Tag: living abroad

Sainte Luce, Madagascar

MADAGASCAR – MONTH FIVE

A lot of exciting things have happened this month!

First, we had International Women’s Day, where the women of SEED, along with many other groups, marched through town.

International Women's Day in Madagascar International Women's Day in Madagascar

The next morning we left for Sainte Luce, where SEED has a camp. It was GORGEOUS. I did a lot of things that would have freaked me out in a previous life, mostly like exist in closed spaces close to huntsmen spiders, and it was fine.

Sainte Luce, Madagascar Sainte Luce, Madagascar

I think that’s kind of the big thing I’ve realised I’m learning from this experience. I can do hard things. My laptop broke when we went to Greece and I CRIED because I couldn’t imagine how I’d get through the trip without it. My laptop broke in Mada about 6 weeks ago and you just kind of get on with things. (That is my excuse why I got so behind on these updates). When we first moved in, the cockroaches terrified me, and now they are nothing. Just big beetles really. I used to be so neurotic about food and I’ve really come around there as well – there’s no point in stressing. If I did that here it would be every meal and that’s just a terrible way to live. I don’t find it embarrassing to have diarrhea or health issues – my body is incredible for how it’s gotten through everything. My bed is filled with ants and fleas, there are ALWAYS bugs all over me when I’m sleeping. For a while I was going to bed in full pants and socks but it’s just too hot so I let them have at it. You adjust. You can do hard things. What an empowering thing to not only believe but to know and live.

TRAVEL

I also spent some time this month travelling in Ethiopia and Kenya, which I was freaked out about doing solo and really shouldn’t have been. First of all, compared to Mada those places might as well be the UK. I think another thing I’ve learned is life just goes on everywhere. Mada was recently named the poorest country in the world, and yes, sure, you can see that. The infrastructure is poor, as are the education and health systems and so on. But you can always find a bar to listen to music or have a dance, everyone still loves to laugh, and life honestly stops feeling any different there vs here. Kenya and Ethiopia used to sound exotic to me, but by the time I got there they felt familiar in ways they reminded me of Mada or the UK and interesting in ways they were different. But exotic isn’t really a thing, is it?

Nairobi National Park, Kenya

The last big highlight of month five was stopping in at Marie Stopes Madagascar in Tana. I spent an hour with the Country Director, just talking SRHR in Madagascar and it was educating and inspiring and wonderful. I’m so incredibly proud of the time I spend working for MSI and really hope to be back there some day.

I’m in the UK for another week and just got back from a quick trip to Sevilla with Gareth which was amaaazing. I’ll do posts about Addis and Nairobi and Sevilla soon, as well, now that I’ve got a working computer and SO MUCH FREE INTERNET WHAT.

International Women's Day, Madagascar

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY IN MADAGASCAR

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International Women’s day in Madagascar is a big deal. Women get the day off and most big groups are represented in the march through town. It was fun and festive and really empowering. After the march we went to a bar and spent hours talking feminism and harassment and other important subjects. The whole day left me really proud to have these women beside me. We ended the day swimming at a stunning beach, floating through huge waves and it was such a vivid moment of, “I can’t believe I get to live here and do this work.” International Women’s day in Madagascar was absolutely amazing.

International Women's Day, Madagascar

And very timely because we had recently started having seminars about harassment women face in Malagasy culture, and let’s just say there’s a real divide between how national and international staff view harassment. It was a nice way to feel re-empowered after some difficult conversations.

International Women's Day, Madagascar International Women's Day, Madagascar International Women's Day, Madagascar  International Women's Day, Madagascar International Women's Day, Madagascar International Women's Day, Madagascar International Women's Day, Madagascar

*some photos taken by other SEED staff

Sainte Luce, Madagascar

SAINTE LUCE, MADAGASCAR

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The morning after International Women’s Day,  we left for our Sainte Luce trip to SEED’s camp.

It was GORGEOUS. We rode these little boats made from trees (that had to be consistently bailed the entire trip or they’d sink, haha), down the water to a completely wild beach. It was heaven. From there we walked through the forest to the other side of the area and had dinners and played games at an empty bar with ocean views.

