Checking In
Monday, September 5, 2005 at 05:59PM Hello all. So no good stories this time, just a note to let you all know I'm still alive and well. I'm back in Majunga for work and pizza, though not simultaneously.
Ok, maybe one story, but it's not so exciting, so don't get your hopes up. I made the mistake of letting a French documentary film maker follow me around for a few days. The first day was fine, though I wasn't too excited about the added attention brought on by the camera and another Vaza in the village. At the end of the day I politely informed him that the next day I would be working mostly alone or doing paperwork in my hut. So when he showed up on the second day offering to hire some villagers to pretend to do some work with me I really decided I'd had enough. I told him I wasn't feeling well and had to get some rest. I then hid in my hut, cursing myself for ever agreeing to cooperate in the first place and feeling like an idiot for hiding in my hut when I should have just told him that I was no longer comfortable with the arrangement. I suppose I didn't tell him this because I had let him buy me drinks at the hotel the night before... wait that sounds worse than it is... nothing happened! He was a married man for god sakes! Anyway, I eventually ventured out of my hut, making sure to look both ways for any errant Frenchies. But after hearing from some villagers how suspicious and frustrated they were with the Frenchie for pestering them with his strange camera and then for not paying them anything, I took some consolation in not continuing to traipsing around the village with him anymore. The few villagers I told about my "sickness" thought it was hilarious and seemed to take comfort in the apparently new knowledge that even white people don't always get along with each other.
In other news, it appears that the United States of America has gone to hell lately. What in god's name is going on? Two seats open up on the Supreme Court, Hurricane Katrina wreaks havoc, and Dick Cheney moves to Maryland. The BBC makes it sound as though New Orleans has turned into Mogadishu with refugees running about everywhere, police having shoot outs with lutters, and bodies lying in the streets. Say it ain't true?
I miss you all. Write me letters- gogogo!
Reader Comments (7)
Love ya like a fat kid loves cake,
Holdin shit down on the South East side (of Africa that is)
Joe
Well, the news seems grim at the moment but the sun will shine again. It has to! There appears to be a huge increase in the outpouring of private and public money for the "refugees." We'll keep them in our prayers.
In other good news, I am out of the prison internship! I adore my new assignment with children. If I think of any other good news I'll send it along.
Love, hugs and prayers,
JoLynn
I hope you got your packages. One was books and the other miscellaneous items that we talked about. I had trouble finding any seeds, but I just found out that Jeanette has a bunch she didn't plant. I will get those to you.
As your friends have verifed, things have kind of gone to hell here. They are talking about Katrina costing the taxpayers $200 billion to replace the infrastructure. There go the permanent tax cuts! Gasoline if over $3 per gallon because of eight gulf refineries being down for repairs or lack of power. I fail to see the wisdom of rebuilding a city that is below sea level, but you know how politions are. Bush and congress are all acting like democrats on this one. The biggest problem is that the levies have been build to channel the Mississippi directly to the gulf instead of continuing to renew the wetlands with its silt. Not a lot of talk about fixing this major environmental problem of rapidly vanishing protective wetlands.
Keep the stories coming. We all enjoy them trememdously. You will have to publish them in a new Peace Corps book when you get back.
Thanks for the explanation about your mission and priorities. I was getting tired of making something up when people asked.....lol. It sounds like you have a good plan. Please do find the natives a profession other than buring the forest for charcoal. What a crime!
I suspect you are going to need a cash infusion soon. How is that going?
Miss you son.
Dad
I have been a bit lax with letters lately so I might as well join the 21st century and post to your website.
As for the chief Justice position on the Supreme Court, I cannot understand why one of the current justices, with their many years of experience, is not given the Chief Justice position. Why bring in an outsider, with no Supreme Court experience to head the most powerful court in our country? Bush sure is acting like a "Reward Your Crony" Republican on this one!
As for Katrina, about a million people have been affected by the hurricane. I cannot imagine where so many thousands of people will relocate. The dichotomy between Blacks and Whites in New Orleans has been obvious on the news. The corruption in the city has also been exposed. Money that was designated for levee repair never reached its intended sites. I wonder where it "got to?" Louisiana requested federal money for levee repair and received half of such funds. Placing FEMA in the hands of a lawyer turned Arabian Horse trainer, with NO emergency management training,was another brilliant Bush move.
When New Orleans removes the toxic soil covering most of the city, I certainly hope that city officials think twice about placing new housing in an obvious flood plane. How about allowing some of the land to return to marshland, which would act as a buffer for storm surges and hurricane force winds of the future? Global warming, scientists claim, will encourage more powerful hurricanes in the future. Or is the Bush administration still unsure of the existance and impact of global warming?
Bush's approval rating has dropped to 40%, his lowest ever. Take your pick, the Iraq war, gas prices and failure to leave Crawford for 3 days after the hurricane hit the Gulf Coast are incredibly unpopular. Then, when he finally did visit the destruction in the Gulf area and informed Michael Brown, the former head of FEMA, "You're doing a great job, Brownie," has not set well with the American public.
How is my fence building, compost pile creating, rabbit raising, hut sweeping, leaf and stick gathering, poop collecting, non-letter writing, but oh, so swell son doing?
Much love,
Mom and Jerry
Interacting in text with all of you is strange and interesing as your writting voices are somewhat different from your conventional voices. In fact, most of you seem to be more humourous in print. Not that you aren't humourous in person. Still, I much prefer actually talking to you all.
Anyway, I wish you as much luck in the United States of America as you all have wished me here.