MEET SOME OF OUR NEIGHBOURS...

Once upon a time.......an afternoon really, Hilton & I went for a walk along the lake in front of our village and met some of our neighbours.
On this Mad magical island you never know what will greet you and hey presto! Sitting on the tree outside our gates happened to be this most beautiful Comet Moth.

I have never seen anything like this in real life. Then again, I've never lived on an island before!

Just before we met some of our little and not so little people neighbours, Hilton took a photo of this rock showing some of their little wooden/leaves shacks.

The view they see and live in everyday is quite breathtaking. They spend their days fishing with nets or rowing these "dug-outs" very agilely!

Our little fishermen, Martin, Sela and my buddy, little Tsikiv show us how it is done!

Tsikiv's name means "don't worry!" Tsikivy in Malagasy. He was a bit wary of us, me, but seemed so wanting to make friends. And those of you who know me, well, one look at his face, his hands and his precious little feet and toenails, he managed to creep into my heart! Throughout the time we were there he was close by. He had a stick, I picked up one and made as if to sword fight. He ran away........ but came back with a loooong stick. Probably felt safer having some distance between us! By the end of the afternoon the stick was shorter and the sword fight more real! And the smile even broader! These three boys were amongst the first we met.

From the left: Tsikiv, tucked into my side, Nathalie (me), Celestine with baby Estella. Sela in orange shirt with stick and Martin.

Learning their names was another story!

This photo is entitled: "The Finger" Specially for my children: I was in the process of learning names, not "crapping" them out!!! By the way, I probably also broke the "fady" of not pointing!

Meet Celestine and baby Estella.......This young lady was like a sponge, soaking up everything and so very eager to learn. Estella behaved as all Malagasy babies, would not smile for anything!

They were all totally fascinated by the fact that we could not speak French, only English.

The older two of these young men, spent a considerable time chatting amongst themselves and the young man in the middle, with the hat on (I just cannot remember his name), plucked up the courage, in the little English he knew, to ask us where we were from. The young man on the right is Costa.
So there I was drawing a map of Africa and Madagascar in the muddy soil to point out where South Africa is situated. Next time I will make sure my map is in the backpack. Then they asked for this photo to be taken.

Boys will be boys, some slightly older than others! Hilton joined in with this soccer game. The ball is made of tightly wound up plastic bags tied with sisal string. Then the most amazing thing happened! Out of seemingly nowhere the other "boys" arrived........

The competition was tough, the laughing and shouting loud!

By the time we started making our way home we had met an elderly man whose face just beamed when I used the little Malagasy I know, the soccer team had swelled in numbers and I had taught them: boy, girl, baby, young lady, young man, I speak English, good boy, good girl, yeah and cool!
I wonder if they will remember, the next time we see them?

With a veloma we made our way home with my heart smiling!