Busy Working

In addition to being busy “thinking” I have been busy visiting co-workers. I will be working with volunteer health workers in the surrounding villages. These villages are called “fokantanies”.   Think of my town, Manandona, as the county seat of the area and the fokantanies as the small towns surrounding the county seat.  I will be  planning projects on nutrition, prenatal care, hygiene and whatever else they feel is necessary to promote good health.

I decided to visit Madame Suzanne who lives in the farthest, most remote fokantany situated over a mountain range.  I took my Malagasy language teacher as a guide and we set off at 6:00 a.m. in the morning. The trip is a good day’s hike – 8-10 hours there and back.

We set off and it is all up hill, crossing many rice paddies, several creeks, water falls,   walking  through narrow ridges and paths overlooking the town. A beautiful but long hard walk. My Malagsy teacher, Nradto, skips around in shorts and flip flops climbing, I have on sturdy hiking shoes, long pants, a sun hat, sunglasses and a back pack filled with “emergency” supplies. A typical American prepared for anything.

I fall twice but am not hurt, although I can feel that I strained my lower back a bit by catching myself. 4 hours later we are on top of the mountain and start our decline to Madame Suzanne’s house. We walk down for about a half hour and my back and legs are screaming to stop. We are walking so slow that my guide is worried we may be spending a week in the mountains so he suggests that I wait for him under a small bush which provides some shade and that he will continue to the house and ask Madame Suzanne to walk back to where I am.

I sit in the shade and after about 45 minutes I happen to look up and notice 6 children and 3 adults standing on a large boulder on the hill side about 100 yards away observing me.  They have their farm tools and sickles in their hands so I know they had been working in the rice fields .  I wave hello and a few minutes later they climb down and sit in the grass about 10 yards from me.  I think a little afraid to come closer. There is dead silence and no one says anything for a few minutes – they just stare.  They don’t know what to think, discovering a Vazaha sitting alone in the middle of nowhere.

I finally tell them that I am here to see Madame Suzanne.  They all know her and say “Oh her house is just there, you are close, come we will walk you.”  I look at what they call close.  I see two more streams to cross and about a dozen large rice paddies and a large field with cows.  Her house is a dot in the distance, up on a hill side.  I am in no shape to try and walk there. I am a bit shocked at what they call “close”.

I explain that I am with a friend who has gone to fetch her for me and that I am too old to move on.  They sit for a full 30 minutes and just stare at me and finally the adults go back to the fields.  The children stay and one of the small boys gets up the courage to come and sit very close to me.  I ask him his name and age and he timidly answers.

Then he notices the blue veins trying to work their way out of the back of my hands.  Which reminds me that I really am aging a bit. He points to them and says “ blue”, then looks at his own hands. He seems amazed that I have skin that looks blue and his is brown. To show off I roll up my sleeves and show him the blue veins climbing up the underside of my arms.  He calls the other 6 children over to look and they are shocked and amazed.  They look at their own dark arms with no blue and at mine with the blue veins. They reluctantly ask if they can touch my arms. When I pull off my sun hat and they see my silver hair they want to touch that, then the want to touch my hiking shoes and then I start feeling weird and try to change the subject to anything that does not involve using the Vazaha as a show and tell item.

Madame Suzanne and my guide appear a few hours later and we discuss health programs.  She is a nice lady in her mid 50’s with only 2 teeth.  Two days later she appears at my door in Manandona, I invite her in and make tea. I ask what brought her to town.  She says” Oh I thought I would just come down to see how you are feeling, it is a long walk and your legs must be sore”.  I feel so ashamed, she is 55, she just “popped” down to see how I was doing – as if I lived next door!! I need to work out more!!!

Resting at the water fall

Ndrato high above the clouds

Hiking with volunteers looking for lemurs

Whoops,one found me!

A family, they travel in groups with the female the head of the family

My son Douglas proposed to Carly in Rome-she said yes.  I am looking forward to a wedding next year and lots of grand lemurs- I mean grand children!

[TO1]