Before I start to discuss this country in detail, I must first share with you all some of my preconceived notions. We all have these ideas in our ahead about what the world is like and how things are supposed to be. With myself, I have found that my early upbringing in Kosovo and my later upbringing in Switzerland have shaped the ways in which I view our world. Further, those two early experiences were very different from each other and have caused me to constantly open my mind and re-educate myself about our entire planet and its people.
As you might all know by now, I have always been in love with our globe and fascinated by all of the different languages, cultures, etc. Ever since I can remember, I have wanted to learn all that I can about our world. There is nothing more exciting to me (aside from being able to fly, which I love) than learning about different people, local customs and traditions, cultures, languages and dialects, etc. This list of curiosities could be endless as far as I’m concerned. I have always wanted to know about other people and other places.
I am very blessed that I have been given tremendous opportunities to learn about the world in my lifetime. From learning English in Australia in my early years to working on this mission several years later, my whole life has been about experiencing other cultures. This mission alone has allowed me to encounter all of the richness that the world has to offer.
One of the most fascinating and beautiful experiences that I have come across is that of inter-racial families. It seems that wherever I go, I notice them immediately. People from one culture marrying into another one – say an African person marrying a Chinese person, or an Indian marrying an African tribe member, or a South African marrying a Portuguese, etc. These combinations fascinate me and I am left feeling a tremendous amount of respect for these human beings. In my eyes, they produce the absolute most beautiful children in the world. The fact that their love can cross all of those cultural boundaries and produce a human made from that love never ceases to inspire me. To me, it is these types of people that are the most inspiring and who are the closest to reaching the highest potential of the universe.
Without this current mission and without the help of all of you, I would have never thought it possible to be able to experience so many different cultures. Since I have dedicated the past to years to this voluntary endeavor, I have not only gained a stronger connection to my own Albanian people and our dear Kosovo, but also a tremendous amount of knowledge about the people of our planet. Though as a child the world seemed so large to me, today it seems so very small. Most importantly, I have learned that most of us human beings, no matter what culture or what country we are from, we all want the same things out of life – a place to call home, safety of our loved ones and a way to make a living. The connections that we all have with each other in regards to our common values far outweigh the differences that we all have. In fact, I have now learned that it is the not knowing about each other that is the most dangerous and that it is the government systems that want to keep us ignorant of all of those ‘others’ in order to make us fear each other. This works out to the benefit of bureaucrats and governments, but not ourselves.
Even though I have struggled on this mission at times (and there have indeed been many struggles), I am grateful for the opportunity that I have been given to represent my country and you all and to continue to learn about the world. It is this fact alone that helps me get through those times where I am facing days without food, nights without sleep, periods of having absolutely no money in my pockets, technical difficulties, etc. It is also during these times when I am able to get a glimpse into the gigantic hearts of us humans – for it has been at my lowest points that other people, strangers from the other side of my world, have helped me out with the smallest details. Little did they (or you) all know just how much those helping hand of kindness and support mean to me.
Without your continued faith and trust in me to accomplish the goals of our mission, I would have never made it past our first country. With your support, and our work together, we have accomplished the task of moving mountains my friends. We have crossed three different oceans (cruising along the Pacific in the Latin and South American portion of the mission; many times over the Atlantic and now the Indian Ocean) and many Seas. We have now made physical contact with four out of the five major continents (excluding Antarctica and the Arctic) and several island countries. Soon my friends, we will have visited over half of the countries on this planet to work toward our common goal.
Never in my life would I have thought that this day would come. Persistence, determination and discipline have been our best friends during this time. Otherwise, my brothers and sisters, I can guarantee you that we would have never come this far in our shared vision of having the world recognize our people and our country. We can all stand and be proud of ourselves for having made it so far without too many major catastrophes.
It gives me a truly astounding sense of joy to know that I am able to contribute in this way to the future of our country Kosovo, and to know that I am able to be the voice for us Albanians on the complete other side of the planet. Further, it warms my heart and gives me such great pride to know that all of our ancestors and loved ones that are no longer here with us today, that they too now have a voice in the world because you and I have the common goal of making sure that they are remembered through proper recognition of our country and all of the hard work that they have done before us. We must not waiver in our efforts to continue our mission and work towards that common goal.
I must now admit to you something else. Though I have experienced much joy and happiness during this trip, I do struggle with some of the more uninteresting and routine tasks. Things like filling out all of the bureaucratic, non-sense paperwork for one or the continual pace of my (usually 18hour +) days, etc. I never want to complain, but I thought that now would be a good time to let you all know that I do struggle with these things, especially the task of documenting these adventures.
