YES! It was a tough year...
It started with Mama falling in her bathroom and breaking a pelvic bone towards the end of the first week of January. So painful that she had to move to our home for at least 6 weeks to be nursed and assisted properly (day AND night): Lalasoa should be thanked forever for what she did... But it was also an opportunity to confirm how useless my brother and his wife can be, particularly in these difficult circumstances: no offer to contribute, no recognition of what was done, and even reproaching me the unilateral decision to investigate further and take her with us because of her pain and lack of attention given to her situation. The consequences of that accident persisted during the whole year, including the usual complications because of the cold season, and she started to walk again only in December. We enjoyed celebrating her 89th birthday in November.
Andry was back home by end of December 2016 with his commercial pilot license. Born in Burundi he never lived in Madagascar and spent the last 9 years in Canada: 100% English speaking education, French mainly learned through distance education (CNED) during primary school and street Malagasy language acquired during his rare holiday visits during childhood.... The challenges started with the process to obtain a birth certificate for somebody who was not born in Madagascar: You need it to get a CIN (national ID) or an 'extrait de casier judiciaire', mandatory documents to support any job application. A formal request was made at the ministry of foreign affairs (MOFA) end January: the document had to be issued by the consulate in Nairobi. In June, nothing happening, we checked and found that the requesting documentation never left the 'valise diplomatique' office in the office of the President in Iavoloha. In one of my missions I stopped over Addis Ababa embassy and Nairobi consulate to consult with the authorities there on how to proceed. By chance I happened to know the MOFA Secretary general who started to shake the coconut tree... to finally obtain the birth certificate early October! Just to summarise this episode: It had nothing to do with corruption but rather lack of professionalism and huge incompetency
Then the Canadian pilot license has to be validated by the Malagasy Aviation authority (ACM} and fees were paid and the request was submitted in February: He had to pass theoretical and practical tests. The whole process started smoothly until it appeared that no company would rent a multi engine plane (bimoteur) for the last flying test: The examiner who was assigned for his flying test was more interested by his own business of transporting vanilla on the East coast than actually helping him to complete his validation.... ACM had its own contribution to the challenges because only in November they informed Andry that this examiner is no longer qualified by ACM to validate a pilot license, and assigned a new examiner... We are still expecting a positive outcome early this year but chasing for a job during a full year can have a devastating effect on a young man who did not expect to face so many difficulties and whose main wish is now to run away as soon as possible... And this is an endless story because the recruitment process for 27 pilots with Air Madagascar is revealing that an exclusively English speaking pilot has very little chance to be selected... Hopefully this is going to free some posts with the local small air companies.
So Mialy is now making a real career as a leading biochemist in North Carolina. With Kevin they gave me a rare opportunity when they took me at a Paul Simon concert... pure joy! In 2017 we met with Haingonirina only at Mialy's wedding but this year we have planned for 3 events together on 3 continents... She is settling in her French house, outside Geneva, continuing work with IOM and completed her series of trips to Manilla ! Tojo is struggling with management issues, still promoting herb consumption and production (!!!) when continuing to elaborate innovative projects for volunteers of Project Abroad; Safa'a's paintings are gorgeous and start to invade our house: she demonstrated tenacity and courage by going to visit her mom and siblings in Sanaa despite the bombings and the militia all over Yemen. In the middle of that 5 year old Taha is getting more and more mature and philosophic, focusing on the 'why's of life and death, always very kind with his Papy when asking for an evening TV cartoons session.
Personally the event that actually affected me most this year was the passing away of Dominique. She was a friend from my early years in Paris (early 70's) until she got sick a few years ago. We had fun together and enjoyed all our meetings even after our kids were grown up: Real understanding and love of each other for decades without falling into a romance would be a good summary of our relationship. I am still thinking of her all the time.
On the positive side indeed it was wonderful to attend Mialy and Kevin's weddings in Cary NC: I was very proud to walk with her during the procession... and it was funny to hear people talking about the sadness when your daughter leaves your home to follow her husband when actually she did leave us almost 20 years ago! Kevin is a very nice guy and they seem to get along very well.
The other exciting news was the 100th birthday of Nenitoa Ravao, older sister of Mama: we celebrated it with a cake and a bottle of Cinzano! One of the advantages of taking care of Mama during her stay was to listen to the stories from their adolescence when living in Ambohimitombo, in the wild forest of the Tanala region: Both of them despite a more than 10 year difference apparently experimented together the dangers faced by adolescent girls and young women during the colonisation period...
Professionally I am still completely immersed in the UNICEF RBM wave. I missed the opportunity to work in Ethiopia bed ridden by a massive back pain for several days just before the assignment ... but lucky enough to be invited in Budapest and facilitating training workshops in Cotonou, Bamako, Port au Prince, Niamey, Dili; getting back to Bamako to assist the team in updating their theories of change and result matrices, and contributing to RBM capacity development in Madagascar with ministry of finances and budget and ministry of technical education & vocational training.... The biggest challenge was to influence the way the Mali team was planning its programme. The most exciting time, unique experience, was to spend 2 weeks with the cousins across the Indian ocean: so funny to be taken as a East Timor citizen and expected to speak the local language. 2018 will start with a regional workshop in Bangkok and coaching for the Niger team preparing a new country programme. That will take most of my time until end of May...
