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Description
We are a Malagasy, American, and French family with two kids living at home (ages 6 & 7) and two older kids (15 & 18) in the USA. We speak English, French, and Malagasy.
Here in Madagascar, we run several businesses, including a Guest House & a Cafe Bar. Our goal is to bring the experience of American Hospitality to our guests, think a YMCA camp or a Coworking Space, or your favorite neighborhood cafe -- a place where our guests can count on good food, and service, and feel at home.
We are also looking to build an eco-camp site outside of town on land by a village called Andrakaraka. This land is oceanfront on one side and inland lake/mangroves on the other side. If you have skills in teaching composting, or gardening in a low-water environment, energy (wind, solar), rainwater harvesting, or construction, talk to us! Skilled tradesmen (and women!) are hard to find in our area.
In Fort Dauphin, you can surf, bike, play tennis or basketball, enjoy the beaches, hike, and explore in your free time.
We rent out our bungalows, tree house, and lower apartments to other guests. The Cafe Bar is onsite and we also have a garage and small office/coworking space.
Alison is a professional business and life coach who works remotely with corporate and private clients worldwide.
Yves is a retired Special Forces soldier who operates tours, manages construction projects, and more. We both oversee the operations of the bar but need someone with energy and new ideas that can inspire and teach our cafe & bar staff. We have a housekeeper/nanny who manages the house/kids from 9 am to 6 pm Monday to Friday and a staff member who cleans the bar and guest lodgings and does laundry and ironing.
We would love to have someone who is both independent and can integrate as a family member for the time you are here. We cannot welcome children, but couples, siblings, or friend pairs are great, even ideal.
We live on a large property (several acres) in the center of town with an ocean view, a basketball terrain, gardens, two bungalows, a tree house, and a large building with two apartments downstairs and our home upstairs. Our daughter loves ballet (or dreams of it because there are no local teachers) and both kids enjoy other sports. If you enjoy spending time with and or teaching kids dance, tennis, etc. that would be another bonus!
Types of help and learning opportunities
Help with Eco Projects
Teaching
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Farmstay help
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Hospitality/Tourism
General Maintenance
Help with Computers/ Internet
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Improve French or English language skills (depending on your native language). Learn Malagasy. Appreciate the cultural diversity in the South of Madagascar, alongside a deep appreciation for the extreme poverty that exists here and the lack of educational and professional development opportunities for natives of the region. You can certainly put the experience on your work resume and your resume of life -- Alison was a professional resume writer in a previous life and can make sure that you take away from this experience a useful professional narr
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
Can you become an overnight expert? Are you proactive and a doer? Are you someone that jumps in and lends a hand (respectfully, not critically)?
We love Malagasy food, but sometimes it's fun to eat food from other places. If you've got some cooking skills and want to share them at dinner time, we've got a full kitchen to cook in.
We have a wide variety of things that could be done, that require a skilled trade and knowledge of something such as plumbing, construction, and organic gardening....talk to us, and let's see what we can trade!
We are also open to someone who loves kids, art, classical dance, or another sport (tennis, swimming, basketball, etc) You could hold a classical dance workshop, teach yoga for adults or run other kid-friendly activities. Not sure? Reach out and we can chat to see if we are a good fit.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
French: Fluent
Malagasy: FluentThis host offers a language exchange
We speak English, French, and Malagasy (Anosy). We are happy to have you improve your English or French, we are curious to learn Asian Languages, Spanish, German, Nordic languages...
Accommodation
Probably a mix of camping (in Andrakaraka) sleeping in a rustic bungalow, and possibly a few nights in a room in our home that has a desk, a double bed, and an ocean view. Shared toilet/shower.
Access to the kitchen, living room, terrace, and grounds. In the morning you can prepare your own breakfast, at noon we eat a Malagasy meal prepared by the staff. In the evening you could offer to cook your favorite dish. We also usually have leftovers from lunch or we eat in the cafe/ordering in. We are flexible. We are omnivores that said, Alison leans toward vegetarianism and Yves leans towards carnivore. The kids are pretty adventurous too, as long as it's a well-cooked recipe!
When you need to work we have an office with wifi, a lounge an the cafe is also connected. Most places on our property pick up the wifi -- we have 4 access points.
What else ...
Our town is walkable, there are taxis and bajaj (tuk-tuk), we have a bicycle you could use. Car rental and Quad rental is possible, but they are expensive (terrible roads) and 4x4 rental will include a driver. We mostly get around by foot, taxi, quad, or occasionally car. You can see rainforest and dessert in the same day here -- there are opportunities to hike, camp, surf, kayak, and visit lemurs.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
Our town is a Fibre optic entry point/hub to Madagscar and our location is in the center of town, which means we usually have a minimum of 15 MB and usually more than that. Alison works remotely and spends 3 to 5 hours on video calls per day (and has since 2018). We keep a backup dongle for times that the electricity goes out and the router is not powered. This is rare, but not impossible due to weather events or other unplanned events. We have wifi available at nearly all points on our large property, with individual routers in the house, cafe bar and the office. You can also get a monthly data plan for less than $20 USD.
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
Hours expected
5 hours a day, 5 days a week
