Madagascar's culture - week 12 - Julie De Vreese

Hey everyone,

This is our last week traveling and I intend to make it an unforgettable week. We are ending our trip in Madagascar, the fourth largest island in the world, off the coast of Southern Africa. Madagascar is a very interesting country culturally speaking, they have a lot of rituals and customs.

When we are walking through the streets, we notice that the clothing styles are a bit like western norms, men wear pants and shirts, women wear dresses or skirts. However, it’s normal for women to cover their clothes with a traditional wrap or ‘lamba’. They often use also an additional shawl to cover their shoulders and head. On special occasions they mostly wear white wraps over their clothes. They also wear straw hats.

As we are searching for a restaurant to eat, we find that they all serve rice, it’s the main ingredient here. It is accompanied by some form of ‘kabaka’, a protein dish like fish, meat or beans. In some places you can also ask for a ‘romazava’ or side dish, made of green leafy vegetables in broth. Generally they add flavour to the rice.

In Madagascar, 52% of the population holds indigenous beliefs, 41% are Christian and 7% are Muslim but they all have some rituals that are rather strange to us. For example, dead ancestors or ‘razana’ are very important here and they guide the living in making choices about everyday aspects. They build and maintain tombs and hold religious ceremonies for their ancestors, this is central to their way of life.

People often live and work far from these ancestral tombs but they all have a strong sentimental attachment and a desire to be buried in their natal tombs. These tombs are considered sacred places and there are a lot of them, most villages have a sacred tree or something like that nearby.

They think ancestral spirits as intermediaries between the living and their 2 most important gods. To them, the dead as very powerful and the most important members of the family, they affect the lives of the living.

As for their daily occupations, the art of making handcrafted objects is a growing market, internally as well as internationally. There is limited support due to the poor economic conditions, but there is a lot of interest for artisan goods. They are mainly made out of wood, leather, horn, metal, stone, clay, feathers, … and so on. Ideal souvenirs from our trip I would think so.

So this was my last blog, I hope you enjoyed it … I certainly did! Maybe until next year.

Julie xXx

Sources:
http://www.everyculture.com/Ja-Ma/Madagascar.html

Politics of Madagascar - week 12 - Roselinde Vandepitte

Hi bloggers

We came to the last country of our journey, Madagascar. As Melisa said, all beautiful songs come to an end. Unfortunately it really is our last week of travelling together.

Madagascar has a lot of interesting thing to talk about such as the wonderful nature and the many unique animal, but what about its politics?

Fortunately there were leaflets in the hotel. There was a lot of information about what you could visit in Madagascar but also a little page about the politics of this country.

Madagascar seems to be a semi-presidential representative democratic republic (such a word!). There is no king but a President who is the head of the state and the Prime Minister is the head of the government.

First it was the French and later the British who had Madagascar under their control. It was on the 26^th of June, 1960 that Madagascar became independent after a violent struggle.  Madagascar’s first president was Philibert Tsiranana. He was elected but already resigned 2 month later because of a massive anti-government demonstration. Richard Ratsimandrava took power afterwards but was assassinated 6 days later. It was in June 1975 when there finally was a new government under Didier Ratsiraka. Now it is Omer Berziky who is the prime minister of Madagascar.

The next presidential and parliamentary elections will be held in May 2012. They were planned to be held in May 2011 but had been postponed to September 2011 and are now in May 2012.

This was all I could find in the leaflet about the politics but it was someone of the group we travelled with who knew something more about how the elections are held. The president is elected by direct universal suffrage for a 5-year term. The President appoints the Prime Minister and it is the prime minister and the council of ministers, which have to carry out the management of the government.

It seems that Madagascar has a very complicated past concerning politics. So enough about it!

We've had a great adventure but I’m also glad to go home now, so I can finally sleep in my own bed again without all the irritating insects of Africa!

Sleep tight, will miss you all!

-XOXO-

Roselinde

Sources: http://www.mapsofworld.com/madagascar/government-and-politics/madagascar-politics.html

http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Africa/Madagascar-POLITICS-GOVERNMENT-AND-TAXATION.html

The economy of Madagascar -Week 12- Melisa Simoens

Hi there!

