I've already talked about Mantasoa. I think my Fianar group was there for 9 or 10 days. Looking at my 2 journal entries from the time, the day before we left Fianar for Mantasoa I wrote "Everyone is convinced we're being evacuated. [expletive]." Then apparently three days after we got there everyone was convinced we would be going back to site the next week. The day after we got there Eliko texted me that PC was sending a car to bring the three Morondava people to Mantasoa -- did I need any provisions? The next morning she said she was all ready to go, and would bring me some warm clothes (at that point I was sporting a clever fusion style I call "everything-I-brought-with-me." Before I left Mahatsara Sud I texted Gabe asking if it was cold in Fianar. He texted me back something akin to "Are you kidding me?" - as in, "The country is falling apart and you need fashion advice? You have the emotional depth of a brussels sprout." Thus leaving me layering tank tops and a rainshell for warmth.) The day after, however, they decided not to consolidate the Morondava people in Mantasoa, and Eliko heard if things stayed peaceful we could go back to site shortly.
Violence in Toliara put a damper on that bit of optimism for a day or two, but since it turned out to be an attempted raid on a grain warehouse that the military repelled, it was interpreted as "opportunistic" and not political violence. The fact that the "forces of law and order" still "did their job," was evidence that the country was still functioning. So we were supposed to start deconsolidating in a couple days, except for people in the south-east or the Toliara region, who would have to wait for a site assessment before they could go back, because of the riots there earlier. I was originally put in this group and I had to go to a special meeting, but then I guess they reasonably decided that Mananjary was totally calm and you don't have to pass through any hotspots to get there, because my name showed up on the list of people getting a ride back to site as far as Fianar.
Still, everything depended on events staying peaceful over the following days.
Feb 14, 19:50 "tana remained orderly. 2 sets of gatherings pro govt large no violence. this good news. tgv has said he will take over ministries or he will perhaps not. fingers and toes crossed."
Feb 15, 19:31 "all quiet. hoping for the same tomorrow."
Finally, on the 16th:
"FEB 16TH. DEAR PCVs. DECONSOLIDATION STARTS TOMORROW. PCV WARDEN PLEASE TOUCH BASE WITH PC DUTY. THANKS."
We had a big end-of-consolidation party that night, which I threw myself into whole-heartedly despite having gotten a text from Mika around dinner time that said he was hearing lots of gunfire in Tana. I perfected my dancing-with-scarf move (think "the robot," not rhythm gymnastics) and had a long conversation with someone about Salt Lake City. Then at 10:46 pm we got this text message from our security officer:
"FEB 16. HI AGAIN. PLEASE DO NOT DEPART TO SITE. WAIT PENDING CONFIRMATION FROM PC. TANA ACTIVE TONIGHT."
My impression is that most people decided they were in no state to process that information and continued with the party.
An hour or so after I went to bed my alarm went off marking the time when we should have been leaving, had we not gotten that very vague text the night before. I heroically dragged myself to the vans, was informed that we would be leaving three hours later, and went back to bed. We finally did make it out of Mantasoa, though the entire way back to Fianar any time anyone's phone rang we were sure it would be Peace Corps telling us to turn around. Apparently "Tana active" turned out to just be rumors and the only thing that actually happened was some people robbed a gas station. That didn't seem to add up with Mika hearing gunshots, but we were going back to site so I wasn't about to argue. I got to have lunch with Mika in Tana before we left, which was nice since during consolidation I wasn't sure whether I would ever get to see him again, and then we left, in one PC van, one PC 4x4 and one rented taxi brousse (suddenly we had all the people whose sites were south of Tana with us). The taxi brousse broke down a few hours out of Tana, so we all crammed into the PC van and spent the night in Antsirabe, which was quiet as the grave when we arrived at 9pm. Apparently a curfew had been imposed during the crisis.
The next day we headed off to Fianar. Things went smoothly for the first four or five hours, and I was half-asleep as we drove into Fianar ville. I woke up when the 4x4 stopped suddenly, and I saw the van stopped in front of us. I was about to ask what was going on when I heard chanting, and saw, about a block away and marching towards us blocking the whole street, a parade of protesters waving banners and shouting. Nirina (PC Fianar regional rep and our driver) pulled an epic U-turn and we sped away in the direction we came from. The four of us in the car just looked at each other and laughed. It was too ridiculous. We finally get deconsolidated, finally get back to Fianar, and we drive right into a mob. "Retreat! Retreat!" We drove around to the other side of the city on really bad roads and made it to the Meva. Chez Nini's, our favorite hotely across the street from the meva (featuring "the vegetarian" special for PCVs) was still serving, even though there were lots of people standing in the street trying to figure out what was going on, so we all went over there for lunch. Just as we finished ordering, we started hearing gunshots. After about 10 of them Nirina and Xavier (Director of the Education program) had been on the phone with Peace Corps in Tana and we were directed to take refuge in the Meva. Fortunately the staff of Chez Nini's was willing to make our food "to go," which just meant we return all the plates and silverware later. The shots continued; we counted about 41 keeping a chalk tally on the pavement.
