So I have been having this conversation with people lately and the more and more I think about it, the more I realize how silly life is... One of the things that I have really been enjoying out here is all the fresh fruits and vegetables! I buy local foods, I buy seasonally, and there are no preservatives or any stuff like that in the food. Even with meats, all the animals roam freely and eat grasses instead of corn. It's great! I eat Lychee that are still on the branch, there are mangoes of like at least 5 different kinds here, grapes are coming into season and I know there are avocadoes here and I will be So excited when I see those in the market!
But something I've been realizing is that I don't know how any of this stuff grows...
What does a mango tree look like? Do green beans grow on bushes like tomatoes or on vines like grapes? How do beans grow - above the ground like squash or in it like potatoes? What about peanuts - is it a tree? a bush? how does it work with the shell and everything?? Apparently bananas start out as this huge purple pod... and pineapples - they start out red and I don't even know how to explain how they grow because I have yet to see it but it seems So strange how they grow...
Isn't it silly?!? Isn't it silly?! and almost rediculous that I am 23 years old and I don't know how the majority of what I have been eating all my life looks like before I buy it at the store, before I open the can or package, before it is on my plate and I'm eating it..?
The answer is Yes!
I have been disconnected from my food - something that is part of my everyday routine, one of the basic necessities of life and a favorite past-time - for practically 22 years up until I move to an island and have no choice but to see it in a different light!
Sad, silly, interesting and I hope that through cooking and gardening I will find a greater appreciation for my food and the process behind it
Saturday, January 15, 2011
First project - The Hot Box
So the first small project that I set up at site was training some of the health educators about the Hot Box. My friend Wallie, fellow health volunteer, came through my site and helped me out with this!
The Hot Box:
Materials - 2 blankets, a basket, a pot and your food
Steps - start cooking your food, fold one blanket and put it in the bottom of the basket, after the 'Stove Time' put the covered pot in the basket, take the second folded blanket, cover the pot and tuck between the first blanket and the basket, make sure no heat is leaking out and wait for your food to finish cooking.
Example - 1 kapoaka (cup and a half) of rice to 3/4 zinga (a big cup basically, equivalent to about a 2 cup measuring cup). About 10 minutes on the stove, or just bring it to a boil. Let it sit in the Hot Box for about 30 minutes, maybe 40 if its red rice and then enjoy.
A make-shift crock pot, if you will...
So prior to IST I set up an information session with the health educators about the Hot Box and then the following 3 days to go out to the villages to do a demo. Here is how scheduling goes here in M/car...
Sent out reminders to the educators about 4 or 5 days before the info session - and by 'sent out' I mean asking people who are walking around if they know the people who the note is for and/or to somehow get it to them by passing it on to another person on the road. The info session was scheduled for 8 am and we didn't get started until about 9:30... People show up and if not everyone is there they go walk around and do other errands and when other people show up and not everyone is there and they do the same thing so yeah haha
They all seemed really suprised that the Hot Box would actually work. I think it made sense with trapping the heat and all though and they got really excited about it. So the next day my counterpart tool us out to one of the villages and we gave the same session and followed that up with a demonstration. We made rice and they were excited to see it cooked when it came out! We asked if they would use it and they said they would actually use it for stuff that took a long time to cook like cassava or sweet potatoes.
We didn't end up going out to the other villages the next two days because one day the health educator didn't show up to show us the way to the village - granted it was one of the market days and I was kind of anticipating for this to happen. The next day not only did the person who was supposed to show us out there unable to make it but the educator in that village had to go into Fianar the day before because her mother was sick and therefore none of the people in the village would be gathered...
Overall though, it went pretty well. I think people will use it like they said, for things that take a while to cook - one, saves on time having to watch over the food and two, uses less charcoal/wood. I will be going out to do baby food demonstrations probably in Feb and will talk about the hot Box probably too and see how other people recieve it too.
What I learned..?
Nothing is going to come out exactly as I plan. Which is Totally fine but remember to stay flexible and patient.
