Reaching out across the world.
I’m flexing my ambition muscles today. I’ve got a project that I developed a long time ago, but couldn’t find the resources to make it happen. I’m back on it and getting some stuff done. This could be big!
Project: Go back to Madagascar and help preserve their cultural history by collecting oral histories and folklore. In return we’ll take them and publish them to be taught in schools.
Purpose: There’s a 2 fold goal with this. First is to promote nationalism. Madagascar is a country struggling more and more to find its identity. This is due to the fact that they suffered under a corrupt government for over 2 decades. Mentally, many Malagasys don’t even aspire to change, because changing the destitute means that thing could get better but they could also get worse. The second goal is to preserve the native language through documenting these histories across the 18 different tribes of Mada.
The deal is that we want to get enough funding through any viable sources to take out a couple of speakers, a native, a camera man and some gear. We’ll record all the work we do and hopefully put together a documentary. National Geographic happens to be currently working on a language preservation program, so they may be a good one. I’ll have to dig a bit deeper.
I just think about growing up in the United States and how a lot of my education was about the U.S. I think people tend to feel proud of a country when they learn about how it came to be. So, by doing the same for Madagascar, I think we can help bring a stronger sense of appreciation for their own values in a world that tries more and more to homogenize.
short.cummings 
This is the kind of project that I can’t believe hasn’t been done. Someone out therer has to care or even just see the huge opportunity.
I know.. it’s sad. Madagascar flies under the radar bigtime because it’s so far away. The only first world country who knows much about it is France because of their previous occupation. But relations with France and Mada didn’t end on a very positive note, so you don’t see too much work out there to promote nationalism by the French.
I’ve got one word for you…. Grants… No! Two words for you… Grant Funding… Set up a non-profit organization and start a trend! If you are an organization – no matter how small – you may find someone willing to fund this project and perhaps projects for preservation of other languages and cultures.
Tremendous idea!