MadZebu

“But what do you do in Madagascar?!?”

2009-12-09T08:56:00.003+03:00

This is probably the most answered question during the last 14 months stay on the red island (soon to be replaced by “what did you do in Madagascar?!?”). I think that even our family members still don’t have it clear. Today is our last day in Madagascar, and time has come to tell what we’ve done here.

We were hired by SIK a Norwegian Centre for Intercultural Communication. Financed by Fredskorpet they have an exchange with the University of Toliara. Two persons from Norway go to Toliara and two Malagasy go to Stavanger to do research work in an archive that has plenty of materials on Madagascar that is not available there.
In Toliara we had mainly 2 tasks: run an independent research (we could choose the topic), and teach English at the University Language Centre.

The second task occupied most of our time in the beginning (together with a basic Malagasy language course), as we had to prepare the courses, re-adjust them to the capacity and needs of the students, find material, etc. We had to find a way of teaching that could fit our capacities and the goals of the students.

As for the research, the topics we were planning to investigate needed to be changed due to the political unrest that started in the end of January 2009. At that time offices weren’t reliable, and honestly we didn’t even know if we were going to be evacuated or not. During those weeks we tried to rethink our researches and we found two topics that interested us, that are related to the crisis and that we hoped were feasible even given the situation. Our goal is to produce a relatively short article accessible to a larger public than just scholars.

Birger is looking at the role of the Malagasy High Constitutional Court in the political crisis. A court that declared the power shift in Madagascar was legal, while it was generally labelled as a coup d’etat all over the world. The article is not just for lawyers, on the contrary it can be entertaining as it tries to understand also the (strange?) logics behind the HCC’s decisions.

I am working on a case of land grabbing. Daewoo Corporation was planning to lease 1.5 million hectares in Madagascar to produce corn and palm oil. Those products would have been sent to South Korea to meet internal food needs. The “Daewoo case” is acknowledged to be one of the causes of the unrest in the country leading to the power shift. I’m trying to understand why this case provoked so much the Malagasy, as well as what the project was really about, what procedures were followed and what happened to it… So far it has been a very interesting topic, because it permitted me to work with cultural and historical aspects as well as economical and political ones, furthermore I had to look into the very complicated yet interesting Malagasy land management (and titles) system.

It is soon time to leave Madagascar and go back to Norway. We still have a month ahead to finish up our work…

Veloma Toliara!

2009-11-20T16:02:00.005+03:00

It has been more than a year with all possible feelings; confusion, happiness, loneliness, frustration, pleasure, fun, fear and even some anger. Life in the dusty city of Toliara doesn’t leave you indifferent. Time has come for us to say goodbye to Toliara. The last weeks we’ve once again gone through the whole specter of feelings, but the last days the feeling barometer seems to have stopped on contented.

We had a nice dinner with the Fredskorpset-team down here on Thursday. It’s not always easy to know what Malagasy people think, so it was very satisfying to get nice feedback from them concerning our stay here.

Venusia took the initiative to another important event this week, the collection of the money to the NGO, Bel Avenir. Writing to only a few friends, we were overwhelmed by the generosity. The people at the NGO had the same reaction as well when they received 3.5 Million Ariary (1300 EURO) Friday afternoon. Thank you all! That NGO is doing a great job here. All there projects are targeted directly at the people who needs it most, with an emphasis on basic education. It was with pride we could act as a liaison between the great work they’re doing and generous friends and family back in Europe.

Saturday three of our students at the English Center presented their final papers. We’ve been working as advisers for them all, and we participated in the jury (se pervious post). It was a formal ceremony, where the presidency of the University, journalists and family were present. Even though the classroom is not very big, we were of course equipped with a microphone to underline the importance of the event ;-) The students made an excellent job presenting their work, and it was obvious that it meant a lot to them to receive the course diploma.

After that it was time to say goodbye for us. It was nice to hear all the nice words and even to receive presents from both teachers and students. We were also able to give something back to the students, by creating a mini-library for the center, also with the help of some material we got from friends... We hope it will make it easier for them to access information in English.

Since we’re both extremely tough, we almost made it without crying when we left Toliara. The saddest moments were to say goodbye to Voahangy, who’s been working for us throughout the year, and to the pousse-pousse (Rickshaw) drivers outside our building. Seeing them waving and their toothless smiles when we drove off was touching even for experienced goodbye-wavers like us.

We were happy to leave Toliara with the satisfaction of knowing that we have done what was expected of us, and that we can return to cold Norway with warm memories of Toliara.

Last day at the English Centre

2009-11-15T22:02:00.007+03:00

Some of our students presented their mini-projects and received their certificate on Saturday. They wrote about Democracy, Global Warming and Teachers' Self Training. We supervised their work, and it was nice to be there when they presented it. After we had a small "veloma" (goodbye) party, nice words, songs and even presents were offered... we also started a small "library" for the students... here some photos from the day:

An interesting article....

2009-10-25T14:27:00.000+03:00

This article from The Guardian is worth reading:

Madagascar's capital is like a glimpse of medieval London, with a layer of grime
In parts of a city that is a wild architectural hybrid, it would not be surprising to see Falstaff emptying a bucket out of a window

From the sky I could see man's harvest of destruction. Flying into Madagascar, I looked down on vast tracts of naked planet that were once thick with trees. Nine-tenths of the original forest cover on this island, one of the world's most precious Edens, has been lost to human rapaciousness.

My bus bumped along the road from a modest airport towards the capital, Antananarivo, which means "city of the thousand", supposedly because a thousand warriors once protected it. We wound through streets that long ago became inadequate for the teeming traffic that ebbs and flows, on wheels and feet, through a narrow corridor of shopfronts and market stalls – everyone has something to sell.

We crawled behind motorcyclists and minibuses, pedestrians balancing giant bags or cardboard boxes on their heads, and ancient taxis whose drivers are known to carry petrol inside plastic water bottles and to glide downhill with the engine off to save every drop. We were on a hillside and occasionally we could look down into the basin and see farmers wading through lush paddy fields.

On the horizon loomed a gigantic and unattractive hotel. It was built by the Chinese, we were told, to be ready for an African Union summit, but when Madagascar experienced a bloody coup earlier this year, the summit was cancelled and the hotel became a monstrous white elephant.
Read more...

Madagascar falls 40 places in freedom of press ranking

2009-10-21T19:24:00.003+03:00

Madagascar falls from 94th to 134th place on Reporters Without Borders’ ranking of freedom of press and medias in 2009. It is tempting to blame this development on the coup d’etat, and the Rajoelina’s regime, but the truth is more nuanced. In fact, for more than half of the period Marc Ravalomanana was still in power.

Arriving in Madagascar, I was in fact a bit surprised by the media situation. In Toliara we had two TV-channels. One was the national TV-channel TVM, where the news basically were dedicated to whatever the president was doing or saying that day. The other channel, MBS, was owned by the president himself…

When the political crisis escalated, the news on both channels was totally useless, since they didn’t report on anything that was happening. (Our only source of information was Radio France International (RFI), when it wasn’t on strike). Then both channels were attacked and looted, so Toliara remained without TV for about 2 months. Now, we are back watching the national TV (the only channel here), and it is actually slightly better than under Ravalomanana. We’re not seeing only the president, but also what the government is doing, sometimes it is even possible to understand that there is an opposition.

Judging from the TV the members of government are very nice and popular, as they are always being welcomed by nice people smiling and waving. These people are of course rewarded with nice gifts on behalf of the regime, always thoroughly made account for by the reporters.

When it comes to newspapers, there are some choices, and they provide less partisan information than the TV. The problem is that they all come from Tana which means that at the earliest they are available in Toliara the afternoon one day after they came out. That’s in the fourth city of Madagascar, with flight connection with the capital on a daily bases. Access to newspapers on the countryside is utopia.

This is without mentioning the problem of actual access, since very few people can afford to have a TV, to buy newspapers or to access the internet. The lack of access to information is an evident problem that we experience every day with our students. It feels very awkward to be asked for information on current affairs by the Malagasy, while we would like to understand more with their help.

But maybe there is hope. Yesterday the minister of communication went out on TV and declared that after many years under the rule of Ratsiraka and Ravalomanana people are finally free to express their opinion in Madagascar. However, she said, there are certain rules to follow…

As a lawyer, I would like to remind her that she also has certain rules to follow when it comes to making rules.

All photos by Lucien David

Green party

2009-10-14T18:52:00.002+03:00

Madagascar gets a green party: Hasin’i Madagasikara (website). According to an article on Courrier International, the party has the goal of promoting sustainable development in the country. The leader of the new party interviewed by the newspaper highlights the importance of making land legally accessible for the Malagasy, and the central role of water that should not be privatized (Madagascar seems to have ceded the use of a river in the south east to the Saudi Arabia). An action that, to my point of view, clashes totally with the claims the HAT had against the leasing of land to Daewoo Corporation (Financial Times).

Anyway, if you’re interested in reading the full article (in French) click here: INTERVIEW • "Madagascar ne doit pas vendre son eau douce"

Academic week

2009-10-12T11:46:00.002+03:00

Toliara is slowly going back to the warm summer and we start to feel it. We had a weekend with almost no running water in the house (just in the night), and with numerous power cuts. However, we work on our researches (time has come to produce some text) and we teach English. So, lately our days are quite calm.

Birger had a different lecture the other day, as it wasn’t for our students at the University English Teaching Centre, but for law students following English classes. Solo, a colleague at the Centre, gave Birger the challenge of lecturing about the European Union to students with variable levels both in English and in law. Anyway, he did well and the students seemed to enjoy the challenge and the topic. They asked a lot of questions, from why Turkey is not in the EU to what’s the name of the Norwegian king (!?!?!) and how do you say hello and good bye in Norwegian. I guess it ended up being a quite exotic law/English lecture.
After giving “our” students a challenging lecture on “academic writing”, we attended a very interesting seminar on “Republic and Democracy” at the University (on a Saturday afternoon). The event was organised by an association of Phd students, where one of our students William is a member. The topic was particularly interesting given the political events of the last months, in the country. Three professors briefly exposed some concepts concerning the topic of the seminar, and then an interesting debate took place. Questions and reflections went back and forth in the crowded room. Most of the reflections involved the Constitution, the challenge of building up a functioning democracy in a country with many illiterate voters, as well as the problem of corruption. The dean of the university did a brilliant job moderating the debate.

But the day had still a lot to give, after the debate we were invited to a reception that turned into a small party with the professors and the Phd students. Tongues loosened with the help of Malagasy rum and the never absent THB (Three Horses Beer). It is impressive to see how, despite the poor facilities that this city offers, people with strong desire get informed about what happens all over the world. From the Italian and Russian mafia, to the role of the former Belgian Prime Minister, to the feeling of belonging in Madagascar, we talked about several things in French, English and Malagasy… always in the Malagasy way: a sip of rum for the ancestors first, and a speech to wrap it up!

Guinea: Army spreads terror and violence in Conakry

2009-10-03T17:22:00.001+03:00

“No to Dadis!” Under this slogan around 50.000 Guineans responded to the call for a pacific demonstration in Conakry on Monday 28 September. From different areas of the city and from the outskirts, people gathered in the Stade 28 Septembre -. named after the day of independence from France in 1958 - ignoring the interdiction of the military junta leading the country.
Read more...

An update on the crisis in Madagascar

2009-09-16T17:17:00.003+03:00

We, not to mention the Malagasy population, were hoping that the political crisis was going towards a solution. Three former Presidents and the acting president of the transition had two meetings in Maputo. It seemed like they had come to an agreement concerning a consensus transitional government, but I guess the agreement from the first meeting was just hiding their differences. During the second meeting, the four movements were not able to agree on the positions in the transitional government.

Some days after returning from Maputo, the ”de facto” president Andry Rajoelina, decided to ”implement” the agreement by creating his own new ”consensus” government. This decision seems to have two major consequences:

-The three other movements are now united against Rajoelina, something that 6 months back would have been nothing less than a miracle. These movements are led by a dubious bunch, three former presidents: Albert Zafy (impeached for corruption in 1996), Didier Ratisraka (the dictator given the boot by the people/Ravolomanana in 2002), Marc Ravalomanana (chased out of the country by ex-DJ Rajoelina, his followers and the military in 2009).

-The people in Tana seem to be reacting against Rajoelinas movement’s unilateralism and lack of democratic spirit. (All demonstrations have so far been suppressed). The “united” opposition has called for a big demonstration the 20th of September, and a large turnout is to be expected.

So far it seems like the demonstrations have been concentrated to Tana. We hope that they will be kept peaceful. However, if there is one thing we’ve learned from living here for almost a year: to predict what will happen when Malagasy politicians are calling the shots is close to impossible.

Back to Toliara

2009-09-04T15:53:00.009+03:00

Ehm, yes, the blog hasn’t been updated lately. Sorry for that. After some busy times and vacation, we’re back.

Back to Madagascar, this time we got our courtesy visa quickly: 24h and we were ready to leave Tana! With an Air Madagascar plane this time, as the Route National 7 is gorgeous, but also very long. We sent part of our luggage by taxi brousse (Air France allowed us 46Kg each, while internal AirMad flights allow 20Kg), and everything arrived safe 2 days after us.
We expected to have a hectic start, as a Fredskorpet conference was to be held in Toliara starting from two days later. We met with Bartelemy, Lucien David and De l’Or, to get an update on what was left to do, to discover that all was finished and we could just wait the arrival of Kåre (our responsible from SIK) and Saliuo (from FK), to start working on the very last things.
Friday 21st, just before dinner we discovered that some people from Tana couldn’t make it to the conference, but most of the people we booked meals and hotels from, had no problems to adjust to the new number (valid for Etoile de Mer, Esterel and Chez Andrea in Sarondrano; a bit less valid for Palétuvier).
We wont describe here the conference, but we would like to say that everything went fine, and we were overwhelmed with the level of participation during the work. The meeting had as main goal to create a Malagasy FK network, and people worked very good together. Most of the people there were Malagasy who participated to an FK exchange to Norway before. It means that they lived and worked in Norway for several months (as we’re doing here), and they all speak Malagasy, French, English and…Norwegian! Some of them even know some words of Italian!
Everyday we meet people (expatriates), who don’t believe Malagasy people are interested to work hard to improve things in the country. Worst, we meet people who think Malagasy don’t have the capacity to do so. Well, what we can say loud and strong is that at the conference there was plenty of clever and motivated people who have plans for this country. Malagasy who are not naïve, and are ready to work hard and long to ameliorate others’ life condition. FK seems to be there to support those resourceful people, and we’re very glad for that.
The FK conference in Toliara was a great opportunity for us, to work together with interesting people and enrich our experience!

So, back to Toliara: lot of energy, positive thoughts, and all good!

Sarondrano (south of Toliara):

A little present we made for those attending the conference:

Folkloristic evening, students from the university of Toliara perform dances for us:

Few days after the end of the conference we got an invitation to go to Lavanono, very south of Madagascar, and then to Forth Dauphin east side. Could we refuse? Not.
This was a trip we wanted to do, so now we did it in a few intense days. Antonie, who is doing research for her Phd, invited us. She will have to forgive us if we say it imperfectly, but she does research on the population’s perception of the QMM-Rio Tinto mining activities in Forth Dauphin. A very interesting topic we cannot get too tired of discussing. With her we also had the opportunity of exchanging opinion, material and tips for each others research work, while travelling trough some very interesting areas of Madagascar, were traditions and landscapes are very different from Toliara.
We recommend Lavanono if you like surfing in a beautiful surrounding; and Forth Dauphin as the city has some lovely beaches all around! Great experience.

On the way to Forth Dauphin from Lavanono:

Market in Ampanihy:

Market in Lavanono:

Sculpture from a Mahafaly tomb:

Lavanono:

Market in Lavanono:

Lavanono:

Forth Dauphin:

Forth Dauphin from the plane looks like southern Italy!

Around Toliara:

Market in Lavanono:

Lunch in Forth Dauphin:

Lavanono:

Toliara from the airplane:

Market day

2009-06-27T17:50:00.002+03:00

Things you can have fun buying at the market in Toliara for much less than 10€ (80NOK):

1Kg white flower
1Kg cornflower
2Kg Malagasy rice
Potatoes
Squashes
Aubergines
Peppers
Carrots
Tomatoes
Onions
Garlic
Limes
Oranges
Bananas
Green Bananas
Mangoes
Avocados
Basil
Parsley
Coriander
Plus a couple of things I only know by Malagasy name: the white carrot-like vegetables, and those fruits looking like small yellow mangoes.

Buon Appetito!

Do we know the truth?

2009-06-11T15:31:00.001+03:00

It sounds like a philosophical question, but I would just like to know if the news and information we get are complete and correct. Because the idea we have of the world we live in, comes from the information we can gather about it.