Cross-cultural lesson: We had a poster with suggested times and measurements like the rice example but people got really hung up on all this stuff. We had to explain that the amount of time depends on the kind of food and that they had to practice and play with it to figure out what works best. So I'm talking with my language teacher and going back over the posters and we find where a bg part of the disconnect is. People tell time differently here. We use watches but most of the people here don't have them, they use the sun. So when we say 30 minutes then don't really know what that means because that is kind of like clock time - saying half an hour translates better.
The Hot Box:
Materials - 2 blankets, a basket, a pot and your food
Steps - start cooking your food, fold one blanket and put it in the bottom of the basket, after the 'Stove Time' put the covered pot in the basket, take the second folded blanket, cover the pot and tuck between the first blanket and the basket, make sure no heat is leaking out and wait for your food to finish cooking.
Example - 1 kapoaka (cup and a half) of rice to 3/4 zinga (a big cup basically, equivalent to about a 2 cup measuring cup). About 10 minutes on the stove, or just bring it to a boil. Let it sit in the Hot Box for about 30 minutes, maybe 40 if its red rice and then enjoy.
A make-shift crock pot, if you will...
So prior to IST I set up an information session with the health educators about the Hot Box and then the following 3 days to go out to the villages to do a demo. Here is how scheduling goes here in M/car...
Sent out reminders to the educators about 4 or 5 days before the info session - and by 'sent out' I mean asking people who are walking around if they know the people who the note is for and/or to somehow get it to them by passing it on to another person on the road. The info session was scheduled for 8 am and we didn't get started until about 9:30... People show up and if not everyone is there they go walk around and do other errands and when other people show up and not everyone is there and they do the same thing so yeah haha
They all seemed really suprised that the Hot Box would actually work. I think it made sense with trapping the heat and all though and they got really excited about it. So the next day my counterpart tool us out to one of the villages and we gave the same session and followed that up with a demonstration. We made rice and they were excited to see it cooked when it came out! We asked if they would use it and they said they would actually use it for stuff that took a long time to cook like cassava or sweet potatoes.
We didn't end up going out to the other villages the next two days because one day the health educator didn't show up to show us the way to the village - granted it was one of the market days and I was kind of anticipating for this to happen. The next day not only did the person who was supposed to show us out there unable to make it but the educator in that village had to go into Fianar the day before because her mother was sick and therefore none of the people in the village would be gathered...
Overall though, it went pretty well. I think people will use it like they said, for things that take a while to cook - one, saves on time having to watch over the food and two, uses less charcoal/wood. I will be going out to do baby food demonstrations probably in Feb and will talk about the hot Box probably too and see how other people recieve it too.
What I learned..?
Nothing is going to come out exactly as I plan. Which is Totally fine but remember to stay flexible and patient.
Cross-cultural lesson: We had a poster with suggested times and measurements like the rice example but people got really hung up on all this stuff. We had to explain that the amount of time depends on the kind of food and that they had to practice and play with it to figure out what works best. So I'm talking with my language teacher and going back over the posters and we find where a bg part of the disconnect is. People tell time differently here. We use watches but most of the people here don't have them, they use the sun. So when we say 30 minutes then don't really know what that means because that is kind of like clock time - saying half an hour translates better.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Just add water
Alright! So apparently the hardest part of Peace Corps is the initial training and then the first few months at site. If this is true it should be "smooth sailing" from here on out!
For the past week me and my stage mates came back into the capital for our IST (In-Service Training) It was really great to see everyone again! Some of my favorite people are in completely different areas of Madagascar - I've got a friend isolated in the West, people who are fly sites and travel is only affordable when PC pays for it on official business and we've got a black hole here in M/car too where some great people are...
The training consisted of administrative stuff, how to get funding, how to collaborate with other sectors and the like. But mostly it was a chance for us to see each other again, share and vent about what has been going on at site and just relax for a bit before taking on the next leg of service.
After we left the training site a bunch of us were staying in the capital while we were getting ready to head back to site. We have just entered into the rainy season here so one night it was raining and for some reason the medical unit at the volunteer housing had a bunch of water coming off it so someone put a trashcan under the spot where most of it was coming off. A room downstairs where a bunch of beds are had water get in it the pervious night so someone was trying to prevent that from happening again. Well...the rain stopped but water was still just pouring off the medical unit and I realized that it was actually coming off the second floor balcony and not the roof....
