Madagascar: Bienvenue!!

A Little Community Among the Rice Paddies

Thank goodness I worked so hard all those years at learning the French language! It wasn't easy, as I know it's not for some of you, but imagine the reward! Madagascar would be extremely challenging to travel in if I didn't speak French.

Malagasy is the native language that everyone here speaks. Then they learn French in school and at home because in 1896 France declared it as its own.  Madagascar is now its own independent nation, but everyone still speaks French. Nowadays, kids learn English in school, the same way that you learn French, but after graduating they don't have much use for it. Since Madagascar is so far away from English speaking countries, they don't get a lot of English tourists (or tourists from anywhere for that matter).

Here's a look at all the French-speaking countries in the world:

Mr. Elder doesn't know very much French, so I'm in charge of communicating while we're here. It's been fun to practice! I have also loved walking through the villages hearing smiling kids yell, 'Bonjour Madame!' as I pass by.

Here are some words and phrases that have really come in handy:

Bonjour, ça va? - Hello, how are you?
Ça coûte combien? - How much is it?
Est-ce que je peux...? - Can I...?
Est-ce qu'il y a ...? - Is there...?
Qu'est-ce que c'est? - What is it?
Où est...? - Where is...?
La facture, s'il vous plaît. - The bill please.
Je ne comprends pas. - I don't understand.
Merci beaucoup! - Thank you very much!

Antananarivo in the Background

Imagine having to figure out everything in another language-how to get where you want to go, how much it will cost, when to get off a bus, where the bank and grocery store are, menus... everything! Every little word you can remember might come in handy. My French is nowhere near perfect, so there is always the fallback of acting things out using sign language!

Antananarivo, Madagascar's Capital City

In class, we talked about different words that are used in Quebec and France. It's the same as how people in England use different English words than we do, like 'boot' for the trunks of their cars. I've learned some of these differences because I learned Parisienne French (French from France/Paris) in school, and I learned Quebecois French while working for two summers in Quebec. Because I spent so much time in Quebec, for me, the Quebecois words usually come to mind first. But in Madagascar, they speak Parisienne French because it was settled by France. So I've had to check myself sometimes and try to remember the word less familiar to me. Here are a couple of examples that I know we discussed in class:

Quebec                       France                                   English

une collation                       un gouter                                           a snack 

       (we saw this in the book "En  Attendant Noel")

la pause                                la recreation                                   recess 

       (we learend this during our food unit)

le petit-dejuner, le dejeuner, le diner / le dejeuner, le diner, la souper /breakfast, lunch, dinner

The End of Leg One

Leaving Tanzania for me means the end of the first leg, or section, of our trip. Although some people consider the island of Madagascar to be apart of the continent of Africa, it's an island that's been separated from the mainland for 140 million years! That means the people have developed quite differently. We saw differences between people in other East Africa countries, but mainly they were similar. We know in Madagascar we will see SO many animals and plants that are found no where else in the world, and the people have their own unique language called Malagasy.

It also feels, in a way, like the real trip is just beginning. September has started, so I feel like I should be back at school, and we've been traveling for two months now so any little comforts from home, like granola bars, have long since disappeared. We know the trip is about to get a lot harder because Madagascar is not very well visited by tourists. So in commemoration of the first leg of our journey, and because we finally got our video editing software to work, here is a glimpse of my trip so far set to one of my favourite songs. It is appropriately called, Our Ancestors, by Christopher Tinn, and the video starts with my experiences in Ethiopia, the beginning of civilization.

Tanzania: Seeing the Invisible

After a beautiful week in Zanzibar soaking up the sun, I was ready to move on. My flight out took me from Dar Es Salaam (the capital of Tanzania) through Nairobi (the capital of Kenya) to Antananarivo (the capital of Madagascar). My flight left Dar at 5:10 am, so I was at the airport at the very early hour of 3.

While waiting for my flight I noticed there were people lining the hallway to the bathroom. They were lying on the floor, heads hidden under shirts or blankets. Beside them lay upturned hats with a few coins in them. I realized these were the homeless of the Dar airport.

Those of you from Grade 4/5 at W.O. last year will appreciate the significance of this observation. It made me wonder if there are more people in Dar who suffer from homelessness, if it is just that they are allowed in Tanzanian airports, or if they are just more visible than the ones in Canada. Regardless, to me, they were not invisible.

