Habitat Build

Habitat Day 1 – April 9th…

Along with our two Habitat Volunteers (Liango and John), Lauren, Joe, Dennis and I picked up the rest of our Habitat Team from the airport late last night. (After our Easter Sunday dinner at the beautiful Sakamanga Restaurant)
Madagascar Note: You cannot buy or sell Madagascar money, the Ariary, anywhere else except Madagascar. And the largest denomination it comes in is 10,000. (which equals about $5 usd…) So as our team arrived on Easter weekend and we were leaving the next day for our small town, our entire team had to change all of their money at the airport…All eyes were on us as we got our wads and wads of cash…

Breakfast this morning..
Coffee, fresh squeezed OJ, French bread, butter, omelet and a croissant
Cost = 5000 Ariarys = $2.50 usd

Practiced our Malagasy
Hello – Salama
Please – Azfady
Thank you – Misaotra

Then headed off to Miarinarivo…a town about 2 ½ hours away where we were doing our build.

Our accommodations were in a “guesthouse”. (our room was bottom left)
Once we got finished hanging our mosquito nets, it looked more like a harem then the bare cement room we started out with. Anne, Finely, Lisa and I dubbed it the “Princess Room” …
And the best part is…(after I had already used the WC with the footprints and hole)
We found out that there was a real western toilet available to us in the group meeting area!!! (as many of you know from camping/cottaging with me,…Tara, Kellie, Brandi, etc…I would rather hike to the next town if it meant I could use a real toilet instead of a hole in the ground!)

Habitat Day 2

Still have yet to start working…In Malagasy culture, it seems like socializing is a precursor to work and to jump right into working would be a fady. (taboo)
So today started out with breakfast, a welcoming ceremony, long breaks, lunch, meeting our host families, a tour of the town and the worksite, playing with the children…Just my kind of day...except that whatever I ate yesterday had other plans for me. After a night of excruciating stomach pains, I have spent the day quarantined to my mosquito net bed…Thank goodness for Lauren’s Ciproxin….

Habitat Day 3
Market day in Miarinarivo…Stalls line all the main streets in town…hats for 40 cents, dried fish in all sizes, underwear hanging from the tents, bike parts, (no bikes, just parts), etc…

We were greeted by the Mayor of Miarinarivo, Andry Raveloson, and given a tour of city hall.



Then we actually started to work in the afternoon…The team split up into two and my group, the Lemurs, went to work on house No 1.



Today, as we walking home from the work site, a family on the hill ran out to greet us. They offered us food…it was taroroot (sp?) It’s funny…after spending the first few days in Tana, we were used to being followed around by people begging for money…and now that we’re in the countryside, people who have next to nothing are sharing... :-)

Habitat Day 4

Still being on the “disabled” list, I was put on market and kitchen duty today…It’s a good thing that my Habitat Team doesn’t know my motto, “Every pan is a No-stick pan if you don’t cook”. I spent the morning shopping in the market with Harry, Flawier, Patrick and Robert…even got them to try to teach me to carry a basket on my head…



Then it was onto chopping carrots and cucumbers for lunch…I brought my MP3 into the kitchen to liven things up with some Shania Twain line dancing… I’m not sure exactly how to say it in Malagesy but I think the word “Loco” came up a few times…

Habitat Day 5

We’ve now come up with our team name, “The Screaming Lemurs”…And each of us are our own specie…There’s Thong Lemur, Snoring Lemur, HomeGirl Lemur, Doc (Duck) Lemur, LD Lemur (can’t reveal Anne’s name) and I am the Red Dred Lemur…(there’s limited bucket shower time so hair takes too long to wash…so Lisa and I are having a contest to see who can go the longest without washing our hair…hence the Red Dreds…)

The Lemurs...


Oh yeah…amongst all the fun we’re having…we did do some work today…and now have almost all the floors done…and that’s a lot of ce-ment mixed by hand.

Tomorrow, we’re going to the other half of the team’s worksite to get filmed for National TV.

Habitat Day 6

Well, after getting all gussied up in our finest workwear…we find out that TV people don’t work on Saturday so they were a no-show… They missed us doing our Madagascar Step Class…We had to move 2000 clay roof tiles up 63 uneven winding steps to the buildsite.

