eat. For breakfast, I have an apple or banana with peanut butter I made by smashing lots of peanuts (my arms were really tired!) and adding sugar and salt. I used to have mangoes, but the season is over and they're expensive now. I usually eat lunch at a restaurant in town, so I eat Malagasy food then, and for dinner, I cook American foods like macaroni and cheese, stuffed peppers, veggies with peanut sauce or chicken or fish. (Maybe these aren't foods you guys eat, but I ate them in the U.S.)
So as to Malagasy food, for breakfast, they have a big plate of rice with fried bread, fried greens, fried rice balls or fried bananas. Not very healthy, huh? They also serve strong coffee (even to little kids, which is also really unhealthy because caffeine keeps you from growing well) with tons of sugar and sweetened condensed milk - sometimes it's more sugar than coffee. And it's weird because Malagasy people don't like sweet foods, but they love sweet drinks.
Those toppings for the rice are called "loaka" ("loa" rhymes with "go"), and people eat the same kind of thing for lunch and dinner. It's a huge plate of rice with a little loaka like pork and greens, a whole fish, (they eat the heads!), beef and beans, or chicken and sauce. Sometimes, they also have salad (cut up tomatoes, carrots, or cucumber with vinaigrette - not mixed salad like we have in the U.S.) If people want only a little food for lunch or don't have very much money, they have just a little salad, a small bowl of noodle soup, or a couple of fried things like a large french fry or a small egg roll.
Do you guys bring lunch from home or eat food in the school cafeteria? How long do you get for lunch? In Madagascar, they get 2 hours for lunch, so they can go home to eat and rest, but a lot of kids live really far from school. There's no cafeteria, so these kids go to a restaurant and, since it's expensive to get rice and loaka, get just a little not-very-healthy food. Then they're really tired and can't pay attention well all afternoon. Because of this problem, Callie and I are hoping to start a big garden/farm at the middle school, so kids can grow the food for their loaka. Then they can cook and eat it right at the school, so they can feel good and learn well in the afternoons.
Oh, and Malgasy people eat fruit or yogurt for dessert.
Nico R: I did write long essays in college and like writing long letters now. It's not hard when I do a little bit at a time.
Malagasy people have some holidays that are the same as American ones and some that are different. Madagascar doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, and neither does any other country in the world (at least not in the same way or on the same date.) Most Malagasy people are Christian (though some are Muslim and other religions) and Christmas is a very big deal here. There is a Malagasy Santa Claus ("Dada Be Noel", or Grandpa Christmas) but Malagasy people don't usually give presents or decorate trees. Christmas here is much more about prayer and church than about "stuff." People go to church on New Year's as well, and they might eat poultry or other expensive loaka.
Some holidays Madagascar has that the U.S. doesn't are National Women's Day (March 8), Insurrection Day (March 29), Labor Day (May 1), Anniversary Day (May 8), and National Day (June 26), which celebrates a revolt against the French in 1947 (like when the U.S. fought against the British in the Revolutionary War). National Women's Day is the only one I've experienced so far; it involved a lot of performances (I did a dance with a bunch of Malagasy women!), speeches, singing, and a parade. Some of the groups that performed or marched in the parade were women farmers, police officers, soldiers, doctors, and more. In many countries in Africa and the rest of the world, women aren't allowed to have these jobs, so it was great to celebrate women's power here. And, as I experience some of those other holidays here, I'll write to you about them.
Anthony R: Welcome to Mr. Kramer's class! It's kind of funny to me that you say that you haven't learned about other cultures because you've never left New York, because New York is probably the best single place in the world to learn about lots of different cultures. Look around your class - how many religions, languages, and countries your classmates' families came from are represented? Walking around Chinatown isn't the same as going to China, of course, but it's a great way to start learning.
Anyway, there are lots of animals here that aren't found in the U.S. or anywhere else in the world besides zoos. When you think of African animals you probably think of lions, giraffes, elephants, and zebras, but Madagascar has been separate from Africa for millions of years (and may have split off from India and moved all the way across the ocean) so the animals evolved separately. Cool animals here are lemurs (like monkeys), chameleons, and birds. Probably the weirdest Malagasy animal is a kind of lemur called the aye-aye; it's small and gray with bright orange eyes and has one really long finger on each hand that it uses to get insects out of tree holes. Sadly, it, like almost every kind of lemur, is endangered.
Shanequa J: I'll answer your letter next, since you asked about the aye-aye. Some Malagasy people think it causes bad luck, but it's probably a superstition started because the aye-aye looks so strange.
