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.