Building houses outside of Antsirabe, Madagascar, May 19 - 23, 2025

 The local NGO (Non Government Organization or what we in the USA would call a nonprofit organization) had selected two families for the two homes we would work on.  I worked all week on a two room house with the husband and father Augustin working with us.  Unfortunately, I have not figured out the correct way to put these photos, as they are in reverse chronological order.  The first photo shows the house at the end of the week.

 

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The next photos show the entire village, all built by Fuller Center for Housing in conjunction with the local NGO.  The three room house is in the first photo, the two room house I worked on is at the very back end of the row of houses in the second photo (it is just barely visible), and the third photo is the community outhouse with three stalls.  There is a well near by, but no running water, no sewerage system other than the outhouses and no electricity or gas.

Once away from the city center, the roads were dirt roads.  They were so bad that the six kilometer drive took 30 to 35 minutes each morning and afternoon.  Even oxcarts tipped over on the roads.

 

 

Six of us volunteers worked on the two room house, nine volunteers worked on the three room house.

 

After our team left, local people continued to work on the homes.  These are photos sent to me from one of the local volunteers.

 

 

Saturday, the return to Antananarivo only took about seven and a half hours as there was less traffic and we did not make a stop after lunch.  We did see several rural gatherings of people in fine clothes, apparently going to weddings.  We had our last meal dinner Saturday evening at the Hotel Sakamanga restaurant.  A couple people left that night, most people left Sunday.  And I was the last one to leave on Monday.  I flew Ethiopian Air to Addis Ababa.  When I landed, I found my flight to Brussels had been canceled.  I ended up flying to Rome and then to Brussels.  I missed the connecting flight to Chicago, so ended up going to Newark and then Phoenix.  It was six airports, five flights and about 44 hours door to door.   I was tired when I got home.  But it was very rewarding to see people getting a new life with clean and solid homes to raise their families.  They have so little but are so much happier, kinder, hard working and do not complain about their situation.

 

 

 

 

Antananarivo to Antsirabe, Sunday May 18, 2025

According to Google Maps, it is "only" 166 km and takes a bit over four hours to drive there.  It took us all day.  We had a large van with all 15 of us volunteers and three local staff plus all our luggage.  We had a morning stop about half way to our lunch reservation, then a stop for lunch, and again half way from lunch to Antsirabe.  The road was paved but had many large potholes and a lot of traffic - hence, the trip was more than eight hours.

 

 

 

In the morning, we stopped at a gas station with restrooms and a convenience store.  We tried several different local snacks.

We had our lunch at La Pineta restaurant in Ambatolampy.  We had pre-ordered our individual selections and the meals were brought out on plates where our name had been written in sauce - thus eliminating the language barrier.  Malagasy is the native language and French is a second language due to the French Colonial period.  English is a third language as many tourists are English speaking.  The restaurant is in what appears to be a large farmhouse and we ate outside on the covered patio to the right of the building.  There was a play area for kids, many beautiful flowers and chickens running around loose.

The restaurant had several informational posters in multiple languages.

 

In the afternoon, we stopped at a small town that had both gas stations and local family run shops and cafes.  We finally arrived at Hotel Menabel in Antsirabe, our home for the next week.  I was somewhat embarrassed that we were staying in a hotel with electricity, wifi, hot and cold running water, purified drinking water dispenser in the lobby, toilets, restaurant and bar, pool and sauna, laundry service and 24 hour security.   The hotel is located in an upscale neighborhood as you can see the neighboring estates, all with security fences just like our hotel.

 

Sakamanga Hotel, Antananarivo, Madagascar, May 16 - 18 and 24 - 26, 2025

 All of us volunteers stayed at the Sakamanga Hotel in Antananarivo.  It is a very nice hotel, but I think it was made by connecting multiple buildings.  It is like a maze finding your way around and it is also like a museum with artifacts and historical information through out the hotel. This first batch of photos are from my first weekend there, May 16 - 18.

 

The hotel had a breakfast place attached on one side, a restaurant upstairs, and a cafe and bar next to the pool.  It really was an excellent place to stay.  There were a couple of banks with ATMs and several shops within a two minute walk of the hotel.  And the rooms were also decorated.  These photos were from my second stay there May 24 - 26.

 

This was a superb hotel - if you ever visit Antananarivo, this is the hotel to stay.  I stayed one extra night beyond the group rate nights and it was only about $40 for the night.  I also met people from Germany who run a nonprofit.

While walking around, I was reminded of scenes from Nepal, where many electrical and phone lines went from every telephone pole.

Antananarivo has an impressive city hall.