Exciting times in Madagascar...

You can feel it in the air... you can hear it in the streets...you can see it on the posters!

It looks, feels and tastes like it is REALLY going to happen this time. Elections WILL be held on October 25 of the year 2013.

The official electoral campaign opened this week. No less than 33 candidates are running for president. After 4,5 years of paralysis, countless false promises, and a dozen of electoral postponements, Madagascar's population will have a chance to vote in one of the 20,000 polling stations that are being set up with EU and UN assistance.

Only the most cynical among the cynics are still saying: 'nah...it won't happen'. I am not one of them.

The 33 candidates of the 2013 elections in Madagascar....

After a first round of elections in October, only two candidates will remain. The second round will then be in December.

I wish all candidates the best. Or, as the Express Newspaper put it:  'Que le moins mauvais gagne' (not my words), literally translated as: may the least bad win. :-)  


p.s. more episodes of "Exciting Times in Madagascar" Season 1, will follow soon.

Licky, Sticky, Dicky and Ricky

Cats ('saka' in Malgache) are not very common in Madagascar. Some say people eat them. Not sure. Our first cat Titi did actually disappear after a few months. I sure hope he did not end in somebody's soup pan.

Frightened

Tricky teenage mother

Our second cat Tricky got pregnant during our stay in Europe. Not knowing when exactly she had been with her boyfriend, I was wondering how she would announce her due date. Well, it was clear, on D-day, she meawed weirdly, walked around in strange paths, and left drops on the hallway floor. She looked at my with big eyes, frightened, saying: HELP ME!

Teenage mother
I, feeling the same, looked in turn at the Internet: HELP ME! And it did, I found a lot of information. I learned that a birthing cat is called a Queen, and that I should get a nesting place ready. I prepared three places, then left the house for a BBQ lunch. Two hours later, we heard meeeep-meeeep-peep and found four gorgeous little bundles of grey fur in a basket. All neat, and clean. Well done Tricky! I'm still wondering how this teenage mother (9 months) knew exactly what to do.... without internet :-)

Out of the box
This week, Tricky moved her babies from the basket to another place, just like many cat-websites mentioned she would. How did she know, I wondered again. The by now four-week old kittens have started to come out of the (removal) box. Curious little creatures they are. With their wobbly legs, pointy tails and proportionally large heads they are simply a-do-ra-ble (say it in French, it sounds even better). I now understand the expression "Curiosity Killed the Cat". I just pray this does not mean: ending up a someone's stomach!

Licky, Sticky, Dicky and Ricky thinking out of the box

Tough Egg

Yooo all! I am back on the blog!

After three lovely long holiday months, we came back in time for Soleine's fresh start of Grade 4 of the American School of Antananarivo (ASA).

In a way my blog's silence nicely represents the country's silence. Nothing has happened during our absence. When I left, the Malagasy soap series called Presidential Elections had entered its fourth season. The first three seasons had gone by with elections being postponed three times.  They were then planned for July 26, but...postponed again to August. In August they were pushed back to October and December, and... well, let me stop here. 

These elections seem to be a very tough egg to crack.

Just like the one I found this morning by our chickens Tola and Chicky. Take a look at this !It goes to show: you can expect anything to happen in Madagascar!

Has anyone ever seen a sculpted egg like this? It's real!

p.s. Hugo, are you still reading my blog. SOS: have you ever seen this? 

Bye Bye Winter, Hello Summer!!!

Yes! I am out of here! Honestly, I can not wait to leave Tana. I know, that does not sounds nice but it's true. It is just simply too cold here! Everyone  is sick. Tout Tana is coughing, dripping, sneezing, sniffing, rattling, ruckling and what not. It is winter.

June has so far been one of the coldest months ever in Tana. There has been ground-frost. In the evenings we sit cozy by the fire, but during the day my fingers are freezing as I'm typing.

Just imagine the many poor people and street children that are passing their nights outside. This morning I went to the center for street children to drop off some warm hats. Look how cute - And thank you Martine!

