Blog from MBP Volunteer, Steph
Last Saturday, Theoluc and I went to Hery’s house in Kianjavato to watch the BBC Madagascar documentary that was specially dubbed in Malagasy; Ed gave all the MBP employees a copy (even if they don’t have a TV!) Hery set up the generator and we all got comfortable in his little 8 x 5 foot living room. It started out just being the three P.simus guides (Hery, Theoluc, and Marolahy), Hery’s wife, Hery’s three children and newborn baby, and Marolahy’s wife and parents. After about ten minutes of watching the film I noticed about five small additions to our audience; then, after another fifteen minutes, there was a small crowd hanging around the door. Then, after half an hour I looked out the open door and saw around twenty-thirty kids of all ages all lined up, trying to get a glimpse of the 19” TV. Hery turned the volume up real loud so everyone could hear, even the kids at the very back of the crowd. I could see the pride flash across all the simus guides faces when the greater bamboo lemur popped up on the screen, I was proud too. However, my favorite part of this experience was when the aye-aye flashed on the screen and before the narrator said anything about it, I heard whispers of excitement around the room (“aye-aye! aye-aye!”) from the kids showing off their knowledge and pointing at the screen. It was so inspiring to see how education can make such a big difference! These kids didn’t have a fearful reaction of the aye-aye like some of their ancestors would have; they were proud to be capable of identifying it! Another moment I liked was seeing Hery’s newborn baby, Oscar, look at the movie with wonder. Education is such a powerful tool for the field of conservation, and seeing this in action was an amazing experience for me.
Steph
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