rosewood stumble

(remembered from October 2009…)

My last few months in Madagascar were bittersweet — at times brutal, other times almost dreamlike.  Working as manager at the Masoala Forest Lodge in the northeast, I combined conservation, ecotourism, and kayaking… beach-side living, humpback whales and albifrons lemurs, idyllic waterfalls within hiking distance… But this was also the setting where I slipped on a stair and broke a rib, spending nearly a week unable to even sit up on my own, fearing a life of paralysis… Being thus injured in beautiful Masoala was a form of torture; healing was a shining reminder of how amazing the human immune system is, and how precious youth and health.

In the end I opted to leave the job early and finally leave Mada entirely (five years later!!), instead plotting a move to London to pursue photography more seriously.  I gave myself a week vacation at TampoLodge “chez Bruno”, the ecolodge just a 1/2 mile down the shore from MFL.  I spent my days reading, hiking, chatting with Bruno and his guests, and of course taking photos — nights, I played guitar by starlight and slept with my bungalow door wide open, letting the waves and night air lull me to sleep.

Thus the real story begins…

Over the course of my last weeks in Masoala, I spent several afternoons with Nicolas, a French wildlife photographer on a quest to capture images of frogs.  Nicolas had been introduced to me by Vincent Desobry, mutual friend and director of the Oceane Aventures tour company; I arranged Nicolas’ visit to the northeast, setting him up with a tent on the MFL grounds and sorting out his guide and local transport.  One of my last and best clients at the Lodge!  And definitely added inspiration to strike out and pursue photography…

I accompanied Nicolas and his guide to Antalaviana, the most pristine of the local waterfalls, a hot three-hour hike through beach sand and shallow water.

a lower-level waterfall at Antalaviana

We swam in the cool pools of the falls before setting up our cameras on a boulder, Nicolas searching for frogs in the foliage, me looking for interesting patterns in the eddies.  On our hike in I had told Nicolas of my first trip to Antalaviana, having just begun work at the Forest Lodge, and how my colleague and I had stumbled upon a covert meeting in the forest between a local farmer (from a neighboring village) and a known rosewood collector from Maroantsetra (the nearest large town).  Isolated Antalaviana has a whopping population of 7, and the waterfalls are deep in the woods… Not your typical spot for a meeting.  The illegal felling of rosewood and ebony from the rainforests is THE major issue for the northeast region, with detrimental social, political, and environmental impacts on a national scale.

I had told Nicolas that I was still hoping to get some images of loggers, logged areas of the forest, etc… So I was shocked and delighted (and a bit nervous) when a pair of men came climbing down the waterfall boulders from upriver.  They approached our guide, who assured them that we were just simple ecotourists and they could come through with their “cargo”.  One of them recognized me, being only one of two Malagasy-speaking western women on the entire Masoala peninsula, and we bantered in Malagasy, me assuring him that we were simply on a hike looking for animals and minding our own business.  Next thing we knew, several more heads popped up from beyond the boulders, and when the men down in front gave the signal they began their descent with their enormous and heavy cargo in tow: a rosewood log.  They had carved a loophole on one end of the log and fastened several thick ropes to it, with a man at the end of each rope.  Maneuvering the log through the slippery chutes, deep pools, and smooth boulders took the combined strength of every one of the men.

I couldn’t believe my eyes.  I was shooting away on my camera, at first attempting to feign as if I were aiming elsewhere, but soon unable to mask my aim in their direction…and even when some of them became visibly upset and signaled me to stop, I kept on shooting.  Just a week or two before, Madagascar’s Minister of Environment had announced that no more illegal wood was coming out of the forest; this was clear proof to the contrary.

