Madagascar through
a Vazaha’s Lens
For seven years, I photographed people and places in Madagascar for Catholic Relief Services, Beyond Good Chocolate and the Sustainable Vanilla Initiative.
Join me below for a tour around the Red Island.
*Images link to additional info.
Students clamor for attention in a mudbrick schoolhouse. East of Morombe, Madagascar
A man proudly cradles a chicken he bought with a voucher at a farm and seed fair in southern Madagascar. Supported by CRS, these fairs help drought-affected families access seeds, tools, and livestock. Click the image to learn more.
A woman sorts cacao beans destined for Beyond Good Chocolate chocolate bars. Click the image to learn more. Ambanja, Madagascar
Carting away empty cacao pods to feed cattle. Click the image to learn more.
Mother and child at a nutrition training for malnourished children. North of Tulear, Madagascar. Click the image to learn more.
A rice farmer surveys his barren field in drought-ridden southern Madagascar. Click the image to learn more.
A big sister helps feed her little brother at a nutrition training north of Tulear, Madagascar. Click the image to learn more.
Cacti are used as fencing in drought-plagued southern Madagascar.
An artisan heats a zebu horn over hot coals to make it more malleable at Les Six Freres Atelier in Antsirable, Madagascar. Click the image to learn more.
Workers take five on bags of cacao beans in Ambanja, Madagascar. Click the image to learn more.
An artisan adds flower petals and leaves to handmade Antemoro paper in Antsirabe, Madagascar. Click the image to learn more.
Preparing a communal meal in Ambazoa, Madagascar. In many villages, these daily meals, funded by USAID's Food for Peace program, are the only sustenance available. Click the image to learn more.
Babyfoot, or fuseball, is a favorite pastime in neighborhoods throughout Antananarivo, Madagascar.
Harvesting rice outside Toamasina, Madagascar.
An artisan buffs a zebu horn at Les Six Freres Atelier in Antsirable, Madagascar. Click the image to learn more.
Giant pots of rice cook over open flames in Ambazoa, Madagascar. Women prepare communal meals in villages throughout the southeast each day. Funded by USAID's Food for Peace program, these meals are often the only sustenance people have access to each day. Click the image to learn more.
This bridge in Brickaville is a typical example of Madagascar's aging, neglected infrastructure.
A black-and-white ruffed lemur stares curiously another primate. Click the image to learn more.
The painstaking work of harvesting rice. Brickaville, Madagascar
Learning to read together. Ankororoka, Madagascar
Spontaneous dance party. Salary, Madagascar Click the image to see the location on Google Earth.
Years of drought in southern Madagascar have forced families to survive on nutrient-poor cactus leaves. Click the image to learn more.
Collecting water from a community well, built with support from Nielsen-Massey Vanilla. Click the image to learn more.
Heading out for a day of fishing in the Mozambique Channel. Chez Katia, Morombe, Madagascar. Click the image to learn more.
Math class under the mango tree. Antanimieva, Madagascar
Pousse-pousse drivers await clients in Antsirabe, Madagascar. Click the image to learn more.
A CRS field agent discusses the importance of disaster preparedness in a village vulnerable to cyclones. The village developed an emergency evacuation plan and runs regular drills.
Brothers and sisters grab younger siblings and make their way to a safehouse during an emergency evacuation drill.
CRS field agents host a workshop for new mothers on the importance of preparing nutrient-rich meals for their children.
An emergency evacuation drill is underway, and involves securing the villages' livestock in a safehouse.
Mothers attending the nutrition workshop.
A child watches intently as a CRS field agent helps a woman wash her hands.
CRS field agents teach new mothers how to prepare nutrient-rich meals using locally grown plants and vegetables.
CRS field agents prepare a nutrient-rich meal using locally grown brède mafana, tomatoes, and vary (rice). Click the image to learn more.
For me?
Little Fidi is cautiously curious about the visitors to his village from CRS. Fidi's parents are artisans who create lemurs and baboabs out of dyed raffia and other crafts to sell to tourists.
Fidi's parents are artisans who create lemurs and baboabs out of dyed raffia and other crafts to sell to tourists.
Young women attend a antenatal training by CRS field agents, where they are free to ask questions and discuss topics that are often taboo.
Young women attend a antenatal training by CRS field agents. These trainings are crucial for ensuring that newborns get the best care possible.
Young women attend a antenatal training by CRS field agents. Once certified, they will educate pregnant women and new mothers about the importance of breast feeding and vaccinations.
Chronic malnutrition is a serious issue affecting nearly 40% of children under age 5 in Madagascar. Poverty, food insecurity, and recurring climate disasters (droughts and cyclones) are the main culprits. Click the image to learn more.
All work is suspended during the scorching midday heat in southwestern Madagascar.
Zebu-drawn carts are the SUVs of Madagascar. Zebu, a species of cattle, are deeply integrated into Madagascar's economy, traditions, and social structure. These humped bovines, believed to have originated from India, serve as a symbol of wealth, prestige, and even a form of currency. Click the image to learn more.
