My Malagasy Host Family

Home stay in Anjozoro March 9th-April 5th 2013

Lucie, my “mama/neni”, 61, works as a house cleaner/cook 6 days a week at a retired French couple’s estate. She would frequently bring home fresh milk and rich baked goods they had brought from Tana. Each morning she walks about 1 km to the top of a hill then takes a canoe across the lake to their house. My “dada” is 65, and also named Paul! My Malagasy family was shocked and thrilled when I shared that my dad in the US has the same name. They farm Sweet Potato (Vomanga in Malagasy), Cassava (Mangahazo) and of course Rice (Vary). This country is one of the poorest in the world, but it certainly is rich in starch!! Dada also raises a few geese, which I would hear every morning when he fed them.

The family has 6 children; the 2 youngest live at home: Niniviane & Mino. Nini is 21, she finished high school and now spends her day cooking & cleaning the house. I think she was largely responsible for making sure I was fed & comfortable while at homestay, and probably does other odd jobs normally. She is also entrusted with buying the weeks supply of food every Monday at the large market in Manjakandriana 1 hour away (by taxi-brousse).

Mino is 18, her full name is “Christine Auria Raminoarisoa”, Mino means believe in Malagasy. She’s still in school, but I would still see her for lunch everyday. The schools don’t provide meals so the kids return home to eat, which for Meno is close to a 2 hour walk round trip. 

Most of my time at home stay was with these 4 immediate family members. Mama, Meno & Nini were always engaging and curious, even when I would take 10 minutes to explain one event. After dinner we would often talk about what I had learned during class, work on homework, or even talk about current events with the newspaper Mama sometimes brought from work. Dada warmed up after a week or so and we had several conversations, despite him missing the majority of his front teeth.

The next oldest sibling Onitiana, lives in Tamatave, a large port town on the East Coast with his wife Tojo. He’s in college studying Topography and she to be a Pastor. They also are expecting their first child soon. I wish I had the language skills to inquire about females holding such positions in religion…but I wouldn’t even know where to start to convey the topic.

Josy lives next door with his wife and their 2 children. I believe they share the house with another family, because I’ve seen different people and children there. He works in Antananarivo part of the time, but I’m not too clear on what he does there. Their son, Aina (pronounced kind of like “Ian”, another funny coincidence because that’s my brother’s name in the States!), I would call my 1^st friend in Madagascar. He’s about 6 or 7yrs old I would guess, with deep brown eyes full of wonder-at least when looking at me- along with a grin from ear to ear. I taught him how to play hacky-sack, but it would always turn into a game of ‘keep away’ and then soccer, which is just called “ball” here. I would most often see him on the weekends and at church. The rest of the days he was busy playing with neighborhood children but he would always say “manahoana” (hello) in the adorable high-pitched voice that only kids have. His sister, Hasmena, is about 1 year old and just starting to talk, but when I or my family would ask her “who’s that?” and point to me, she would look away and hide. On several occasions I’ve found myself identifying with this infant because of our similar level of language comprehension…

The oldest son, Eli, lives in Antananarivo (Tana), as a taxi driver to and from the airport. I met him twice, both times he was beaming with excitement to speak English with me, which was broken and mixed with French and Malagasy.

I never met the oldest child-she lives with her husband in Tana, but I did meet their 5 children who visited for Easter and the week following (ages 4-15).  They were all extremely well behaved and it was easy to see they all loved being together.

Easter will be another post in itself, but somehow 12 people fit in our two-bedroom house, which in square footage is probably the equivalent of one large American living room. And yet, for that many people in the house, they didn’t seem to mind the lack of space one bit.

Family and kinship I have learned, is the most important aspect of Malagasy life, so I’m incredibly grateful for this welcoming family whose time and patience has already made such an impact on my first experiences here. I’ve returned to Anjozoro (only a 45min walk from the PC Training Center) to visit my family twice since we left homestay and been received with the same warmth they bestowed while I lived there. The Malagasy people are known for this, which I am thankful for as I continue to learn and absorb the culture and language.