It has been 3 years now that, every evening after work, I have met this young guy singing on the stairs of Antaninarenina.
It has been 3 years now that I am used to give him money ’cause he is so cute with his little guitar and his gospel songs.
Today, I decided to talk to him and asked him a few questions. He smiled and looked down and finally agreed. I told him that I would talk about him on my blog and English Corner page so people who will meet him will recognize him and, maybe, will be nicer to him.
” My name is Rado and I am 14 years old”, he said. It has been 5 years now that he has done this little job: singing in the streets for money.
Rado has started with his older brother. Since his brother has got a job, he decided to do it alone. Well, sometimes I see him with a little girl. “Oh, she’s my little sister”, he said.
This young guy lives with his mother and his 5 siblings (he is the 5th child) in Manjakaray (3 or 4 km from Antaninarenina).
“I used to go to school”, he said, “but since my father died, I stopped ’cause my family needed money so I decided to only sing here”. At the beginning, he sang on the afternoon when I did not have class. Unfortunately, due to his father’s death, he quited school at T4 level.
I asked him if he would love to go back to school if someone would help him. He was not really sure but answered “Yes”.
Rado sings only gospel songs because “they are great songs”, he explained. Also, he prefers singing than only begging. He believes that his songs go to people’s heart.
He did not want to mention how much he could get every day. But he said that there are more Malagasy people who give him money than Vazaha (foreigners).
Rado has a dream: finding a better job because singing all day long his really tiring.
Well, I sincerely appreciate this young guy’s courage to sing in front of millions of people (who are most of the time so busy and do not even try to take a look at him) in order to help his mother feeding the poor family.
I hope that next time you pass by Antaninarenina stairs (from 9.00 a.m. to 5.oo p.m.), you will take a few minutes to listen to Rado’s gospel songs and will nicely give a few money for him and his family to eat.
7 comments
Comments feed for this article
January 22, 2009 at 1:34 am
Romi
Next time you pass by Rado, tell him that Canada waves hello to him. 🙂
January 22, 2009 at 6:15 am
Tahina
Congrats for the video upload first 🙂
Yep I remember this kid, I used to work at Antaninarenina as well ;-), he used to be with his little sister (on drums) and another young boy who played flute. They usually perform either at pavillon Analakely or like you say on Antaninarenina’s stairs. Seems like EC (I mean you Lalah :p) put him in the spot light, cool 😀
January 22, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Juan
I dont use to give money to people on the streets.. (and there are a lot here) except when they play music that i like…
January 22, 2009 at 5:29 pm
ariniaina
Thanks for the comments guys 🙂
Romi> Sure, I won’t miss it
Juan> I’m not used to give money to anyone who begs in the streets but there are few people who deserve to be supported in the things they do
January 22, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Frerieke
Thanks ariniana for your comments on http://www.afrigadget.com, for the wonderful blog you keep, for the person you are. keep inspiring others! love from south africa!
January 28, 2009 at 8:43 am
Rising Voices » Protests in Madagascar and the Importance of Citizen Journalism Training
[…] English skills when interviewing a visiting South African pastor about thankfulness. Finally, Ariniaina decided to shoot a video of a 14-year-old boy who has spent the last five years of his lif…: It has been 3 years now that, every evening after work, I have met this young guy singing on the […]
May 23, 2013 at 4:28 pm
Enfants de pauvres et la débrouille « Ampela miblaogy
[…] janvier 2009, j’ai parlé de Rado [EN], un jeune gars de 14 ans à l’époque. Sur l’escalier d’Antaninarenina, avec […]