WEEKS NINE TO TEN: STOVES IN MAHIALAMBO

We did not get off to the best start in Mahialambo.  A giant tropical depression was in the area which meant the rain and wind was expected to continue for five days after our arrival.  A tent pole snapped while pitching my tent.  It got flooded with water and to make matters worse, the ground was covered in Shy Lady, a plant I normally like, but not so much when its thorns were poking holes through my floor and embedding themselves in my hands and feet.  I moved my tent to the shelter of the fruit trees in amongst the little wooden houses and things improved from there.

We couldn't build stoves the first three days after our arrival due to the weather, but we did do some stove monitoring.  Half of us headed for the furthert hamlet which we were unable to reach with the road flooded and the river crossing swollen and fast flowing.  So instead we headed to the hamlet of Andranotsiriry.  I slipped while wading across the river, but thankfully Yvon and Joe had hold of me so I didn't wash away.  Once there we spent a very enjoyable day visiting households that already had stoves and speaking with them about their experience with the stoves.  A common theme was that they were glad the stoves could be left unattended while cooking as the fire was contained inside.  Cassava, a staple, takes 2 to 3 hours to cook, so this allowed people to make use of their time tending their fields or performing other income generating activities.  The hills behind Mahialambo are still forested, but the cleared land is creeping upwards.  So it is important that the stoves use 3 sticks of wood per meal as opposed to around 20 sticks on an open fire.

Thankfully Sunday was very fine, so Monday we could start work on the stoves.  Our aim was to build 20 stoves, completing 3 to 4 per day.  Worried the weather would turn, we blitzed it in 3 days and 2 hours.  Stove building is great fun.  Take clay, sand and zebu poo.  If necessary add a touch of water.  Beat it all together in a giant mortar and pestle, then fling chunks into the mould.  There was a good bit of splattering so it is likely I have a bit of this mix.  Mmmm, tasty.

Thursday, to mark International Women's Day and the completion of the stove building and Moringa planting projects, we marched through town and up to the school with the children and ladies.  We planted Acacia (a fast growing Australian native that can be used for firewood in place of the natural forest).  There were speeches by the Azafady team, the vice Chef of Mahialambo, the Major of Mahatalaky and the Presidents of the Women's Clubs.  The Major noted Mahialambo (literally skinny pig) had been left behind but with Azafady's help, and the community's enthusiam and motivation, the skinny pig was getting fatter.

Mahialambo is an idyllic place and I loved my time there, from the beautiful sunrises and full moon rises, to the  streams dividing the small clusters of houses, and the piles of avocados, custard apples, green oranges and guavas that we gorged ourselves on daily.  There was also a bit of drama - my first parasy was successfully removed by Tinahy, I have the dubious distinction of being perhaps the only Australian to be bitten by a tenrec (like a hedgehog) and I was chased from the bushes while peeing by a herd of zebu.  It was a fabulous end to Pioneer scheme.  I head off in the next day or two for my travels around Madagascar and can only hope the people we meet along the way are half as wonderful as those in this somewhat neglected corner of the country.

CHICKENS

Chickens have proven to be our alternative to television.  They are endlessly entertaining.  We have somewhat cruelly eaten two chickens we had considered pets: Speckles, who died by a plank to the head during an unusually brutal chicken roundup for Sue's leaving do (we realised the next day that Jeremy had eaten Speckle's testicle, having discovered only the day before that Speckles was a rooster as he had grown a comb and started crowing) and Izabella, a gift from Mbelo that we held and stroked until Liv cut off her head and she proved to be particularly delicious.

WEEKS FIVE TO EIGHT: PAINTING AND PARADISE

We are back in Fort Dauphin for a few more days off following three weeks in the bush.  Next week we leave for Mahialambo where we will be for the remainder of the scheme, sadly without three of our fellow Pioneers.  Sue left us almost two weeks ago and Josh and Jeremy's departure is imminent.  It will be quite different with just us four girls.  Although we will still have a few of our Malagasy crew, we will miss those who aren't moving to the next site with us.

A TASTE OF THE ACP PROGRAM

I felt very fortunate that we were given the opportunity to sample the work done by the conservation volunteers, even if we did have to walk the 15km to St Luce and back - in the sweltering heat on the day we left and in torrential rain the day we returned.

