Madagascar Day 7 Poverty to Privilege, Wednesday April 10, WTRD 25 of 36

We Meet Up with a Peace Corp Volunteer.

Madagascar Day 7  Iharana Bush Camp - Nosy Komba, Wednesday April 10, WTRD 25 of 36

We leave early today as we have a very long day of driving to get to Tsara Komba, a designated National Geographic unique lodge on Nosy Komba, in the Nosy B archipelago off the north-western coast of Madagascar.  We are up and packing at 4:30.  The temperature is warm, still, and wringing wet.  Our clothes are heavy and damp.  

We eat breakfast by 6:30 am, say goodbye to staff, and leave gratuity in the tip box.  It’s the last of the MGA, Madagascar currency that we have.  Russ gives them our credit card, and it doesn’t work.  After two more credit cards, it appears either our credit has been totally shut down or the machine is not sending and receiving properly.  We think it is the latter.  We have US dollars with us, but the lodge will only take Euros of which we have none.  

Floris bails us out with local currency, about $37. 00 to pay for our wine and sparkling water bill.  Relatively speaking our drinks cost about 1/3 of an average Malagasy monthly income. Most people cannot even buy clean water to drink because they just don’t have the income.  

It is very sobering and reminds us of how privileged we are to have discretionary funds for goods and services beyond the basic necessities, that make our lives easier, healthier, and gives us free time to create and innovate.  Money doesn’t buy happiness, but it certainly facilitates an easier life.  For those who are everyday survivors in an economy that does not favor them, the people learn to make a meaningful life for themselves within the context of their environment and  still find happiness in their friends and families.

As we travel away from the village, we give away our last pair of reading glasses. Last night’s rain replenished the puddles and some of them are worse than when we came 3 days ago.  

We bounced and skid through the mud and sand rivaling Indiana Jones 4x4 adventure. Floris hacked some tree limbs with a machete so the car could squeak between tree branches forming and alternate around the small lakes.  What should have taken us less than an hour takes us almost 2, but what a wild ride.

Somewhere along the way, the front license plate has been stripped off the car and Soulo paints the license number on the front window with something white, maybe paint or mud mix.  The care is a dirty mess.

When we reach a small town of 24,000 people, we stop at Bank of Madagascar ATM for some cash. The little town is packed with people and vehicles going about their daily business.

This is the first time we have gone to an ATM since we had our debit card stolen in South Africa.  We need about $200 US in MGA for the next few days so that we can tip staff and pay for incidentals.  The ATM refuses to give us what we need in one lump sum, so we  have to make two separate transactions with two separate credit cards to get enough money for our trip to Nosy  Komba and to reimburse Floris for paying our bill at Iharana bush camp.  Successful with our transaction and a walk around town, we continue on our way to the Port, but we have another stop  before we get to the port.

Through his network of teachers and volunteers in Atsiranana, Floris has met some Peace Crop volunteers.  He has made arrangements for us to meet one of them during a short visit along the way.  

We meet Melanie S.  from Tennessee.  She has been working as a teacher in a small ,village for almost 2 years. She teaches English at the High School.  Her  small house is about the size of a storage shed, with no running water or electricity.  She thinks it might be cooler inside the house than out, but one step inside was enough to know that it was cooler on the front porch. 

We only have about 15 minutes to chat.  I ask her what her biggest challenge has been in Madagascar.  She is quick to respond that it is wide-scale corruption. Funds for the school and village are being syphoned off, and the locals never see any improvement.  Melanie’s sister lives in SF.  She will call us when she is next in  California.

Before we reach the sea port where we will catch a ride to Tsara Komba, we stop in an area where various crops are grown, plantation, coconut, cocoa, vanilla, etc.

It has been a long trip without a bathroom break, and I am disappointed that the plantation doesn’t have a toilet.  We wait until we get to the port. Finding suitable toilet facilities for women is one of the big inconveniences so far on this trip.  Men can make easier bush calls than women.  

When we reach the port, Floris pulls out a harmonica an plays California here I come.  He and Soulo have been delightful travel mates.  We will miss them, but will keep in touch with Floris as we plan to send him more glasses from the Lions Club.    

