tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11586392794616403312011-09-17T06:46:30.038-06:00A running commentary of my experience in Madagascar!Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.comBlogger281100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-56156755294639155842011-09-15T05:27:00.000-06:002011-09-15T05:27:34.667-06:00

Hi everyone! Hope all is well :) I just wanted to let you know that I will no longer be using this blog to update my work and life adventures anymore. Since I no longer live in madagascar, and it's no longer 2010, and nothing of what I will henceforth be posting has anything to do with Madagascar, I created another blog with a title that allows me to talk about a wider variety of issues,

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-23338382878189177172011-04-02T23:38:00.004-06:002011-04-03T00:00:37.551-06:00

Well, it’s been awhile since returning home Madagascar...and updating this blog! Life has been busy (with boring stuff, like school and work)...hence, the neglect of this blog. While I don’t have any more cool adventures to share of my time in Madagascar, I realize some family and friends still like to stay updated on the mundane yuppie (minus the urban, minus the professional…) going-ons of

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-76081394444480972472010-05-25T15:13:00.015-06:002010-05-26T00:45:41.660-06:00

So, there quite a few reasons I fell in love with Madagascar when I was there...but the 2 biggies are the people and the environment of the country. First, the Malagasy people, on the whole, are a very gentle and peaceful people. I know I was only in the country for 3 months, but in my time there I was able to interact with so many people: from villagers in the bush, to people who lived in the

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-7587426887959381312010-05-23T11:55:00.003-06:002010-05-23T12:04:20.967-06:00

Okay, since I know you’ve been waiting with baited breath for the final part of my journey home, I’ll set aside all my final school papers to tell this story…because you wouldn’t believe if I didn’t document this in my blog. And I don’t want to work on these papers anymore….which just so happens to be the real reason, but that’s besides the point.Soooo, after glaring at the flight attendant the

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-73996139015838869592010-04-25T04:08:00.002-06:002010-04-25T04:13:32.711-06:00

As a proud wife, I just want to give a shout out to my husband who just placed 6th at U.S. Greco Nationals this weekend in Cleveland and qualified for World Team Trials this June. After completely blowing out his knee almost exactly a year ago today and undergoing extensive surgery and rehab, I thought this awesome feat deserved it's own post in my much heralded blog. :DIn light of his

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-14126709255975994412010-04-25T03:37:00.005-06:002010-04-25T06:30:35.761-06:00

*These next blogs are going to be out of order because I don't have my pictures of my vacation in Madagascar ready and don't want to throw up the blogs without the pics. Sorry. I do however have a quite lengthy rant about my trip home as well as a fun tornado story thrown in at the end. I hope you enjoy reading about it as much as I did living through it! :DThe ageless question…why must there

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-75953852663507357002010-04-02T18:49:00.004-06:002010-04-02T19:51:47.645-06:00

…is the question I ask myself each morning as I get out of bed and prepare to meet the day at hand. This question has become particularly worrisome to me the more I’m made aware of the fact that Charly, the project’s Disaster Preparedness Specialist, actually thinks I know what I’m doing and continues to stack my plate with more responsibilities. The latest project I’ve spent the last several

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-2131923989103967852010-03-19T12:02:00.010-06:002010-03-20T11:39:42.877-06:00

So, I was sitting in my room on Sunday reading a book, watching movies, and doing just about anything to stave off my boredom of not being able the surf the net for the 5 bazillionth day in a row…and really, more importantly, not being able to spend time working on my research papers. Anyway, I hear a knock on my door and it’s Gil. She came downstairs to tell me the little road stand across the

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-74285699970140606382010-03-19T11:36:00.006-06:002010-03-20T11:45:58.232-06:00

One of the neat things about being stationed at the project headquarters in Ambositra is that this is the artisan capital of Madagascar. Translation: there is much shopping to be done! Fortunately for my husband’s sanity, I’m pretty much broke over here…so these outside forces are containing my shopping compulsivity quite effectively. However, regardless of whether or not you have money in

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-15792310590138175772010-03-19T11:24:00.006-06:002010-03-20T11:49:23.161-06:00

