Lennard + Emily + Kati + Arne

MADAGASCAR

Here in Madagasca, lots of people are poor. Some have more money than others, but considering our boat or home, for them it is luxurious. The people in most villages we went to basically live with nature; their houses are made by flax woven together to make a roof, the whole of the house is made out of flax, bamboo, rope and wood. Not a single nail to be seen! They grow their food on plantations and catch fish. They have Cebus (cattle with a hump on the back and long horns) to pull carts or a plow. Everywhere in the villages there are chicken, ducks and goose.The children here don't know what a runing tap is, or a fridge, not even a camera. When dad takes a picture of something the children come running wanting to see the weired mirror that freezes you when a flash of light comes. Yesterday mum made a bowl of popcorn to share with the children. It ended up that no child in that village ever saw popcorn in their life. They looked at it and only after we started eating, tasted it very carefully, then smiled and started eating loads. This probably was the first and last time they had popcorn. Most children also don't go to school, they play and help their mother when they call their name. One village had a school but no techer. I've always liked school, but some of my friends in NZ say "I hate school!" but now I have just realised you should be happy to be able to have education and to be able to study. The children here are more or less stuck here. I'm on a boat, maybe sometimes I would prefer being in a house with my friends but I know that we are all lucky - infact, luckier than we think: everyone has clean drinking water enough food and a toilet where you just press a button and its gone! Here they have to carry fire wood from a distance and water from a well and use a long drop or something. I felt spoiled when I saw a few women pounding on rice. We get a packet of rice from a shop but they don't. They harvest the rice (cut the rice with a machete), the women pour the grains in a bucket out of wood, then 2 of them pound on it with long heavy wooden sticks, taking turns. Then when they pounded it for half an hour they put it on a flat flax basket and fling the rice in the air letting the husk fly away with the wind, catching only the rise grains again. Then after doing this for 5 minutes the rice is finished. I thought how easy it is for us to walk to a supermarket, buying a big bag of rice. Most tourist visit an island called 'Nosi Be' most come for the lovely white, sandy beaches. There are reorts, restaurants and even super markets. We saw many animals, humpback whales and dolphins, turtles, snakes and chameleons. But most I like the Lemures. They are monkey-like animals in every size though the smallest are very rare (once thought extinct then found again). They have long tails, longer than a cats one and as bushy as a squirell's tail. They have the most cutest paws that I have ever seen, They have fingers like us but only as big as a baby's and softer than kitten paws. Their eyes are basically yellow button-like eyes which glow in the dark. If you have watched the movie 'Madagascar' those monkey like creatures are lemures and the 'foosa' is also no fairy tale creature. We just visited a village where the Lemures were almost tame, because tourist come and feed them their favourite bananas. A boy took us to a place in the village where he shouted: "Maki - Maki - Maki!!!" (Maki means Lemur in their language) and suddenly a group of them came out of the forest and jumped on us, clinging on the T-Shirt, sitting on the shoulder or the head, eating our bananas with the skin! I like cruising a lot. Maybe not as much as going for hikes in the forest in NZ but I still like it. I like MADAGASCAR!

By Emily M Edited by Dad

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