One Big Market

Can you imagine having to drive through here?

Driving in Antananarivo is, even after two years, still a real adventure. You have to have nerves made of steal. Not that people drive fast, or very badly. The problem is the sheer number of people selling and walking on the road. In fact, Tana is one huge, big market. Most streets in the centre are ligned up with vendors, market stalls or ambulent sellers.

Madagascar used to host the biggest market in Africa, the Zoma, which means Friday. Though the Zoma has officially been banned by the municipality because it caused too much traffic jams, the markets continue to florish, and not only on Fridays...


The good thing about driving through and in between all the people is that you can take pictures easily.

It's like being in a permanent tropical, Africa museum with the sounds, smells and colours!

Selling 'brede' (green leaves)

News paper stall

Selling herbs, potions and lotions

Ha! Jazz!

I have already written before about how much musical talent Madagascar boasts. In every family you'll find at least one guitarist and many singers. Church choirs are booming on Sunday mornings and karaoke bars in the evenings.

From this.... (valiha)

Yet, for professional musiciens it is not easy to make a living. Take Hajazz. Hajazz has been an excellent guitarists for over 35 years, playing in Germany, France and Mauritius. He learned to play from his big brother on a traditional home-made guitar. For his 14th birthday his father bought him a real guitar, made in China, and that's when his carreer took off. All he did was practice and practice and practice until he mastered his very own particular style. His style is a mix of traditional tunes and rural rythms with modern jazz and blues, imitating the sounds of the valiha, the traditional Malagasy string instrument made of bamboo.

In the current climate in Madagascar music is not something many people are willing to pay for. Hajazz, like many other musiciens, is struggling to make a living. He deserves better. He has played with some of the bigger stars on the planet, Salif Keita, George Benson...but (so cute) he admits it: 'my grand father is still my biggest idol!'

To this..... Hajaz in action last Sunday

And this.... super relaxed CD for sale 15.000 Ar (only 7 USD)

Want to buy a CD and support Hajaz and Malagasy artists, leave a message here or email hajagitara@yahoo.fr

Apples and Pears...

Which one you think tastes better?

Local apple  (0.1 U$)              -      Imported apple (1 U$)

Local pear 0.2 U$            -             Imported pear (1.2 U$)

Well, I wish I could say that the local fruits taste better, even though they don't look better.

But I would lie.


Unfortunately...

The pineapples, lychees and papayas however are delicious!

"I Promise I Will Never Hit You Again...Forgive me!"

International Women's day is a special day in Madagascar; all women are getting a day off from work. Preferably on the 8th of March, if not most can take another day in March. This does not mean that the ladies will enjoy their day relaxing or having fun. Sadly in most cases it means that they will catch up on domestic chores, like doing spring cleaning or so...

Personally I worked yesterday, but today I was invited for women's day celebrations at Ankani Fitahiani, daycare center for street children. The children had prepared funny skits and dance performances for us international women. Preparations started weeks ago...

Girls just wanne have fun?
And girl, did we have fun. The themes the little boys and girls addressed..., it was simply hilarious. While in my country we would tell our girls that they could become anything they want; docters, engineers, lawyers, as long as you work hard, here its all about girls' rights, translated into boys obligations:
1. Don't commit adultery,
2. Do not abondon your girlfriend because she's pregnant,
3. Don't beat your girlfriend when you are drunk.

Pretty useful advise if you ask me...but for 7 year olds?

Burning bras or burning bad husbands?
We watched a skit by a 5-year girl old saying: "Please do not beat me, I am pregnant" (pillow under her little dress). Followed by a 7-year old boy pleading: "I apologize for running away, I promise I will stay with you and our baby".

And the best one - written by the children themselves -  a middle-aged dad has four daughters He wants them to marry good husbands, but the girls prefer the rich and handsome types. They end up marry those types, only to find out that they are actually croocodiles; bad boys with nothing inside. When the girls realize that their husband are no good, they plot to get them drunk and set them on fire!

No burning bras here, just burning of bad husbands!

Of course it made us think about the circumstances these children live in.
Marica and Nirine, innocent 7-year old children, acting out adultry, abuse and abandonment scenes?

What does that tell you?

Women's Day Celebration Skit: I'm sorry I hit you!