We thank them and wave a heartfelt goodbye as we speed off in a private boat to Tsara Komba.  It is long past lunch by the time we arrive.  We were expected by 11:00 in the morning.  Instead we arrived at 2:30 and the camp managers Charlotte and Isbjorn have been  worried about us.   Charlotte was very solicitous in helping us relax, cool down, have a late lunch and get settled.  Tsara Komba is a Uniquely Recognized National Geographic Lodge.  This is an incredible contrast to the lives of the villagers on the mainland.  Almost mind boggling.

Our National Geographic expedition came with an activities package, one of which was a short trek upon arrival followed by Rum tasting.  We declined any activity for the day.  We had had enough for one day and just wanted to rest.

Tsara Kombo is a small luxury accommodation of 6 total lodges.  Our lodge overlooks the bay and has a very large sun deck and separate covered veranda. 

Counting the chaise lounges, sling back chairs on the sun deck, dining table chairs, sofa and side chairs, and a double day bed on the covered veranda,  there are enough sitting, laying space for 14 people.  There is a large king bed with mosquito nets, double sink bathroom, and and a shower with a louvered sliding door that slides open to the sun deck with complete privacy.  

Thick flowering vegetation surrounds our lodge.  The overhead fan has broken, but a portable stand fan has been brought to our room.  We stand it inside the mosquito nettring and set it to oscillation so that a cool breeze flows over us during the night.  It is perfect.

We meet Eric, the founding owner on our first evening.  He and his two daughters are visiting during a school holiday. and he tells us his story of establishing Tsara Komba.  Eric is a retired real estate entrepreneur and has the financial wherewithal to fund a large dream. His dream was to create a a socially responsible green place in Madagascar beneficial and symbiotic for tourists and locals,  He holds large social events in Paris as fund raisers to help support and sustain what he started.  Our travel dollars here also contribute to the cause.

Eric first established a working and trusting relationship with the local village next door to the property.  His first order of business was to refurbish the village, individual homes and a kindergarten school, with a primary school on the island.  The homes each have a solar panel for charging their cell phones and lighting their homes at night.  Two bath and toilet facilities, one for men and one for women,  have been built.  The lodge provides employment in all different capacities for the lodge.  The pay is good compared to what locals usually earn, so they are not constantly having to be in survival mode, and all of the children go to school, and employees with a specific career goal are provided with training. The lodge does not make a profit, it makes a difference in people’s lives.  He is in love with the Malagasy people.  And we enjoy being here.

All is Well with the Worrall Travel Rs in Madagascar

Madagascar Day 6 Our FAVORITE DAY - VILLAGE PEOPLE, Tuesday, April 9, WTRD 24 of 36

Our Favorite Days - Humanitarian  - Dispensing Reading Glasses

Madagascar Day 6 Iharana Bush Camp - Humanitarian Day, Tuesday, April 9, WTRD 24 of 36

Our Favorite Days - Humanitarian - Delivering School Supplies and Sharing the World

Floris arrives early to charge his phone.  Most Malagasy people carry small little phones that do nothing more than text or be a phone.  They don’t take much energy, but they do take some, and where Floris and Saulo are staying there is no electricity.  At 7:00 am the temperature is already HOT.  We are going on a bicycle ride this morning through the nearby village to the school.  We dig out the reading glasses, balloons, stickers, and some money to buy some pencils or pens for students at the local store.  Our luggage on this trip was so  limited, that we physically could not bring the school supplies we wanted, but now we can also support the local economy by buying something from village shop owner.

I soak my shirt in water before we leave Iharana, and put it on along with my neck cooler, and safari hat with neck cover.  We leave at 8:00 am. and it is already close to 90 F.  Soulo drives across the pond that has formed in front of the camp gate across the road. 

Patrick has already placed four bicycles on the other side of the lake.  The bicycles are waiting for us. These bikes do not look that old, but they are in need of servicing.  They all look alike, and it seems each one has a unique personality, one's front brakes don't work, one's gear shift doesn't work, one's seat cants backwards, one has broken pedal. We pick a bike and soon learn its quirks.  Each time we stop and all dismount, the bikes get messed up, and we have to readjust the seat or swap bikes. They are all men's bikes with high cross bar and seats that are not lady friendly especially on the bumpy dirt and sand roads.