This consideration springs mostly from a “research accident”. The other day I was hunting for some information on the Internet. Typical Google search with key words, and an article published by the Malagasy Presidency (the site of the HAT, not Ravalomanana’s), caught my attention (in French: http://www.madagascar-presidency.gov.mg/actualite/index.php?shw=pourquoi).
It’s an interview between Jean-Luc Raharimanana a Malagasy writer and Colette Braeckman a Belgian journalist. It raises an interesting issue for me, so I decide to track down the journalist to ask her some more questions. By doing so I found the original version of the interview both on her blog (in French: http://blogs.lesoir.be/colette-braeckman/2009/03/16/madagascar-le-foncier-au-coeur-de-la-crise/) and on The Observer (in English: http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20090317-why-ravalomanana-out-step-down-army-madagascar-rajoelina). What did I discover? Well, that in the original article, the journalist was interviewing the writer, so the given answers are form a Malagasy person. While in the Presidency’s version it seems to be the opposite: the Belgian journalist seems to be the one giving the answers and not the one asking them!

This is a very important difference, as the article is quite harsh against the former President Ravalomanana, and the Presidency is giving the impression that this criticism comes from a foreign journalist. It is well known that the current government is lacking international approval, and is trying hard to give the opposite impression trough the media. Furthermore, and not surprisingly, the interview on the Presidency’s website is also lacking the last 5-6 lines, those saying that Andry Rajoelina in charge now, is not so different from the former President. So, now I know that if I want more answers on the topic relevant to my research, I probably have to contact Mr. Raharimanana instead of Colette Braeckman; but how many knows that?

You might think that this is mostly an African problem, but Italy is facing an attack to the freedom of the press (and the judiciary). And this is done through a decree and not a law, to avoid a longer and more rigorous process (in Italian: http://www.repubblica.it/2009/06/sezioni/politica/ddl-sicurezza-6/ddl-sicurezza-6/ddl-sicurezza-6.html).

That is why I’m worried and I ask again: do we know the truth? Can we at least access it if we want to?

Italiano: Sappiamo la verità?

Sembra una questione filosofica, ma quello che vorrei sapere è solo se le notizie e le informazioni che riceviamo sono complete e corrette. Perché l’idea che ci facciamo del mondo nel quale viviamo, scaturisce dalle informazioni che otteniamo su di esso.

Questa considerazione scaturisce da un “incidente di ricerca” avvenuto l’altro giorno. Faccio una tipica ricerca su Google con delle parole chiave, e un articolo pubblicato sul sito della Presidenza Malgascia (quella attuale, HAT, non quella di Ravalomanana), ha colto la mia attenzione (in francese: http://www.madagascar-presidency.gov.mg/actualite/index.php?shw=pourquoi). E’ un colloquio tra Jean-Luc Raharimanana, scrittore malgascio, e Colette Braeckman, giornalista belga.
Tratta di un argomento interessante per me, per cui ho deciso di rintracciare la giornalista per chiederle alcune informazioni in merito. Cercandola su internet, ho trovato la versione originale dell’intervista, sia sul suo blog (in francese: http://blogs.lesoir.be/colette-braeckman/2009/03/16/madagascar-le-foncier-au-coeur-de-la-crise/) , che sul sito de The Observer (in inglese: http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20090317-why-ravalomanana-out-step-down-army-madagascar-rajoelina). E cosa scopro? Be’, che nell’intervista originale la giornalista intervistava lo scrittore, quindi le risposte erano date da un malgascio. Mentre nella versione del sito della Presidenza, sembrava assolutamente il contrario: la giornalista belga sembra rispondere alle questioni e non porle!

Questa è una differenza molto importante, poiché l’articolo e’ molto critico nei confronti del Presidente uscente Ravalomanana, e la Presidenza dona l’impressione che queste critiche vengano da una giornalista straniera. E’ noto che il governo attuale risente della mancanza di approvazione sulla scena internazionale, e sta provando a dare l’impressione del contrario attraverso i media. Inoltre, non sorprende, sul sito della Presidenza mancano le ultime 5-6 righe dell’intervista; quelle che dicono che Andry Rajoelina, in carica adesso, non è poi cosi diverso dal presidente uscente. Quindi ora so che, se voglio più informazioni sull’argomento della mia ricerca, devo contattare Mr Raharimanana e non Colette Braeckman; ma quanti lo sanno?

Si potrebbe pensare che questo è un problema maggiormente africano, ma l’Italia sta subendo un attacco alla libertà di stampa (e della giustizia). Il tutto attraverso un decreto, e non una legge, per evitare un iter più lungo e rigoroso (in italiano: http://www.repubblica.it/2009/06/sezioni/politica/ddl-sicurezza-6/ddl-sicurezza-6/ddl-sicurezza-6.html)

Ecco perché sono preoccupata, e chiedo di nuovo: sappiamo la verità? Possiamo almeno arrivare ad essa se vogliamo?

Crisis and University

2009-05-08T10:26:00.003+03:00

Madagascar has now 2 presidents, 2 prime ministers, two of everything. What is not doubling is money, jobs, and resources for the people. Probably the university is not on top of the major worries during a political crisis, nevertheless students are suffering from this situation too.

The university of Toliara has very little means. Not sure if they are given very little means, or the money addressed to the university are getting lost on the way. The point here is that in order to study, to learn, to become the society of the future, you need some basic stuff; very basic sometime, nevertheless necessary.
Torun H. Rognes is one of our predecessors here in Toliara. Like us, she was doing a research. She decided to look into the work conditions of the students. Her article is not flattering, but it is published in Talily (special number 13-14-15/2008), a university journal.
The university campus is at about 5km from the city centre and is lacking the most basic facilities. It hosts about 2000 students, but there are NO functioning toilets or showers. The students are forced to go “in the nature” around the campus, even at night…

the campus:

The rooms are not sufficient to host the growing number of students, so rooms planned to be shared in two are shared in four or more (4 beds, all the personal belongings, 1 table in common, a cooking corner, in about 10-12 square meters). Some students are placed in rooms initially constructed for other purposes, they hang plastic foils to get privacy from other students, also because those rooms are often not divided by gender.
We visited some of them, the place to cook consists of small electric elements, with no switch; students have to very carefully connect the cables to use them to cook their rice.

The classrooms are not enough for all the students and the courses. According to Torun, the acoustic is not adequate, and there are not enough chairs for everybody: students have to bring chairs from their own rooms.
The teaching hours are also heavy: courses start around 7.30 and go on for about 8h, only interrupted by a lunch break of about 1h. The professors, don’t get paid very well, so they are often doing side researches to make a living. The result is that they concentrate their work with the students in few months or weeks, and they are absent for other months.
Furthermore, the university can’t provide professors for all the courses so some of them are just “missionaries” from other universities: they have 10-12 hour courses per day, for 7 days a week for a couple of weeks; then 1 or 2 days after the end of the course, the students have to take their exam.
Clearly, this rhythm is not allowing the students to have a normal learning process.
Torun reports also that the university library is small, with 18 tables and about 8000 titles, most of them quite old. A few other libraries offer some more titles, but have quite limited opening hours.
Without going too deep into the amount of computers and the access to internet, we can just say that they are almost non existent and that students write their papers and thesis by hand, so they have to pay someone to write the last version on a PC. With three main consequences:
-students can’t access enough resources (internet),
-they often don’t know how to use a computer (!!),
-and they miss the very important learning process that is done while revising a paper.
We could continue by telling that scholarships for students are few and small, and that many need to work beside their studies. We could tell about the danger of prostitution for the poorest girls (especially hoping to get a vazaha, maybe to marry). Or tell about the impossibility for most of the students to travel, in order to get material or do research. But you probably got the idea…

What we can add is that there is a crisis, and a lack of resources.
The problems described above are only getting worse.
Furthermore, the electricity is scarce in Toliara, and at the University campus it is often without it for many days, leaving the students in the dark…
How is the society of the future going to be, when even the privileged group that can go to University, are suffering from impossible working conditions?

Italiano: abbiate pieta' e' troppo lungo... magari tra qualche giorno. ;-)

Tiko

2009-05-08T07:49:00.004+03:00

The Tiko agency, some months after the looting. People took every single stone (see older post to check how it was before).

L'agenzia Tiko rasa al suolo, dopo aver preso tutti i prodotti all'interno, poi il tetto, ogni singola pietra e' stata smontata (e apparentemente venduta). Qui c'e' la foto di com'era prima.

Kung Fu Coup?

2009-04-27T18:25:00.003+03:00

From www.topmada.com:
Ultimatum de 24H lancé à Andry Rajoelina
Andry Rajoelina a fait l’objet d’un ultimatum du Maître Avoko, fils du Maître Pierre Be, des Kung-Fu Wisa. « 24 heures sans une heure de plus ou nous allons agir pour faire cesser la barbarie des Capsat. » C’est l’avertissement lancé dans la lettre qui aurait été envoyé au Président de la HAT.

Interesting ultimatum from the Malagasy Kung-Fu Master Avoko (son of Master Peter the Great in free translation from French/Malagasy) : they give the ”president” Andry Rajoelina 24 hours, or they will take action against the violence.
I like the initiative, but I’m a bit uncertain if Kung-Fu is as efficient against trigger happy soldiers with Kaleshnikovs as it might seem from some Hong-Kong movies. A bold move. But then again that’s also what we said when Rajoelina declared himself president, so who knows what might come out of it?

Kung-Fu Wisa?

sondaggio

2009-04-23T16:36:00.000+03:00

Andiamo bene...

Un mois après sa prise de pouvoir, quelle opinion avez-vous de Andry Rajoelina ?

* Très mauvaise opinion (85,0%, 3 179 Votes)
* Mauvaise opinion (7,0%, 251 Votes)
* Très bonne opinion (4,0%, 168 Votes)
* Bonne opinion (4,0%, 148 Votes)

Nombre total de votants: 3 746 (from www.topmada.com)

Photos 2

2009-04-22T17:27:00.005+03:00

This is the english course, electricity is no longer stable in Toliara.
Questo e' il nostro corso d'inglese, l'elettricita' non e' piu' stabile a Toliara.

How many people do you think are needed to fix a car?
Quante persone pensate occorrano per riparare un auto?

Il nostro "antipasto" di Pasqua... mmmmmmmmmmmmm!
Our starter for Easter.

Maki:

Baobab sulla pista per Andavadoka:

Non e' un effetto ottico...la parete e' inclinata.
Qui siamo con Børre e Annelise:

Questo e' il ciclone che ha sfiorato Toliara alcune settimane fa:

Photos

2009-04-22T16:48:00.001+03:00

Here some photos from the last months (ecco alcune foto degli ultimi mesi):

Birger and Christine:

Andavadoka

Quando trovi un'auto con un guasto... la devi spostare!

La spiaggia di Ambatomilo, nord di Toliara (il posto dove Serena potrebbe aprire il baretto). Ambatomilo's beach, north of Toliara.

More troubles

2009-04-21T08:32:00.005+03:00

Again. Yes, unfortunately it is happening again.
Yesterday the pro-Ravalomanana were demonstrating. They met a strong repression by the army: 2 people died and many are injured. The Min. of defence declared on RFI that there was no shooting... but by hearing the registration of the protests and by looking at some photos, it seems very well the opposite.
NB Toliara is calm.

More info:
in english
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8008979.stm
in french
http://www.topmada.com/2009/04/20/repression-meurtriere-de-la-manifestation-des-legalistes-photos/
http://rfi.fr/actufr/articles/112/article_80329.asp

Italiano: Ancora. Sta succedendo di nuovo. Ieri i sostenitori di Ravalomanana stavano dimonstrando, fino a quando l'esercito ha sparato: 2 morti e diversi feriti. Il Min. della difesa ha dichiarato alla radio RFI che l'esercito non ha sparato... l'audio della protesta e le foto sembrano dimonstrare il contrario.
NB A Toliara tutto e' calmo.

What now?

2009-04-17T18:34:00.000+03:00

Trying not to think of the tragedy in Abruzzo, I put my head down in the local newspapers... and I get into a different “tragedy”: the situation in Madagascar.
Some of you asked us for an update, well, here a brief one.

As you probably know, Ravalomanana had to flee the country (he went to Swaziland to plead his case to the SADC), and Rajoelina is now the president of HAT (the high transition authority), basically the President until new elections (2010? 2011?). Many countries and international organizations have condemned the new power, labelling it as unconstitutional and speaking of coup d’etat. Supporters of the now former President are protesting in the streets of Tana, but the new power repressed some of those protests, also trough military means. Maybe forgetting the freedom of speech and democracy values, they where shouting for just few weeks ago.

In Toliara everything is calm, too calm. Restaurants and hotels are semi deserted, and tourists are basically unseen. The economy of the country is uncertain as many of the international donors froze the flow of money due to the nature of the current government. Furthermore, with this instability in the country, who is going to invest money in Madagascar? Who is going to organize an exotic and relaxing travel here?

The HAT reduced the price of the oil in the market, the prices of transport in some areas, the prices of bread. The last one came out as flop: people noticed that the bread became also smaller; making it actually more expensive for big families (those buying 1 baguette for 300Ar, now need to buy 2 baguettes at 200Ar… so 400Ar). The newspapers report the flop, but only in their 5th or 6th page. The youngest head of state in the world is in the meanwhile touring the country, making promises, and offering Zebus. We actually catch a glimpse of him parading the streets of Toliara with people flocking around him.

Going on with the newspapers reading, we can even find news about Tiko. Do you remember Ravalomanana’s private empire? The one producing and distributing milk derivates, oil, etc? Well, after the looting of the retail Tiko stores, the factory was still functioning (but not delivering) in Antsirabe. I said “was” because few days ago the factory was looted too, apparently by the military troops of a new auto-proclaimed general. Since than, Tiko is publishing adds on newspapers, reporting the “unjust” actions of HAT. According to the new power, those actions are justified, as Ravalomanana hasn’t paid taxes in the last years. Probably true. Nevertheless the HAT hasn’t said what will happen to the 3.500 employee that worked at Tiko. Nor what will happen to those transporting their products. Nor what will happen to those selling products to Tiko (milk from Fifamanor, etc.). Nor what the stores will sell now, as Tiko had the monopoly of some products in the country.

We noticed that at the Toliara famous disco, girls under 18 are numerous, seeming less scared to get checked by the police. Another “old” rule enforced by Ravalomanana, a friend told me… while waiting to see if the HAT will enforce it too entrance seems free to everyone: a small sign of a more general anarchy in the air.

Ravalomanana is gone now, however he is announcing to come back soon. We again, wait to see what will happen…

L'Aquila

2009-04-06T16:51:00.004+03:00

This is the city where I studied for 5 years... I'm worried for the friends I haven't reached yet...

photos from www.corriere.it)

It is so sad to see those pictures. I was in panic when I heard the news, calling my friends, not getting answers... it is orrible to be far, and not being able to help.

Un abbraccio

A life in crises?

2009-03-16T16:21:00.006+03:00

Crisis is a popular word these days. To mention a few, we are (in theory) affected by the global financial crisis, the global warming crisis, the socio-economic crisis and the political crisis in Madagascar. Affected by all these crises you should think that we live a quite tough life, but as our visitors from Norway could witness, our life is far from very tough. Except for an exceptional identity crisis or the more common “I have to run to the bathroom – crisis”, we are by no means in need of crisis management.

To say that we live a totally normal life these days is to exaggerate, since waking up to the sounds of grenades and gunshots is not a part of our daily routine. Neither is to wake up with police equipped with Kaleshnikovs and bulletproof vests, having a check point outside our house. However, a part from those incidents and the fact that we are very attentive to the news, our life is pretty normal. We have restarted our English teaching, and the students seemed very happy to have us back. Yesterday we had a conversation class, where the discussion of course was the political situation of Madagascar. Some of them are very well informed about what’s going on, others are relying on information they are getting from others. In a situation like this it is very interesting to hear all the rumors that go around, some of them quite spectacular.

The situation in the capital however, is reported to be critical. The opposition claims to control the army, and gave the president a deadline to leave his post. However, the president has made it clear that he will not do so, even after the opposition took control of prime minister’s office. So we are back to the same question we have been asking ourselves for the last two months: “What will happen next?” The president seems isolated, but how isolated is he, since he’s not leaving the presidential palace? Is the army really controlled by the opposition, or is it not that simple? We have given up on the guessing game, it’s just to wait and see…

The Americans are as usually having a bit more of a precautionary approach. The US Embassy has asked their citizens to consider leaving the country, and the substantial amount of American Peace Corps volunteers that are here, are according to our information being brought to South-Africa.

It was interesting to see the reactions of our students when we told them about the Americans leaving the country. We often get the feeling that many do not understand the gravity of the situation for the country. After a week as “tourists” we saw how difficult the situation is for the tourist business. We were basically alone in all hotels along the road between Antsirabe and Tulear. We saw businesses were people were laid off. In the magnificent National Parc Isalo, we were the only visitors that day. In Anakao, south of Tulear, three out of about 20 hotels bothered to be open. And of course, most likely, this is just the beginning…

In Tana there have been new rounds of looting just recently. The country has proved itself unable to protect private investments, making it impossible for foreign investors who used to see Madagascar as a country of opportunity. Tourists won’t come in big numbers for a long time. Another crisis is in the air…

Italiano: Una vita in crisi?