It's hard to explain why Malagasy money is worth less. One reason, honestly, is that it just is! Almost every country in the world has their own money (though many countries in Europe have gotten rid of theirs to use the Euro), and they're all worth different amounts. Sometimes one dollar is worth more than one of the other kind of money and sometimes it's worth less. Another reason, though, is that people here don't have very much money and things here are very cheap. It wouldn't make sense to have the smallest bill worth $1 because that's a lot of money here. So instead the bills are worth about 8 cents (500 francs), 16 cents (100 fMg - the other name for francs), 80 cents (5000 fMg), $1.60 (10,000 fMg), $4 (25,000 fMg), and $8 (50,000 fMg.) (To remind you, $1 = 6000 fMG. Some of you asked how many fMG $50 and $100 would be - can you figure it out?)
Finally, I think that people wear baskets on their heads because it's more comfortable for them. It seems strange to us, but they grew up doing it and it's easier for them to carry heavy things that way (just using balance) than in their arms (using their muscles). They probably think we're pretty silly for not carrying things on our heads!
Arlene M: I won't be able to come visit for a long time, unfortunately, because I'm not going to come back to the U.S. until my service is over in 2006. When I go home, though, I will definitely come visit you guys and dress up like a Malagasy person! And I'll show you lots of photos and things I bought here.
Shayline G: My house is very nice. It's made of mud bricks covered in plaster and has a sitting room, a kitchen, and a bedroom. Unfortunately, it also has spiders, ants, termites, and roaches! When I came the walls were white, but I painted the sitting room peach and the bedroom blue and I'm going to paint the kitchen yellow this weekend.
My house has electricity, but no running water. I get water from a spout in the yard and carry it into my house in buckets. I go to the bathroom in a latrine in the yard and shower by pouring bucket water over my head in a little shower room off the bedroom. (This might sound hard, but I'm really lucky - most people have to walk really far to get their water.) My town doesn't have any garbage collection, so I also have a trash pit in my yard.
You guys are really interested in the skirts I mentioned in my last letter! I'm not sure how to spell their name, but they're called "lamba wanee." They're just big pieces of fabric with brightly colored prints like calendars, Malagasy money, scenes from daily life, maps of Madagascar, or just cool shapes. They cost anywhere from 7000 fMg to 20,000 fMg for nice ones. (Can you figure out how much that is in dollars?) People wear them as skirts, but also use them as shawls, wall hangings, baby carriers (women put the baby on their back, wrap the lamba around him, and hold onto the ends), and many other uses. I have 2, but I use mine as bathrobes and only wear them as skirts occasionally. Oh, and when women do wear lambas as skirts, they usually wear pants or another skirt underneath, because the lambas blow open!
Bianca C: Hi, again! Yes, people call me "vazaha," which means "white person" or "foreigner." It doesn't seem like a very bad thing to be called, but people (especially kids, but sometimes adults) scream it when they see me. I've lived in my town for 2 months now, so it really hurts my feelings that, even though they know me and know that I live here, they still scream to everyone that the white person's here and point at me.
I've been trying to solve the problem since I got here, but I haven't succeeded yet. I explain that since I live here I'm not a foreigner, I say they're not being polite, I make a joke and say, "I'm not a white foreigner, I'm a very pale Malagasy," or when I get really frustrated, I sometimes yell back "Gasy!," the not-very-polite nickname for a Malagasy person. It's not nearly as bad in my town as it used to be, but it is still a problem for me. Do you have any suggestions?
Rachel S: You have a lot of questions! I've already answered most of them, but I'll tell you about the weather here. It's the end of the rainy season right now, and the weather is really nice. It gets up to about 80 degrees F. during the day and is around 60 degrees F. at night; it rains some afternoons and almost every night. (I'm giving the temperatures in Farenheit so you understand them, but Madagascar, like most of the world, uses Celsius.) This is the regular weather, but when there's a cyclone, it's gray and rainy and cool for a couple days, then a couple days with intense wind and rain, then a couple more rainy, cold days, and then it's finally nice again.
The seasons are reversed here from the U.S. because Madagascar is in the southern hemisphere, so it's coldest in July and hottest in January! If you guys study why that is, could you explain it to me? I don't really know.
Finally, this is just the weather in the central, high-up region of Madagascar - where I live. Madagascar, though it's much smaller than the U.S., has many different regions: desert, rainforest, mountains, cooler forests, etc., and the weather is different in each region.
