Roller Coaster Ride

‘Be packed and ready to go, you should be out of here by Saturday.’ This was what we were all told this time last week, but as the week unfolded and the violence that everyone expected to happen never did (with the exception of a Police shooting in Tulear over food aid) we could all get to go back to our sites.

We have all been told that if today is ‘uneventful’ we can be released from ‘consolidation’ and return to our sites under ‘stand fast’ (or alert) which means we would need to be in contact with a PCO daily. Regions that have experienced violence will have individual sites assessed by Peace Corps to determine safety and security.

This has been one crazy roller coaster ride; it’s hard to be mentally ready for any eventual outcome. Stress levels are high; the mind is continually turning working out possible outcomes. We arrived two weeks ago—at first we dismissed our gathering as Peace Corps being overly cautious (life was normal down here and continues to be). Then we saw the damage from the riots. Buildings looted, burned, and the charred bodies of looters from a store that caught fire. We saw pictures of the demonstrations that were taking place and knew this was not going to be resolved quickly. We were told that Peace Corps couldn’t keep us consolidated forever—we thought we would go home. But the first week seemed to be calm and the gatherings by the opposition became smaller—we thought we would be back at site by the end of the h Saturday took a tragic turn, demonstrators marched to the Presidential Palace and the Presidential Guard opened fire on the crowd killing many (number killed changes depending the source and many are still missing, Amnesty International is calling for an investigation)—we all thought we would be out by Tuesday. Tuesday was suppose to be the installation of the ‘traditional’ government, the opposition leader and his appointed Ministers were going to take power from the President. But Tuesday came and went, with peaceful demonstrations. We waited for two days with little news. Finally Peace Corps told us that Saturday was the day. Depending how Saturday would unfold would determine our future here in Madagascar. But Saturday also was uneventful—two rival demonstrations only a half mile apart, both peaceful. The twists, the turns, and the continual stress of ‘unknowing’ has caused some volunteers to leave or finish service early. Many of us had to say ‘goodbye’ to PCV friends over the past two weeks.

Today is Monday—some say today will be ‘the day’ the opposition installs self-appointed Ministers in offices around Tana (the capitol), others think the opposition has lost its ‘power’ and the movement is slowly fizzling out.
As always we don’t know what the future will bring….

What is known….the damage has already been done! Foreign investment will suffer; the degree of which is still unknown. Goods are slowly rising in price, sugar is becoming scarce in Ft. Dauphin, and the price of oil and rice has gone up as well. Tourism is likely to suffer—travel warnings have been posted by the English and the French (Americans as well, but the American tourism market here is small). This is also happening at a ‘bad’ time of year—not that there is ever a ‘good’ time for a political crisis. But southern Madagascar is currently suffering from a drought and Madagascar has been continually getting hit by Cyclones, 3 in the last 2 months, which destroy homes and ruin crops. Here is an excerpt from the UN’s most recent Situation Report which highlighted serious future concerns.
From that report:

"The continuing political crisis is likely to compound the fight for daily survival of the two thirds of the Malagasy population living in poverty, risking pushing many even further over the edge. As the crisis spreads into other major cities and towns of the country, it is expected to generate equal humanitarian challenges.
The UN Country Team is not only concerned about the immediate humanitarian impact, but also that Madagascar is likely to find itself with weakened capacity to respond to a number of humanitarian challenges, either current or lying ahead, including the cyclones, floods and drought, to which the country is excessively prone"

It is apparent we are all needed here more than ever…

What is also apparent— this is far from being over…if we do return to sites I wouldn’t be surprised if I find myself in this situation again before the end of my service (I have a year left)—People here seem to be fed-up or at least the people I speak with.

That’s all for now and I hope my next post will be a month from now reporting on my struggles and triumphs with Malagasy culture, the world of development, my Moringa campaign and the Cook Stoves project.

I continue to be VERY safe (if I wasn’t I wouldn’t be here), thank you for all the thoughts and prayers!

Cheers!