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Erin hopes that everyone is enjoying a very healthy, happy new year! She knows y’all have been very busy and GREATLY appreciates the time you have taken to write, to send packages, to e-mail and to call. Each of you is very special to Erin and your keeping in touch means to world to her…and she’s a world away in so many ways!
Erin, too, has been busy. It’s the extremely hot, wet season…so Erin especially enjoys a change for the heat and the humidity. Besides her usual work to help improve health in her village and in the surrounding villages, Erin has had some added excitement. A Peace Corps Volunteer who has extended her 27 months has befriended Erin. This young lady is INCREDIBLE! She has built a successful radio station from scratch…and by “scratch”, I mean that she put it together with sticks and debris…with her amazing dedication and grant money, the radio station is now a permanent working structure providing jobs and information. This remarkable young lady is also creating a national park. At this point, the area has been declared a national reserve and she has had the village build an ego-lodge proving jobs in the lodge and the restaurant for the villagers along with providing environmental protection – pretty astonishing – just one young lady made these enormous differences…WOW! What a great mentor for Erin! You can be sure; Erin has a few ideas of her own taking shape in her mind! Erin enjoyed a delicious dinner with the second in command at the US Embassy. She was asked to accompany him to a meeting which was a delightful experience for Erin. This past Saturday night was a very new and different experience for Erin!!! She spent the evening educating the prostitutes in Diego. (O.K., y’all…y’all can stop laughing.) Sexual tourism is rampant in Diego. These young girls, some as young as 10 years old, are unaware of the health risks and how to minimize them. Prostitution is legal for girls 18 and older; however, they, too, need to know how to protect themselves. Erin worked with the PSI (Population Services International) – another organization helping throughout the world. The work really saddened Erin – realizing what some have to do in order to survive and to help their families survive – however, PSI had asked that she do this twice a month and she will. Next week, the director of her Peace Corps program will be up in Diego, so Erin is looking forward to working with her.
Erin wanted me to share this information – “some of my fav fruits…pls put the links on my blog so everyone can see what I eat! xoxoxo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_fruit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litchi “
She eats a lot of rice, but she didn’t give me a link for that!
I’m hoping that the technology specialist at school will be able to add some pictures to this blog. Here are explanations for the pictures –
Erin's Peace Corps Training group (probably Sept. 2007)
Erin, too, has been busy. It’s the extremely hot, wet season…so Erin especially enjoys a change for the heat and the humidity. Besides her usual work to help improve health in her village and in the surrounding villages, Erin has had some added excitement. A Peace Corps Volunteer who has extended her 27 months has befriended Erin. This young lady is INCREDIBLE! She has built a successful radio station from scratch…and by “scratch”, I mean that she put it together with sticks and debris…with her amazing dedication and grant money, the radio station is now a permanent working structure providing jobs and information. This remarkable young lady is also creating a national park. At this point, the area has been declared a national reserve and she has had the village build an ego-lodge proving jobs in the lodge and the restaurant for the villagers along with providing environmental protection – pretty astonishing – just one young lady made these enormous differences…WOW! What a great mentor for Erin! You can be sure; Erin has a few ideas of her own taking shape in her mind! Erin enjoyed a delicious dinner with the second in command at the US Embassy. She was asked to accompany him to a meeting which was a delightful experience for Erin. This past Saturday night was a very new and different experience for Erin!!! She spent the evening educating the prostitutes in Diego. (O.K., y’all…y’all can stop laughing.) Sexual tourism is rampant in Diego. These young girls, some as young as 10 years old, are unaware of the health risks and how to minimize them. Prostitution is legal for girls 18 and older; however, they, too, need to know how to protect themselves. Erin worked with the PSI (Population Services International) – another organization helping throughout the world. The work really saddened Erin – realizing what some have to do in order to survive and to help their families survive – however, PSI had asked that she do this twice a month and she will. Next week, the director of her Peace Corps program will be up in Diego, so Erin is looking forward to working with her.
Erin wanted me to share this information – “some of my fav fruits…pls put the links on my blog so everyone can see what I eat! xoxoxo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_fruit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litchi “
She eats a lot of rice, but she didn’t give me a link for that!
I’m hoping that the technology specialist at school will be able to add some pictures to this blog. Here are explanations for the pictures –
Erin's Peace Corps Training group (probably Sept. 2007)
Erin's PCT group on a field trip to a national park (probably Oct. 2007)
Erin and a couple of PCT's walking down a path near the training village (Oct./ Nov. 2007)
Erin and another PCT in Lac Mantasoa a couple of days before swearing in 12-02-07
Erin and Franka - her Sakalava instructor - the day before swearing in 12-03-07
Boys playing near Erin's village in northern Madagascar 12-16-07 (very different in the north!)
Orchid Erin saw on a walk 12-21-07
Lemur Erin saw on a walk 12-21-07
Erin and Celio - a favorite child in her village 12-22-07
Erin in Diego at Christmas with other PCV's in other villages 12-25-07
Erin and Celio on a walk near her village 12-30-07
Notice how very different it is in the northern region where Erin lives and the plateau region where she was trained.
