It is still dark, I get up with my family in this fresh morning of June. In this season, on the highlands, the temperature is close to zero. I take back my blanket which is also my "lamba*" for the day. I am cold but I have to get up, restart the fire and prepare food for the whole family.
Outside, not any cat, or rather, not any Zebu. The neighbors are also up but remain in the relative warmth of the small mud house with a straw roof.
I restart the fire, my little brother and sisters get up to take advantage of this comforting heat. We all sit by the fire, I prepare the "sosoa", a rice soup sometimes with some breeds for a little more taste.
Around six o'clock, the sun rises finally, the village is drowned in a thick veil, subtle mixture of smoke and fog, we hear the zebus mooing. The hour of the exit finally sounded for all the population still in the vapes.
Everyone will have had their rice-based breakfast before going about their daily tasks. The little ones who have to go to school, the men who have to go to the field to remove weeds or to harvest, the women who finish cleaning the house before going to join the men, only the old people stay in the village as well as the children who are old enough to take care of the little ones. As for me, I am very lucky because I can go to school.
My name is Hery, I am 12 years old and this is how the morning goes in my country far away, on the island of Madagascar.
(lamba*): A large piece of cloth used by the Malagasy people, both for clothing and as a blanket for the night. It can also designate a smaller fabric which the ladies wear to make themselves elegant.
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