Christmas in Madagascar

I got back yesterday evening from a 5 day trip to the south-east of Madagascar...we drove almost 2000km in 4x4 jeep...it was humid, hot, rainy, exciting, interesting, informative...so those are some of the reasons why no real Christmas feeling is coming up, because 30 degrees C and the lychee season just do not go along with my idea of Christmas...but still:

I would like to wish you all merry Christmas!

We are going to have a big Christmas dinner tonight and I think I have never celebrated the Holy Night it such an international circle of people...Cameroon, Brazil, Canada, Poland, the Netherlands, Russia, Mauritius and Germany...definitely something different from back home and for sure very interesting!

MGG Fabi

A Simulated Crisis and a Real Accident

Two weeks ago I returned from a crisis simulation which took place in Foulpointe, at the East coast of Madagascar.

The simulation was a long planned project, mainly organized and lead by the Bureau National de Gestion des Risques et des Catastrophes (BNGRC).

BNGRC which belongs to the Malagasy military operated with several civil partners such as the Red Cross, Meteo-Station, UNICEF, OCHA and WFP. The exercise had 2 different parts whereby we have been more concerned about the strike of a fake cyclone with all its consequences, because a damaged oil tanker is not much of a business for WFP.

After being briefed about the rough outlook of the things to expect, the exercise really got started in Foulpointe where all participating actors have been informed about the damage the cyclone had left. We got to know that there were about 50 people who lost their homes, 12 missing and a couple of fatal victims.

Our part of the game was to ensure that our cooperating partner, the Red Cross, has been provided with sufficient food to distribute to the 50 cyclone victims.

The group of people, volunteers from the local village, were expected to arrive at the Red Cross camp on Monday afternoon. On the camp site they all have been registered and taken care of in the provisional tents.

With the arrival of the “victims” the problems began…because up to that time there was neither running water nor electricity.

No water meant no usable latrines, no showers and no possibility to cook the rice…and the worst: there was not even drinking water available.

The group of people consisted of men, women (some pregnant) and little children…after waiting almost 4 hours in the hot tents, burnt by the sun and still with no running water available, the Red Cross was one inch away from calling off the simulation because the simulated crisis got a little bit to real for the villagers….at least OCHA organized enough bottles of water from shops downtown (which I think was against the rules of the game) to relax the situation a little bit.

To keep the Red Cross from leaving the exercise, BNGRC decided to continue the simulation but without the 50 people…at least they could keep the provided items such as blankets and buckets for themselves and received a sincere excuse from the officials.

Even though the simulation went on, enough confusion was created between the different actors blaming each other for various faults tensioning the atmosphere.

As a conclusion I have to admit that once again I was quite surprised what kinds of problems occur even at such high level of professionalism. Knowing that this was a well in advanced planned exercise and still having fundamental problems such as delivering water is stunning a experience.

But that is why we practice such important exercise, to see where we can improve to ensure that in real life situation things will run better and people will be helped immediately and effectively.

Lesson learned: strong communication and clear organization is mainly the key to success in most of the cases…even though it might be just a simulated one…and with the recent beginning of the cyclone season we better learn quickly.

MGG Fabi

Footnote:

Last Saturday night, after leaving a Cameroon party with Tulika and two colleagues we have been waiting for a taxi. Suddenly we saw a speeding car heading towards our direction when the driver lost control and turned 180 degrees, flipped a couple of times before landing in the ditch.

We have been the only ones in the lonely area who saw the accident taking place so we ran immediately to the car which luckily landed on its wheels. At first I checked for the woman on the passenger seat. She was conscious and not badly injured so I looked for the driver. He was clearly in a worse condition than her girlfriend, having a bleeding wound on his head and being semi-conscious.

I was trying to keep him in the car to avoid unnecessary movement but he slid out of the car so I laid him on the ground checking his respiration. By that time I was glad that more people came to help…when finally somebody said that there is no ambulance coming we put the driver in a car and he has been taken to the hospital.

Afterwards we have been asked to take care of the car so that nobody will steal anything from this already totally wrecked vehicle…unbelievable!

