At Band Practice

I was walking home with my bicycle along one of the main unpaved roads in my village when I heard a cacophony of noise coming from behind a home. Curiously I followed the noise down a narrow path to find a group of children around ages 4 to ten completely immersed in what was their band practice. I am surprised everyday by the inventiveness of children here, since they don’t have things like little league softball or videogames to keep them occupied, but this was creativity to another level. A group of five girls danced and sang in unison, mimicking their favorite Malagasy pop star in the front of the “stage”. I am so taken back by how well people in my village dance and even more at how shamelessly they do so, even the men. One boy was beating away masterfully at his “drums”, which was a discarded piece of aluminum propped on a bamboo stick, old bowls, and a plastic bottle. Another was on his guitar which was made out of a small piece of wood with green rope tied from the bottom to top to resemble strings. The last boy was tapping imaginary keys on a keyboard on a broken piece of cardboard. I feel like a decadent wasteful Westerner when children ask me for my trash. Garbage is a huge commodity here for children. I always try to remember to save my plastic bottles for them since they are used as playthings. This has also made me a lot more conscious of my carbon footprint. I try to minimize the amount of trash I burn or bury (since that is the only way of disposal here) by buying unpackaged foods and carrying them in my straw basket and then later giving the animals (pigs, zebu, dogs, chickens, and goats) that roam around my house everything that I don’t eat.