At the same time, I was all too aware of the fact that these men were not the cause of the problem.  One of the men was actually the same farmer that I had stumbled upon on my first trip to the waterfalls — but men like the collector he’d been chatting with were closer to the heart of the dangerous and destructive illegal business.  But these men were for the most part desperately poor farmers, whose normal livelihoods relating to vanilla farming or ecotourism had been decimated by the political crisis in Madagascar.  The ensuing political vacuum had allowed the illegal logging industry to amp up its activities, occupying parts of national parks and protected areas and pressuring locals to partake in the trade.  Men like these could earn up to ten dollars each per log, ten times more than an average day’s wages… and yet still hundreds or even thousands less than the collectors and exporters would earn for each precious hardwood log.

As I was shooting, I was thinking of how carefully I would have to go about using these photos in order to protect this group of men while still creating a stir… It’s far too easy to simply scapegoat the little guys while failing to address the real issue…  Already during my time in Masoala I’d seen several “sting” operations, or “local theater” as my Malagasy colleagues called it, whereby the village farmers-cum-loggers and their dugout canoes would be seized, with grave and self-congratulatory speeches given by law enforcement officials, while the well-known ringleaders would be conveniently absent…

And I can’t say that I didn’t step lively and and step carefully on our hike home — those men do carry machetes after all, and there are certainly high financial and personal stakes involved in the logging activity.  I decided we should stop by the men’s homes on our way through their village, about 5km north of the Antalaviana cascades.  We found them boisterously gathered around a game of dominoes, and working through a bottle of “betsa”, or local homemade alcohol.  We sat and chatted with them, making it very clear that we respected them and their homes, and bought them three more bottles of betsa for added assurance.  A few heady sips were all that Nicolas and I could muster before stumbling back to the trail home.

A week later, I found myself on a small plane out of Maroantsetra, excitedly heading back to Antananarivo (the capital) to prepare my trip to London and to put those photos to use as well.  The trip was serendipitous…I wound up sitting in front of an interesting quartet of western men who had boarded in Sambava a bit further north, the plane’s point of departure.   Without really meaning to, I eavesdropped on their discussion about nature photography (it was a really small plane), and boldly introduced myself at the end of the 40-minute flight.  I won’t pretend that it was merely the conversation that was intriguing…I knew I’d seen some of those faces before at the airport…

but that’s another story entirely.

I gave them some homemade spiced rum (ah, magic rainforest spices…) and a restaurant recommendation for their night in town, and found myself invited along for drinks…  Later on, the last five people in the back corner of the downtown restaurant, we pried each other for information over caipirinis, and discovered a common passionate interest in the illegal logging issue… and soon I was showing them my photos.  I might just be imagining in retrospect that the four of them exchanged knowing looks and nods… but in any event, they’d soon shared their secret with me: they were an undercover eco-investigatory team with the Environmental Investigation Agency, just returned from a covert mission in the northeast, gathering evidence to be used to bring down the international market for illegally harvested Madagascar rosewood and ebony.  What a relief now, all these months later, to be able to tell a bit of the tale…

dragging the rosewood to its hiding place, to be tied and weighed down underwater at the mouth of the river

For a recent interview with one of those eco-spies, photographer Toby Smith, click here.

Click here for a recent detailed article on the issue from National Geographic.

In the end I suspect they’d hoped to get more information out of me; I shared with them all that I could, but their case was already pretty watertight.  Nevertheless, the less than 48 hours that I spent with them were inspirational and unforgettable.  Their work since then has had incredibly positive influence on a global scale, pressuring major consumers of precious hardwoods (such as Gibson guitars — read here about the raid on Gibson’s Tennessee factory) to implement full transparency in their wood supply chains, and thus help stem the rapid destruction of the world’s most precious rainforests.

In the end, my small set of images went before the Minister of Environment during a meeting with the Wildlife Conservation Society to pressure the Ministry to redouble its efforts; later they helped to illustrate several news articles on the situation as it continued to unfold.  Baby steps!

I hope to soon return to Madagascar to work on the illegal logging issue, shooting photos and recording stories from the communities of the northeast that are most affected by the ebb and flow of illicit logging activity.

…and someday maybe even work for the EIA.

