Tuesday, July 31

·        6:15 – Wake up and do a little bit of laundry from yesterday

·        6:45 – Go for a run and meet the doctor on the road who is returning from strike meetings. Along with all of the teachers in Madgascar who have been on strike for the most of this year, the doctors are now striking as well. For many students this has meant that they will have to repeat the same class next year. For everyone, the doctor strikes have meant the already inadequate health care services are even less available. In Betsiaka, there has been a big spike in infant deaths over the past two months from Typhoid fever.

·        7:20 – Do 10 minutes of yoga

·        7:30 – Sweep house, take trash to neighbor’s burn pile

·        7:45 – Shower, rinse out running clothes

·        8:00 – Make coffee and eat bananas and peanut butter for breakfast. Eat and wash dishes.

·        8:30 – Read, write two letters to stage mates.

·        10:00 – Walk to the office again to meet Nicholas. He says he was unable to find Chef Japs, EPP director, last night but will try to find him again today. He is also back and forth from Betsiaka at strike meetings in Ambilobe. I also ask him if he knows someone who can help me build a chicken coop – I’m planning on raising them when I get back from vacation in September – and he says he will ask around. The problem with living in strictly a gold mining town is the lack of people skilled in other trades.

·        10:30 – Walk to market to visit with friends. Buy meat again. Find phone credit at the big epicerie which they were saving until the rest of the credit in Betsiaka was gone so they could sell for almost double the price. Walk home.

·        11:15 – Start cooking the same lunch as Sunday but add two potatoes instead of cooking rice.

·        11:40 – Read until lunch is ready.

·        12:15 – Eat lunch and then sweep house

·        12:30 – Read on porch for the afternoon.

·        4:15 – Finish book; Highly recommend it! Make chamomile tea and write in journal. Walk over to doctor’s house and visit with him and his wife and daughter, who are visiting from Diego, where she is studying at the Lycee.

·        5:00 – Head over to clinic with doctor to talk to some patients who have arrived outside. Two new cases of malaria.

·        5:45 – Go home, eat leftovers on porch, and wash dishes. Sweep, take a shower, finish tea, and start a new book in bed – “Oranges are Not the Only Fruit” – Jeannete Williams.

·        8:45 – Finish book and try to sleep despite termites.