Crisi e’ una parola popolare di questi tempi. Per esempio siamo (in teoria) in piena crisi finaziaria globale, c’e’ la crisi per il cambiamento climatico, e la crisi socio-economica nonche’ politica in Madagascar... Con tutte queste crisi penserete che la nostra vita qui e’ abbastanza difficile. Invece, come hanno constatato i nostri ospiti norvegesi, il nostro quotidiano e’ lontano dall’essere complicato. Eccetto per le eccezionali crisi d’identita’: la piu’ comune “devo correre al bagno-crisi”, non abbiamo bisogno di una speciale unita’ di gestione della crisi.

In ogni caso, dire che abbiamo una vita totalmente normale in questi giorni, e’ esagerato, dato che svegliarsi al suono delle granate e colpi di fucile non e’ parte della nostra normale routine. Come non lo e’ svegliarsi e trovare la polizia armata di Kaleshnikovs e giubbotti antiproiettili per creare un posto di blocco davanti a casa nostra. In ogni caso, a parte questo tipo d’incidenti ed il fatto che siamo molto attenti alle notizie, la nostra vita e’ piuttosto normale. Abbiamo ricominciato con l’insegnamento dell’inglese, e gli studenti sono sembrati molto contenti di riaverci tra loro. Ieri facevamo conversazione in classe, e la discussione era naturalmente sulla crisi politica in Madagscar. Alcuni studenti sono molto ben informati su quello che accade, mente altri si basano piuttosto sui sentito dire. In situazioni come questa e’ molto interessante sentire tutte le voci che girano, alcune di queste sono alquanto spettacolari.

In ogni caso la situazione nella capitale appare critica. L’opposizione afferma di controllare l’esercito, e ha dato al presidente un ultimatum per lasciare l’incarico. Ciononostante, il presidente ha rifiutato di andarsene, pur sapendo che l’ufficio del primo ministro e’ ormai nelle mani dell’opposizione. Quindi torniamo a chiederci la stessa domanda che ci siamo chiesti negli ultimi due mesi: “cosa succedera’ adesso?” Il presidente sembra isolato, ma quanto e’ isolato dato che rifiuta di lasciare il palazzo presidenziale? L’opposizione controlla davvero l’esercito o ne controlla solo una parte? Abbiamo smesso il gioco del tirare a indovinare, aspettiamo per vedere...

Gli Amercani hanno come al solito in queste cose, un approccio piu’ cauto. L’Ambasciata americana ha chiesto ai suoi cittadini di lasciare il paese, ad esempio i numerosi volontari (peace corps) normalmente presenti qui, sono stati trasferiti in Sud Africa.

Vedere le reazioni dei nostri studenti alla notizia che della partena degli americani, e’ stato interessante. In quanto spesso ci sembra che molti qui non si rendano pienamente conto della gravita’ di quello che sta succedendo. Dopo una settimana da “turisti” con i nostri amici venuti a trovarci, abbiamo visto quanto e’ difficile la situazione per gli operatori turistici. Eravamo infatti praticamente soli nei vari hotels sulla strada tra Antsirabe e Toliara. Abbiamo visitato diversi posti dove il personale e’ in cassa integrazione (non pagato). Nel magnifico Parco Nazionale dell’Isalo eravamo gli unici turisti. Ad Anakao, sud di Toliara, solo tre dei circa 20 hotel, erano aperti. E naturlamente, molto probabilmente, questo e’ solo l’inizio...

In Tana recentemente ci sono stati dei nuovi furti di massa. Il Paese ha dimostrato di essere incapace di difendere gli investimenti dei privati, perdendo l’opportunita’ di attirare investimenti dagli stranieri che vedevano il Madagascar come un posto sicuro. Probabilmente i turisti non si faranno vedere per un bel po. Un altra crisi nell’aria...

Madagascar: Waiting and uncertainty follows “Red Saturday”

2009-03-12T17:12:00.003+03:00

from http://www.afrika.no/Detailed/18010.html
By Venusia Vinciguerra and Lucien David (photo) for www. afrika.no in Madagascar | 03.03.2009

The Tiko stores are the property of Madagascar's president Ravalomanana. Many of them were looted during the unrest (Photo: Lucien David)

Antsirabe (Madagascar - Venusia Vinciguerra) - Uncertainty is now the most common feeling for the people living in Madagascar. The population, as well as the expatriates in the country, appears exhausted from the constant feeling that something big will soon happen, but then nothing seems to really happen.
Andry Rajoelina, former major of Antananarivo, proclaimed himself new head of state, and attempted to create a parallel administration and install his ministers into position. He started his “orange revolution” after president Ravalomanana closed his TV channel, VIVA TV, due to the broadcasting of an interview with the former president, Didier Ratsiraka.
The young Rajoelina called for a general strike in Antananarivo on January 26th, a strike that turned into a mass looting in the capital. The main factories and retails stores of Tiko, the president’s company, were attacked, robbed and destroyed. In addition, his TV and radio channels where destroyed, together with the national TV and radio channels, leaving most of Madagascar without broadcasts. The mass pillaging went on, destroying the few well functioning malls of the city, and emptying many rice storages, owned by privates. leaving the impression that the looting was not driven only by political intentions, but also by desperation or by opportunism.
The same escalation was witnessed the day after in other cities, as Antsirabe, Fianarantsoa, Mahajanga and Toliara, where Tiko storages and stores as well as rice reserves were emptied and vandalized. Looting continued over night between Tuesday 27th and Wednesday 28th. Reportedly about 100 people died or got injured, mostly due to accidents connected to the pillaging, while the army remained mostly an observer of the happenings. In Toliara there was a broad and massive participation, entire families carried as many rice bags as they could handle: on bikes, rickshaws, carts or on their shoulders. Also children were involved, and some made themselves thieves for a bag of orange juice, or for parts of broken toys. BIANCO, an anticorruption agency financed partly by Norway, was also vandalized: computers were stolen and sold, documents were thoroughly burned (!), and even windows, toilets, cables and roof’s components disappeared. The looting left the city of Toliara with a feeling of Wild West in the air. Stores remained closed for some days; especially those run by Indo-Pakistanis, who fear the anger of the Malagasy people against their commercial supremacy. Some goods are now scarce in the city: milk and butter, which are produced and distributed only by Tiko, but also oil is hard to find. Many foresee an increase of rice prices, the main staple for Malagasy people, and market prices for vegetables and fruits rose already.
Some weeks passed in uncertainty and apparent calmness, until Saturday 7th of February. Samedi Rouge (Red Saturday), as it is called by the Malagasy press, witnessed the shooting against the demonstrators who crossed the “red line” in front of the presidential palace in Antananarivo, making 28 victims (including a reporter), and numerous injured. A video reconstruction of the shooting is now being sold on DVDs and publicly screened in several Malagasy towns.
Ravalomanana did not recognize Rajoelina as a counterpart for negotiations in the beginning, and discharged and replaced him from his post as mayor of the capital. Predictably Rajoelina did not accept this decision, and went on to designate another replacement, leaving the city with two unelected mayors.
Finally on February 23rd, negotiations between Mark Ravalomanana and Andry Rajoelina started, with the assistance of representatives from the Council of Christian Churches in Madagascar (FFKM). Three meetings between the two contenders increased the hope for a peaceful solution. However, the hope diminished when the president did not personally attend the 4th meeting. Predictably Rajoelina declared the end of negotiations, and did not show up to the next meeting. Also the archbishop of Antananarivo, Odon Razanakolona, one of the facilitators, quit the negotiations, as he saw no developments. As a result, demonstration restarted, leading to two other fatalities in Fianarantsoa. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed the former foreign minister of Mali, Tiebilé Dramé, as facilitator, and asked the archbishop to rejoin the negotiations.
The consequences of this political instability are numerous. Among others, the crisis of the tourism market, with nearly 100% cancellations, and 50% workers sent home according to the FHORM (Fédération des hôteliers et restaurateurs de Madagascar), and the Malagasy National Tourism Office, who made an official declaration asking the parties to quickly find an agreement. Another immediate consequence is the delay of the start of the new university year, with even the risk of a year cancellation due to lack of security (L’express de Madagascar, 28.02.2009).
Many are tired of the president’s actions, denouncing him of focusing on his own interests over those of the population. At the same time, it is not clear if the young businessman and former DJ Rajoelina will be the answer. It seems like the ex-major will continue his efforts to remove the president; but after the last events in Antananarivo, his popularity seems uncertain. Many see in this situation a repetition of Ravalomanana’s struggle to take the power from Didier Ratsiraka in 2002. However, there is a core difference: in 2002 the two contenders where conflicting over a contested election, while Rajoelina’s current request is not related to any electoral event.
Finally, this contest involves two merinas (the ethnic group of the highlands), and might not seem a fair play to the coastal population, who would like to see their ethnicities well represented, maybe by a president.
Uncertainty spreads in Madagascar, people wait.

Calvin (Andry TGV) and Hobbes (Ravalo)?

2009-02-21T17:39:00.002+03:00

shall we translate it in malagasy and make flyers of it?

Grazie Silvia Jun per la striscia.

- What is going on?

2009-02-20T14:50:00.005+03:00

First of all, things seem to be more and more back to normal for most people in Madagascar. However, there are at least two people that are not living a normal life these days. The two main characters in this "wanna be democratic and non-violent coup d'etat like situation" are not doing anything that we find normal, considering the situation. As soon as we feel that we understand some of the motivations behind their actions, they go out and do something unpredictable.

The self-proclaimed president/ex-mayor, yesterday finally achieved one of his main goals, to physically install his "ministers" in four of the ministries. If he achieved this because he asked wifes and children of militaries to go in front of his supporters, I don't know (he actually didn't show up himself). According to reports, the presence of young girls dressed in orange (Orange Revolution, like in Ukraine) with mini-skirt (tbc), where especially noticable in front of the protestors. As could be expected, the military forces were so stunned by this move that they let the croud enter the empty ministry buildings.

The first one to take office as a "Minister" was our old friend from our troubled visa days, mr. directeur de Cabinet (see earlier blogpost) in the Ministere de l'Interieure. But our promoted friend didn't really last long. After the "orange movement" had celebrated their victory during the evening, the Ministries were once again brought back into the control of the president, by the help of the army.

While all this is going on, the negotiations between the two parties are apparently making some progress. The situation is getting more and more confusing. There could be a solution tomorrow, but more likely 6 months is a better guess. The good thing is that the violent conflict doesn't seem to be escalating. If any of the parties is seeming to gain support, it's the president's. However, at the moment none of them seems to have a high standing among the people. And for what these two are doing to the country, I totally understand them.
Get over with it - and let the people live their normal life!

(Forced) stay in Antsirabe

2009-02-18T11:56:00.002+03:00

We are in the very nice town of Anstirabe. It is a mountain city at about 3h south of the capital Antananarivo. Here it’s summer, but the temperature is a lot lower than in Toliara. We arrived here on our attempt to go to Tana to receive our long awaited guests. As most of you know, they had to postpone their trip, and we stopped in Antsirabe (also to get some medical controls). We got welcomed by rain (it is the season now) and chilli temperature…especially for us, used to the torrid south. Against us, the fact that we came not well equipped for this fresh welcome, and could only go around with sandals and shorts. But the sun shines in most of the mornings, and with no interruption for the last two days, showing all the beauty of this city, founded by Norwegians (!).
Yes, because Antsirabe has very little of the dusty south, with low buildings. Here the houses remind the British cottages; they are built in red bricks with dark wooden floors, and have balconies and flourishing gardens. We often walk around with wide open eyes, dreaming of living in one of those. Here it is also possible to find a lot of vegetables and fruits, fresh and tasty, not to mention all the different home made cheeses, garnished with flowered spices…

But (there is a but), lately living in Antsirabe seems a bit harder. Tourists are lacking, due to the current political instability, and vendors are getting desperate. Some of them spot you from distance and offers 10 even 20 necklaces for 2 or 3 euro. We can see they need cash, and they are afraid things will get worst… we buy from some, but we can’t buy from all of them. When we go for a walk, we feel obliged to take street with fewer vendors not to get surrounded. It is sad to see, and as them we fear it might get worst.
We hope people will soon be able to enjoy again this beautiful town of Madagascar.

Bad news from Toliara

2009-02-13T08:24:00.004+03:00

First of all: me and Birger are in Atsirabe. We're 3h south of the capital, and many hours north of Toliara. Here is so far calm. We're at the Norwegian missionary station, and we feel safe.

Yesterday afternoon (12/02/09) I got a phone call from the Italian embassy, Pretoria, South Africa. They called me because they new I am in Antsirabe, and the told me to stay here and absolutely not go back to Toliara. While talking with them, I got an sms. It was from Christine, the director of the Alliance Françoise who lives in our building in Toliara. She wrote that: looting restarted, and they (her and her son) were stuck in their flat. Esterel, an Italian neighbour restaurant, ran by a couple of friends, was attacked the evening before. Worried I called one of the two owners of Esterel. Instead I got answered by another person who spoke first Malagasy and then French to me. I asked of my friend, and with a rather scary tone I was answered that he was my friend from now! So, I called the other restaurant owner. He answered. The evening before someone attacked the restaurant, and his colleague, with a gun at his head, was forced to give away all his stuff, including passport. They haven't made it home, but to a safe place nearby, where other people also gathered. He said that the people attacked the stores owned by the karana (the Indo-Pakistani) and that the army was trying to protect the stores in the centre, with shooting and grenades. They had no phone credits left, but they were in contact with the embassy in Pretoria. Then I called Christine, she was home with her son, understandably worried. Our building is practically empty, only her, her son and a German-French couple are there now. Furthermore, our landlord is a karana as well. Anyway, it should be a safe place. It is the first time we hear of a vazaha place being attacked, and we hope it will not continue. We hardly find news on the internet, but we hope the situation will soon calm down.

I repeat: here in Antsirabe is totally calm.

Update: I spoke with some people from Toliara this morning (13/02/09), it is calm now (11.30AM), people are out.

Italiano: Prima di tutto: io e Birger siamo in Antsirabe. A 3 ore a sud della capitale e molte ore a nord di Tolira. Qui tutto e’ calmo. Siamo alla missione norvegese, al sicuro.
Ieri pomeriggio (12/02/09) mi ha telefonato l’ambascita italiana da Pretoria, Sud Africa. Sapevano che siamo ad Ansirabe, e mi hanno detto di restare e assolutamente di non tornare a Toliara. Nello stesso momento ho sicevuto un sms di Christine, direttrice de l’Alliance Françoise che vive nel nostro stesso tabile a Toliara. L’sms diceva che: furti e sommosse reano ricominciate, che lei e suo figlio erano bloccati nell’apprtamento, e che l’Esterel un ristorante italiano gestito da amici che si trova di fronte a casa nostra era stato attaccato la sera prima. Preoccupata ho chimato uno dei due gestori, ma mi ha risposto qualcuno in malgascio prima ed in francese poi. Ho chiesto del nostro amico ma ho ricevuto una risposta sarcastica, che diceva che da ora era lui il nostro amico. Quindi ho chiamato l’altro collega, che ha risposto. Mi ha detto che la sera prima qualcuno ha attaccato il ristorante e il suo collega, che con una pistola puntata contro ha docuto consegnre tutto, persino il passaporto. Non sono poi riusciti a tornare a casa, ma hanno trovato riparo in un posto sicuro li vicino, insieme ad altre persone. Per telefono mi ha anche detto che la folla ha tentato di attaccare i negozi dei karana (Indo-Pakistani), ma che l’esercito provava a difenderli sparando colpi di fucile e granate. Mi ha poi detto che erano rimsti senza credito telefonico ma che erano in contatto con l’ambasciata. Ho quindi chimato Christine, che era a casa con suo figlio, e comprensibilmente preoccupta. Il nostro stabile e’ al momento praticmente vuoto, solo lei, suo figlio ed una coppia franco-tedesca e’ li adesso. E’ la prima volta che sentiamo di un’attivita’ vazaha attaccata, e speriamo non sia la prima di molte. Non troviamo news su internet, ma speriamo che la situazione si calmi.

Ripeto: ad Ansirabe e’ calmo.

Aggiornamento: Ho parlato con delle persone a Toliara questa mattina (13/02/09), tutto e’ calmo al momento (11.30AM), le persone circolano liberamete.

The conflict escalates in Antananarivo

2009-02-09T19:35:00.004+03:00

As many of you probably have seen in the news, things have not at all calmed down in Madagascar. Saturday, after a big rally in the capital, the crouds decidided to storm the President's palace, with the result that the police started to fire shots into the croud...

Read more here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7876543.stm

We were in fact on our way to the capital to meet our friends that were suppose to come to visit us from Europe, but after the dramatic event, they were forced to cancel/postpone.

We had a rather strange journey north from Tulear. Having a real malagasy experience with a Taxi Brousse that went "en panne" after 1 1/2 hours drive, leaving us on the side of the road for several hours until we were able to hitch a ride with a car that passed. We stopped in Antsirabe, which is 3 hours south of Tana. We are staying at my old school. It will be very interesting to see what happends the next days... The conflict will surely continue in Tana, and we fear that it will spread to other cities as well.