Ariel Q: Yes, I do a lot of work for the money I get! I teach people about all different health topics, weigh and measure babies to make sure they're growing well, help examine pregnant women at the hospital, co-organize an AIDS prevention club, and co-teach sex ed. classes at the middle and high schools. I'm not doing special projects yet (like the school lunch program I described before and building a homeless shelter - yes, there are homeless people in my town) because I need to get really good at speaking Malagasy first, but I'm hoping to start in a month or two.
My salary really isn't that much by U.S. standards ($250 a month) but it's enough to live very comfortably here because it's about 10 times more than most Malagasy make (although people in my town have more money than that.) I'm even able to save some money each month, which is definitely something you guys should try to do.
Jared: For 6 people to have dinner, it could cost from about $3 (in a little Malagasy restaurant) to about $60 (in a French restaurant in a city - Madagascar used to be a French colony.)
The roaches in my house aren't that big, but Madagasacar does have giant cockroaches (bigger than your hand) that communicate with each other by making a hissing sound. I haven't seen them yet, but they sound a little scary! I did see a snail in a park I visited that was bigger than my hand and really cool.
I sleep on a bed with a foam mattress (I don't think mattresses with springs exist here, and foam is considered really nice), but most people sleep on mattresses made of straw, sometimes on beds and sometimes on the floor. Refrigerators do exist here, but very, very few people have them in their homes - mostly they're owned by stores that sell yogurt, soda, etc.
Where people work and how they earn money is a great question. At least in my town, most people make their money selling things to other people - they own a store or a restaurant or grow food to sell at the outdoor market or by the side of the road. Most people in Madagascar are farmers, so they can grow a lot of what they need, but you start to understand why people are so poor here when you see 30 people all selling apples at the market - people in my town don't buy enough apples to support all of them.
There are factories - the biggest beer factory in the country is in the city near here - but most things you buy are just made in town. For instance, in the U.S., you buy milk at a supermarket and it's been processed in a factory. In my town, people milk their cows in the morning and then stand by the road with buckets of milk. If you want to buy milk, you bring them a plastic bottle and they fill it; then you have to boil the milk to kill the germs in it, which is something that's done at the factory in the U.S.
Nope, I've never heard of candy called "elephant ears." What is it?
Pourcher: Yes, I also thought that your letter was very persuasive! Thanks for your encouragement about getting called "vazaha."
I'm so glad that you're interested in studying in Madagascar when you get older! There's definitely stuff you can do to prepare. The most important thing is to GO TO COLLEGE. There are lots of programs that will take you to Madagascar for free, but they all want people with college degrees. Things like working really hard on reading and writing, studying and having fun with the things that interest you (it doesn't matter if it's science, music, or sports), and starting to save money now are the best ways you can already prepare for college.
Peace Corps is one program that will send you to a foreign country for free, but that's more about doing service than studying. A friend of mine is here with a program called Fulbright that gave her a lot of money to come do research on the environment for a year. Both Peace Corps and Fulbright want people who speak French, so studying French when you start taking language classes later on is another good way to help get here.
There's also lots of stuff on the internet about free programs and scholarships for studying in a foreign country!
Bryan F: I'm sorry I missed your letter last time. Don't worry, you didn't hurt my feelings.
You asked how kids got "that disease," but I'm not sure which disease you mean. Some diseases, like tuberculosis and the flu, are spread when people cough and don't cover their mouths and other people breathe in their germs. Some diseases, like malaria, are spread when a mosquito bites a sick person and then bites a healthy person. Diseases like cholera, worms, and sicknesses that cause diarrhea are caused when people eat or drink the germs in poop. That can happen when people don't wash their hands after they use the bathroom, or when people poop near a river, rain washes the poop into the river, and then people drink the river water without boiling or using chemicals to clean it. (It's gross to talk about eating poop, I know, but lots and lots of people in Madagascar and around the world die from diseases caused by eating the germs in poop, so it's really important to talk about. And it's why your parents tell you to wash your hands after using the bathroom!)
[Written later...]
And, sadly, my puppy died yesterday from worms, one of the sicknesses caused by eating the germs in poop. Worm eggs live inside the poop, then they hatch inside the dog's (or person's) body and eat and destroy the organs inside. I got her medicine, but not in time. (Dogs in the U.S. are given worm medicine regularly, but dogs here only get it once they're already sick.) I'm sad, but I'm doing better today...I think I'll adopt a kitten.
And, Bryan, there isn't a dollar bill sign like $ in the U.S.; you just write the number followed by fMg for Malagasy francs or A for ariary. (Remember, 5 fMg = 1 A.)
