A Week on the Madagascar Mainland
Let’s start this post by saying, I never went camping growing up. I never spent any time somewhere without electricity or running water.
With that being said, the week I spent on the Madagascar mainland was one of the most incredible weeks I have ever had while traveling, and one of the most incredible weeks I have been lucky enough to experience.
When the opportunity came to travel to the mainland of Madagascar for a week to help with a construction project I knew I wouldn’t pass it up. It is one of those opportunities that I know I would have regretted had I not taken it. So, with about a day and half notice, I packed up a couple changes of clothes, my travel pillow, a book, my journal, a borrowed sleeping bag and lots of bug spray and headed to the mainland with 8 other volunteers. We loaded up a boat with our belongings, some construction materials, and the food and drinking water we would be needing for the week, then we were off. Our time on the mainland would be mainly spent helping build a health clinic and also working a little bit with the locals on English.
The clinic
Our time on the mainland would be spent helping make progress on the health clinic being built in Ampoagna. Ampoagna is a village with no running water, no electricity, and the clinic would be the only one in the area. Being one of the last volunteer groups to work on the clinic, we did lots of cement work. The amazing thing about construction in a third world country? No power means no power tools (okay small exception, a few holes were drilled with the help of a generator.) Everything was to be done by hand. Bags of cement were hauled from our camp to the construction site, where we would then mix it with sand, stones and water that was hauled from a well. We all took turns mixing the large pile of cement and then hauling it in small buckets to wherever it was needed. We filled molds that would be support beams, helped lay the first layer of cement for the floors, and start to cover the blocks that made up the lower half of the walls. Our group also helped with some wood work that would become the frame for the upper half of the walls and the roof. One evening we all hauled bushels of thatched palm frond a half mile to bring them to the site to be used for the roof. Let me tell you, hauling a bushel of roofing on your shoulder for a half mile makes you feel nice and strong!
Everything we did we did with instruction from locals, one we called Specialist and one we called Deba, boss. Most of our instruction was not given verbally, but rather by action. We watched then we did. A little side note about Deba, his daily construction uniform was bare feet, a fedora, and a 50 cent shirt and he is hands down one of my favorite people I have ever met on my travels.
It was amazing to see what can be built with just man power. Roofs raised and thatched, boards held together by hand shaped stakes. With resources slim Specialist and Deba made what we had work. A board isn’t straight? Chisel out a small section, bend the board and add a shim. Perfectly straight and ready to use.
Who needs power tools?
Our Camp
We spent our week camping in a tin storage shed. We shared our shed with our weeks supply of food and drinking water that we brought with us. We also had a covered dining area which is where we had all our meals, and spent some of our down time.
In the evenings, at dinner time, there was a generator that provided light for a couple hours while we ate. Our dining area was lit as well as our shed. With the exception of the generator there was no other electricity. One side of camp had our well, which was our source of water and that of some of the locals. A stall made from branches and palm fronds was right near the well, which with the addition of a bucket of water from the well served as our shower. On the opposite side of camp, there was another stall with a small hole in the ground that served as our toilet.
The best part of camp? It was just steps to the beach. In all honesty, most of the day was much too hot to spend lounging on the beach, but we made sure to get our ocean time in. Diving into the ocean after a morning of hauling water and mixing concrete was the best feeling. We spent evenings watching the sunset while the Zebu, cattle, ran home. Once the sun set, the beach was the perfect place to sit and watch the stars in the sky and watch as hundreds of crabs scurried around the sand.
Locals
When not working on the clinic we got to spend time with the locals. Our afternoons were spent under the shade of a large tree by the beach teaching english to a group of the local children and to a few of the local women. Each day the women would show up with their pages of notes, ready to learn. During our week in Ampoagna we worked lots on verb tenses. After teaching it was time for soccer. Some days it was locals against volunteers and some days it was mixed teams. It’s safe to safe to say that the locals always took it a little easy on us so that we felt we had maybe a little chance.
The Finished Clinic
A few weeks after my time on the mainland, all of the volunteers and staff from the program I was with returned to the mainland for the opening ribbon cutting ceremony of the clinic.
The ceremony was the perfect way to see just how much of an impact the clinic would have on the area. The locals were all in attendance in addition to officials and dignitaries from some neighboring islands and news stations from other parts of the mainland The day started with a ribbon cutting ceremony followed by the sacrifice of a Zebu. We all were in attendance dressed in traditional sarongs and head dresses. The local ladies even painted our faces to match their own.
After the ceremonies at the clinic we sat near the beach while the locals filled the afternoon with dancing and song. Some dances they performed for us, some they pulled us in to join.
Being able to return and see the completed clinic was probably the highlight of my 6 weeks in Madagascar. Being able to celebrate an important addition to the village with the locals and with all the people I had become friends with was so incredibly special.
Read more from Madagascar, here