So I went investigating. I walked in the door and the first floor had a bunch of water everywhere! Then I went up the stairs and it looked like a scene from the Titanic - water was just flowing down the stairs and all the rooms on the second floor were flooded.
What I found was that the water heater on the second floor had a tube pop off! I walked into a humid room with a high pressure stream of water just blasting in one of the rooms! It had probably been going on for something like at least 3 hours. In broken Malagasy we all tried to get the guards to turn off the water - we were calling the regular duty phone as well as the medical duty phone to try to get someone to get the water off and check things out. It was hilarious and frustrating all at the same time.
The main water did finally get shut off after like half an hour or so of franticness. Then a couple of us started to get all the boxes up off the floor and sweeping all the water from the rooms off the balcony. One of the PC doctors finally got there around 12:30 pm which is hella late here and he said that we had done enough for the night and to leave it until morning. Nothing got super damaged as far as I know so that is good.
The next night it rained pretty hard and the same building I was just talking about was dangerously close to flooding again. It kind of sits at the bottom of a hill and the area was flooded a bit - about ankle height. It kept raining but the flooding stayed just barely under the bit of raised porch-ish area outside of the rooms.
...Oh Madagascar...
For the past week me and my stage mates came back into the capital for our IST (In-Service Training) It was really great to see everyone again! Some of my favorite people are in completely different areas of Madagascar - I've got a friend isolated in the West, people who are fly sites and travel is only affordable when PC pays for it on official business and we've got a black hole here in M/car too where some great people are...
The training consisted of administrative stuff, how to get funding, how to collaborate with other sectors and the like. But mostly it was a chance for us to see each other again, share and vent about what has been going on at site and just relax for a bit before taking on the next leg of service.
After we left the training site a bunch of us were staying in the capital while we were getting ready to head back to site. We have just entered into the rainy season here so one night it was raining and for some reason the medical unit at the volunteer housing had a bunch of water coming off it so someone put a trashcan under the spot where most of it was coming off. A room downstairs where a bunch of beds are had water get in it the pervious night so someone was trying to prevent that from happening again. Well...the rain stopped but water was still just pouring off the medical unit and I realized that it was actually coming off the second floor balcony and not the roof....
So I went investigating. I walked in the door and the first floor had a bunch of water everywhere! Then I went up the stairs and it looked like a scene from the Titanic - water was just flowing down the stairs and all the rooms on the second floor were flooded.
What I found was that the water heater on the second floor had a tube pop off! I walked into a humid room with a high pressure stream of water just blasting in one of the rooms! It had probably been going on for something like at least 3 hours. In broken Malagasy we all tried to get the guards to turn off the water - we were calling the regular duty phone as well as the medical duty phone to try to get someone to get the water off and check things out. It was hilarious and frustrating all at the same time.
The main water did finally get shut off after like half an hour or so of franticness. Then a couple of us started to get all the boxes up off the floor and sweeping all the water from the rooms off the balcony. One of the PC doctors finally got there around 12:30 pm which is hella late here and he said that we had done enough for the night and to leave it until morning. Nothing got super damaged as far as I know so that is good.
The next night it rained pretty hard and the same building I was just talking about was dangerously close to flooding again. It kind of sits at the bottom of a hill and the area was flooded a bit - about ankle height. It kept raining but the flooding stayed just barely under the bit of raised porch-ish area outside of the rooms.
...Oh Madagascar...
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Reflections of 2010
The year the world tapped me on the shoulder and said "You should know this by now but - You can accomplish anything."
2010 has been one hell of a year! So much has happened...
1. Made a rediculous New Year's Resolution that I actually stuck to throughout the entire year
2. I worked under a new supervisor - the ambiguity and off-hands approach was something I was not used to and really nervous to engage in, but I grew a lot more confidence in myself and my abilities
3. Graduated from CSU in May - I'm a first gen and it felt amazing. I still don't think it has fully hit me yet that I have a college degree!