Rodolfo R: I will tell my friends that you say hi! Here are some Malagasy words for you:
mangitikitika = to tickle gaga = surprised boda-boda = chubby
Some cool compound words:
solo = substitute + maso = eye(s) solomoso = glasses
maso = eye(s) + andro = day masoandro = the sun
reny = mother + rano = water renirano = river
fofonoy = smell + vady = spouse fofon-bady = fiancee
(literally, "smells like a wife")
be = big or many + tafo = roof Betafo = (town of) many roofs
solo = substitute + saina = brain solosaina = computer
Ramon: I think it's wonderful that you want to help the kids here. Sending food is a great idea, especially since I wrote in my last letter that so many kids are malnourished (don't get enough healthy things to eat.) Unfortunately, mailing heavy things from the U.S. to Madagascar is really expensive - you'd spend much more money on the shipping than on the food. Can you think of some other ways that you (and maybe your class, if other people are interested) could help? When you and your friends have some ideas, tell Mr. Kramer and we'll try to make a plan.
And remember, even if it doesn't work out for you guys to help people here, there are plenty of people in your own neighborhood who could use help - maybe as much as the Malagasy people need it! Can you think of ways to help people around you, especially ways that don't cost any money? Great idea again, Ramon!
Fatumata: I think it's really sweet that you want to give your family gifts to show how much you appreciate them. You're so loving, though, that I bet they already know! Maybe you could show your appreciation in other ways, like making cards or gifts for them or helping extra with chores.
I really wish that I could send you Malagasy gifts for everyone in your family (and to all the other students who asked.) Again, I'm really glad that you're all so thoughtful and interested in stuff from Madagascar! But there's really no way that I can buy all those things and send them to you. Imagine if Peace Corps called me up and said, "Jessica, are you working at the hospital and weighing babies and teaching people about diseases like you're supposed to? and I said, "No, I'm busy buying gifts for all my friends in Mr. Kramer's class!" I don't think they'd be very happy with me and honestly, I wouldn't be very happy either.
But there are tons of ways for you guys to still see stuff from Madagascar. There are lots of web sites with great photos (much better than the photos on my web site even!) and some stores in the U.S. sell things from all over Africa and sometimes Madagascar, too. I know of one great store, called "10,000 villages," but I'm sure that there are many more in New York. You don't have to buy things from these stores or even go there: you can just look on their web sites and see the items they carry from Madagascar.
And when I come visit you guys in 2006, I promise to bring tons of stuff for you to look at.
Veronica R: Thank you for all your good wishes! It does make me sad that people often yell and point out my different skin color, but it really helps to know that you guys are thinking of me. I do miss my family and friends in the U.S., but getting your letters always makes me really happy. And it's great to know that you like my letters so much!
I'm trying hard to help the kids who are malnourished by teaching them and their parents about healthy foods and eating from different food groups. When I teach them they all nod their heads and say that they understand, but then they go right on eating meals of rice and pasta, with no vegetables or protein. So I'm working hard, but I don't know if it's helping. Do you guys have any suggestions about how I can get people to change their behavior?
Ivonne R: I'm happy to hear from you too! I don't usually wear Malagasy clothes, but the clothes I brought from home and some Western-style clothes I bought here. Occasionally I wear the "lamba wanee" skirt, though, and I do feel pretty comfortable.
It's funny that you thought the money was so dirty - the money I sent you guys was actually the cleanest and newest I could find! I'm including a really dirty bill this time for you to see what most of the money looks like.
I really like living here - not everyone would, but to me, it's fun. I don't miss things like T.V., movies, and American food because, first, I can get them if I really want them, but more importantly, I'm busy doing other things. With the time I might have spent watching T.V. at home, I play with the kids in my neighborhood, write letters, read books, study Malagasy, talk to my friends here, and sometimes, hike to a hill or waterfall near my town. Those things are all more fun and better for you than sitting and watching television.
I think it's really cool that you told me about a time kids made fun of you even though we don't know each other that well. Thanks.
Finally, I'm really glad that you also want to help people here! Think about what I wrote to Ramon, and tell Mr. Kramer and me your ideas.
Anthony S: I'm sorry that I missed your question last time! Yes, there are many cars in Madagascar and in my town. Some of them are nice newish cars like we mostly have in the U.S., but most of them are really old and falling apart. Some cars have to be pushed to start and lots of the doors and windows don't work. The cars I usually ride in are "buses" from my town to the city nearby. The cars are meant to hold 7 people (they're big station wagons), but they usually cram in 12 adults and a few children! Since there are so many people in the car, there's no room for bags, which are usually tied to the top, along with anything from sacks of rice to bicycles to entire (dead) cows ready for butchering!
