Blog from MBP Volunteer, Brittney

Translation Hello! How are you? I am very well!

Those are a few of the many Malagasy sayings that Kelsie and I are slowly catching onto! We have been on our own with the Reforestation team for a bit over a week now and we have quickly realized that communication plays a major role in the daily activities of a Reforestation volunteer. We thought we would share some of our struggles and successes with the Malagasy language so far!

So it was our first few days without the outgoing volunteer, Hilary, to translate for us and we decided to visit the nurseries to see if the managers needed more seeds. Our first stop was the Ambodifandramanana nursery. We quickly learned that the manager, Doro, spoke very little English and did not understand when we asked him if he needed seeds. Since we forgot the MBP Reforestation Guide with Malagasy-English translations available in it, we then attempted to use our miming skills to act out planting a seed but still with no success. I then took out my trusty Malagasy-English Dictionary (to all of the workers amusement) which unfortunately did not have the word seed in it! I guess tourists do not typically ask locals for seeds? Who knew? After much frustration we decided to bring him seeds in case and to immediately find out how to say seed in Malagasy (it is voakazo-the word will forever be engraved in our brains). After returning to KAFS, we then decided to make a Malagasy phrases book for ourselves and future volunteers. Only knowing how to say simple greetings or asking how someone was feeling just was not going to suffice! The Reforestation team at KAFS were extremely helpful and we now have pages of Malagasy words and phrases that we have been practicing on the regular. So fortunately, we can now put our wonderful miming skills to rest and say ‘Mila voakazo ve?’ (Do you need seeds?) instead!

Not only do the Malagasy people appreciate vazaha’s (foreigners) trying to learn their language, they also find it extremely amusing! During my second planting event, I decided to be brave and attempt to use my Malagasy with the Reforestation team. The day started out well as I successfully asked them for seedlings when I ran out by saying ‘Mila dimy zoanakazo azafady’ (I need 5 seedlings please!). Then when planting was over I decided to try asking the team to help pick up the garbage, or the foka (or so I thought). They immediately looked at me with confused expressions and many of the planters began to laugh as I continually asked about picking up the foka. After I spelled out the word garbage we figured out fako, not foka, was the word for garbage. Little did I know I was asking them to pick up the crazy, not to pick up the garbage! Oops!

In only a couple of weeks we have already had some interesting experiences learning the language of the Malagasy but we now understand how essential it is to a Reforestation volunteer. We are determined to learn as much as possible while we are here so we will keep you posted on our progress! Maybe by the end of our 6 months we will be able to write a blog in Malagash?? Fingers crossed!

-Brittney