One night, my friends and I were hanging out and had a lot of fun. At around 4.00 a.m., we decided that it was high time to go home. On our way home, we still felt so happy cuz of the great evening we had together. We laughed, we listened to great music… Suddenly, this happiness turned bitter cuz I noticed poor people sleeping on the sidewalks near tunnels. I felt so sad though powerless in front of such picture. I have to tell you that we are now in winter in Madagascar and on that morning we all felt so cold.
I asked my friend to stop the car so I could take one or two photos of these poor people. I wanted to share this poverty to people who do not feel comfortable enough with what they have. What you see in these pics are not dead people, they are poor homeless people who have to take a rest facing this so hard life. For their bed, they gather all plastic bags, newspapers or old clothes that you and I throw in the streets or in trash bins.
A little brick house in Countryside Vs. a little wooden house in the Capital City
The situation above makes me remember a story I read in a book. This story talked about a little family who had a little brick house and a peace of land in countryside of Antananarivo. The little house had only one room where were the bedrooms and the kitchen at the same time. They had one cow and a few chickens. They had a little rice field and planted a few vegetables. The crops and the milk were their resources.
One day, the father decided to sell the cow and the chickens because he wanted to bring his family downtown and see the so called Capital City. This father believed that life would be beautiful once they would arrive in the big city.
Few days later, the family arrived in town. They came and see an uncle who already lived in Antananarivo. The father and the little family were astonished once they saw where this uncle lived: in a little house made with wood and plastics. Well, the father who was really courageous and motivated, invited his little family to fix a little wooden house near the uncle’s and said that this would be the beginning of a new life and a brighter future.
The father helped the uncle driving rickshaws; the mother became a laundress and the kids picked up all bottles and plastic bags in trash bins for resell. Most of the time, it was hard to find money to survive because jobs were so rare but the father convinced the family to stay because this would be only a start for a great life in a very near future. Years after, their financial situation and life conditions worsened and the children missed their little room of the countryside but the father did not want to leave “his” Capital City.
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July 28, 2009 at 9:12 pm
simp
well,
I think, as opposed to the american dream, the malagasy dream is to move to the city and get rich 🙂
That wasn’t so hard… u know, figuring out our cultural identity.
Now we can move forward 😛
July 28, 2009 at 9:19 pm
simp
In addition to that, I think the homeless people believe in their dreams and would stick to it no matter how hard it is that they must undergo in order to achieve it.
or simply, they like being homeless and miserable.
I remember there was a time where the municipalities tried to give them some help. Like a piece of land and some funds but they have to rellocate to a remote place outside the suburb… but they either simply rejected the offer or took it but came back after few weeks…
The lessons for us to keep is that malagasy stick to their dream no matter how lame and non-sense it is.
amen
July 29, 2009 at 10:51 am
Tahina
And these behoririka-bridge homeless are in better conditions than the ones at Isotry.
As for me, they like being down town because here they can get (little amount of) money faster, by begging, doing little works and stuff where as in the country side the fruit of your labor will need a much longer time (that means awaiting) to get over you.
August 5, 2009 at 11:57 am
David Sasaki
There is a famous thought experiment which asks what you would do if you were walking by a lake and saw someone drowning. Obviously, just about everyone would feel compelled to help the drowning person. So, why then do we not help those who are drowning that we cannot see?
I largely agree with Tahina. I think that the problem is that: 1.) it is often easier for the homeless to beg for money than to work for it and 2.) it is easier for the rest of us to ocassionally give them our spare change than it is for us to get involved in their lives to help give them skills and help them find work.
I have always thought that an amazing project would be to train a group of 10 – 20 homeless people how to type on a computer and give them some basic data entry work. I think that they would make much more money typing in text than begging on the street and that it would give them much more self-confidence. Maybe it would be a good project for Foko?
September 5, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Dagomc
Great idea David!!
But about the drowing people, they are about to die. So, it will be a crime if you do not save them, or even try. But those homeless people, some of them, I repeat some of them, choose to be there, you said the reason above! To pursue their dream as you said, they are ready to sacrifie comfort in the country side …
that’s heartbreaking but it’s reality …
September 10, 2009 at 3:11 pm
pakysse
http://pakysse.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/sadness-situation-in-madagascar/ that s it