A beautiful story of how to raise awareness in one of the poorest countries on earth

"Gâteau, gâteau, gâteau" (which means "Cake, cake, cake") is what the Madirokely children scream when they see Anne Fagegaltier arriving with zébu charrette at the local village school. Anne is the Hotel Director at L’Heure Bleue, the eco-chic resort of Nosy Be, in Madagascar.

A Green Globe Elite Member for years, L’Heure Bleue is more than just a hotel: This resort has been created as a model for sustainable tourism, in harmony with local people.

L’Heure Bleue actively supports community development projects, such as educating the local school children on the importance of keeping a clean village. The special ‘Environment Club’ was created for the Madirokely schoolchildren, and once a month, Anne Fagegaltier organizes a waste collection event.

"Most of the times, we have a group of 40 children and form small teams. The children are equipped with gloves and trash bags, and we send them inside the village to pick up all the plastic waste," Anne tells us. "We go inside the classroom and explain to the children what plastic is and why it is bad for the planet. Most important, they have to understand the effect plastic bags can have on sea turtles. Our beaches are home to a large sea turtle population, who may mistake those plastic bags with food and choke on them."

Helping to clean their village is a big event for the children in Madirokely, and everybody wants to participate.

"One day I was helping a little boy named Alfred to put on his gloves," remembers Anne. "I tried to help him to put his fingers into the slots of the gloves, and realized that he was missing fingers from both hands – quite likely from the leprosy disease. This made me sad to see that even though he was missing fingers, he wanted to help like any other child. It was harder for him picking up the waste, but he was trying his best, and I thought he was a very brave little boy."

The clean-up events typically end in front of the local school, where all the children are being rewarded with lunch, cake and lemonade, provided by the hotel. Sharing a meal is a significant occasion for the local children. Madagascar is among the poorest countries in the world and many children do not eat as they should.

"After we put all the trash bags into the charrette, all the children start lining up – the younger ones first, the older ones at the end – while I start putting out the lunches. Sometimes I have to slow them down, as they are in such a hurry to eat. They love cake, as they never eat cake here, and it’s heart-warming to see them so happy," adds Anne.

The trash bags are taken back to the resort, where waste treatment is optimized. Food waste goes to compost, and a comprehensive recycling system in place. All plastics are reused or recycled.
L’Heure Bleue is a committed player, protecting and raising awareness for the environment in the region. Through its work for a tourism, which is more considerate towards the environment and to mankind, this property wants to show to as many people as possible that another type of tourism is achievable, based on ethical values and respect.

In addition, L’Heure Bleue proves that responsible tourism can be beneficial to the communities, helping the fight against poverty. The resort maintains local employment at 70%, and staff salaries are 30% above the national average.