me oh my

...how times have changed.

i can't believe i last updated this from PARIS. sorry about the lapse in communication, it's hard to get a decent internet connection sometimes in ambato (i mean, waiting 30 minutes for the gmail login page to load), so now that i'm back in tana for a couple days i owe you all a good update. as some of you may have heard in recent weeks, there's been some political stuff going on in madagascar that may or may not have made it into the western media consciousness enough for you all to be aware of it. first of all, you should know that i haven't been in danger at all anywhere that i've been for the whole time this has been going on. if you're convinced that i must be impacted by anything that goes on in the capital of madagascar, ask my parents, dan, or sydney, all of whom have been to my town and can attest that it's very remote and nowhere near tana.

second of all, here's what has actually gone on over the last few weeks (cliffs notes version): the mayor of antananarivo (the capital/tana), who is from a different political party than the president of madagascar, began rallying people in opposition to the president several weeks ago. protests started calmly, but a few weeks ago, toward the end of january, several places in tana, some owned by the president, were looted and burned, all in one day, and the following day similar copycat looting and burning happened in some provincial areas. (side note: the president has a rice factory in the alaotra mangoro area, where i live, and it remains untouched through all of this.) things seemed to calm down after those two days, but rallies and protests continued. most were peaceful but a few saturdays ago the former mayor (who wants to be president) led a crowd of protesters to the president's palace, where they were met by military who opened fire. i heard 54 people were killed, over 200 injured. since then things have stayed calm, aside from a few isolated minor events in some provincial areas. in recent days there have even been face-to-face meetings and negotiations between the president and former mayor, something the international community has been pushing for all along and, in most opinions, a big step in the right direction.

of course, everyone in the country is impacted by what goes on in tana, because all roads (literally) lead to tana and when basic supplies become unavailable or scarce in tana it affects everyone, but the area where i live is remote enough that it's remained safe and calm this whole time, and self-sufficient enough that people there don't seem to be quite as affected by nationwide shortages as people in other areas--rice, vegetables, fruits, livestock, etc. are all abundant in the alaotra mangoro area, so most things have remained readily available, and prices have stayed pretty normal.

where have peace corps volunteers been through all of this, you may be wondering...well, early on in the whole situation, toward the end of january, we were consolidated at a few points throughout the country where peace corps could know we were safe and be ready to evacuate us should the need arise. after about two and a half weeks there, because things seemed to be tending toward calm and because the vast majority of the country, and almost all of our sites (those whose sites were not calm were, in some cases, not allowed to return), stayed calm throughout the entirety of these few weeks, we were allowed to return to our sites, with new regulations in effect as far as staying in daily communication with peace corps, getting express permission anytime we leave our sites, etc. all of the staff was incredibly hard-working, supportive, and willing to go the extra mile to boost our sagging morale throughout all of this. i couldn't be happier to have been allowed to return to my site (although now i'm in tana again, for non-politically-related reasons), especially after a few weeks of not knowing if i would be able to go back; much of the time we were consolidated, at the peace corps training center east of here, we were afraid our evacuation was imminent and we couldn't imagine having to leave our towns without being able to say goodbye. i went back for a few days of the good ole' small town life before coming back here to tana to meet SARAH YATES who is arriving tomorrow HOORAY! she'll be here for three weeks and i don't think either of us could be more excited.

alright, i hope this update was more informative than the last few times you checked my blog, only to find my update from paris in december. i'll try to keep you all posted on any new developments in the situation, or at least have my family do so when i'm not around a fast internet connection like this! thanks to all of you who have expressed concern over the last few weeks, and don't worry, if you could see where i live you would know i'm more than fine.