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.  

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