Fulfilling Requests....

So, if you are keeping up with not only reading my blog entries, but also reading the comments, you will have noticed a particularly clever, witty comment by my brother (abv) on my last entry. He can be impatient once he has requested something, so I must fulfill his request.

As I'm sure all of you know, the Pope died last weekend. Madagascar is a highly religious country and I think nearly over a third of the population are Catholic. However, unfortunately, none of my friends or colleagues are Catholics here, so I can only speak of the reactions to the Pope's death from what I've observed. The biggest difference I've noticed for the past week is the increased interest and coverage of international activities. I actually know what is going on in the world for a change, at least for what concerns the Pope and his funeral. Normally, Madagascar and the Malagasy have too much going on in their own country to pay attention to what is going on in the world at large (there have been a recent string of kidnappings, resulting in the prohibition for me to travel alone, which I rarely do anyway, so don't worry, I'm safe. Plus all the kidnappings have been of Malagasy... a vazaha is too much risk). But the newspapers and tv journalists have correctly realized the importance of the Pope's death and have given it due coverage and notice (though nothing like what it's been in the States from what I've heard). More interestingly, the Pope came here in 1988 and they have been replaying his visit here several times on the news. My favorite clip is of him standing up in the back of a pickup truck to wave to all the people... no Pope-mobile in Madagascar. He gave a massive mass in a city up north (Antsiranana or Diego-Suarez) and apparently they had taxi brousses going around the clock in order to bring everyone who wanted to go to the service.
This week has been a week of mourning for the Catholics in the country with services held everyday and the church bells ringing more often. Apparently there will be mass on Friday for the funeral, but I haven't heard of anything more special than that. Sorry that I can't give anymore info, but in general, I get the feeling that the Pope's death is not as all-encompassing as it is in Rome or Poland. No all night vigils here, no mass gatherings anywhere that I've noticed. People mourn him of course, but I suspect, more in their own, personal way.

Now onto another request from my Grandmother who is always the most curious into specifics of everyday life here. Her latest question was about schools here in Madagascar. Education here follows the French system, which is very similar to the American system except, middle school is 3 years and high school is 3 years, and then there is the bac of course, which isn't always passed the first time around. What is more interesting is how the level of education varies around the country. In Tana, there are many schools, both private and public, with the French private school being the most lucrative and expensive, but there are also more reasonable Catholic private schools as well. Most of my friends and colleagues here went to private Catholic school until university. However, outside the high plateau area, education is a lot more difficult. In every sizable village there is an elementary school, and kids from surrounding farms walk to school everyday. This is there only option and I'm under the impression that these schools usually have only one teacher. Then larger towns have both the middle school and high school and kids from surrounding villages will walk to these towns everyday (sometimes it takes them 2 hours). These larger towns have more teachers and can request an education Peace Corps volunteer (like Tabitha) to help them teach English. What's even more difficult is the price of education... not much for Americans, but in these villages, it is a real privilege to be educated. Tabitha has some 17 and 18 year olds in her equivalent of 8th grade classes, because their families couldn't afford to send them to school till later. Universities are only in the much larger towns, and the university in Antananarivo is considered the best. From what I can gather, there are a few private universities that are very specialized, but all the rich Malagasy go to school abroad in La Reunion or France, VERY rarely the US. The public university here in Tana has more students than it can handle and not enough professors, but this is where all my friends have gotten their education. Again, the university system follows that of the French: two beginner years (DEUG), a final more advanced year (Licence) and then specialized degrees (Maitrise and DEA, equivalents to a master's degree). All the botanists at MBG now have their DEA, though for many it took many years to do this. (Ex: my assistant, Mirana, received her DEA in botany last year at the age of 27; my friend Lalao got hers at 35). From my knowledge, a Ph.D. is difficult to do here and rarely achieved in country, much more often abroad. Also, Ph.D's do not seem as necessary here as they are in the States, so people don't bother to get them. A DEA is already a high degree and very respected here
The large difference in quality of education between the high plateau and coastal areas has added to the prejudice still felt between these two groups... the people of the high plateau look down on people from the coast, and the people from the coast distrust those from the high plateau. It doesn't help that people from the high plateau have lighter skin than those from the coasts... racism seems to persist everywhere it seems.

So, that's my quick entry for today. I hope both my brother and grandma are happy, particularly since it's my grandma's birthday!!