Lesson learnt:

Number 1 – calling for an ambulance in Madagascar might be a lost cause

Number 2 – I need definitely another course in first aid

Number 3 – please always wear the seat belt

Number 4 - Cameroon parties are nevertheless fun ;-)

Current Likes & Dislikes

Likes

• The Hash: I am not talking about the illegal substance, but about the Hash Walk, which takes place every second Sunday. A group of people, mainly foreigners, meet outside of the city and go for a cross-country walk. They follow a trail which is has been marked before by some volunteers. It is a nice way to get out of town and to get to know new people...and as a first time Hasher, you will have to take a beer shower as initiation!

• My Rain Jacket: with the recent beginning of the rain season I like my rain jacket made by Aldi even better...but it is not that I do have a choice anyway, because here it is the only jacket I have.

• My Neighbourhood: I really like my neighbourhood with all the little grocerie shops, a small internet cafe, a pizza place, a French school and lots of vendors who are selling fresh vegetables and fruits.

• Our private Bakery: can you imagine living in a house where the family of the land lord has its own bakery on the first floor? Sounds heavenly, doesnt it? So I am taking advantage of this offer quite often which allows me to have fresh pastry almost every morning :-)

• Public Transportation: it is fairly simple to travel within the city, either take a taxi or go by mini-van. Both means of transport are most of the time available and affordable
  

Dislikes

• Public Transportation: even though it is fairly simple to travel within the city with either a taxi or by mini-van...there are some unpleasent features as well. Such as the permanent smell of gasoline and the worry that the vehicle will catch fire any second. The disadvantage of a mini-van is that is is really mini! For any person taller than 160cm it is quite exciting to sqeeze yourself (plus backpack) onto a small bench where already three Malagassy are seated!

• Shrimps: after my shrimp-overdose (to remind you...estimated eaten pieces: 150) in Fort Dauphin during the UN week, I am still not able to even look at shrimps. But let's see what happens next weekend when we will be at the east coast.

• The Absence of Street Light: "You better get home before it is dark!" Back home I would probably smile at such an advice...but here it makes way more sense. After sunset it is dark...really dark and when there is no street light then every walk, even in a familiar neighbourhood will become a challenge. Trying to avoid to step into dog poo, holes in which Tulika can easily fit in and disapear forever or simply other pedestrains which will bump right into you...those are the everyday obstacle to overcome after work!

MGG Fabi

UN-Week, Pirogging & Oktoberfest

Work first…and then a couple of days vacation in the south of Madagascar!

That was out plan when we went to Fort Dauphin two weeks ago. The reason for us heading south was the official begin of the UN-Week, which included the celebration of the “World Food Day” as well as the “World Poverty Day”. So our work schedule from Monday till Wednesday mainly consisted of presenting the WFP stand at an UN and NGO fair and visits to field projects of different agencies.

We left Fort Dauphin Wednesday morning in a UN convoy towards a WFP school-feeding project at the country side.

The idea of school-feeding is to create incentives for parents to send their children to school instead of keeping them at home to work on the field. In school the kids will be provided with 2 gratuitous meals from WFP, so the parents know that their children are taken care of well.

We went on to the little village of Manambaro where all the UN representatives and government officials have been happily welcomed. After attending the ceremony with various demonstrations of “How to get out of Poverty” we went on to a UN-Development Programme project where they to try to decrease the illiteracy rate of adults. The center is in the middle of different fields and directly located under a beautiful lychee tree, where we were given fresh coconuts and bananas.

Afterwards the work was done and we had a few days of free time, which we made well use of so the next day we visited the national park of Andohahela. The park offers a waste variety of medical plants, lizards and a great “piscine naturelle” were we cooled down from the burning sun.

Our way back also offered some “attractions” but the sort of which wasn’t really appreciated…meaning that our car was invaded by a big cockroach family. So for the 3 hour ride back to Fort Dauphin I was hunting those big bugs not daring to sleep for a second!

The best trip so far started on Friday morning at a lake close by the city. From there on we went with 2 guides on a pirogue (simple and small boat) towards a fishermen village, which was located 15km down the river. Rowing for the first on a pirogue a quite a challenge so we were more than happy that one of our guides, Jean-Jacque, was one huge piece of muscle who was probably to 90% responsible for our movement.

3 hours, a sore but and 4 blisters later we arrived in the village. We relaxed for a while before our other guide, Jacque, took us for a superb hike over the mountainous area and showing us beautiful and remote beaches of Lokaro.

