A Matter of Rice

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Just a brief story to pass on...life in village has been quiet. We are slowly warming into the hot season and the days are getting a little longer. One afternoon a little friend, Faniry, came to visit me as I was working in my yard, carrying her 2 year old brother Elie on her back. We got to work pulling up weeds together when Faniry suddenly asks:

"Did you eat today?"
I replied that no, actually I had not eaten dinner yet. So she says:
"Lots of the kids are saying you don't eat rice. Do you have any rice?"
I responded that yes, I did actually have rice, and she comes back with:
"Well, I was worried that you didn't have any rice, so I had 40AR (2 cents) the other day and I wanted to give it to you, but I didn't see you."

The Malagasy eat rice 3 times a day, no questions, no variations. So, to Faniry's 7-year-old mind, if I wasn't eating rice, then I wasn't eating at all. She was concerne that I didn't have any food, so she wanted to share her money with me so I could eat some rice--this coming from a small child in a family of 8 who probably regularly doesn't get quite enough to eat and comes across 100AR once a month! I was so touched I was speechless. These are the moments that make Madagascar, Peace Corps, priceless....

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Comments

[Jessica]

Wow
That's really remarkable. And to think what we refuse to offer when we have so much and what they offer when they have so little. It puts it all in some kind of perspective and I'm glad that you share these moments with us so that we might remember what human kindness and life are supposed to be about.

[Pam Carpenter]

Jamie's address
does anyone have Jamie's (revised) PC address? she sent it in an email and i cannot retrieve it. thanks! [e-mail]