Well, after spending the week in Tana attending meetings, going out to dinners, and enjoying a bit more of life like I’m used to back in the States...as well as being quite insulated from the cyclone that slammed into the southeast coast of Madagascar, I was ready to come back to the relative peace and quiet of Ambositra to spend the week and weekend finishing up my research papers and program

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-67773871656064188492010-03-19T11:20:00.003-06:002010-03-20T08:27:14.523-06:00

Well, Madagascar ALMOST made it through the cyclone season without getting hit. Almost. A few days ago we were hit by a cyclone and the limited reports we are able to get from the coastal regions our project is working in is that the coast has been hit pretty hard.I was in Antananarivo, or “Tana,” during the storm as I went up with our disaster management director to attend meetings with CARE

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-82786146639678079162010-03-19T10:12:00.013-06:002010-03-20T08:28:50.885-06:00

Hopefully this loads right. Internet access has been terrible here for the past couple weeks (thanks in part to a lovely cyclone that hit Madagascar last week, but more about that in another blog...) and the fact that I've been in and out of the field constantly...so sorry I haven't posted in awhile. Hopefully internet will start to improve in the upcoming week :D*******************************

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-65685430963916592672010-03-04T13:41:00.003-07:002010-03-04T14:03:40.476-07:00

Here are pics that I uploaded to my facebook...but obviously if you're reading this blog and aren't an FB friend, well, you can't see the pics now can you? So here are some of my favorites of the trip so far. Some of them I took prior to allowing my camera to get rained on. Some of them were taken by my colleague, Gil.A sunset view of the town I spend the bulk of my time in, Ambositra.Rainbow

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-83978042831704110032010-03-04T13:23:00.002-07:002010-03-05T11:27:12.884-07:00

Well, tonight was downer of a night. It started off well enough. We had just returned from a day spent in the bush and I was relaxing, eating dinner out by the pool of our hotel while some of the guys swam. Near the end of my meal, I noticed a bunch of people congregating on the beach in front of our hotel and looking at something in the water. And when I say people, I mean a lot of people….

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-54482387595601531792010-03-04T10:32:00.016-07:002010-03-04T15:19:33.727-07:00

Being in the field is a total trip. Beats the heck out of the office in Ambositra, hands down. First off, we get to stay at a “swanky” hotel at the beach…translation: there’s a fan in my room, electricity, and running water…most of the time (but it’s still better than what Ettien – our logistics coordinator- and two of the other employees had to do last night, which was to sleep in the cab of

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-25348336901856874102010-02-22T11:42:00.002-07:002010-02-23T10:09:19.623-07:00

Well, now that I have gained vast expertise in this area, I can confirm that flea bites are more itchy (itchier?) than mosquito bites. Yes, the plague of fleas that have infested the 5th floor of our building have now come to roost, and bite the crap out of me, on the 4th floor as well. I was hoping against hope that the bites on my leg when I woke up a few days ago were from some rogue

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-63699382277730659902010-02-21T10:24:00.001-07:002010-02-21T10:29:26.203-07:00

I’ve been asked some excellent questions by my friends back home about life in Madagascar. Some of these questions are so creative and well thought out… well, I figured I would answer them just in case other inquiring minds want to know… So, the following is a list of my most favorite questions I’ve received to date:1. “Can you shoot **** over there?” - Um, I don’t know. Maybe? If you get

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-62381860733400772702010-02-20T05:11:00.005-07:002010-02-21T17:06:17.468-07:00

Well, as I am now awake listening to the bazillionth dog fight outside my window, I have a little time to sit back and reflect upon the joys of implementing public health initiatives in the developing world. After 3 weeks here, I can safely say that I’ve learned as much in this little time as I learned in most of my last 2 years in graduate school. It’s a different type of learning, however…

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-61689110341948842022010-02-15T14:31:00.007-07:002010-02-15T15:11:55.719-07:00

One of the districts ADRA is implementing the disaster preparedness program is Mananjary (prounounced MAN-AN-ZAR-Y) on the southeast coast of the island. My first week here, I joined the project's disaster management specialist in the field. We visited several communes and villages in the area to ascertain what type of disaster preparedness and mitigation system they had in place. Not

