72 BAPTISMS!!

I was warned on Saturday evening while visiting friends that mass would be extra-long as they had a lot of baptisms on Sunday. Working at the vaccine clinic every Thursday I am aware that there are a lot of babies in my village and surrounding fokontonies. I was expecting maybe 10, 20 at the most, but not 72! The church was packed with parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and of course god-parents. I had been advised in the previous weeks to avoid any large crowd gatherings because of the ongoing plague here in Madagascar, so I stood to the side and had an excuse to leave after the first 12 hours. (only a slight exaggeration)

Despite the warm weather, the babies were dressed in heavy, white sateen, with lots of lace, gold and glitter. All of the girl babies wore elaborate, ornate head dressing. Because of the “fripping”, the resale of Goodwill clothes throughout Madagascar, all the parents were dressed up their finest which was a mix-match of colors and styles.

I spotted several shiny polyester satin pajama tops worn over skirts and the occasional outdated bridesmaids dress.  A bright pink linen 70’s jacket with shoulder pads, over a red and black plaid wool pleaded skirt. One women wore a Santa jacket complete with white fur trim and a large black belt.  I know that she did not recognize this as part of a costume, but as a beautiful red velvet coat.  Several velour bath robes were donned as well, worn as coats. This was all for style and not comfort as it was a bit warm to wear any of these.

The fripping has been the subject of controversy recently here in Madagascar and throughout Africa. The USA and Britain send all their extra Goodwill clothing to developing countries.  They arrive in “hay bale” fashion. Someone pays a price for a truck load of clothing bales, which he transports to smaller towns, then sells the bales to individuals for a little more than he bought the truck load for and that person in turn, unwraps the bale to see what he has and sells the clothing individually for whatever he can get.

The open markets have an entire section of used clothing, complete with a row of women sitting on the ground at sewing machines that are hand run, no electricity, and they will alter any clothes you “frip” to fit you.

It is a productive business with a few flaws. The local clothing manufacturing mills that make cloth and sew clothing are going out of business. They cannot compete with $1.00 jeans and 0.50 shirts.  Those jobs are being lost.

In addition, many oppose the “westernization” of their countries.  People use to dress in beautiful local fabrics called Lambas, each country and each region having their own style and colors.  But today everyone wears mismatched colors and styles from the USA.

Four African countries are talking about banning “fripping”, the import of western clothing from their countries, so they can keep the local factories open for jobs.  This has caused an uproar from those who make a living selling and altering the used clothing. And an uproar from those who say the used clothing is inexpensive and affordable compared to the locally made clothing. It is anyone’s guess who will win the debate.

People were created to be loved. Things were created to be used. The world is in chaos because things are being loved and people are being used.

Twins!!

The Nuns I work with-Sister of the Assumption

Sacred Heart Church