Broken Pump

Androy, the south-central region of Madagascar, is characterized by spiny forest, but much of the vegetation has been lost to slash-and-burn agriculture over the past couple of decades. The heat, dryness, and wind have become noticeably worse within a generation. Water is harder and harder to come by.

As a Peace Corps Response Volunteer, I'm working on a water/sanitation project based out of the town of Beloha. Our team recently visited the village of Ambondro to fix a pump. Because there was no filter in the bottom of the well casing, sand entered, clogged the piston, and eventually broke it. The whole system needed to be removed to make the repairs.

We brought some tools and materials with us: about 15 meters of PVC pipe to bail out the well, handsaws and wrenches, and some geo-textile for the filter. However, getting all the parts to fit and work together required a bit of improvisation.

First, My co-workers Amede and Christian bailed excess water out of the well to make it easier to pull out the well casing.


Then, six of us used most of our muscles and three monkey wrenches to pull 12 meters of metal casing, in four sections, out of the well.

We finally pulled out the entire length of casing and the pump column inside it, and replaced the broken piston. After testing the parts together it was clear that we needed a lubricant between the piston and the well casing.

Goat lard was suggested. However, Josoa, the president of the water committee, pointed out that some of the residents of Ambondro are originally from the southeastern region of Anosy. It's taboo for them to consume any part of a goat. So instead, we coated the parts with zebu lard, which is universally acceptable for the Malagasy.

Finally, we wrapped some geo-textile as tightly as possible around the base of the casing to serve as a a sand filter. However, when we tested it, the overly-picky filter kept water out of the well too!

It was starting to get dark and we didn't have any other filter material with us, so we had to return all of the heavy casing into the well in a different broken state. Next week we'll return with bronze mesh, and hopefully be able to leave town with our chins a little higher.

Ambovombe

The name of Ambovombe, the town where I served as a Peace Corps volunteer, means "where there are many wells". Water here isn't as plentiful now as it must have been then.

Grasshopper

Taza

Taza. To whom you turn for motorcycle repair, wind turbine construction, fresh peanut butter...

Bernadette

My buddy Bernadette, who gives it to me straight

Kaly

Kaly is fount of knowledge about medicinal plants and Tandroy history. He studies anthropology at the university in the capital.

Fort Dauphin

The tropical southeastern city of Fort Dauphin, with a mountains-meet-ocean romance. This is the exception to the blog theme, since it's in the Anosy region, not Androy. Pineapple is ripe now.

Construction

Construction of a thatched roof in a village just outside of Ambovombe

Plank house

A typical plank house in Ambovombe. Termites are a real problem; upper-class homes are built from sturdier concrete.

lamonty necklace

A handmade candy necklace from juicy, puckery-sweet lamonty fruit.

Vognemba

Vognemba (a type of bean), corn, cassava, sweet potatoes and sorghum are the main crops grown around Ambovombe. This farm is a 20-minute walk out of town.

makeup

This is the wife of one of the farmers who tends the one of Catholic Relief Services' demonstration plots. Women here use clay to decorate their faces; I loved her pointillism.

Lavanono

The fishing village of Lavanono is 30 km south of Beloha. It's said to have the best surfing in the Indian Ocean, and must be the hardest to get to. Getting there requires a descending a steep, boulder-strewn hill. The surf-obsessed arrive from Reunion via helicopter.

My Little Pink House

In Beloha, I share a family compound with the Deputy, who has vague political responsibilities from which he makes a hefty living. My "cottage" is on the left. Marco, maybe we could watch the World Cup at the neighbors'?

Cyber Cafe

One of the most noticeable changes in Ambovombe over the past five years is the arrival of Internet accessibility. The cyber cafe in the central square doesn't serve espresso (maybe in another five years...?), but they do have homemade fruit juice and yogurt.

star tortoise

The Tandroy don't eat tortoise. Their ancestors deemed doing so taboo at an undefined point in history, and the code has passed down via oral tradition. Stories differ over the ancestors' reasoning. Naturalists think that they recognized the tortoise's importance to the ecosystem; that certain plants only grow if their seeds are broken by a tortoise beak, or pass through a tortoise belly. Softies say that because a supine tortoise can't get back on its feet, it's too defenseless to be hunted. In any case, they're untouched and abundant.