In a market in Madagascar, a child sits with bundles of ‘kitay’ — small sticks, sold for a few cents to kindle the family cooking fire

---

---

In a market in northern Madagascar, I took a photo of a young boy sitting among crates and bundles – and his toy. He can’t have been more than 4 or 5 but already doing business – helping his family.

In front were neat stacks of sticks tied with twine. I asked what they were but he didn’t speak any French and I didn’t have enough Malagasy to understand him when he tried to explain. Was he old enough to go to school? Again I didn’t understand his answer – I think he said, “sometimes” but I wasn’t sure.

I bought a bundle for 500 ariary – about 15 cents and he gave me a smile.

I guessed they were medicinal barks — something to chew or brew into a tonic, maybe even katrafay, the tree bark so often sold for its healing powers.

I was wrong.

A Malagasy friend later told me : it was simply kitay — kindling wood. Sold for a few cents, just enough to light the cooking fire.

The photo tells another story too: In Madagascar, as in much of Africa, the gap between generations is small. The young start early, helping their parents, doing their share of daily tasks — for better or worse. Childhood and doing tasks go together in Africa. Maybe it explains the easy natural relations which seem to exist with adults – family or otherwise.

About 44% of children in Madagascar aged 5–14 are working, and over 90% of those work in agriculture, mostly for rural families. They mainly work in the areas of planting and harvesting vanilla and rice. But they also work in mining cleaning marketplaces, begging, and scavenging garbage. Also, at times before the age of 14 they are exploited sexually particularly in tourist areas.

A little over 80% of Malagasies live in extreme poverty and using children – another pair of hands – is one of the results. More than 40 % of children do not attend school regularly, another result.

It’s an unfair world