Happy Birthday dear Zokyko!

In Malagasy, you refer to your younger siblings as "zandry", and your older siblings as "zoky". The "ko" is the possesive (my). So, a very happy birthday to my dearest OLDer brother.... who somehow keeps aging, while I stay youthfully fresh. That sounds a bit like a deodorant ad...


This photo is from a fundraiser that we had at the local private EPP (elementary school). I think Tony (center) is the cutest kid EVER, and yes, Mahamoud always rocks those pink crocks. This photo makes me think of a really interesting conversation I had the other day; I was sitting watching Lalaina braid Sola's hair, and some vazaha tourists were walking up the road, taking photos as they went. They stopped to photograph some kids that were playing int eh road, and Lalaina snorted (she really did snort), "Those vazahas are going to take the photos home and say 'ooh look at how poor the malagasy kids are. They don't even have clothes. They're so dirty.'" Then she and Sola both turned to me, "right, Chantel?" The funny thing was that it made me think of how differently I see everyone after being here for a good bit of time. Yes, the children ARE dirty, but it's because they're out playing all day. No, they don't have clothes, because it's so hot that some days I think I may actually melt. Trust me, if I could run around all day in just my underwear, I would. Unfortunately I get enough attention just because I'm white; I try to keep a good amount of skin covered. They are "poor", but for Malagasy standards my town is pretty well off. I won't be bringing photos home to show how hard life is here, but to show how much fun I had hanging out with kids who love to shout "GOODMORNINGHOWAREYOUGOODBYE" into the phone to my very patient parents on the other end.

With love from my second home,
chan xoxo








sunset at the beach in Mahajanga.