NEEDS INVENTORY

Please check the items that you would consider necessary to living comfortably. 

Please be honest, think about what you might say you “need” at the store, or “need” in a house in which you would live.

 1. Vegetables, fruit, and/or meat/fish every day.

 2. Bath towels and wash cloths

 3. Running water

 4. Heat/AC according to region

 5. Enclosed house with walls, doors, and windows

 6. Dish soap

 7. Toothpaste and toothbrush

 8. Washing machine or accessible Laundromat 

 9. Shoes 

 10. Toilet paper

Think About It-Needs Inventory

      “But I NEED it,” our children say in an attempt to convince us to buy the latest gadget or toy.  “What do you NEED at the store?” we may ask.  A simple question, but think about it.  What DO we need?  And what are the things we really WANT, but can live without? Obviously Americans will answer that question differently, with those growing up during the depression likely answering very differently than children growing up today. Not surprisingly, we have also discovered a huge difference in what are considered basic needs by people here in Madagascar and many people in America.  Look at the list again.  If you were really honest in what you think are necessary for you to live comfortably, most of the items are probably checked.  Let’s look at each one from a typical (not rich, but not the poorest) Malagasy perspective.

      1.       Vegetables, fruit and/or meat/fish every day: We have heard that  Malagasy people eat rice more often than any other people group in the world.  They eat rice three times a day, with one or two of those meals being a watery, soupy rice.  For many Malagasy people, it is a treat to add a little vegetable, meat, or fish in a watery sauce that is served on top of the rice.  Often, however, a cup full off leaves and a small onion or tomato cooked in water is all that accompanies the rice.  Of course the really poor here may not even have rice but get ALL their food from cactus or sugar cane.

 2.     Bath towels and washcloths: A luxury for most Malagasy who wash themselves standing in a river and then put their clothes back on without drying off.  Their clothes eventually dry off, faster in the hot regions than the cold areas of the High Plateau.

3.     Running water in home; Not even a dream for many Malagasy who walk to the nearest water source and carry water home in buckets.  This is a job many children do to help out their family.  There is even a Malagasy word for “fetching water,” which is “matsaka.”

 4.     Heat/AC in home (according to region): Unimaginable for most Malagasy who bundle up in layers of clothes in the cold regions during the cold, rainy season.  Yet many people are seen with thin clothing and no shoes or socks in temperatures that dip down in the 40’s.  Air conditioning is even harder to imagine.  Many people sleep outside in the hottest times of the year, despite mosquitoes, rats, and other little critters to contend with.

     5.     Enclosed house with walls, doors, and windows: People have proudly welcomed us into their homes with no glass in the windows, a cloth hanging down over the doorway, and spaces between the slats of the floor, roof, and walls.  Keeping out the elements and creepy, crawly things is not at all an expectation. 

 6.     Dish soap; One bottle of dish soap costs about one day’s pay for many Malagasy people, so most choose instead to wash their few dishes in water alone, except for rice that is really stuck on the pans.  Then, some sand rubbed on the pan works well to scrub it off.

 7.     Toothpaste, toothbrush: Unheard of by many Malagasy living in the countryside.  We’ve heard of two different “natural” substitutes, which are used to clean teeth.  One is the bark of a kind of tree, which is chewed on for a few minutes.  The other is the ash of banana skins that have been dried in the sun for a few days and then burned.  The ashes are then rubbed on the teeth as a cleaner. 

 8.     Washing machine or accessible laundromat: Most Malagasy are not aware there is such a thing.   They wash their clothes by hand on a rock by the river or in a big community sink outside.  Clothes are laid on the ground or hung on branches to dry.  In fact, electricity and anything electric (light bulbs, refrigerator, etc.) is beyond the dreams of the vast majority of Malagasy people.

 9.     Shoes: For many Malagasy, cheap plastic flip-flops are a luxury, many others go barefoot all the time, over rough terrain, in cold weather, and on HOT paved streets.

 10.  Toilet paper: One roll of toilet paper costs almost half a day’s pay so is not used by many Malagasy.  Those who have access to used paper of any sort will cut or tear up little sheets to use as toilet paper.  Most use whatever is available in nature.