Dentists, Dinosaurs, and Demonstrations

Salamo! Man, things are really moving along here in Madagascar...I've just hit the three month mark as a PCV! Too much has happened over the last few weeks to go into a lengthy journalist account :) so today I'm going to try a new approach and highlight some of the most exciting events and biggest successes of July in Katsepy Part 2...coming to you from the Madagascar's sunny west coast...complete with a picture! ( slower-than-
molasses-photo-uploading and the largeness of my photos dictates this singularity...working on fixing this) Events listed in chronological order. :)

• Fitampoha in Mahajanga. My counterpart took me to this annual Sakalava cultural festival where the Sakalava royal family washes some of the remains of the first Sakalava king in Madagascar. Everyone was dressed in their most extravagant lambas, there was a parade, dancing, singing, and even trombas (Sakalava fomba where a person is 'possessed' by the deceased and relays messages from beyond to the crowd watching...pretty wild). And if this picture would ever upload, you'd see that I was dressed and prepped by some ladies from my town to 'fit in' as best as possible. Although in my opinion, braided hair, salovana and kisaly only served to make me stick out more, especially while walking through the city of Mahajanga before arriving at the festival. Embarrassing? Maybe. Ridiculous? Probably. A moment to embrace and be proud of for all its embarrassing ridiculousness and total uniqueness? Definitely. And check out the beauty of my counterpart's wife (left) and the Sakalava princess (right).
  

• Stony Brook Dental Team visit to Katsepy was a great week complete with lots of conversations in English (!) and Malagasy, American food brought and shared by the team (oh peanut butter and pringles!), and more tooth extractions than I thought possible (in the thousands - top single mouth record:24 teeth! holy cow!). The team visited Katsepy last after a month of visits to rural villages and next to free dental care for those brave and smart enough to see this group of blue scrub cloaked, 'headlamp' wearing Americans. I helped out where I could...roughly translating, washing and sterilizing the instruments (a somewhat surreal transformation of my beaker and pipet tip washing days in the geochemistry lab), showing off Katsepy and the local lighthouse lemur family, and I even extracted a tooth...a nice loose lower incisor, right in front! The team did tremendous work and deserves much appreciation.
  
• I finally made it to the dinosaur site! No paleo-ing this time, but rather site development with the PC Environmental Program Associate Director, Stanislas. As the closest volunteer to the site, I'll be helping prepare the site for a new PCV coming with next year's Environment group. The visit was a lot of fun, with a community meeting under a tree, a visit to the exhibit and lots of shared enthusiasm between the village, the Ankizy Fund and Peace Corps. Felt very Peace Corps throughout.
• After Berivotra, Stan and super cool PC driver, Doda, came up to Katsepy with me to check things out at my site, and assess my progress thus far. Timing could not have been more perfect. The first day I was able to walk around town (which was positively buzzing with Sobahya Festival prep and people) with Stan, introducing him to my friends and mpiara-miasa's (people I work with), giving him a sneek peek of the work I'd done for the solar cooking demonstration, and getting advice about my garden and techniques/variations I can try next. It was great...not only was Stan very impressed with my integration and project progress so far, but he was very supportive and encouraging, giving great feedback on my first three months at site. Although, I have a number of 'independent' research projects under my belt, nothing has felt as truly independent as my PC work so far. Which can be somewhat liberating, but makes it hard to gauge your progress and recieve advice or answers to the many questions I have here in Katsepy. It was a very positive experience to have Stan there at site, especially the following day for the actual cooking demonstration!
• Sobahya and solar cooking/drying demo was incredible! Not only did tons of people pass by, but after they tried my free solar-baked cookies and cake, were genuinely interested in the cookers. I had built three for the demonstration and had food out on the drying rack as well. It is amazing...I've been talking about solar cooking since my arrival, but only after seeing the cookers, tasting the masaka (done) food, and feeling the heat from the pots did people really believe and begin to get excited. It was so fun...I was having a blast sharing with the crowd gathered around with the help of Doda (my Malagasy is still elementary at best), and even better was when a Malagasy person who had already heard the speel would begin explaining it to the next person to show up at my stand. I had handouts in Malagasy to give out, so hopefully the word will be spreading. With a few smaller cooking and oven building classes, I hope to actually get some cookers made and in use! How exciting...the demo, especially with PC's, my community's and my counterpart's presence and support was the perfect climax to my first three months at site.
  
• And Sobahya wasn't all 'work' either! Before the demo, all the lehibe's (big important people...Sakalava queen, mayor, etc) showed up, gave speeches, and we all enjoyed a number of performances from Malagasy and Comorian dancing and singing groups. And after the demo, I got to enjoy street side brochettes with my Malagasy friends and go out dancing...Malagasy singer Wawa was in Katsepy for the festival and they put on a awesome show from 10 at night until 4 in the morning! It was crazy...more people than I thought could fit in Katsepy dancing and celebrating...and with a number of friends for dance partners, I no longer felt like that awkward new girl at the school dance. :) Over a week later, and Katsepy is still in recovery from this full-out festival and Sakalava cultural event.
• I have beans in my garden! And cucumbers that should be ready for the eating in a week or so! Produce never tasted so fresh and delicious! And I get to experience the satisfaction of being at least somewhat competent in the world of organic gardening. Course, I need to try again with peppers and tomatoes, but hey, this is a learning process, right?!
• I have a site partner, of sorts! I just got to meet Lauren, the new Education Volunteer who is currently in training, but will be opening a new site in a village close to me starting at the end of this month. She passed through Katsepy on her way to visit Mitsinjo, and we hit it off right away. Somewhat isolated from the rest of Peace Corps Volunteers here in Katsepy, it will be great fun to have a friend close by to share the next two years, and to share the unique and culturally rich region I am luckly enough to live in.
  

Okay, got another week at site before returning to Tana for a week of in-service training with my fellow stage mates. We haven't seen eachother for the last three months or even talked much, so you could guess that I'm more than a little excited to share stories and compare notes. Time is flying and I'm trying my hardest to absorb and appreciate it all as it soars pass. Thinking of you all back home often and despite my extreme happiness here, do experience twinges of home/family/friend-sickness. I love you all so much and am constantly held up by your support and enthusiasm for me here in Madagascar. Thank you so much! Hugs and kisses across the miles and miles! Mazotoa!

~Tara
PS. G'ma and G'pa K and Tiffany...I received your packages. Thank you so much...you rock! Letters are on their way.