We had a wonderful time and saw a lot of beautiful countries where all of us have made nice memories. But all beautiful songs come to an end and so does our journey around the world. We have arrived in the last country of our journey, we are in Madagascar. But before we have to go home, we have still some days left to discover Madagascar so we better take advantage of them.

In my last blog I would like to learn you a bit more about the economy of Madagascar. If you want to learn more about the politics or the culture of Madagascar, you must read the blog of Julie and Roselinde. Madagascar is an archipelago of islands. More than 20 million people live here but Madagascar isn’t a rich country. Two thirds of the population lives below the international poverty line. That’s why we saw a lot of poverty while walking around. Since 2004, the IMF and the world bank enrolled  the country in a special program to set the country on his feet again. So poverty will stay the next few years the biggest challenge to Madagascar’s economy.

                                                                                                                      

Agriculture is very important for the economics of Madagascar, it’s the main source of income. When we went further than the city, we saw everywhere around us fields where local people cultivate coffee beans, rice, cotton, vanilla, sugar,… These are also the products Madagascar exports the most. Other economic activities are forestry and animal rearing. But animal rearing has rather a status symbol. The more animals you have, the more people think you are important. Despite this status symbol, animal rearing has hardly an economic value.  The last years the country also started developing his oil and gas sector, in the hope that it will help improve the poor economic situation.

Tourism is important too for the country. Madagascar tries to attract every year more and more tourists. Fortunately they can count on the help of some French chains of hotels who invest in luxury residences.

I enjoyed visiting Madagascar. Our last days were marvellous, just like all the others. It was fun to make this journey with the other five girls. We all had a wonderful time. But now it’s time to go home, where family and friends are itching to hear our spectacular stories!

Thank you for reading my blogs!

Xx Melisa

Sources: http://www.landenweb.net/madagaskar/economie/
              http://www.economywatch.com/world_economy/madagascar/

The tanzanian economy - week 11 - Romina Vanhove

Hello everyone!

We are visiting Tanzania, like Anou and Anneleen already mentioned. Tanzania is one of the world’s poorest countries based on UN statistics of 2009.

When I was reading the travel guide, I was shocked to learn that almost 36% of the 43,188,000 inhabitants live under the international poverty line, that’s about 16,000,000 people. That’s more than the whole population of our own country. So you see why I found it shocking?

The travel guide mentioned that the economy of Tanzania is highly dependent on agricultural productivity. And that this productivity accounts for almost 85% of the total exports and employs. Although, not every place in Tanzania is suitable for agriculture, nearly 90% of the land is not useful. The most of the agriculture takes place in the coastal plains.

Of course as in every country Tanzania also has a small industrial sector, that basically comprises food processing plants. I thought I had seen on some products “made in Tanzania” so I asked our guide about it and she said that there are also some consumer goods manufactured in the country, but that this amount is very small.

But of course not everything in the Tanzanian economy is bad. After the year 2000 the country has started investing in the mining sector because Tanzania has large deposits of gold and natural gas. This is one of the biggest assets of the country. Hopefully they can increase their wealth thanks those products.

Well this was my last blogpost, I hope you’ve enjoyed our trip and my view on things. Next week we’re finally in Madagascar! I wonder if we will see suricates, and other animals out of the movie Madagascar! Thank you for following us, and don’t forget to read our last three blogs, that are written by Melisa, Roselinde and Julie!

With Love

Romina

Source: http://www.economywatch.com/world_economy/tanzania/

Politics of Tanzania – Week 11 – Anneleen Coppens

First of all I would like to say that this journey was a once in a lifetime experience to me. I met so many kind people who were always willing to tell us more about their life and their families.

I think I never would have made this trip without my friends. We supported each other and everyone tried to keep up with our blog. This blog and everything we saw will be a beautiful memory.

So today I’m writing my last blog message. We continued traveling and this week we landed in Tanzania.

In this country the President is both head of state and head of government. He is elected by direct popular vote for five-year terms and so are the other members of the National Assembly.

Right now the President is Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete. I remember the article I read about him and it said launched the international year of cooperatives in Dar es Salaam on March 20th, 2012.

