News: The parched land of Madagascar

Florine Zafy, who runs the health centre in Sampona, a tiny town in the Anosy region of southern Madagascar, has become as desperate as the parched landscape. On april 28, 2009 she petitioned the government for a well because signs of rain were scarce. Because of the lack of rain, people are starving from small harvests,and children are the first to go. When a child is severely malnourished they cannot think, breath, work, or eat because they do not have enough energy and their immune systems are weakened. When mothers strated bringing their children to the small town hospital in large groups, Zafy said, and "at this point the problem is becoming critical" She has been screening children for the past 2 months and has identified 90 cases of people who are suffuring form lack of food and water. A mother was interviewed at the hospital while waiting to see what she could possible do to make her children better.
"I am afraid for my children now because I can't feed them," Siza Matavy, who had brought her children for screening and was first in the hospital line told IRIN. One child was already on a treatment called Plumpy'nut, a high-protein, high-energy, peanut-based paste provided to health and nutrition centres by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), and she hoped the other two might benefit too.
One mother wished that she could bring her starving daughter to the hospital but it was seven Kilometers away from her house. She could not walk on foot because she was wounded in her heel. If she took a ride their in a carrige it would cost the same amount as 1$ american dollar. But she simply did not have enough money to bring her daughter to the hospital.
The mayoy was extremely worried about this problem not only because of the children but also because of the countries exports and wealth. "Without rain we cannot grow food and we cannot sell food" he said.
"Lack of rain is at the heart of the problem ... the drought used to occur every 10 years, then every five; now we have drought every year," he said.

My view:
I am astonished that almost no one in our country has heard about this terrible drought. Many of us are still wishing that we could get a new phone or ipod and wishing we could have something besides roast chicken for breakfast, and hating going to private school in the morning. Well, the children in Madagascar are lucky if they wake up in the morning to speak frankly. After i reseached for a while i founf these astonishing facts. The children in Madagascar have not had clean decent water in almost three years! the water they get to drink is purified by boiling it if they end up getting any. I know most of us aren't moms so we can't be similar to their feelings in that instance. But imagine watching your family starve to death and not be able to do anything to help! This news report made me really grateful for everything that i have in life. I am so grateful to be able to take showers drink water and go to school each day. I wish that i could do something to help these people!

News: Saving madagascar with Biodivesity Map

Since Madagascar is home to many rare creatures like the aye-ayes, lemurs, geckos with leaf-shaped feet, speckled blue fish, and many others they need to work on protecting these animals habitates. Scientists have recently created a map that pinpoints where these animals live. With this map the government will be able to decided which areas will become national parks to save the animals. The map was very difficult to create said Claire Kremen of the Wildlife Conservation Society. The team of scientists had to spend weeks working under tents to observe the animals in their habitates.They had to keep working through thundering rainfall and hurricanes. But it was worth it agrees Claire Kremen. "Now these rare animals have a much better chance at survival."

Culture: French and Malagasy Influence on the Flag

Antananarivo is the capital of Madagascar. Its name means the City of the Thousands" this was true because in 1985 when it was first made the capital it was the home of 18 different tribes all governed by the same queen, Queen Ravanola III, She was the daughter of the son of king Andrianampoinimerina. The french tried to make her abdicate her position so they could put one of their officers in charge but because the Malagasy tribes would only listen to her they allowed her to stay in power. Because of this the culture of the People was mixed with the French so the flag of the capital had the french symbol of la fleur de lis and the Malagasy tribe symbol of the bull.

Culture: Influence and Religion

Madagascar has a very unique and mysterious culture. Many other countries have influenced much of its culture. The Arabs who set up their trading posts their, The King Andrianampoinimerina,of the Malagasy tribe, and the French who conquered it and first colonized it. But because of its geographical location, right between Africa and Asia, its culture is unique. Many people do not know where the first Madagascans first came from. Some archeologists say that people came from both Asia and Africa in 1000 A.D. they say this because of the discovery of old cooking pots and vases that they have discovered. The ethnicity of the Madagascans has been determined as half Asian half African. They are called Deschamps in African. 52% of the citizens of madagascar still follow their ancient tribes indigenous religions while 41% is christian and the other 7% is muslim. There has not been much conflict between these religions and the country of madagascar has three official languages. French, English, Malagasy.

For everyone who loves dancing lemurs!!

Enjoy this video! its the best video in the world!

