Lemur of the Day: Saturday

[Saturday] With all the family and friends gathering in Antananarivo for Commencement, I thought this clan of ring-tailers was an appropriate choice for what promises to be a big family reunion.

How do you do?

[Friday night] The students and their families requested an opportunity to meet and thank ACU administrators, and Friday night is the best time for most of them since they will be traveling from all 22 of Madagascar’s regions for Saturday’s event. The students wanted a potluck dinner like they have come to know it in Abilene, but after a discussion about what “potluck” might translate to in Malagasy, a sandwich reception is organized in the Carlton’s veranda dining room. This is the first time for most of the families to meet some of the people who have been surrogate parents and mentors to their children the past 4 years. It is a loud and happy evening. It’s hard to believe the week is almost over. Here are some of the photos I gathered at the reception, largely of family groups with their student. Not every student was able to attend the reception tonight. I'll need help with the captions, so send a comment along if you want to assist.

Lemur of the Day: Friday

Internet woes cause me to give up trying to identify the species of these cute little guys, although I had good intentions of doing so. I you want to give it a shot, send a comment. I'm all ears (and they're all tails), although this one is a baby of one flavor or another, and may be hard to I.D.

Commencement preparations begin

[Friday] In the afternoon, hotel employees and local vendors begin setting up the Carlton’s main room on the second floor for Commencement. Delicie (pictured here checking diplomas) coordinates the details: setting up chairs and staging, construction of a 30’ x 10’ frame on which to stretch a mural/backdrop for the stage (great graphics work by ACU senior designer Greg Golden), and technology to film and transmit the ceremony back to ACU (pictured here) so the event can be streamed to the university’s Web site. The room is pretty much set up, but a visit from Ravalomanana’s staff brings a request that it be re-oriented for security purposes. So things change as directed. About 400 people have been invited, including the president’s Cabinet and numerous local and national media.

Our humble office

[Friday] Lest you think we are broadcasting from a posh studio on the 10th floor of the tallest building in Antananarivo, well, we are. But as you can see, our work station is a tad on the small side. OK, it's a 24" diameter round table. But the double beds are nearby and real comfy. Ryan is shooting digital HD footage (no tape!), but the download time to his laptop for editing can take a while when we return from a day's work. He also has a few terabytes of space on an external harddrive with him for video storage. My photos (I am not a professional photographer, but know some people who are) are downloaded to the laptop from the Tyson's digital camera (thanks for sharing!). When Ryan is busy, I hand-write blog entries on a legal pad, and type them into a text file when he takes a break. When the Internet will allow me, I make the final text edits, embed photos I shoot and YouTube video Ryan creates, and publish to blogspot.com. We buy WiFi access cards from the hotel front desk in 5-hour allotments; we're on our 7th or 8th one now. This all makes for some late nights and early mornings, but it's fun and we enjoy your comments about the blog entries, so keep those cards and letters coming. Unfortunately, most of the good folks on our trip don't have a laptop or Internet access, so they will have to read about their trip when they get back to the states. Some do get cell phone calls from friends and family back home who describe to them what they're reading.

On the rebound

[Friday morning] I feel among the living, finally, but make no fast moves and also decline breakfast. We have a meeting at MBS, the TV station owned by President Ravalomanana, and have been told to expect more filmed interviews for Drs. Money, Tyson and McCaleb. We drive about 15 minutes to their facility, which is at the top of a steep road, behind a security gate and on a hill overlooking the River Ikopa where people are washing clothes and making bricks. We are greeted by station manager Rolland Aimé Andriamahenina, who takes us to the office of MBS director general Haja Fredy Andriamiadanarivo for a meeting interpreted by François Maka, technical advisor to the Minister of Education.

MBS is a group of businesses including a TV station (also called MBS), two radio stations and two newspapers. Andriamiadanarivo says their motto is to transmit information and educate people, and includes Christian education. “We want to be a model to the Malagasy regarding how to act, to communicate and to collaborate,” he says. “We are aware Malagasy don’t have enough information about the rest of the world, and we try to fill that need.” The visit provides fascinating background to Ravalomanana’s efforts to explain and implement the strategic Madagascar Action Plan to help accelerate the advancement of his nation.

MBS studios sport excellent state-of-the-art equipment, with considerably more staff than the state-run station we visited earlier. The three ACU administrators are interviewed in the main studio. Questions ranged from how the ACU-Madagascar program started, what the word “Christian” implies in ACU’s name, how students performed in their studies, whether more students would be sent to Abilene, and the group’s impressions of its Madagascar visit.

The studio is quite warm and that, combined with the stop-and-go ride back to the hotel along Antananarivo’s congested city streets, has my head spinning and stomach flip-flopping again. I return to the room for a few hours while the group excursion heads out for more shopping.

Carlton food critic, moi

[Thursday] While I want no part of it at the moment, here are my reflections on the Hotel Carlton food in its two restaurants:

Fantastique: Fresh-pureed pineapple juice, stir-fried vegetables (cooked “Chinese way” is the menu description), chocolate desserts of all kinds, fresh (but rock-hard) rolls and butter, hot Malagasy tea, scrambled fresh eggs (the smiling lady who makes them in a wok says, "Oui Monsieur, cooked well" every time she sees me)

Maybemanana: Coffee, so strong it’s served in half-size cups

Nowaymanana: Duck paté, liver paté, zebu that is not well done, warm/room-temperature milk on cereal