We'll keep you updated on the situation.

Waiting for what may or may not happen

2009-02-06T11:00:00.001+03:00

More than one week has passed since we witnessed the looting from our safe balcony and windows in Tulear. It has been a strange week. As the true humans we are, our biggest worries were related to ourselves, and the question if our friends (Børre, Annelise and Jan) would be able to come as planned in February. After a week where good and bad news have been replacing each other, it seems however that the country is calming down. However, it still has two people saying they are presidents, and the capital has two mayors. So, yesterday we had the great news that we will have guests in a few days. We will have to travel the almost 1000 km to Tana to receive them. We hope for a nice calm trip back down to Tulear, stopping at National parks and in interesting villages, far away from demonstrations and politics.

The TV-stations don’t broadcast in Tulear at the moment, and now that we are actually interested in the President’s whereabouts. The few radio stations that broadcast from Madagascar either play music or talk in Malagasy. RFI (Radio France International) is our best news source, but it also reports from the rest of the world, (quite annoying actually!) and it not always very detailed on the situation. And …in good French manner it decided to go on strike for a day!

Our other source of news is the “jungle telegraph”, and these days it is very active. To understand what’s going on you have to talk to a lot of people, and of course they are not all telling the same things, so you have to try to deduct your own truth from all the different facts and rumours you hear. After the looting in Tulear many people, including us, were worried for the demonstration that was announced for Saturday. Since the stores owned by the not always popular Indo-Pakistani population were left untouched on Tuesday, many people feared that we would see a new day of looting. Over a dinner at our French neighbours the other day, different scenarios were discussed, and we even speculated on a possible evacuation. The next day it seemed totally ridiculous, since Saturday passed without major happenings, and we enjoyed a day by the pool in a calm city.

Now it seems that a new demonstration is planned every second day. We’re getting used to them, also because they go on quite peacefully.

We hope that a solution to this political deadlock can be peacefully achieved, as we think that Madagascar needs some stability.

2009-02-06T10:30:00.003+03:00

The following photos are form Lucien David, a university professor in Toliara and one of our host partners.

The 2 contenders: the ex-mayor of Tana on the left, and president Ravalomanana on the right, from a malagasy newspaper:

A bike loaded with rice during the looting in Toliara:
People pillaging a rice storage close to our house. To empty the storage people needed almost 24h, and several people got injured:
This is the Tiko agency in Toliara, now is nearly impossible to find butter or milk and other goods (as they were produced and distributed only by Tiko):

Photos

2009-01-30T12:15:00.004+03:00

NEWS from Toliara

2009-01-30T11:50:00.005+03:00

The situation is calm now, we hope it will last.

Norsk tekst -Birger (testo Italiano in fondo -Venusia)

-De tar tilbake det presidenten har tatt fra dem

Vår gassiske venninne forklarer kanskje hva de tenker, de mange tusener som deltar i plyndringen og raseringen av presidentens bedrifter i Toliara, men det gir likevel ingen berettigelse til det vi har vært vitne til de siste dagene.
Selv om det er en konflikt mellom to politikere, president Marc Ravalomanana og ordføreren i Antananarivo, Andry Rajoelina som danner utgangspunktet for det vi har sett i Toliara og i resten av landet de siste dagene, er det lite som minner om en demokratisk manifestasjon i gatene. Det er dessverre ikke gatas parlament som berettiget viser sin misnøye presidenten, men en mer eller mindre uorganisert mobb som i frustrasjon og misnøye utnytter muligheten til å skaffe seg kortsiktig gevinst. For på lengre sikt er det denne fattigste delen av befolkningen som kommer til å lide mest for de siste dagers hendelser.
Tirsdag 27. januar, startet rolig i Toliara. Vi passerte lageret til TIKO, presidentens meieri. Det var 5-6 uniformerte og bevæpnede vakter utenfor. Det begynte å gå opp for oss at noe var på gang da vi la merke til at mange butikker og internettkafeer var stengte. Da vi kjørte forbi Toliaras eneste supermarked Magro, som også er eid av presidenten, var det til vår overraskelse bare de to sedvanlige uniformerte vaktene som lå henslengt foran bygningen. Vi fant en åpen internettkafé, og meldte hjem om fred og ingen fare i Toliara, selv om vi fikk en gryende følelse at noe var på gang. Vi brøt opp før vi hadde tenkt, og kom oss hjem.
Der kunne vi fra vinduer og balkonger se en horde som stimlet seg sammen. I følge ryktene var TIKO allerede tatt, plyndret og satt i brann. Nå beveget folkemengden seg oppover mot Magro, som ligger ca. 300 meter fra der vi bor. Folk i alle aldre; unge menn, barn, kvinner og eldre menn kom løpende smilende og leende nedover gata, med hendene fulle av TIKO produkter. Etter hvert begynte folk å bli mer oppfinnsomme, og tok i bruk handlevogner og pousse-pousser. Vi undret oss over de som fornøyde kom spaserende med én skarve juskartong i hånden –lite å gjøre seg til tyv for. Etter at alle varer var robbet begynte bygningsmaterialene å komme. Stolper, dører, tak, vegger, utelamper, plastikkorger og emballasje – alt som potensielt kunne ha noen verdi. Vi fikk også for første gang i livet se noen bære et toalett på hodet! Lurte også litt på hva den 10 år gamle jenten skulle med to dukkebein. Resten av kroppen hadde vel noen andre stukket av med.
Rundt lunsjtider roet det seg litt ned utenfor, og vi hadde et håp om at opprøret hadde lagt seg. Senere på ettermiddagen stimlet folk seg igjen sammen på gaten utenfor. Jeg må innrømme at jeg hadde en viss frykt for at de hadde bestemt seg for å ta vår bygning eller stamrestauranten på den andre siden. Det viste seg at lengre nedi gata var det et rislager, tilhørende en inder. De første rissekkene kom småløpende ut kl. 16.30 om ettermiddagen. Senere ble de kjørt ut etter alle kunstens regler. Hele familier bærte rissekkene sammen, sykler var et svært populært transportmiddel. Senere kom også mopeder, pousse-pousser, oksekjerrer fulle av ris. Det var tragikomisk å observere en grådig pousse-pousse trekker, som hadde forsynt seg med en rissekk for mye, slik at hele kjerren datt sammen. Kl. 9 dagen etter strømmet det fortsatt folk til lageret. Det føltes som om halve byen var innom rislageret i løpet av natten. Tallene varierer, men det mest forsiktige anslaget er på 10 tonn ris, og det er heller ikke det eneste lageret som er tømt.
På gaten utenfor kunne vi også observere en velkledd familie som kjøpte opp ris. Det sies at man kunne kjøpe en 50 kg rissekk på gata for 5000 Ariary. Mindre enn 1/10 del av vanlig pris. Det fremstår som fullstendig meningsløst å selge til den prisen. Når reservelagrene er tømt og når importørene er konkurs vil den velklede familien selge risen de har kjøpt opp for langt mer. Den fattige selgeren vil da ikke ha råd til ris…
Den indiske huseieren min kunne fortelle meg at indiske forretningsdrivende har betalt store summer til militæret for å få beskyttelse. En beskyttelse som totalt uteble, da horden angrep. Ifølge huseieren omkom 11 personer under tømmingen av rislageret. Sannsynligvis trampet i hjel. Vi var selv vitne til flere skadede som ble kjørt ut.
Jeg har stor forståelse for at ordensmakten viser forsiktighet med å bruke makt i slike situasjoner, men samtidig er det skremmende å se at staten overhodet ikke oppfyller sin viktigste oppgave - det å beskytte sine innbyggere mot overgrep. Hvordan skal utenlandske bedrifter kunne investere i et slikt klima?
Samtidig er det skremmende for den fremtidige politiske situasjonen på Madagaskar å registrere at presidenten ikke er i stand til å beskytte sine egne investeringer, selv i en situasjon der han hadde god tid til å forberede seg på et angrep. På samme måte er det trist å registrere at den flunkende nye norskfinansierte bygningen til antikorrupsjonsbyrået BIANCO i Toliara er fullstendig rasert. De splitter nye datamaskinene ble solgt på svartebørsen for 100 000 Ariary (ca 300 kr). Hva har BIANCO med presidenten å gjøre?
Det er mulig at det er et snev av sannhet i påstanden om at de bare tar tilbake det presidenten har tatt fra dem. Å kjøpe en privat luksusjet for skattebetalernes penger må oppleves veldig frustrerende for dem som må gå 40 km hver dag for å hente vann, og det kan vanskelig kategoriseres som en fornuftig bruk av skattebetalernes penger. Misnøyen mot presidenten er stor i Toliara, noe som folket uten tvil er i sin fulle rett til å gi uttrykk for gjennom fredelige demonstrasjoner. Inderen som fikk se sitt rislager tømt har likevel ingenting med presidenten å gjøre. Han hadde bare mye av det befolkningen har lite av, og som de dessverre om noen måneder vil ha enda mindre av.

_______________________

Che cosa succede in Madagascar? La distruzione di Toliara, e non solo.

Che cosa succede in Madagascar? Onestamente ce lo chiediamo anche noi, se lo chiedono un po’ tutti i vazaha. La ragazza che ci aiuta in casa ha detto: la gente si riprende quello che gli è stato preso dal presidente. Ma cerchiamo di andare con ordine.
Il presidente della repubblica Malgascia si chiama Marc Ravalomanana. E’ un imprenditore, proprietario della Tiko specializzata in prodotti caseari, ma anche proprietario di molte altre cose, tra cui una radio e il canale televisivo MBS. “Ravalo” è anche a volte chiamato “Berlusconi tropical”, per intenderci. Arrivato al potere attraverso una difficile elezione per spodestare Ratsiraka nel 2002, è stato riconfermato nel 2006. Siamo qui da troppo poco per comprendere e giudicare la politica locale attraverso i nostri valori universali, che poco tengono conto dei valori parziali della gente che deve sopravvivere alla giornata (come direbbe Busi), ma semplificando diciamo che il Presidente ha mostrato tanta voglia di fare, e ha fatto anche, ma ultimamente ha cominciato ad avere un po’ di atteggiamenti da “presidente africano”, nel senso negativo del regime. Ha chiuso una radio a Toliara, e sospeso un canale televisivo appartenente al giovane sindaco (Andry Rajoelina) della capitale Antananarivo, perché aveva trasmesso un’intervista all’ex presidente Ratsiraka. Infine, poche settimane fa, Ravalomanana ha acquistato un secondo aereo presidenziale, l’air force one (two!), costosissimo e lussuosissimo, non proprio in linea con lo standard di vita della maggior parte della popolazione malgascia.
Il sindaco di Rajoelina, opponente dichiarato del presidente, ha organizzato una manifestazione per l’inaugurazione della Place de la démocratie, nella capitale con una grande risposta di pubblico. Pochi giorni dopo, lunedì 26.01.09, il sindaco, ha chiamato la popolazione allo sciopero generale, con massiccia partecipazione nonostante il giorno feriale. La massa ha però saccheggiato gli studi di due canali televisivi (quello nazionale e quello del presidente), di una radio, e dei magazzini Magro, punti vendita riconducibili a Ravalomanana, mettendo poi fuoco a tutto. Ovviamente i canali televisivi sono oscurati da lunedì. Il giorno dopo, martedì qui a Toliara tutto sembrava tranquillo, anche se alcuni negozi erano chiusi e noi abbiamo faticato per trovare un internet point aperto, per dirvi che tutto andava bene. Invece intorno a mezzogiorno, la situazione precipita in altre città, tra cui Toliara (dove abitiamo noi), unica città a non aver riconfermato il presidente nelle ultime elezioni (e per questo alquanto ignorata dalla politica presidenziale).
A Toliara, però, il vandalismo, la distruzione e i saccheggi sembrano avere ben poco a che fare con la protesta politica, a nostro avviso. Dal nostro balcone abbiamo potuto osservare il flusso di persone, la massa che ha cominciato depredando Magro (a 300mt da casa nostra), e il magazzino della Tiko. Di questi non è rimasto davvero più nulla (vedi foto), e noi abbiamo visto grandi, bambini, donne passare prima con prodotti alimentari, e poi con porte, finestre, cavi, pezzi di tetto, wc, pezzi di roba rotta. Della gente si è fatta ladra per un litro di succo d’arancia, bevuto in strada sorridendo… Poi saccheggio e distruzione sono passati ai depositi di riso, di proprietà’ di privati (persone di origini indiane e pachistane, che qui in Madagascar controllano gran parte del commercio). Uno proprio vicino a casa nostra, dove il saccheggio è iniziato vero le 16.30 di martedì fino alle 11.00 del mattino di mercoledì. Ininterrottamente per tutta la notte. Ovviamente, la folla è difficile da governare, ci sono numerosi feriti e morti (anche bambini), schiacciati o feriti dai cavi scoperti, vetri ecc.: è difficile fare un conto preciso e le voci che girano, riportano numeri molto diversi (apparentemente 11 morti nel deposito vicino casa nostra). Ma l’atto che ci ha lasciato forse più attoniti è stato forse la distruzione dei nuovissimi uffici di BIANCO, una associazione contro la corruzione (quindi assolutamente al servizio della popolazione e che c’entra poco col presidente), finanziata dal governo norvegese. BIANCO, inaugurata da poco a Toliara, è stata depredata dei nuovissimi computer (rivenduti a 100.000 Ariari- 42 euro circa!!), ma anche di porte, finestre, tegole, cavi elettrici ecc. Mercoledì tutti i negozi sono rimasti chiusi, come anche le banche, e’ difficile (se non impossibile) comprare credito per i telefoni, benzina, medicinali, ecc.
Insomma, una distruzione che ci sembra avere poco della protesta politica e dell’atto simbolico; al contrario ci è sembrata pura follia, disperazione di alcuni, ignoranza di altri. Qualcuno di sicuro farà anche dei bei soldi rivendendo riso rubato o comprato a pochissimo ora, quando questo scarseggerà nei prossimi mesi, dato che le riserve sono state razziate. Noi ci domandiamo quale sarà la mossa di Ravalomanana, quale la mossa di Rajoelina. E ci auguriamo che l’evoluzione politica del paese avvenga in maniera democratica e non attraverso la forza.
Incrociamo le dita.

Riots in Madagascar

2009-01-27T10:43:00.003+03:00

Some of you contacted us to ask if everything is ok. We are in Toliara almost 1000Km south of the capital Antananarivo. Here the situation is calm. However, people are listening to the news and a few stores are closed. So no need to worry for us!

Anyway, here you find an article from the BBC's website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7851275.stm

Anti-government protesters in Madagascar have looted and set fire to the offices of the state broadcaster in the capital Antananarivo.

The building was attacked during a demonstration by supporters of the city's mayor and opposition leader, Andry Rajoelina. His own television and radio stations have been shut down by the government. The police had banned the protests and President Marc Ravalomanana says the opposition is trying to stage a coup. Earlier on Monday, tens of thousands of people had gathered in the capital to hear a speech by Mr Rajoelina.Crowds then moved to the state broadcaster's offices, where soldiers briefly tried to defend the building before dispersing in apparent sympathy with the protesters, a witness told the BBC. Looters were seen coming out of the offices, cheering and smashing equipment on the ground. Some made off with chairs, desks and door frames. The protests have led President Ravalomanana to cut short a trip to South Africa.Mr Rajoelina's TV network Viva was closed last month, after broadcasting an interview with Mr Ravalomanana's foe, former President Didier Ratsiraka, AFP news agency reports.The BBC's Christina Corbett in Antananarivo says the protests have left people afraid of a return to the kind of political deadlock that preceded Mr Ravalomanana's election in 2002.

Here more from Reuters:

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSLR70416220090127?sp=true

Rain

2009-01-23T10:31:00.007+03:00

The rain finally is in Toliara. A cyclone passed in the area, without touching the "city of sun". However, the flat and dry Toliara is not made for the water, as you can see from the photos of the road to our home... But today Toliara is back, the sun is up, warm and strong as usual.

Italiano: La pioggia alla fine e' arrivata anche a Toliara. Un ciclone e' passato non lontano di qui. Nonostante non abbia toccato la "citta' del sole", si capisce che Toliara non e' fatta per l'acqua (vedi le foto della strada che porta a casa nostra). In ogni caso, Toliara oggi e' tornata alla normalita', con il sole che risplende caldo e forte, come al solito.

surprise

2009-01-13T16:06:00.005+03:00

Today was a day of surprises.

We got MAIL! Yes we got a cute card from Katherine... it was so nice to receive a friendly mail (we received something before, but it was tax stuff from the norwegian governement, which is not quite the same).

So thanks Katherine!

The second surprise was our lunch. Voanghy made pig brain for us! :-o

(Maybe we should save some for Børre and Annelise?)

Oggi e' stato un giorno di sorprese. Abbiamo ricevuto posta! Una bel biglietto della nostra amica Katherine... e' stato bello ricevere posta da amici a casa (avevamo gia ricevuto qualcosa settimane fa, lettere dall'ufficio delle tasse del governo norvegese, che non e' proprio la stessa cosa).