We returned to our little bungalow where we a candle light dinner (there is no electricity in that area anyways) with our guides before falling in our “lakenzak”.

After a short night, being robbed by big lizard who took my throat medicine (seriously!) we went for another striking hike exploring the amazing costal area before we had to hop back into our pirogue.

Again, 3 hours later back where we started one day ago Tuli and I agreed that this was an incredibly nice tour so we thanked our great guides very much and we wouldn’t mind at all returning there again.

We spent the lasting one a half days chilling in the city, eating more shrimps (in total for the week: estimated 150 pieces) and enjoying the nice view at Libanon Beach before we had to leave for the airport.

80 minutes later, arriving via airplane in Tana we had a much better idea of how different and diverse Madagascar is…with its nature, culture and people…so we are already looking forward for our next trip to the north-west, which will hopefully take place in about two weeks.

MGG Fabi

A little footnote:

Yesterday we tried to go to the Oktoberfest in Tana, where 2 major Malagasy music stars were to perform…the event was probably for free which lured thousands of people. We were trying to get to there as well, but half way and stuck in a hectic crowd, the riot police thought it would be smart idea to worsen the situation by shoving and pushing the people back and towards a huge wall with their shield and night sticks. So the crowd including us tried to leave the risky scene…and then it happened: my mobile got pick pocketed!

Luckily I do have a back up of my address book so no major harm done, but the worst was when I actually called with Tuli’s mobile my own number and a guy picked up. I told him that I “lost” my mobile and that I wouldn’t mind if he would return it to me…his reaction: pure laughter!

I am still not sure whether he laughed about my attempt to get my mobile back or about my German accent while talking French.

Lesson learnt: Oktoberfest + Malagasy music star + riot police = “lost” mobile

Odette & Valisoq

Odette clearly stands out of the group of people waiting patiently during a warm day in the backyard of the Suplmentary Feeding Center.
Looking into her face, which is marked by deep and expressive crinkles, it is difficult to guess her age. For certain, she is by far the oldest person here.
In Madagascar, where the life expectancy is an average 57 years for women, Odette being 72 years old is almost exceptional.
Odette doesn’t come here day by day just by herself, she takes the 12 month old baby boy Valisoq to the center, too. Valisoq is her nephew which is hard to believe given the difference in age. Maybe it is this harsh contrast of age and generation which makes their appearance so striking.
Valisoq is ill, which is the reason for him being taken to the center. Back home his parents cannot take care of him properly because they have to work all day long. So it is up to Odette to look after the 1 year old.

In the center, Valisoq receives important medical attention to improve his situation. Besides the health treatment, it is the daily ration of food aid which makes the unlike couple come here. Odette is very grateful for the help offered by the center. Her appreciation is even more understandable when you know that she lives in severe poverty, earning 1 US-Dollar per day.
She can feed Validoq directly in the center and receives another home-food ration for her nephew. But unfortunately the take-away meal won’t be enough to feed Validoq sufficiently, because it will be shared with his parents and 4 siblings.
A whole household sharing a food ration which is only meant to feed one child is a big problem for the center, but who will blame the hungry family?
This is one challenge which remains to be tackled by WFP and its Suplmentary Feeding Centers to which Odette will return tomorrow with Valisoq to receive food aid again.

Home sweet home…pies, kids and turtles

Crossing fingers and squeezing thumbs obviously helped us to get the apartment I mentioned in my last blog entry. So we left our hotel to move in our new home, which is conveniently located between the town centre and the WFP office.

Actually it is not just an apartment, but we share a house with a Malagasy family. We have the entire first floor for ourselves, which includes two bedrooms, a great living room, kitchen, bathroom and we can hang out in the little garden.

The family with father Lala and wife, the 3 year old son Sasa and 7 month old baby girl live at the second floor. They are really nice, helpful and carrying so when ever we have a problem they help us out and give us some useful inside information about Tana. Another great feature about our new home is the fact that the family is also into bakery business. So our place is filled with the lovely smell of various daily fresh baked pies.

Besides the many good aspects about living with the family, I have to admit that the kids are quite “active” but I hope that it is just a matter of time to get used to the different level of noise…and if not, then I am really glad that I brought my MP3 player with the in-ear-headphones.

