Against all my new year's resolutions, the year 2009 started in the most unexpected way. My resolution was to stay organized, and to enjoy well-deserved stability and peace of our second year in Madagascar.
So what happened? It was a just another day. I dropped off my kids at school in the morning, and came back home. Then the phone started ringing. Bad rumours say that there will be some kind of political demonstrations planned in town, and we should pick up the kids just in case it gets violent. Violence in Madagascar? I mean, these people must be the last peaceful mankind left on earth! They wound’t even hurt a fly, even if they really want to. I was thinking it was just an emergency drill from the safety department, never had I imagined this could be the beginning of our long continuing evacuation journey, across the continents, over more than 2 months period.
At the campsite, which is normally reserved for single status employees, each families were given shared based housings for the night. We arrived with basic stuffs for a couple of nights, but I was sure it would be one evening thing with a simple BBQ-get-togeter, and pool party. Kids raced between huge swimming pool, recreation room and ice cream machines all afternoon. No school and free ice-cream machine! Leo exclaimed with joy and said, “Wow! Why didn’t tell us we were going on a vacation!”
More people arrived the next day. By listening to what these late arrivals had to say, the drill sounded more like a real thing. Some president-owned-buildings were set on fire, and people were stealing from stores, some local people left dead on the road, and all streets were blocked for searches…We can’t go home for awhile. The worst one was, they may be coming after us TONIGHT!
I don’t know how everything went at the site, but after a few days, we were told to leave for Mauritius on the first flight the next morning. The bad news in this was, only wives and children would leave. All husbands stay. I felt as if I was blind folded, and sent off with my little kids to absolute uncertainty. Of course, it wasn’t like we were sent to a refugee camp in a dessert with no water and no food. It was rather a beautiful 4 star resort, by the southern part of Mauritius, where tourists come to get married, and stuff.
From then on, more positive attitude had to be taken, at least for the little one’s sake. It would be a vacation, as Leo believed from the beginning, and not a panic filled evacuation. Everyday was about new discoveries; fun plays with other little friends; and outings to the beach to collect shells; and most of all no schools!! They really missed two things left behind in Madagascar though…Papa and the generous ice-cream machine.
As if the family separation wasn’t enough, we had major cyclone hit, which left us indoor for days, and more violence in Madagascar, which putt of our return for days. The worst was the letter from the project we got the night before our long awaited return home, saying we are now to leave for a much longer evacuation to the point of origin. A long trip back to Quebec in the coldest months of the year? All we had were bikinis and sandals…
So we set off to Dominican Republic, kind of our point of origin, considering last 2 ½ years of expatriate before Madagascar. That’s right. Another destination for bikinis and sandals! We ended up having a great 2 months-vacation, close to Simon’s parents, Dorothy and Jean-Guy, who is already used to spend their winter under sunshine.
Now we are back in Madagascar, safely and happily. It is still turbulent in the capital, and our sincere thoughts are with those who live in political uncertainty everyday in any part of the world. In our town, Tamatave, everything see
ms quiet, and the crisis seems a thing of the past, at least for now.