~                ~                ~

To see a video of EIA’s Executive Director Alexander von Bismarck’s testimony to the US House of Representatives regarding illegal hardwoods from Madagascar, click here.

To see a short film featuring researcher Erik Patel and his efforts to save the silky sifaka population from habitat destruction from logging, click here.

To read EIA’s explanation of the Lacey Act, US regulations governing the international trade of hardwoods, click here.

For a detailed explanation of the situation during the height of the logging crisis in Madagascar, click here.

Click here for a list of articles and resources on the illegal logging issue. (LINK SOON!)

from the beach of Antalaviana, "where the forest meets the sea"...

Midnight Sun

Growing up, Midnight Sun was practically the only shop were my friends and I would buy presents for one another — from candles and incense to rice paper lamps to handmade clothing and jewelry.  It was our favorite spot to hang out in Wickford, and our first exposure to fair-trade goods from around the globe.

As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Madagascar, working with artisans to produce sustainable crafts through micr0-enterprise, I soon found myself experimenting in small-scale overseas sales — Midnight Sun was among the first few venues that I contacted, and the response was encouraging.  I worked with the artisans’ cooperative to produce a selection of our best crafts — mainly jewelry carved from coconut shells, earrings in particular, as well as small woven purses and baskets.  Click here for a full description of the work done by the co-op, L’Artisanat de L’Ankarana. (LINK COMING SOON!)

some of the proud artisans

Midnight Sun has now been selling small quantities of our hand-crafted goods from Madagascar for over three years.  This year, the store began selling my photographs from Madagascar as well, in the form of postcards, note cards, magnets, and other goods.

coconut-shell earrings

Click here to visit the Midnight Sun website, and find directions to its location in Wickford, RI.

Click here to visit my Etsy.com storefront, where you can purchase some of the same photographic art as in on sale at Midnight Sun.

Thank you Sharon!!

earrings by Amido... each crafter has his/her own flair

images for good.

As much as possible, I want my photography to have a purpose — to inspire compassion, to tell otherwise untold stories of hope, struggle, and beauty.  My passion for biodiversity conservation is intertwined with a humanitarian, compassionate core and a commitment to an ethical, responsible existence.  I want my images to express that as much as possible.

Recently I’ve partnered with lifelong fried and artist Amber Weller, and her brother-in-law and artist Brendan Burns to produce “art for hope” for Krista, Amber’s sister and Brendan’s wife.  “Kiki” has been battling cancer for half a decade now, and while the struggle has severely strained her physically, psychologically she remains strong, full of hope, and committed to fight to reclaim her vitality.  Her amazing family is right beside her during these very challenging times, and I am honored to be among the friends and family working to generate still more love and support for Kiki, and to raise funds to pay for her ongoing treatment.

A few items are already for sale here, at my new storefront on Etsy.com.  A “Kiki’s Sunshine Fund” store will soon be operational on eBay and other internet sites, where your purchase of original artwork will become a donation to Kiki’s Sunshine Fund.

Click here to visit the Sunshine Fund site and read more stories / see more images of hope….

Galilee by night by Galilee (cont’d)

Without a doubt, my dad was my inspiration in photography.  Growing up, his shooting, much like his cooking, was a “concoction” (said with exaggerated nasally drawn-out RI accent, “kinkaaakshin”).  He captured priceless action/sports photographic moments, like my mullet-headed, chicken-legged brother picking his butt on the soccer field.  His nature photography is more classically, aesthetically beautiful… while his portraiture works with intentional distortion, topped with purposely abstract arrangements of prints in the family photo albums.  New house guests can always count on a few hours of album viewing with dad, accompanied by his thorough descriptions for each photo…

My own recent deepening of my photographic endeavors has spurred dad along as well, and I’m thrilled to be able to share much of what I’ve learned with him.

The second night session at Galilee was a daddy-daughter affair, dad’s first night shoot ever.  We focused on the water — looking across the marsh of the Galilee Bird Sanctuary to the shore of Great Island, and the perfectly still dark waters around the State Street docks.  Here are a few of the nicer shots….

