P A G E 1 3
V O L . 4 , N O . 2
D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 5
An Unusual Story – Back to the Homeland
Since leaving Madagascar in 2009 to pursue my studies in the U.S., every time I get the
chance to spend the summer break at home, which has been every two years, I try to
make myself useful in some ways. My first time returning home in 2011, I spent some
time tutoring students in English at my alma matter Lycee
Prive Orchidee; my second time returning home in 2013, I
spent a month working with Catholic Relief Services in Ta-
na; this past summer, although it was brief, I came to learn
and know about the work of Duke Lemur Center’s SAVA
Conservation. To introduce myself and my intensions of
lending a hand in any way possible, I sent out an email hop-
ing for the best, but not expecting anything. However,
Charlie Welch and Erik Patel both warmly responded ex-
pressing their surprise to learn that a Malagasy student
from the SAVA region was studying at an American college.
Naturally, they asked me about how I ended up in the
States.
It has been six years since I arrived in the States, yet I
have not found the right way to answer the question of
how I got to where I am today. Some people say it is luck,
others say it is fate or destiny, while others say it is God’s
will. I personally believe it to be a combination of all that.
In any case, here is the story.
When I was five years old, my village of Nosiarina wel-
comed a Peace Corps Volunteer from the United States.
Her name was Jalana, and she was to live in Nosiarina for
two-and-half years. Jalana became close friends with my
mother and me. Unlike other Malagasy children, I was not afraid of her (as a foreigner). I
was rather fascinated by her appearance, her lifestyle, and everything she did for our
community and its surroundings. She treated my friends and me kindly by allowing us to
look at her picture books, to draw pictures with her multicolored crayons, and to listen to
her read in her native English language.
Before leaving Madagascar in 2001, Jalana and my mother came to an agreement to
send me to a private school in Sambava, which had an exellent reputation. I attended this
private school for six school years, from fourth to ninth grade. My family and I kept con-
tact with Jalana, throughout those years by writing letters, occasional phone calls, and a
couple of visits from her, bringing relatives each time. After passing my BEPC in the sum-
mer of 2009, she came to Madagascar, with her sister and her husband, and they brought
me back to the US. I started to attend American high school as a tenth grader at the local
Yellow Springs High School, but finished the rest of my high school years at a private
school in Dayton Ohio. I now attend the College of Wooster, also in Ohio, from which I
will graduate this coming May.
For my third visit to my home in the SAVA this past June, there were no volunteer op-
portunities with SAVA Conservation at the time of my visit, but Erik and Charlie still found
Priscilla at the Marojejy mountain summit, with DukeEn-
gage students, Audra Bass and Allison Rogers.
by Priscilla Toto
