Mango Season in Madagascar (A Vignette)

Mango Season in Madagascar (A Vignette)

Below is the first paragraph of a short vignette titled: "Mango Season: A Metaphor for All Things 

Wonderful in Life" by Madagascar Peace Corps volunteer Katie Brown.  The title links to here blog

but you can also find it on the Peace Corps website (link below).

You should also check  out the other Peace Corps resources available.

On November 1st, it was though someone had flipped a switch and the rains began to fall. Six 
long months and many a fruitless rain-dance had produced hardly a drop. Now, the opening of 
the sky is a daily event, one that requires due consideration for the afternoon schedule. For these 
are torrential downpours and venturing out in them is much akin in my opinion to snorkeling: 
extreme difficulty breathing, high likelihood of drowning, thus high risk to low reward.
Fortunately for the captives of the resulting mild afternoon hours, when only the dull roar of rain 
lashing the roof fills the ears, a three-fold blessing comes hand-in-hand with the change of 
seasons: mangos, mangos, and more mangos. For months I had watched them grow heavy on the 
trees, kicked them under-ripe down the back roads of my town, ate them as an accompaniment to 
street-corner brouchettes. For months indeed I tendered my patience and then, suddenly, as the 
rains arrived, the mangos ripened and Nothern Madagascar was swimming in both. Four for ten 
cents at the market, or better yet, send out a brigade of neighborhood children. Fresh mangos on 
a rainy afternoon: one starts to think this island life ain't so bad...

LINKS:

http://collection.peacecorps.gov/cdm/singleitem/collection/p9009coll2/id/224/rec/1