I do not consider myself to be a writer in the least, nor do I even enjoy the task of writing (actually I don’t like it at all). However, I do know how important it is to all of you to have my updates. On top of that, this mission wouldn’t be anywhere near exciting to us all if I just ended up reporting to you that I was in the next country, etc.
So I do end up pushing myself to get these memories out to you all. Partly, of course, I want us all to share this history. The many writings, pictures, articles, videos, memories, etc. I want them all to be a part of what we have accomplished together. This is not just about me visiting every country, but about us, together, making a human connection with the worlds people.
So I will take this short opportunity to apologize to you all for the (sometimes) long delays in between communication on our website. There is just no possible way to get immediate updates out since the process of doing it takes so long. I bet you all had no clue that my handwritten words go to another continent (to Laurie in USA) to be typed up and rewritten. Not to mention the fact that sometimes my English needs polishing up, or facts about a country need to be checked and elaborated on.
In regards to the videos and the pictures, etc. – those go either to part of our team in Kosovo and/or to Sokol in Alaska to be updated on the website. Indeed, my friends, it takes all of us to succeed and I am grateful that I have gathered a few dedicated people to work as a team so that the logistical parts of our mission can be completed. All of those country permits, they get worked on from another country too. I am truly amazed sometimes at how much we are all able to get done together. Though not easy in the least (or the most efficient), this mission does have the benefit of having a fairly organized team to get things done. There have been many work hours donated by several people in order to help our mission succeed. Though the slow pace of things frustrates me at times, I also have to remember that we are a worldwide endeavor now and that we all want to see the mission succeed.
Okay, getting back to the point of things here. Madagascar is far different from how I had imagined it as a child. When I was living in Switzerland, I would spend hours fantasizing about other parts of the world. I would visit travel agencies, study brochures, prospectus, fliers, travel magazines, etc. I would even check the price of airline tickets to far away destinations. I remember specifically spending a lot of time dreaming about Madagascar.
According to all of those travel brochures, I knew a few things about this island. One: that it looked like a tropical paradise; two: that it was quite expensive to get there (since it was on the whole other side of the world and all); and three: Madagascar is a place that, even in my wildest dreams, I had never imagined that I would be able to visit. As far as I was concerned, this lovely tropical paradise could have been located on the moon for as far away as it seemed in my mind.
Another thing that I spent much of my youth dreaming about was the idea of being a pilot. Remember, back when I was growing up, this was something that our people were not allowed to do at all. I remember spending hours with my dad in our field, gazing up at the planes above, determined already to become a pilot.
Now that those fantasies are real my friends and I have accomplished so many things in my life that no one ever thought possible, I want to take this moment to remind you that nothing in this world is outside of our reach. Even though it seems impossible, there are many times where those impossibilities are the strongest in our minds. I want you all to know that I am living proof that with hard work, determination and perseverance, you can accomplish even your wildest dreams.
Now, that is not to say that you won’t face stumbling blocks or difficulties along the way. One of the hardest parts of this mission sometimes, is the idea that every time I leave a place, I have absolutely no idea what is waiting for me when I land in a new one. This is quite a scary thing to experience oftentimes. Imagine arriving at each of these countries not knowing if you are going to clear customs, or knowing where you will stay that night (or even how you are going to find a place to sleep). Not knowing the local language or dialect is a huge barrier sometimes. At other times, it is the color of my skin that might cause a problem or a misunderstanding. Etc. I try not to let these thoughts and fears use up too much of my time and energy, but it is hard sometimes because you just don’t know. There is no way to be prepared for the next experience sometimes.
So, coming to Madagascar, I thought that I would not have to worry about any of those fears, because I had already imagined that things here would be perfect. Wrong answer of course. It seems that every thought or idea that I had about this country was smashed quickly after arrival. It should hardly surprise me anymore though, as almost nothing on this trip has been how I had imagined it to be in my mindy.
Though not the worst experience of my travels, it is sometimes hard to accept that a place does not meet all of your previous expectations. For instance, I ran into a little snag while trying to clear customs here. This is partly my fault, though, as I always try to find ways to avoid getting those nonsense visas. Folks, nothing at all would get done if I tried to follow all of the suggested procedures and regulations. Forget the mission work, I would be spending all of our time and energy on dealing with the embassy nonsense, bureaucratic fees and time frames, etc. Instead, I have found that I can usually get by with the fact that I am a pilot. Sometimes just mentioning that I am a crew member is all it takes to get accepted. Other times, it gets a little more complicated.
