All the Gasy Down in Gasyville

As I sit here listening to Nat King Cole sing about roasting his chestnuts over an open fire, I have been given pause to think about how drastically different the Malagasy Christmas is compared to that lovely, yet frenetic time in the US of A. The main difference can be summed up with the fact that there is no significant Christmas season in Madagascar, or at least in Port Berge. Sure, some cheap Chinese tinsel is sold at the epiceries and a few fake tannenbaums can be found, but there is no significant behavioral shift or Christmas saturation like there is in the States. People look forward to the holiday, but mainly because it signifies the start of disco season. On Christmas day the citizens of Port Berge will gather with family and friends to eat and drink. There may be some marginal gifting, but in no way will the focus be on what a not so fat Gasy Claus left in little Nomenjanahary’s stocking. For the majority of Port Bergeians, however, Christmas will mark just another day with the only considerable difference being that they will eat some sort of bird. According to my friend Mama Steph, on Christmas the Gasy eat a bird and on New Years they eat beef, pork, or goat. I can assume, judging from the size of the chickens (the bird most people will eat), that most people’s Christmas meal will resemble that provided by Bob Cratchit. Indeed, all the ducks, geese, chickens and turkey are rather paltry poultry here in Madagascar. But, like the Cratchit’s Christmas Feast, the size of the bird or the bounty of presents means nothing as long as family and friends are together. The difference between the Gasy and American version of Christmas is vast, and the one thing I can say that I don’t miss is the exorbitant use of Christmas lights. Tasteful lighting is nice, but taking out a second mortgage on your home in order to cover every square inch of the house in lights is never impressive. Also, I don’t miss creepy shopping mall Santas.

So, the Dec. 3 the Malagasy Presidential election came and went, and I will assume since I am still here, that there were no major post election incidents. The 2001 election saw the current president, Marc Ravalomanana, defeating the incumbent, followed by some small scale violence which brought about the permanent evacuation of all PCVs. There has been no official announcement of election results, however it is well known that Ravalomanana has been reelected with a healthy majority of votes. It certainly was interesting observing the democratic process at work in a third world developing nation. The official start of campaigning started twenty days before the election. Evidence of the Marc Ravalomanana campaign was present everywhere. It took a while before the other candidates were able to mobilize their supporters to get their posters out. Ravalomanana came into the election with several distinct advantages. First, he’s the incumbent president who can use government funds for campaign purposes. Second, he’s one of the few self made Malagasy millionaires who owns a well known yogurt company, Tiko, here in Madagascar, so he’s got his own money to give out free gifts such as t-shirts, pens, stickers and hats to the population (I got my hands on a t-shirt and hat—sweet souvenirs). In many ways, receiving the free stuff that Marc R gives out is the most impact the national government will have on the ordinary person living in Port Berge. Third, Marc is rumored to have American political and business advisors who help to make both his campaigning and business efforts first class. Finally, Marc is wildly popular with his ethnic demographic, the Merina, who also happen to be the most populous group in the country. From what I could tell, most people vote for candidates that are of the same ethnic group instead of the candidate’s platform. It was obvious after Marc’s 30 minute campaign stop in Port Berge that he would win by a wide margin. He flew in with two helicopters (the only helicopters I have seen here) and his stage, podium and speech were very well orchestrated and quite professional. Interestingly, many people I talked to around election time said that they were not going to vote because they were either uninformed or admittedly didn’t care (they already got their t-shirt). Peace Corps had no role in the election and we were to maintain strict neutrality, which I did. The only effect the election had on me was to make me less busy, due to everyone else being busy getting ready for the election.

On Dec. 22 Abby arrived in Port Berge and we commenced our Christmas celebration. This year’s Christmas was markedly different from last year’s when I was alone in Antsohihy with all outgoing communication down for the day. Abby and I decorated the house with cheap Christmas decorations and blinky lights, while Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole serenaded us. All in all Christmas was a pleasant time, but I think both Abby and I can say with a lot of certainty that we are looking forward to spending our next Dec 25th in the US. Our Xmas gift exchange’s theme was practicality, and so the gifts we gave each other were mainly items to be used on a daily basis or consumed. Highlights would be coffee mugs and a meat grinder for Abby and peanut butter and scotch tape for me. Both of our mom’s sent gifts for the other person to open, so we did get some nice little American gifts. It was a nice day and it was definitely nice to be with Abby, rather than feeling lonely in a dusty truckstop.

Now it’s on to Diego for the New Year. Many fellow volunteers will be congregating there for holiday festivities, so it should be a good time. I would like to thank everyone who responded about helping out with the well building here in Port Berge. I have responded to some of you, but not all, and for this I apologize. It’s a bit paradoxical that although the world’s technology improves by leaps and bounds every single day, the internet situation in my banking town has gotten worse. As of right now, it is more of a hassle than it’s worth to sit for hours and wait for things to slowly upload with the current dial up system. I apologize for my tardy replies and please know that I appreciate all emails and interest in the project. I am waiting for Peace Corps to green light the project and then list it on its website, and once that is done then anyone and everyone can access the website, check out the project’s details and decide if they want to help the people of Port Berge. I will let you all know the details when I know more. I look forward to hearing from you all in this upcoming year. Happy New Year!