People - they're called Malagasy (adjective and noun), and are generally of Malayo-Indonesian and African heritage. Most are subsistence farmers. The population is divided up into 18 tribes. I don't know much about them yet or exactly how they function socially.
From the CIA World Factbook: Population is about 21 million. The population growth rate is around 3%, which is quite high. Life expectancy is 63 years. The AIDS rate is happily low, with 0.1% of the population affected, or about 14,000 people. Literacy rate for men is 75%, women 62%.
Language - Malagasy (like the people), which is most closely related to the language spoken on Borneo. French, as they were a colony until 1960.
Geography - Big. As one unhelpful person said, just smaller than twice the size of Arizona (or just a little smaller than Texas). About 1000 miles long. There is a tropical (subtropical maybe) coastline, and then a drier central plateau. I think where we will be training, near the middle of the country, it does get quite chilly in their winter (down to the 40s, but I don't think much lower than that). From my understanding, there is a wet and dry season, which are quite extreme.
Biology- Madagascar is incredibly unique biologically, with around 80-90% of all plants and animals endemic to the island (meaning they are found no where else in the world). Think lemurs. Approximately 90% of original forest has been destroyed.
Religion: Mostly an indigenous belief system that centers around the ancestors (52%), with Christians coming in second (41%), and Muslims coming in last (7%).
Issues - Poverty, deforestation, and population growth (which of course go hand-in-hand as people slash and burn forest to farm it) seem to be the major issues they face. It is one of the poorest countries in the world, and also has an incredible environment. The question is, how do you balance livelihoods and conservation? I think this question is what I will be working on during my time there.
***A really great resource is current volunteer blogs, many of which I have been reading and can be found at: http://www.peacecorpsjournals.com/?Country&country_id=46&full_page=1
Additional information (from a list I received from the PC). I have not looked through everything here, but if you want more information, here it is.
General Information About Madagascar
www.countrywatch.com
On this site, you can learn anything from what time it is
in Antananarivo to how to convert from the dollar to the
Malagasy Ariary. Just click on Madagascar and go from there.
www.lonelyplanet.com
Visit this site to learn all you need to know about any country
in the world.
www.state.gov
The U.S. State Department’s website issues background notes
periodically about countries around the world. Find Madagascar
and learn more about its social and political history.
www.psr.keele.ac.uk/official.htm
This site includes links to all the official sites for governments
of countries around the world.
http://geography.about.com/library/maps/blindex.htm
This online world atlas includes maps and geographical
information about countries around the world. Each country
page contains links to other sites, such as the Library of
Congress, that contain comprehensive historical, social, and
political background.
www.cyberschoolbus.un.org/infonation/info.asp
This United Nations site allows you to search for statistical
information for member states of the U.N.
www.worldinformation.com
This site provides an additional source of current and
historical information for countries around the world.
Online Articles/Current News Sites About Madagascar
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
The site of BBC News’ world edition, from which you can
search for news on Madagascar.
http://air-mad.com/index.html
A travel site with information on all things Malagasy.
www.wanadoo.mg/
The site of one of the first Internet service providers in
Madagascar (in French).
International Development Sites About Madagascar
wwww.unaids.org
Site of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS,
with thorough information on the worldwide AIDS epidemic.
www.usaid.gov/regions/afr/country_info/madagascar.html
Provides an overview of the Agency for International
Development’s projects in Madagascar and other valuable
information.
www.worldbank.org
Find Madagascar for several documents related to
developmental aid.
www.comminit.com/index.html
The site of the Communication Initiative has general
information on development issues.
Recommended Books
*Side note: if you're in the Seattle area, Marian has a copy of the last book, and I found it very informative if anyone wants to borrow it. It's out of print so can be hard to find.
1. Bradt, Hilary. Madagascar: The Bradt Travel Guide.
Chalfont St. Peter: Bradt Travel Guides, 2005.
2. Garbutt, Nick. Mammals of Madagascar. New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1999.
3. Jolly, Alison. Lords and Lemurs: Mad Scientists,
Kings with Spears, and the Survival of Diversity in
Madagascar. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Co., 2004.
4. Lanting, Frans (photographer). Madagascar: A World
Out of Time. New York, NY: Aperture, 1990.
5. Lambek, Michael. The Weight of the Past: Living with
History in Mahajanga Madagascar. Basingstoke:
Palgrave MacMillan, 2002.
6. Sharp, Lesley A. The Possessed and the Dispossessed:
Spirits, Identity, and Power in a Madagascar
Migrant Town. Berkeley: University of California Press,
1993 (out of print).
7. Tyson, Peter. The Eighth Continent: Life, Death, and
Discovery in the Lost World of Madagascar. New
York: Avon Books, 2000.
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