First, an update...

On June 9, 2006, 1218 days after first arriving in Madagascar, the staff at the Peace Corps Mission office in Madagascar sent a cable to the United States officially announcing my new status as Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV) and I walked out of that office and onto an airplane (actually, 4 airplanes) that eventually dumped me off at 10 pm on June 10.

So I have left Peace Corps behind – fondly, yes – but I have ended that chapter. But the adventure in Madagascar isn’t over yet –

At 10:30 pm on July 31, 2006 the same series of planes in reverse order returned me, déjà vu like, to that original starting point, but with a whole new perspective on my place in this country.

For the next six months (at least), I will be under private contract with the organization that sponsored my third year PCV position, doing the same thing in the same place, just for a little bit more money (like something rather than nothing). To help subsidize my life living on “something” (and to pad my résumé), I’m also working to pick up a half-time USAID contract to head up the field testing and development of a final draft edition for the Malagasy translation of all Peace Corps volunteers’ favorite book “Where There is No Doctor.” In the end, it’s my thanks to both of these organizations for helping me achieve my biggest personal goal over the next three months – to prove to myself that I can really do this on my own and without the safety net of Peace Corps below me. SantéNet is still doing an excellent job taking care of me, for which I am very appreciative, but it’s still nothing like the comparative coddling PC provides (dedicated medical care, transportation to and from country, ability and requisite experience to requisition helicopters from the president of Madagascar at moments of great need), so this time I’m left with much more the feeling that this is really up to me.

And so, here’s to the next 184 days in Madagascar and all the new perspectives that will come with it.

World Water Day

Happy World Water Day!

So today, I'm going to begin by plagiarizing the World Water Day website - their graphics are much beter, so please, if you have time surf on over there and take a look!

http://www.worldwaterday2006.org

In 1992, the UN General Assembly designated March 22 as "World Water Day" to draw the international attention to the critical lack of clean, safe drinking water worldwide. It is a time when we are encouraged to pause and consider the largest public health issue of our time - the global scarcity of clean water.

The facts are mind boggling. More than 1 billion people world wide – 20% of the planet’s entire human population – lack access to clean, safe drinking water. According to the United Nations, this world water crisis leads to the death of more than 4,500 children every day and is a leading cause of poverty, disease, and social instability world wide.

Despite the apparent abundance of clean water in the US and most of the developed world, more than 20% of the Earth’s population lacks clean, safe drinking water.

This world water crisis isn’t confined to one particular region of the planet, though the crisis is most severe in developing nations and particularly acute in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Poverty, health, education, and economic growth all are impacted by the lack of clean water and sanitation in these communities, creating a perpetual struggle for basic survival.

And now for water in Madagascar: (source, Human Development Report, 2005)

Population without sustainable access to improved sanitation (pit latrine, flushable toilet, etc.):
1990 : 88%
2002 : 67%

Population without sustainable access to an improved water source:
1990 : 60%
2002 : 55 % *

* that’s 12 years and only a 5% improvement!

In truth, PCVs Mark and Jon, who are water systems engineers, have probably single-handedly done more to improve sustainable access to an improved water source during their combined 6 years in country than almost any other project. Unfortunately, all their efforts are being undercut by the number of water systems that go off-line each year because of poor construction and improper maintenance training or unavailability of key replacement parts due to remoteness or expense.

This World Water Day we are celebrating the new W.A.S.H. (Water, Sanitation, Hygiene) committee in the Fianar region and we are going into the next year with high expectations of better coordinated efforts, involvement of key actors and funders (such as Rotary International), and integration of project objectives. For SantéNet, our Kôminina Mendrika (Champion Communes) project is hoping to develop objectives for construction of water systems, education about the importance of latrines, and encouraging behavior change for use of home chlorination of water and, of course, handwashing.

I personally as a PCV have felt the psychological pains of not having regular access to a reliable water source. It was probably doubly traumatic for me, coming from a plumber’s family in the land of lakes in northern Wisconsin – we occasionally worried a little when lake levels got to low, but there was never a threat to the cubic meters coming out of the faucet. To go for days at a time not knowing if I would have water tomorrow took a mental toll during my two years in the remote north of the island. Now I rarely have any water concerns again, but I do not take for granted a single flush of the toilet or turning on the faucet. I still go into the field regularly and see communities that suffer on a daily basis.

So, today when you take your showers or buy a bottle of purified water, think of the millions around the world that don’t have that luxury.

Three years at the bottom of the world – and still loving it

Just before midnight, February 7, 2003, I saw Madagascar for the first time.

Dinner time, February 7, 2005, I celebrated 3 years in Madagascar surrounded by those who gave me my start and the skills I would need to survive in this country.

This past week I was invited up to the PC training center in Montasoa to participate in preparations for the newest environmental PC trainees (who will arrive this Thursday), with the new PCV trainers and the rest of the training staff. It caught a lot of people off-guard to see a health volunteer arrive with all of the environment volunteers, but it came clear when I explained that the head of the environmental program wanted a session on integrated health-environment messages in volunteer projects. It was great to see everybody, as always, but they were even happier when I reminded them of the February 7th anniversary.

I dropped the hint to the training director that I thought we needed a cake to celebrate that anniversary – and she agreed whole-heartedly. So on Tuesday night after dinner, all the lights went out, and out came the biggest sheet cake I have seen in this country, slathered in chocolate frosting (a contribution of mine from a care package a while back), sporting 3 candles and decorated with the Malagasy “Thank You Erica.”

Yeah, the cake had my name on it, and I got to cut it, but it was an anniversary for a lot more of the people there. Lucie the PC training director, Bruno the site manager, Hary and Andry the drivers, Jovan, Peta, Sidonie, Meta, and Ghislain, the language trainers, Stanislas, the environment training director, as well as the cooks and support staff, are all survivors the 10 weeks of training that produced nearly 50 PCVs and helped the Madagascar PC program recover after being closed due to a political crisis in the spring of 2002. They deserved that cake just as much (and perhaps much more) than I did!

And so we continued looking to the future. This week marked the beginning of the 9th training session since our group swore in in April, 2003, and the 3rd environmental training. This is also the 3rd training that I will have participated in as a trainer. Approximately 180 volunteers will have been trained and sworn in by the time I leave Peace Corps Madagascar later this year. Peace Corps Madagascar is alive and motivated in the effort to develop Madagascar. I am proud to have contributed the little that I have, but even more proud of the staff and other volunteers that have worked together and have done so much in the 3 years that I have been granted on this island.