Tolotra on the day of the launch

Centre Mandrosoa is meant to be a place that welcomes people to learn about computers and the internet, to start email accounts and discover Google, to search for jobs and scholarship opportunities, to connect with business opportunities within Madagascar and abroad. HNI intended for this telecenter to be a place that welcomes not only people, but development.

Eager students at the Centre Mandrosoa

HNI plans to create 26 of these telecenters across Madagascar over the next few years, in partnership with local organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, and local and international funders. The Centre Mandrosoa in Ambositra is the first, the pilot, and we’re learning as we go.

One of the perks of having an English speaker as a volunteer at the Centre Mandrosoa is that I hold conversation practice sessions. Every wednesday, folks come to sit in a big circle in the training room to talk about news, daily life, culture – all in English. A couple of weeks ago, one of the young women in the class suggested we all answer a question, have a little debate of sorts. The question she came up with was ‘Why do so many Malagasy women marry at a very young age?’. This, surprisingly, evolved into a debate about globalization. I was pretty baffled. In my conversation courses I have students, retirees, ministers, vendors, and one aspiring airline stewardess. It’s a lot of fun, and a nice break for my tired, computer-blinded eyes.

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We had our official launch on July 23, which was a rainy extravaganza of speeches, ribbon-cutting, and a few soggy, chilly Peace Corps Volunteers. After all the official rigamarole, we convened upstairs in the Chamber of Commerce for food and drinks, and a good time was had by all.

From cold comfort outside to decadent mini-pizzas and delicate pastries:

Forest Conservation Update

Erik Patel in Marojejy sent me some delightful news yesterday:

Each year, the Seacology Prize is awarded to an indigenous islander for exceptional achievement in preserving the environment and culture of any of the world’s 100,000 islands. The Prize highlights the heroic efforts by people who seldom receive any publicity – indigenous leaders who risk their own lives and well-being to protect their island’s ecosystems and culture. Since the inception of the Prize in 1992, Seacology has given the award to 19 native islanders in recognition of their innovative and courageous work. The 2010 Seacology Prize winner is Rabary Desiré, a forest conservation leader from Matsobe-Sud, Commune Rurale Belaoka-Marovato, Madagascar. For his tireless efforts to further forest conservation in northeastern Madagascar, Mr. Desiré will be awarded $10,000 and honored at a ceremony at the David Brower Center in Berkeley, California on October 7, 2010.

This is an incredible honor, and a great achievement; congratulations to Rabary Desiré!

I’m going to start updating more – especially since my travel companion is coming out this month!!

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sunset in andavadoaka

As the sun sets on another long stint in the United States of America, I’m looking forward to returning to Madagascar, seemingly the only country that wants to employ me. Armed with a sparkly new degree in Sustainable Development, I make my way to Tana via Washington DC, Amsterdam, and Nairobi. Thanks a lot, World Cup, for diverting my flight path.

I’ll be working with an organization called Human Network International:

The mission of HNI is to provide communities and individuals the opportunity to embrace, reshape and maximize the use of Information and communication technology in unpredictable, productive and sustainable ways.

I’m excited to see what this entails, and how I can put all of my glorious new skills to work during the next 6 months. I’ll have internet the whole time, so I can continue to generate content for Other Places Travel, the amazing site of Other Places Publishing (my Madagascar Travel Companion is coming out this summer) and this website, of course. I’ve also been informed that I’ll have indoor plumbing – such luxury!

I’ll leave you with this, Issue 5 of the Journal, Madagascar Conservation and Development. This amazing resource has only been around for a short time but it’s one of the best publications, in English and French, that addresses development issues in Madagascar. Christi Turner sent this to me this morning and asked me to make it available for download, and I do what I’m told. While you’re at it, you should also check out Christi’s website – she’s the bee’s knees.

See you when I get there!

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… mutiny, eh? Not just for the high seas anymore. Some people are saying this could be the beginning of the end for Rajoelina. This story comes on the heels of reports of soldiers raiding an allegedly ‘opposition’ radio station, assaulting staff and journalists, a couple of days ago.

In other terrible news, hunger is a hard sell for donors these days, according to IRIN. Not a sexy topic. People want 1 million shirts and celebrities and guys on boats made out of bottles. There has been no rainfall this year in some areas of Madagascar, the crisis has really screwed with already failing local economies, so severe malnutrition has become the norm. Meanwhile, in other, more verdant places in Madagascar, markets are bursting with food.

Market in Tamatave - Photo by Lindsay Redifer

The programs in place are obviously not going to cut it this time – the structural food issues should prompt a good hard look at organizational priorities (and a frank talk with donors who aren’t seeing the big picture). There has to be a way to prevent famine in a country that produces enough to feed its entire population.

I’m scheduled to go back to Madagascar at the end of June. Hopefully all the ruckus will quiet down by then.

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Kudos to Christi Turner, former Peace Corps Volunteer, who helped establish this wonderful organization, and whose beautiful photos will also be featured in the full-color Madagascar Travel Companion, written by me and published by Other Places Publishing (coming this summer!).

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After three days of chats, no deal (VOA News). They’ll get back together in 2 weeks to continue talking. If they failed to agree this time (and all the other times they’ve talked to each other, anywhere), is there any reason to believe that they’ll agree in 15 days? What will change between now and then?

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The objective is to spread fear, but we mustn’t play their game and begin to panic. We are taking measures and are remaining calm,” said [Colonel Richard Ravalomanana].

In other news, Razia Said is pretty great. If you’re in NYC, go see this show tonight:

New Album ZEBU NATION Release Party
Celebrating Earth Day
Thu Apr 22 2010, 9:00 pm
S.O.B.’s
New York, NY

for more information:
www.sobs.com/node/112

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Part 1:

Part 2:

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“I received a road map drawn up by France, South Africa and the SADC (Southern African Development Community) and I am ready to implement it,” Rajoelina said in a televised interview.

Again with the map. But this is the first time he has agreed to work with Ravalomanana since the hubub began. It doesn’t make complete sense to me still, how it will be productive to set up a unity government that includes Rajoelina, Ravalomanana, Ratsiraka, and Zafy, four men with varying degrees of ill repute. Perhaps I will be pleasantly surprised. I hope so.

Second on the docket from Voice of America News – remember when the African Union placed sanctions on Madagascar’s leadership (Rajoelina and 108 government officials)? Well since they didn’t get any real backing from the UN Security Council, the sanctions aren’t having the desired effect, and this is causing African Union Commission Chief Jean Ping to be quite disappointed:

He said while African nations are mandated to enforce the sanctions, they would be more effective if endorsed by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, which comprise an international contact group on Madagascar.  But he noted that African states had no means to force the big powers to act, except moral force. Other than that, he said, there’s nothing we can do about it.

Third but not least – this last one seems like a very big huge deal. According to reports from Afrol News today, GTT International (which includes members of the Malagasy Diaspora and victims of human rights abuses) had its lawyers file a complaint with the ICC (International Criminal Court) against the current leaders. Not to be taken lightly, the GTT’s complaint includes videos and testimonials from hundreds of people: victims, relatives of people that went missing or were killed over the past year, and even members of the current regime who were complicit in violations.

The evidence claims to document systematic cases of “killings, arbitrary imprisonment or other forms of deprivation of freedom, torture, rape and persecution against the civilian population.” This, according to GTT, summed up as “crimes against humanity committed by the military and civilian junta,” thus supporting its request for an investigation by the ICC.

This comes on the tail of Rajoelina’s pledge to follow his new map to a solution, but I suspect that this may cause a rather long pitstop.

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