Well, this cyclone season has been
really annoying. First the east coast got nailed by Giovanna, and
then Irina came down the north and west coasts. The good thing about
living in the highlands is that we never suffer the brunt of the
storm, but we do get the weeks of lingering rain no matter where a
cyclone has hit. Since the two cyclones hit so close together, we've
had several weeks of almost non-stop rain, which means my town is
basically just a mud pit. I haven't been able to go running, people
are staying inside so the clinic has been pretty dead, and all of the
food in the market has been rotting. The last one is probably the
biggest problem. I've still been able to find some veg with only a
few bad spots that can be cut around, but you can forget about fruit.
The bananas are just piles of black mush, and the apples are so
bruised and rotted out you can barely tell what they are. But, I've
got my little stock pile of rice and can still buy ramen from the
stores, so I'm doing alright. A couple friends and I are planning a
vacation to the east coast in a couple weeks, so we'll probably check
out the damage there when we go. Hopefully no new cyclones crop up
during that time though. We'll be hitting Tamatave and Foulpointe,
which I haven't been to, and then popping over to St. Marie, which is
probably one of the most beautiful places on earth. I'm so excited to
be going back there. Dreams of the perfect beaches are what's keeping
me going at this point. Oh, and lobster of course.
Even though clinic work has been slow,
my photography project has been amazing work. We've had a few
meetings at this point, and I've been absolutely thrilled with the
way the girls have embraced the assignments. They've really seemed to
understand the point of the assignments which so far have been “home”
and “fun.” They've produced some really great pictures of their
families, daily work, and friends. At each meeting we go through all
the pics that they took the week prior, and then I tell them which
were my favorites and why. Then, they have to select which of their
pics was their favorite that week and then write a short paragraph
describing the picture and why they think it's good. One example from
the first week was from a girl named Safidy whose picture was of her
mother sifting rice:
“I like this photo because it is of
my mother. She does the house work and helps her children with their
studies. She works very hard so that her children may study.”
I'm excited for this week's assignment,
which is “community” because it will get them out and about in
the town interacting with other people. They won't be able to be shy
if they want to get good pictures of people, which is what I always
tell them- “You must be brave for art!” Which they always giggle
at, but I hope they keep it in mind this week. I've posted some of my
favorite photos in an album on facebook if you want to take a look at
their work.
That's about all that's going on in
this soggy country for now. Till next time.