We weave around rain ponds, slosh through pond perimeters, bump along the road, plow through sandy ridges, and have minor breakdowns along the way, where Patrick swaps the breakdown bike for the one he is riding.  When the next bike breaks down, we swap again, but can no longer shift the bike, when the next one breaks down, we don't swap but know that that we can't use the front brakes.

Our first stop is the cook house where Floris and Soulo are staying. We provide her with a pari of glasses.   The proprietor immediately picks up a package by the counter and reads the small print on the back of the package.

Patrick tells us that he would like a pair of glasses for his mother.  We give him a pair before we handout what we have left,  as we will make several stops along the way to the school house, sporadically handing out reading glasses to those who look like they can use the glasses, particularly those over 40.

The mat and basket weaver is an older lady who can now see what she is doing.

The younger generation shows us how they decorate their faces and fingers with some sort of yellow fiber or make henna dots on their skin. 

I ask Floris if men are attracted to the decorations.  No he doesn't think so but it amuses the women.  There are several children in this household who are home at the moment because the school has different sessions to accommodate all of the children.  We hand out balloons and stickers to the youngsters.

The basket weaver's  neighbor comes out of her hut.  She is the mat weaver.

She shows us her old prescription glasses covered with scratches.  She can no longer read her bible and wonders if we could give her a pair of glasses. We do and she smiles with joy.  

We watch a family pounding rice out of their hulls and sifting the hulls from the rice.  The pounding rock is big enough for three coordinated pounders in a sequenced

pattern to work together and complete the task in 1/3 of the time.  Russ gives it a try.  

What we thought we heard as drums through the village was the rhythmic pounding of rice.  It is hard work and once again we realize how fortunate we are to buy rice, ready to steam.  I wonder how effective these pounding stones would be in crushing plastics into small pieces to make ecobricks.  

We give out balloons and stickers to young kids and teenagers along the way.  

We stop at two little stores to buy some pens.  One store has only a few, the second store has a whole box which we purchase to give to the teacher. Some of the children have tagged along with us hoping for another sticker, but we recognize them as they are still wearing the sticker we gave them at the last stop. Cute!  They didn't realize they were wearing the evidence of already having received a sticker.

By the time we reach the school, we will only have two pairs of reading glasses left.  She will have a choice between a +2:00 or +3:50, so we hold back giving glasses to many others we meet along the way that may have needed them.

By 9:50, it is hot, humid, and sticky.  We reach the school about 10:00.  There are 30 or more students on the playground running around between classes.  They are excited to see us.

The coconut-net has spread and the kids all want stickers.  We don't given them out though, we tell them that we are giving the stickers to the teacher to give out to students who do good work.  

We do take some photos of the kids and share them with them.  I was mobbed by little ones who wanted to see themselves on my cameras LCD screen.  The reaction universally when people see their photos is to laugh. 

We finally make our way into the classroom and meet the teacher who is wearing a white lab coat.  It is her formal wear to distinguish her as a teacher.   We observe a 15 minute science lesson from the teacher where the children (third grade), are learning the parts of an ear.  There are no diagrams.  Instruction is completely oral, with the parts of the ear written in cursive on the board.  Kids have to point to the parts of their ears and those of their seat mates.  Teaching is in French.

 

Floris is the master teacher for this teacher.

After the lesson, the children are excused, and Floris, familiar with my background, asks me to provide teacher with feedback.  I provide positive comments, and save questions about the instruction with Floris, as I did not fully understand what the teacher was asking the students to do in French.  It was obvious the children were engaged and enjoyed the instruction. I ask the teacher what her favorite subject is.  She tells us, geography.  Perfect!

We give the teacher the box of pens, stickers, and blow up globe to the teacher who loves geography.  Russ blows up the globe and I share with her how I have used the globe to teach geography, by asking a question such as can you point to a continent and tell me the name of the continent.  If he/she provides a correct answer, I show the correct answer to everyone in the class, ask the question again, and the student gets to toss the globe ball to another student to answer.