On that note, I'll let you know the plan Mr. Elder and I have. Once we return to Calgary and begin working again, we have decided to donate to one charity for each country we have visited (and we are also going to choose one from Canada). We have seen a lot of people who could use our help and environmental organizations that we want to support. It's tough when people, mainly children, come up to us when we walk by and beg for money. You want to help them, but it's not a good idea to give to children like that. Can you think of a reason why?

We've been told that if they make money for their families that way, begging on the street, then some families may actually keep their kids from going to school, and send them out on the street to beg. That is something that we definitely don't want to encourage! So with our plan, we are able to help and know the money is going to the right place.

Some of our ideas include supporting education for girls in Kenya, and the Jane Goodall Institute for Tanzania, since it holds special meaning for both of us. If you have other suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

Tanzania: Climbing to New Heights

Tanzania is one of the most developed East African countries. It is easy to get around in and tourism is very common here. It has beautiful landscapes from forests in the West to white sand beaches in the East. It also boasts Africa's tallest mountain - Mount Kilimanjaro.


The mountain is 5896m tall (Canada's tallest mountain, Mount Logan, is 5250m in height). Now that's pretty tall, but to put it into perspective, the tallest mountain in the world, Mount Everest is 8848m, (which I'm going to see in October!).
So you know that height is measured from the bottom to the top of something, like a chair might be 800 cm tall. But what about elevation? 




We all know that the Earth isn't flat. Standing on flat ground in Calgary can have you much higher than standing in Toronto even if you're standing on flat ground in both places. That's because Toronto is close to the Great Lakes, which are at an elevation of zero-we call this 'sea level.' So Toronto is at an elevation of 76 m. Calgary, being inland, close to the Rocky Mountains is at an elevation of 1 100 m. The land gradually gets higher and higher the closer you get to Calgary from Toronto.

So the tallest mountain in Alberta is Mount Columbia with a peak at an elevation of 3 747 m. If you wanted to climb to the top of it, you wouldn't need to climb 3 747 m. Because Calgary itself is already 1 100 m high from sea level. Plus, the land gets higher and higher as you drive into the mountains. Really, by the time you drive to the Mount Columbia trailhead, you have less than 2 000 m (or 2 km) to climb.

For those of you who were in my class three years ago, you might remember my pictures from a trip I took that summer to Jordan. I visited the Dead Sea with Miss Scheidegger. It is special because it's the Earth's lowest elevation on land. 


Now there's one more important thing I want to mention. When you travel to a high altitude, like the top of Kilimanjaro, Everest, or even cities like Potosi, which I visited last summer in Bolivia, you have to be careful of high-altitude sickness. The higher you go, the 'thinner' the air is, meaning there's less oxygen. This can make you feel light-headed or out of breath. Your heart might start beating really quickly to make sure your brain is getting enough oxygen. This can happen mildly to people from low-altitude cities like Toronto, Vancouver, and Halifax if the are visiting Calgary and go for a hike in the mountains, even though they aren't that high. 

It can be more serious if you go to heights above 4000 m above sea level (nowhere in Canada, but I experienced it in Bolivia and will again in November in Nepal). Sometimes people get nauseous and vomit and have headaches because they increase their elevation too quickly. When hiking mountains like Kilimanjaro, it's important to take your time and spend an extra night or two on your way up to acclimatize, or get used to, the height. You can also take medication that will help.

So, I didn't climb Mount Kilimanjaro, but I did get a nice view of it!






I was a little disappointed after all the work we did with our sister school in Tanga to not visit. Tanga is on the coast between Moshi (where I stayed close to Mount Kilimanjaro) and Dar Es Salaam (the capital city). But I had to make sure I was in Zanibar Island in time for my reservation. And trust me, it was worth it! Beautiful white sand beaches, swimming, taking boat rides, snorkling, and the first real relaxation time. My pace has been fast, so it was much needed! 







Next, I'll fly across the Mozambique Strait to the incredible island of Madagascar! Rewatch the movie and send me tips!

Rwanda: Pitching In

I mentioned in the previous post how clean Rwanda is. The people here take great pride in their country and they work hard to keep it up to high standards.

One interesting thing they do is called umuganda, where everyone in the country pitches in for the morning and does community service.  It could be by picking up garbage, cutting grass and trimming bushes along roads, or repairing public facilities. People might even work together to build a house for a person who wouldn't be able to do it on his own. People with particular skills offer their services for free on this day.  For example, doctors may offer free medical examination. Umuganda happens the last Saturday of every month between 8 am and 11 am, and it is expected that everyone between 18 and 65 participate in some way.

It's something to think about. How much better would our city be if we each gave up three hours a week to work for our community? What type of work would you do?