I almost forgot…we do have pets. Tuli discovered two big turtles in our backyard this morning, but I am not sure whether they really belong there or maybe they are just “stored” until it is cooking time.

MGG Fabi

Welcome to Madagascar!

Finally…I arrived in Madagascar. After my flight from Rome to Milan to Nosy Be (a paradise island in Northern Madagascar), we touched ground 16th of September at 9 o’clock a.m.

Tuli and I have been picked up by a WFP driver and his huge jeep with the UN-logo on it…yes, I have to admit that stuff like that still puts a smile on my face.
We got of at our hotel which is really nice and conveniently located, so that we can actually walk to the office.
We found a note in our rooms that Arne (a Norwegian PI consultant) will visit us.
So we spent the afternoon having lunch with him and his family. It was a pleasant gesture by Arne to spend his Sunday with us…so we were welcomed warmly.

For our first day at work we have been picked up again by a driver. Probably just to make sure that the interns don’t get lost on their first day. Arne was already there and showed us a little bit around before Volana arrived as well. She will be our direct supervisor and closest colleague. We spent most of the week with briefings from the different departments. Everybody was very keen on explaining to us what his or job is…so we got plenty if information about logistics, IT, school feeding, food for work, nutrition centres, etc.
It will take some time to get the whole picture, but this introduction was very helpful.

In our Public Information department we are mainly responsible for the external perception of WFP Madagascar. So from writing press releases to looking for suitable collaborations to enhance the visibility of WFP, we are the ones when it comes to spreading publicly the word of hunger.

The interns were directly involved in writing a briefing for our country director Krystyna, because she will meet a high US government official to discuss the relations between the States and WFP. This meeting is quite important because the USA are the biggest donor of WFP.

We received lots of input for the briefing from Stefanie who is a programme officer. Following her remarks for the first time is a challenge and even more to put that later on in a comprehensible language.

Arne recommended that we should try to write a single part ourselves, so Tuli had to compose something about the pre-positioning of food stocks and I had to write a paragraph concerning the re-introduction of sorghum to the dry South of Madagascar (I will write an extra blog entry about what WFP is really into here in Madagascar sometime in the near future).

We finalized the briefing note Friday evening after receiving extensive feedback from Stefanie…but normally we are allowed to leave the office at 2pm on Fridays…nice, huh?

Besides our work we spent most of the time looking for an apartment. We called several real estate agencies to help us out…but the offered places were either way too big (3 floors just for Tuli and me!!!), not furnished, still being renovated or just too far away from the city centre.

We put our hopes into an offer I found via the StudiVZ (German Facebook), so there might be an apartment available where already other interns lived before.

We will check it out the next days…keep the fingers crossed or squeeze the thumbs…what ever you do to wish us good luck!

As soon as we gonne settle permanently I will give you some more impression of the city itself, my office and the daily life so far.

MGG Fabi

Goodbye Germany…Hello Rome…Ciao Rome

Okay…I know it has been about one month since I last wrote something, but that doesn’t mean at all that nothing happened. Actually it has been quite the opposite.

After 6 great weeks in Lyon I got back to Germany on the 12th of August where I entered the very final phase of my preparation to go to Madagascar, which included an amazing reunion with my friends from Konstanz and 2 very special weeks in Bremen.

Last weekend it was time then to see my family and friends goodbye, so we had a nice dinner at my place before my mother took me to the Frankfurt airport early Monday morning. Finally I headed off to Rome where all the interns were about to get an intensive orientation training in the headquarter of the World Food Programme beginning on Thursday.

Arriving in Rome 3 days before the official programme started, I had enough time to see my Italian buddies Fabio & Monica. They showed me the beautiful city of Rome in 2 days and they took me to non-tourist spots which I never would have found without their local knowledge. To me Rome is like one giant museum…almost everywhere you look you will find something interesting and it became one of my favourite cities by now.



On Wednesday the other interns arrived and I would like to introduce them quickly. Sebastian & Eva are going to work for the School-Feeding-Project in Burkina Faso, Katrin & Lieke are assigned for project monitoring in the city of Mongu in Zambia, Valentin & Tabe will take care of the IT- and procurement tasks in Laos…and off course there is my Dutch mate Tuli who will join me for the internship in Madagascar.

