spotlight madagascar

Mandrosoa means ‘come in’, in Malagasy. Centre Mandrosoa is a telecenter/cyber-café in Ambositra, and it owes its existence to Human Network International, the organization that requested me as a Peace Corps Response Volunteer. We’ve got eight computers in the main room, and four in the smaller training room. Internet is  a mere 30 Ariary/minute (2,000 Ariary = $1, you do the math), and everyone gets 15 minutes of free connection every day. There are also free trainings, some led by me and some led by Tolotra, the entrepreneur in charge of this very popular establishment. It’s by far the fastest internet connection in town.

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.

Busy couple of weeks here in Ambositra – I’ve been slowly getting acclamated to my new house (4 rooms, hardly any furniture), doing yoga to keep warm in these temperatures which linger in the 40s, and diving into my new job, which is working as an ICT and Micro-Enterprise Educator at the Centre Mandrosoa d’Ambositra for Human Network International.

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!!

This is an amazing local association – the first solar-powered radio station in a VERY isolated area, bringing educational programming, community development messages, music, and information from around the world to the rural commune of Antsaravibe!

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!).

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?

Erik Patel, a friend of mine who works with the Silky Sifaka lemurs at Marojejy National Park in Madagascar, sent me these videos today. Illegal logging, its impacts within the protected area, great interviews with experts – take a gander.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Today (from AFP),  Andry Rajoelina says he’s ready to implement a plan to disentangle Madagascar from its sticky web of conflict. In his own words:

“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.

A couple of days ago, AFP reported that dismissed army general Rakotonandrasana, while contemplating his unpopular idea of heading up a military administration, was ‘inspired by the coup in Niger and encouraged by foreign powers’. (Did he not remember that Madagascar JUST HAD A COUP last year?!) The foreign powers are not specified. Prime Minister Camille Vital, who replaced him as general, was opposed to the proposed junta. Other officers say that they do not want power over Madagascar, a big reason for that being that there’s no money left to run the country or pay anyone’s salaries.

“We’re going to draw up a roadmap with precise directives, sharing out the different positions and we will impose that on the politicians,” [an] officer said.

I wonder what will be on this new roadmap that everyone’s talking about. I’m by no means an expert on this, but I have a few ideas for stops along the way:

• Building and Improving Basic Infrastructure (Roads, Schools, Sanitation, Transportation, etc.)
• Public Services (Including, of course, Healthcare, Education, and Environment)
• Investment in Private Industry (Entrepreneurship, Tourism, Technology, Innovation)
• Job Creation
• Addressing Corruption and Kickbacks
• Accountability, Transparency and Good Governance
• Basic Human Rights

I’m not entirely sure how they can accomplish all of these things, especially without a little help at the beginning, which they can’t get without working on the last three items first.

This is a road in Madagascar.

I’ve been remiss in updating this site lately – finishing thesis, finishing travel guide, digging in the garden, figuring out how to cook quinoa – all very important things. However, since it looks like my book is going to be coming out this summer, I guess I better get back on the ball so the folks that buy it can check in and see what’s going on in Madagascar before they get on the plane. Here goes, I’ll start with the good news:

Rediscovered: a lemur that hasn’t been seen for 100 years! This cute little guy, the Sibree dwarf lemur, was thought to be extinct, and now he’s back.

From Scientific American

Photo: Sibree’s dwarf lemur, courtesy of McGill University (Article on Scientific American)

And in other, more disturbing news, Reuters reports on the Malagasy army’s new deadline for Andry Rajoelina. They want him to figure out a ‘roadmap’, a way out of the crisis, by the end of April – or else. This comes at an apt time, as the EU is again ‘mulling sanctions’, which would create further chaos in the island’s economy (how much more chaotic could it be?). Other questions that need to be answered deal with how Rajoelina plans to pay salaries for public servants and finance the federal elections. Valid queries. It’s not clear what the army plans to do if Rajoelina does not deliver, but I’m sure they won’t be sending him flowers.

(Very loose) translation: 'I don't give a crap about your big eyes watching me'

i can’t believe i just discovered this film (i didn’t know it existed until the other day – thanks Ingrid!). cute lemurs, weird lemurs, scary lemurs, the wonderfulness of john cleese, hiking through the rainforest and meeting my friend Charlie – i don’t think you’ll be able to stop after the first part. the rest of the 7-part series can be found here on youtube.

So, great news today (she says, dripping with sarcasm). Andry Rajoelina, ‘strongman’, doesn’t WANT to participate in talks to fix Madagascar’s political decrapitation. AFP today:

Madagascar’s strongman Andry Rajoelina rejected Thursday an African Union invitation for talks in Addis Ababa next week to end a standoff among the country’s four main political factions.

Rajoelina will “not go to the Ethiopian capital,” a statement from the presidency said.

Photo from TopNews.in

I don’t wanna go!