Take for instance a basic customs question about the question for my visit. This can sometimes be a very sensitive issue in some countries. Imagine going to someone else’s country to raise awareness, educate the local people, expose their government’s beliefs etc. Working with these difficult issues can sometimes be quite tricky. Often times I have found that the common people, in general, are very supportive and believe in helping other human beings. It is their governments, however, that make all of the decisions and sometimes try to keep people in the dark, without an awareness of the rest of the world.
So my strategy when I go into these countries is to use every local law possible to work in my favor. Things like free speech, focusing on our humanitarian efforts, etc. are the angle that I try to use to our benefit. There is absolutely no way that I would get far in some of these countries by simply being confrontational. No one is going to listen if you are that way, you must first make a common connection with them and then try to raise awareness once you are accepted.
My vision is to get to a country, bring my concerns, campaign, lobby and raise awareness of our cause, meet with the media, meet with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, etc. Without being confrontational, I really try to become a thorn in the side of the bureaucratic lawmakers. After I get our cause out to the people through the media, then the government has a little bit of explaining to do toward the people. The most important thing for me to accomplish is to plant the seed for further dialogue to take place. By getting media coverage, we are able to generate local talk. It is free publicity for Kosovo and after getting coverage; our cause cannot be ignored anymore. The next time those government officials open a newspaper, or listen to a radio station, they will be reminded of us. The next time they go to international gathering (like meetings of the African Union, the United Nations, NATO, etc.) they will go there with Kosovo in the back of their minds. We want to build our base so that the local people pressure their governments and those governments, in turn, start to pressure each other. Remember my friends, we are up against Russia and Serbia and all of the resources that have available to use too.
Okay, enough sidetracks, we are going to talk about Madagascar finally. Upon arrival, I could definitely see that this was a lovely place, even if if was far below my original expectations. Even the airport was smaller than I had imagined. It was well into nighttime when I arrived, so my only goal for the evening was to find a taxi and get to a hotel. After finding a driver, I shared with him some of my previous beliefs about his country. That’s when he gave me a reality check as he described the true conditions of the local people.
Now, we are all very proud of our homelands and our places of birth, but sometimes we also have to accept the facts of reality. All I can tell you is that I was very surprised at this new information. My brain was quite confused for a while because the conditions here were so much different than I had always imagined.
Based on his description, Madagascar has been in a turbulent political situation for quite some time. As a result, a big vacuum has been created in the every day life of this nation. Diplomatic relations have gone down and any benefits that might have been gained over the years from this (trade, international aid, etc.) have not reached down to the everyday people. The result then has become a very difficult internal problem within the country and many people are suffering because of it.
As we approach the downtown area, I start to see what he has been talking about. There are literally homeless children, women, elderly, etc. While Madagascar is much better off than the previous country of Comoros, I can still see that there is a lot of struggle here – none of which I was prepared for. In front of the first few hotels that I tried, there were people sleeping in cardboard boxes with dirty blankets and soiled clothes. Many of the homeless children (at least 10) ran up to be begging for money. I was absolutely heartbroken at this situation. How could a country that I had always fantasized about be a place where children have to beg strangers for money?
I quickly developed a lot of guilt about the facts at hand. Here I was, searching for a hotel to buy for the night (where I would be sleeping in a nice bed with clean sheets and running water), while outside my doors there were conditions like this. I had to actually check several hotels before I could find one that was a bit safer and didn’t have people sleeping in its entryway. I didn’t know what else to do – I had so many feelings about the whole thing. But I also know that things like this can’t be fixed easily, and that things are much more complicated. There must be multiple issues that need to be addressed if an entire country has been brought to its knees. Unfortunately, it looks like the people of this town are caught right in the middle of it.
After sleeping much more comfortably than the people out on the streets, I was up early the next morning to do our mission work. Mr. Olivier Kotoniaina Hajatiana, my taxi driver for the day is ready to go as well. He is the glue that holds my trip here together. Without him driving me all over the place, we’d never get any work done.
I am actually glad that the night is over so that I don’t have to lie in bed anymore thinking about the heartbreaking situation of the homeless people waiting outside. Now that it is day again, I can focus on keeping active with our mission work. I spend the next few days trying to be as productive as possible, visiting all of the media houses and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Thank you to all of the awesome media personnel who are trying very hard to help their nation get back on its feet. They all showed a strong sense of care about our mission and our country. Thank you to the absolutely fabulous team at RTM (Radio-Television Malagasy, the national radio station). Mr. Haja Ratsimbazafy was able to organize everything in no time. He was very knowledgeable about world affairs in general and had a significant knowledge about the history of the Balkan states overall. He did excellent work and I have received many compliments and messages via facebook that have complimented his article.
