Hello world! I am typing this up on a French keyboard (very slow and painful) so you all better be thankful! Here are updates on major happenings as of yet.
First off, I made some updates to my wish list just in time for Christmas (hint, hint)! As you can see, my hygiene standards have gone way down and my desire for American food has increased.
Firstly, I finally went to my first famadihana! This is a second burial which is common in the highlands of Madagascar and means “turning of the bones’. It is a common Malagasy belief that people do not join the after life until the body has decomposed so every 7 years (or so) a family will pull out the bodies of those who have died since the last famadihana, re-wrap them up, and throw a giant party for them. This famadihana was 2km away in another village. I went with my chef-de-fokontany (the lady in charge of my town) and she took very good care of me. Spending time in another village made me realise how lucky I am to be integrated in Ambohidray. Being constantly stared at, yelled at, and grabbed at by drunk men makes me realise how good I have it in my village! After things settled down a bit I actually had a great time. We watched them wrap up the bodies for a while which was very interesting. Some were clearly more decomposed than others and when the guys doing the work got to a fresher body you could tell from the look on their face they were a bit grossed out (this was occurring on a table so I didn’t have a direct view). They would open up the silk shroud around the body, pull out anything that was buried with them, pour in a little rum, and wrap them back up. This whole process took place right next to a giant speaker and lots of people dancing. It was pretty crazy. Then we ate some rice and beef (no wonder it ony occurs every 7 years, they had to feed about 300 people!). Next the bodies were brought back to the tombs. They wrapped them in reed mats and family members ran:danced with them on the way up. After they were put back a whole bunch of speeches and drinking began. I was mentioned in most of the speeches (as in “look how loved my family member was, a foreigner came to the famadihana!). After each speech toka (homemade alcohol) and besa were passed around. I don’t drink toka, but I did drink the besa which is made out of some sort of fermented tree and looks like dirty bath water with bark floating in it (and doesn’t taste much better).On the walk home from the famadihana the chef-de-fokontany got a call that they had found a dead girl in the eucalyptus on my side of town.
The next morning I went to go see the girl (viewing the body is standard) but when I got there I was surprised to see that she wasn’t in her house, but still in the woods. The gendarme (military police that work in rural areas) had not come yet so we sat around and waited for them. the girl was between 12-14 (it depends who you ask) and most scarily of all, she was naked (they had her covered with a sheet when we arrived). Eventually the gendarme came as well as a doctor but nothing was really solved. So basically there is a murderer/likely rapist in my town. Oh joy!
Peace Corps Kara 