Lalatiana was one of the first cacao farmers to work with Beyond Good Chocolate. Today he is their largest single farmer with over 280 acres containing more than 69,000 cacao trees. Click the image to learn more.
Madagascar is renowned for its heirloom cacao varieties, prized for their unique and complex flavor profiles, making them highly sought after by fine chocolate producers. . Madagascar's cacao is classified as 100% fine flavor cocoa, a distinction not held by all cocoa-producing countries. Click the image to learn more.
Chocolate’s journey from bean to bar begins with the humble cocoa pod, which contains dozens of beans (seeds) surrounded by a sweet, pulpy flesh. Once harvested, the beans are fermented for several days to develop their flavor, fragrance, and color. After fermentation, the beans are dried in the sun to reduce their moisture content and prepare them for roasting. Click the image to learn more. Click the image to learn more.
Cacao beans are regularly turned to ensure even drying in the Madagascan sun.
Road building by hand is back-breaking work. Women from the communities that will benefit from the new road prepare a hearty lunch for everyone.
Essential infrastructure, such as roads and agricultural canals, are nonexistent throughout most of Madagascar, leaving people to find their own solutions. Here, young men work to remove a large stump blocking the path of their new connector road.
Getting to remote villages often involves leaving the 4x4 behind and delicately traversing schistosome-infested waterways. Click the image to learn more.
Friends head out into the Mozambique Channel in search of the day's catch.
A gentle breeze provides some relief from the scorching midday sun. Ifati, Madagascar. Click the image to learn more.
It takes a village to cultivate rice.
Small acts of art are everywhere in Madagascar's capital, Antananarivo.
Essential infrastructure, such as roads and agricultural canals, are nonexistent throughout most of Madagascar, leaving people to find their own solutions. Here, a man crushes stones into gravel, which will be used in building a canal.
A woman walks along a path adjacent to a canal under construction.
Essential infrastructure, such as roads, are practically nonexistent throughout most of Madagascar. Those that remain develop deep ruts from overuse.
Using pépinières, or plant nurseries, communities across Madagascar are reforesting their land with indigenous plants.
This tiny sapling is a foot soldier in the war against deforestation in Madagascar. Click the image to learn more.
Entire communities take part in planting samplings to help retain soil and reinvigorate once arable land.
"One could argue that taking 12 to 24 hours to cover the 163km between Madagascar’s highlands and its Indian Ocean coast is a rather slow and inefficient way to travel. It is, but that is the point. Travelling on the Fianarantsoa-Côte Est (FCE) railway isn’t really about getting from A to B – it’s about the journey." ~ Lonely Plant Click the image to learn more.
Station stops along the route (there are 17 in all) can take from 30 minutes to hours, to allow train staff to load and unload bananas, lychees, sacks of rice, and other goods. For small traders, this is also an opportunity to complement their living by selling fritters, kebabs, sweets and snacks, as well as local spices.
Spices for sale, clockwise from the top: jirofo (dried cloves), voatsiperifery (dried wild peppercorns), tsilandimilahy (a local hot pepper, the name of which translates to "five men cannot finish one"), and poivre (dried peppercorns).
Bijoux de la Côte.
The villages along the train route are so remote that there are no functioning roads on which to reach them, making this biweekly train a lifeline for buying and selling goods.
Spices, fruits, and snacks are offered to train passengers at every stop.
Good luck! Heading out for a day of fishing on the Mozambique Channel. Morombe, Madagascar
Flour bags are sewn together to create colorful patchwork sails. Morombe, Madagascar.
Prepare for a day of net fishing in the Mozambique Channel. Morombe, Madagascar.
Rope jumping games are popular throughout the country.
A student fills "tippy taps" at her school's handwashing station. Small holes are poked in the caps of the bottles, enabling them to drip clean water when upturned. In Madagascar, tippy taps have been widely adopted in schools and communities as part of hygiene and sanitation programs. These efforts have helped reduce diarrheal disease in children by promoting handwashing.
In Madagascar, roughly 70% of teachers are community educators, paid by parents and local communities.
Just 23% of children aged 7 to 14 who attend school are able to read. (UNICEF)
Sharing the road with zebu traffic. Zebu, a type of cattle, are deeply embedded in Malagasy culture, serving as symbols of wealth, status, and even playing roles in rituals and ceremonies. They are also vital for agriculture and transportation.
Schools in rural Madagascar are built and staffed by community members.
The presence of a vazaha in many remote villages inspires both curiosity and trepidation in children.
It takes a village. These women are Lead Farmers in their community, growing nutrient-rich plants to augment local diets.
Working on some football skills on the way home school.
When it's too hot inside the schoolhouse, class takes place in the shade of the mango tree.
Savings and loans communities (SILCs) help women build small businesses.
Savings and loans communities (SILCs) help women build small businesses, such as this small eatery outside Brickaville.
Thanks to her local Savings and loans community (SILC), Tiana has been able to grow her business enough to send all of her children to school.
Harvesting vary (rice) in Madagascar's central highlands.
Harvesting vary (rice) in Madagascar's central highlands.
A pousse-pousee driver repairs a blown wheel in Antsirabe, Madagascar. Click the image to learn more.
