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My
Pioneer Experience |
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by Claire
Callow, Pioneer April 2003 |
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My experience
with Pioneer Madagascar ended more than 3 months ago
- in fact, I have been back in England for more time
than I spent in Madagascar. But I still think about
Madagascar every day. Last night, I even dreamt about
Madagascar.
People tell me that almost everyone who is lucky enough
to visit the Great Red Island return with the strongest
resolve to change their lifestyle, become more conscientious
of trade and development issues and help advertise the
plight of this magnificent country. But it is all too
easy to slip back into the old English lifestyle of
seeing your wage cheque on a Friday as the most liberating
and exciting thing in your life, staring out of the
window of the office (where I sit to write this), contemplating
which pre-wrapped Tesco sandwich to buy for lunch and
forgetting all about the amazing experience you had
in Madagascar.
But I will return. Given the chance, I would go back
to Fort Dauphin this afternoon. That sums up what Pioneer
Madagascar was for me - a chance. To visit the most
beautiful place in the world; to work on inspiring projects
that give you the opportunity to make a difference to
the depressing situation of poverty and environmental
degradation present on this forgotten isle, projects
which also make you appreciate the comfort of your cushioned
lifestyle at home - even the smallest things like bread
and toilet roll!
When I was facing the challenge of raising the money
I needed to go away, I felt excited about the prospect
of my trip, but I think my over-riding feeling was one
of anxiety. I had made the decision to leave my cushy
flat, easy job and all my friends in Brighton to travel
to the other side of the world to somewhere I didn't
really know anything about (during the course of my
fund raising I found out I wasn't the only one!) and
I was leaving my boyfriend behind. I was also nervous
about the health risks of going to Madagascar and unfortunately
when I bought my guidebook it fell open straight to
the health section. The reality is of course not nearly
as bad as an overactive imagination may suggest.
However, as soon as I got out on to the tarmac at Antananarivo
airport, I knew I'd made the right decision. The heat
of the tropical sun hit me square in the face and there
was just so much life everywhere. Even in the waste
ground around the terminal building there were beautifully
coloured tropical flowers, the likes of which I'd never
seen before, fighting for space with each other. From
Fort Dauphin, the other weary Pioneers and I took the
journey to our new home in an old Renault 5 taxi in
complete silence. I was overwhelmed. There was so much
to feed the senses - sights, smells, sounds and of course
we weren't yet used to the precarious nature of the
Malagasy roads so there was an element of fear in there
somewhere too. But when I saw the view down to the Indian
Ocean I fell in love with Fort Dauphin. The staff at
Azafady put on a party for us that first night with
a local band and lots of dancers - they really put us
to shame dancing the mangaliba and one of them was only
15! I woke up the next morning to the sound of the waves
crashing onto the beach and we went to work.
Almost every day two of the lovely Malagasy staff with
whom we were working gave us lessons in the local dialect
of Antanosy. They were very patient with us, and by
slipping a few words into conversation from day to day,
all of us became proficient in the language. This made
it easier to communicate with the local people, and
also gave us better insight into the system of fady
or taboo that governs social relations in Madagascar.
We learnt about why it is fady for Malagasy to refuse
hospitality to strangers (which has led to foreigners
feeling so welcome and relaxed), why some people keep
turtles in with their chickens and why it is of the
utmost offence to point at people. The Malagasy way
of life can be frustrating to those of us brought up
in Western countries where things are expected to be
done 'yesterday' and much importance is placed on punctuality.
In Madagascar, before every action there is a good few
hours of discussion about the best way to carry it out,
the best person for the job and what risks are involved,
even if the job is simply banging a nail into a piece
of wood. But actually, this makes the whole pace of
life much slower and makes everyone seem a lot more
relaxed and at ease. Don't get me wrong, the Malagasy
staff that we were with worked harder than anyone else
I've met when they eventually started.
We stayed in a place called Ambinanibe for ten days,
a commune comprising two villages next to a huge lake
surrounded by forested mountains and a beautiful deserted
white sand beach (where we saw a pod of dolphins whilst
swimming in the sea at lunchtime). Our main task while
we were there was to build a well. The leader of the
builders was an ex-teacher called Bic who was rather
strict about what had to be done and ran a team of 6
staff whom he often reprimanded when he found them fooling
in a boat on the lake during their breaks. With our
best help (which wasn't very helpful - before Pioneer
I didn't have any idea about how to use a shovel, let
alone build an entire well) we managed to build the
well from scratch - no mixing machines, just rocks,
water, cement, shovels, and a couple of old wheelbarrows.
They made a level on which to stand while collecting
water and fenced it off to protect the well from chickens.
There were many different aspects to the work we did
in Hovatra and Sainte Luce; we made puppets, we wrote
music, we went to schools to try and teach kids about
the importance of washing your hands, we hammered, we
shovelled, we built bee-hive shelters, we painted signs,
we dug latrine pits, we had women's group meetings,
we had village committee meetings, we mapped lemurs
in the forest, we surveyed deforestation in the most
beautiful area of forest I've ever seen, we organised
a football match, we made displays about the wildlife
for a visitor centre, we planted an immense tree nursery,
had some tree planting sessions, we collected rare palm
seeds from the forest, we learnt about first aid, sanitation
issues and many other things.
Madagascar has countless problems, many of which seem
unsolvable. But I really felt like a lot of the work
we were doing had a very positive, if slow effect on
the environment, but most importantly for the local
people. Some of the hardest obstacles we faced were
related to the embedded traditions and beliefs of the
Malagasy. For example, huge health problems stem from
the unsanitary conditions so we were involved in trying
to teach people about the importance of hygiene - using
a latrine rather than the road or the beach. But due
to local fady dictating that if you come into contact
with other people's excrement - even the smell of it
- you will become diseased, people were often sceptical
about our motives. But, the reluctance of Malagasy people
to change their ways also has positive effects on their
society - many areas of primary forest are protected
by the traditional beliefs that these areas are sacred.
These differences made it even more rewarding when we
saw that people had ingested the message we were trying
to give. In Hovatra, we went to the school and had a
few sessions with about 600 kids who were colouring
a poster we designed depicting the importance of washing
hands before eating. In the village the next day, I
saw hundreds of these posters displayed around the village,
and grinning parents made hand-washing gestures at me
as I passed. Apart from working, I learnt to surf, had
dancing lessons, had drumming lessons, had amazing parties,
made some good friends and saw some truly incredible
plants and animals.
Some of the times were hard - we spent 26 hours trying
to make a 35km journey in a truck, had to walk 7km in
the driving rain to camp for a night in the middle and
I fell into a stinking mud puddle with all my possessions
on my back. But by the next morning we were all laughing
at our ridiculous situation. The generosity and beauty
of the people there, the attitude they have to the immense
problems which sometimes almost overwhelm them and the
mesmerising beauty of the environment and the wildlife
there (especially the dancing sifakas!) have simply
made me want to promote the island's plight and get
as many people as possible to go there and see how important
it is to try and help to protect it.
I was so sad to leave Fort Dauphin that I spent the
whole plane trip back to Tana crying like a baby. I
turned my head to the window as I didn't want to get
caught, but the steward had obviously seen how sad I
was and when I turned round I found he had put 3 chocolates
on a pillow next to me! |
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