Cooperatives can showcase their activities on this exhibition.

The President of Tanzania appoints a prime minister and he also nominates ten non-elected members who can become cabinet members.

Here in Tanzania there’s only one party: the Chama Cha Mapinduzi. This party has all the power and every opposition party is considered having no chances.

Today we have put our money together and made an amazing trip with a helicopter. While we were sightseeing we listened to our guide.

He told us that Tanzania is divided into 30 regions: 25 on the mainland, 3 on Zanzibar and 2 on Zanzibar’s second isle.

The district councils act at local level and they’re also known as local government authorities. There are 99 districts and 114 councils operating in them.

We definitely had a ‘chill’ and relaxed day! The weather was favorable and the helicopter trip gave us a good breath of fresh air.

Have a good one!

Anneleen

Sources:

http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/about-tanzania.html?start=2

http://uncoopsnews.org/?p=402

The culture of Tanzania - Week 11 - Anou Christiaens

Hello everyone!

I’m back to tell you something more about the countries in our trip! Today we’re in Tanzania. Unfortunately this is the last time you can read my adventures during our trip. Our trip has almost come to an end. Because it’s the last time I write something, I wanted to write about something fun. That’s why I chose to write about the culture of this country.

We arrived here in the evening, so we were starving. A local woman gave us something that was called pilau. It was a spiced rice, potato and meat dish that is very traditional for this country. It was an enormous pile of food because it’s considered very shameful for guests to leave hungry. I can tell you one thing; I wasn’t hungry anymore after eating that much food!

When we were taking our tour around the country, we saw a certain type of house. Our guide told us that it was a Swahili house. It’s a rectangular structure made of stone on a wooden frame. This type of house is found all along the coast. We learned that each ethnic group has a unique traditional house, ranging from those rectangular houses to round, beehive-shaped houses.

One of the things you certainly know is Mount Kilimanjaro. It’s the highest peak in Africa, and the magnificent wild animals draw millions of tourists to the country every year. The landscape and animals are valued national treasures. They are symbolized on coins. We also travelled to Mount Kilimanjaro because it’s something that you must see. It was a wonderful experience and I advise everyone to travel there once in their life.

I hope that I’ve created an interest for this country. It’s a beautiful country with friendly inhabitants. You can read all about our last country, which is Madagascar, next week in the blogs of my dear friends Roselinde, Julie and Melisa.

Goodbye for now!

Xoxo Anou

Sources:

http://www.everyculture.com/Sa-Th/Tanzania.html

The politics of Congo - week 10 - Julie De Vreese

Hello everyone,

This week we are in the democratic republic of the Congo, a land in Central Africa as big as Western Europe. It’s a very poor land with a lot of troubles.

Congo is a presidential republic which means they have a president. As I use my travel guide, I read that in 1996, Laurent-Désiré Kabila was leader of the ADFL (Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire) and he started the first Congo war, against Mobutu. In 1997 he succeeds and Mobutu flees in exile after which Kabila proclaimes himself president.

He is head of state as well as head of government. In 2006 there are free democratic elections for the first time in 40 years and more than 70% of the people actually vote. Kabila wins with 44.8% against Bemba but there has to be a second round because of clashes between militias loyal to the two candidates. Kabila wins again in the second round, this time with 58% and he is inaugurated in December 2006, to a five-year term.

However, when I skip the page I see that in January of 2001, Kabila is shot by one of his own bodyguards in a failed coup attempt. His son Joseph Kabila takes over and becomes the new president. He starts negotiating with several warring parties and the community and this results in December of 2002 in a peace agreement and a transitional government under the leadership of Joseph Kabila.

We hear from a local resident that for the moment, the situation in Congo is still bad. He says that there are over 6 million deaths caused by war, famine, poverty and disease since the 90’s. This is very weird, as I read that Congo has a lot of natural wealth like gold, diamonds, uranium and other minerals. But that is the economic side of Congo and if you are interested you have to read Roselinde’s blog.

Our trip is almost over but we still have 2 countries to go, so see you next time.

Julie xXx

Sources:
http://congoleaders.org/the-drc/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurent-D%C3%A9sir%C3%A9_Kabila
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2823.htm