Education AIDS Developement?

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Can you confess the truth? I ask you whether or not you know where Madagascar is?

Yes, back to Afrika we go. I entered the subject line, "sunset, madagascar" on the flickr website, which by the way is an amazing place to visit, because I wanted a vision of the location from an ordinary person, not a watered down, slanted, cynical, safe hotel dwelling media droid. Jessy, whose photo is pictured above is from Mozambique, and her tag line or album name was called "vote for hate." Intriguing, I felt, beauty conjoined with hate. I view above, where we pose beside a tree, possibly a cherry blossom in security, while the cruel sun begins to die. We focus on a statue, symbolizing order, progress, peace, but the hazy outline of fog obscures our panorama. I would imagine our tour guide was covered in sticky sweat, while lurking in the humid air.

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Madagascar, is located at the bottom of Africa. I should say the southern region, the island east of South Africa. Many consider this to be a vanishing eden. It is prosperous but poverty stricken. It is home to many mammals and birds not found anywhere else in the world. Its capital city is Antananarivo, located just north of the center of the lush island. Its population is more than New Zealand and just barely less than Australia, sitting at nearly 20 million. It is a former French colony, where France is its biggest trading parter for both imports and exports. On the smoggy side, this location has a low HIV rate, which is considerably better than its neighbours. However, BBC reports that the rates of STD's are raising because of an ignorance by most of the natives. A good percentage of the population earn 1 US dollar per day, which means buying a condom is pretty expensive. Africa, once again is a paradox. A beautiful untouched landscape married to a Rio Tinto mine site. A capital city conceals herself beside an underdeveloped city infastructure, poverty touching most, but embracing a downtown core filled with Hilton hotels, and a cosmopolitan shopping district. You get a great black coffee, but it is polluted with thick luscious creme. Yes this is Madagascar.

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One final issue. Power. This year there has been growing frustration on the many power cuts. Diesel for the generators has risen so much the state run power company is facing bankrupcy should it continue to generate. Therefore, rolling power cuts are a normal but frustrating occurance. Internet cafe's, hotels, homes, all struggle with this hassle. Due to the rising gap between the haves and the have nots it appears that only 15 percent of the population has access to the grid anyway. Being an island nation can have its advantages but when dealing with power production, its drawbacks.

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So I ask the big twenty four dollar question. At what point to you encourage investment, foreign firms setting up infastructure, hydroelectric dams, resource developement, when you will have a little more of your personal beautiful eden stripped away? Will a fully functional power grid help with education amongst its children, promoting disease control, hygene, stability? Has Madagascar survived for so long without modern conveniences, while education was handed down from elders to youngers, and society living in their own style of comfort for many years previously so therefore should a focus on developement be abandoned? I know what I think.

Wat du yu tink mate?