We participated in:

• lemur behavior - follwing a lemur for 1.5 hours and taking note every 5 minutes of its behaviour, location and type of tree it was in.  Our red ruffed brown lemur rested and slept for a good hour so not too much bush bashing was required to keep up with him.
• herps - taking a night walk to a swamp where we located and identified various reptiles and amphibians, which were mostly frogs but also a type of snake not previously seen by the Azafady researchers in that forest fragment.
• stove building - installing two clay stoves for local residents.
• conservation club - playing and singing in environmental themed lessons for 150+ local kids on Saturday morning.

It was a welcome break from scrubbing floors and painting.

Unlike Mahatalaky where most of the forest has been cleared, St Luce is a little slice of paradise: littoral forest fragments teaming with wildlife (we saw all four types of lemur in the area including the nocturnal woolley, mouse and fat-tailed dwarf lemurs), stunning beaches, delicious tuna and lobster and picturesque hamlets.

Mining rights have been granted over much of the area and although some areas have been ear-marked for conservation, change is coming.

SCHOOL BUILIDING IN MAHATALAKY

From the time we arrived in Madagascar, there had been some doubt that we would complete the school.  So, although it is a little disappointing that we were not in a position to hand it over to the community, we have come a long way and the work we have done is visible - particularly our mural.

We had a very enjoyable leaving do.  The mayor and a few other important people attended in the afternoon along with lots of kids who performed a few dances for us.  In the evening it was our turn to hit the impromptu dance floor where we boogied away with the construction team... in the pouring rain.

WEATHER

When the sun is out, the days are scorching and it can be very hard to do anything particularly with sweat and sunscreen dripping into my eyes.  We were lucky it was a bit cooler in January when we were doing the heavier work.

Numerous cyclones have threatened Madagascar since we have arrived.  The most recent saw the Peace Corp volunteers evacuated to Fort Dauphin, while we all packed up and retreated to the solid comfort of the school buildings.  The storm didn't amount to much in the end.

There seem to be a lot of storms about but we don't generally see much of them, other than a bit of wind and the odd down pour.  Many nights we look up at the clearly visible Milky Way while along the horizons, lightning flares over far away villages.

WEEKS TWO TO FOUR: SCHOOL BUILDING

I am back in Fort Dauphin today after spending 22 days in the bush just outside of Mahatalaky working on a school building project.  We are in town for a few nights where we plan to eat all sorts of things, swim at the beach, get some cash out and stock up on clothes and shoes (ours are fairing badly) and spices we can add to rice and beans.  We are also heading to Berenty on Saturday to see some of the spiny forest and more lemurs. 

A typical day 

I wake up at about 5.15am.  If I haven't made a moonlit visit to a nearby tree and have only woken once or twice to adjust my sleeping position, sleeping bag or liner, I consider it a good night's sleep.  I turn on my mobile phone to check the time and if it is not too hot I will snooze or write in my diary until the alarm goes off at about 6am.

I visit the long drop (if it is not raining and there is toilet paper, this is another sign of a good day) and then go down to the well to pump a bucket of water.  Back by my tent, I wash my face and then do a bit of handwashing (I'm clearly not doing a very good job as everything has taken on an orange tinge), keeping an ear and an eye out for the flock of green parrots that zoom past each morning.

When I hear the call of "breakfast ready" I trot the 60 metres or so up to the dining are for coffee or lemon grass tea, rice which I mix with condensed milk and banana, steamed banana cake and 2 deep fried dough balls (delicious with the jam I bought which is made locally, and equally, with marmite - there is no vegemite but if there was I'm sure it would be even better), topped off with a multivitamin and malaria tablet.  Most days we see a boys herding their family's zebu along the path through camp, taking them out to find a place to feed for the day.  Every third day Jay and I wash up the camp's dishes after each of the three meals.  It is hard to say how many people are in camp as it is quite fluid, although I would say there are around 25 people.

Five days a week (we teach on a sixth day, generally having Mondays off), weather and supplies allowing, we start work at 7.30am.  The work varies day to day.  We have done a lot of work on the floor of the 4th school building which has involved rock weaving (carrying big rocks then fitting them together like a jigsaw) and cementing - I'm not sure what is worse: mixing cement or carrying it to where it is required.  We have also been painting and sanding windows and doors and generally tidying up.  It is starting to take shape, but there is still a long way to go.  We work alongside the Malagasy construction team who are all lovely and up for a laugh.