Grazie Katherine!

la seconda sorpresa a pranzo: Voanghy ci ha cucinato cervello di maiale! :-o

Some photos....

2009-01-12T18:18:00.003+03:00

Some photos From our Christmas lunch with Bertin (our teacher of Malagasy) and his family. But first a photo of his wife with their newborn son (4.7 Kg!).

Arboretum d’Antsokay

2009-01-04T11:41:00.010+03:00

Few days before Christmas we visited an arboretum with the students at the English language centre. This is a botanical garden established by a Swiss man who collected 900 different species of plants, 90% of which endemic to the Toliara region. This place is full of beautiful cactus, and exotic trees, all amazingly growing and flourishing from a ground of sand and rocks.

This interesting trip was arranged for those studying English at the University’s Language Centre. The purpose of this type of excursions is to give the students the knowledge and the vocabulary about touristic places around Toliara. In this way, those who want practice their language with tourists, or even work as tourist guides will have the tools to do so.

For us it was a great experience. We have long planned to go to visit the Arboretum, which is only 12km out of town. And this was a very nice way for us to do so. The students are very motivated; they took notes of everything they could grab from the English-speaking guide. They followed all he said, and tried to learn as much as possible from the experience. The Language Centre is ran by some very motivated and skilled people, who give their spare time to the students. The means of the centre are very limited; nevertheless the students are remarkably motivated. They have a very tough life at the university, yet they follow the 6 weekly course hours at the centre, and ask for more… like having extra activities on Saturday mornings!

We really hope to help with our work at the centre, and we invite those of you interested, to come to Toliara and have some special activity for the students, or held some guest lectures. We are also thinking to try to give the students access to some extra material, as simple English literature books or movies and documentaries in English (preferably with subtitles in English), so if you are planning to come here, don’t hesitate to bring novels from high school…

Italiano: Pochi giorni prima di Natale, abbiamo visitato un arboreto con gli studenti del centro d’inglese. Questo giardino botanico, creato da uno svizzero, contiene 900 specie diverse di piante, 90% delle quali endemiche della regione di Toliara. Il posto è pieno di meravigliosi cactus e alberi esotici, che sorprendentemente crescono rigogliosi dal suolo sabbioso e roccioso.

Questa interessante escursione è stata organizzata per gli studenti d’inglese del centro linguistico dell’università’. L’obiettivo di questo tipo di attività è di dare agli loro le conoscenze (ed il vocabolario) relative ai siti turistici intorno a Toliara. In questo modo, quelli che vogliono praticare la lingua con i turisti, e persino lavorare come guide turistiche, hanno accesso alle nozioni necessarie per farlo.

Per noi è stata una bella esperienza. Avevamo a lungo pensato di andare a visitare l’arboreto, che si trova a soli 12 chilometri da Toliara. E andare con gli studenti è stato uno splendido modo per visitare il posto. Gli studenti sono, infatti, molto motivati, hanno preso appunti di tutto ciò che era possibile catturare dalla guida in inglese. Hanno seguito tutto ciò che diceva, e hanno provato ad apprendere il più possibile dall’esperienza. Il Centro Linguistico è gestito da alcune persone motivate e capaci, che mettono a disposizione degli studenti il loro tempo libero. I mezzi del centro sono molto limitati, ciononostante gli studenti sono eccezionalmente motivati. Infatti, nonostante la loro difficile vita all’università’, ed il fatto che già seguono 6 ore di corso settimanali al centro, chiedono di più… come avere attività extra il sabato mattina!

Noi speriamo davvero di essere d’aiuto con il nostro lavoro al centro, e invitiamo quelli di voi interessati (e capaci), di venire a Toliara per organizzare qualche attività per gli studenti o sostenere qualche lezione al corso. Stiamo anche pensando di provare a dare accesso agli studenti ad un po’ di materiale extra come semplici romanzi in inglese o film e documentari in inglese (preferibilmente con anche i sottotitoli); pertanto, se stai pensando di venire a Toliara, non esitare a portare con te i romanzi in lingua letti alle scuole superiori…

Christmas in Toliara

2008-12-28T18:05:00.005+03:00

We have to face it, our marriage is mixed, which means that sometime we have to negotiate some traditions. But when Christmas comes, the challenge is easily solved: 23^rd is La Squilla in Lanciano, a very strange tradition where between 7 and 8 pm a bell rings downtown and all the families gather at the oldest one’s place to kiss his hand (before presents where exchanged that day); then the 24^th is an important day for Norwegians: it starts by finding some nice comics on the table; then the family gather to eat a nice and delicious breakfast; after that everybody get ready to eat again: a sort of rice porridge served with cinnamon, sugar and butter. Hidden in the porridge there is an almond, and who finds it wins the Julegris, a marzipan shaped like a pig! Then, is normally time for church, and once home it’s dinner time again (yes more eating!), with different kinds of food according to the region. Chez Veum, we eat the supergood Pinnekjøtt made by Birgit. Finally it’s time to sing and dance around the Christmas tree, open the presents and enjoy each others company. While the big day in Italy is the 25^th, where all starts with opening the presents, then church, and finally with an endless meal with the whole family (in Abruzzo the brodo col cardone can’t be missing, and Rosanna is a master with it!).

This long preface was to say that after some planning we organized a Norwegian 24^th and an Italian 25^th. However everything got quite mixed with the Malagasy Christmas as the 24^th, at 6.30AM our Malagasy teacher called to tell us that he was back in town and he was going to plan Christmas. Then we heard no more, so we started our 24^th celebrations with a very good breakfast (yes we had fenalår!!), shared with Voanghy, who normally helps us in the house. For lunch we obviously had a very nice rice porridge (Birger got the recipe from a Malagasy girl who worked as au pair in Norway!), and I found the almond (which actually was a macaroni, as we had no almonds), and won the Julegris. The day went smoothly and we started the preparation of the laborious brodo (faking some ingredients). Finally, we spent the evening celebrating with an Italian friend who became father that same afternoon!

The 25^th, 6.30AM as the day before, our teacher called: we where invited to his place for Christmas lunch. Of course, no matter the ready brodo and the other ingredients ready to be cooked, we accepted! But first we decided to go to church. We went to the catholic mass at 6.30AM, and got freed only after almost tree hours (yes, 3!). At 12, precise like only Norwegians can be, we arrived at our professor’s house. We got to share a nice Malagasy meal with him, his pregnant wife, their cute daughter and a couple of others from their extended family (pictures will come later on). The meal was typical: lots of rice, meat (chicken and leaver), vegetables, sauces… The day was one of the hottest, so hot that our plastic chairs could hardly hold us. For that reason we didn’t eat much, but it didn’t help: Birger’s chair literally melted and he got all the way down to the floor, legs up. A quite hilarious scene!! In the meanwhile Toliara was getting crowded with people, as the national star, Lola, had a live concert. Basically the whole town was out. We ended our day at home, opening each other’s presents and having a nice dinner together. But not with brodo, as the heat of the day ruined it…

Italiano: dobbiamo ammetterlo, il nostro matrimonio è misto, per cui a volte alcune tradizioni vanno negoziate. Ma quando viene Natale, la questione è facilmente risolta: il 23 a Lanciano e’ La Squilla, una strana tradizione in cui dalle 19 alle 20 una campana in città suona, e nel frattempo tutti si riuniscono a casa del più anziano della famiglia e gli baciano la mano (prima si scambiavano anche i doni); il 24 invece, e’ un giorno molto importante per i Norvegesi: si comincia con una bella e deliziosa colazione; poi tutti pronti per mangiare ancora: un porridge di riso, con cannella, zucchero e burro. Nascosto in questo pasto c’e’ una mandorla, chi la trova nel proprio piatto vince Julegris, un maiale di marzapane! A questo punto si va in chiesa, e quando si rientra a casa, è tempo di cenare (sì, ancora cibo!), con diversi tipi di pasti secondo la regione. Chez Veum si mangiano le deliziose Pinnekjøtt, preparate da Birgit. Dopo cena si danza e canta attorno all’albero di natale, si aprono i regali e si sta insieme. Invece in Italia in gran giorno è il 25, di solito si comincia aprendo i regali, poi si va in chiesa e infine si comincia il pasto infinito con tutta la famiglia (in Abruzzo non può mancare il brodo col cardone, e Rosanna e’ un maestro nel farlo!)

Questa lunga prefazione, solo per dire che abbiamo organizzato un 24 norvegese e un 25 italiano. Ma tutto si è poi mischiato un po’ con il Natale Malgascio, poiché il nostro insegnante di malgascio ci ha telefonato il 24 alle 6.30 del mattino per dirci che si apprestava a pianificare Natale. Poi più niente, per cui abbiamo iniziato la nostra vigilia con una bella colazione (avevamo anche un prosciutto norvegese di pecora affumicato, fenalår), condivisa con Voanghy, la ragazza che normalmente ci aiuta in casa. Per pranzo abbiamo mangiato il porridge di riso (Birger ha avuto la ricetta da una ragazza malgascia che ha lavorato au pair in Norvegia), e io ho trovato la mandorla (che in realtà, in mancanza di mandorle, era un maccherone), e ho vinto Julegris. Il giorno è passato piacevolmente e abbiamo iniziato a preparare il brodo (imbrogliando su alcuni ingredienti…tipo il cardone!). La sera l’abbiamo passata a festeggiare, con un amico italiano diventato papà quello stesso pomeriggio!

Il 25 alle 6.30 come il giorno prima, ci chiama il prof di malgascio invitandoci a casa sua per il pranzo di Natale. Ovviamente, nonostante il brodo pronto, e altri ingredienti pronti da cucinare, abbiamo accettato! Ma prima abbiamo deciso di andare in chiesa. Siamo andati alla messa cattolica, cominciata alle 6.30am siamo stati rilasciati solo tre ore dopo (si, 3!). Alle 12, precisi come dei norvegesi, siamo arrivati a casa del nostro prof. Abbiamo condiviso un buon pasto malgascio con lui, sua moglie che è incinta, la figlia piccola con l’aria furbetta e un altro paio di membri della famiglia estesa. Il cibo era quello tipico: una montagna di riso, carne (pollo e fegato), verdure, salse… La giornata è stata caldissima, cosi calda che le sedie di plastica ci sorreggevano a malapena. Per questo motivo abbiamo mangiato pochissimo, ma non e’ servito: la sedia di Birger si e’ praticamente sciolta, e lui e’ finito a terra, con le gambe all’aria. Una scena davvero esilarante!! Nel frattempo Toliara si è riempita di gente, perche una star nazionale, Lola (che è un uomo), si è esibita in un concerto live. Praticamente tutta la città era in strada. Noi abbiamo concluso l nostra giornata a casa, aprendo i nostri rispettivi regali, e cenando insieme. Però non col brodo, che per il forte caldo si è rovinato…

L’altra faccia della luna

2008-12-09T16:33:00.009+03:00

I cannot say if there is a God, but I can say that there is a Paradise, and it is not far from Anakao, southeast Madagascar!

Last week we noticed that we had a long weekend ahead, and decided to go somewhere for a trip to get to know the area better. The beaches south of Tulear are known for their beauty, but reaching them can be challenging (and expensive), thus they are just right when we have a bit more time than just a weekend. We checked if an Italian place that everybody recommended had a spot for us, reserved two “seats” on a boat, packed few things and left.

The trip is interesting from the beginning: small harbors are not very common here, as the tide is of 3mt, so boats approach the beaches as far as they can, and to get to them you need to go by zebus! Going to Anakao takes about 1,5 hour and transfers back and forth are only done in the morning, as strong wind and currents come with the afternoon. On the way, you pass the bay of St. Augustin (apparently, another nice destination), where pirates used to hide, and the island of Nosy Ve, a small stripe of sand where the Vezo (people of the sea) build their big tombs. Most of the trip is done in the lagoon, between the reef and the beach, which gives the opportunity to look at the transparent water sailed by the beautiful Vezo pirogues out in their fishing trips. Anakao is a village built by the beach, hosting 5.000 people, with hotels for different pockets. Water is difficult to reach, and people make holes in the sand to collect salty water to drink.

However, this time we continued further, passing another small village until reaching “l’altra faccia della luna” (the other face of the moon), a charming place designed and crafted by Diego. There, facing the island of Nosy Satrana, we enjoyed the company of the other guests and people passing by, as well as the sun, the sea, the fresh food, the scenery, the dunes, etc. It has been a great setting to continue working on our Malagasy, on our research work, and to dream a bit…

We’ll most likely travel south for our research, and we’re looking forward to it.

Italiano: non so dire con certezza se Dio esiste, ma posso dire che c’è un Paradiso, non è lontano da Anakao, sudest Madagascar!

La scorsa settimana ci siamo accorti di avere un lungo weekend davanti a noi, cosi abbiamo deciso di partire per conoscere un po’ meglio la zona. Le spiagge a sud di Tulear sono rinomate per la loro bellezza, ma raggiungerle non è facile (ed è costoso), abbiamo quindi pensato che fossero una giusta meta per un weekend un po’ più lungo del solito. Abbiamo controllato che un posto italiano raccomandato da molti, avesse posto per noi, abbiam preso due posti su una barca, preparato uno zainetto con poche cose, e siamo partiti. Il viaggio si è mostrato interessante dall’inizio: i porticcioli qui non sono molto comuni, perché la marea è di circa 3 mt., così le barche si avvicinano il più possibile alle spiagge ma per raggiungerle bisogna andare con gli zebù!

Per andare ad Anakao ci vuole circa 1 ora e mezza, e il viaggio di andata come di ritorno e’ fatto al mattino per evitare il forte vento e le correnti che arrivano con il pomeriggio. Nel tragitto si passano la baia di St. Augustin (un'altra bella destinazione, pare) usata una volta dai pirati per nascondersi, e l’isola di Nosy Ve, dove i Vezo (gente del mare), costruiscono le loro grandi tombe. La gran parte del viaggio si fa attraverso la laguna, tra la barriera corallina e la spiaggia, ed è possibile osservare l’acqua trasparente e le piroghe Vezo che l’attraversano nei loro viaggi alla ricerca di pesce. Anakao si trova sulla spiaggia, ed ospita 5.000 abitanti insieme ad alcuni alberghi buoni per diverse tasche. L’acqua è difficile da trovare e le persone fanno delle buche nella sabbia da cui ricavano acqua salata da bere. Stavolta però, non ci siamo fermati ad Anakao, abbiamo continuato un po’ più a lungo e passando per un altro piccolo villaggio siamo arrivati all’Altra faccia della luna, un posto affascinante creato dall’immaginazione e dalle mani sapienti di Diego. Lì, di fronte all’isola di Nosy Satrana, abbiamo goduto della compagnia degli ospiti e degli amici di Diego, nonché del sole, del mare, del cibo freschissimo, del paesaggio, delle dune, ecc. E’ stata una splendida cornice per continuare il nostro lavoro con la lingua Malgascia, con la ricerca, e per sognare un po’…

Molto probabilmente la nostra ricerca ci porterà di nuovo a viaggiare verso sud, non vediamo l’ora.

Cite de la Joie

2008-12-09T16:26:00.002+03:00

I know this is a blog and not a touristic guide, but I have to tell about a very nice restaurant here in Tulear. It is called (city of joy) and it is a very special place. Part of a bigger complex, where disabled people are received and taken care of, Cite de la Joie has disabled cooks and waitresses. The food was very good: Malagasy plates are very well executed and presented. The prices are low, which makes the restaurant accessible to Malagasy people too. And the whole ambience was clean and friendly. Florence, a French girl who volunteers there, told us about this place. When I heard the name I thought that of course the “joy” was all meant for the disabled people. But now I know that joy is what the smiling people working there are giving to you…together with a delicious meal!

So, Madzebu recommend this restaurant!

Italiano: Lo so che questo è un blog e non una guida turistica, ma devo segnalarvi un ristorante che merita, qui a Tulear. Si chiama Cite de la Joie (città della gioia), ed è un posto davvero speciale. Questo ristorante è parte di un complesso più grande, dove persone disabili vengono accolte e assistite. Tra loro ci sono anche i cuochi e i camerieri della Cite de la Joie. Noi lo abbiamo provato ed era ottimo: i piatti della cucina malgascia sono ben eseguiti e presentati. I prezzi sono bassi, il che rende il ristorante accessibile a tutti, malgasci compresi. L’ambiente è pulito e amichevole. Florence, una giovane francese che lavora al centro come volontaria, ci ha detto di questo posto. Quando ho sentito il nome del ristorante, ho pensato che ovviamente “gioia” era intesa come dono ai disabili. Ma adesso so che la gioia è anche quella che ti danno tutte le persone sorridenti che lavorano li… assieme ad un pasto delizioso.

Madzebu raccomanda questo ristorante!

Everyday life in Tulear

2008-12-01T10:36:00.007+03:00

We have finally reached the stage where we can talk about an everyday life in Tulear. We are about half way in the Malagasy course, and we are close to being fluent now… Well, at least we have learned some key words and sentences making it easier to shake off pousse-pousse drivers, fruit and souvenirs vendors. Bertin, a university professor, is giving us about three hours per day of private tutoring at home. You should think that a language without plural, gender and conjugation of verbs is easy… but we still have to remember a new set of words, that are put together in a bit unusual way. It doesn’t help that the language of instruction is French, a language that we also need to work on.