If the first student didn't answer, correctly, I would show the correct answer to the student and class, and  I would collect the ball and toss it to the next student.  The prize for answering the question correctly is to get to toss the ball.  The adults practice this routine before the next class comes in.  Their own knowledge of world geography is limited. The teacher says the students only know where Madagascar is.  I ask if I can demonstrate with the students when they come in. Yes.

Children have been peering through window at us as the adults have been playing with the globe. They are eager to come in and see what this is all about.

The students line up orderly outside before coming in.  The teacher wants us to see how nicely they line up. They have formed two straight lines, one arms length distance to the the student's shoulder in front of them. 

I stand at the door and greet each student with a hello and high five as they come through the door.    

The kiddos take their seats at the wooden desks. 

We play the continent game.  Floris translates for the students who do not speak English.  The easiest one for the students to learn is Africa and Antarctica since these are their closest neighbors.   

As we leave the school, we say goodbye to the students and give the teacher a pair of glasses.  She has been teaching for 10 years and probably doesn't need reading glasses yet, bur we want to make sure she has a pair for for when she does need them.  She chooses the 2+

I don't look forward to ride back. It will be at least a 1 hour, no shade, no breeze,  95-100 degrees, 80 percent  humidity, bumpy challenging path, and a killer seat.  I douse my over shirt at the water pump which will last about 30 minutes before it loses its cooling relief.  We stop for a drink of water. The seat is killing me and my face is burning red.   

Russ pours some of his water over my head and neck to cool me down so I don’t stroke out.  He tells me there is an ice cream stand right around the corner......this is what we told our kids to keep them going while on a hike.  

We finally make it to the end and dismount the bikes underneath a large shaded tree.  Soulo hacks off the tops of a couple of coconuts, and we refresh ourselves with coconut water.  

Two children join us under the tree ,and I share the the coconut gel at the bottom of the coconut with them.

I am so overheated by the time we return to our hut, I take off my shoes and step fully clothed under a cold shower. We have a pair of snails sharing our shower with us.

 We stay in cold shower for half and hour and take the time to stomp our clothes clean on the shower floor.  Now the trick will be to get them dry before we leave tomorrow. Everything we own is laden with water from the humidity.   We eat a delicious leek salad, grilled zebu, lentils and rice, coconut cake for lunch.  A party of 7, guide and 3 couples from Italy are here tonight.  

 At 4:30 Patrick and Floris take us in a canoe across the lake to a tsingy prominence that looks like a person  carrying something on their head.  It is a balanced rock.  

Looking up through the trees of prominence resembling a person carrying something on her head.

 We climb up to the prominence through the rain forest for about half hour. Close to the top, the lemurs start sending their trill voice for danger.  We can hear them but cannot see them. Just past the prominence, we hike up and around a corner to a wooden platform with a round table and benches. In front of us towards the west the sun is setting, and the many water ponds sparkled. 

Behind us towards the mountains a storm is brewing. The rain is coming down and it appear to be coming our direction.  Our guide tells us not to worry, but of course I do, especially as there is associated thunder and lightning and we have to canoe back across an open lake.  

We enjoy some sundowner snacks and cold beer, as the sun sets in the west.  As soon as the sun drops below the horizon, Patrick pulls out some headlamps for our night hike back, and he packs away the drink glasses. There is a very short dusk and once we descend into the rain forest, it is dark.

We see lots of millipedes, some snails, frogs, and a little snake that eats frogs.  

The lemurs are quiet now.  By the time we reach the flats, the rain is starting to sprinkle down on us. We got off the top of the prominence before thunder and lightening, but now it is lightly raining, the sky is rumbling and bright flashes of light are behind us as we canoe back across the lake.  

I lean forward and touch my nose on the seat in front of me.  I don’t want to be the tallest one in the boat if lightning strikes.  We reach the dock without incidence.  The rain is still falling, but it is a warm shower and not at all refreshing.

We thank our guide Patrick and give him an appreciative gratuity for the two days of fun excursions.  Floris says he and Soulo will pick us up at 7:30am  tomorrow morning.  We have long drive to the Port where we will part company.

After dinner, we fall into bed and will get up early in the morning when it is hopefully cooler and our clothes are drier to pack.  What a great day!

All is Well with the Worrall Travel Rs in Madagascar