Trip of Monique and Alex toMadagascar,
April 2018
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| A couple of cute Malgache girls. |
We will be leaving on this trip from Fort Lauderdale, on Saturday March 31, 2018
Our itinerary will be
Paris, April 1 to 4
Madagascar, April 5 to 21
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, April 21 to 24
Kampala, Uganda April 24 to 26
Back in Fort Lauderdale April 28.
This is a fairly long trip but I decided that if one is on that side of Africa, a few days in Ethiopia and Uganda would round out our travels.
In Madagascar, I employed a local travel agency recommended by my Malgache friends, Corinne and Henri Rabarijohn. The agency built of a detailed trip with drivers and local flights so we see some of this country. We will be staying with Henri and Corinne in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar for several days at the start and end of our trip. Henri used to be one of my managers in the APDF, small business project in Africa which I set up and ran for several years. Henri is now retired but has headed up various important groups since his return home a few years ago.
During the 15 years I worked on Africa for the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group, I visited Madagascar several times and always found it a fascinating place. It is really on the edge of Africa and Asia and combines a lot from each continent. In fact, the original settlers of Madagascar were from Bali, Indonesia. The people migrated to Madagascar for reasons which are lost in history several centuries ago. They brought with them many Asian and Indonesian rituals. Even the language can be identified as originating in the Pacific. When I once went to Madagascar with one of my managers from the Philippines, he was able to understand many Malgache or Malagasi words which were similar to his Philippino Tagalog language. Madagascar is an island which lies of the east coast of southern Africa. It runs north south and is over 1000 miles long. The amazing thing about this island is that the majority of its flora and fauna can only be found on this one island. No where else can one find things like lemurs, flowers which bloom only on this island and masses of plants and insects which are native only to this island. Our trip will take us to a couple of national parks north of the Capital Antananarivo and then to the Northern end of the island to a small island just off the coast called Nosy Be. We then return for a couple of days to visit things in and around Antananarivo with Henri and Corinne.
Then we will have a few days in Addis where we will do a bit of tourism and visit a few local markets. Ethiopia is a very unique African country which is for the most part Copt Christian. There is a cathedral in Addis which rivals many European cathedral, in size.
Our final stop will be in Kampala, Uganda where we will visit with the 3 children (who are now adults) we put through University over a period of 10 years. This started when I visited Kampala for a conference in about 1991. On my way to bringing someone to the airport, I had noticed a small shop selling wooden carvings. On my return to Kampala, I stopped at the store and bought a piece of carved wood about 1 meter long depicting an African village with 15 characters. I still have that piece in our Florida home. It depicts 12 women busy at various tasks while 3 men are shown chatting under the shade. It does show a real picture of what happens in many African villages.
As I was leaving the store, a small boy of about 10 came to my car and asked me for my business card. I gave him one. He told me his name was Christopher and that he would write me a letter. Sure enough, 3 weeks later a letter from Christopher arrived. In it, he told the story of his sister Fiona and of himself. They had been orphaned when their parents died of Aids which hit Uganda very hard. They had been raised by their grandparents who were now dead and they could not attend school as they had no resources. The request was to help them get back into school.
I found the description of their plight touching and compelling but before proceeding I sent the letter to our secretary in the World Bank office in Kampala who was called Immaculate. Such a fine name! I asked Immaculate to look into the situation and to let me know if this was a true story. Immaculate came back saying that she had met with the kids and some of their relatives and that what Christopher wrote was true. I then asked Immaculate if she would be my representative in Kampala if I agreed to provide these children with the money needed for their education. Immaculate immediately agree.
This triggered a 10 period when Brigitte, my wife at time and I supported these two children. In year three, we went to Kampala and invited the kids to lunch. I then invited the whole World Bank office staff so that the kids would have other Ugandans with them. Christopher and Fiona showed up with an older boy who was introduced as Wyclif, a big brother. Christopher asked if would also support his older brother. We agreed. Thus we put all 3 children through University and they are now all grown up and have children of their own. Wyclif is married to Dinah and they have 3 kids. Both Wyclif and Dinah are Chartered Accountants. Christopher also has a family. He was the entrepreneur of the family but was not able to make anything really work. He now does security work in Dubai. Fiona, who also is a mother was working for a Chinese company in Kampala.
For Monique, it will be her first meeting with our African grand kids. These kids are in contact often with my 3 children and the relation is nice to see. This became our personal aid project and it gave us a lot of satisfaction and pride. We were able to follow their progress over the years. I will report on our visit later.
Now I will finish packing my things and get ready to hit the road. More to follow.
Tamarac, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
March 30, 2018
