Getting grounded...
Friday, October 5, 2007
At times it’s hard to believe that I’ve only been here a little over two weeks, and at times it feels like I’ve only just arrived. I’ve spent my time here trying to develop a familiarity with my new surroundings. Antananarivo, while still foreign and (aside from a few streets around the office) tremendously hard to navigate, has become quite a comfortable home to me. I am slowly acclimatizing to the city’s noises, sights and smells.
I have also been finding my way in my new job as junior delegate, I’ve developed a clearer understanding of just what it is a delegate does and have subsequently become more familiar with the project itself. I’ve learned the Canadian Red Cross purchased nets are, in fact, a portion of a larger campaign— the Semaine Sante des Meres et Enfants, a week focused on women and children’s health, something I believe to be essential and empowering.
The nets will be distributed along with vaccinations and family planning advice during a one week campaign that endeavors to reach a vast segment of the population here. This campaign seems a huge undertaking at times, especially considering the difficulty of overland transportation, the dispersed communities, and the substantial amount of material and training necessary. In fact, a great deal of time here at the Croix-Rouge is spent devoted to organizing the movement of people and things around the country.
Of late we have been organizing our own travel as our small Canadian Red Cross delegation is set to venture out tomorrow. We plan to travel overland to the coast. This trip is something I think will be both informative and refreshing. We hope to have the opportunity to observe a future distribution site (in the process of preparing for the SSME) and we will also hopefully meet some Croix-Rouge volunteers.
I am looking forward to seeing another side of Madagascar, something I managed to get a brief peek at when on Sunday, Nathalia (the Canadian Red Cross communications delegate) and I took a ride just a few kilometers out of Tana. The quiet and seemingly relaxed pace of the countryside provided quite a contrast to the busy, often crowded streets of Tana. The shape of the mountains, to my surprise, reminded me of those on the west coast of Ireland where I had worked for some time.
I spent the afternoon contemplating the apparent sameness of all the places I’ve been. I realized my experience here to date has reinforced my belief that despite our differences we all share the experience of being human. Inherent in this shared humanity, I feel, everyone deserves the things that the Red Cross and its partners here are attempting to provide; health, knowledge and hope
Posted for: Mandy LeRiche
At times it’s hard to believe that I’ve only been here a little over two weeks, and at times it feels like I’ve only just arrived. I’ve spent my time here trying to develop a familiarity with my new surroundings. Antananarivo, while still foreign and (aside from a few streets around the office) tremendously hard to navigate, has become quite a comfortable home to me. I am slowly acclimatizing to the city’s noises, sights and smells.
I have also been finding my way in my new job as junior delegate, I’ve developed a clearer understanding of just what it is a delegate does and have subsequently become more familiar with the project itself. I’ve learned the Canadian Red Cross purchased nets are, in fact, a portion of a larger campaign— the Semaine Sante des Meres et Enfants, a week focused on women and children’s health, something I believe to be essential and empowering.
The nets will be distributed along with vaccinations and family planning advice during a one week campaign that endeavors to reach a vast segment of the population here. This campaign seems a huge undertaking at times, especially considering the difficulty of overland transportation, the dispersed communities, and the substantial amount of material and training necessary. In fact, a great deal of time here at the Croix-Rouge is spent devoted to organizing the movement of people and things around the country.
Of late we have been organizing our own travel as our small Canadian Red Cross delegation is set to venture out tomorrow. We plan to travel overland to the coast. This trip is something I think will be both informative and refreshing. We hope to have the opportunity to observe a future distribution site (in the process of preparing for the SSME) and we will also hopefully meet some Croix-Rouge volunteers.
I am looking forward to seeing another side of Madagascar, something I managed to get a brief peek at when on Sunday, Nathalia (the Canadian Red Cross communications delegate) and I took a ride just a few kilometers out of Tana. The quiet and seemingly relaxed pace of the countryside provided quite a contrast to the busy, often crowded streets of Tana. The shape of the mountains, to my surprise, reminded me of those on the west coast of Ireland where I had worked for some time.
I spent the afternoon contemplating the apparent sameness of all the places I’ve been. I realized my experience here to date has reinforced my belief that despite our differences we all share the experience of being human. Inherent in this shared humanity, I feel, everyone deserves the things that the Red Cross and its partners here are attempting to provide; health, knowledge and hope
Posted for: Mandy LeRiche
posted by Alison Frehlich at 10:48 AM
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