Princess for a Day or Living Doll???

I could not resist it. Not long ago there was an advertisement on the American School notice board asking for girls to pose in Barbie dresses for a catalogue. Payment in kind...in dresses! I figured it is every girls dream. It was mine when I was her age.

Barbie Princess for a Day
Madagascar has a relatively well developed textile sector, and some big French brands have factories here. One such factory manufactures high quality, branded children's dress up costumes for Carnival, Halloween or just for fun. The creme de la creme is a Pink Barbie Dress with lots and lots of sparkles and a hoop skirt. After a casting session Soleine was selected and today was the big day. A little bit of make up, hair in curls, pretty slippers and she was ready to be Barbie princess for a day.

No-hair-extensions pledge
It was fun but I could not help thinking of that movie Living Dolls, showing the lengths to which some parents will go to ensure that children win these horrific beauty pageant. So I hereby pledge: I WILL NEVER SUBJECT MY DAUGHTER TO HEAVY MAKE UP, FAKE TEETH OR TANS, HAIR EXTENSTIONS, SHAVED LEGS OR PLASTIC SURGERY ! - yes it happens at the age of seven)....
until she's twelve and probably will want all those herself ... ;-)

A little touch of Make Up

Hair in the Curl

Et voila, Barbie princess for a day

To see the end results you will have to go to the toy store some time later this year.

Not a Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's day is usually a day of surprises. Well, so was this year's 14 of February in Madagascar, but not happy surprises. In stead of postcards with hearts and roses and lovely-dovey SMS'es we got the following messages:

Monday 13 February 2012

4:46 PM: From French Consulat: Strong wind and rainfall, French schools closed.
4:50 PM: Airport closed until further notice.
5:07 PM: From American Embassy: Embassy Closed tomorrow. Stock up on supplies.
6:12 PM: American School Closed, everyone advised to stay home.
6:35 PM: Cyclone will hit at 3 AM with 275 km wind speeds on north east coast, more than 200 mm rainfall
9:33 PM: From Malagasy government (better late than never!): Imminent Danger. All establishments in Tana closed by decreed.

Tuesday 14 February 2012, 8:35 PM
Happy Valentines Madagascar. Candle light dinner for everyone because no electricity, no Intenet either. Very strong winds, and a lot of rain, but thank goodness not too much damage in Tana.

Personally I was not in Tana but in the field some 400 km inland from the coast. I did get a little nervous of all those messages, but in the end it was not too bad where we were. Here's some action pictures I took.

Tree falling on road sign (one of the few left in the country)

Oops! There goes a roof. sheet.

Thursday 16 February 8:30 PM: Internet is back on. The sad balance of Giovanna is 19 dead and 17.000 affected. Many rice paddy fields or inondated and crops destroyed. A lot of trees, already scarce in this country, did not survive. Nor did some telephone poles, houses, rooft tops, publicity signs and bus shelters. 

Giovanna, I wish you a very unhappy Valentine's day!

More pics and info on: http://www.lexpressmada.com/dossier-a-la-une/6-cyclone.html

Ewe..and Frenglish

It goes without saying that I am very proud of our trilingual daughter Soleine. She speaks - in order of importance - English, French and Dutch. We're equally proud of Antoine who is now studying at the American School of Antanananivo where every single subject is in English. Coming from Belgian Fench-speaking country-side catholic school, the contrast could not have been bigger. For a guy who has never spoken English during more than an hour, and had not written more than a few lines, he now has to write essays in English about Jane Eyre and Colonial Trading posts in America.

But when you're children are starting to correct you....hmmmm that is different kind of feeling. Last night Soleine corrected my French! We then practized home work spelling words and the word 'ewe' came up. "Eweeee, I said, as in..Eeks, Yukkie, as I believed that is what it meant.

'It's a female sheep mama', Soleine said. 'Duh'

Soleine and Antoine in Nosy Be 2CV last year

Personally I find myself speaking way too much Frenglish. I can start a sentence in English and finish it in French. Sometimes I even pronounce English words with a french accent! Ai Ai.

So when I saw this list I had to smile...

Ail ou radis? Are you ready?

Débile - The bill

Mords mon nez - More money

Qu'on gratte tous les jeunes! - Congratulations!

