Finally a Volunteer!

Jan 26, 2010
So we swore in today! I'm finally a volunteer. We head out to site tomorrow morning. I won't be actually in my site until Feb 4 because we have to drop off 3 other volunteers before we head to my site. We have to do banking, open some accounts, and shopping for our houses. I have been told that the closest place for internet to my site is about 6 hours away. So I prolly won't be using the internet much. I'm gonna try to upload some pics on here. We'll see how that goes. I love and miss you all dearly. Keep writing!

mel

Jan 24, 2010
Akory aby sa! This is hello in my dialect language of Antesaka. We have finally made it. I gave my final presentation in Malagasy to all our health host families. Part of the requirements of it was to have them ask questions at the end of the presentation and being able to answer it pretty much on the fly. Mine turned out to be ok. It wasn’t that bad. Then we had our language test on Friday. I was really nervous. For me, I have been learning a dialect but my host family didn’t speak the dialect so to be able to practice it, hasn’t really happened but it was a mixture of my dialect and Standard Malagasy, which isn’t too different but there are some differences. But the ultimate test will be once I get to site. Which speaking of that, we will be swearing in on Tuesday. We’re staying in the capital Monday and Tuesday and then heading out on Wednesday. My closest neighbor is Alison, she is anywhere from 1km-15km. Which is pretty close but I think it will be great. Speaking of swearing in, I did pass my language test and will be able to, finally, officially start my two-year service. While in the host family village, I put together a small demonstration for all the kids in my neighborhood on hand-washing. It was a great success. There is a song to sing with it as you’re washing your hands and all the kids would sing it whenever they saw me. Aaron brought his kids over and we did it for them too. I was very surprised with myself because I didn’t have to look at notes or anything. I was able to give it in Malagasy. After that, we, Health trainees, made a cook stove for the village, demonstrating how to make it and built it at the SEECALINE office where a lady does nutrition demonstrations for mothers and their children. That, too was a great success. Another strange, small world is that while I was in Guinea, right before I was medically separated we had gotten a new Country Director. His name was Dan. He was literally my CD for not even a week when I found out I was leaving but he was great and helped me as much as he possibly could. To get to the point of my story, with Guinea being evacuated last October and Madagascar not having a CD, they recruited Dan, yep the same Dan, to come and be acting CD for 6 weeks here. It was great to see him. It’s just been so weird how many times I’ve ran into something to do with Guinea either in Niger or here in Madagascar. It will take me a handful of days to get installed (moved into my village, introduced to the authorities, getting my banking set up, all that good jazz). It’s been pretty quiet on the state-side. Yep that’s all of you. But whatev, I know what it’s like. It’s really good to hear from you about everything and anything. After three months and two countries, we have finally made it. It’s amazing how close we’ve all become. We have been strong since the beginning. I do believe we are one of the first if not the first stage here in Madagascar that has made it through the whole training without having someone ET (early terminate). Alena, a part of our stage in Niger who couldn’t come to Madagascar, is starting training in South Africa at the end of January. I’m really glad that she got in so quickly. But yeah that’s about it for now. Love you all.

Jan. 6, 2010
Hey there yay! I’m gonna make this short because I don’t have much time. I have moved in with my host family and they are great. I wish I could upload some pics but the internet is being used by 35 other computers right now so it’ll be amazing if I even get this posted. I live with a mom, dad and 5 kids between the ages of 10-20. I’m giving my first presentation tomorrow in Malagasy. I’m a little nervous but it will be great experience. The weather has been rainy at night. But otherwise it’s been pleasant. My address will be changing once I get to post which will be early February. I’m not sure how it’ll work but there will be a place to mail me in my village or nearby. I’m located on the southeast, 5 miles from the Indian ocean. I’m excited and can’t wait to see it and everyone. Sorry so short but I’ve got to go. Hopefully I’ll be able to load pictures before I go to post. I love you all and miss you bunches.


