Tiako mandehadeha

The last few weeks have been busy, and really fun. The Ifaty women’s organization had its first exposition for the staff and guests of Reef Doctor. Everyone loved all the beautiful napkins, tablecloths, and pillow cases they had made. The women were really proud, and so happy that the vazaha were into stuff they had made.

We spoke with some of the people doing research in the park. Unfortunately, despite the work to conserve the animals that live in the park, many are still likely to go extinct. For example, the greater bamboo lemur is in danger because the forest bordering the park is being destroyed. The greater bamboo lemur doesn’t live in those areas, but the large fossa that do live there are being forced into Ranomafana, where they hunt the greater bamboo lemur. Why are the rainforests being destroyed? So that a few minerals can be dug up out of the ground. Dumb.Anyhoo, I spent the past week in Tamatave for the yearly bike race/AIDS awareness event. We worked with Gasy NGOs giving workshops all over the city. It was a really great event, and I got to give a condom demonstration to a group of 10-year-old boys, woohoo. But seriously, it was awesome to see people speaking openly about a subject that some people refuse to acknowledge. Plus I got to see a lot of my friends, which is always sweet.