Inside a Typical Madagascan House in the Country

Our driver stopped on the roadside south of Ambositra and asked if we were interested in seeing how typical country Madagascan folk lived. He went off to find the man of the house - apparently he had been here before. He was happy to show us around - it only took a couple of minutes as the house has one room at ground level - used for storing or drying rice and a ramshackle ladder leading to a tiny open fire kitchen at the top of the stairs, and a communal sleeping and living room. Everything was black from years of smoke from the fire - the roof is thatched so the risk of fire is very strong. He had a wife and six kids - though none of the kids we saw in the house that day were his.

Corn seed stock drying for the following year's crop

After 10 minutes it seemed as though the entire village had turned out.  It quickly became a photo fest, with excited children feverishly looking at their pictures on the camera LCDs and the older folk giggling in the background.
And although everyone in the village owns their own plot of land, life is at a basic subsistence level with little or no chance of rising above it.