Experiential Education

Last night I had some homework reading to do, and I read an interesting article about experiential learning. Obviously, this topic seems pretty self explanitory since I am studing abroad. I always expected that I would have this great experience to learn about another culture (and basically another world) through my experiences living in a Malagasy home. But what I did not expect was that I would also be learning as much about myself as the people I am living around. The author of the article stated that "once a person is stripped of his own cultural identity and his own blanket of security, does he come to find his true self."

This weekend was my first full weekend with my homestay family. Friday night, my homestay father came home from Tana. (He had had a lot of trouble getting a plane home due to the political unrest in Tana--if you don't know about it, google it...people are being killed). But anyways, he got home safetly. He was very welcoming, and we spent the evening looking at the pictures I had brought from home and talking about the situation in Tana.

Saturday was pretty chill. Shoshi (a fellow student) and I got up and walked around Fort Dauphin to discover whatever else we had missed this past week. We bought some postcards and whatnot, but the best part of the day came when we discovered the supermarché (supermarket)!!!! I bought the most amazing ice cream bar in the whole wide world (this is most likely due to the fact that I have been quite limited in refrigerated beverages/tasty treats). After we bought some tasty food, Shoshi and I headed out to Libanona to get our readings and chill on the beach. We all ate lunch at Jenny's (another fellow student) malagasy mothers restaurant. The restaurant was a beautiful little place that looked out over the ocean. We all had a great time discussing our crazy awkward moments from our various homestays. (Ex: One of the girls in the group had to kill a chicken this weekend by slitting its throat. They later ate it for dinner.) Some people have been getting sick and were stuck in bed for a good portion of the weekend. For the most part, I have felt pretty good. My stomach is a beast. (knocks on wood).

On Sunday I attended my first Malagasy Catholic mass service. Mamy, Lova, and I woke up Sunday morning and walked through the ghetto to get to this little catholic church downtown. And the place was packed. I have never been to a church that had so many people in it. And of course it was hella hot. And of course it lasted two hours. And of course it was all in Malagasy. But all in all it was a good experience for me. Throughout the course of my life, I have never felt more like an outsider. I was the only white person in the whole church and EVERYONE was staring at me. Yes it was awkward, but it was a good thing for me to experience.

The rest of Sunday was pretty much a lazy day...filled with lots of napping, reading, postcard writing, etc.

This morning, our group was given a tour of QMM. QMM is a mining company run by Rio Tinto and is based out of Canada. They are working in conjunction with the Malagasy government to extract ilmenite from the soil here at Fort Dauphin. (Rio Tinto gets 80% of the profits, the Malagasy gov gets 20%). The project is quite controversial, due to the fact that they are cutting down precious littoral forests that contain many species of flora and fauna that are endemic to the region. So today, we basically went on a tour to see how the company is planning (or in the process of) restoring the littoral forests. Many Malagasy people think the mines will bring commerce and tourism to the town. I think it is all just stupid (for those of you who didn't know, ilmenite is used to turn your toothpaste and sunscreen white...ugh).

I am still having to adjust to my new life here in Madagascar. The constant hassle of the language barrier is draining, and it is just going to take some time to really get settled in. The process, obviously, is hard. But what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, and it is the difficult situations that are, in the end, the most rewarding.

As always, you are all in my heart, and I am thinking about you.

with as much love as you can handle,

erin elizabeth