Rivo
The beautiful Malagasy soul

A country is for me a face, a smile, a welcome, a name, much more than cities, mountains, forests or rivers.

Pierre Fillit

If Madagascar had a name, a face, for me, it would be his. Rivo, a 31-year-old daddy who loves striped sweaters and orange beanies, is a true Swiss knife. In turn, he was a driver, a mechanic, and even a nurse, who knew extremely well his work, and never stopped admiring "his island" during his trips along the rough roads of Mada.

Rivo


A real encounter, touching, but inspiring reflection.
 His journey and his already-killed dreams tell a lot about the difficulties facing Malagasy people today. Not enough access to education, a crying lack of infrastructure, little chance to evolve and rise socially, and a government that doesn’t really care about its people, outside of election periods.... Rivo does a lot every day to have little.

 

  • LA CARTE ET LE TERRITOIRE – Rivo, why did you become a driver?
  • RIVO – Because I love this job, and also because I don’t graduate high school.
  • LA CARTE ET LE TERRITOIRE – You couldn’t finish your studies ?
  • RIVO – My parents were poor so I started working at 18.
  • LA CARTE ET LE TERRITOIRE  Were you a mechanic too ?
Galères à Madagascar

 

  • RIVO – Yes. It’s convenient because here the roads break cars. There are too many holes. But I know how to fix and I know where to bring the car. If the roads were repaired, it would go much faster and there would be fewer outages. But that’s not going to happen.
  • LA CARTE ET LE TERRITOIRE – What are your dreams made of today ?
  • RIVO – I strongly wish to have my own car to work in, but that’s impossible.
  • LA CARTE ET LE TERRITOIRE – Why ?
  • RIVO – Malagasy banks don’t lend if your family doesn’t own and my mother doesn’t have anything. I have a lot of customers, but because I rent the vehicles, I have to give a lot back to the owner. There’s only 20% left for me.
  • LA CARTE ET LE TERRITOIRE While you do all the work... and yet you like your job ?
  • RIVO –Yes, because I’m free and I see everything on my island.
  • LA CARTE ET LE TERRITOIRE Malagasy people don’t see their island ?!
  • RIVO – Many are too poor to travel even within the country.
  • LA CARTE ET LE TERRITOIRE. How long have you been driving ?
  • RIVO –For 13 years, I started in 2005.
  • LA CARTE ET LE TERRITOIRE And how do you get your clients?
  • RIVO – Only by word of mouth. Happy customers share my number.
  • LA CARTE ET LE TERRITOIRE What’s your favorite place in Madagascar ?
  • RIVO – Isalo Park and the Tsingy of Bemaraha
Rivo à Morondava

Malagasy banks don’t lend if your family doesn’t own and my mother doesn’t own anything.
I have a lot of customers, but because I rent the vehicles, I have to give a lot back to the owner. There’s only 20% left for me.

 

  • LA CARTE ET LE TERRITOIRE – why ?
  • RIVO – I love the natural pool of Isalo. And the forest of Ranomafana too.
  • LA CARTE ET LE TERRITOIRE But roads are dangerous, right ?
  • RIVO – Yes, I drive by day, never at night. I love the north too, but the roads are bad, worse than the south.
  • LA CARTE ET LE TERRITOIRE And if tomorrow you could go on a trip to another country, what would it be ?
  • RIVO – In Paris, but it’s impossible. I don’t have enough money. My father died two years ago and my mother doesn’t work because she’s already 65.
     
  • LA CARTE ET LE TERRITOIRE And you take care of her?
  • RIVO – Yes, but I also have 1 brother and 2 sisters. My mother lives with my son in Ivato.
  • LA CARTE ET LE TERRITOIRE How old is he ?
  • RIVO – He is 9 years old, his name is Aina. He studies French and English at school because he would like to become a tour guide later.
  • LA CARTE ET LE TERRITOIRE Do you think that the life of the Malagasy has improved recently ? Do you see an evolution ?
  • RIVO – Yes and no. It was better 3 years ago. Because of the elections. And then it goes back to the way it was. That’s the problem in my country.
  • LA CARTE ET LE TERRITOIRE Would you like to work more ?
  • RIVO. – Yes, I only travel once or twice a month with my clients. But the problem is that the car is not mine.
  • LA CARTE ET LE TERRITOIRE You’re a bit of a nurse, too ? :)
  • RIVO – Nurse ?!
  • LA CARTE ET LE TERRITOIRE Yeah, he’s the one who treats people.
  • RIVO – Ah! Yes, I know which cream to buy to relieve the muscles.
  • LA CARTE ET LE TERRITOIRE And I noticed you were always on time.
  • RIVO – Yes, if they’re happy, I’m happy. I don’t want them to wait, and it’s a long way to go ...

 

THUS SPAKE RIVO TSIHORIMAMANA.

Rivo et serpent
Rivo
Rivo et maki

Rivo has one of this touching faces. Behind his bad diction in French, his eagerness to help, to solve problems, to satisfy, also behind the words that he does not say – or bad, lies a harshness of life, a tenderness of fragility. It is the face of the difficulty of a people in a country as chaotic as its roads. Where only the family, the cult of ancestors and the hope of a better future for the children help to hold on.

« Ny fianarana no lova tsara indribdra » : Education is the safest legacy.

 

Rivo Mada Voyage

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Rivo

It's true that the Malagasy don't play it collectively. As Father Pedro explains :

 

Populations must stop seeing themselves as victims, recognize their share of responsibility and get used to long-term thinking. But we are still far from it. No planning, no thinking, everyone for himself generalized. Everyone wants to save themselves, in haste, without any sense of the future. The root of the problem is the absolute lack of individual initiative, which has never been valued in this country. For forty years, the people have been seduced by a caricatural discourse of Marxist obedience. Governments have never praised the merits of entrepreneurship, or even shown any example of foresight management.

 

What prevails for the individual is the law of the family or clan, not the notion of the Malagasy people, of the common good.

« Samy mandeha, samy mitady » / Each for himself, God for all

The people cannot rely on the state, corrupted to the bone. Let alone follow his example of community and initiative. In any case, as we see with the example of Rivo, nothing is done in the banking system to encourage entrepreneurship. Loan conditions are far too demanding to allow more people to rise socially. Since money may not always be the fruit of work (minimum wage is 30 €/month), it remains theft, corruption. Now, in the absence of justice worthy of the name, the people must make their own law. In 2017, when criminals attack tourists in a famous Malagasy forest with arms, thus threatening the fragile economic life of the surrounding area, it is the villagers who find them… and lynching them to death.When burglars rob a campus, students do the same…As a Malagasy proverb says :

 « The one who exposes himself and runs for his loss defies misfortune ».

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