So I’ve been in Madagascar just over a week! It’s so good to be back. I’m still in the capital at the moment and waiting to head north next Tuesday (11th Oct).
Leaving was quite a clatter – packing up the flat at the very last minute, moving out ten hours before I left the country. The lovely and amazing Katie and Tim helped me to clear the flat out and transport everything to their attic, which I’ve taken over for the next couple of years. And then cooked me a wonderful leaving dinner. I have no home in the UK now, which is a somewhat odd feeling, it has to be said. Somehow the suitcases went from being 15kg over, to being ‘just’ 4kg over (who needs shampoo anyway?) I blame the enormous tome of an MRCP region guide and all my MSc research methodology books... All the way up to leaving, I’d been very busy, and it was hard to believe the departure date was finally there. I spoke at a CMF conference a few days before – and got some really good feedback which was encouraging and made it worthwhile. The day before I’d got back from Cardiff from spending a week doing my Palliative Medicine MSc plenary week – a pretty intensive week, but met some great folk and feel generally encouraged about trying to do that in Madagascar this year!
I managed to get to France and successfully obtain my humanitarian aid visa, which was a relief as I was minus many of the French documents, and the embassy wasn’t easy to find. So I was very thankful that everything went so incredibly smoothly – a huge answer to prayer.
The morning of the departure, I crept out of the Roberts’ house at 4am, and at check in was alarmed to be told I could only take one suitcase, even though I had proof that I could take two. A lot of conversation ensued about the fact I was going out to the bush for two years and it was hard enough to fit my life into two suitcases. That, combined with waving the humanitarian aid visa at her, ensured that once they’d finally confirmed my entitlement to two suitcases, she waived all the other excess baggage fees. Which was so wonderful given that they’re pretty militant about that these days, even for charity work. I met the Sherratt family in Paris, who are also coming to Mandritsara. And off to Madagascar we went.
We had the usual long-winded hassles with baggage and visas on arrival , and eventually got through to find an enthusiastic customs official wanting us to empty out all ten of our combined suitcases at 2am. Thankfully we were so slow at starting to open them that they got bored and waved us through. And finally we were on Madagascar soil. It was such a wonderful feeling to be driving through the dark streets of Ivato and Talatamaty, such familiar ground these days, and to know that this is home now. We arrived at Madame Vao’s, home to the hospital office in the capital, and a small house in her garden which she uses to put up the missionaries who are travelling to and from the bush – such a home away from home, and such a servant-hearted lady. She knows exactly what folk going to and fro need, is very patient with things in European culture which are so different (such as sleeping till 10am the day after we had arrived at 3am – in Malagasy culture, sleeping till 10am is like sleeping till 2pm). And the lovely lady remembers me so well that she had a large thermos of filter coffee ready for me the following morning. These little touches made for so much easier a transition – The day before, I had been feeling surprisingly sad about leaving the UK – I think so many good things had happened just before I left – I never feel that way normally and had expected to feel similarly positive about escaping the UK and getting back to Madagascar. A week later, I’m feeling refreshed and well settled in and ready for the next bit of the adventure – but back then when I was a little on my own, she made life so much easier with her attention to detail.
This week has involved travelling around the capital, Tana, and sorting everything out for the months ahead. Buying food to supplement the rice and tomatoes we eat in the bush, getting a Nokia brick mobile phone (hurrah for old technology, this is why I like Madagascar!) and generally reacquainting myself with the capital. It’s been a few years since I’ve dared to travel on public transport here and generally go about on my own – last year I got caught in the middle of unrest as I tried to leave the country. But this year, whilst it is very clear that things are not right, they are definitely somewhat calmer. And I feel reasonably safe as a lone female in the backstreets of Tana. This city is odd – on one hand it has so much character, and so much of its familiarity these days is comforting – the rows of cream coloured taxis, the hundreds of street vendors selling China’s finest cheap plastic for extortionate prices, the hills full of coloured buildings that overlook valleys of paddy fields – such a contrasting landscape. The hustle and bustle of daily Malagasy life going by. Yet at the some time the poverty here is even more evident than ever before. There are many more folk begging at the roadside, but also just so many more folk trying to sell things at the roadside to make any living they can. Which then further impacts on other areas of life, and the traffic gets jammed around them, and everything comes to a standstill, and the jams are even worse than ever before, and at all times of day not just at peak times. The pollution is certainly worse – the air is full of smog, and the dirt and rubbish underfoot – my feet are black at the end of each day. Yet I can’t help feel compassion for this city, the capital of the country I now call my home. I feel a need to walk the streets alongside the folk trying to live out their daily lives here. And I can see the character of the Malagasy culture beyond the initial impression of pollution and poverty. I never feel alone here – I can talk to strangers in the street, people will help me out if I get totally lost or don’t know where to get off a bus. Yesterday it rained and I sheltered under the closed doorway of a church, and someone came to join me. I asked him if he had a faith, and totally spontaneously, had a fantastic hour long deep and spiritual conversation. You can do that here. People have time to sit and listen and talk and discuss. They want to. And perhaps I feel a bit bolder here, too.
Last night the rains came down heavily, battering on my tin roof to the point where I couldn’t make myself think, lightening flashing away and the lights flickering very ominously – amazingly the power didn’t go off in the end, but we had the candles all out ready. This morning as a result, creepy crawlies everywhere. Including a giant 15cm spider with hairy stripy legs – arrgh! The Malagasy folk laughed at my horror and told me it was harmless, and in fact quite delicious when roasted. I think they were trying to be reassuring. I however was not reassured and was not going to let this thing continue to crawl around my vicinity. This is one thing I am really not looking forward to, although the fact that the wet season is some months away in Mandritsara is more reassuring – fewer crawling beasts when the land is as dry as a crisp. There is no running water and minimal electricity in Mandritsara at the moment, and unlikely to be any improvement for some months until January, and the months ahead are going to be very tough. But there are mercies too, such as the lack of enormous spiders, and I need to learn to be grateful for the mercies rather than fret and complain about the problems. Yesterday I was sighing over the rain, and it resulted in a fantastic opportunity for a discussion – so you never know.
Today I managed to go and visit the Catholic sisters and their homeless project that I first visited 18 months ago. That day in May 2010 had started as such an insignificant, if not rather negative one – I was on my own at the periphery of the capital, waiting for my flight out of Madagascar later that night. There was fighting and gunfire in town. I decided nonetheless that sitting around moping was not good, and took a risk and made it into the middle of town to visit this project, which I’d read about. There ensued one of the most amazing afternoons I’ve had in a very long time, talking with the sisters, discussing faith and spirituality, and learning so much from them and their humility, desire to serve, and the way they live day to day without worrying about tomorrow but just dealing with each day as it comes and trusting that even in the most adverse of circumstances, God will provide. We were able to support and encourage each other, and I’ve stayed in touch with them ever since, which has been a real encouragement to me. Today I went back to visit the project, and had a really good time again.
The next few days will be finishing off the preparation, taking advantage of the last restful time, and generally packing up to move north. Apprehensive about the challenge to come, but looking forward to it and excited about what God has planned.
Answers to prayer over the past few weeks:
· My visa, which went so smoothly
· Managing to do all the moving and last minute organising
· Fitting in all the extra things I had to do, such as Cardiff and the CMF conference
· Safe travelling so far both internationally, and locally here – both vehicular and pedestrian travel here takes a certain degree of faith / life in one’s hands
· A wonderful and relaxing place to stay this week
· A major problem with my bank card got sorted very quickly
· The amazing folks of the Mission Aviation Fellowship, who are coming to rescue us on Tuesday with a charter flight so that we don’t have to go by road.
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