So as mentioned the first day of week three is a national holiday, it is called the Day of the Dead (1st November). This is a day where Malagasy people go to visit their dead ancestors at their graveyards. The Veso people bury their dead a fair distance away from the village to allow them to rest and to keep them separate from the actual village as they are ‘gone’. In other parts of Madagascar when the villagers go to visit their dead they open the graves and take the bones out, turn the bones and redress them in cloth so that they have been ‘cared for’ for another year.
On 7th November it is election day and we get another day off as people don’t work on election day (perhaps I can get this introduced in the UK???). The elections here can be violent, as in many African countries, and there is so much unrest in Madagascar at the moment (due to the poverty and the corruption of the government selling off the land of the people) we have been advised to stay around the area we are living and not go into town just in case.
For both days we have had the day off as well as the staff here didn’t work so we have been for lunch at a local hotels. It is supposed to be the ‘off-season’ here are the moment so the hotels don’t mind us descending on them as it gives them extra revenue. Although the food is okay at Reef Doctor there are only so many carbs you can eat so we take the opportunity to get protein and veggies.
Walking up and back to the hotels we bump into (usually fat) middle aged white men with gorgeous looking young Malagasy girls on their arms. Prostitution is rife in this part of Madagascar and people do not seem concerned about it, it is way to make money, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth seeing these men parading around the villages and beaches with the girls.It might seem petty of me but I really hope they catch something horrible from the girls.
Morals are pretty low here full stop and men move from wife to mistress to mistress getting them pregnant along the way. One of our boatmen has 16 children by his wife and others by his mistress. Their house is one of the small shacks seen in my photos so 10 of the children now live with other relatives as they don’t have the room to house all the kids. The quicker that they get electricity and tv the better! That fact that they have to feed all these children on $1.5 per day it is a major miracle that any of them survive.
Toilet health is also pretty low… I know that we have drop toilets at RD which are not the best but at least we are controlling where our waste goes. The villagers just walk onto the beach and wee or poo as they don’t have any form of toilet. As I have walked back from the village or hotel they are just squatting on the beach going with no embarrassment as I walk through - I of course am almost sick seeing it! We have asked them before not to do it as they are effectively pooing into the ocean at high tide and then eating the fish that have probably eaten the poo somewhere along the line. The fact the villagers eat all the fish makes me feel a bit queasy and I am staying off fish that comes from the village…..
One thing I didn't expect to see was men's genitals.... the younger boys (just around teenage years) will often wave their willys at you as a bit of fun 😆, but I almost walked into a fully grown adult standing stark b..... naked on the beach. The greeting for hello in Madagascar is salama but I think I would have been better off saying salami!!! I didn't really know where to look and he cupped his manhood and turned away rapidly. I'm hoping not to repeat that episode anywhere else!
Comments
Post a Comment