5. Andoharano: Source of Lively Water

Men and boys surrounding a water source in Andoharano (picture by my grandparents) 

Andoharano: Source of Lively Water

Madagascar's matriarchal society

My grandparents had a charity in Madagascar until this year called 'EZAKA'. They supported the citizens of the village Andoharano to be able to independently build up their livelihoods from the export of ravintsara oil and to provide education for all children. Inspired by the topic of the blog, I was talking with my grandparents about the relation between water accessibility, water provision and gender equality in Andoharano. Strikingly, they told me that they noticed that during their visits to Madagascar most of the time the men were tasked to collect the water for their households. In Madagascar, women are regarded highly and one could refer to Madagascar as a matriarchal society. I hope that in a future blog post I can come back to the case of Madagascar because it shows that the patriarchal African culture as described in most the literature does not always apply to all regions; these unique cases could provide interesting and valuable insights on how to mainstream gender and how gender roles related to water influences gender inequality.  Also, the meaning of Andoharano beautifully fits with the topic of this blog; 'source of lively water'.

Scene of Andoharano; schools built with the support of EZAKA (picture by my grandparents)