CP2 class (Grade 3) getting warm hats to survive winter

So, summer in Europe, here we come!
Bye bye Tana, see you back in August when spring starts!

Getting Used to Madagascar

Hello my dear readers. It has been a while. Not that I had nothing to share. On the contrary. This country is full of stuff to blog about, and things never cease to amaze me. Take the upcoming elections for example. A political circus that one could blog about every day.

Madagascar 3
After 3 years of temporary 'government', elections will finally be held in July this year - insh'allah. No less than 49 candidates have presented themselves at the electoral commission; a Guinness book of records world-record. This in itself is a fun fact, but it gets better. Current and previous presidents were officially excluded from presenting themselves. They promised not to run. But one minute before closure, current  'president' aka former DJ comes running in the election office, throws his dossier on the table, and gets accepted. Previous president aka The Dairy King, has in fact kept his 'promise' but put his wife (!) up as presidential candidate. And then there is Mr previous-previous president, (already been on the throne for 23 years), who, at 76 years old, still think he should run the country. To show that he can still perform he did  than 20 push-ups en plein public on the  hot tarmac of Ivato international airport! Ha ha! It almost makes the circus scene in the movie Madagascar 3 look like non-fiction...doesn't it?

Getting accustomed
But you know what? Somehow this doesn't surprise me anymore. I guess that after three years I am  growing accustomed to Madagascar. I admit that it has taken me quite a while to acclimatize here. Apart from getting used to good things such as having domestic help :-)

Recently I experienced something that I think I could get used to really easily. Traveling by private plane!  Yes, for my consulting work for Ambatovy Nickel Mining company I have had the pleasure to travel by the company's Twin Otter. Flying to Tamatave in one hour in stead of ten hours by road.

No boarding card, no lines, no passport control, no taking off belts, sun glasses, shoes, bracelets, earrings, opening laptops - straight from the coffee room into the plane seat. Enjoying the incredibly beautiful landscape, to land next to a troop of  zebus. Now that, I think I can get used to real fast!

Landing in between the zebus in Moramanga

Good views from the Twin Otter

The Grand Canyon of Madagascar

Big brother
It  maybe six times smaller than its big brother in Arizona, but Isalo park in Madagascar is at least as spectacular as the US Grand Canyon. Being lucky enough to have visited both, I can conclude that Isalo is as overwhelmingly beautiful. Especially because of surprise treasures that can be found deep inside the gorge. And funnily, the red eroded rock formations from the Jurassic period are the same in both parks.


I can recommend to do the circuit de Manazava first, walking on the rim with its 180 degree views over the rice paddies in the morning. The climb is not that steep but it is hot!

Tropical surprises
Then, when it gets really really really hot, you take a break at the campsite where you can see the lemurs.  After that the treasure hunt begins! Deep down in the gorge, you will find a lush green feast of tropical plants, clear water, pristine little white beaches and turquoise rock pools. Jump into the blue or black piscine, bathe under the 20 meter water falls, and walk back just in time to see the sun set on the orange rocks.

	Isalo - Madagascar	Grand Canyon
Size	800 m2	4900 m2
Elevation	800  to 1200 meters	2000 meters
Mammal species	14	89
Bird species	82	355
Reptiles and frog species	48	56
Flora species	340	1700

Diamonds in the Sky : Locust Plague or Pretty Sight?

Picture this. Sitting in a mini bus that drives calmly though rural Southern Madagascar, listening to Rihana's Diamonds in the sky. It is a hot afternoon, the drive from Tulear to Isalo is long, but the straight road is good and the landscape stunning. Suddenly, about half way, a big black cloud approaches. What the hell? What is it? A tornado? A sand storm? When I realize what it is I manage to quickly shout:  "Close the windows", just in time. Our driver accelerates as I quickly grope my bag for my camera.