Geography : Wildlife, the amazing Baobabs

The Baobab trees are unique to the southern part of Africa and mainly Madagascar. They can reach amazing heights but are mostly remembered for their giant and tubular trunks. They only have branches on the very top. Lemurs are sometimes found in their branches eating the fruit but only if the trees are in a jungle so the Lemurs can hide from predators. Their fruit is edible but tastes awful to humans. You may have seen them in the movie Madagascar!

Climate:The Forests of Madagascar!

Most of the vegetation on Madagascar is forests. This is where most of the animals live in the dense canopy of the trees. The forests remain green throughout the year because of the constant warm rain that falls on the forests during the rainy season of May to July. The other two seasons that influence the forests the most are the misty and dry seasons. At very high elevations the forests turns into plains of shrubs and grass that a rich because of the volcanic soil. In the western coast there are some deciduous forests.

Geography: Island Fever! National Parks

Most of Madagascar's landforms are islands. They include the Europa island, names after the country that colonized it, the Glorioso island the Île aux Nattes named for its french heritage, Tsarabanjina, Île Sainte-Marie and the Nosy Be. Nosy Be is the largest island off the coast of Madagascar. It is the most visited tourist location. In the language of the ancient Malagasy tribe "Nosy Be" means "Big Island." On the island there is the Lokobe Reserve where the rare black lemurs live. There are many permanent settlements on this island. The last island is callled Nosy Mangabe. It does not have settlements on it because the entire island is the Masoala National Park. It is only two km from the shore of Madagascar. It was made a national park because of the endangered species of the aye-aye. the aye-aye is a small monkey that eats like a woodpecker and has nests in the trunks of banana trees.

History: The Mini Civil War

Ratsiraka was up against Marc Ravalomanana, the mayor of Antananarivo, the capital. The first election was inconclusive but Ravalomanana said that the election was rigged and in 2002 he declared that he was president. Ratsiraka was so angry at this that he set up his own capital called Toamasina, and declared that he was president also. Now Madagascar was going through its own civil war with two presidents and two capitals, until the high constitutional court counted up the votes and said that Ravalomanana was the winner. After hearing this Ratsiraka ran away to France. The president, Marc Ravalomanana, resigned in 2009 and gave his power to the military leader to mayor Rajoelina. But Rajoelina staged protests on the radio every week that talked about how bad a president Ravalomanana was and so Ravalomana fired him. Rajoelinas supporters were so angry that they staged a rebellion in the streets and 28 people were shot. Most of the people were on Rajoelinas side so Ravalomana surrendered. And the rest is yet to be history!

History: The First Socialist President

The French won against the British and made Madagascar one of their protectorates in 1885. A protectorate is a small territory or state that is owned by a stronger state like France. In 1958 a republican group under the French control rebelled and in 1960 Madagascar became independent. The people were not happy under the strict rule of their president Philibert Tsiranana and so they decided to rebel again. Led by General Gabriel Ramanantsoa the kicked him out of office and elected Didier Ratsiraka as president on June 15, 1975. He was the first president to support socialism. He nationalized banks and he also nationalized Madagascar’s trading. He was reelected in 198 but people were suspicious of the voting methods used to make him president again. To stop more riots and rebellion he allowed the other democratic candidate Albert Zafy to share his power. Zafy was elected in 1993 but misused the government’s power during an economic crisis and Ratsiraka was elected again in 1997.

Geography: Climate

Madagascar is very small compared to most African countries, but its geography is very diverse. Along the coast of Madagascar there is mostly rain forests and jungles which grow very well in the warm wet climate. About 110 inches of rain fall on the forests per year. Located just to the east of the coast of Mozambique is a channel that is 250 miles long and on the other side is Madagascar. The inland climate is temperate and to the south of the island it is very arid and dry.

The Early History

Madagascar is a small island located in the Indian Ocean in Southern Africa. It is the world’s fourth largest island. In the 7^th century the Arabs established trading posts on the coast of Madagascar. The first man to rule the island was king Andrianampoinimerina, of the Malagasy tribe. His name means The-King-in-the-Heart-of-the-Imerina, the Imerina stood for the highlands of Madagascar. He ruled from 1787 to 1810. He and his son Ramada unified most of the island until the Europeans discovered it. The Europeans discovered it during the Age of Discovery in the 15^th century. During the Age of Discovery Europeans traveled to different lands in search of trading goods like gold, silver, and spices. The British and the French were competing in against each other in the Scramble for Africa because they both wanted the trade products and the territory.