Looking forward to many more summer shoots with daddy.

Sara’s Companion Guide to Madagascar, or “what you really need to know”

Apparently, Sara said, her editor found her first draft very narrative — “not enough phone numbers of pharmacies and what-not”, as she described it to me.  But this was good news for several reasons:

1) Sara LeHoullier’s narrative flow is fabulous to read,

2) the information she has gathered, although not arranged in a hum-drum fact-book style, is vital to creating a unique, amazing experience in Madagascar,

3) her publisher, Other Places, decided to change her impending book from a travel guide to a “travel companion”, which I think is a testament to her creative abilities as a writer, and

4) it means that Sara needed lots of photographs, and she asked me to be her exclusive contributing photographer!

the cyndi lauper of butterflies-to-be

Ecstatic beyond description.  I am so grateful to Sara for including my images in her book, allowing me to share some of my favorite photographic moments from five years in Madagascar with the rest of the world.  I hope that they complement her writing with the kind of visual inspiration that gets readers dreaming of a trip to the Red Island and falling in love with it like Sara and I both did.

Click here to visit Sara’s website, Spotlight Madagascar, and read her cultural, political, and travel commentary and analysis.

This post includes some of the photos to appear in the travel companion…

Galillee by night / night by Galilee

In the daytime, the Fishermen’s Memorial Steeple Monument at Galilee hardly looks imposing.  It sort of reminds me of the Enchanted Forest, a playland of kiddie-sized buildings of fairy tale fame — i.e. it looks rather small.  That’s probably because it turns out it used to be on the top of a church at the old navy base in Quonset, just behind where I grew up.

But by night, the steeple seems to loom; photographed from the west, it is back-lit by the boats and bars of the  State Street docks.  Now that it’s nearly a full moon I’m planning a second round of images… Here are a few from the first round.

a cold and breezy 9pm-ish late spring photo session

Galilee steeple memorial, 10 sec. exposure

By then I hope to have gathered a full slate of facts and anecdotes to complete the story of this little tower-ish thing… so far the biggest lead is from the Galilee Lutheran Net…er…

images of hope, inspiration, and survival

My passion for photography is wholly interlaced with my pursuit of positive change, whether through global sustainable development or local action to support a beloved friend.

There seem to be many mysterious reasons why I’ve ended up back home in Rhode Island this summer… One of them is surely to be a part of the community of friends and family who are pulling together to help Krista Weller overcome cancer.  While her soul continues to shine, she is dealing with enormous health challenges and undergoing difficult, expensive treatment.  Help us help her take back her life.

Visit http://kikisunshinefund.blogspot.com/ to read Krista’s story, and loving words from those who care for her.

Leave a message, make a donation, or consider purchasing a work of art by one of her supporters.  Photographic artwork can be found on sale here:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/47496149/note-cards-of-hope

transition of the mind

For the first time in my life, I’m allowing myself to think of myself as a photographer.  I’ve mentally transitioned from an “aspiring” photographer or “enthusiast”, or a development specialist who tends to incorporate photographic essays into her work…  I want to embrace photography as fully as I can.

For the confidence and skills I needed to take this step, I thank my three short but sweet months in London, spent in close collaboration with Andre Penteado photography and Roof Unit Studios.  Five years in Madagascar had allowed me to explore and push my passion-cum-obsession with photography, and to more wholly integrate it into my life… Click here to read more on that whole story.