But our life is far from being difficult: Vohangy is coming every morning at our place; she cleans up the apartment and prepares lunch. So far it has been a very good experience. To shop for food she needs just a Euro or two (8 kr), and she comes back with vegetables, meat/fish, and even fruits! The delicious Malagasy meals are then prepared with an abundance of rice (the first day it was so abundant that we eat rice for the next three meals, breakfast included). She also produces tamarind juice at home that she brings to us a couple of times a week. We just found out that she gets up at 4 am to start preparing the juice and other things her husband sell in his little store, then comes to our house, in the afternoon she makes clothes she sells, makes food for the family, take care of 2 kids, and of course study at the university! We’re getting up at 6 am for our morning walk, and think that’s early!

We have also started to really take advantage of the abundance of fruits and vegetables and other nice things this country has to offer. It is the season for one of Madagascar’s most important export products, the litchi as well as mango, papaya, pineapple, passion fruit and many other fruits we haven’t tasted yet.

We have already told you about the meat market. But as a coastal town, Tulear is at its best when it comes to fish. We met a woman in the street the other day, offering us some tuna (see picture below); we got a couple of nice steaks for our dinner for 80 Eurocents (7 kr).

As for the other tasks we have here, we just discovered that the university will have a break from early December to early March! We then assume that probably we will not start assisting the English teachers before March. That leaves us with plenty of time to work on our research. We’ve been talking with the local WWF office here in Tulear. They are currently working on a project concerning fisheries management financed by Norway that could be very interesting. We would like to explore the possibility of doing our research within that framework. We will then have to do field studies in some fishing villages south of Tulear.

As for the social part we have met quite a lot of my sister Guro’s old friends and colleagues around here. There is also a big Italian community that we’ve had some contact with. And a pleasurable “apero” evening started to be a weekly appointment with our French neighbors. Next time it is our turn to invite the others over for a drink, anyone’s who want to join?

Italiano: siamo finalmente arrivati al momento in cui possiamo palare di una vera e propria vita di tutti i giorni a Tulear. Siamo a metà del nostro corso di malgascio, e parliamo ormai correntemente… cioè, almeno sappiamo qualche parola e frase che ci permettono di dribblare tiratori di pousse-pousse e venditori di frutta e souvenir. Ogni giorno abbiamo tre ore di corso con Bertin, un prof. universitario, a casa nostra. In teoria uno penserebbe che una lingua senza plurale, genere e coniugazione dei verbi dovrebbe essere semplice… ma rimane il fatto che dobbiamo memorizzare un vocabolario tutto nuovo, con delle frasi costruite in maniera un po’ bizzarra. Poi imparare il malgascio dal francese, non rende le cose più facili, giacché anche il francese andrebbe migliorato.

In ogni caso la nostra vita al momento è ben lontana dall’essere complicata: Vohangy viene ogni mattina a casa nostra per dare una pulita e preparare il pranzo. Fin’ora ci siamo trovati davvero bene con lei. Va a fare la spesa per il pranzo con un euro o due, e torna con verdura, carne o pesce, e persino della frutta! Poi prepara dei deliziosi manicaretti malgasci con abbondanza di riso (il primo giorno era cosi abbondante che abbiamo mangiato riso per tre pasti di seguito, colazione compresa). Vohangy prepara anche un ottimo succo di tamarindo a casa, e lo porta un paio di volte a settimana. L’altro giorno parlando, abbiamo scoperto che si alza alle 4 del mattino per preparare i succhi di frutta e altre cose che il marito vende nel loro piccolo chiosco. Poi viene a casa nostra, nel pomeriggio confeziona vestiti su misura da vendere, prepara i pasti per la sua famiglia, si occupa dei suoi due figli, e naturalmente studia all’università’! E noi che pensavamo che svegliarsi alle 6 del mattino per la nostra camminata giornaliera fosse presto!

Abbiamo anche cominciato ad approfittare dell’abbondanza di frutta, verdura e altre meraviglie che il Madagascar offre. Come uno dei maggiori prodotti d’esportazione: infatti e’ la stagione del litchi! E dei manghi (grazie Pippi), papaye, ananas, frutti della passione, e un mare di altra roba ancora da provare. Vi abbiamo già detto del mercato della carne, ma essendo sulla costa, Tulear da il meglio di se stessa col pesce. L’altro giorno abbiamo incontrato una donna per strada che ci ha offerto del tonno fresco (foto sotto); abbiamo comprato 2 bei tranci per cena per appena 80 centesimi di euro.

Per quanto riguarda il lavoro, abbiamo appena scoperto che l’università’ chiude per le vacanze da dicembre a marzo! Ne desumiamo che l’assistenza all’insegnamento dell’inglese dovrà con tutta probabilità attendere. Questo ci lascia ampio spazio per il lavoro di ricerca. Abbiamo parlato don dei rappresentanti dell’ufficio locale del WWF. Stanno lavorando ad un progetto riguardante la gestione delle risorse marittime finanziato dalla Norvegia. La cosa ci sembra interessante e stiamo valutando la possibilità di lavorare in quest’ambito. Nel caso, si tratterebbe di fare ricerca di terreno in alcuni villaggi di pescatori a sud di Tulear.

Per quanto riguarda l’aspetto sociale, abbiamo incontrato diversi vecchi amici e colleghi di Guro (la sorella di Birger che ha lavorato qui 4 anni fa). Inoltre abbiamo avuto dei contatti con alcuni italiani, poiché siamo numerosi qui a Tulear (!!). Inoltre è iniziato un piacevole appuntamento settimanale con i nostri vicini francesi. La prossima volta eé il nostro turno, chi viene?

e io ho anche fatto il pane:

"Oh shit!"

2008-11-21T16:36:00.004+03:00

...that was our thoughts when we first saw the rats in the backyard of our building. The rats were everywhere, and they were huge. They didn’t seem to mind the company of humans, nor did the humans seem to mind the company of the rats.

Oh shit, was also my thought when I saw the pieces of familiar looking black droppings, first in our bedroom, and then later in almost all the other rooms of our apartment. The thought of one of the huge rats from our backyard running around us made even a stomach troubled Venusia scared shitless.

After the first panic was gone it struck us as a bit strange that a rat could run around in our apartment without touching the food in the kitchen. Then two bright ideas came up (I’m still uncertain how one was connected to the other):

1. Could it be our cute mosquito eating geckoes leaving these traces around in our house?

2. Let’s call Venusia’s mum.

The conversation that followed was something like this:

Venusia: Mamma mia, how does gecko droppings look like?

Mamma: They are quite big looking like the excrement of a mouse, and then they have a small white peace in one end…

Problem solved! From that day I promised myself to stop teasing Venusia for calling her mum whenever there is something.

Italiano: Oh merda! Questo e’ stato il nostro pensiero quando abbiamo visto i numerosi ratti nel cortile dei vicini (esattamente dietro casa nostra, sotto il nostro balcone). I ratti erano ovunque, ed erano grossi. Non davano l’impressione di essere disturbati dalla presenza umana, né i nostri vicini sembravano minimamente reagire alla loro presenza.

Oh merda! E’ stato anche il mio pensiero quando ho scoperto tracce di familiari pezzetti marroni, nella nostra camera da letto, ed in quasi tutte le altre stanze del nostro appartamento. Il pensiero di uno dei grassi ratti del cortile a spasso per casa, ha reso stitico anche il delicato intestino di Venusia [il gioco di parole in inglese è difficile da tradurre, dato che la paura da noi non rende stitici, ma il contrario… si accettano suggerimenti]. Dopo il primo attacco di panico, ci siamo resi conto della stranezza che un ratto potesse andarsene in giro per casa senza approcciare il cibo in cucina. A quel punto due idee ci sono venute in mente (non sono sicuro come l’una fosse connessa all’altra):

1.Possibile che i nostri graziosi amici mangia-zanzare, i geco [anche qui come per i manghi: ma il plurale di geco e’ geci?!? Mi rifiuto… aspetto che Francesca m’illumini], abbiano lasciato quelle tracce in giro per casa?

2.Bisogna chiamare la mamma di Venusia.

La conversazione è avvenuta più o meno così:

Venusia: mammina, com’e’ la cacca del geco?

Mamma: Sono grandine come quelle di un topo, però hanno una puntina bianca ad un’estremità’.

Problema risolto! Da quel giorno mi sono ripromesso di smettere di prendere in giro Venusia perché telefona alla mamma ogni volta che c’e’ qualcosa.

[Mi permetto di dire la mia: non e’ vero che chiamo mamma ogni volta che c’e’ qualcosa! Uffa!].

We are invited to a funeral…

2008-11-21T16:27:00.002+03:00

...it will take place in July 2009

As for Harold and Maud, funeral ceremonies has become were things are happening in our life.

Saturday we received the sad message that the sister of Lucien David passed away. Lucien David is a professor in anthropology and has taken care of us our first days in Tulear. Our Malagasy teacher, Berten, fortunately gave us a clear answer when we asked him what to do in a situation like that: we had to go see our colleague to give our condolences. We were explained that we needed to bring an envelope with some money, and then there were some things that needed to be said. Fortunately, Berten, promised to take care of the latter.

We went over to the house of the deceased in a pousse-pousse (rickshaw). We were met by Lucien David who presented us to the family and led us to his sister, who was resting on a bed with a mosquito net protecting her from the flies.

Afterwards we sat down. The ritual followed exactly the pattern Berten explained us before. Lucien David thanked us for coming. Berten expressed sadness for the lost of his sister, but that he should know that he is not alone in this difficult moment and that we will be there for him. We handed over the envelope underlining that it is a modest contribution to help the family in this difficult moment (while we saw that some others offered big bags of rice or alive zebus instead). On behalf of the family Lucien David thanked us for being present and for the contribution.

Understanding that it could be interesting for us, Lucien David then invited us to come back in the evening for the wake.

So we did, together with probably close to 100 other people sitting or laying around the modest home. We then understood what the money was for. All the people showing up should be provided food, and later drinks and coffee. And this is going on for several nights. Our host explained us with a smile that some of them probably came just to get a meal. After a religious function and the meal, people gather in groups and sing in turn. Beer and other drinks are offered, so the songs slowly shift from psalms to very lively tunes. Unfortunately, we had to leave quite early, so we missed out on the real party and the impressing choirs that Malagasy are able to build up when gathered to sing.

However, before we left, Berten told us about a 111 year (!) old woman that died this August in the hometown of his wife (south of Tulear). According to the beliefs of the Mahafaly people, the funeral will take place one year later! The corps is treated with traditional medicine to not smell, and it rests in the heat until the funeral takes place 12 months later. We got invited to come to see this funeral in July 2009, which should be a big event, with alcohol, dancing and singing and of course offering of Zebus.

I guess it’s an offer(ing) we can’t refuse…

Italiano: come in “Harold and Maud”, I funerali sono diventati il posto dove succedono le cose. Sabato abbiamo ricevuto la triste notizia della morte della sorella di Lucien David. Lui è professore di antropologia e si è occupato di noi dal nostro arrivo a Tulear. Abbiamo chiesto come comportarci al nostro professore di malgascio, Berten, che ci ha fornito una chiara spiegazione: visitare il nostro collega per le condoglianze, fatte secondo una formula precisa e preparare una busta con dei soldi. Fortunatamente Berten si è offerto di accompagnarci e di occuparsi delle condoglianze. Ci siamo dunque recati a casa della defunta in pousse-pousse (rickshaw), dove abbiamo incontrato Lucien David e la famiglia della defunta, che riposava in una stanza protetta da una zanzariera. Ci siamo seduti e abbiamo seguito il rituale: Lucien David ci ha ringraziato per essere venuti e Berten ha espresso la tristezza per la perdita, evidenziando che noi tutti eravamo li per la famiglia, che dunque non era sola. Abbiamo consegnato la busta (mentre altri hanno offerto grossi sacchi di riso e zebù vivi), sottolineando che si trattava del nostro modesto contributo per la famiglia ne difficile momento. Infine, Lucien David ci ha ringraziato a nome della famiglia per la visita e il contributo. Inoltre, capendo l’interesse che la cerimonia poteva rappresentare per noi, ci ha invitato a tornare la sera per la veglia. Alla sera eravamo circa un centinaio attorno alla modesta casa. E abbiamo capito a cosa serviva il contributo nella busta: la famiglia in lutto deve, infatti, provvedere cibo, bevande e caffè per tutti, per diversi giorni. Lucien ci ha spiegato che, in effetti, alcune persone con tutta probabilità per accedere al pasto. Dopo la messa e la distribuzione della cena, le persone si sono riunite in gruppetti per cantare a turno. Birra e altre bevande vengono offerte, cosi i salmi si trasformano poco alla volta in canti ben più vivaci. Sfortunatamente, abbiamo dovuto lasciare la festa, e ci siamo persi il party vero e proprio: i malgasci che riuniti in coro danno sfogo alle loro impressionanti doti canore.

In ogni caso, prima di andar via, Berten ci ha detto di una donna di 111 anni (!) morta lo scorso agosto nel villaggio di provenienza di sua moglie (sud di Tulear). Secondo le tradizioni dei Mahafaly del luogo, i funerali si celebrano a un anno dalla morte! Il corpo è trattato con medicine tradizionali per evitare i cattivi odori, e riposa nel caldo tropicale fino al funerale, 12 mesi dopo. Berten ci ha invitato a vedere questo funerale a luglio 2009, che dovrebbe essere un grande evento, con alcool, danze, canti e ovviamente l’offerta di zebù.

Un’offerta che non possiamo rifiutare…

Here a photo of a funeral passing outside our place... we heard the music 5 minutes before we could see them! Una foto di un funerale passato sotto casa nostra, la musica era talmente alta che si sentiva ben prima di poter vedere il corteo!

The meat market(s)

2008-11-14T16:13:00.006+03:00

Meat for vazaha (white people) like us is quite central in the weekly diet. We still have to take care with salad and fruit: if they are not peeled or cooked vegetables can still ruin our day, and make us best friends of the toilet. So, we end up eating more meat than we would normally do (also because I’m intolerant to many fishes). The easiest way is to go to a restaurant, ask for a well-done piece and eat in peace. But, if we want to eat a filet at home, we obviously have to buy it. The city doesn’t offer supermarkets with fridges, or germ-free butcher store. The place to go is the market, where small benches lined up on the side of the streets shows the meat ready cut or minced. Pieces of pork or zebu are aligned under the shining sun at more than 30°C, with all the consequent odors. You are also offered an excellent example of the great biodiversity of Madagascar through all the insects that are feasting of the meat. However, when we asked some Malagasy friends where to buy good fresh meat, that’s the place we got addressed too. I guess, we’ll just have to get used to it.

Another “meat market” it will be more difficult to get used to, impossible we would say, is the “Club Za-Za”. We went out with some people yesterday night, and as Tuesdays doesn’t offer much life, we went to the only place “always alive”… When we arrived the picture wasn’t the most comforting: 30-40 young girls (how many of them were underage is difficult to say as Malagasy look all very young), where dancing in the middle of the club, while a few people where sitting around. We weren’t the only vazaha in the room, but I was the only vazaha girl. That the main “market” place in Tulear is the “Club Za-Za”, is not a secret, as all the guide books warns tourist about it. The game was pretty clear, and doesn’t have to be explained in detail. Asking some of the more experienced “vazahas” we learned that you should be able to get a night with one of these girls for about 10 – 20 000 Ariary (4-10 Euro). The two beers we paid in the bar were 10 000 Ariary.

We are starting to read documents on Madagascar in general and Tulear in particular, and we’re getting the picture that prostitution is not at all a marginal phenomenon. Many girls (and families) see this as the solution for their problems and as a way to easy money. However, we have to admit, that after spending some time there, we got the feeling that some girls (and men) where really there just to dance and have fun. When the more traditional music came on some of the girls showed off some amazing dancing skills. But, we wonder how many would be able to refuse to gain some easy money if offered, how many of them where there with the hope of getting to work, and we can’t stop asking ourselves how their life story is.

Italiano: la carne per i vazaha (bianchi), come noi è un elemento centrale della dieta settimanale. Dobbiamo stare attenti con insalata e frutta: se non sono sbucciate o cotte, frutta e verdura possono rovinarci la giornata, trasformandoci nei migliori amici del bagno. Di conseguenza, finiamo col mangiare più carne del normale (anche perché io sono intollerante a molti pesci). Il modo più facile è andare al ristorante, chiedere per un pezzo ben cotto, e mangiare in pace. Ma se vogliamo mangiare casa, ovviamente dobbiamo comprarci la carne da noi. La città non offre supermercati con frigoriferi o macellerie asettiche. Il posto dove andare è il mercato, dove su banchetti allineati lati della strada, si trova la carne già tagliata o macinata. I pezzi di maiale e zebù sono sotto il sole che brilla a più di 30°C, con i conseguenti odori. Ed è compreso un eccellente campionario esemplificante la biodiversità del Madagascar: insetti che banchettano sui tagli di carne. In ogni caso, quando abbiamo chiesto in giro dove comprare della carne buona e fresca, siamo stati indirizzati verso il mercato. Quindi, pare che dobbiamo solo abituarci.