Marie qui s'masse - Merry Christmas

Oui Arlette -We are late 

Il se pique Germaine - He speaks German 

Youssef vole ma femme au lit - You saved all my family

Sale teint de pépère - Salt and pepper

Six tonnes de chair - Sit on the chair

Dix nourrices raidies - Dinner is ready

Les slips tout gais serrent - Let's sleep together 

Âme coquine - I'm cooking

Deux bouts de chair - The butcher

Varices de grosseur - Where is the grocer?

A New Baby!!!

Yippie. After months of waiting he finally arrived over the weekend. Our new baby! He is so cute, yellow and red, with black legs. Perfectly finished, with eleven little men in blue and white (France?) and eleven in yellow and green (Brazil?). What the heck am I talking about? A baby foot! That's how table football is called in French. Baby foot, pronounce babbie foot, or simply 'babbie' is very popular here in Madagascar. Just like internet cafes you have babbie cafes here, for 50 Ariary (2 cents) you can play a ball.

I ordered our babbie in Ambotolampy, which is the baby foot mecca of Madagacar. In fact, you will have a very hard time buying one in Tana. I ordered four; three of which are destined to two different centers for street children and orphans. When ours was delivered last week, we got all excited and ready to play. But....no ball. Grrrr, how can they deliver a brand new table football without ball? We used a shriveled up lime, which lasted an hour until it was kicked to pulp. Then our gardener Fidel suggested we make a babbie ball, as he called it . Here's how to make a ball from scrap plastic:

Step 1
Find old pieces of plastic, for example: piece of garden hose, plastic bottle tops, old flower pot

Step 2
Slowly melt the pieces of plastic in a old can on a hot fire.

Step 3
Stir with a stick or branch.

Step 4
Take an old brick and scrape a hole the size you want the ball to be.

Step 5
Poor the melted plastic in the hole in the brick.

Step 6
Wet your hands with cold water.

Step 7
Role the ball in your hand and then on the ground until the right size.

Et voila, you have a perfect baby foot ball. Got the love the simple yet resourceful Malagasy way of recycling.

So I learned something new today. Some people say: a day nothing learned is a day not lived. Or was it a day not laughed? Anyway, both are true I guess. 

The World According to Gerp

Hi Gerp! You're cute!

Madagascar was on the international news today! That rarely happens. I believe the last time was during the coup d'etat in 2009. Sadly, the Madagascar cartoon movie is still the first hit when googling this country. But today we have something to celebrate: the discovery of a new lemur. Size of a hamster, cute wide eyes and a bushy, long tail. He is a handsome little lemur. His name is Gerp, and here is the world according to Gerp.

Species: Mircocebus Gerpi

Name: Gerp Mouse Lemur

Full Name: Groupe d"Etude et Recherche sur le Primates a Madagascar Microcebus

Place of birth: Sahafina forest

Nationality: Malagasy

 Date of birth: December 2011

Eyes: Large

Height: 16 centimeters

Weight: 68 grammes (!)
Favorite foods: insects, fruits and flours

Favorite past time: sleeping

Ave Maria

She is only fifteen. With her frail posture, shy smile and drooping shoulders, she looks like an average Malagasy school girl. Modest, timid, sweet. She is wearing a simple black dress with a bow tie on her back, and shiny sandals with low heels. 

Susan Boyle-effect

She has been invited to sing at a Christmas party hosted by John and Jen, American friends. A small orchestra of musicians in black suits with classical instruments is present too. A real Christmassy atmosphere. Then the girl starts to sing 'The First Noel'. She hardly opens her mouth while singing but WOW...she sounds like a CD! Or better...it's like the Susan Boyle-effect. 

Musical genes

It's true..the Malagasy people are extremely talented for music. Every Sunday you can hear hundreds of thousands of people in their best outfits singing beautifully in church choirs all over the country. In every family there is at least one person who plays guitar or piano. Karaoke bars are frequently visited. Singing is part of the culture here; it's in the genes.

One of the many many choirs in Madagascar

Goose bumps

The girl then starts the Ave Maria. Goose bumps run over my arms! It is out of this world how she sings, her voice deep and steady, yet so seemingly effortless. Her Enya performance is equally spectacular. 