Bye bye Dominique
It started with Mama falling in her bathroom and breaking a pelvic bone towards the end of the first week of January. So painful that she had to move to our home for at least 6 weeks to be nursed and assisted properly (day AND night): Lalasoa should be thanked forever for what she did... But it was also an opportunity to confirm how useless my brother and his wife can be, particularly in these difficult circumstances: no offer to contribute, no recognition of what was done, and even reproaching me the unilateral decision to investigate further and take her with us because of her pain and lack of attention given to her situation. The consequences of that accident persisted during the whole year, including the usual complications because of the cold season, and she started to walk again only in December. We enjoyed celebrating her 89th birthday in November.
Andry was back home by end of December 2016 with his commercial pilot license. Born in Burundi he never lived in Madagascar and spent the last 9 years in Canada: 100% English speaking education, French mainly learned through distance education (CNED) during primary school and street Malagasy language acquired during his rare holiday visits during childhood.... The challenges started with the process to obtain a birth certificate for somebody who was not born in Madagascar: You need it to get a CIN (national ID) or an 'extrait de casier judiciaire', mandatory documents to support any job application. A formal request was made at the ministry of foreign affairs (MOFA) end January: the document had to be issued by the consulate in Nairobi. In June, nothing happening, we checked and found that the requesting documentation never left the 'valise diplomatique' office in the office of the President in Iavoloha. In one of my missions I stopped over Addis Ababa embassy and Nairobi consulate to consult with the authorities there on how to proceed. By chance I happened to know the MOFA Secretary general who started to shake the coconut tree... to finally obtain the birth certificate early October! Just to summarise this episode: It had nothing to do with corruption but rather lack of professionalism and huge incompetency
Then the Canadian pilot license has to be validated by the Malagasy Aviation authority (ACM} and fees were paid and the request was submitted in February: He had to pass theoretical and practical tests. The whole process started smoothly until it appeared that no company would rent a multi engine plane (bimoteur) for the last flying test: The examiner who was assigned for his flying test was more interested by his own business of transporting vanilla on the East coast than actually helping him to complete his validation.... ACM had its own contribution to the challenges because only in November they informed Andry that this examiner is no longer qualified by ACM to validate a pilot license, and assigned a new examiner... We are still expecting a positive outcome early this year but chasing for a job during a full year can have a devastating effect on a young man who did not expect to face so many difficulties and whose main wish is now to run away as soon as possible... And this is an endless story because the recruitment process for 27 pilots with Air Madagascar is revealing that an exclusively English speaking pilot has very little chance to be selected... Hopefully this is going to free some posts with the local small air companies.
So Mialy is now making a real career as a leading biochemist in North Carolina. With Kevin they gave me a rare opportunity when they took me at a Paul Simon concert... pure joy! In 2017 we met with Haingonirina only at Mialy's wedding but this year we have planned for 3 events together on 3 continents... She is settling in her French house, outside Geneva, continuing work with IOM and completed her series of trips to Manilla ! Tojo is struggling with management issues, still promoting herb consumption and production (!!!) when continuing to elaborate innovative projects for volunteers of Project Abroad; Safa'a's paintings are gorgeous and start to invade our house: she demonstrated tenacity and courage by going to visit her mom and siblings in Sanaa despite the bombings and the militia all over Yemen. In the middle of that 5 year old Taha is getting more and more mature and philosophic, focusing on the 'why's of life and death, always very kind with his Papy when asking for an evening TV cartoons session.
Personally the event that actually affected me most this year was the passing away of Dominique. She was a friend from my early years in Paris (early 70's) until she got sick a few years ago. We had fun together and enjoyed all our meetings even after our kids were grown up: Real understanding and love of each other for decades without falling into a romance would be a good summary of our relationship. I am still thinking of her all the time.
On the positive side indeed it was wonderful to attend Mialy and Kevin's weddings in Cary NC: I was very proud to walk with her during the procession... and it was funny to hear people talking about the sadness when your daughter leaves your home to follow her husband when actually she did leave us almost 20 years ago! Kevin is a very nice guy and they seem to get along very well.
The other exciting news was the 100th birthday of Nenitoa Ravao, older sister of Mama: we celebrated it with a cake and a bottle of Cinzano! One of the advantages of taking care of Mama during her stay was to listen to the stories from their adolescence when living in Ambohimitombo, in the wild forest of the Tanala region: Both of them despite a more than 10 year difference apparently experimented together the dangers faced by adolescent girls and young women during the colonisation period...
Professionally I am still completely immersed in the UNICEF RBM wave. I missed the opportunity to work in Ethiopia bed ridden by a massive back pain for several days just before the assignment ... but lucky enough to be invited in Budapest and facilitating training workshops in Cotonou, Bamako, Port au Prince, Niamey, Dili; getting back to Bamako to assist the team in updating their theories of change and result matrices, and contributing to RBM capacity development in Madagascar with ministry of finances and budget and ministry of technical education & vocational training.... The biggest challenge was to influence the way the Mali team was planning its programme. The most exciting time, unique experience, was to spend 2 weeks with the cousins across the Indian ocean: so funny to be taken as a East Timor citizen and expected to speak the local language. 2018 will start with a regional workshop in Bangkok and coaching for the Niger team preparing a new country programme. That will take most of my time until end of May...
Bye bye Dominique
No comments:
Post a Comment