Just before lunch our brilliant Malagasy guides will give us a Malagasy lesson if we are up for it and then it is time for rice and beans which could be kidney, butter (my least favourite), like baked beans, lentils, funny ones I've never seen before or black eyed peas.

The lunch break lasts until 2pm to avoid the heat of the day.  A few days a week we teach English to those who are interested from the construction team and kitchen crew and we tend to learn as much from them as they do from us.  On other days we lay in the shade on hand woven straw mats (bought for 1 pound, they smelt so nice when they were new) and read, write or nap. 

At 2pm it is time to get back to work, weather depending.  There were a few raining afternoons particularly when we first arrived so we planned English and environmentqal lessons for the local primary school.  We went one Friday to teach the grade 1 and 2 classes.  The kids (in class and outside of it) are plentiful, super cute and well behaved.  Unfortunately the following Friday the school was closed due to a funeral. 

We usually finish up at about 5pm and perhaps learn a bit of Capoeira from our guides Claude and Eric. Then it is time to hit the showers, or rather carry or bucket of well water into the field where some poles and plastic offer a little privacy.  Personally I think privacy is a bit overrated and prefer the third shower with views of the creek (the preferred washing place for some - in a spot I can see quite clearly from my tent but not from the shower).

Reasonably clean it is time for more reading and chatting and perhaps a well deserved room temperature (more than 20°C) THB - Three Horse Beer, a Malagasy Pilsner.  During the day, whistling and iPods and the speaker when it is charged are popular (there some good solar panels around), but in the evening the camp is often enlivened by the sound of guitar, bongo and singing.  Dinner could be spaghetti or rice with one of pumpkin, freshly killed chicken, vegetables or if we are lucky fish (could be from a nearby river or carried 15km from the coast) or zebu.  We are very spoilt by the kitchen team and while monotonous and simple the food is really good, so good that when we ate out at a restaurant in Mahatalaky we were disappointed.   Most nights we have pineapple for desert.  The pineapples here are truly amazing, very sweet and juicy and cost only 800 Ariary (25p). 

After dinner, we might have a game of cards or dice before bed time which I consider to be anytime after 7.30pm.  Back in my tent I use my light to lure the bugs that somehow got in during the course of the day so that I can kill them and sleep easy.  The inner of my tent is like a bug graveyard which you would think would serve as a warning to the others...

Health

So far the Pioneers, our guide and coordinator (12 people) have endured:

• (I have been badly hit by) an epic 8 day bout of diarrohea, a cold, a burnt finger, a pinapple thorn lodged in my hand and on the same day, stinging sugar cane hairs in the elbow;
• (most of us have had) some combination of mozzie bites, cuts, scratches and bruises;
• constipation;
• vomitting and diarrohea;
• sunburn with blistering and peeling;
• a painful bite to the ankle that became massively swollen and weepy;
• splinters;
• 4 parasy (jiggers)
• 4 nails were trod on, 3 times saved by hiking boots but flip flops did not save the 4th; and
• a spider bite that was not particularly nasty, but scary as the culprit was a black spider and the bite happened less than 2 hours after a black widow was found in the middle of the construction site (on a brick our guide Yvon was holding).

That does sound like quite a bit, but none of it was not too serious and no doctors were called.

WEEK ONE: AN INTRODUCTION

It has been less than a week since the plane touched down in Antananarivo and I already love Madagascar despite the slight dodgy belly, torrential rain brought in by a cyclone in the western channel and wet sleeping mat due to leaky tent (user error - better to learn from my mistakes now while we are in Fort Dauphin).  

Air Madagascar changed the flight time for the internal trip to Fort Dauphin no less than 3 times and we arrived in Fort Dauphin late Friday afternoon (much more civilised than the original 6.40am arrival) to begin the Pioneer scheme.

I have learnt so much about Azafady over the past few days and I am feeling very inspired and excited to head into the bush tomorrow for the school building project.  While 35km from Fort Dauphin does not sound terribly remote, the trip will take us about 2 hours.

We have already done a little work in the tree nursery filling 401 small bags with soil ready for a seed to be planted in each.  Agro-forestry is really important as rather than using the forest, these plants provide an alternative source of firewood and building materials.  This is critical as Fort Dauphin consumes150 tonnes of charcoal per month.

