The Women’s Workshop

Sometimes I feel that I give the impression that Madagascar is somehow a place where everything ranges from absolutely terrible to mediocre at best. Such an impression is not entirely wrong, but it also does not paint a full picture. Believe me, despite the many troubles and challenges of living in Madagascar, of which there is no shortage, there are countless people who live long and flourishing lives on this island and genuinely would choose to live nowhere else than here. These are the Malagasy who, with a great amount of agency and motivation, look at themselves and the world with a realistic optimism and actively search out ways to better themselves and the society around them, all of course, within the proper cultural context.

As one who has spent several years studying the role of institutions that equip society and communities with necessary factors that increase the chances of individual and collective flourishing, living in Madagascar has significantly challenged my beliefs on what it means to live a happy and flourishing life. That is, there are many people in Madagascar who suffer both spiritually and physically from abject poverty. On the other hand, there are many people who, despite their considerably and relatively poor living conditions and material wellbeing, are genuinely happy and fulfilled in what we in the West would consider dull, mundane, and uninteresting lives. It has made me completely question my preconceived notion of flourishing when I compare it to many who suffer mentally and spiritually in the United States despite the incredible material wealth we possess nationally and the average standard of living, even in what is considered the poorest parts and communities of our country.

Regardless, there is still rampant poverty in Madagascar, which, at the current moment, has 81% of its population living under the extreme poverty line. Mind you, the overwhelming majority of the population lives on subsistence farming in the rural parts of the country. And although they deal with many natural problems like lack of infrastructure, electricity, water, safety from dahalo bandits, and education, they are also generally satisfied with their lives and have no interest in the outside world. They don’t have much, but they have each other.

The same cannot be said for the capital here in Tana where poverty is usually linked to lack of employment opportunity, low motivation of the working class, homelessness, mental illness, physical injury or illness, fatherlessness, and more. In short, Madagascar doesn’t make a lot of things, but it sure sells a lot of things made by other places which leaves many people here in the capital left with jobs that do not provide a steady or predictable income stream and which do not offer the possibility of upward mobility. You can only sell so many bootleg hats, bags, pants, brooms, and plates on the street. And I have a suspicion that the revenue generated from such economic endeavors are not as lucrative as one may think.

There are, however, people who are investing in Malagasy manufacturing. And that is the topic of today because I was afforded the opportunity to visit one such institution back in January.

The business I visited is called Made for a Woman Madagascar (MWM). This business employes women of any background and trains them how to make handbags and other accessories from traditional materials. Honestly I forgot the name of the material, but its natural in Madagascar and severely under threat from widespread slash and burn farming. MWM provides their 300 currently employed women a living wage, transportation, psychological and physical counseling, childcare, and two meals each workday. The hours are flexible ranging from contracted time/orders to fulltime.. In addition, MWM only works with certified and recognized companies that respect the sustainability of the areas where they collect the fibers and maintain a particularly high level of working conditions. It is quite the operation with the only drawback that in order to maintain such a high quality of working conditions, they have to export their products. Very few of the traditional Malagasy bags fabricated in the workshop ever make it to the streets of Madagascar.

So I went to visit the place, and while the college students were checking out the showroom, I walked around the workshop floor taking pictures and speaking with the women. I’m not much of a picture taker, but I knew that you would all want to see what this place looks like in action. So I would approach a group of women to watch what they were doing, because skilled labor like this fascinates me, greet them, and then ask, “afaka maka sary ve aho?” Can I take photos?

The answer was always yes. And some of them remarked that I spoke Malagasy. Then one of the ladies asked me if I’d like to learn. I, being as bold as I am, of course said yes. So the ladies made room for me and plopped me down at the table with them. She proceeded to show me how to make a simple weave. It was very difficult for me to get the hang of. I couldn’t quite get it, not at all actually. Even as she guided me it just wasn’t working for me. So I told her just to do it slowly and that I would watch. After about 10min of miserable attempts, lots of laughter, and no shortage of me shaking my head in self-disappointment, I finally got the hang of it to the shouts of joy and applause of my new friends. She even let me keep my little piece of fiber as a souvenir (pictures below, of course).

Anyways, that’s pretty much the whole story. I kept going around and just chatted with the ladies and took some photos. They were just as interested in watching me as I was interested in watching them in their skilled work. It is pretty neat what people can do to make a difference. Nonetheless, I have my serious and grounded doubts in the efficacy of this kind of business model widespread as a solution to Madagascar’s employment problem. This is mostly because in this unique situation, the people are producing products that us Westerners are totally willing to pay for a prices that can sustain an industry like that. But an economy can’t run on producing things for other places that long if they, themselves, are suffering. A better long term solution is to find businesses that can employ Malagasy without the need of foreign investment and can be sustained here on the island where they produce products for their own people. But maybe that’s the Malagasy nationalist sentiment coming out in my policy suggestions. Regardless, feel free to check out their website and maybe even buy a bag. Each bag comes with a little tag with the name of the woman who made it.

Facebook: Made For A Woman | Antananarivo | Facebook

And as always, know that you are in my prayers each morning. All I ask is that you do the same for me.

May God be praised.