Millions of silver wings
Then our mini bus is surrounded by hundreds of thousands of silvery wings flickering in the afternoon sun. A pretty sight, almost like diamonds in the sky. But I assure you, they are not pretty diamonds. They are swarms of billions of 6-legged, hungry, plant devouring insects!

What looks like silvery raindrops are actually swarms of locusts.

Half the country?
BBC and CNN reported on it last week. I even got calls from a TV channel in the Netherlands about this biblical plague. Most journalists quoted FAO stating that "about half the country is infested by hoppers and flying swarms - each swarm made up of billions of  insects".

Insecticide
About half the country? That seems exaggerated, but fact is that they are here and they multiply faster than horny rabbits. Fact is also that if nothing is done, they will pose a serious threat to the already precarious food security situation in southern Madagascar.  So why is nothing done? I don't know really. What I do know is that tons of insecticide have been donated about six months ago, but no systematic spraying has been taking place yet. Also, mysteriously, around the same time many small hardware stores in town started to sell Nuvan, an insecticide normally unavailable on the private market. Drive around Tana and you'll see little Nuvan posters everywhere. Coincidence? Maybe. As coincidental as listening to Rihana's Diamonds in the Sky while watching millions of shiny crickets in the sky?

Watch my little video of these six-legged, plant devouring 'diamonds' in the sky.

Inona Vao Vao

One of the most frequently used expression in daily life in Malagasy is: Inona Vao Vao (pronounce: Enoona Vavao?) Literally this mean: How is the news, or what's new, or, as some Americans say: What's up?

A common reply to this question is: Tsy misy (tsee mees), which means: no news. But often there is news of course. How do the good people in Antananarivo get their news? Mostly through the news papers. A dozen of them are produced regularly, though they are not all following a quality and objective journalism, if you see what I mean.

On many street corners Malagasy newspapers are exposed like clothes on a washing line. People stop by to read the headlines, and pass it on to others. I like way of hanging newspapers like t-shirts on a line, but I've always wondered: why don't people do the same with their laundry???

Newspapers are hung like t-shirt on a clothes line

But clothes are dried on rocks, streets, grass, river banks or fences

Blowing in the Wind...

Just a few days ago, Cyclone Haruna swept by on the West coast of Madagascar. This is very unusual, most cyclones, hurricanes, and tropical storms take place on the East coast.

Man-made disaster?
We happened to be on the West coast of Madagascar, in Morondava - more than 200 km above the eye of the storm. The cyclone, impressive as it was, did not do much damage there, but in Tulear it created massive flooding. It killed 13 people and affected over 17.000 poor souls. Not so much because of the winds themselves but because of a dyke which... had not been maintained for years. Sadly, that is how natural disasters become man-made ones...

Lot of rain in paradise

Stranded
Stranded during this unexpected beach vacation, we heard 150 km winds hauling over our 5-star beach bungalows. The horizontal rains gushed under our doors. The swimming pool turned into a wave pool. But our hotel had taken precautions and no major damage was done. Air Madagascar cancelled all flights and let us wait three more days in windy beach paradise. Every day we'd walk the Morondave strip, 80% of its restaurants and hotels closed.



Sardine tins
The winds, still strong on Saturday, brought great pleasure to the children. Armed with: an empty sardine tin, four plastic bottle tops, and a plastic bag they held amazing car races that would make John Travolta long back to Grease! The T-birds against the Scorpions!



Watch the T-birds against the Scorpions on the Morondava strip:

Enjoy this little movie! I'm sure it will make you smile...and isn't that what we need after this horrendous Haruna?

Cyclo Pousse

Had to try it out....

After my adventure at the silk worm farm, I visited the Cyclo Pousse Project in Anstirabe, another UNDP  project. A cyclopousse is a pousse pousse but with a bicycle. So instead of running their legs from underneath their body (to freely use a Dutch expression), the drivers can cycle their passengers around. It's less labor-intensive, and can earn more income. Win-win, right?

