This is a letter I received from Erin on 11/26/07 that she asked me to post on her blog. (Mail is a little slow!) Erin sends this with her love and appreciation for each of y'all! Enjoy!
"10/22/07
…this is a compilation of why I love the Peace Corps and Madagascar…
WHY I LOVE PEACE CORPS MADAGASCAR:
1. Our trainers are amazing! Ex. Franka (my Sakalava
mpamplanatra [teacher]) figured out how to say “you rock” in
English so she could tell me that I rock – she is botrabotra-be
[so cute]. She also remembers everything…even if I only tell
her once. The first week I told her “ zoky-tanynaka pihira,
Eric anarany” [My older brother is a musician; his name’s Eric]
and when we get mail or a call from home, she always asks,
“How is Eric?” She has been miasa [working] for the PC efitra
taona [four years], so former PCT’s taught her the funniest
things – when she forgets something, she always says “brain
fart” – it’s precious!
2. As you can tell, I am finally beginning to think in “Gasy”. The
volunteers taking mefloquin (malaria prevention medicine which
gives you crazy dreams) are starting to dream in “Gasy”. The
PC does an unbelievable job with our language training. Y’all
better keep in touch mahay [super well] so that I don’t forget
English – HA! HA! Seriously, though, what really stands out for
me about the PC is the fact that we go into our villages speaking
their specific dialect. It’s such a great way to go to these “off
the map” places and really express how much we care about
them. They feel so worthy to have us come all the way bokany
Ameriky [from America] and work with them in their own
language. Many NGO’s (non-government organizations) here
only speak French although only the well-educated know French
and we can truly help the masses of illiterate people because we
can communicate with them.
3. PC totally knows when we are at our last wit and prevents us
from breaking down by being very thoughtful. For both
Halloween and Thanksgiving during training they are taking us
to a PC house with great American food, hot showers, lake we
can canoe in, etc. I can’t wait! Every Thursday during training,
we eat lunch as a group and Gaby, the Tana cook (who used to be
a chef at the nicest restaurant in Tana – but we stole him!)
makes us a delicious lunch. They make the transition very
doable. Also, once a month, when I get to my site, I will get to
go to the prettiest city in Madagascar for phone/email/hot
shower/bank/market/etc. I am so lucky to get to live near
Diego. By the time you read this, I may have already visited it
:-).
4.The volunteers across the country/across sectors work on
killer projects together. I can’t wait for the bike races, soccer
tournaments, etc. We get to go on “business trips” for these.
5. After a long hard day, on my walk home up the hills, through
the rice fields…I get to see a magical sunset – maty maoandro –
the sun dies – and I know that G-d is nigh because amid the
poverty, the lack of comforts, the stress of learning so much,
the pain of missing y’all, the adorable curious kids are
ambitiously wanting to always hand out with us, the super muddy
paths, the rain-soaked clothes, the dirty EVERYTHING, the
smelly kabone (the area where people go to the bathroom
outside), the rooster which crow way too early, the akoho we
have to learn how to kill [chicken] with our bare hands, the
setroko [smoke] which blazes all harivo [evening] and gives
every tsaiky [child] in our village aretin-tratra [ARI], I know
G-d is with us here; He’s everywhere. We are all humans and
neighbors and because He said we need to take care of each
other, it’s the greatest honor to me that I get to be here
learning so much about life, about the other (something that I
can’t read…sorry y’all!) of the world’s population sharing their
joy under the big blue sky.
10/24/07
6. I am so happy today! Three environmental volunteers from
around Madagascar came to talk to us. One named Erin, too,
lives only 15 miles away from me (when I move to my site)!
She told me all about Diego. It sounds great! There are 9 of
us who will bank there. (The nine are not from Erin’s
training group…they are nine PCV’s who are from another
sector.) There’s a nice hotel near the PC House where we can
use the pool! She also said the beaches and national parks up
north are incredible. She said you get use to the heat quickly
- plus I would much rather be in the tropical part of
Madagascar because the weather here on the plateau is not good. Diego has no electrical
towers – all of the power is through generators so sometimes internet/phones don’t work but
we are learning a lot of patience already so I will survive. I only get mail/phone/internet
once a month for 3 days and will only be able to mail y’all once a month, too, when I go to
Diego. Sorry you will have to wait for so long! Y’all better write a lot so I can take the letters
back to site and read them all month. It was so great to hear more about where I’m going!
The volunteers up there work together a lot which will be awesome! Emily, on e of the super
mahay [great] volunteers who trained us is almost done with her service and lives near Diego
so she left me a ton of her supplies – pots, silverware, etc. in Diego which is incredible! Oh,
and the music and the dancing up north sounds so much fun, too! I can’t wait for my site
visit! My new address is:
Erin Levin, PCV
Peace Corps Regional House
6 Rue Commandant
Marchard-Place
Kabary 201
Antsiranana MADAGASCAR
Please send mail there starting by Nov. 15! I hear we need more DVD’s, so feel free to send
those! THANKS!
7. My sister, Meltine, is adorable! She has a notebook where she writes down the song lyrics
she hears on the radio, radio is huge here, and half the songs they play are in English so last
night she made me sing them to the whole family and I had to try to explain what they mean
which was so hard! 1 – I don’t speak the same language as my host family – they speak
Malagasy and are from Merina – Indosian Island tribe – and I an living far north and speak
Sakalava – they are from south western Africa. 2 – I have a horrible voice. 3 – Some of the
songs are a bit dirty – lots of Shakira and Fergie, etc. It was hilarious – like something out of
Saturday Night Live. J (Y’all, I don’t know what kind of radio Erin is talking about since they
have no electricity…maybe some sort of transistor radio…y’all may be much to young to even
know what that is!)
8. We are already making a difference. I had a huge fear that I would get here and be totally
consumed with the poverty and become disillusioned. However, because we live in the
poverty, it becomes a way of life and we realize what we need to do to survive and can share
these skills mixed with our wonderful American educations and seriously improve the
conditions of life for all those around us. For example, my Mom is sitting right next to me
right now reading a newsletter I gave her in Gasy about getting vaccines for children and
where around our village, babies get vitamin A pills, weighed, etc. She will go tell everyone
around us what she learned! News here travels very fast somehow – especially when it is
something a vazah [white person] tells them. It’s really cool here, though, because our
families consider us real family now and not even vazahs anymore. Looking different, but
speaking their language, is the most advantageous way to disseminate information. People
flock to us and really listen to us. The challenge is really persuading and training them that
these behavior changes are crucial and good for them. Luckily, our training is the best and I
love talking to people – I’ve just got to take baby steps! Awww….my Mom just showed me
where is says that sweet potatoes and carrots have lots of vitamin A because that’s what we
had for lunch and she’s so proud! AND, my sister, Chantall, who is 22, just came in with her
botrabotra [very cute] 2 and 3 year old daughters who are in their church dresses because
they just went to the CSB [clinic] to get vaccinated! YEA! These are the moments when I feel
like here really has so much hope for this world to be better.”
(This is a letter that Erin wrote and asked me to post on her blog. Later this week, I will write
a lot from the conversation we had, so stay tuned…Erin is feeling much better – however, she
had been taken to Antananarivo – the capital – because she had to get re-hydrated after
getting very sick…still waiting for the lab reports to, hopefully, learn what she had. After 4-5
days of re-hydration, she’s back in her host village. There are lots of stories that go with this…
her Mom lamenting over her sick child that was taken away for 5 days and her sick cow! Hope
everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Please know that both Erin and I are so very
thankful for the support, encouragement and love y’all share through your letters/packages to
Erin.)
With tremendous gratefulness,
Erin’s Mom