Un altro “mercato della carne” al quale e più difficile abituarsi, se non impossibile, è il “Club Za-Za”. Siamo usciti con un po’ di gente l’altra sera, ed essendo martedì’ siamo andati nell’unico posto dove “c’e’ sempre vita”… Al nostro arrivo, l’immagine non è stata delle più confortanti: 30-40 ragazze danzavano al centro della sala, mentre poche altre persone sedevano ai divanetti attorno (quante fossero minorenni, è difficile dire, giacché i malgasci sembrano tutti giovani). Non eravamo gli unici vazaha, ma io ero l’unica ragazza vazaha. Il fatto che il “mercato” principale di Tulear sia “Club Za-Za”, non e’ un segreto: tutte le guide mettono i turisti in guardia. Il gioco era abbastanza chiaro, e non c’e’ bisogno di dilungarsi in spiegazioni dettagliate. Chiedendo alcuni dei vazaha più esperti, abbiamo scoperto che per una notte con una delle ragazze dovrebbero essere sufficienti 10-20 000 Aryary (4-10 Euro). Le due birre prese al bar sono costate 10 000 Aryary.

Abbiamo cominciato a leggere documenti sul Madagascar, in particolare su Tulear, dai quali si deduce che la prostituzione non è un fenomeno marginale. Molte ragazze (e famiglie), la vedono come la soluzione dei loro problemi, il modo per accedere un guadagno facile. In ogni caso, devo ammettere che dopo un po’ di tempo passato nel club, ho avuto l’impressione che molte ragazze (e uomini), fossero li davvero solo per danzare e divertirsi. Tuttavia non riusciamo a smettere di chiederci quante di loro riuscirebbero a rifiutare quei soldi facili se offerti, quante erano lì con la speranza si lavorare quella stessa notte, e non riusciamo a smettere di domandarci quali sono le storie di queste ragazze.

Augurissimi alla mia disponibilissima congata GIOVANNA e alla mitica CHIARA:
BUON COMPLEANNO!!! Quando ci vediamo si festeggia con gli interessi!

:-)

Making Tulear home

2008-11-08T16:02:00.020+03:00

Arriving in Tulear and installing ourselves in a house wasn’t as straightforward as we hoped. We actually got to a house, but let say it like that: we passed and installed ourselves in a simple hotel instead (the one with the mango rain). A plan B was anyway ready for us, and we went to see another place. This one was almost too much for us. It is nice, but it has a lot of extra space. So, we waited a couple of days to see if we could find a smaller one. But, as Guro (the Tulear expert of the family, sister of Birger) said: “i Tulear er det enten eller”, things are at the two extreme: yesterday we moved in our big apartment. We discovered that we’re not the only ones to use a lot of space: 2 Italians occupy our twin flat, while upstairs we have one French young man. We still have to discover who else is here, but so far the people seemed very nice. As we moved in, it seemed very clean, someone even dusted the floors at our arrival. But when we started to clean one bathroom, we understood that the beige color of the ceramics was once white. We sweated a lot, and now we have some strange nuances there, but we feel it is clean. This city is dusty, very dusty. Yes, Guro told us before, but I couldn’t imagine that our terrace, over a night, would look very close to a beach site. Dust in the hair, on the skin, on the clothes, in the sandals, on the Mac, everywhere. The skin gets dry and our idea of being or not clean has changed a bit already… (we don’t smell, I promise). Nevertheless, I start to like it here! The sun shines everyday, and there is plenty of people everywhere. The rhythm is slower and very different (we’re often up before 6am and in bed before 22), and we enjoy our slow start in Madagascar. Here we are: getting ready to meet a friend at 9am, in the “middle” of the morning…

Italiano: Arrivare a Tulear e installarsi in una casa non è stato automatico come speravamo. In effetti, c’era una casa per noi, ma diciamo che abbiamo passato e siamo andati invece in un piccolo hotel (quello della pioggia dei mango). In ogni caso era pronto per noi un piano B: siamo andati a vedere un altro posto. Questo era persino troppo per noi. Bello, ma con un sacco di spazio extra. Abbiamo quindi deciso di aspettare un po’ per provare a trovarne uno più piccolo. Ma come dice Guro (l’esperta di Tulear, sorella di Birger): “i Tulear er det enten eller”, a Tulear ci sono solo estremi, per cui ieri ci siamo trasferiti nell’appartamento grande. Abbiamo anche scoperto di non essere gli unici ad usare un sacco di spazio: accanto ci sono 2 italiani (!!), e sopra c’e’ un francese della nostra età. Non sappiamo bene chi altro abita qui, ma per ora i vicini sembrano gentili. Al nostro arrivo la casa ci è sembrata pulita, qualcuno ha persino spazzato i pavimenti al nostro arrivo. Quando però abbiamo cominciato a pulire uno dei bagni, ci siamo resi conto che le piastrelle non erano beige ma bianche. Ci siamo fatti una sudata, e ora il bagno ha delle strane sfumature, però è pulito. Questa città è polverosa, molto polverosa. Guro lo aveva detto ma chi poteva immaginare che dopo appena una notte il nostro terrazzo si sarebbe trasformato quasi in una spiaggia? Polvere nei capelli, sulla pelle, sui vestiti, nei sandali, sul Mac, ovunque. La pelle si secca e la nostra idea di pulizia è cambiata già un po’ (ma non puzziamo, promesso). In ogni caso, qui comincia a piacermi! Il sole splende ogni giorno, e c’e’ un sacco di gente intorno. Il ritmo di vita è più lento e molto diverso (spesso ci alziamo prima delle 6am, e siamo a letto prima delle 22), e ci godiamo il nostro lento inizio in Madagascar. Eccoci qua: a prepararci per incontrare un’amica alle 9am, nel “mezzo” della mattinata…

Mangos keep falling on our heads...

2008-11-05T12:11:00.005+03:00

In Tulear there is not much conventional rain. It is a rather dry city. However, in the little hotel we’re staying another type of rain is offered – mango rain. Mango rain differentiates from conventional rain first and foremost by the sound. I tend to sleep normal through conventional rain, the soothing sound of rain on the roof might even lead to nice calm dreams.

Mango rain is different; it wakes you up in the middle of the night thinking that you just got shot. Mangos falling five meters down on a thin metal roof makes a lot of sound! Waking up like that five times during one night is a good proof that our hearts are in good conditions. And I’m sure that eating the mangos are making our heart even stronger.

Italiano: In Tulear non c’e pioggia vera e propria. La città è piuttosto asciutta. In ogni caso, nel piccolo hotel dove siamo alloggiati c’è un altro tipo di pioggia: la pioggia dei mango. La pioggia dei mango differisce da quella convenzionale prima di tutto per il rumore. Ho l’abitudine di dormire normalmente con la pioggia tradizionale, il rumore delle gocce sul tetto mi aiuta addirittura a fare sogni d’oro.

La pioggia dei mango è diversa; ti sveglia nel cuore della notte facendoti pensare che ti hanno appena sparato. Un mango che cade per cinque metri fino ad incontrare il sottile tetto di metallo, fa un sacco di rumore! Svegliarsi in questa maniera per cinque volte durante una notte, è la prova che il nostro cuore e’ in buone condizioni. E sono sicuro che mangiare poi i mango fa diventare il nostro cuore ancora più forte.

(P.S. da Venusia: ma si dice “i mango” o “i manghi”? A me la seconda suona strana, ma ditemi che ne pensate, sto dimenticando la grammatica italiana. Help!)

.

Tulear

2008-11-05T11:33:00.002+03:00

We have finally found a place in Tulear with ok connection. So now we can report a bit from here. We are still not installed in our own apartment. The one that was waiting for us was all but nice. We realized very fast that staying there even one night would be difficult.

We were very uncertain on how to tell that to the very nice people that are taking care of us here. At a moment we even started doubting our choice to go here. But it ended up being no problem. I guess they already knew, and they had another option ready waiting for us. It is a nice and huge apartment, and it seems that it is the apartment we are getting.

As for the work, we have started studying some articles and we are expecting to meet our Malagasy teacher soon. It is so hot, that moving too fast forward is just counter productive. Hope to bring some more texts and photos from the city soon.

Day 3 on the RN7

2008-11-03T17:17:00.003+03:00

My first impression of Fianarnsoa wasn’t good. I had no second impression, so I was happy to leave the city after a sleepless night. I got to drive the first part, with a challenging way out of town: pedestrians everywhere popping in front of the car, while trucks where all around. It could only get better, and it did. Soon I understood that the road would be much easier, and the surrounding would be very nice too. But it was a lot better, we could cruise at almost 80Km/h and the view was just breathtaking. We drove trough the Malagasies’ savanna, a extensive plain, where the sight had no interruptions: it was the ground, the sky, a long road and a Samurai on it. Scattered at the horizon some red-rock mountains. Nothing more than that, yet so beautiful. Birger got to drive, and I spent my time looking out with the big eyes of a kid looking something for the first time. The second to be honest, as today I got reminded many times of the dusty and dry sub-Saharan Africa, Africa as I learned it. We stopped for the night in a lodge in a natural park called Isalo, alone worth a trip to this Island. Tomorrow we should arrive to Tulear, and discover where we’ll spend the next 14 months. But first, I think we’ll get a short trip in Isalo. (we got some nice picture, but we're not able to upload them... we'll try again asap).

Italiano: La mia prima impressione di Fianarnsoa non Ë stata delle migliori. E non avendo avuto nessuna seconda impressione, sono stata contenta di lasciare la citt‡ dopo una notte insonne. Ho guidato nella prima difficile parte del viaggio: pedoni ovunque che apparivano davanti all’auto mentre camion sembravano stare tutt’intorno. La situazione poteva solo migliorare, e lo ha fatto. Presto ho capito che la strada sarebbe stata più facile, ed il paesaggio bello. Ma era molto meglio: si poteva viaggiare a quasi 80Km/h e il panorama toglieva il respiro. Abbiamo viaggiato nella savana malagscia, una piana estesa, dove la vista non trova nessuna interruzione: c’erano il suolo, il cielo, una lunga strada e un Samurai. Sparse all’orizzonte alcune montagne di roccia rossa. Niente di più, e al contempo bellissimo. Birger si Ë messo alla guida, ed io ho passato il tempo a guardare fuori con gli occhioni di un bimbo che vede le cose per la prima volta. La seconda a dire il vero, giacchè molte cose mi hanno ricordato la polverosa e asciutta Africa sub-sahariana, l’Africa come l’ho conosciuta io. Ci siamo fermati per la notte in un parco naturale chiamato Isalo, che vale da solo il viaggio in questa isola.
Domani dovremmo arrivare a Tulear, e scoprire dove spenderemo i prossimi 14 mesi. Ma prima credo che faremo un giretto per Isalo.
(abbiamo fatto delle belle foto, ma con questa connessione non riusciamo a caricarle, riproveremo presto...).

AUGURI DI BUON COMPLEANNO AI MIEI FRATELLI, IVO e LUIGI!

Day 2 on the RN7

2008-11-03T17:01:00.002+03:00

It is 4.30 am, and I can’t remember if I woke up early or I haven’t been able to sleep at all. We’re on our way from Antananarivo to Tulear. Yesterday we moved from Antsirabe (where Birger spent some years of his childhood) to Fianarantsoa. The RN7, the road we’re traveling on, offers quite nice scenery, views and villages, as well as people (a woman even invited us inside her house). But driving on it requires a lot of energy, as the level of alert needs to always be at his best. Huge trucks are suddenly coming occupying most of the narrow road, taxi brousse (or taxi-be) are going as fast as they can, and people are walking dangerously on the sides of the roads, popping out behind turns. If that wasn’t enough, the road can surprise you with some painful holes in the ground, or scare you with all its narrow bridges where one car a time can pass and no side protection is offered! Anyway, with our Samurai we can’t go very fast, and we’re managing well all the other challenges. Nevertheless, what our skills could do nothing with is the weather. We started our trip in the sun, but after a couple of hours we began to see a dark cloud over a mountain, with some bright lightening. Of course we hoped the road would not bring us in the middle of it, and of course we were wrong. Honestly, I can’t say how long it passed between the first drop of rain, and the branch of three that broke our front window, when brought down by the heavy storm. We had to have an emergency stop because the rain was so heavy that we couldn’t see over 10cm in front of our faces (beside the broken window, that likely kept all the pieces together), and be testimony of the rain attacking the Samurai so hard, that we got a bit wet thanks to the licking (none told us we should test if the car was rainproof). In about 20minutes time we were again on the road driving, looking forward to arrive at destination, for a shower-dinner-sleep. The sun came back laughing at our injured Samurai, but helped us to arrive before night. The hotel we stopped at was below our hope, and the shower wasn’t what we dreamed (it wasn’t even warm); dinner wasn’t that cool either, as I found a rat-excrement in my plate. The girls working in the restaurant where visibly surprised and embarrassed, so I guess it wasn’t ok for them either, however, eating was not fun any longer. And when it comes to the sleep…we’ll here I am, writing to you. I’m looking forward to start day 3 on the road, enjoy a safe trip and arrive to the beautiful park of Isalo, near Ranohira, in 297Km (hopefully in less than 7-8 hours).

Antsirabe!

2008-10-30T21:28:00.005+03:00

I am writing this blog entry from a little bungalow in a familiar garden. In 1986 we lived in the house that this garden belongs to for a month or so. Strange to be back. The cactus that ruined my nice new football is still here...

Cool to be back in Antsirabe. Just went down Rue Stavanger to have a look at my old school. Tried to publish a photo, but I guess it have to wait for tomorrow.

The little warrior was on our side all day. Let's hope it's keeping up the good work. It's a long journey, and speed isn't our Samurai's biggest asset.

Visa-last chapter

2008-10-30T06:49:00.006+03:00

We went down to the Ministry yesterday. We came back with two Visas for one year! We can hardly believe it! It seemed so easy. Just a bit waiting. No begging, no humiliation, no name dropping… It was there. Ready for us!
Today we are suppose to pay for our little warrior, and then we’re on our way down south. 954 kilometers away is Tulear. We’re planning on spending some days on the journey. Plenty of things to see on the way. Hope to get some nice photos. Maybe we’ll be in our own little apartment from Sunday!

Italiano: Siamo andati al ministero ieri. E siamo tornati con due Visti per un anno! Facciamo fatica a crederci! É sembrato fin troppo facile. Solo un po’ di attesa, nessuna umiliazione o nomi da fare… era lì, pronto per noi! Oggi dovremo pagare il nostro piccolo guerriero, e poi diretti a sud. A 954 kilometri c’e’ Tulear. Pensiamo di metterci qualche giorno, dato che ci sono un sacco di cose da vedere per strada. Speriamo di fare qualche bella foto. E, se tutto va bene, domenica saremo nel nostro appartamento!

Obtaining a Visa – part ?

2008-10-29T13:15:00.037+03:00

It was with mixed feelings we went back to our friend in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He looked down at the papers that had been sent with express delivery from Tulear. Of course he found the first mistake quite fast. For some reason it was written 2008 and not 2010 (end of stay). He told us that we have to get a new letter from the University… We could believe it. We were actually not surprised. It seemed to be clear that obtaining the Visa extension shouldn’t be easy. Our disappointment was obvious. My shoulders sunk down to the height of my hips. Now it was time for crawling to this powerful man. We considered going down on our knees to beg, but fortunately we didn’t have to get that far. I will accept your applications, he said suddenly, after seeing some of our other documents. In 72 hours you can come and get your visa. We still don’t believe that we will actually get it. Especially since we know that there are other mistakes in one of our documents. Two places it’s written 2 instead of 3. We cross our fingers… in a few hours we'll know the result.

Finally, if we get the Visa tomorrow, we’ll be happy to know that can be obtained it in the normal way (as getting too much help might make us a bit uncomfortable…)

Italiano: Siamo tornati dal nostro amico al Ministero degli Esteri. I documenti da consegnarli ci sono arrivati con consegna espressa da Tulear. Ma già ad una prima occhiata il nostro uomo ha trovato un errore: 2008 invece di 2010 (data di scadenza del nuovo visto), e ci ha chiesto di richiedere una nuova lettera… onestamente non ci ha sorpreso, ottenere il prolungamento del Visto non poteva essere cosi semplice! Mi sono crollate le spalle. Era arrivato il momento di inginocchiarci e supplicare, ma fortunatamente non c’è n’è stato bisogno, il nostro uomo ha accettato la nostra domanda dopo aver controllato altri documenti. In 72 ore dovremmo ottenere il nostro nuovo Visto. Ma non ci illudiamo, sappiamo che nei documenti ci sono altri errori…in due posti c’e’ scritto 2 invece di 3! Incrociamo le dita… tra poche ore sapremo.

