Rachel is very happy to be back in her village. She found almost everything in her house in good order due to the careful supervision of her neighbor. (A house in a neighboring village was broken into while Rachel was away and the neighbor was doubly watchful.)

Rachel did find two little problems. The first and most immediate was that a mouse/rat had built a nest and given birth to 8 young on Rachel’s bed, which happened also to be the raised spot where Rachel had put her things to keep them safe from the high water. The mother mouse/rat ran away but Rachel, very upset at the invasion, called in the cat next door to take care of the babies. The cat scooped all eight up in her mouth and made off with the feast! Rachel is now baiting her American-made mouse traps to catch the mother.

A second problem is that the kabonety (outhouse beside Rachel’s house) silted in due to the high water and can’t be used any more. Rachel is in the process of discussing having a new one dug into higher ground on a property across from her house, where it could be deeper and perhaps more lasting. Her neighbors unfortunately just go down to the beach to take care of pooping and pee in the fields, presumably, as has been done for millennia. That might have been acceptable when the population was low, but… really bad hygiene with a growing population. Needs to be remedied in some way, but that’s beyond the scope of what Rachel can do, except by setting a good example.

Good news was that Puppy (aka Merry Puppins and Hush-puppy, but known to Rachel’s neighbors now as just plain Puppy because the longer names are too difficult to pronounce) came skittering across Rachel’s veranda to welcome her back. He appears to have grown by half. He spent the night on a mat in Rachel’s “kitchen”. Bad news: he slept soundly through the forays of the latest mouse/rat attack!

Rachel was at the beach with “her kids” when she called and reception was really poor, but we are glad to know that she is happily back in her village. She said she will plan to go to M on the 28th for a day or two. There she will have phone reception and can be called. She has a new phone number: 261 324 508268 but the old one may also still work part of the time.

Rachel’s brother found a phone card that is useable for Madagascar at 20 cents a minute and has no connect charge. If friends want to give her a call, they can perhaps find a similar phone card and call on the 28th or 29th, remembering that right now Madagascar is 8 hours ahead of EST!

Rachel sends love to all! t