So our training began on Thursday morning with a tight but very well organized schedule. We had all kind of seminars, varying from how to become a good story teller for WFP, a security in the field briefing to visits of the WFP Situation Room and library. To me the most valuable event was having lunch with Haladou Salha from Niger. He has been working for 4 years in Madagascar and was very keen about telling us about it. Especially him but also the other WFP staff were extremely nice and helpful towards us interns. We had sufficient time to ask as many questions as we wanted which I don’t take for granted at all, giving the fact that they have been quite busy themselves.
The training ended Friday evening with a little farewell event and the obligatory group picture and the overall “we finally want to start our internship”-mood!


We will leave in a couple of hours to our different destinations and I am glad to have been given the chance to get to know better Alex, Patricia, Christiano and especially my fellow GEPers 2007. Take care and you will here from me next time from Antananarivo/Madagascar!

MGG Fabi

Friendly French and a nice City

Okay, it has been quite a while since I wrote an update…so that is what happened the last weeks:

I finished my French course on the 27th of July, which also means that most of my international buddies left Lyon to either travel on or to return to their home countries. We have been a really interestingly composed group with Diego from Columbia, Ira from Russia, Tesi from the USA, Kelly from New Zealand, Giada from Italy, Nikki from Thailand and Daniel from Mexico.
Only Daniel who will study in Dijon and Kelly who is an Au-Pair for a year are now still with me…but by now we also know a bunch of great French, especially Lucie, Stephan and Michael.


I got to know the couple Lucie and Stephan via Tesi and I have to say they are incredibly nice and helpful. Besides teaching us French, they invited us to the house of Lucie’s parents, where we had great swimming pool and BBQ days. They introduced us to their friends, showed us the city and the Rhone-Alp area or just hang out with us. Their Lyonaise days are soon numbered as well because they will leave together to Canada for one year…but until then we will have couple more days to enjoy each other’s company.



Michael is my current Hospitality Club host and my third French flatmate overall (Elodie & Hugo in Santander were the other ones). So yes, I don’t live anymore with Myriam and her family even though I good time with them. But after almost 4 weeks I thought that I have been benefiting enough from their hospitality and it was time to move on.
I asked Michael who has been introduced to me by Ira, whether I could stay with him until I will go back to Germany. He accepted right away because he prefers living together with someone and his flatmate is not in Lyon until September…lucky me!


Additionally he invited me last week to go with him for 4 days to holiday house 200km away from Lyon to the big annual reunion with his friends from all over France. So from last Wednesday until Saturday I spent my time sunbathing, reading “Le petit Nicolas”, swimming in the Lou-River, playing chess and French drinking games and just having nice conversations with all the people. It has been a great time and I herby would like to thank all of them once again!





I returned to Lyon last Saturday and I will stay here until the 12th of August. I will try to spend the last days to input some more French grammar and of course meeting with my friends here.

If I had to draw a resume by now, then it is overwhelmingly positive…my French is way better than before my arrival, I met great people and Lyon is a beautiful city! I am already looking forward to return here someday.





As soon as I get back to Germany the final preparations for Madagascar have to be taken care of…which means buying a rain jacket, hiking boots, health insurance, etc….and to see my Konstanz-Crew for a long time awaited reunion!

MGG Fabi

Vocabulary, Security, Storming of the Bastille and of course French

Now that I already passed the half-time break of my French language course I will give you an update about the most recent events.

I am still happily living with the Myriam's family and it is really nice having most of the time dinner together...even though I am not talking that much I am trying make a statement here and there.

Surprisingly I spent most of the time with French grammar, vocabulary and two huge UN security exercises. Those online tests are a mandatory requirement for the internship. The "Basic and Advanced Security in the Field" exercises took me in total about 7 hours and after passing the exams I felt like I am ready to be sent to the worst spots on earth...at least in theory.
The questions covered everything...from "how to deal with child soldiers?", "what is the proper behaviour in a mine filed?", "how do you find out directions in the middle of nowhere?" to "what has to be considered sexual harassment in the office?". It was really interesting and I am serious about it when I tell you that I learnt something!