I have been suprised at the number of similarities between this region and Queensland:

• There are the obvious things like the weather and the beaches (we went for a swim at beautiful Libanona and just after we got out of the surf, fishermen arrived in a lankana (like a wooden canoe) and carried up into town a four metre tiger shark);
• There are many of the same plants like mango, pawpaw, banana (I was told they have a type here where you need to kick the trunk for the fruit to ripen, although I suspect my leg was being pulled there), travellers palms and fast growing Aussie imports that can grow in difficult conditions including eucalypt for wood and citronella, acacia for firewood and paper bark used as loo paper;
• There are also some of the same social issues such as how to attract teachers to work in the bush and the interplay between mining, the local population and the environment:

The wildlife however is very different.  We have seen lots of wildlife already: chameleons in the garden of the airport hotel, red parrots and green lizards (which may or may not be giant day geckos) at our campsite and last but by no means least, four types of lemur at Nahampoana Reserve including a troupe of ringtails, brown lemurs, startled looking sifakas and a few reclusive bamboo lemurs.

I will be back in town in early February so keep an eye out for a further update.

P.S. I am typing this with great difficulty on a French style keyboard so please excuse any typos.  I am also having problems uploading photos and will try next time.

D-DAY: HEADING OFF

Today is the day.  I am a little nervous, but very excited.  In a few hours I am planning to meet up with two of my group at Heathrow which will be great, and I will be in Madagascar by this time tomorrow.  Let the adventure begin!

True to form, I have only just finished packing and now have only a few minutes until I need to start getting ready to go.  I checked, and fortunately the clothes I had set aside still fit despite the few celebratory kilos I have piled on and am ready to work off.

I am looking forward to volunteering with Azafady, winner of Best Volunteering Organisation in the 2007 Responsible Tourism Awards.  In the past two years, Pioneers have helped build 6 schools allowing access to education for some 1,800 children who previously had no educational opportunities and with Pioneer assistance, Azafady now has 10,000 seedlings of two critically endangered species in its nurseries.  It will be wonderful to be a part of these projects.

I will write when I can so keep an eye out in about a week, and then in early February and early March and sometime in April when I am back in Europe. 

ONE WEEK TO GO: THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

At around this hour in only six days time, I will be leaving home, back packs on front and back and dragging another 20kg bag with wheels through the streets of Reading.  My packing skills are not quite as bad as they sound as the last bag is to assist Azafady in getting essential equipment to Madagascar.  Fortunately it is not too long a walk to the bus, and then it is a direct trip to the airport.

As I spent five of the last seven days in Germany, I cannot claim to have done much in the way of preparations in the past week.  But I did manage to:

• Go to the dentist.  I won’t commit to writing how long it had been between visits, but no dramas are anticipated teeth-wise in the next three months and I have now added floss to the “to pack” list.
• Conduct various successful patch tests on myself - 50% DEET mozzie spray is fine by me and even a few of the band aids seem to be okay.
• Drag out a camping lamp and sleeping mat (eek, it’s bigger than I remembered) from under the stairs, where I also found my thongs (flip flops for those in the UK) which was just as well since I have been looking in the shops and there are none on the shelves.

I was also delighted that my various mail order goods fit through the letter slot and were waiting for me on my return. 

It has been a bit chilly (icy when the wind is up) in both the UK and Germany, so I am pleased to report that the current temperature in Fort Dauphin is in the 20s, day and night.  Bring on summer!  And on that note, I must go and chase up those adventure sandals…

TWO WEEKS TO GO: ALMOST READY

Firstly a big thank you from me (and the lemurs) to everyone who has donated and/or shared a link to this blog. 

Details of my preparations for this adventure aside, I hope that you have learnt something new about Madagascar and Azafady, for example, that most of the Malagasy people rely on subsistence slash and burn agriculture, which involves clearance of remaining forest (already down to around 10%) to plant crops. Azafady works closely with communities helping them with income generation activities and to manage their resources in a sustainable manner.

I am feeling surprisingly organised.  I have had the last of my vaccinations, and there is now a very big pile of stuff I have set aside, including my many prescription medicines and an enormous pile of over the counter tablets and creams.  Just out of interest I weighed these with my toiletries.  It came in at a bit over 4kg and the collection is not quite complete…  There are a few other bits and pieces I have ordered online and in store so fingers crossed these arrive on time, especially the adventure sandals and spare camera batteries – living without electricity poses a small dilemma in this digital age and I would hate to miss the perfect lemur snap.

