Homeward Bound

Wow. I’m coming home really soon. Thinking about it makes my stomach go a bit funny and makes me excited so as a distraction I’ll chat about what we’ve been up to.

Weeks 9 and 10 of the October pioneer scheme have been fairly relaxed compared to time in the bush. We’ve been renovating the police garden in Fort Dauphin which on the face of it seems like quite an odd choice of project. But Azafady does a lot of great work in the bush which most people in town never hear about. So, we were helping to redo the police garden (where the families of all the poor arrested souls wait to find out the verdict on whether they’ve been charged or not) as a sort of showcase project of work that Azafady has done in town.

Pioneers were not too psyched by this project. After working SO hard in the bush they’d thought that they’d be winding down for weeks 9 or 10 but no! More digging and land clearance in the tropical sun for them! Ha! But to be fair they all took it on the chin, understood why we were doing the project and got properly stuck in. Go team October!

This week has really honestly been very chilled, lots of lazy days. We’ve been doing tree nursery work and community mapping interviews. This time round, the interviews are to establish people’s attitudes in town towards a proposed arts and cultural centre that Azafady is setting up in March which sounds like it’ll be a really exciting new enterprise.

I’ve also been spending time trying to make my skin less stripy (I am currently sporting a very fetching “pioneer” tan) and hanging out with Liv a lot. Liv and her friend Miranda arrived like a whirlwind in Fort Dauphin on the same flight as me but Miranda had to go home a month or two ago to start earning money in the real world. They are two immensely bubbly and, to an extent, mad pair of girls. Liv was out here on her medical elective and Miranda just came along for the craic for a month or two. They both have a really great effervescent attitude to pretty much everything and are always up for a bit of an adventure. They’ve been so much fun to hang out with and it’s a real shame that neither of them will be around after Christmas. But hopefully there will be some sort of NYE reunion in Scotchland, bring it!

Bug number four struck on Monday (boooo) which hopefully means that there is NOTHING THAT CAN GO WRONG BETWEEN NOW AND CHRISTMAS. NOTHING. Especially since I have now booked my flights up to Inverness. Snow! Reindeer! Comfortable temperatures! And most importantly, Mr Marshall. Lovely jubbly.

So all that’s left over the next few days is for me to attend the leaving party on Friday night, bundle up my Christmas presents (and my wish list) and head back over to the northern hemisphere! I am really excited about coming home and seeing everybody. I’m worried I may bore everybody rigid by waxing lyrical about my beloved Madagascar so, I apologise in advance. But hopefully by looking at the pictures and listening to the tales you’ll be able to get a better feel for this amazing place and it’ll inspire lots of people to come here too. Everybody should.

So, see you all in a few days! I can’t wait.