Sainte Luce, Madagascar Sainte Luce, Madagascar
Sainte Luce, Madagascar
Sainte Luce, Madagascar Sainte Luce, Madagascar  Sainte Luce, Madagascar Sainte Luce, Madagascar Sainte Luce, Madagascar

Then we had a bush party, where a local band plays and woman dance and then you all dance and it was pretty fun. I was really proud of myself cause we were quite remote – the drive out took a while and often I can feel anxious being far from a town. But this was fine. I camped in a tent with spiders, I used a squat latrine WITH HUNTSMEN SPIDERS IN THEM, and just got on with it. Go me. The Sainte Luce trip was another weekend spent being so happy and proud this is my life right now!

Talinjoo, Fort Dauphin, Madagascar

MADAGASCAR – MONTH FOUR

Month Four has easily been my best month yet and started off with quite a bang! We spent the
weekend in Evatraha – my favourite place I’ve been in Madagascar thus far!

We met a bit outside of town before hopping in a few boats and riding for about an hour
through the lake and reeds to get to the coolest little camp on the water. It was fairly remote,
but with bungalows to sleep in, paddle boats to borrow, and a great dock to jump off of.
We pre-ordered all our meals so there was no hassle with food and brought quite a bit of beer
with us, and logistically it all worked really well. We played games, read, swam and just relaxed, and it ended up being my best weekend to date! I loved Evatraha!

Other big things to happen… I’ve started my health economics course for my masters, which is
the one I was most dreading of all my classes this year. And so far, I’ve really enjoyed it! I’m
pretty surprised by it, and nervous for the final, but the process of learning about it has actually proved to be quite engaging.

Wales beat England in 6 Nations, making Gareth and I quite the sports power couple. Some
other horrific sports stuff happened that has once again called into question the morality of my
love for the NFL, and what I would class as the only ACTUAL Patriots scandal that deserves
outrage. Why can’t we have nice things? Why do men in power consistently let us down?

BIGGEST NEWS, I’m finally (touch wood) healthy!! My stomach is the best it’s been since I arrived, which is honestly such a game changer. Also, during all of these medical visits I got to know the local doctor here and she is incredibly inspiring and passionate about family planning and contraception, which led to some really interesting  conversations.

ANYWAY. I’m riding a bit of a high at the moment because MY PROJECT IS NOW FULLY FUNDED! Honestly, the high of getting funded is like no other. I am into it.

We had a lovely dinner at my friend’s flat – we hung out with her new kitty, made DELICIOUS curry, and two different types of cookies. It was luxury.

It’s still hot.

Also, I head back for a visit to London in just about two weeks, and on the way I used my trusty
airline miles to build in a 1.5 day layover in Addis Ababa and 2.5 days in Nairobi. Now I just have to decide if I want to hang out in Nairobi the whole time or squeeze in a two day, one night safari to Masai Mara National Reserve. These are the decisions that keep me up at night.

Fort Dauphin, Madagascar

MADAGASCAR – MONTH THREE

Obviously, the top highlight is WINNING THE SUPER BOWL. What else was I gonna say? To some it may be the most boring Super Bowl in history, but I was pretty stressed out the whole way through – it was within a field goal or tied down to the last 7 minutes. Also, our D played lights out and JULES GOT MVP! Brady got SIX. We tied the Steelers, life is good, etc etc.

Nearly tied with the Super Bowl win was the AFC Championship though. THAT GAME. OH MY GOD. From the moment it started to the heart attack inducing final moments, I wasn’t sure I’d survive it. Kansas City. Kansas City of “we’re onto Cincinnati” fame. Kansas City where we played so poorly I named my newly adopted (and now 5 year old) kitten Brady in remembrance of the once-great QB. In Arrowhead Stadium, which was only happening because we couldn’t close the Dolphins game. We didn’t look like us. This wasn’t our year. We were going to make it to a record breaking 8 th straight AFC Championship and then go home. I just wanted to keep in close. AND KEEP IN CLOSE WE DID. I honestly do not think I’ve ever been so stressed throughout a game but man was it worth it.

For both these games I had to watch from 2:30 – 6:00sih and the next days at work were rough. But well worth it. I miss football. Gronk and McCourty please don’t retire. Trey Flowers, how ‘bout a team friendly deal??

Fort Dauphin, Madagascar

Gareth’s last days in Mada

I spent quite a few days this month at Talinjoo, the fancy hotel just outside of town. It was heave.

