Figure 1.--This photograph was taken at the Evangelical mission of Ambatomanga, Madagascar during 1901. Ambatomanga is located in an agricultural area of central Madagascar. The mission belonged to the Protestant Société des missions évangéliques de Paris (Paris Evangelical Missionary Society). We can see Miss Alphonsine Rousseau (the woman on the sedan chair) and the family of Siméon Delord. He is riding a mule and his wife is standing. We also see their four children and some local servants. I like the way the dog is pawing the little girl's arm.

This photograph was taken at the Evangelical mission of Ambatomanga, Madagascar during 1901. Ambatomanga is located in an agricultural area of central Madagascar. Note the very substantial, Europen style brick mission building. The mission belonged to the Protestant Société des missions évangéliques de Paris (Paris Evangelical Missionary Society). We can see Miss Alphonsine Rousseau (the woman on the sedan chair) and the family of Siméon Delord. He is riding a mule and his wife is standing. We also see their four children and some local servants. And notice the family pooch. I like the way the dog is pawing the little girl's arm. We are not sure about the relationship between Miss Rousseau and the Delords. Probably the photo shows the missionaries leaving the mission seat for a turn through the villages surrounding the town. We doubt if they are going on a long trip as there is no baggage and if it was just into town they probably would have walked. We suspect the younger children probably remained at the mision. They would not have walked any distance barefooted. Notice the older boy with them. He was probably employed to look after them. The photo was probably either taken for the family album or to be sent to the missionary society back in Paris. The missionary kids are wearing European-style clothing. The elder sister is riding a donkey. While she is wearing boots her younger siblings are barefoot. They wouldn't ever have gone shoeless in France, because that would have been seen as a sign of great poverty. In the mission, however, they are going as their local mates. If the children are shoeless for a quite formal photo, we can assume that they spent most of the time barefoot.

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Created: 7:52 PM 5/8/2012
Last updated: 5:40 AM 5/9/2012