The Main Players + Deets

Megan and I are headed to the airport our series of flights tonight! For some odd reason there aren't any direct flights to Madagascar... so instead we are flying overnight to Paris and then onto Antananarivo (now known as Tana for short). We land 11pm tomorrow and the adventure begins!

We will be based in Antsirabe at the local Lutheran Hospital (antsirabelutheranhospital.org) for our entire stay. The first week is with the Mercer Pharmacy students who travel every year to do mission work for a week. We will be going out to surrounding villages (1-2hrs away) each day to set up mobile clinics. Scarlet (lady in charge) told us to expect about 500-600 patients/day x5-6 days!! At the end of the week, the pharmacy students and JillRae (our professor) head back to the States and it'll just be Meg, Scarlet and I left to play with lemurs and I guess also do medical work:) We will be working with Dr. Harrison (medical director & head surgeon at hospital) and a fellow ER doc who speaks English for the rest of our time in country!   Which reminds me... key details about Madagascar

• Official language: French --> which means no one speaks it... so we will be learning Malagasy
• It is a 4th world country... To qualify, one must be one of the following:
  1. Sub-populations socially excluded from global society
  2. Hunter-gatherer, nomadic, pastoral, and some subsistence farming peoples living beyond the modern industrial norm
  3. Sub-populations existing in a First World country, but with the living standards of those of a Third World, or developing country
• History: Madagascar broke off from India and migrated south to sit next to Africa so the people there are the most beautiful melting pot of Indian and African
• Size: HUUUUUGE. Note the map below for reference 

Sources: Scarlet and Wikipedia so take it as you will

 More details to come!!