We just managed to get through to Rachel on the phone for the first time since their swearing-in toward the end of April. She was in Maroantsetra today, spending two days with other PC volunteers and one of the PC staff. Then they are going up-country for a couple of days, camping out. When she rode her bike to Maroantsetra on Friday, Rachel thought she was only going there for one day, so she did not bring enough malaria medication or clothes. She will try and borrow the medicine (Larium at this point) and will just have to wear the same clothes for 4 days—not so comfy in a very rainy, very hot place!

She said that the ravinala (palm frond) house she is living in (not the same one as her predecessor, since that was no longer available) is right on the main “roadâ€?—path, most likely–and that her neighbors are helping her build a fence to screen her a bit from the “trafficâ€?, i.e. folks passing on foot and bicycle. She is using left-over basic equipment/furniture from former volunteers for the moment—a water filter, stool, etc.—and having a table built. A neighbor helped her lash together a makeshift table out of sticks to prepare food on for now.

Speaking of food, Rachel said that there is plenty of rice, fruit, and occasional vegetables, but no meat at all in the villagers’ diet. I would presume they eat fish, but Rachel has never liked fish, so she probably is not enthused about that possibility. So she will get meat only when she goes to Maroantsetra—just to eat there, not carry back: no refrigeration. She told us about going out to the rice fields with the villagers to harvest rice. One of the women cooked a simple meal of rice and leafy vegetables while everyone was working and then they all ate it sitting around on the ground, using banana leaves for a communal plate and twisted leaves as “spoons�. Chinese litchees are in season—hairy ones, apparently. A young woman with a baby brings her a basket of them daily (if I understood correctly) as a welcoming gift.

Rachel is being “helped� by kids again—a whole horde of kids who come daily to help her sweep and prepare food and “scrub� cooking pots with dirt [??]. She said she bought and roasted peanuts to give them as treats, since that will add protein to their diets.

When she arrived in Maroantsetra, she received four letter-packages, that is, 1-2 pound brown padded-envelope packages. When she went to the post office, they said there was not enough postage on the packages. They carefully took out the requisite stamps, licked them and stuck them on the letter-packages before her eyes, cancelled them, and had her pay only for the stamps—no customs! So it was cheaper than in the capital to retrieve her mail. I bet they know that PCVs are a real addition to the community and are kind to them. (In fact, Rachel mentioned how kind almost everyone is.) She has rationed the packages so has not opened them all, but she did open the one that had Burt’s Bees mosquito repellant, and she said that it works well.

In the packages were some old Ranger Ricks and other kids’ magazines. She says lots of people–kids and grown-ups, come to sit around while she shows them the magazines and tells them what she can about the pictures while they ooh and aah over the pictures.

To be continued.