Madagascar 2014: Mantasoa- Peace Corps at Work in Madagascar

How incredible the work is they are doing here in Madagascar under the leadership of Dee to live the Mission of Peace Corps:

To promote world peace and friendship by fulfilling three goals:

To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women
To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served
To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans

There are currently 133 Volunteers in Madagascar working in the areas of education, agriculture and health. During their service in Madagascar, Volunteers learn to speak Malagasy. More than 1,085 Peace Corps Volunteers have served in Madagascar since the program was established in 1993

Staying with The Country Director was an amazing honor. In addition to seeing the local Peace Corps office:

I had the great privilege to journey (albeit in a jeep on long windy bumpy roads) to the Peace Corps Training Center.

We observed an agricultural training in the village of Mantasoa and saw the lesson at work. The focus was Perma Gardening (from perma-culture), for resiliency and food security. There was a peace corp environmental trainer leading the training. Here are candid shots of the lesson at the family's home and the surrounding village to get a sense of how they live.

The Peace Corps volunteers from posts all over Madagascar are learning these lessons to bring back to their counterparts in villages and spread the education. It was wonderful to see the program in action.