Volunteering in Madagascar…
Volunteer Project 2 – Madagascar
THANK YOU!
Before we provide an overview of our experience volunteering in Sainte Luce, Madagascar, we wanted to firstly thank all those that donated to this cause. Madagascar is one on Africa’s poorest nations and endangered ecosystems. The life expectancy for men is 52 and women is 55. Roughly 12% of people die before the age of 5.
65% of the population in Madagascar fall below the recognised International poverty line of $1.25USD per day.

This man carries wood into Sainte Luce and sells it as firewood to the locals. He earns approximately $1 USD per day. The weight of this load is probably around 40kg. This man can sometimes has to carry this 15km each day into the villages ...
These amazing creatures are related to Lorises and other prosimians. It is thought that around 65 million years ago a common ancestor sailed across from mainland Africa on debris or vegetation mats and evolved into the 97 or so species found on the island today. The species we find in the area are Collared Brown Lemur, the Southern Whooley Lemur, Fat Tailed Dwarf Lemur, Mouse Lemur and Dwarf Lemur.
We also carried out lemur behaviour studies. Watching these animal for an hour and half was good fun but often tricky, as they can fly (almost literally) through the forest at great speeds – certainly speeds we can’t muster.
There were plenty of amazing reptiles and frogs on the Herpe transects.

No this is not just a lizard, it is in fact the... Phelsuma Antonosy. A rare an endemic species to the local area.

Ohh the little munchkin... We think these animals were the basis behind the move Gremlins. This is 'Gizmo'.
Collecing data often involved tredging through swamp or walking through the forest for hours at night, but it was rewarding and interesting every time.
The Community Program (Elissa’s Project)
While most of Azafady’s work from our campsite focused on Conservation Research, there were some initiatives in place to help the local community. These initives included fuel-efficient stove building, environmental classes for the local kids and just recently Azafady commenced English Lessons for anyone in Sainte Luce that wanted to learn.

After mixing the clay with Zebu dung and water, the mixture is ready to be transported into the village and the stove can be built...

This family received the fuel efficient stove we prepared. In order to receive a stove, the family must have a separate kitchen hut. The reason for this is that one of the main causes of death among women in rural villages is smoke inhalation. The stoves are built with vents... The only problem with this is that poorer families that don't have a separate kitchen hut are still on the waiting list to receive a stove...

In this particular environment class, we taught the kids about species endemic to Madagascar and Sainte Luce. For a bit of fun the kids all made a paper Crested Ibis...

Attending the 2nd english class in Sainte Luce where the community learnt to count.... It was incredible to walk down the street after the first class and here people confidently say 'Hello, How are you, My name is....'
An additional project that was in very early planning stages when we arrived was World Environment Day – an event that Azafady are hosting in Sainte Luce on Sunday 5th June.
This event aims to achieve several goals:
1. To inform the local community about the work Azafady is currently doing in Sainte Luce;
2. To educate the local community about the importance of conserving the remaining rainforest and how they can help;
3. To reiterate important daily processes and demonstrate how this can be implemented into the community’s daily routine. Eg. Simple things such as how to wash hands or teach the locals how to create their own compost station…
This worked quite well as having some experience in planning events, Elissa was able to get started on scheduling, resources required, planning of logistics and allocating tasks to all the volunteers.
OUR LIVING QUARTERS
Now before going into detail about our accommodation, let us preface by saying ‘we were warned’ about what camp life would be like. The manual explained that we would be camping in tents, that we would collect water from a well to use for showering and that the toilets would be a latrine drop. HOWEVER one of us just thought that this was Azafady’s way of preparing us for the worst, so that on arrival we were pleasantly surprised.
The manual was entirely correct!
Camping in tents was…Fine
Eating rice and beans for each meal was… consistent.

Breakfast each morning was sticky rice, banana bread and fried dough... We bought sachets of porridge which we highly recommend...
The showers and toilets was…. a whole other issue.

OK! When the manual said bucket shower, it really meant it... oh and the water is just this colour because of the minerals in the water...
We greatly admire those volunteers that signed up for the 10 week program and we admire even more the Coordinators/Field Research Assistants who sign a 12 month contract to do this. Yes we are aware that this is all in the name of a good cause and that we are helping people but that doesn’t mean we have to enjoy – everything.
DOWN TIME
While there was a schedule with 3 different activities allocated to each day – morning work, afternoon work and night work, there was plenty of time in between for us to walk through the 3 hamlets, visit the beaches and interact with the locals.

We visited Madame Jaqueline's home (and met all her grandchildren) to ask if she would give the volunteers a lesson in basket weaving... Um Pete do you think you could cheer the little one up?

We ventured out one night for beers in the local bar... we would have been happy in candlelight but the owner insisted on using his generator. Here we also tried the local spirit/cocktail - Moonshine.. Let's just say it is an aquired taste...

Saturday night is Bush Party where the locals come to our campsite and entertain us with their incredible dance...

Sunday is a day of rest for volunteers, so we took this wooden boat across the river to a beautiful beach...

Although a little overcast, the water temperature was beautiful and there were some good waves for body surfing...
After finishing our program we made our way back to Fort Dauphin. After another bumpy ride back, we made a stop at Nahampoana Reserve. A beautiful park built by French Colonists that is now almost a shelter the most well known of all Lenur species.