Childhood – what’s that?
Madagascar touched me. Some things that I found on this island were completely unbelievable to me, but are self-evident to the locals. I’ve noticed children working. They were only around five years old, but they worked and helped their parents. Sometimes they worked even without them. Little brothers, sisters grinded wheat, crushed stones, pushed waggons down the road, carried full bags on their backs or were shepherds.
I came by a small quarry where big national companies crushed stones for surfacing roads. There were ten girls, crushing the stones for days. Their families used the crashed stones, sand, to surface the area in front of houses or for the village road so it didn’t get too muddy.
The children were carrying so much that they could barely walk. They staggered with exhaustion and rested a lot. Parents didn’t worry that it is too hard for them or that it’s bad for their development. Every child is a blessing to the parents, because it means extra hands for work. Here, in Europe, a child is a toy, which the parents can spoil and play with. Children grow up and don’t know anything about responsibility or work. But let’s leave that. I’d rather tell you one more story that touched me.
I was enjoying myself, driving through palm woods to the east coast, to Manakara and went to the sea. The sandy beach was completely empty, except for two girls who sold coconut juice. They had piles of whole coconut and they used a machete to cut the coconut and put in a straw so the buyer could drink from it. One girl was around 25 years old and the other 7 or 8. She was really small. She was dirty, her clothes were torn and she looked really sad. Despite being so small, she also had a pile of coconut in front of her, the same as her older friend. They weren’t sisters or related to each other. The older sister told that this is how they make money for their living.
I wasn’t thirsty but I decided to buy a coconut from the youngest girl. She was barely big enough to hold a machete, it was too heavy for her. But she tried and tried and managed to cut the top off the coconut and gave it to me. The coconut cost 1500 Ariary, but I payed her 10,000 Ariary, which is around 3 Euros. She was overwhelmed and she wanted to give me the change. She was so happy, but she didn’t smile.
I didn’t give her the money because I was sorry for her. She tried so hard to cut the coconut and you have to pay for the effort. I could give her 10 times more money but I would send the wrong message. My attribution was nothing for her life. But I certainly hope that her effort will pay off and that she will get a better future. Experiences like that take me to our lives and I compare them. I compare our values and blessings. It’s sad that we don’t appreciate what we have. We live in a peaceful country and we don’t even see it.
I’m not going to become a missionary but I will definitely continue travelling the world. It is good to me to gather so many stories and because I’m so good, I’ll reveal one more story in the next Globetrotter.