Infine, se otteniamo il Visto domani, saremo felici di sapere che puo essere ottenuto attraverso le normali procedure (avere troppi aiuti non ci mette molto a nostro agio…)

If you com to Madagascar...

2008-10-29T07:37:00.008+03:00

... you'll not believe your eyes when you'll see all the beautiful handcraft available here. Nice and colorful hats, beautiful bags, cute and solid cotton t-shirts, handmade paper, wood-carved games, shiny stones and fossils, great kitchen equipment made of wood or zebu-horns, etc.! It is fantastic! This city have many markets, it is actually a market-city as vendors are everywhere. The other day we went to a market on the periphery of the city... more than 100 small "stores" with so many beautiful things where there. We managed to just look, but we're so going back sometime.

So, if you come to Madagascar just bring a couple of change in your mostly empty bags (and some presents for the people here), you wont have problem to fill the space!

Italiano: ...non crederai ai tuoi occhi quando vedrai tutti i prodotti artigianali di questo Paese! Bellissimi cappelli colorati e borse, solide e carinissime t-shirt, carta fatta a mano, giochi intagliati nel legno, pietre brillanti e fossili, ottimi utensili da cucina in legno o in corno di zebu, ecc.! E' fantastico! La citta' ha cosi tanti mercati che e' un mercato lei stessa, con venditori ovunque. L'altro giorno siamo andati ad un mercato nella periferia della citta'... piu' di 100 botteghe piene di cose bellissime. Siamo riusciti a fare un giro "solo per vedere", ma ci torneremo. Quindi, se venite in Madagascar, portate solo un paio di cambi nelle vostre valige semi-vuote (e qualche regalo per la gente di qui), non avrete problemi a riempirle!

The little warrior

2008-10-29T07:25:00.014+03:00

Buying a used car in the city where 2CVs have eternal life wasn’t easy either. We looked and looked for a little 4X4 warrior that would stay with us for our 14 months here. We read “les petites annoncés” everyday in the newspapers, we walked around in Avenue de l’Indépendance (where many sellers stand beside their cars), and phoned all the dealers we found on our phone book from 1998-99 (until we found one from 2005). Finally, a phone number worked and a man hardly understandable answered: yes, we have a little 4x4 a Suzuki Samurai, interesting price. What a perfect name for our little warrior! It was as we wanted it: little, rough, a bit worn out and rusty, but very charming. Yes, the price was interesting, and we just needed someone to check the engine. Olsen was our man (he is Malagasy but is great grandfather was Norwegian, therefore the interesting surname); he is the driver at the Norwegian mission and also a mechanic. He was positive when we saw the car together: the engine was good (just the transmission to change, which was ok for the owners to do). Later he seemed a bit more skeptical. As all the Malagasy, he asked us why we didn’t buy a new car, or at least a newer car. We found out that to try to convince them that vazahas like us don’t have enough money for a newer car is useless.

The weekend went with offers and counteroffers via phone. Finally, we agree on a price, which includes all the paper work done by the dealer (who is more a fixer, he has a office with his mum-a layer- where they give assistance on…everything!). Thursday is the big Samurai day: we’ll get the car keys and documents (other papers will wait us in Tulear), but before we have to pay the 35 million FMG cash!!

Italiano: comprare un auto nuova in una città nella quale le 2cavalli hanno vita eterna non è stato facile. Abbiamo cercato per un piccolo guerriero 4X4 che potesse stare con noi nei prossimi 14mesi qui. Abbiamo letto tutti giorni “les petites annoncés” sui giornali, camminato in Avenue de l’Indépendance (dove venditori attendono vicini alle auto in vendita), e telefonato a tutte le concessionarie trovate nell’elenco telefonico 1998-99 (finche abbiamo trovato quello 2005). Alla fine un uomo difficilmente comprensibile ha risposto: si, abbiamo una piccola 4X4, una Suzuki Samurai ad un prezzo interessante. Abbiamo pensato che fosse un nome perfetto per il nostro piccolo guerriero! Era come lo volevamo: piccolo, rustico, un po’ vecchiotto e arrugginito ma certamente affascinante. Si, anche il prezzo era interessante, non mancava che far controllare il motore. Il nostro uomo per il lavoro era Olsen (che è Malgascio ma con un bisnonno norvegese che ne spiega il cognome interessante); è l’autista della missione norvegese nonché meccanico. Il suo responso è stato positivo quando abbiamo visto l’auto insieme (solo la trasmissione da cambiare, che i proprietari hanno accettato di fare). Pii tardi però Olsen è sembrato più scettico. Come tutti i Malgasci, ci ha chiesto perché non compravamo un’auto nuova , o almeno più nuova. Abbiamo scoperto che provare a convincerli che vazahas come noi non sempre hanno abbastanza soldi per un’auto nuova, è inutile.

Il finesettimana l’abbiamo passato facendo offerte e controfferte via telefono. Alla fine abbiamo trovato un’intesa sul prezzo, che include tutte le spese per i documenti fatti dal venditore (che è più un azzeccagarbugli, ed ha un ufficio con sua madre- avvocato- in cui danno assistenza su…tutto!). Giovedì è il gran Samurai-day: avremo le chiavi della macchina, i documenti (alcuni ci attenderanno a Tulear), ma prima dobbiamo pagare i 35milioni FMG contanti!!

I did it

2008-10-29T07:19:00.003+03:00

Yes, is true, I eat raw fish... it was sooo good, but I promise I wont do it again! ;-)

Si, lo ammetto, ho mangiato pesce crudo... era buonissimo. Ma lo prometto, non lo faro' piu'!

Finally handing in the VISA-extension application – we thought…

2008-10-25T15:48:00.000+03:00

After ten days in the country and different meetings with bureaucrats from all levels we gathered the last copies and prints (not to mention the 7 photos needed) to go down to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to hand in the applications for extending our visa. The woman behind the desk found the first problems with our application on the first page:

-The introduction letters were not addressed to the Minister, so they have to be rewritten.

- The introduction letters should have been confirmed by the Mayor’s Office

We stopped her before she found any more missing stamps our signatures, and asked her to call Monsieur le Directeur de Cabinet. Another woman was called into the office. She looked at our papers quickly and told us that this Ministry is not competent to extend our visa on these grounds; these applications have to go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She called Monsieur le Directeur de Cabinet, and explained the situation. For the third time in a week we went to meet this pleasant man. He explained us that we could apply for a “visa de courtoise” and that we were lucky that we could apply to the Foreign Ministry instead, because that meant that we didn’t have to pay anything. We were overwhelmed with joy… He asked us to keep him informed and called an assistant into the office, who led us to a driver, who drove us the 300 meters to the other Ministry.

The Chef de Service in the Foreign Ministry was not absent, only his smile was. He explained us that our documents were not good enough. They needed a written application from the University of Tulear, in original, signed by the Director of the University + a copy of the contract between the University and SIK and then only 2 photos (What are we going to do with the other 8 photos and the 15 other documents we prepared for the other Ministry!?). However, the application should be processed in 72 hours he told us. (First we have to actually hand in the application).

It was not with pleasure we had to call the responsible in Tulear (700 km or so away) to tell them that all the documents they prepared for us last week were useless, and that they have to make the Director of the University sign a letter, that has to go to the capital ASAP with express delivery. So now we’re waiting for the delivery on Monday, and hopefully we can hand in our visa-applications soon…

to be continued….

Italiano: Dopo 10 giorni nella capitale spesi incontrando burocrati di ogni grado e livello, abbiamo messo insieme tutti i documenti (comprese le 7foto cadauno), per consegnare la domanda di prolungamento del visto di soggiorno al Ministero degli Interni (vedi post precedenti). La donna dietro la scrivania ha impiegato pochissimo tempo per trovare i primi problemi: 1.la domanda non era indirizzato al Ministro (ma al ministero) quindi doveva essere riscritta; 2.alcuni documenti dovevano essere timbrati al comune. Alche’, disperati, l’abbiamo bloccata chiedendo di far telefonare al Direttore di Gabinetto. Al suo posto e stata chiamata un’altra addetta che dopo un veloce sguardo ai documenti ci ha dato la “felice”notizia: il nostro visto non compete al Ministero degli Interni ma a quello degli Affari Esteri e, dopo aver chiamato il Direttore di Gabinetto, siamo stati rispediti nel suo ufficio (per la terza volta). Il Viceministro ci ha quindi spiegato che potevamo fare domanda al Ministero degli Esteri per un “visto di cortesia” che è addirittura gratuito (che gioia…). Chiedendoci di tenerlo informato, ci ha fatti accompagnare da un assistente alla sua auto personale con cui siamo stati condotti al Ministero degli Esteri…300mt di distanza. L’addetto non era assente, solo il suo sorriso lo era. Ci ha detto che i nostri documenti non erano adatti e che invece avevamo bisogno di: una lettera richiedente la prolungazione del visto originale firmata dal rettore dell’università di Toliara (originale)+una copia del contratto di collaborazione tra l’università e SIK, e solo 2 foto (che ne faremo di tutte le altre foto e i 15 documenti preparati per l’altro ministero?!). In ogni caso, consegnati i documenti, il visto dovrebbe arrivare entro 72h. Non è stato piacevole telefonare al responsabile in Toliara (700km circa di distanza), per dire che i documenti che loro avevano preparato per noi con difficoltà, erano inutili, e che dovevano far firmare una lettera al rettore da recapitare con un corriere espresso il più in fretta possibile nella capitale. Adesso rimaniamo in attesa, lunedì dovrebbero arrivare i documenti necessari e, si spera, possiamo finalmente consegnare la nostra domanda di prolungamento del visto… Continua…

What about the weather?

2008-10-25T15:21:00.001+03:00

Some of you asked how hot and sunny it is here. And many probably imagine a sunny and very warm African island.

The first days in Antananarivo were actually matching this description; just the evenings are a bit cool. In the sense that we often need to wear warmer clothes when the sun goes down, and sleep with duvet. However, 2 days ago the sun started hiding behind some clouds that started to pour rain (but today is sunny!). Consequently, a search on the weather was needed!

Roughly speaking, in Madagascar December is the warmest month, while June is the coolest. We can say, that the seasons are totally opposite to ours. However, the summer (our winter), correspond to the rainy season. While the winter (our summer), is the driest one. But Madagascar is a big island with 4 climatic regions. For example in the highlands the winter nights can be freezing cold, while other places remains pleasant. The same differences happen with rain: 140cm in Antsirabe (close to the capital), and 36cm in the city where we are going, Toliara (Oslo? Lanciano?), while the east coast can even have cyclones.

In other words, we are going into the summer and rainy season (in Toliara that means nearly 40˚C with little rain).

Italiano: alcuni di voi hanno chiesto com’è il tempo da queste parti. E molti di voi immaginano probabilmente una assolata e caldissima isola. Al nostro arrivo Antananrivo era infatti assolata e calda, ma fresca di sera (bisogna mettere qualcosa di più caldo addosso e dormire con la coperta). Negli ultimi giorni invece la pioggia ha cominciato a cadere (anche se oggi c’è il sole!). Cosi abbiamo sentito il bisogno di capire un po’ come funziona il clima qui. Semplificando possiamo dire che in Madagascar il mese più caldo e’ dicembre, mentre giugno e’ il più fresco (in pratica le stagioni sono opposte alle nostre). Però l’estate (il nostro inverno), corrisponde alla stagione delle piogge, mentre l’inverno (la nostra estate), e’ il periodo più asciutto. L’isola, essendo grande, ha 4regioni climatiche; per esempio, negli altopiani le notti possono essere freddissime, mentre altre zone rimangono miti. La stessa cosa accade per la pioggia: ad Antsirabe (vicino alla capitale) cadono 140cm di pioggia invece a Toliara (dove andiamo) ne cadono 36 (Oslo? Lanciano?), mentre nella costa orientale sono frequenti i cicloni. In poche parole, usciamo dall’inverno e ci apprestiamo ad entrare nella calda estate nonché nella stagione delle piogge (che in Toliara significa circa 40˚C con poche piogge concentrate).

The Family Ramanantenasoa

2008-10-21T12:14:00.038+03:00

In three different occasions since our arrival, we met some members of the Ramanantenasoa family: the family of Adeline, the woman who took care of the Veum family when they were here in the 80’s.

The first day was the turn of Ida and Luc. As we had no phones, they just showed up at our hotel, and waited 2 hours for our return. We chatted in front of a drink, about school and job market. Luc is the oldest and had some struggle with his diploma, so was in search of advices. While Ida, was just updating us on her studies. They are very alive kids with a lot of interests, and when we said goodbye we where left with deep curiosity on how they spend their normal days…

Few days later Luc came back with his mum Adeline and his little sister, Ami. We had an appointment this time, so we were ready to welcome them. Birger was happy to see that Adeline looked very good, as the years never passed. We spent sometime chatting on our daily life, until someone mentioned that the kids are scout, and were going to a scout meeting the day after. What a great occasion for me to see how scouting works, here! How good occasion for us both, to see a bit more of the normal daily life of a normal family!

So, the Sunday we went to the Ramanantenasoa family’s house. We sat in the 2CV taxi for about 20min. (in total absence of traffic, while the day before it took almost two ours for them to go home!) and we paid less than 3 euro for the ride (about 25nok). Arrived, we walked within narrow streets until a cute 2floors house appeared. Unfortunately, the scout meeting was called off (but we’re invited to go another time).

Instead, we spent a couple of hours with Adeline, Ami, Luc and God (yes, God), the 3dh kid in the family, in their house. They showed us photos of their friends, work events, school trip, scout camps, vacation days, weddings, etc.: a photo trip through their family life.

Our visit was quite public, as the kids from the neighbored where watching and laughing through the windows. And we felt honored to spend our Sunday afternoon with this friendly Malagasy family.

Walking around in Antananarivo

2008-10-19T20:50:00.006+03:00

When I go to a new city I love to feel a bit lost. Loosing the compass a bit gives me a sense of freedom and excitement, a bit like after drinking a beer on empty stomach. At the same time I like to know that I’m safe and can’t get totally lost.

Antananarivo is perfect. The hills and small, curvy streets make it difficult enough to orientate the first days, giving the feeling we are discovering something new. However, the boosted colors, the multiform flowers and the smiling people seem to say that nothing bad can happen (if you are a bit careful). It is very easy to just want to walk around, to enjoy the sun and the breeze.

No solutions can be found for the visa during the weekend, and to overcome the sneaky feeling of frustration, we took a walk, a long walk.

From one of the numerous markets, in the lower part of the town, we started to literally climb steep stairs. We arrived to the moyenne Tana, admired the charming architecture and enjoyed a part of the city where the “vazaha” (the white people like us), where rare. At each intersection we chose the steep road. And corner-by-corner, one breathtaking viewpoint after the other, we arrived to the highest top of the city, where Rova the queen palace is placed.

Three smart, skilled students hooked us gently for a walk around. They explained us the history, the geography and curiosities about the area and the country in general. For example, how people used to build with wood because it’s a warm material, ideal for the alive, while stones were left to the dead (until colonialist changed that).

Of course our guides hoped for some money, which they were given, because no book could have given us such passionate tour.

Still Waiting in Tana

2008-10-19T18:48:00.000+03:00

Seeing Madame Vice-president de Senate brought us to Monsieur le Directeur de Cabinet in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. From him we have two days in a row been led to an office where Madam chef de Service is absent. So in a sense the status is still the same; we have still not applied for a visa... You should think we have been here for a week. We hope to be able to move on to Tulear by the end of the next week. How, we don’t know yet. We are hoping to buy a car, but we have so far not done any progress on that front.

Madame Vice-President de Senat

2008-10-19T18:24:00.004+03:00

First day in Antananarivo.

We’re sitting in a large corner office with a desk that confirms the impression given by the front office. We are about to meet an important person. Looking like a cliché tourist, wearing zip-off pants and sneakers - topped by guide book authors’ all time favorite: the hidden money belt, I feel somewhat out of place.

Madame or actually doctor Vice-President of the Senate of the democratic republic of Madagascar greets us in Norwegian… She excuses herself for haven forgotten most of the Norwegian, so we continue in French. This former Professor at the University of Toliara was one of the initiators of the exchange we are part of, now we’re here to get information on how to obtain a visa extension.

This is a woman that immediately give you a good impression; she is welcoming and interested, but still to the point. She picks up one of the three phones on the table in front of us. In Madagascar even the politicians are using three different SIM-cards – calling from one company to another is expensive. Madame has told us that she will call the Monsieur le Directeur de Cabinet. She explains that he is number two, after the minister in the ministry of internal affairs. We felt no need to ask why she didn’t call the minister himself…
She explains us that in two days we can go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, we will be met by Monsieur le Directeur de Cabinet himself. He will see to it that we get an extension of our visa.

We leave the office somewhat confused. We knew we were going to meet an important person, but assumed that she would just direct us to the right office, maybe give us the names of some key persons to contact. If Monsieur le Directeur de Cabinet delivers we will obtain our visa within a few days. With stories of other Norwegians in mind, waiting three weeks for the visa, we feel very privileged, but still somewhat confused about this way of saving the not so valuable time of NVIPs (Not Very Important People) like us.