THREE WEEKS TO GO: CAMPING AND KINDLING

Now is the time to donate if you have not yet gotten around to it, as I only have around 24 hours to go to reach my fundraising target.

To read more about the wonderful lemurs and the threats they are facing, see this article published today by the BBC.  It is a very sad tale with no simple solution: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16138206

On a lighter note, Azafady has posted some great pictures sent in by former volunteers: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150415149378603.362616.18672113602&type=3

I have now bought a tent which I hope will be storm resistant, and also well ventilated (I am trying to be optimistic here, but suspect it will go one way or the other).  According to online reviews, the tent can be set up in 3 minutes by even a novice camper.  I didn't want to get the tent wet and dirty by pitching it outside - I'm sure plenty of water and dirt will be headed its way soon enough - so I tried to test this assertion by erecting the tent in the spare bedroom .  It was not a successful mission as the bedroom was too small for the poles, but all the same, I suspect it is going to be more than a 3 minute job for me.

In preparation for long flights (and I am hoping there will be some down time in Madagascar), I have loaded up my Kindle with books from BBC’s top 100 list, and as it is likely I will find a good few of those hard going, books 1 and 2 from the Game of Thrones series.

I feel that I made some good progress this week in my pre-trip preparations, which is probably just as well since I fly out in just three weeks time. 

FOUR WEEKS TO GO: LAST CHANCE TO DONATE

There is only one week to go to reach my fundraising target of £2,000 (by 16 December), so if you have not yet donated your pennies or cents or spammed your contacts with a link to this blog, please do so now.  If I have not given you enough reasons already, here is a bit more about where your money will go.

In Madagascar, 1 in 10 children die before the age of 5 as a result of what are largely preventable diseases such as cholera.  In rural areas 71% of people have no access to safe drinking water.

Through Azafady’s work last year alone it: 

• gave access to clean drinking water to approximately 4,000 people by building wells
• gave access to basic health care to at least 10,000 people
• planted thousands of trees 
• assisted in the creation of numerous gardens and small income generating industries in over 5 villages.

In the past week, I had two more needles, one in each arm. So I ended up with two sore arms and no lollipop.  I did however get my prescription for anti-malarial tablets.  Faced with the unattractive options of: 1) blistering in the sun; 2) risking a psychotic episode (which granted should it happen, would probably bother those around me rather than the psychotic version of me); 3) paying £2.28 per day for tablets; I went with option 3 as it would seem money can buy health.  It is not lost on me that one malaria tablet will cost more than the food I will consume during my average day in Madagascar.

I have also started packing (setting aside may be the more correct term).  Stock cubes, head torch, journal – check.  The big item I am missing is a tent.  I had better go and make some progress on that front…

FIVE WEEKS TO GO: MY ITINERARY

There is less than two weeks to go to reach my fundraising target so please donate your moolah and/or your contact list.  For those in or around Reading I have a bit of spare time so I could walk your dog, clean your car or partake in a bit of gardening or painting in exchange for a donation – make me an offer!

This has been a big week.  I had the first of my 5 jabs on Monday, and can’t wait to get another two Monday coming.  The very exciting news is that I received my draft itinerary.  I will be spending a few days helping out at the Azafady Tree nursery with the ex-situ conservation of critically endangered plant species.  Later in the program I will be spending a week or so working with the community of Mahialambo to make stoves from clay and zebu poo.  These stoves are really important as when compared with open stoves there is a reduced fire risk and being more fuel efficient, less fuel (wood) is needed which protects the forests.  See these links for more information: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc6YTVz3_uw, http://azafady.us/blog/?p=693

But the project most of my time will go to is the completion of a school in the rural commune of Mahatalaky.  There is an obvious need for education facilities in both rural and urban areas of Madagascar. In the Mahatalaky and Labako communes combined there is only one middle school (Mahatalaky CEG) serving 26 primary schools. At this moment in time, Mahatalaky CEG has no premises of its own and so the local community approached Azafady NGO to help them build four school buildings, a latrine and a well to provide safe drinking water.

The CEG has four year groups with students typically ranging from 11 to 15 years old, however often the year groups can be mixed with ages from 10 to18 due to many people starting education late because of other commitments such as helping family businesses.

My job will be to help build one school building with two rooms in Mahatalaky. This will be the final building in the year long project to build the new CEG and it is expected that my group will have the honour and privilege of being in Mahatalaky when the CEG is handed over to the community.  I get a bit teary just thinking about it, so expect I will be a right mess on the day.  I’ll let you know.