4. Did a lot of crying in terms of my love life and had to let go of a good dog. The upside to this is that I have come a long way and I know that I will be ok
5. I was the Maid of Honor in my sister's wedding. I love her So much and could not be happier for her
6. Worked with my dad for a couple months crawling around in attics and installing insulation - Dirty dirty work but I am so proud of my dad for having such a good business going.
7. All my Peace Corps process came together! I remember first thinking about it, making the decision to apply, getting the application in, all the interviews, all the paperwork and finally getting the paper saying I was going to Madagascar for 27 months!
8. I have gone through Pre-Service Training in Peace Corps Madagascar and met some great people and made some good friends! I've been trained to talk to rural communities about Health and have learned a foreign language - the Betsileo dialect.
9. I have made it through 2 and a half months at my site. Kids come by way too often, men are creepy, my mayor is kind of a big deal and my commune is so well established in terms of people knowledgable about health issues and whatnot that my biggest problem will be finding how I can help. Made it to In-Service Training!
10. Had friends to my site and did an information session with the health educators in my commune about the "Hot Bow" - basically a make-shift crock pot to help them save on wood/charcoal. Did a demonstration in one of my other fokontany but didn't end up going to the other scheduled ones because well, it's Madagascar...but all good, watched a lot of Dexter!
There is so much more that I went through in 2010 but it is just too much to keep track of. I have grown so much as a person and in ways that I can't even really explain. I am going through a once-in-a-lifetime experience in my early 20's and it has only just begun.
I can only imagine what 2011 will bring!
2010 has been one hell of a year! So much has happened...
1. Made a rediculous New Year's Resolution that I actually stuck to throughout the entire year
2. I worked under a new supervisor - the ambiguity and off-hands approach was something I was not used to and really nervous to engage in, but I grew a lot more confidence in myself and my abilities
3. Graduated from CSU in May - I'm a first gen and it felt amazing. I still don't think it has fully hit me yet that I have a college degree!
4. Did a lot of crying in terms of my love life and had to let go of a good dog. The upside to this is that I have come a long way and I know that I will be ok
5. I was the Maid of Honor in my sister's wedding. I love her So much and could not be happier for her
6. Worked with my dad for a couple months crawling around in attics and installing insulation - Dirty dirty work but I am so proud of my dad for having such a good business going.
7. All my Peace Corps process came together! I remember first thinking about it, making the decision to apply, getting the application in, all the interviews, all the paperwork and finally getting the paper saying I was going to Madagascar for 27 months!
8. I have gone through Pre-Service Training in Peace Corps Madagascar and met some great people and made some good friends! I've been trained to talk to rural communities about Health and have learned a foreign language - the Betsileo dialect.
9. I have made it through 2 and a half months at my site. Kids come by way too often, men are creepy, my mayor is kind of a big deal and my commune is so well established in terms of people knowledgable about health issues and whatnot that my biggest problem will be finding how I can help. Made it to In-Service Training!
10. Had friends to my site and did an information session with the health educators in my commune about the "Hot Bow" - basically a make-shift crock pot to help them save on wood/charcoal. Did a demonstration in one of my other fokontany but didn't end up going to the other scheduled ones because well, it's Madagascar...but all good, watched a lot of Dexter!
There is so much more that I went through in 2010 but it is just too much to keep track of. I have grown so much as a person and in ways that I can't even really explain. I am going through a once-in-a-lifetime experience in my early 20's and it has only just begun.
I can only imagine what 2011 will bring!
My new November
The end of November brings rain
Beetles crawl out of the moistened soil
"There are already lots of kids!"
She says with urgent excitement
Having grown out of my childhood courage
I watch as they swat grasses with fallen sticks
Provoking flight
And leaping through dusk air
While a zinga of water traps their next meal
Beetles crawl out of the moistened soil
"There are already lots of kids!"
She says with urgent excitement
Having grown out of my childhood courage
I watch as they swat grasses with fallen sticks
Provoking flight
And leaping through dusk air
While a zinga of water traps their next meal
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