Talinjoo, Fort Dauphin, MadagascarTalinjoo, Fort Dauphin, MadagascarAnother overarching theme of the month has been illness! I don’t think the giardia ever really went away, and I spent the break getting sicker and sicker until by the new year I was properly really quite ill again. That led to another round of being bedridden, though this time I went to the doctor much earlier so I wasn’t REALLY sick for as long.

Before I even finished the antibiotics for that, dehydration led to a UTI and kidney infection which was really quite hellish. They don’t have that dye medication that takes away the pain here, so I was drinking loads of baking soda to try to lessen the pain which was semi-successful. The medication for all of these things made me really sick, so it was just so many compounding things. I lost a lot of weight and looked like a really malnourished version of myself.

Now for serious life stuff, unfortunately.

A colleague’s son died from measles and that was really difficult. We’re in such a weird position here because we have the privilege of being Vazahs, have health insurance, get to travel to beautiful parts of the area, can eat at the nicer restaurants sometimes, but then there’s this other side of life where water is scarce and my bed is infested with fleas and you’re sick all the time and life is fragile for people who live in this context all the time. Our night guard and his wife and 7 month old daughter live in a tiny wooden shack in our back garden and their daughter got measles (it’s outbreaking here). The treatment was about $7, which they couldn’t afford to pay. We obviously paid for it, and made sure she got ongoing care. However that turned into them asking us for basic necessities like fruit and vegetables, which was fine, but then turned into about 2-3 daily calls with requests for luxuries like diapers and sugar. It’s so hard to know how to handle things like that, and luckily SEED took over once it got too excessive – but it’s hard because you’re so privileged compared to people who have nothing. It honestly took us about 6 weeks to even realise anyone lived there – through our unadjusted eyes it seemed impossible a family could fit in such a small space.

Fort Dauphin, Madagascar

a family lives in this shed in our garden

Someone else in the office has Scarlett Fever and it feels like every day someone else is ill with something new. I will say, it hasn’t been me! Since getting over the stomach stuff and kidney infection, I’ve been relatively healthy which has been SUCH a nice break. I was starting to doubt I’d ever adjust/feel healthy again in my life. You hear horror stories of someone contracting something once and never really recovering digestively and I was terrified that was me. But nope! All good on that front (or as good as can be expected in the context haha).

It hasn’t been that eventful of a month. We had a really fun retirement party with lots of dancing. Lots of studying for my masters.

Fort Dauphin, Madagascar

It continues to be so hot it’s difficult to work or focus or breathe, and we’ve started having near daily power cuts and I gotta tell you life without the fan isn’t my favourite.

Still plugging along trying to get the rest of our funding. Organising some activities we can be doing now, which is exciting!

Fort Dauphin, Madagascar

MADAGASCAR – MONTH TWO

YOU GUYS I SUCK. Time moves strangely fast here and I missed posting so many of these. I wrote most of them at the time, so I’m gonna post them all in one go and try to be better in the future… here goes.

So, time flew by and somehow it’s well past my two month mark here! Month two was much
easier than month one, mostly because Gareth was here for such a large chunk of it.

Fort Dauphin, Madagascar

I had two weeks off over Christmas and we mostly hung out around Fort Dauphin, getting to
know the area better, spending so much time at the beach and fancy hotel, working on my tan, sorting my flat, and ringing in the new year. Still struggling to grasp that it’s 2019!

Fort Dauphin, Madagascar

Fort Dauphin, MadagascarFort Dauphin, Madagascar

We found some time to get to Berenty, which was a fantastic way to spend a Christmas so far
from home and in the southern hemisphere. It was incredibly difficult to say goodbye to Gareth
– life here is one million times easier and more enjoyable with him around, but it got easier
quickly knowing we’d see each other in March – less than two months away at the time of
writing this!

it started getting very hot

Work started back up, and that was great because I really, really enjoy my work here. My job
changed a little bit, instead of being on an HIV project and a WASH project, I’m just on HIV and
then helping to develop strategy for the community health department as a whole. I’m really
excited about the new challenge/opportunity and think it’ll be a great way to develop my skill
set. Also, my HIV project is about 50% funded now! It’s all very, very exciting.

lunch spot

SEED office (L)

school toilets I assessed for the WASH project

Fort Dauphin continues to be gorgeous. Have a progression of sunsets from this month:

Fort Dauphin, Madagascar

Fort Dauphin, Madagascar

Fort Dauphin, Madagascar

from my bedroom window

AND OF course one of the main events from month two was the Patriots beating the Chargers
in the Divisional round. Luckily for me it was on at the only slot that didn’t keep me up all night (looking at you AFCCG), and we BEAT LA!

