You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Streets of Tana’ category.
This is the video I have made for the worldwide project One Day on Earth. Forgive me if it took me time to edit it and upload it. I hope you will enjoy it.
You can guess by the title of this post that the footage shows buses and markets in Antananarivo. It also shows the street markets on a Sunday morning in the Capital city where you can find a lot of items you may need to buy such as clothes, shoes, bags, school items, toys, DVDs, food, kitchen utensils…
The reason why I wanted to join One Day on Earth for its historical project is I wanted to make Madagascar known. I know I could not do that much but I really wanted to do something. Honestly, I feel sad to see several people representing a country and only a very few for mine. When joining was easier than filming on the D-day, I did not want to give up. It was a challenge for me to go out of my place handling my camera in unsafe streets.
The first shooting was made from my veranda. I started with buses since there was a bus stop just on the bridge a few miles away from my place. This was easy because I was home and no one had noticed what I was doing. It was time to go out and find something else to film but where? It was a Sunday morning; most of the shops and offices were closed. And I did not want to go to church with my jeans and sneakers. There was a little moment of thinking and… “Bingo!”, there are always markets even on Sunday. My husband did not want me to go there. You could guess it, this would not be safe for me and my camera. But stubborn as I am, I went down the streets and headed to the markets anyway. My poor husband did not let me alone of course, he finally decided to be my “guard” 😀 (My husband is lovely, isn’t he? 😉 ). Anyway, I could make the video. Only a few people I met in the streets were reluctant with the project, but I sincerely appreciated the sellers in Behoririka market, the bus driver, its conductor and all the passengers who nicely agreed to be part of my film. I am also thankful to Olombelo Ricky, a great and cool Malagasy singer, who let me use one of his songs for the video. I have chosen “Mananilatany”; I love the sound of this song 🙂 (And you?)
Nothing more to say, I’ll let you enjoy the video if it wasn’t done already 😉
Guess what? This blue basin and the plastic bottles inside were my trashes. I threw them in the trash bin. Oooh, I was astonished when I saw them on the streets few minutes later. No, it was more sadness than astonishment. How come? I threw them away! I even tried hard to hold my breath cuz the surroundings stank that much.
It’s not like it was the first time for me I’ve seen poor people picking up trashes but , this time, they took what I have thrown away. Should have I just put them on the side? should have I waited around and offered them to anyone who wanted? … Now, I think twice before putting things in my trash can. I mainly separate rest of foods… It may help. Gosh, all of this is too sad for me. I wish I could be standing there every day sharing foods to all those poor people, gving them clothes, blankets, more… I wish I could find them rooms to sleep at night.
I wish I could find job so they can survive by themselves. See, the man on the pic is not old at all, why doesn’t he work? Did he? and then losed it? or didn’t he want? cuz of lazyness? a lot of foolish questions I wanted to ask the man if my husband didn’t forbid me. He was too afraid that the area was not safe at all and people might rob my camera. I even had to be discreet on the other side of the streets to take the pics. I just wanted to know, I wanted to understand.
Mann, there are even kids. Kids! Kids who should go to school. Kids who should play anywhere else but in trashes.
This post is maybe Afrigadget-able 🙂 Yes, people from Africa are amazingly resourceful, they can always create new nice items really useful for everyday life with something that others prefer to throw in the trash bins.
Saturday, just in front of my bus stop in Ambodifilao, I saw a man selling bases for pots which I really need for my new home. While coming nearer, I got immediately an idea. Why don’t I blog about this? I asked if the man didn’t mind and he nicely agreed.
Hery was his name. He was making a candlestick when I was talking to him. Next to Hery, on the ground, laid a cloth where several items were diplayed: candlesticks, bases for pots, bases for irons, coffee strainers.
The raw material is the iron which is used as a embeddings of second-hand-clothes packs. And the tools: a nipper and creativity. 7 minutes are enough to make a candlestick, 10 to 15 minutes for other items.
After beeing a jobless, he had learnt this job from a friend and practices for three years now. He moves a lot and doesn’t have a permanent place for selling. This day, he has stopped in Ambodifilao because “I felt a little bit tired so I wanted to take a rest. Plus, the streets are kind of crowded over here so, we never know… this may be good for my business“, Hery said.
Enjoy the video 🙂
DagoTiako 