SIX WEEKS TO GO: HOW MUCH CAN ONE GET IN ONE'S BACKPACK?

In the past week, I have read my survival guide from front to back and I am starting to get down to the nitty gritty and thinking about what to take to Madagascar.  I have a list (one of many) and it is very, very long.  I am not sure how on earth the listed items will all fit into one backpack, let alone when you factor in a few kilos of kit Azafady needs to get down to Fort Dauphin.

I was given a journal for Christmas by my parents and have started writing in the important things: blood type, travel insurance details, emergency contacts…  I have also got in touch with my fellow Pioneers, so it is all getting quite real and exciting.

                                                                                                                                   

The population in Madagascar is 19.1 million, and is projected to double every 15-20 years.  This links back directly to the people's abject poverty.  Madagascar’s national debt is $2.054 billion. Although a considerable amount (roughly 50%) of Madagascar's debt has been written off since 2004, prevailing debt repayments of more than $50 million a year mean that only very small amounts of government funds are channelled into health and education spending.

Hence, organisations such as the World Bank and IMF are relying on organisations such as Azafady to provide health care and education. Unfortunately many of the larger charities, such as War on Want, Christian Aid and Oxfam do not work in Madagascar.

Your donation will be put to good use, so please give what you can spare and spread the message by sharing this blog with your contacts.

SEVEN WEEKS TO GO: INSURANCE, DOCTORS AND DFAT

The deadline for raising my minimum donation has been confirmed as 16 December, so if you have been meaning to make a donation, now is the time.  For those in or around Reading, I will also be selling raffle tickets and have some really cute Christmas cards – featuring lemurs! – that could be exchanged for a donation.

In the past week, I:

• sorted my travel insurance;
• got around to making an appointment with a travel doctor which I realize, in hindsight, should have been the first thing I did.  Whoops.  I have also been pricing the malaria prophylaxis and all I can say is I wish I was selling it.  My goodness;
• registered with Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.  Granted it has been 4 years since I left Australia, but as they say, better late than never and given I will be in Madagascar during cyclone season, it seemed timely.

 The island is regularly hit by the same cyclones that hit Mozambique but it never gets the same media attention. 

Madagascar has suffered around 90% deforestation (estimated by Conservation International) and tragically, the majority of the island’s unique plants and animals are forest dependent and therefore greatly affected.

Azafady has been voted president for the Regional Committee of the Environment in

Madagascar, advising the government on matters of environmental consequence for an

area the size of England.

If you would like to learn more about Azafady and the Pioneer program, follow this link and watch a video or two: http://www.youtube.com/user/AzafadyMadagascar

EIGHT WEEKS TO GO: FOOD AND FITNESS

The fundraising pot continues to move in the right direction (up), so keep those monies rolling in.  If you are wondering where the money is going, I’ll be covering the cost of my flights, insurance, immunizations, visa and so on.  I will also be taking my own tent which will be my home for the majority of my time in Madagascar.

Currently Azafady as a charity spends about 90% of its total income in pursuit of its charitable aims. Only a very low 10% goes on administration costs.  Presently 100% of Pioneers' donations go straight out to Madagascar to run both the organisation and the projects of which I will be a part.  Roughly 10% will be used to cover project costs such as food and transport, so that equates to about £200, or less than £3 a day during my time as a Pioneer.  

I have been forewarned that the menu will consist of rice and beans, rice and beans, rice and beans and so on.  My parents who know that I love my food and dining out (even if they cannot quite understand the level of my devotion) do have some concerns about how I will cope.  I on the other hand look at it as enforced dieting to lose the stone I have gained in the UK – a work hazard from spending the last 18 months or so tied to a desk with a never ending bounty of biscuits within arm’s reach.

I have also been ramping up my gym attendance (from nil to twice a week – I have to start somewhere) to ensure I am fit enough to do whatever is required in Madagascar, be it planting trees, building schools, solving health and sanitation issues and working with the local communities to tackle problems they have brought to Azafady’s attention.  I suspect the whole experience will be like boot camp, and I will be much fitter when my time as a Pioneer is over.

It ain't going to be easy, but it will be worth it to do my bit for Madagascar. There are more orchids on the island than on the whole continent of Africa and 5 of the 6 sea turtle species in the world are found in its waters.