Most people don't own cars; they take these buses (called "taxi-brousses") or just walk. In the city, people get around on rickshaws called "pousse-pousses," kind of a cart that a guy uses to pull passengers for a fee. In the countryside, people haul stuff using wooden carts pulled by cows - even if they could afford cars, the roads are so bad that only these carts can make it!
Equannie C.L.D: Let's see, things I know now that I didn't know before. Well, I didn't know how to speak Malagasy and I do now, sort of. I didn't know as much about health as I do now, because I had 2 months of really good training. I'd read some books about Malagasy culture so I knew a little bit before, but of course now I know all kinds of details that weren't in the books.
I lived with a Malagasy family for the 2 months of training, which is the best way to learn a foreign language, I think. They took really good care of me. I had a room just to myself and I ate all of my meals with them. I even helped out with chores like peeling the beans they grew and washing laundry in the river! Peace Corps gave the trainees a little spending money so we could buy American-type snacks like chips, soda, and candy (sold in a little store near our school) when we got tired of rice. (Those foods aren't very healthy, but they felt like home!)
I don't know of a food called "fofo" but different parts of Madagascar have really different foods, so it might be eaten somewhere else. What is it?
Gary S: I'm sorry I'm not sending you Malagasy coins - anything heavier than paper is really expensive to send. Maybe you can find photos of coins on line (though I don't think they're nearly as interesting as the paper bills).
This might seem strange, but Malagasy people really don't think of themselves as African, just as Malagasy. For instance, I watched an all-Africa beauty pageant with friends yesterday, and they didn't understand why there was a Malagasy woman in the contest.
I live in the coldest part of the country, but people don't have heat in their houses. In the winter, they just wear tons of clothes and wrap themselves in lots of blankets, both in the house and walking around outside. People do have furniture and clothes, though (like in the U.S.) Some people have nice stuff and some people's stuff is not so nice. In my town, which is pretty wealthy compared to most of Madagascar, some people do have radios, T.V.s and even DVD players. In most towns, though, there might be a couple of radios and zero or one T.V.
Denton B: You have some great questions and made wonderful observations about the money! I had to ask around a bit, but I learned that the man and woman on the 1000 fMg and 500 fMg bills are just fictional people, representing the fishermen and herders also shown on the money. It's weird to Americans because we're used to having presidents on our money, but the people who designed the money here wanted to honor average Malagasy people.
The boxes on the money are watermarks; if you hold the bills up to a light, you'll see a cow's head (a national symbol) so that it's hard to counterfeit the money. Can you find watermarks on American money?
The writing in that little box on the 500 fMg bill (and all the bills) is in Malagasy and French; it means that anyone who tries to counterfeit the money (make fake money and pretend it's real) will be prosecuted.
The weather is really nice here, but in other parts of the country, it's closer to "burning," as you put it! That's true in the north (close to the equator) and the desert in the south.
I love your question about the animals! I'll award the categories of animals I've seen as you asked me to:
biggest: The indri, the largest lemur species, which can be over 4 feet tall.
smallest: the little tiny lizards that live around my latrine - they're about
the size of my pinky finger.
fattest: my friend's pig - it's huge.
slimiest: giant snails in the same park where I saw the lemurs. Neither lemurs nor giant snails just live right near people like squirrels in the U.S. - you usually have to go to parks or nature preserves to see them.)
skinniest: sadly, some of the dogs here in my town. There are lots of dogs without owners who just run around, eat whatever scraps or trash they can find, and make still more dogs no one wants. If your dogs and cats run around outside, be sure to get them fixed!
Finally, if it's "really really hot," men here in my town go topless while they work - like a man in the U.S. might mow the lawn without a shirt. There might be parts of Madagascar where women don't wear shirts when it's hot; I don't know for sure, but it wouldn't surprise me. Women's breasts here are not a big deal - for instance, women will breast feed their babies in public and in front of men. It was weird to me at first, but now I think it's nice - it's too bad American women have to hide when they feed their babies.
That's it for now, guys. Enjoy the springtime and I can't wait to hear back from you.
Jessica
*****
And now, some legalese:
The opinions expressed and experiences described in this travelogue are those of one individual Peace Corps Volunteer. Nothing written here should be interpreted as official or unofficial Peace Corps literature or as sanctioned by the Peace Corps. I have chosen to write about my experience online in order to update family and friends; I am earning no money whatsoever from this endeavor.
