2006.12.04: December 4, 2006: Headlines: COS - Madagascar: Parks: The Ashland Daily Press: Mariah Raade's first three months in Madagascar were spent with a host family to learn about the culture, native language called Malagasy and to adjust to the heat and season reversal of the Southern hemisphere
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2006.12.04: December 4, 2006: Headlines: COS - Madagascar: Parks: The Ashland Daily Press: Mariah Raade's first three months in Madagascar were spent with a host family to learn about the culture, native language called Malagasy and to adjust to the heat and season reversal of the Southern hemisphere
Mariah Raade's first three months in Madagascar were spent with a host family to learn about the culture, native language called Malagasy and to adjust to the heat and season reversal of the Southern hemisphere
Mariah is the first and only volunteer in this village. The closest volunteer is 20 kilometers away in her banking town, Ambanja. She rides a bicycle there once a week to shop and do business. Her counterpart, Aubin, is a man who works for Madagascar's version of the park service. He is in contact with her almost every day. She says the villagers are accepting her and she is feeling more comfortable. This was evidenced by the invitation she received from two young women in her village. They asked if she "wanted to do lunch" one day. So Mariah rode her bike to the market, purchased a live chicken for two dollars and brought it back. The other women killed it, cleaned it and put the whole chicken, head and feet into a pot with potatoes, carrots and seasonings. It was delicious but she insisted that the head and feet delicacies were left for her friends to enjoy!
Mariah Raade's first three months in Madagascar were spent with a host family to learn about the culture, native language called Malagasy and to adjust to the heat and season reversal of the Southern hemisphere
It's not a movie, it's Madagascar
The Daily Press
Monday, December 04th, 2006 10:59:50 AM
By KARLA RAADE
For The Daily Press
If your daily life includes jumping rats, hissing cockroaches, leaping lemurs and lost penguins, you could be in Madagascar. The fourth largest island on Earth, just off the southeast coast of Africa is about twice the size of the state of Arizona. With innumerable endemic species of plants, animals, birds and insects, environmental issues are huge.
So with a sense of adventure, a desire to help others, and a natural resources/wildlife ecology degree from UW-Madison, Mariah Raade became a Peace Corps volunteer in February of this year. Her first three months in Madagascar were spent with a host family to learn about the culture, native language called Malagasy and to adjust to the heat and season reversal of the Southern hemisphere. She adapted to eating rice three times a day, no indoor plumbing and staying inside after dark. The villagers believe "there are witches out there after dark."
In May, she was sent to her assigned site. A village on the northwest coast called Antanandava. There are 1,400 people living there with no electricity or running water. Well, actually you do "run" for your water to the nearest river about eight minutes from town. The living water of the river provides everyone their daily needs. Everyone, including Mariah, drinks from, bathes in, washes clothes and dishes in and socializes at the banks of the stream. The Peace Corps requires water filter and treatment supplies and private toilet facilities for their volunteers. So she has the only latrine in town. Let your imagination run with the fact that 1,400 people have to use "nature" to relieve themselves every day of their lives.
Mariah is the first and only volunteer in this village. The closest volunteer is 20 kilometers away in her banking town, Ambanja. She rides a bicycle there once a week to shop and do business. Her counterpart, Aubin, is a man who works for Madagascar's version of the park service. He is in contact with her almost every day.
She says the villagers are accepting her and she is feeling more comfortable. This was evidenced by the invitation she received from two young women in her village. They asked if she "wanted to do lunch" one day. So Mariah rode her bike to the market, purchased a live chicken for two dollars and brought it back. The other women killed it, cleaned it and put the whole chicken, head and feet into a pot with potatoes, carrots and seasonings. It was delicious but she insisted that the head and feet delicacies were left for her friends to enjoy!
Mariah plans to do some environmental education in the schools and "civic" groups regarding alternatives to "slash and burn" agriculture, more productive rice planting and harvesting techniques and health and sanitation issues. She told us that she can't concentrate on saving the rain forest or the lemurs when there are so many humanitarian concerns to be addressed first. So she is writing a proposal to have three wells dug and ten latrines put in her village. The wells will be hand dug, two of the latrines will be put near the school and the rest throughout the village.
Spending a little over two years in a third world country will be a life-changing event for Mariah. Madagascar is an island paradise with unparalled beauty, poverty and potential. If anyone is moved to change lives and receive information about Mariah's well/latrine project through the Peace Corps Partnership Program, please send your e-mail address to: .
Karla Raade, RN, works in Perioperative Services of Memorial Medical Center and is Mariah Raade's mother.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: December, 2006; Peace Corps Madagascar; Directory of Madagascar RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Madagascar RPCVs; Parks
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Story Source: The Ashland Daily Press
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Madagascar; Parks
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