NINE WEEKS TO GO: MY FLIGHTS ARE BOOKED

My first week of fundraising has gone really well with £510 raised (just over 25% of my target) so a huge thank you to everyone who has donated so far.  For everyone else, remember every penny (or cent) counts so please get cracking by clicking on that link to the right.  Profile raising is every bit as important as fundraising, so if you are not in a position to donate money, please think about donating your contacts by emailing the URL for this blog to everyone you know, or by sharing this blog on your Facebook page.

You can be confident your donation will be put to good use.

Azafady has received endorsements from both Sir David Attenborough and The Duke Primate Institute for its efforts in the field of conservation. It has also received a Whitley Foundation award for human rights and conservation, given to it by HRH Princess Anne.

Madagascar is a special place, an island twice the size of Britain and the only natural home of lemurs and the rosy periwinkle (an effective cure for childhood leukaemia).  Who knows what else is still to be discovered…

I am certainly looking forward so seeing a few of those lemurs in their natural habitat and have had a busy week booking my flights and raiding the last of the camping store sales racks for cotton shirts and “mosquito resistant” clothing – although I am curious to see how a knee length dress will stop the mozzies feasting on my delicious ankles.  I am seriously considering wearing hiking boots and knee high socks for the full duration of my three month stay.

In the past week, I was also delighted to say hello to November and good bye to Ocsober!  This was celebrated in a surprisingly civilized manner by a drink at my local (I had to have a Guinness as shockingly it was out of real ale) followed by some lovely white wine and a meal at Loch Fyne.

I have also started a “to do” list of all items I need to buy and things I need to do in the next nine weeks.  It is shaping up to be a very long list so I had better get back to it.

10 WEEKS TO GO: GETTING READY TO MARVEL AT MADAGASCAR

On 2 January 2012 (or thereabouts) I will be headed for the magical island of Madagascar, situated off the southeast coast of Africa, to take part in a 10 week charity expedition. 

I have secured one of a limited number of places on four annual Pioneer schemes run by the charity Azafady. Azafady runs projects in rural southeast Madagascar supporting environmental, humanitarian and sustainable development projects.  As part of the scheme, I need to raise a minimum donation of £2,000. This goes directly to support Azafady’s work, with only a tiny proportion covering my food, training and travel whilst in Madagascar.

I have just purchased the Bradt guide to Madagascar and must admit it was probably a mistake to read the Health and Safety section first.  In my time in Madagascar I must watch out for:

·          mosquitoes (of the malarial variety in particular)

·          furry looking plants and caterpillars

·          tapeworm (apparently if I pass a worm, “this is alarming, but treatment can wait”)

·          sunburn and prickly heat

·          rabid animals

·          infections and tropical ulcers

·          venomous fish/sea urchin spines on the ocean floor

·          jiggers (parasitic fleas that burrow within the skin leaving a hole through which they will periodically release an egg)

·          thieves  

Eek!

If my participation in this expedition is in itself not enough to convince you to part with your hard-earned cash, I have also challenged myself to my own version of Ocsober.  As I couldn’t possibly be expected to abstain from booze in the Netherlands, I started Ocsober on 27 September and will finish on 31 October, carving out the three days abroad.  As a lover of real ale and night life generally, this has been a real hardship for me: missing out on a pint in the old smugglers’ inns of Poole, being limited to fizzy water while enjoying the views at Bournemouth on the one and only gorgeous weekend this year, spending Friday nights washing the dishes and doing laundry and discovering why diet soft drinks exist (because drinking tap water in a pub – even when it is fine Thames Water water – is depressing).   But it is all worth it for this great cause.

Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world and is home to an extraordinary diversity of plants and animals, over 80 per cent of which can be found nowhere else on earth. Although it is biologically one of the richest places in the world, its inhabitants are amongst the very poorest.

As a Pioneer, I will be living and working alongside remote village communities helping them to build a

better future for themselves. The kinds of projects Pioneers become involved with include:

·          building wells to provide clean water, protecting villagers from the spread of cholera

·          establishing community market gardens and beehives to improve nutrition and provide villagers with alternative incomes

·          building schools to provide children with access to education who previously had none

·          planting trees in areas of deforested land.

I saw an ad for Azafady earlier this year and have given much thought to this opportunity.  It will be a challenge – not a few hours a day of basket weaving as Azafady points out in its brochure – and I’ve only 10 weeks to prepare for it.