The past few days I have had quite the cultural immersion.
On Sunday the 15th, Salina (my host mom), Janette (a young woman who
works at Amboaloboka), the wife of the guard at Amboaloboka, and another young
woman who is friends with the other women set out to go to church to catch a
bus to Soatanana. We went to Soatanana for a conference and a ceremony for men
and women who completed their two-year sheparding training.
When
we arrived at the church there was one bus and tons of people. I quietly began
to stress out in my mind because the number of people who needed a ride and the
number of seats in that bus did not match up. Thankfully another bus and a
truck appeared! We loaded all of our things onto the top of the bus and set out
for Soatanana.
From
what I can tell, Soatanana is a very small countryside town. The town sits
nestled in between mountains, which provides for an excellent view. All the
members of my church stayed in one house. We were given two rooms to sleep and
eat in. The room I stayed in was of decent size but we had about twenty people
staying together. It definitely made for close quarters. We also shared a small
concrete room to “do our business” and shower in. I was thankful for a place to
sleep and eat but I wasn’t looking forward to staying there for three nights.
The
conference was held outside in an open area. There was a stage set up with
chairs and a nice covering to provide those shade who sat under it. Everyone
else was expected to sit on the ground, a brick, or something they brought to
sit on. The mornings were always brisk but by the afternoon it was quite hot. I
do not know how the people bared to sit in the sun for hours but they did. I
was one of the fortunate who was invited to sit on stage. It doesn’t sit well
with me that I was invited on stage because I am a foreigner but I don’t have
enough language yet to communicate my feelings. The upside to sitting on the stage
was meeting Pastor Dennis from Tana. He whole heartily welcomed Karis (another
YAGM who is also in Finaranstoa and joined me in Soatanana for a day) and I to
Soatanana and because his English was so good he translated much of the service
on Tuesday. He let us ask endless questions, encouraged us to take pictures,
and was a nice friendly face to see throughout the conference.
Even
with the translations from Pastor Dennis and Salina it was hard to fully
comprehend what was going on. From
what I did understand, it was hours and hours of church. Most days were filled
with five to eight hours of church. I found lots of time to read my Bible,
pray, let my mind wander, journal, and write letters to all of you lovely
people back home. As frustrating as it is not to know what is going on, it is
nice to be able to take for me in the midst of it all.
After another long worship service,
packing the bus, and sharing a meal with at least 200 Malagasy people we left
Soatanana. I was tired, smelly, and hungry when we arrived back at Amboaloboka.
I just wanted to go shower, skip dinner, and go to bed. However as the
headlights from the taxi hit the house the door flung open and all the young
women came running to greet us. Excitedly they opened the car door and helped me
out. Each woman greeted me with, “Tongasoa”, welcome, a hand shake that is
almost good as a hug, and kisses on each cheek. (Emily, this is nothing like we
do. Haha J)
The welcome I received was just what I needed to forget about my awful mood.
After four days of feeling out of place it felt so great to be back to
somewhere familiar. After a much needed shower we shared a meal together. The
young women must have noticed that my favorite laoka (side) is potatoes with
eggs because that is what had. We prayed, ate, laughed, talked, and taught each
other new words but the best of all is that we were together again. For the
first time here I felt at home. Together at home.
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