UN-Week, Pirogging & Oktoberfest

Work first…and then a couple of days vacation in the south of Madagascar!

That was out plan when we went to Fort Dauphin two weeks ago. The reason for us heading south was the official begin of the UN-Week, which included the celebration of the “World Food Day” as well as the “World Poverty Day”. So our work schedule from Monday till Wednesday mainly consisted of presenting the WFP stand at an UN and NGO fair and visits to field projects of different agencies.

We left Fort Dauphin Wednesday morning in a UN convoy towards a WFP school-feeding project at the country side.

The idea of school-feeding is to create incentives for parents to send their children to school instead of keeping them at home to work on the field. In school the kids will be provided with 2 gratuitous meals from WFP, so the parents know that their children are taken care of well.

We went on to the little village of Manambaro where all the UN representatives and government officials have been happily welcomed. After attending the ceremony with various demonstrations of “How to get out of Poverty” we went on to a UN-Development Programme project where they to try to decrease the illiteracy rate of adults. The center is in the middle of different fields and directly located under a beautiful lychee tree, where we were given fresh coconuts and bananas.

Afterwards the work was done and we had a few days of free time, which we made well use of so the next day we visited the national park of Andohahela. The park offers a waste variety of medical plants, lizards and a great “piscine naturelle” were we cooled down from the burning sun.

Our way back also offered some “attractions” but the sort of which wasn’t really appreciated…meaning that our car was invaded by a big cockroach family. So for the 3 hour ride back to Fort Dauphin I was hunting those big bugs not daring to sleep for a second!

The best trip so far started on Friday morning at a lake close by the city. From there on we went with 2 guides on a pirogue (simple and small boat) towards a fishermen village, which was located 15km down the river. Rowing for the first on a pirogue a quite a challenge so we were more than happy that one of our guides, Jean-Jacque, was one huge piece of muscle who was probably to 90% responsible for our movement.

3 hours, a sore but and 4 blisters later we arrived in the village. We relaxed for a while before our other guide, Jacque, took us for a superb hike over the mountainous area and showing us beautiful and remote beaches of Lokaro.

We returned to our little bungalow where we a candle light dinner (there is no electricity in that area anyways) with our guides before falling in our “lakenzak”.

After a short night, being robbed by big lizard who took my throat medicine (seriously!) we went for another striking hike exploring the amazing costal area before we had to hop back into our pirogue.

Again, 3 hours later back where we started one day ago Tuli and I agreed that this was an incredibly nice tour so we thanked our great guides very much and we wouldn’t mind at all returning there again.

We spent the lasting one a half days chilling in the city, eating more shrimps (in total for the week: estimated 150 pieces) and enjoying the nice view at Libanon Beach before we had to leave for the airport.

80 minutes later, arriving via airplane in Tana we had a much better idea of how different and diverse Madagascar is…with its nature, culture and people…so we are already looking forward for our next trip to the north-west, which will hopefully take place in about two weeks.

MGG Fabi

A little footnote:

Yesterday we tried to go to the Oktoberfest in Tana, where 2 major Malagasy music stars were to perform…the event was probably for free which lured thousands of people. We were trying to get to there as well, but half way and stuck in a hectic crowd, the riot police thought it would be smart idea to worsen the situation by shoving and pushing the people back and towards a huge wall with their shield and night sticks. So the crowd including us tried to leave the risky scene…and then it happened: my mobile got pick pocketed!

Luckily I do have a back up of my address book so no major harm done, but the worst was when I actually called with Tuli’s mobile my own number and a guy picked up. I told him that I “lost” my mobile and that I wouldn’t mind if he would return it to me…his reaction: pure laughter!

I am still not sure whether he laughed about my attempt to get my mobile back or about my German accent while talking French.

Lesson learnt: Oktoberfest + Malagasy music star + riot police = “lost” mobile

Odette & Valisoq

Odette clearly stands out of the group of people waiting patiently during a warm day in the backyard of the Suplmentary Feeding Center.
Looking into her face, which is marked by deep and expressive crinkles, it is difficult to guess her age. For certain, she is by far the oldest person here.
In Madagascar, where the life expectancy is an average 57 years for women, Odette being 72 years old is almost exceptional.
Odette doesn’t come here day by day just by herself, she takes the 12 month old baby boy Valisoq to the center, too. Valisoq is her nephew which is hard to believe given the difference in age. Maybe it is this harsh contrast of age and generation which makes their appearance so striking.
Valisoq is ill, which is the reason for him being taken to the center. Back home his parents cannot take care of him properly because they have to work all day long. So it is up to Odette to look after the 1 year old.

In the center, Valisoq receives important medical attention to improve his situation. Besides the health treatment, it is the daily ration of food aid which makes the unlike couple come here. Odette is very grateful for the help offered by the center. Her appreciation is even more understandable when you know that she lives in severe poverty, earning 1 US-Dollar per day.
She can feed Validoq directly in the center and receives another home-food ration for her nephew. But unfortunately the take-away meal won’t be enough to feed Validoq sufficiently, because it will be shared with his parents and 4 siblings.
A whole household sharing a food ration which is only meant to feed one child is a big problem for the center, but who will blame the hungry family?
This is one challenge which remains to be tackled by WFP and its Suplmentary Feeding Centers to which Odette will return tomorrow with Valisoq to receive food aid again.

Home sweet home…pies, kids and turtles

Crossing fingers and squeezing thumbs obviously helped us to get the apartment I mentioned in my last blog entry. So we left our hotel to move in our new home, which is conveniently located between the town centre and the WFP office.

Actually it is not just an apartment, but we share a house with a Malagasy family. We have the entire first floor for ourselves, which includes two bedrooms, a great living room, kitchen, bathroom and we can hang out in the little garden.

The family with father Lala and wife, the 3 year old son Sasa and 7 month old baby girl live at the second floor. They are really nice, helpful and carrying so when ever we have a problem they help us out and give us some useful inside information about Tana. Another great feature about our new home is the fact that the family is also into bakery business. So our place is filled with the lovely smell of various daily fresh baked pies.

Besides the many good aspects about living with the family, I have to admit that the kids are quite “active” but I hope that it is just a matter of time to get used to the different level of noise…and if not, then I am really glad that I brought my MP3 player with the in-ear-headphones.

I almost forgot…we do have pets. Tuli discovered two big turtles in our backyard this morning, but I am not sure whether they really belong there or maybe they are just “stored” until it is cooking time.

MGG Fabi