After finishing the last exam I went to Lyon downtown because it was the 14th July which is the French National Day, celebrating the Storming of the Bastille. I met with my people from school to have dinner together and to watch the official firework at night. The fireworks have been...okay...nothing too crazy, but I felt like I absorbed some real French culture :-)



The last couple of days were more like business as usual besides my 3 major book purchases..."Le petit Nicolas" (French book for children...and adults), "Lonely Planet Madagascar" and "Le Monde Diplomatique"...

Yesterday night my fellow students and I have been invited to French birthday party...it was in downtown Lyon and it was so far the best night out in Lyon. We were about 20 people, cooking, eating, drinking and talking together...and I recognized that I got definitely more confident in speaking French which puts a big smile on my face...so no regrets for coming to Lyon at all!!!

Things are going quite well for me here...so I managed it to organize 1-on-1 French lessons beginning directly after my cours in the school ends. Hopefully those additional and individual lessons will boost my skills even a bit further...and other good news I received: obviously the Malagassy speak a clear and slow French, but maybe my friends just told me that to calm me down...I will figure it out in less than 2 month!

Okay, I have class tomorrow at 8.30am which means that I have to get up at 6.45am...and if I am lucky I will meet the French Astrid for an afternoon cafe in French...yeah, it is all about the "most romantic language" on earth...and I am not talking about Deutsch.

MGG Fabi

Bienvenue à Lyon

It has been almost a week by now since I arrived in Lyon. After a 9 hour ride by my legendary car (it is well known as “The White Rider”) from Germany to France, I finally sneaked through the Lyonnaise traffic to find my accommodation. I stayed with Thierry Martinez, an active member from the Hospitality Club and Couchsurfing Project. If you don’t know what it is then you really have to check it out…because it an incredible good opportunity to crash somewhere for a couple of days and to meet interesting and very kind people.

My French course began on Monday morning 8.30h with and evaluation exam to check everybody’s level of French. I was put in the intermediate group which is totally okay. Obviously I don’t have too many problems when it comes to understanding, but it is the grammar which is giving me a hard time.

I have 4 hours of class every day and it is a mix between grammar (arrgh!), oral expression, listening comprehension and history. So far I am quite happy with my choice of the school….the teachers are good and the fellow students are great (Russians, half-Italian half-Vietnamese, half-Thai half-French, Kiwis, Mexicans, Columbians, US-Americans, Koreans, Chinese…).

On Tuesday I moved to Myriam, the French friend of mine from my Erasmus semester in Spain. So I live with her and her family (parents, younger brother Yannis and their huge dog!) outside of Lyon in a small but nice little Town called St. Quentin Fallavier. It is great living with them, they are very welcoming and helpful. I have my own room and working space which helps me a lot to take care of all the pending preparation which is still lying ahead of me.

To get to the school every day I have to drive by the White Rider to the closest metro station. From there on it goes more or less directly to the school. I use this almost 45 minute ride to read newspaper, which I think helps a lot to improve my French…even though I might look funny with the tiny dictionary in my hands.

Now…after the first week I am still optimistic concerning the benefits of my stay and so I am looking forward to the second week…with more French grammar and a planned international dinner party.

MGG Fabi

The Journey begins...

Hey everybody,

this is the very first post of my new blog, which is about my trip to Madagascar, my preperation in Lyon (French intensive course!) and of course about my time in Magagascar itself.

For the ones of you who don't know what I will be doing on the 4th biggest island on earth, let me help you out...after passing 3 rounds of a pretty though application procedure (and an interview in "French" near a parking lot close to Cologne) 8 students from the Netherlands and Germany have been the selected ones for the "Global Experience Programme (GEP) 2007".

GEP is a joint internship programme from AEISEC (world's biggest student organization) TNT (logistics company) and the World Food Program (WFP) from the United Nations. For the 3rd time this public-private-partnership offers 8 internships in the area of development cooperation all over the developing world...so the students will be sent in couples to Burkina Faso, Zambia, Laos and yeah...Madagascar.

Right now I am getting ready to head to Lyon/France to brush up my French with an intensive course in a language school. I will be there at least for the whole month of July and then...let's see how long it takes until I run out of money. I will be back in Germany at the latest mid/end of August. Then there are a couple of weeks left until the real journey to Madagascar begins...but till then there is a lot to come...and I am looking forward to get it on!

MGG Fabi