I talk to her afterwards. She says she's 'just' a girl who sings in church, and how much she enjoyed singing for us.  

American Idols

I wish there was a Malagasy version of American Idols, or Mada Has Talent, so that Simon Cowell could 'discover' her. Not like Susan Boyle at the age of 50 but at 15...what a joy she can bring for many more years to come. 

Merry Christmas everybody!

One Night in Bangkok...

Forget Mauritius, forget Reunion…if you are living in Madagascar and you need a break, go to Bangkok. Hop on an Air Mada plane in Tana and hop, 8 hours and 735 euros later you are in Bangkok. The flight goes on to China so you ‘ll have to put up with endless rows of Chinese who take off their shoes and haven’t changed their socks since seven days, but apart from that the flight is easy.

Shop until you drop

I am participating in an EU contest for international development jobs, and for that I had to computer-based test. Numerical and verbal reasoning, logical thinking – that kind of thing. Obviously, most test centers are located in Europe. In Africa the choice was between Nairobi and Johannesburg. I choose Thailand to combine pleasure with duty, and spent literally one night in Bangkok. Absolutely loved it. After Madagascar Thailand seems so developed, so cosmopolitan, so clean and efficient, so funky, such great food, such gentle people, and surtout, such great shopping! Ok, if you are looking for shoes with heels lower than 4 inch, or a bra size over 75A you'll have a hard time. But for clothes, books, running shoes, souvenirs, funcky jewerly and gadgets Bangkok is the place to be! 

Shop Until Your Drop in Bangkok

I took a many-star hotel in the heart of the city, at a stone's throw from major malls and from the test center. Had a Starbucks latte, a Big Mac and great Thai food like Tom Ka and. Literally shop until you drop. Everything was perfect and went well, except euhhh…the test.

My First Malagasy Pumpkin

There is always a first time for everything. Even for pumpkin carving. Even in Madagascar. Even for me.

Scary costumes please

As kids we'd only vaguely heard about Halloween, something with pumkins and horror stories. It's only since we've been living abroad, and have met many Americans that I know Halloween. And I've come to really like it! But only when it's about wearing scary costumes, not just any costume. Of course you can argue about the defination of scary, and my friends Johnson and Johnsen's outfits as Amy Winehouse and WWE Wrestler definately count as scary to me!  But wearing a jester hat, being little red riding hood, or slipping into a Hawai shirt does not scare me at all. I want to see blood!

Pumpkin carving for beginners

Pumpkin thin'

In Tana we are invited to several Halloween parties, and the American school is organizing a Trick or Treat this Friday. Soleine has her witches' outfit ready. But a whole new world opened to me when we were at a pumpkin carving party. Amazing really. The Americans always have plenty of gadgets; they had pumpkin knives, scoops, mini saws and what not. It was actually much easier to do than I had imagined. Of course I stayed at beginner's level of two triangles as eyes and a ragged mouth, but it looked quite good.

Sarah Palin

Seeing our friend Johnson pricking holes in the pumpkin with a pin fork for over three hours really puzzled me. What was he doing? And why did it take so long? When it was finally finished I could not see much on the pumpkin. Until he put a light in it...One bloody good example of pumpkin carving for advanced users. WOW.

Happy Halloween! Happy Carving!

Advanced pumpkin carving: BEFORE

Advanced pumpkin carving: AFTER

Super School Trip

With Alice Pippitt, Soleine's teacher

Picture yourself at the age of seven. Now try to relive that exciting feeling of going on a school trip!!

Remember the beardy, big-bellied bus driver? The song singing, the warm sandwiches in the lunchbox, the sleepless night before departure, the sticky hands? And hiding under the seat when the bus arrived back at school to let the awaiting parents believe the bus is empty? I remember all of this vividly. But as hard as I am trying now, I can for the love of God not remember where we went or what we did.

Just like chicken

Soleine went on her first real school trip yesterday - on a bus that is. To the Crocodile Farm near the Airport in Tana. Exciting that she was! The bus driver was not big and beardy but bald and beardless. The warm sandwiches were actually cold rice and chicken. There were no sticky hands (thanks to the mother of American inventions: sanitizer) but sun burn and mosquito bites, despite sun screen and mozzie cream. 