Mr. Eugene Rajadfera from the Midi-Madagasikara newspaper was a wonderful character to meet. He was very straight to the point and showed great understanding about our cause. He also wrote a very professional article with great precision.
Mr. Andry Drouot from La Gazette was quite a character to encounter. Though he is a great journalist, you might not know it by looking at him. He exhibits a surfer-type look, with braided hair, ponytail, etc.
Mr. Randy Donny and the team at La Observateur newspaper were also great to work with. Mr. Donny was very proactive and was able to organize an interview for me even though he wasn’t even at his office. He also did not generally have a reporter who covers the international news and/or politics, but was willing to send someone to cover our story anyway. Ms. Hilda Ravelonahina was a very soft-spoken young lady who showed strong knowledge of the Balkans and was a great person to work with. Mr. Donny was even able to make sure that our article came out the next morning. Thanks again my new friend.
Finally, I would like to thank Chief Editor Gilbert (who was actually from Mauritius) with the newspapers L’Express and L’Hebdo de Madagascar. He assigned journalist Mr. Hernan Rivelo to interview me and we were able to spend several hours talking in depth about Kosovo so that he could write a high quality article.
In the arena of radio, I would like to thank the team at RNM (Malagasy National Radio). Mr. Raymond Soavimanana had our interview done in to time at all and was able to transmit it just a few hours after we were finished. Our interview went out over the airways across the whole country of Madagascar.
Finally, I would also like to thank Mr. Andry Raveloson and the team at RTA Radio. Mr. Raveloson actually knew more about my countries breaking news than I did. He was the one that mentioned to me that we had just nominated a female for President (of course, being ‘on the road’ all of the time and away from world news, it is sometimes hard for me to keep up with things back in Kosovo). His team was great and the journalist assigned to my interview was Ms. Narindrasoa Randrianomanana. She was meticulous, detailed and a very humble young lady.
After meeting with the media it was time to go the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ms. Bodo tried very hard there to make my journey as productive as possible. She was able to organize a few meetings for me and I was able to meet with the Ministre Plenipotentiaire and Chef du Service on te Service de la Cooperation Avec L’Europe, L’Americque et Les Caraibes, Mr. Mr. Jean David-Auguste Ravelson. Mr. Ravelson was very knowledgeable about Kosovo’s past and was well aware of our request. He promised that he would spread the word to all of his coworkers and his boss and stated that he would do anything within his capacity to make sure that the case for Kosovo would be heard within the Ministry.
Although coming to Madagascar was certainly a shock to my previous expectation, I will say that is appears that there is a lot of natural beauty here on this island. I only wish that I had been able to experience more of it. But, as usual, all of my time was spent in the capital city. Antananarivo looks to be like many of the capitals I’ve been to before. Infrastructure wise it is quite functional, though I definitely see where there is room for improvement. I think that having a functional government would help tremendously and I hope that someday soon, the government will take more interest in helping the people.
Otherwise though, I did find Madagascar to be very tourist friend. Since this is an island,
you are surrounded by coastline and since it is also considered the 4th largest island on the planet, there is plenty of those nice sandy beaches to be seen). The locals tell me that this is quite a hotspot for eco-tourism nowadays. Due to its extreme isolation from any other country, it has many species of plants and animals that exist nowhere else on our planet. I found that fact to be quite fascinating, as you know how much I enjoy nature. I will definitely have to spend more time here the next time I visit, so that I can enjoy all of the beauty that this country has to offer.
The greatest part of this country that I experienced was its people. It was quite a surprise (and another shock to my expectations) when I learned that most of the people here have their roots traced back to Indonesia. Though some are Arab, Indian and African natives, most of them have some sort of roots from Indonesia. What a wonderful surprise. I absolutely love when people from different cultures can come together in harmony.
Because of the diversity here, you can travel just a short distance before you start to see big changes in the people, languages, religions, traditions, cultures, etc. Again, next time I will have to spend more time here, but at least I got to interact with a wide variety of people during my time in the capital.
It was such a joy to learn about from these people. I have a tremendous amount of respect for them because, though you can see that they are struggling with getting their daily needs met, they still manage to maintain their basic goodness. Even though there is a high rate of homelessness here, I found the people to be extremely friendly, hard-working, humble and respectful. Despite their struggle just to survive, they all maintain the human qualities that I have seen only in the best of us. I can definitely see that the beautiful people here could help their country to flourish if their government was better stabilized.
I will definitely miss the people of this country and I wish them nothing but the best. The next country for me will be Mauritius. Bless my great friends in Madagascar and may higher powers bless your great nation.
