Pia Parolin

Madagascar is a fabulous but also very troubled country. Its separation from Africa, millions of years ago, made it into a somewhat isolated an unique ecosystems with animals and plants that can only be found there.

When people came to the island, they started exploiting its vast natural riches and now that ecosystem is on the brink of collapse.

This hasn’t made people’s life easier, as they have to contend daily with poverty, corruption, and environmental degradation. Regardless, they are always keen to smile for the camera.

Our guest for this week’s episode, Pia Parolin, recently returned from a tour of Madagascar and is here to tell us about all the beauty and the contradictions of this country.

Music for this episode: “Zanzibar” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Links

Photos by Pia

Chicken are hanging for sale at the market in Tana
Kids are warming up in the early morning sun at the market.
Metal is collected all over the country and brought to this city where it is taken to pieces before it is melted. The workers use no protection at all.
The warm sun shines into the face of a worker through a little window. His eye is illuminated while his hands keep on working on the hot melted aluminium in the mold.
This young man looks at me, proud, he knows he will probably never leave this place in his life but looks me straight into the eyes.
This girl sells some bread-like food on the road in a remote village where some buses stop every once in a while. She was curious and happy to stand still for a portrait.
Kirindy
The two kids followed our car and ran behind us playing and dancing but without asking things, they were just curious.
The mould is prepared using wood, clay and sand
At the end of the day, the electricity in the room is turned off by grabbing the naked cable from the contact with the bare hand.
TTIM 171 – Pia Parolin in Madagascar
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