Dec. 24, 2009
Hello everyone! I am reporting to you from Madagascar. It is just about as opposite as one could get from Niger. It’s rainy, cold, humid, green, and beautiful rather than hot, dry, and sandy. We are at the end of week two. We are all staying at a resort type facility for another week and then we move in with host families. Let me describe the training site a little. Our dining hall is right on a lake where we have witnessed many beautiful sunsets. There are a couple canoes that we have access to. We have bikes so we can go biking and see the beautiful scenery along with some amazing hiking. It is just breathtaking here. We are staying in a dorm type room with one to two roommates. I am housing with Devyn and Ryan but staying with Jackson and Aaron. A typical day consists of me getting up at 6am, taking a nice power walk for about 45 minutes, rinse off, have breakfast at 7am, class 8-10 language or technical, snack/coffee break 10-10:30, class 10:30-12, lunch, class 1:30-3, break, class 3:5-4:15, free time until 6 when we eat dinner and then study, read, write, play games, really anything until bedtime which is generally around 9pm for me. I feel like we have been spoiled. We have wonderful food. Rice is still served at every meal. Breakfast we’ve had anything from French toast, pancakes, hashbrowns, eggs, bread, and some sort of meat just about everyday; lunch is a lot of cooked veggies and meat; and supper is usually mac n cheese or some dish with veggies and salad along with mangoes or plums for dessert. It all has been amazing. The language is coming along. We just got site announcements this week. I will be along the southeast coast. Yep, I should be biking distance from the Indian ocean! My closest and really only neighbor volunteer is Alison. We started our dialect on Tuesday and it is very similar to the standard Malagasy language that they speak all over the country. Apparently, it’s louder, rougher and lazier than the standard Malagasy. I think it will coming along just fine. I don’t know a whole lot about my site because it was recently redeveloped but should have more information on it soon. I do know that there are many secondary projects working with the environment, which is exactly what I wanted and I never told them that. They really are great at what they do, especially placements. There is an American NGO that works with Botanical Gardens which I am super excited about. We had class Christmas morning but the afternoon off where we had a feast! Ice cream included!!!! Some other volunteers that will be somewhat in my area are Stephanie, Tatum, Mike, and Matt. Being as far south as I am will give me the opportunity to visit more volunteers, I feel, when I’m planning a trip into the capital, Tana. We are not allowed to travel at night because of safety so it’s an excuse to stop on by someone’s site. We are all getting anxious to be getting out to site but know the training is crucial. I got a new cell phone, which hopefully I remember to change on here, but will more than likely be getting a new one once I’m at post. I will also be getting a new address. I do believe I’ll still be able to get letters and things that are sent to Tana (Antanarivo) but it may take a little longer once I’m at site. This way I could possibly have it delivered to my town. I’ll get it up on here as soon as I find it out. Anyhoo, I hope all is well. Thank you for those that have written or called. I can’t stress enough how much it means. I miss you all like crazy and hope some of you are thinking of visiting because I’m already thinking of places I want to go and things I want to do with many of you. Don’t be afraid to call or write! Pictures from home, newspaper/magazine articles, really anything is great. Hope the holidays are treating you all great. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Love always, Mel.

011261341890628 Here's my number but it will prolly be changing in a week or so.

MADAGASCAR!!

Well hello from Paris! Yep I'm gonna make a long story short. About three weeks ago maybe, we were put on consolidation. This is where all volunteers and trainees were brought together in their regions. Us trainees were all brought up to the training site where we stayed for a long time. We couldn't leave the fenced in grounds without a staff member with us. There was an attempted kidnapping on US Embassy workers in one of the regions here in Niger. It was unsuccessful but unknown if it was a planned attack. So after the couple weeks of being all together, Mary our country director decided since we hadn't been in country for that long, we weren't able to notice if there was a difference in the atmosphere, whether a normal situation had become unsafe. So she decided to pull us. Lucky we were almost all able to go together to Madagascar where we will begin our training all over again. Unfortunately, one person wasn't able to come with us. Her name was Alena. She is a great person, always positive and will be greatly missed. I am amazed that PC was able to keep us all together and move us all to another country. I had made Niger my home in just the few weeks we were there and I will greatly miss it. We had a great Thanksgiving where the trainees put together a fabulous meal for everyone. We had PLENTY to eat. We also held a fashion show which was just great. We dressed up in Nigerien clothes, thanks to our language teachers, and modeled them off. It was a fun time. We put on an American Olympics for the teachers to participate in, which myself and JaJa put together. We did things like an obstacle course with hopscotch, frog jumps, English tunnel of greetings, and the crab walk. We also had pin the tail on the donkey, tug of war and musical chairs. It was a blast and everyone enjoyed. I am still a Health Volunteer which I'm excited about. I'm definately super excited to be heading to Madagascar, more of a vacation destination. So I hope many of you will consider coming. My new address will be posted on here. I'm gonna load some pictures and then head out to see Paris! I still can't believe this. It's so surreal. Luv you all. Thanks to those that have written and/or called. The first picture is

my language classmates, Ashely and JaJa. The second is of me and my family. Basically who they are are my mama, the daughter-in-law Ramatu, the daughter Rakia, the two grandsons Moumouni and Ousmane and me. The third one is some camels that were just wandering around down by the tabaki, a temporary lake that forms after the rainy season. Here's to the third time training!