Some of the Habitat Families joined us on our afternoon of R & R (which now stands for roasting and rigor mortis walk…hehe)
Chute de Lily…



Please see driving theory blog for truck ride home picture...

Words of wisdom from Anne...
Even on hell rideds, you are probably safe because although they don't particularily care about you, they probably don't want to wreak their vehicle and jeopardize their livelyhood...Please note, this is only applicable if the driver is also the owner of the vehicle...lol

Habitat Day 7

Today we spent the afternoon at a Geyser…and the bus drove us all the way in this time. Although the Geyser was quite fascinating, we were spent a lot of our time in the coolest outhouse. It actually had no roof, didn’t smell and was kind of funky. (watch for Anne and Finely’s upcoming new series, “View from the Loo”.



There is a really cool Habitat community here in Miaraniviro…with around 30 Families living in Habitat homes.
Tonight we each went to stay with a Habitat Family…Finley and I stayed with Isabel, Roger, Martina, Martino and Herizo.



On the way, Finely and I had one of those strange moments where you look at each other and just wonder how you got to where you are…We hadn’t really met the family…and a van of three guys just dropped Finely, Roger and I off at the side of the road in the pitch dark…Finely and I proceeded to use our headlamps and follow Roger through a field, not knowing where exactly we were going…We just had to trust that everything was going to work out…
And once we got to the two room house, we got a wonderful greeting from the family. We gathered by candlelight (no electricity) and had Coke and cracky. (my newest snack..kind of like ringos) Only Martina spoke French…(and for some reason, because I’m Canadian, everyone thinks that I speak French…and sometimes I do??) So we had conversation mixed with Malagasy, French, English and sign language…Then the entire family went to sleep in the other room while Finley and I were put under mosquito netting in our own room. (we had the option of staying for up to three nights but we felt bad for crowding them.)

Just a note about electricity here…there is a shortage of breakers (or some other piece of equipment like that?) so people go on a waiting list to get electricity into their homes. In fact, one family had a tv but was not scheduled to get electricity until 2008.

Habitat Day 8

Another hard day at the office…Monday’s will never be the same.



Best dinner so far…
Omelets, homefries, cucumber salad, meatballs…and Three Horse Beer.

Habitat Day 9

Our masons, Rene and Aristad started out quite serious with us…communicating only by "meet" (thumbs up) or "si meet" (thumbs down) but we have gradually worn them down and today Aristad broke down with a full belly laugh…When we are mortaring the walls, we usually bring either Rene or Aristad in to say either "meet" or "si meet"…so today I do that but meanwhile, I have etched a smiley face into the wall…so when I call him in so seriously, he burst out laughing…Rene, on the other hand just gave me a thumbs down when the eyes kept poking through as I tried to fix it…Our team now thinks that the family might think the house is haunted if a smiley face comes through when it rains…

Habitat Day 10

Today was the last day of the build…We spent a half day at House 3 chipping away at the bricks...(did I mention that between the bricks is just water and clay…no cement? I’m not exactly sure what keeps the walls together when it rains?)

It was also a very special day as Lisa and I finally washed our hair in honor of Celebration Party…

Speaking of the Party…I’m not sure if I mentioned this…but I learned a new"repeat after me song" at the camp in Ireland…
“Ah oh, Capt’n Jack
Meet me at the Railway track…
With a “guitar” in your hand.. (or hose, or drumsticks, or etc)
You can be my music man…” (or fireman, or drummer man, or ec

Then comes the dancing part…
“Go left, go left, boogie on down, go left, go left, goooooo right!”
“Go right, go right, boogie on down, go right, go right, goooooo left!”

I taught it to some of the kids over the last few days so it was a hit with the families when we sang/danced it at the party…

Habitat Day 11

Today we are leaving Miarinarivo…and a lot of the families came to say bye…What started out as a civilized ballooning session for a few kids…

“balloon” picture to come...

Words cannot express how it feels after a build...the impact on the families, on the community and most of all, on yourself!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world"
Mohatma Gandhi