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Madagascar--Hanitra in Tana
Antananarivo, April 2, 2002
Hello everybody,
I am finally here in Antananarivo, capital of Madagascar. Let's say I was lucky since the plane landed here. Not anywhere in Tamatave.
I have been here for 24 hours and I just cannot believe how different things feel once you really are here in place.
When the flight Air Liberte arrived in Reunion island, I thought what a different world. I was so close to Madagascar yet the life styles
on those two islands are so different. Almost everybody on the plane got off at Reunion, leaving about 7 Malagasy and maybe 12 foreigners
on board for the flight Air Austral.
Until the last hour, we didn't know where that flight was going except for Madagascar! We sat around talking and discussing about the
political situation back home. We finally knew that flight was going to Tana when we realised that there were delegations from France and
Reunion travelling with us and we were damn sure then that the plane was definitely going to Tana.
One of those delegations recognised me and wanted me to be a representative from London. He also suggested that there was a meeting of everybody with Prime Minister Jacques Sylla at the Colbert
Hotel that they would like to invite me to. I was rather surprised why they said this to me but I guessed they needed as much help and as many people as possible to be on their side. But I refused, because I was desparate to see my family...
The road was clear. No traffic jam!!! We could choose one, two or three ways of getting home. May be 10 cars in total on the streets of
Antananarivo.
I stopped at a bank to change money. The banker was in tears. She was so upset about what was going on at the moment. The bank was open but
there were not many people in it. She said that they were not sure of what is normal for them anymore because they don't know who is
supposed to sign different papers, who's signature is legal?
Her feeling was that she now hates both Ratsiraka and Ravalomanana. She used to be pro Ravalomanana but a month ago she changed her mind because she feels that she is going to die in her country in a very stupid way because of what these two people are doing.
Since I had some money, and I was in running car, I went straight to a supermarket and bought very expensive salt (8000fmg as opposed to
normally 500fmg), sugar (15000fmg), soap, oil . . .
Meanwhile Fianarantsoa is bored with rice. They cannot get the produce out because the bridges are down.
It only came slowly upon me the magnitude of this impasse, the impossibility of surviving for everyone. I arrived home, and the families of four houses are cooking rice on leftovers of wood used for the building of the arts centre. The charcoal is also scarce (70,000 fmg as opposed to normally 6500 fmg). They cook the rice on the
wood, they wait until the wood is all burned and then get the charcoal from that to warm up the vegetables to eat with it that they
cooked during the day. We are going back centuries.
This morning I woke up thinking that I had lots of ideas to help and to keep on going but everything I said was almost impossible. I have
a few bicycles, so I could lend these to people to do their errands and work and go to school . . . but Antananarivo is lots of hills.
Unless you are strong physically you wouldn't be able to do this. We need to train now. Then, where do we park the bike so that no one
steals them?? We are not geared for bikes. So I've abandoned that idea for now.
I had one extra mobile phone to equip my old dad in case of emergency, but it has no sim card. They confiscated all new sim cards too. Someone is going to make money out of it later. It's the game.
I watched little ones of 6, 7, 8, all my nephews and nieces walking to school (5 or 6 km away) to and from. Their teachers decided that they can only go to school half a day because they are all tired.
So I decided to buy for once only the very highly priced petrol with those boys on the street, to fill the tank of the Renault 4. The price is uncomprehensible! (4000fmg a litre is now 40,000fmg). The tank is now filled at 1,200,000fmg (£140) in a country where the
average salary per month is 250,000fmg!!
We've made a plan: when that car moves, it will do everybody's shopping on the way. It has to buy necessity medicines and it must take old people walking on the streets on the same way...
There are warnings that electricity might die, water might stop or be polluted, and at the moment warning that cooking oil been poisoned.
Today, thousands of civilian people were being recruited to be soldiers to break Ratsiraka's barrier in Brickaville. The plan is to
do it on Friday and people are all scared, worried of what will happen then. Youngsters are very excited about this. Religious people
lead the way and less physically strong people wait on the side to provide food, care, and water for their fighters.
Finally, tonight on the news, Mr Ravolomaso, a rugby man, pro-Ratsiraka, has been killed from Colbert Hotel where the delegation had their meeting that I was invited to. Apparently, this
man was about to capture Jacques Sylla and people got him first. His corpse was been shown on the TV and it made me all goose-pimply.
People are barricading streets at night for security and near Mahazoarivo there are lots of barrages. You cannot walk without your
identity card on you.
Life is hard.
Hanitrarivo Rasoanaivo
Tarika
In Madagascar:
ANTSHOW
Email: htarika@simicro.mg
Tarika web site: http://www.frootsmag.com/tarika
Antshow web site: http://www.frootsmag.com/antshow
In London
Tarika: PO Box 337, London N4 1TW, UK
Fax: (+44) (0)20 8348 5626
Email: tarika@frootsmag.com
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Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 12:38:19 -0400
From: Hanitrarivo RASOANAIVO
Subject: First hand Mad news from Hanitra in Tana
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