INA WUNI

The title of my blog is Hausa for good afternoon basically! So yeah we're just shy of three weeks in country. It's great. I'm totally loving it here. It's been hot and it's not even in the hot season yet. We are on demyst. That is where we go out into the country to stay with a current volunteer for a few nights. I went to visit a volunteer who is NRM and Zarma....I'm health and Hausa, but it was great. I want to start a garden and work i nthe fields. I feel like i've forgotten how to type, so I'm sorry in advance. A little about my training. We have class Mon-Fri 8-4ish. And Saturdays from 8-12. I sleep outside under the stars, in a mosquito net. I have a roommate, Kelly. We both luv bluegrass so we listen to it every morning while getting ready to go get breakfast...cafe au lait and bread for me...It's great sleeping outside but I tend to wake up at 5am every morning and the MOON (MOM) is so bright it seems like there is a light right above my head. But if it's not that it's either one of the three donkeys that live just on the other side of wall or one of the ten goats that also live there. So it's great. I don't mind it at all. I had an extreme calming feeling come over me as soon as I got off that plane in Niamey. So great to finally be back in Africa. The people are so kind. It is different from GUinea but you know that was to be expected. Speaking of Guinea, they did get evacuated and one of the volunteers transferred here to Niger...he has actually been to my village becuz he was only 35km away from my village. So that was nice to hear about what everyone was doing and whatnot. Anyhoo I've got to get back to the hostel....I'm starving. I luv you all....keep sending me stuff...it's so great...anything..everything..luv you all!! and miss ya a bunch.

And so it begins....

Well I made it to Philly. I haven't been able to sleep lately becuz I've been so excited and anxious for the day....and it finally came. I flew outta LaCrosse at 7am and arrived in Philly around 12:30pm. It was good..got about an hour of sleep from chi-town to philly. Got on the shuttle to the hotel where I joined 38 other people going to Niger. I definately feel much calmer now that I'm actually here with my group. It feels more real or something. I'll be taking off early tomorrow morning and probably won't have internet access for, they say 2 months and cell service for maybe a month. So just remember....no news is good news. I hope you all are beginning to write. I'm so glad that I got to see everyone and talk to everyone that I did in the last few months. I've had a great time. I still think of you all and luv you with all my heart. Thank you for the support. Take care.

so with 11 days left before the take off for staging, i'm flooded with so many emotions. I'm very anxious and excited to get back to africa. While in Guinea, I had made myself a home (my first time living alone besides the dorm life freshman year), connected with a family that treated me as one of their own, and made many, many friends. I'd lie if I said I don't think about Guinea often because I do. Especially lately, it's been on my mind most of the day. For those of you that don't know, all the volunteers in Guinea have been evacuated to Mali this week. There has been political turmoil in the capital and Peace Corps made the decision to evacuate. They are currently evaluating the situation and making the decision whether or not it's safe to send them back into country. I feel for the volunteers for many reasons. As far as I'm aware, they did get a couple days to gather their things and say good bye...not knowing if they'd return. Some if not most were in the middle of projects that will be left unfinished, and who knows if they will be continued without the volunteer present but I hope they all do. G-15, the group I was in, would have been done with their service in February 2010, so what I have heard from some of them is that if they don't return to Guinea, they are going to COS (close of service) 4 months early. There is a mixture of emotions within the group. Some are excited that they may be able to go home for the holidays, others had plans to take the GRE within the next few months in the capital, and a handful were planning to do third years in Guinea and in different countries in West Africa. My heart goes out to them all and I hope everything works out for the best.It's hard for me not to think that if I had stayed in Guinea, my service will have been done in February-just when I'll be at IST (inservice training). This occurs three months after being at site. But I don't let it get me down. I was having mixed feelings about going back to Africa after I got my invitation, but if you look at what I've went through not only in the past 15 months but the time before I left for Guinea, I've invested A LOT of my time and energy in this and it is something I want to do. I have met a lot of people that are in my group going to Niger on facebook and it is a relief. We discuss our hopes and fears, which we share many. It's calming to know, even though I've already gone through it, that I'm not the only one feeling the way I do. I feel good that I know what to expect, to some extent. It's going to be harder, I think, for me to leave this time around for personal reasons but I know that if I don't go, I'll always feel a hole in my life. I feel fortunate enough to have had a family reunion with all the family in the midwest, including both my sisters with one coming from oregon and the other coming from New York not too long ago. It has been awhile since that has happened and probably will be awhile until it happens again. I also am so happy that I have been able to spend many of my last weeks with friends that have been a big part of my life and influenced the person I have become. I am grateful for each and every one of you. I feel lucky to have you all in my life. I will leave you with a picture of my maternal grandmother with all her grandchildren. Until next time....