Zidane and Ronaldo
In 2008, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo donated 80.000 USD to Madagascar.  The two football vedettes are UNDP good-will Ambassadors, a bit like the Angelinas of the UNDP, so to say.  The money had to be used to fight poverty, and mean something to young people. The Cylco Pousse Project was born.

Proud owners of cyclo pousses

Dream come true
In Madagascar most pousse-pousses are not owned by their drivers. They are rented for a small daily fee (2000 to 3000 Ariary). Their chauffeurs do not earn much from them. With this project, drivers  are leasing their bikes from a facility, called Le Parc, for 2.500 Ariary per day. Regular market price but with one difference: after having leased it for 14 months, the drivers have become the owner. For most of them, owning the thing is a dream come true...

Rare commodity
The great thing about this little project is that it is still running, two years after UNDP has ended its support.  The Parc is still operational. It is actually making modest profits, and new bikes are being produced and leased out. The drivers have formed an association and they're benefiting from a life and accident insurance. Their income has doubled or tripled. A sweet example of a sustainable project. This may sound obvious, but sustainability is a rare commodity in development land.

Ingredients
So what were the 'secrets' of this successful project? Nothing special, it is just a project that came at the right time, to the right place. The pousse pousse driver beneficiaries were involved in its conception, as were local authorities and the mayor. There was a market for the (more expensive but faster) cyclo-pousse services, and the bikes were produced locally, from simple materials, easy to maintain. The president of the association is a great guy with modern ideas.

Evaluation terminology
There you have it. In our evaluation terminology we'd say that the project is relevant, demand-driven and market oriented. It is effectively managed, with adequate beneficiary participation and sufficient stakeholder consultation. It makes use of appropriate, cost-effective technologies and its set-up is sustainable.

Denis in front of his new house, built with money earned with  his Cycle Pousse 

So, thank you Zidane and Ronaldo, and if you ever make it to this great island, do give us a ring!

For kings and dead people - but what has Rumpelstiltskin have to do with it?

Madagascar is a country that will never cease to amaze me. I believe that after two and half years, I may have discovered 2% of all the secrets and treasures this country has to offer.

On a field visit trip I recently did for UNDP, I am taken to see a small project financed by this United Nations agency. We drive for about three hours on bumpy roads, arrive at a farmer's house, made of mud and clay with a court yard. The farmer, followed by half the village, leads us into some sort of barn, and I'm thinking: Ha, another pig rearing project. Or chickens maybe?

No way! It was a silk worm farm with a weaving installation.

Originally destined for Kings and (rich) dead bodies only, silk is now more and more available in Madagascar, though it's still pretty rare and expensive.

When you're wearing a silk shawl, you may want to remind yourself of the extremely labor intensive process that you've wrapped around your neck. Want to know more? Here's some Silk-For-Dummies steps:

1. Grow and groom your silk worms

Madagascar silk larvae are pretty difficult little creatures. They do not like: humidity, noise, strong smells, pesticides and parasites, in particular ants, flees and flies. I'm not sure about lemurs and chameleons. Grooming them is almost a full time job. They do like: feuilles de murier (mulberry leaves). One missed feeding can kill them all! So one has to look after the leaves too.

Sensitive little buggers they are!

2. Harvesting silk cocoons and unwinding the threat

The entire process from silkworm egg to cocoon takes about twenty-five days. That is 25 days of full time care.

At the moment the demand for silk cocoons exceeds the offer

Several cocoons will be left alone to let the moths come out to lay new eggs. Each cocoon consists of many meters of silk threat, but how to get it off? The bulk of the cocoons are boiled to kill the chrysalis and to soften them before extracting the long, strong silky threat which is rolled onto a reel. This too is a long and demanding process.

3. Dye (not die!) 

Red, yellow and orange seem to be the favorites

Malagasy silk makers use mostly natural coloring, from hibiscus and acacia flowers to color the yarn, but also artifical coloring powders.

4. Spin it

Like Sleeping Beauty and Rumpelstiltskin (who?), people still use spinning wheels (when they're not eating).