That night PC called and said the shooting was gendarmes firing in the air to dispel looters, and the marchers were "just students," whatever that means. They also said we could still go back to site the next day. I got a ride as far as Irondro with Xavier and Nirina who were going further south to do site assessments, then took a taxi brousse the remaining two hours to Mananjary. I bought some anana (greens) to strap to the side of my backpack (no room for other food), then hiked the two hours back to lovely lovely Mahatsara Sud, which was right where I left it.
Next up: and it's a bittersweet symphony this life...
Still, everything depended on events staying peaceful over the following days.
Feb 14, 19:50 "tana remained orderly. 2 sets of gatherings pro govt large no violence. this good news. tgv has said he will take over ministries or he will perhaps not. fingers and toes crossed."
Feb 15, 19:31 "all quiet. hoping for the same tomorrow."
Finally, on the 16th:
"FEB 16TH. DEAR PCVs. DECONSOLIDATION STARTS TOMORROW. PCV WARDEN PLEASE TOUCH BASE WITH PC DUTY. THANKS."
We had a big end-of-consolidation party that night, which I threw myself into whole-heartedly despite having gotten a text from Mika around dinner time that said he was hearing lots of gunfire in Tana. I perfected my dancing-with-scarf move (think "the robot," not rhythm gymnastics) and had a long conversation with someone about Salt Lake City. Then at 10:46 pm we got this text message from our security officer:
"FEB 16. HI AGAIN. PLEASE DO NOT DEPART TO SITE. WAIT PENDING CONFIRMATION FROM PC. TANA ACTIVE TONIGHT."
My impression is that most people decided they were in no state to process that information and continued with the party.
An hour or so after I went to bed my alarm went off marking the time when we should have been leaving, had we not gotten that very vague text the night before. I heroically dragged myself to the vans, was informed that we would be leaving three hours later, and went back to bed. We finally did make it out of Mantasoa, though the entire way back to Fianar any time anyone's phone rang we were sure it would be Peace Corps telling us to turn around. Apparently "Tana active" turned out to just be rumors and the only thing that actually happened was some people robbed a gas station. That didn't seem to add up with Mika hearing gunshots, but we were going back to site so I wasn't about to argue. I got to have lunch with Mika in Tana before we left, which was nice since during consolidation I wasn't sure whether I would ever get to see him again, and then we left, in one PC van, one PC 4x4 and one rented taxi brousse (suddenly we had all the people whose sites were south of Tana with us). The taxi brousse broke down a few hours out of Tana, so we all crammed into the PC van and spent the night in Antsirabe, which was quiet as the grave when we arrived at 9pm. Apparently a curfew had been imposed during the crisis.
The next day we headed off to Fianar. Things went smoothly for the first four or five hours, and I was half-asleep as we drove into Fianar ville. I woke up when the 4x4 stopped suddenly, and I saw the van stopped in front of us. I was about to ask what was going on when I heard chanting, and saw, about a block away and marching towards us blocking the whole street, a parade of protesters waving banners and shouting. Nirina (PC Fianar regional rep and our driver) pulled an epic U-turn and we sped away in the direction we came from. The four of us in the car just looked at each other and laughed. It was too ridiculous. We finally get deconsolidated, finally get back to Fianar, and we drive right into a mob. "Retreat! Retreat!" We drove around to the other side of the city on really bad roads and made it to the Meva. Chez Nini's, our favorite hotely across the street from the meva (featuring "the vegetarian" special for PCVs) was still serving, even though there were lots of people standing in the street trying to figure out what was going on, so we all went over there for lunch. Just as we finished ordering, we started hearing gunshots. After about 10 of them Nirina and Xavier (Director of the Education program) had been on the phone with Peace Corps in Tana and we were directed to take refuge in the Meva. Fortunately the staff of Chez Nini's was willing to make our food "to go," which just meant we return all the plates and silverware later. The shots continued; we counted about 41 keeping a chalk tally on the pavement.
Picture taken from J. Selb without permission.
That night PC called and said the shooting was gendarmes firing in the air to dispel looters, and the marchers were "just students," whatever that means. They also said we could still go back to site the next day. I got a ride as far as Irondro with Xavier and Nirina who were going further south to do site assessments, then took a taxi brousse the remaining two hours to Mananjary. I bought some anana (greens) to strap to the side of my backpack (no room for other food), then hiked the two hours back to lovely lovely Mahatsara Sud, which was right where I left it.Next up: and it's a bittersweet symphony this life...
1 comments:
I give you my post-picture-jacking blessing
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