Leaving only made me want to stay: Why medevac was great.

Ok so there were a lot of reasons why medevac was awful. One, I was very ill for a very long time (roa volana mahery e!) and while I was there it was incredibly stressful, with no one being able to give me a definitive answer on when or even if I’d be allowed to return to mada. But throughout it all there was never a moment that I wavered on wanting to return to my new home. I was consistently telling the doctors that I could handle the pain, I’d adjust my daily schedule, I’ll never eat another fish sandwich again! (ok, at least not often; I do love me a fish sandwich…); whatever the compromises I was determined to come back. And luckily it all worked out for me.

And it’s wonderful to be back. Getting off the plane to Diego and receiving a big American-style-hug from Kamar almost brought tears to my eyes. And I was so excited to see my friends at PSI, where I work, that I made Kamar stop on the way back to my house so I could inform them that I was, in fact, not in America, but coming back to work that week. With each of my friends that I ran into around town I felt myself feeling truly joyful to see them, and I am still feeling that after two weeks.

I’ve found myself wondering where this came from. For a long time I found myself telling people that I really liked Madagascar, thought it was one of the most beautiful places in the world, but that I didn’t love it enough to stay. I enjoyed much of my first year in Mada, but I was holding onto those first-year-feelings about moving to another country and adjusting to a different, at times very strange, culture; and even more so, holding on to the things that I discovered i didn't like about the culture. It was almost as though I was holding myself back from loving this place. But I do love it. Along with the fact that I moved to the coast (I’m sorry, but it’s infinitely better than living kind of near a large marsh…) with a culture that is more open and outgoing, and started working at a ‘real’ job; I am also well into my second year. I have more language under my belt, have become comfortable with the new dialect, have made friends and love my work. And all of those things leave people with more trust in me and only positively affect my relationships both at work and home. Sure there are still things I dislike about mada, heck there are things I downright hate, (including, most recently acquired: returning to the Ankify port); but they seem to matter less.

Spending those few weeks in South Africa and having to work to get back, gave me the chance to realize the change that happened in my feelings towards Madagascar. I guess, literally stepping outside your world, and reflecting on how you got there, sometimes, is just the perspective you need. Now I’m not just considering staying on an extra year because of great work opportunities it would provide, but because I truly don’t think I’ll be ready to leave in 6 months. I spent so long getting to this point, learning the language, finding work, making friends; that it seems like a real shame to leave just when I’m really starting to love it.

But don’t worry too much over there in America, I won’t be staying here forever (I'm not 'going rogue' dad), my return will just be delayed a while if everything works out.

"Boribory ny tany dia mety hifankahita indray atsika"
(Because the earth is round, we'll meet again)



I mean who could honestly leave a place, within a days drive from this...