5. Weave it

Check out this simpel yet complicated-looking loom. This is obviously a labor intensive process involving much skill.

Artisanal weaving machine (loom)

6. Wear it!

Voila, so I learned the steps involved in silk making. Now you know too.
Madagascar silk is smooth like cashmere and soft like a baby rabit's skin! Had to buy some - you should too!

No longer just for Kings and dead people!

See more on this topic

www.Madasilk.com
www.soie-madagascar.com
http://kololandyblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/pourquoi-la-soie-de-madagascar-coute-t.html

Baobabs unharmed

A little while ago I wrote about the bush fires that 'destroyed' some of the Allee the Baobab, one of Madagascar's fantastic natural monuments. I had posted a devestating picture that appeared in a leading newspaper l'Express Madagascar.

I then received reactions that the newspaper picture was photoshopped, that the giants were unharmed and that it was all some sort of stupid political game.

On our recent trip to Morondava, I can confirm that the beautiful giants are doing well and that they're as stunning as they've been... for the past 700 or so years.

Of course I gave them a long big fat hug...in case another clown comes up with a stupid idea and sets real fire to them...

Tratra Ny Krismasy

As a language lover, I am always delighted to find foreign words in a language. Of course there are quite a few French words in the Malagasy language. But while distributing toys and candies in a few remote villages this week, I was surprised to hear the word Krismasy over and over...

It almost felt like being in a snowy Christmas setting, except that the snow was rain, Father Chrismas wore a Jester hat and Santa's little was my Soleine wearing a purple rain coat!

Giving (if you can) is more rewarding than receiving...

On On to bring Krismasy gifts and joy!

No snow but lots of red earth mud!

Santa's little helper

Surprise! Will this baby wake up happy? Or scared shitless...?

In any case, we wish you all a joyful and generous Krismasy!

Zie ginds komt de stoomboot...

Yonder See the Steamboat Coming (free translation :-). Every year millions of Dutch children are singing this traditional Dutch Saint Nicholas song, their little hearts beating with anticipation....

In Holland we believe in the holy Saint Nicholas, patron of the children. He arrives from Spain in our small county by steamboat. Don't ask me why. He celebrates his birthday on December 5th, and that is when the children get gifts and sweets... if they have been good all year, because Sint knows and sees everything.

A few days before the big day of December 5th, children put their shoe in front of the chimney to get some sweets.  Saint Nicholas is always accompanied by Zwarte Pieten (Black Peters) who enter the homes through the chimney, hence their blackness.

This week our own Saint Nicholas arrived in Madagascar....not by steam boat but in a Zebu cart, but we kept singing Steamboat anyway... ha ha...

Steamboat??? 

As I child I fiercely believed in all this. All children do, until the age of 6 or 7. Soleine is now 8, and I had to tell her that Sinterklaas in Madagascar is not the real one, because Antoine was going to be Zwarte Piet. But most children want to believe so hard, that they refuse to give up. Soleine still believes in the real Saint and she put her shoe several times.

Not easy to be Zwarte Piet in the heat

Vol verwachting klopt ons hart

Soleine (8) is no longer afraid of Saint Nicholas

Baobabs on Fire!!

Bush fires are a huge problem in Madagascar. People have all kinds of reasons to set fire to land: to clear it for agriculture, to burn useless weeds and make room for french new graze, or to produce charcoal.

A major disaster struck last weekend: the stunning Allee de Baobab in Morondava, has been victim to wild fire. It took five hours to discover the fire, and many many more to kill it. Local people tried, but all they had was plastic water cans and branches. There is no proper fire brigade.

Seeing this picture brought tears to my eyes. Some of these trees are over 800 years old!

NOW WE KNOW THIS PHOTO HAS BEEN PHOTOSHOPPED! SHAME! 

Natural monument of Madagascar before the fire

So if you see a Baobab or any other big old beautiful tree, give it a big, fat, long hug, you never know for how long it will be there for!

Tree hugging is good for you...and for the trees!