And now I find myself home in Rhode Island for the summer, balancing a half-dozen part-time jobs and a few online courses with as much photography as I can manage.  I’ve turned two of those jobs into photographic opportunities… a sprawling golf course and a fleet of fishing boats soon to be photographed.  For now, I’m exploring the historically and culturally intriguing corners of southern RI, mixing daytime with nighttime shoots, playing with new lenses, a fabulous new tripod, and now a new camera…!  Helloooo, Sony A-700.  Let’s be friends.  Although I’m thinking I may set up my A-100 in its own little shrine, where I regularly offer thanks to the digital machine that helped me to harness my potential as a photographer.

micro-enterprise for local artisans

The difference between sustainable and unsustainable micro-enterprise can be as simple as connecting the entrepreneurs with the right market.  In Madagascar, skilled artisans can be found in every region and every ethnic group, each with its own particular style, raw materials, and typical crafts.  Tourists are fascinated by these crafts, and in urban centers and more touristed areas, they purchase them along their journey.

young crafter works on earrings by hand

Yet in the Ankarana where I was a Peace Corps Volunteer, local crafters were selling only a limited number of goods to the local market, despite the growing ecotourist activity in the region.  For the most part, they simply didn’t know how to sell their goods to foreign tourists, and saw themselves as external to the entire tourism industry.  This is because most travel agents, tour guides, and other players in the tourism sector came from the city or the capital, hundreds of kilometers away.  Local residents often end up treated like a backdrop to the nature excursions that tourists take, disconnected from the landscape and from any financial benefit derived from tourism.

As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I worked with local artisans to develop crafts suitable for ecotourists to the Ankarana region.  Together we designed smaller versions of woven “shopping bags”, hats, and other goods, so even backpackers could find room to take something home with them.  I helped crafters to understand what draws an ecotourist to Mada, in order to instill a sense of pride in local, natural, sustainably harvested materials, natural dyes, and Malagasy designs.

chameleon patch

The common belief was that foreigners in general would want only items made from plastic, precious metals, and shiny colors, since most imported goods on the local market are flashy and fancy; typically, a Malagasy with more money would spend it on such items.  But once our crafters understood that ecotoursts and many other foreigners valued natural materials and find them beautiful, they allowed themselves to innovate and experiment with all sorts of materials.  Together we designed bowls, trinkets, and jewelry from coconut shells and seeds with earrings by far the most popular and diversified item.  Weavers fashioned small bags, baskets, and even furniture; others embroidered patches and cloth bags.  We experimented with designs from other artisans, and drew ideas from other PCVs and tourists.

Amido is an artist through and through, with incredible skills as a craftsman as well as being a powerful community organizer

I helped the crafters to organize, form a local association, and forge partnerships with local ecotourist sites and the nearby national park for which the region is renowned.  Over time, keeping our costs down and receiving a few small grants, several crafters began to make dramatic changes in their lives with the extra income.  Parents were able to afford their children’s schooling, families could  afford cell phones, radios, and even the materials to build or fix their homes.  Other artisans took notice, and we continually reached out to the wider community, and gradually membership increased.  We generated enough momentum to take our micro-enterprise to the next level and applied for a grant from Aid 2 Artisans to build our own “ecoshop”.  We were awarded the grant, and with it built a small storefront and workshop along a track well-traveled by tourists, and convenient for all or our artisans to access.  The ecoshop allows the artisans to sell directly to tourists as well as placing goods for sale at other sites, and provides tourists the chance to watch crafts being made and try to learn the techniques themselves.  The artisans have even built a small bungalow where guests can stay the night, perfect for backpackers, researchers, or crafters visiting from other areas.

"cooking" colored dye into satrana strips before weaving

L’Artisanat de L’Ankarana has become enmeshed in local ecotourism activity, and has itself helped to inspire other new local endeavors as well, including other artisans, restaurants, and the community-managed nature reserve described elsewhere on this site.  The artisans are also selling their crafts at limited locations in the capital city, Antananarivo, and even in small quantities overseas, mainly at Midnight Sun in Wickford, RI.

me learning to weave from Maman'i Maude with satrana (fan-palm leaves) back in 2005

Madagascar’s recent political unrest has been a deep detriment to ecotourism, and L’Artisanat de L’Ankarana has suffered as a result — but like others, they remain hopeful that a return to stability is on the horizon.

community radio, revisited

Community radio in northwest Madagascar: a short story of how it all began…