The original assignment given to us by our boss was to read all of Ny Tanintsika’s past project reports and come up with some sort of report evaluating the success of these projects and what the organization could do in the future. Sounds simple enough, right?
Our first two weeks here were spent reading past project reports, and it soon became apparent that this vague report-writing task was not going to work out. First of all, the organization has about 20-30 past projects, each one with 2-4 50-page project reports. These reports are written in detailed and technical French (I’ve learned the necessary vocabulary to talk about mutual health insurance, well-drilling, latrine-building, and basket-weaving), and do a very good job of self-evaluation, discussing in detail difficulties encountered and suggestions for future projects. So why does Ny Tanintsika need two vasa (foreigners), here for only two months, telling them what to do?
We proposed a new idea: we could focus on one of the projects that we had already read about: namely, that of “Projet Paille: La vannerie pour la vie et l’environnement” (“Project Straw: Basket-weaving for life and the environment”).
It’s a project that has created an association of basket-weaving ateliers called Soamiray (SOO-mee-rye). Basket-weaving is a craft practiced by all Malagasy women in rural areas, allowing them to produce household items for their own families as well as for sale in local markets, which allows them to bring in some extra income, especially needed during la période de soudure (the hungry season, which comes right before the harvest). Soamiray organizes some of the best weavers into small ateliers that can take on larger orders and improve the quality of the items produced, hopefully earning higher prices in the market; some items even go to boutiques in Tana and abroad. Ny Tanintsika is working with Soamiray to improve the organization of these small workshops and the quality of their work, as well as improving the quality of life of the weavers and their families, in areas like sanitation (building hygienic latrines, digging wells with uncontaminated water) and healthcare (teaching family planning, starting up some sort of health insurance mutual).
But along the way there have been many bumps in the road. For one thing, these women have been used to weaving in the privacy of their own homes, doing things their own way: now they have to get used to showing up to the atelier on time (when the Malagasy sense of time is decidedly non-Western) and learning the importance of quality norms and using standard measurements to ensure a uniform product. There is difficulty getting people to show up consistently, as sick children, the agricultural calendar and local holidays, and the elaborate funeral traditions of the rural areas can all get in the way. So can jealous husbands, who don’t like their wives traveling to the periodic meetings that the weavers are required to attend. Ny Tanintsika is also trying to get the women to stop using the Pandanus plant as a raw material, as it is a native endangered species. Instead, NT is encouraging the cultivation of alternative materials like vinda and forona, and the use of natural dyes (although they still have to use chemical dyes to produce red and green). The results of NT’s efforts have varied by atelier, but overall the trend is motion in the right direction.
Additionally, there has been cooperation with FIZAM, a local solidarity tourism office, which leads treks through the mountains to these rural villages. Tourists can go to the ateliers, watch the women weave, purchase items, even learn to weave themselves! Each village has a hebergeur who provides simple lodging and traditional meals – a truly one-of-a-kind experience for tourists who want to travel far off the beaten path.
So what do Francesca and I, two American vasa only in Madagascar for two short months, have to offer to NT/Soamiray’s Projet Paille? We can look for new markets for Soamiray’s products; with our French and English language skills and two MacBook computers, we can do a lot of online research and find new places to sell these beautiful woven baskets, hats, and other items, both here in Madagascar (perhaps not just boutiques: how about hotel lobbys? Local tourism offices?), and abroad (France, the UK, and the US). We can find out about the possibility of Soamiray joining a Fair Trade Organization, which could get its products to fair trade/worldshop boutiques abroad (like Ten Thousand Villages in the US). We can get the word out about the solidarity tourism opportunities: make sure English language guidebooks know about the place, maybe contact travel magazines, see if they’d be willing to do a feature. And even if none of these efforts leads to something concrete this summer – there are still internal problems that NT and Soamiray have to deal with – we can leave all this information in a report for NT to use when Soamiray has matured enough and is ready for new opportunities.
We pitched this idea to our new boss Nathalie (Sam has returned to the UK to have her baby), and she liked it. Now, driven by a more focused purpose and a project we are actually excited about, Francesca and I are looking forward to the next month and a half – we feel like we actually have something to contribute, and at the same time we will learn so much!
After accepting our pitch, Nathalie said there was a fast-approaching opportunity for us to go into the field and see Soamiray in action. We would travel to rural Ambohimahamasina (pronounced “ambo-ma-MASH-nah”) with some field agents on Sunday, June 20th and stay there until Thursday. We would talk to the field agents, visit the ateliers, see firsthand what was going on, the things that technical project reports simply can’t communicate to you. We didn’t really have details of where we would be staying or who we would be answering to… But then again, IIP internships are not known for their specificity; come what may, we trust and brace ourselves for whatever lies ahead!
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