Updates from the AFCCG and THE SUPER BOWL will be included in my month three write up,
where they belong. But I have a LOT OF FEELINGS about it, obviously.

Berenty Reserve, Madagascar

BERENTY PHOTO DIARY – EVERYTHING BUT THE LEMURS

During our three incredible days at the Berenty Reserve, we were able to see so much. Dozens and dozens of lemurs, reptiles, birds, bats, and bugs. I’ve already written a post about the logistics of organising a trip to Berenty, but here I wanted to share a photo diary of our time there. This is everything but the lemurs as there were too many of those for one post. You can find the lemurs here!

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Drive to Berenty Reserve, Madagascar

CHRISTMAS AT BERENTY RESERVE

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Guys, we went to Berenty Reserve and I finally saw lemurs!! Hundreds of them!

We knew we wanted to stay around Fort Dauphin for most of Gareth’s trip, mainly so he can see where I’m living and help sort out my flat (thank you, G!!). But we wanted to do something special over Christmas which led us to Berenty.

Christmas at Berenty Reserve, Madagascar

Berenty is a small, private reserve about 3.5 hours from Fort Dauphin, and one of the most famous in all of Madagascar. It’s one of the best places to see lemurs in the country, and where primatologist Alison Jolly studied lemurs for over 50 years. If you’re into lemurs, this is your spot.

LOGISTICS

TRANSPORT

You need to organise transport to and from the reserve directly — you can’t just turn up. They can arrange this from Tana, but in Fort Dauphin the Le Dauphin hotel is their sister site and you can arrange things there. You’ll be picked up from the hotel early in the morning with a driver and a guide. The drive out is part of the experience, with a few stops along the way to see the changing landscape. We had a fantastic drive out, you can see some of the pictures below.

Drive to Berenty Reserve, Madagascar Drive to Berenty Reserve, Madagascar Drive to Berenty Reserve, Madagascar Spiny Forest, Berenty Reserve, Madagascar

FOOD

There is a restaurant at the reserve, but nowhere to buy snacks. The restaurant is a fixed menu — continental breakfast (with or without eggs) in the morning, and three courses (starter, main, dessert) during lunch and dinner. Breakfast is from 6 – 9, lunch from 12-2:30 and dinner 7-10. The food was good but not great — though this lobster on Christmas Eve was quite the treat.

 

ELECTRICITY AND WATER

The reserve runs on generator power, so there’s electricity from 5am to 9am, 11am to 3pm and 5pm to 10pm. This is generally fine but as it’s the peak of summer, nights without a fan or air con were HOT. There is also running water, flushing toilets, and showers with hot water. (YES, PLEASE!)

Accommodation at Berenty Reserve, Madagascar Accommodation at Berenty Reserve, Madagascar Berenty Reserve, Madagascar

COST

The cost for transport and the guide is €157 each. It includes the driver, gas to/from the reserve, a guide who provided us with three (long) walks a day (7-11 am, 3-6 pm, and 7-8 pm), room and board for both driver and guide, and entrance to the reserve and museum.

It’s another €62 each night for a double occupancy room. Meals are 19,000 Ariary each for breakfast and 36,000 Ariary for lunch and dinner, however on special occasions (Christmas Eve), there is a special menu that was €22 each. Water, and most drinks, are 6,000 Ariary.

THE EXPERIENCE

You see SO much at Berenty. You’re basically guaranteed to see all the different types of lemurs that live in the reserve, and you can get quite close to them! We also saw chameleons, flying foxes, snakes, so many cool bugs, tortoises, and a crocodile. We saw so many incredible things, which you can see in the photo diaries here and here. Our guide JP was incredible — he was SO knowledgeable about everything and just such a nice person to be around.

Sifakas Lemur, Berenty Reserve, Madagascar Sifakas Lemur, Berenty Reserve, Madagascar Ring-Tailed Lemur, Berenty Reserve, Madagascar

In all, if you’re in Southern Madagascar and at all interested in lemurs, Berenty Reserve should be top of your list!

