Work and a Small Tangent

Almost half a year in Africa. Where does the time go. Some days seem to drag on and on then you blink a couple times and another month has come and gone. Soon I'll be having a sitemate. It's a dude and he's going to live about a fifteen minute walk away from where my house is. I got to meet him and a few of the new July trainees this last weekend. Will be great to have another American here. I've been pretty good at doing some prep work for him before his arrival. He's an education volunteer so I met and established relations with all the English teachers in the village. I also sat and taught in some of their classes so I'd have a solid network of work contacts to introduce to him. One of my neighboring volunteers, who's almost finished with his service, did this for me too before I moved to site. Before my arrival, he checked out my house, put in a good word for me throughout the village, identified possible work, etc. It was a kind gesture so I thought I'd pass the karma on.

Work
What exactly do I do here besides scratching my butt and watching TV shows every night on the computer? I have two really big projects that I'm working on that may potentially do a lot of good if I succeed or may inevitably cause a lot of disappointment if I fail. The stakes are pretty high, but I'm gangsta like that. I only have two years so I might as well go big or go home. I'll go into those projects more if they actually get anywhere...

Small projects: In my opinion, small projects include working and building capacity for individuals and families by teaching relevant skills. Every Sunday at 2:15 pm, I teach two computer classes to some of my Malagasy friends here at site. The first class is with older students, aged 19 to 35. The second class is with younger teens, about 12-14. They're basic computer literacy classes with, at most, three students per computer (which happens to be my laptop). I teach them how to turn it on, how to open a program, how to close a window, etc. except I also kick it up a notch and make them type text from books on Microsoft Word and execute formulas and sort data on Excel. I try to make the material applicable to their real life financial situations to engage them more. i.e. I made a grocery list with prices and quantity for items and made them average and sum both. My proud moment was when I got the thirteen and the twelve year olds to successfully execute a vlookup...That was awesome! High fives all around. I 'm actually adding a class with M. Parfait (the father of the two disabled children) his wife, and their friend on Thursdays at 3pm (starting tomorrow).

More small projects: I'm also acting as a financial advisor to my downstairs neighbor's parents. They farm and own an epicerie (a small grocery shop) and expressed interest a couple months ago in expanding. So I've been taking down their life and business expenses by day, week, month, etc. and showing them how to save money everyday after taking out their salaries from their shop's profit to invest in new inventory. It's cool because they trust me with really personal information (salary, bills, etc.) so I know they like me. But more importantly, I know they are potentially good people to work with and are genuinely interested in learning new skills. They stop their own grown ass children from begging me for shit and money so they are definitely trustworthy. I told them I'd be working with them for the whole two years gathering sales data and helping them reduce debt. I also plan on doing a small inventory analysis at some point to identify which products are worthwhile continuous investments and which should be tossed into the fako (sp? trash).

Potential Small Project: While I was closing up shop and gathering my things to go home today after working at the epicerie, I was approached by the director of the EPP (elementary school), a Malagasy woman about 40-50 years old. She requested I teach her more computer skills since the school has a small computer lab with one or maybe two computers. She currently teaches the young kids basic information and technology by herself and says she needs help learning more. Which is cool for me- one of the main things I wanted to do most joining the Peace Corps was teach young kids computer literacy. Looks like there is a good chance that my wish will come true on a larger scale which makes me happy. I'll have multiple computers to use and I can expand my weekly classes, or maybe tag my classes onto the normal school year. Anyhow, young kids are so much easier to work with than adults. They're quick, they're like sponges, and they're egoless. Sorry old people, but you know its true.

But: Kids come with their own set of problems. They get really attached and need attention all the frickin time. Sometimes if they don't get to hang out with me they start fighting each other, no joke. Happened today.

But: Some adults are like grown kids. I've had to be careful with who I work with because the adults are getting jealous too that I'm working with certain people and not as much with them. I notice some rivalries going on and my language skills are not developed enough to help them work it out. I've been pondering potential solutions to this and realized maybe its a good thing I can't talk to them about it. I don't need to get involved with petty personal politics. I can act like I don't notice and just be Professional Cliffdog. It's awkward though and I really don't enjoy the attention.

Back to kids: Most days, the second I wake up and open my windows, they literally stampede into my house, beg me to open the door, storm inside like little ADD popcorn kernels on crack. I have to kick them out when I want to be alone and I used to feel guilty about it, but not anymore. I was getting really burnt out trying to be 'nice' to them and the more I was 'nice' the more they pushed to get more and more and more. It got out of control and I was exhausted with all this stuff that wasn't work related at all. Had to draw the line, so now I have set times when they know I'll be able to hang out. Like when I walk my dog in the morning. They tag along and literally hang on to my arms and make me hold their hands while punching each other. Quite adorable actually, but affection is still so weird to me. Side note: This is a very affectionate culture...which sometimes makes me cringe. But I'm slowly getting used to it. Anyone who's sat in a taxi brousse will tell you that the concept of personal space in Madagascar is the opposite of the US and A's aka there is no personal space. Side note #2:  Case in point - While taking a walk yesterday, one kid literally stopped, laughed, and said, "I'm gonna poop!" and commenced to do his business. I realized how far I've come since I didn't even flinch or care. 

Well, that's it for now.

Outtie.