Mora Mora- A Madagascar Adventure

2024. Wow, you were one for the books! Honestly, it was a bit exhausting, and I'm ready for a fresh start. But there were also many personal and professional highlights. I don't always take the time to reflect, so today, I'm doing just that. If you had told my 22-year-old self, I'd go on my third work trip to Africa in a new country and try to snorkel in the ocean off of a wooden boat with hand-sewn sails; I'm not sure I'd believe it. But my trip to Madagascar in August 2024 filled up my cup. It allowed me to meet new friends, support excellent work, push myself professionally, and reflect on myself as a business co-leader.

This trip happened as I traveled as a volunteer with the USAID Farmer to Farmer program hosted by Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA) and lined up my efforts with our client, the Global Collaboration on Sorghum and Millet .

My travel style is usually tight turns, but this time, a friend challenged me to slow down and take in the experience in Madagascar. As they say, "mora mora,” meaning to take it easy and experience things one step at a time. So, you know, pretty much the opposite of my normal pace!

I visited a local lemur park and learned a ton from our guide on these adorable primates. I was a little disappointed that King Julian did not make an appearance, but then again, not everything is as Disney describes it. I earned some cool aunt points by sending photos and videos back to my niece and nephews, which was a bonus. I also got the opportunity to visit the presidential palace with my new friend and host, Stannie, which helped me understand more about the history of this island nation.

The work portion of the trip focused on communications and engagement training for master's students who were currently focused on helping introduce new sorghum varieties into the dry south region of the country as a climate-resilient cereal grain to be used for food as the priority, but also the ability to feed livestock and fish.?

Their training and education through this research program are focused in the field. They learn how to plant sorghum and how to grow, manage and harvest the crop successfully. The technical elements are taught by the program's agronomic experts, and my experience training helps them connect with the farmers and technicians they will pass that knowledge on to in their individually assigned communities.?

I focused on connecting to their audience, learning what they know, learning how they like to receive their information, learn what type of experiences they have that can help or work against the idea of planting a new crop. I also helped them learn more about sorghum in the context of its purpose, how it fits in the global picture, how it is used in other countries, and the potential it has for the Malagasy people.?I'm not an expert in any of these categories, but my years working with the GCSM team and its predecessor program, along with growing up in a prime sorghum-growing country in the United States, helped me to have the knowledge I needed to give them the confidence to connect with the communities they were working in.

I also introduced a new open-source online training course that our team had been working on for months, called the Sorghum School. It is designed and intended to help field technicians, like the graduate students, feel empowered with helpful information to better understand sorghum in addition to the training they received in person. It has now launched publicly at sorghumschool.com, and we hope it will also help foreign aid agriculture workers, agriculture program liaisons, and industry professionals learn more about sorghum and how it may be similar or different to other crops they've worked with.

Additionally, I had the opportunity to talk to a group of local university students studying agriculture. The campus was in a community close to the coast, and the room was filled with students who wanted to learn. I judge my lectures to college groups by how many students I may lose to the exhaustion of student life, and I'm pleased to say I believe we got out of the room with 100% of the students staying alert during my time.?

I'm not sure I walked away knowing I empowered more than 200 sorghum advocates to take on the fields. Still, I do feel like they got to see someone who took the time to share information with them, a woman business owner who is a professional in their field. Hopefully, they realize that agriculture is an industry with opportunities to help others and do better.?

Other trip highlights included going out on a beautifully crafted boat one slightly windy morning that took us to the reef. Let's just say this land-locked girl didn't do as well in the choppy water snorkeling as she had hoped, but I got in the water and tried! It resulted in a core memory that will for sure stick with me. The research farm location we were working in was near a beach community. I refined my skills in negotiating with the locals selling their wares and developed some fun local relationships. The final evening with the student group and researchers was spent enjoying local food, drinks and dancing. We each had to pick a song ... and I froze ... so I taught a group of my Malagasy friends how to participate in the Cotton Eye Joe! Next time, I'll be more prepared for group dance instruction.

There is so much more I could share about this experience, but that will be all for this end-of-year reflection. Take the trip, buy silly souvenirs from the local vendors, enjoy the vanilla you brought home to share with others, spend time learning from the locals and remember mora mora. One step at a time, and it will all work out.