Fort Dauphin, Madagascar

MADAGASCAR – MONTH ONE

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So I blinked and it has somehow been just over a month since I arrived in Fort Dauphin! In some ways it feels like I’ve been here much longer, and in so many others it feels like I’ve literally just arrived.

GETTING HERE

To back up, I left Boston the evening of Sunday, November 11th and after a long journey (Boston → Chicago → Addis Ababa → Tana), I arrived in Madagascar on Tuesday, November 13th.

I was nervous for the chaos I’d been told to expect at the airport, but it was really easy to find my driver and secure myself a Telma SIM card for my phone – everything went smoothly right up until I realized I had forgotten the PIN of my brand new ATM card and had no access to money. I changed what little cash I had and THANK GOD was able to remember it the next morning, when I was back to catch the internal flight down to Fort Dauphin.

FORT DAUPHIN

Fort Dauphin, Madagascar

view from my front porch

Fort Dauphin, Madagascar Fort Dauphin, Madagascar

Fort Dauphin is stunningly beautiful. I keep having to take a break to look around in shock that I actually live here.

I’m really loving the work aspect of everything, which is exciting as that’s what I’m here for. My projects are all very interesting, and I’m really looking forward to learning so much more about HIV and WASH. I’m going to focus on learning enough Malagasy to get by — the basics, numbers, words for food, etc, and then I’m going to switch to learning French, as I think it’ll be really easy to learn the basics here and most people I’ve met speak it. There’s also an Alliance Francaise in Fort Dauphin where I might be able to take lessons. This is the first time I’ve been anywhere near an immersive French experience, and I want to take advantage!

SETTLING IN

I live with one other girl in house new to our company, meaning it’s empty aside from two beds, a table, and a couch. It’s going to take some work to make it homey, and our first week was a series of unfortunate events where every time we thought we had it figured out, something new went wrong. Finally got buckets to fill up when the water is on at night to use for showering/flushing the toilet, and the water went out for 10 days straight. There was a period of time when I had giardia, no water to flush and all the lightbulbs in our house had burnt out. Stumbling to a dirty toilet with a head torch whilst feeling like you’re dying in a brand new country is QUITE the trial by fire!

Flat in Fort Dauphin, Madagascar

Flat in Fort Dauphin, Madagascar Flat in Fort Dauphin, Madagascar Flat in Fort Dauphin, Madagascar

When I first arrived it was kind of terrifying how helpless I felt. I didn’t know my way around town and Google maps is not really a thing here. Nor is Google translate, and I didn’t know any Malagasy. So for things as basic as food and water I was so dependent on others to show us where to get them, order for us, handle the money.  I’m so excited for everything coming up and by this time next month to hopefully feel even more settled in than I do now!

The biggest adjustment has been how much time it takes to accomplish anything. It took a full week to get to a point where we had drinking water, toilet paper, soap, buckets to shower/flush with, and a trash can. My first week I learned to celebrate the smallest victories – having a shower was an entire day’s accomplishment, and I’ve grown from there. There are still so many things I need (a fan! a fridge, a functioning laptop, a dresser not filled with cockroaches, etc), but I’m getting closer and closer to living a relatively normal life. We also had a Thanksgiving meal on the day, which was so lovely as it’s tie for Christmas as my favourite holiday.

Thanksgiving in Madagascar Thanksgiving in Madagascar

That said, it’s only been a month and I’m now nearly as comfortable killing the roaches as our very capable upstairs neighbor is. We have a good stock of back up water, set up steady laundry service and a cleaner who comes twice a week (what luxury), and everything feels much easier. It’s shocking how happy the ability able to wash your hands, take a shower (even from a bucket), and flush a toilet can make you. I’ve also found a bunch of places  in Fort Dauphin where I love to eat, and beside the giardia haven’t been that sick from food yet (touch wood).

COMING UP

Somehow time has moved fast enough that Gareth is currently in the air, on his way to Tana. It feels like we said goodbye so recently, and if we can keep this up through the year I think time will fly and be much easier than our LA to London long distance was. We’re hanging around the Fort Dauphin area while hoping to do a few day/overnight trips to nearby reserves and lodges, and maybe a few nights at the fancy hotel here in town.

After that we’re into 2019 which is almost too crazy to consider! 2018 flew by, and it’s kind of freaking me out how fast time has been moving lately. That said, 2019 will be quite the adventure and I’m looking forward to being even more settled here in Mada.