WE VISITED OUR HOME FOR THE NEXT 2 YEARS!
Trip Start
Feb 12, 2006
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3
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Trip End
May 12, 2008
Anosibe An'Ala,
Madagascar
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Anosibe an'ala
. We left the capital around 7 and arrived in Moramanga (our banking town around lunchtime). We ate a vazaha (foreigners) restaurant and then waited in the scourching heat for our 1970s land rover to leave for our site. I guess there were about 15 people when we left. The back contains two long benches along each side- luckily they had double padding. After about 3-4 hour taxi-brousse ride we arrived at our site. The road was suprisingly nice (compared to some we have seen)- kind of like a dirt, bumpy driveway- but 74 km long.
After the beautiful scenery, right away we noticed that it was distinctly poor. Poverty here is different from poverty in the states. If you are reading this, your shoes and pants probably cost more than the average person makes there in a year! It's something you have to see for yourself. Kids playing in the ditches, shacks with tin roofs pieced together, (what we would use for rags at home can be seen on children walking around) It wasn't seeing the poverty, but being invited into peoples houses and then them apoligizing to us because they have no food to offer- it was "The Hungry Season." Talk about breaking your heart!! A house there may cost $200, which many cannot afford.
The entire trip was very intense with a lot of emotions
Lake Montasoa- Where we had training for 2 days
. When we first arrived everyone just stares at us because we are "vazaha." At first it was hard going out of the hotel and looking around and seeing 20-30 people just staring. You just pretend they are not there and make yourself visible (going for walks, standing on the hotel balcony, saying hello to them). It is a unique & strange feeling, especially when they not only stare, but their mouths also drop open. Our hotel was not what one would think of as a hotel. It was one room, 2 stools, a bed & table. Electricity for a few hours in the evening. Geckos came in as they felt, since there were plenty of gaps in the wooden plank walls. The latrine was the nastiest thing we have every experienced- the details of which I will not discuss on a public forum. The "shower" was rain water collected in an old metal barrel.
I have never seen rain like what we experienced. In the morning you feel like you are in a greenhouse. Around 11 the storms start to move over the mountains, soon the thunder rumbles and it shakes the ground (I have never experienced such intense lightning and thunder). Next comes the downpours that lasts from around noon until 3 in the morning- I guess they don't call it the rainforest for nothing!! Image the most intense rain you have ever experienced and then imagine it lasting for hours and hours
Our House
. Roads & bridges flooded while we were there and there was a small mudslide. Everything is always damp there- that will take some time to get used to!We visited our house and I almost cried. It was not finished and it looked like a storage barn. When we went back the next day to see it, it didn't seem so bad- definitely a fixer-upper! It is wooden, tin roof with 2 rooms. We are up high and overlook the town. The view is amazing- palms, banana trees, lush & green!! The river is below us, mountains in front. Ducks and chickens run around our yard. We live by several officials and the police so it will be very safe. We took photos and drew a plan to figure out where to plant our garden, our living fence, compost, tree nursery and terrace!
We met several very nice people and think they will become good friend over the next 2 years. One was a 15 year old boy we met the 2nd day who spoke excellent english- he became our interpreter! (It is very difficult being in a country only 3 weeks and then being shipped to your site with a person that speaks Malagasy and limited French- it was next to impossible to understand some things). He is very smart, but his father is a farmer & doesn't have much money for school. Another wonderful family was our "site-partner" and he also introduced us to the pastors family- with seven wonderful children
Scenery
. They lined up and shook our hands and said "Good Afternoon". I definitely feel like God has given our lives purpose after visiting our site and meeting the people. There is so much work to be done there and I feel like small things (planting gardens for example) will make a big impact on peoples lives there. It is so hard to comprehend, but there are people with no food- they are completely malnurished. The boy who was interpretting said they walk out to the country once a week to try to find food and that it is very tiring. We are so rich compared to so many here (and around the world). There are some wealthy people there though- we were surprised to see DVD players and new TVs in some of the houses. But the majority live very humble lives and work EXTREMELY hard.
We go back to our community based traing site on Monday and continue with training until the end of April.
Experiencing all kinds of crazy things,
Jenny & Aaron
Comments
Amazing
Hello,
I was amazed when falling in your report about Anosibe An'Ala. I live in France and work in informatic network. But I was born in Anosibe An'ala, lived there for about 25 years. I lived in this situation you have discribed nicely. When I was young I was a 'zebuboy'. Even if I live actually like a occidental people and work like them, earn as they earn, I go back to my village every year. It is for me like a pelerinage and very important. This e-mail is not enough to talk with you. I really want to talk with you, about your discovery.
Best regards