Under the Tree

Every village has one: a meeting tree. It's like the American "T.V. room" without the t.v... and walls... and you can pretend there is a roof with the shade of the tree... you can also pretend that you're sitting on furniture when you're just sitting on a straw mat...

So, it's not really like the American "T.V. room" except that it's the social hub of the village.

It's actually quite a lovely place and much more intimate than your ordinary T.V. room. The Malagasy don't value their space quite like Americans do, but they value your presence and conversation probably more than Americans do.

I love it there. I'm not intimidated or overwhelmed.

The laughs are big under the tree. Mostly laughing AT me, not necessarily WITH me; although, I laugh too. It's contagious. And the questions come rapidly; the same questions asked by different women, garnering the same reaction each time. For example: Lehilahy sa ampela? (Boy or girl?) Ampela avao. (Just girls) *cue overly-ecstatic disbelief and comments about how Waverly and Elodie don't have their ears pierced*. In turn, I share a little American culture that girls are identified by their clothing and hair, not the condition of their ears.

We chat over a fresh watermelon, but there is a lot of time where we just sit, nursing our babies under the tree. Even that is a special time. In all of the thousands of ways we are different, breastfeeding brings a common understanding between us.

Then the men come back from their walk around the village and the women disperse to cook a meal. It's noodles today for the guests of honor, who would be me, Chandler, Elodie, and Waverly. A pleasant surprise considering the alternative, habobo (ha-boo-boo). We eat with gusto along with our Malagasy partners, Olivier and Mahazosoa the Second, while Waverly runs around with the children.

Aside from the seat of honor on the straw mat and the specially prepared meal, we don't feel like guests, we feel like friends. Life seems easy under the tree, despite the reality that life, particularly that of an Antandroy, is anything but easy. But for those couple of hours, we can lay aside the difficulties and laugh together, talk together, and share in the things that make us more alike, more like friends.