The songs were about a boy called Tim, who went into tub to see if he could swim. And something about a lady with an alligator purse. How appropriate. Because at the croc farm you can buy croc leather shoes and eat crocodile meat. "Tastes just like chicken, mama".

Spot the animals

The trip had an educational purpose, the Grade 2 kids had just learned about amphibia, reptiles, birds and mammals in class.  I hope she will remember any of this, and if not, she can read back this blog and see the pictures that she (yes!) took during the school trip. But personally I need some help, can you spot the animals in the photos? I can not even see them, let alone tell you whether they are amphibia, reptiles or mammals!
I am afraid I'm not much of a rabbateur. You?

There should be something in this picture somewhere

It's probably just swimming under water

And you are?

Huh?

Is it a leaf or something else?

The brown thing on the top is a branch, there should be a snake in here somewhere!

Le Rabbateur

The Trivet Maker 

It amazes me each day how many professions one can find in Madagascar. Many of them no longer exist in our society (or don't exist yet!), such as the milkman, the knife sharpener, the glass bottle collector, the garbage sorter, the basket weaver, the sausage maker, the firewood seller, the sock darner, the wash woman, the green-leaf grinder, the herbalist, the wool spinner, the rope twister, the car washer, the DVD copier, the ID-card laminator, the baby hat knitter, the exhaust pipe welder, the chair upholsterer, the MP3 song downloader, the trivet maker...

Shall I go on?

I am making this list up as I'm writing, but there is actually an excellent photobook entitled: Madagascar, Le grand livre des petits metiers, by Laurence Vanpaeschen.

The old fashioned knife sharpener

Special skills

I really did not realize there were so many ways to make (a very modest) living. Then there is the 'rabbateur'. Something I had never heard off before coming to Madagascar. A rabbateur is an animal spotter. He is like a guide but with a specialty to spot rare animals like lemurs and chameleons. The rabbateur has the eye, he can make the animal sounds to lure them, he can climb in trees or run upon hills. In short, he too has some pretty special skills.

Lemur on the phone

Not long ago we visited the Ranomafana national park in Madagascar. Our rabbateur was able to spot many animals, including rare birds, hidden spiders and a camouflaged chameleon not bigger than my pinky. But what amazed me most was that this and most rabbateurs in Madagascar are using new technologies; they actually have animal sounds on their mobiles. Our rabbateur proudly told us he had ten different lemur cries on his Nokia! Luckily he was out of battery when we were there!

Fete du Pain

Today was a special day for me and for the center for steetchildren I volunteer at. We were invited to participate at la Fete du Pain, a big event near the Tana train station, organized by LMM - Les Moulins de Madagascar - a large flour mill in Antsirabe. The objective of the day was to promote flour, and bread, and cakes, and rolls, and baguettes, and croissants, and..... Well you get the picture, right?

Bread versus Rice?
You may wonder why such basic products like flour and bread need any special promotion in Madagacar?

General rehearsal, Wednesday 4.35 PM

Well, that is because Madagascar is traditionally a rice-consuming nation. It's rice, rice and rice again here. Three times per day preferably.










LMM reopened his mill in Antisrabe a few months ago, and to celebrate this event they organized a day with baking demonstrations, speeches, workshops for bakers, and the like.

Hand-embroidered bread bags
As I am friends with Mark and Karen Reed, he is the administrateur general de LMM,sometime in June we were brainstorming about this day.  I then proposed that the streetchildren of the Akanifitahiani center could make hand-embroidered sacs a baguette. as a nice give-away for the invitees. They liked the idea, and more even, they asked the children to come and sing some songs, and Alex to make a speech to promote the center.

The Real Deal...this morning Thursday 11.55 AM

Petit Pain au Chocolat
So there I am breaking my head over finding a song in French that has anything to do with bread. Then Michel helps my out...Joe Dassin's famous Petit Pain Au Chocolat! Yes, got it. We rehearse and rehearse. And finally went for general rehearsal on stage yesterday.



The big day
Today was the big day. The LMM bus picked up the kids at 11 AM, we dressed them in their LMM caps and t-shirts and went on stage. They sang like nightingales!

And as far as their preference for rice or bread is concerned...these pictures speak for themselves!