Close to five months in Madagascar

I arrived here in Madagascar last Sept. 2, 2009. In the next few days, it will be my fifth month of living and working here. Madagascar has a less-developed economy when compared to ours. It was a former French colony, hence, French is its second language. The national language is Malagasy.

I came here to work as a Database Administrator under Sherritt International, a Canadian firm which is into partnership with Sumitomo, Kores and SNC-Lavalin to put up the so-called A m b a t o v y P r o j e c t (sorry I have to put more spaces in between because I don't want that people in this project will be able to search my blog when they start Googling that word). The project is to be touted as the largest nickel mining venture in the world with a pricetag of US$4B. Currently, the project is still in the construction phase and will start production come January 2011. There are three project sites: the head office which is in the capital, the mine site which is four-hour drive from the capital, and the refinery (where I work now) which is a ten-hour drive from the capital (or a 45-minute travel via chartered plane). Yes, the project has its own chartered plane. Luckily, when I came, I didn't have to travel by land. That's part of the contract where I will be transported by air to and from the refinery site, where I am now. By the way, it's not only me that work in this project, but a thousand Filipinos as well, most of whom are in construction.

I work here as a consultant or a contractor whichever you may want to call it. My contract is two years, and after such duration will it be my option or the company's option to extend my term. But I don't think, I would like to extend (but I'm not totally closing my doors of course). I'm sure after my contract here I can go somewhere else since my occupation is in demand wherever.

I live in a camp where everything is provided. The room assigned to me is just fine although the internet connection sucks bigtime. Nevertheless, I still appreciate it when comparing with some fellow Filipino workers who have to contend sharing one big room with the others. Well, it depends on the function and position actually. Managers and above are allocated single room.

Outside the camp, life is pretty much simple. I may say it's boring for me - no cinemas, no malls, no SPA's, and most of all no excitement. That's how I perceive this place to be. Other Filipinos love it though. It is very much similar to our remote provinces back home. I don't think I can live with such place, but not when I am retiring because of old age.

Anyway, I'm not here to savor every place in Madagascar. I'm here to work and be expert with my chosen career. Here I am coming from a telecommunications industry and now working in a heavy industry. This is the beauty of working in IT particulary Oracle database administration. You can be part of any industry. My next goal is to work in a banking industry, specifically any global bank.