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-35893528775638521762010-02-15T12:47:00.007-07:002010-02-16T10:19:13.772-07:00

One thing that is always fun/wet-your-pants scary in the developing world is driving. What we in the U.S. would call “laws,” people in developing countries call “suggestions”…or “pesky details.”I’m pretty sure I was oblivious to this during my first trip to Africa…I just thought “gee, this is a fun ride!” Then, I started realizing the potential seriousness of the situation when one of my

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-14947661057632366732010-02-11T12:30:00.006-07:002010-02-11T13:06:15.256-07:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah, so anyone who knows me knows that I'm not exactly "skilled" in the culinary arts. In fact, when I'm done with my cooking (and I use that term loosely) the kitchen usually looks more like a military missile testing site than an area typically used by humans to prepare food.Well, I'm here today to announce that I'm turning over a new leaf: I'm learning how to cook. Not by my

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-13685385509568948852010-02-11T12:23:00.001-07:002010-02-11T12:25:50.466-07:00

Well, luckily my room has been spared from the plague…so far. But all the other living quarters in our building are infested with fleas. Where are the bug bombs when you need them??? Actually, I don’t even know if those work for fleas. Maybe a doggie collar would’ve been more prudent to pack than mosquito spray… Here in the central highlands we’re basically out of the malaria zone and my

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-77858679643469342192010-02-08T02:06:00.002-07:002010-02-16T10:22:27.739-07:00

One thing I’ve really never thought too much about when travelling is the language barrier. While I try to learn the greetings and VERY basics of the language of the countries I’m in to be a polite visitor, I’ve always been able to fall back on my English. Every time I’ve visited Europe, I’ve been in big cities where most people speak at least a little English or been with friends who speak

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-57323660638042766802010-02-06T13:29:00.004-07:002010-02-06T14:05:24.181-07:00

So, the “taxi brousse” system here in Madagascar is an experience no one should miss. In fact, I honestly don’t think you can be whole until you’ve experienced the “taxi brousse”….The taxi brousse, or the “bush” taxi, or as I like to call it the “OMG-did-they-just-hand-me-a-wrench-to-roll-up –my-window” taxi, or the “no-sir-not-one-more-human-being-can-fit-in-this” taxi, or quite simply, the “

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-71226914864320876262010-02-06T13:27:00.001-07:002010-02-06T13:29:10.708-07:00

Before I blog more about my experiences here, I want to talk about the program I’m helping with…you know, like the entire reason I’m here in the first place?In 2009, ADRA, in conjunction with Catholic Relief Services (CRS), CARE, and Land O’Lakes submitted a grant proposal to USAID and FFP (Food For Peace) to obtain funding for a project called “Strengthening Accessing and Livelihoods

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-51848837711093129222010-02-06T13:20:00.006-07:002010-03-05T15:34:20.939-07:00

After 35+ hours of travelling, including a lovely 2 hour flight delay on Charles de Gaulle’s tarmac, I finally arrived in the capital of Madagascar (Antananarivo aka “Tana”) around midnight local time on a Friday night. Much to my surprise, all my luggage made it with me!Peter Delhove (ADRA Madagascar’s Country Director) and Sarah (one of the ADRA employees) were nice enough to meet me at the

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-71865717236304620122010-01-27T23:47:00.004-07:002010-01-28T00:02:14.189-07:00

Well, after our highly successfull (read sarcasm) get together/send off for me last Saturday, it's finally starting to sink in now that this is my last night in the U.S. for a few months (save a bad weather delay in New York!). I know ADRA will take good care of me during my time in Madagascar and I know I am going to grow tremendously in my field of disaster management...but I certainly am

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1158639279461640331.post-29857178007618905102010-01-14T01:34:00.005-07:002010-01-14T01:57:04.435-07:00

As I continue packing for my trip to Madagascar, I can't help but think of the people who helped me get to this point.First, I would like to thank Dr. Ronald Mataya, professor in Loma Linda University's Department of Global Health, for helping me find a field practicum to complete my MPH requirements. Through his many contacts, I was able to secure this internship with ADRA Madagascar.I would

Katie Holthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04378803859973094188noreply@blogger.com1