Global Voices Online

Mialy, a blogger in Antananarivo, describes the plight of young married girls in rural areas who are subject to health and social concerns stemming from early pregnancy (fr). She explains that fistula, a consequence of giving birth at an early age, results in incontinences and therefore health complications compounded with social rejections. Malagasy laws allowed girls to be married as early as 14 years-old until 2007. Health care costs and lack of education are the two other main aggravating factors.

Jayne Taylor Gaubatz, a Peace Corps volunteer blogger in the southern city of Fianaratsoa, describes the impact of a well-done family planning poster, the importance of baby weighing in tandem and attending a Malagasy gospel choir [en].

While the football world is enjoying the UEFA European Football Championship, many countries in Africa are restricted to watching 8 tournament games. Jentilisa, blogging from Madagascar, explains that the number of games to be broadcasted was decided by AFNEX (African Network and News Exchange) who bought the rights to the tournament in the region for African national televisions. He argues that Africa is home to many of the elite players who play in major European clubs and soon home of the next FIFA World Cup 2010 in South-Africa and the tournament should not be restricted to rich people who owns satellite dishes. He wishes that Chinese TV CCTV would dispute this monopoly in the future and lower the broadcasting fees for resource limited nations (fr and mg).

harinjaka writes about a new Malagasy night club [Fr] in Marseille: “I know from personal experience that it's not easy to enter a club here (in France), especially if you are black or berber…It's not the Queen but it's a club where Malagasy people are VIP.”

Jentilisa reports that the popular radio program “karajia” (discussion in Malagasy) braodcasted by the Roman Catholic Church Radio called Radio Don Bosco was suspended by the government. This suspension was also reported on a popular broadcast called ” kidoana maraina” on Radio Television Analamanga (RTA). Jentilisa explains that the reason for the suspension was to prevent a supposed-call for strike made on the radio broadcast by one of the listeners. Jentilisa is worried that this abuse of power may lead to internet censorship if this trend continues [Mg].

Harinjaka posts photos from Zoma market in Antananarivo, Madagascar.

Ruth writes about a traditional dress, the lamba, in Madagascar: “Traditional dress in Northern Madagascar involves wearing the ‘lamba’. The word lamba simply means cloth or clothing but usually refers to the two matching pieces of fabric that women wear – one around the waist or chest and one around the head or shoulders.”

Ruth explains how people build wooden boats in Madagascar: “Jean finished building his latest boat 2 weeks ago. It’s a traditional wooden boat built using methods passed down from older fishermen in his district…”