We let Simp a blogger friend of us who took the time to select 5 posts from the dizains our members published during the mini-blogging contest which wnet between February and April. He first chose 20 must read articles from the entire FBC archives then gave his top 5 to translation :
http://as2coeur.wordpress.com/2008/04/15/vendeur-mandehandeha/ by lomelle
Peddlers
One can hear shouts of « filao é, filao é, filao é » . A woman shows up : a basin half filled with fish on her head. Her child is tied with a lambaoany to her back. She is the traveling fishmonger. She criss crosses neighborhoods daily despite the scaldering heat. However she is not the only peddler in town ; other people do it elsewhere in town. Others sell coffee, glasses, samos ; fruit, belts sellers also go across town on foot in the hope of selling their precious wares.
This type of trade has become a real trend in Majunga. Sella is a filao peddler who says that her fish sell much faster this way and she can add 500Ar to the price compared to the non traveling seller. A traveling milk seller shares his tricks :”by virtue of peddling I have made myself customers on my trails and with time I have become a delivering seller”.
Even with non negligeable benefits things are not always rosy for peddlers. Ravo who peddles glasses shares “when trade is good we can sell from eight to twelve glasses daily, but sometimes we do not sell anything during the day, and we are not even mentioning tiredness from having walked all day long”.
These peddlers can be divided in two : during the day they invade Majunga’s streets, their basins on their heads, their trays on their arms, their baskets in their hands. Once nighttime falls, they are still at their post and go to the boardwalk in the fresh sea breeze.
http://dianachamia.wordpress.com/2008/04/26/je-suis-la-pluie-et-la-comedie-est-mes-goutes/ by diana
I am rain and theater are my raindrops:
Since my childhood, I have always loved theatre but it was only when I was in high school that my dream was finally realized; But time and success among other things may not be enough. When I had my baccalaureate, it effectively terminated my dream because the college I went to did not have theatre courses, college is truly the goddess of dreams killers. Now I miss theater much, I feel like a retired singer. All my beautiful memories come back to me:
“It’s Wednesday as usual, it is necessary that all the actors of a group called ZoLoBE teen should be present in the grand amphitheater of the French alliance in Diego Suarez has already made several spectacles that makes everyone smile. As my uncle always said to me: my little Chamia, you know what make people laughs, you know how to draw and paint, you’re the artist of the family so take care of your talents. But the problem is that here in Madagascar, theater and painting do not mean much, if one knows how to cultivate rice, it would mean more to the people around me.
Some time ago, I almost died of joy because I saw a poster on the door of the alliance school in Majunga that there was a Theatre workshop. So I jumped over the several hundred stairs of the alliance school, but then my inner little penguin told me: ” hey, did you read the whole page ?” So I turned around and went to call my mother to tell her that I will resume theater. Then, ba boum, my big bubble got crushed because the workshop had an entry fee. This is nonsense, acting is a talent, a gift from heaven. Why don’t they do it like us in Diego, it’s free to enter but when the shows have an entry fee then everyone shares the revenues.
I so wanted to see the teacher and tell him my thoughts about making money from this. I I am sad that while it will cost me, I still want to play. My mother was the seamstress for our drama costumes back when I was in Diego and it is with the money from the spectacle that we paid everyone. Money really makes the word go round, our dreams can be before our eyes but we must pay for realizing it.
http://gazetyavylavitra.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/59255-9-25/ by avilavitra
http://patiettoi.wordpress.com/2008/04/04/qui-doit-lutter-contre-le-vihsida/ by patricia
Who should participate in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic ?
HIV / AIDS are two words that we, in Madagascar, hear almost on a daily basis through events or awareness campaign, may it be in the media or street conversations. However, are people in Madagascar really aware of the current situation with respect to HIV / AIDS? Is the awareness campaign really effective with our population ?
In recent years, people keep talking about this phenomenon all over the island: in the street, in the media, in schools, through associations etc.. At this point, almost everyone knows what HIV / AIDS is, how to fight against the spread of the disease and how to prevent it!
But it is rare to find people who are aware of the problem and who know that they are indeed playing an important role in this fight. The fight against HIV / AIDS is not restricted to an affair of the state; it starts at the individual level! Therefore, everyone must always be aware of what they do because a brief moment of foolishness could affect the lives of at least one person; that’s not too nice, especially from our part, the youngsters! Then, remember that the fight against HIV / AIDS is not only a question of HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns but HIV first affects us!
Speaking of current media awareness, it is apparent that some tools work better for urban Malagasy! They always expect new things, new approaches but they are not satisfied with hearing the same message everyday! When I say that this, it is not to encourage readers not to pay attention to what the campaigns are saying now, but it is mainly to encourage these campaigns to always be more creative for us young people!
We should not forget that, while HIV / AIDS is a well-known phenomenon in Madagascar but the more it is known, the more it spreads, so the onus is on us to stop it. The duty to fight HIV / AIDS belongs to all of us !
http://karenichia.wordpress.com/2008/04/25/toe-tsaina-tsy-mampandroso/ by karenichia
Is this an inevitable trait of character or do Malagasy dislike development?
It is great that social graces and ethics are back in schools’ curriculum.
It is true that there is some pleasure in expressly doing things that are prohibited, but there are limits.
Some Malagasies are not ashamed of going to the bathroom in public or throwing their garbage right under signs forbidding these : IT IS PROHIBITED TO URINATE OR MAKE MESS HERE UNDER PENALTY OF FINE. FINE : 5000 Ar. Try to tell these people not to ! They will insult and beat you up. Some just laugh at you. It is not surprising that people steer away from these scenes. Yesterday I visited a friend whose house had a sign saying “IT IS PROHIBITED TO SELL ANYTHING HERE”. Right in front of her house there is a whole market. One cannot open her front door because there are street vendors in front of it and one has to go through the backdoor when visiting her. I took a picture and will post it here next time. She has been to the fokontany (Translation note: the office of the officials in charge of the neighborhood) not once but numerous times but her complaints were always turned down. They say street vendors have nowhere to go, they are disadvantaged people who have no other means of support and it benefits the neighborhood to have them there because the neighborhood can shop without going too far. Street vendors are indeed worthy of our pity but it is the ones in charge who should remove them who are those defending them and allowing them to circumvent laws. As our teacher said in our final year of high school : our country has become lawless. It should not surprise anyone if Madagascar is still at this stage of development if this is how we are conducting things. Free destruction of public goods. Doesn’t it bother you ?(e
