Hey
everyone! It’s time for an update on the goings-on here in the south of
Madagascar.
Mbe tsy avy ty
orañe
The new year has just begun, and from the
snow-covered streets of New York to the tragic deaths of many Malagasy people
during the recent cyclone, the weather is proving to be no one’s friend. That’s
just as true here in the southern Androy Region, where we’re several months
into what should be the wet season, and mbe
tsy avy ty orañe (it’s still not raining).
Androy
naturally has a dry climate, but people here can normally count on the months
of December through March to bring heavy rains. This rainy season provides the
region with enough water to farm, which helps the Tandroy people to make it through
the long dry season. However, while the rest of the island has been suffering
through cyclones and torrential rains, Androy has remained exceptionally dry. Instead
of rain, we’ve been treated to day after endless day of heat, sun, and heavy
winds. The latter is the most destructive – it creates dust that carries away soil
and kills plants. Many crops have already died (including most of our
permagarden), and if the rains don’t come soon then the whole rainy season
might prove a loss for Tandroy farmers. Everyone is talking about the
possibility of a kere (famine) this
year.
There’s still time to prevent that, and if we
see some rain in February people will be able to plant their bageda (sweet potatoes) and everything
will be ok. If not, then 2015 may prove to be a very difficult year for the
Tandroy people. Life remains hard here in the south of Madagascar.
School
Rehabilitation Project
Rain or no rain, life goes on.
I’ve heard back about the primary school rehabilitation project, and we've gotten the green light! If all goes well, then we should be able to begin fundraising soon!
Journées des
Écoles
From February 18th to
the 20th all of the schools in Madagascar will celebrate Journées des Écoles (School Days). This
celebration usually features speeches (obligatory at all events in Madagascar)
about the importance of education, games, and dancing.
The Ministry of Education has declared that
the theme of this year’s event will be “Un
élève, un arbre” (one student, one tree). All the schools will receive a
bit of money that they can use to buy trees. It looks like most of the schools
here in Androy are looking to buy Moringa trees – a great opportunity to
reinforce and expand the Moringa-planting project that we carried out last
June!
To prepare for the planting, my counterpart
Josoah and I collaborated with the midwife who runs the local health center to
hold a training session for all the school principals in my commune. They
learned more about the nutritional and health benefits of Moringa trees, as
well as some easy ways to integrate Moringa into traditional dishes. There was
a lot of enthusiasm among the principals – all of whom received Moringa trees
last year, and will receive even more in a few weeks. We’re hoping to do more
Moringa-related activities during Journées
des Écoles!
Until
the next time!
