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| 'Grace Lodge' sign and the long road leading to it |
“It’s a long way to Grace Lodge!” laughed the pocket sized
Madagascan lady wearing a blue woolly jumper, brown trousers and her hair tied
back into a long black ponytail with barely a grey hair in sight.
Her voice was soft and well spoken, she didn’t walk, she
glided and her beauty shone out like sunbeams radiating across the entire
group. We felt secure in her presence,
despite being four girls in a country we knew so little of.
All the travel guides had stated there was a lovely, warm hearted,
Madagascan lady who worked at Grace Lodge and ‘made the experience’ for them. We had not known what to expect but right from
the start she was truly the most wonderful hostess.
“I’m Henriette!” she smiled as she grabbed our heavy luggage
to take them to our rooms. We told her
she didn’t have to worry but Henriette did not let anything stop her doing what
she wanted to do.
Seventy-three years old, without a wrinkle on her face and
still fitter than all four of us twenty-odd year old girls put together, we
felt ashamed of our laziness in her company. We’d lag behind with stitches whilst she
darted off with all the cargo, not fazed by the weight of the heavy camera
equipment we had brought to document our expedition.
Splitting up into two’s, with Carly and Carla sharing a room
and Trish and I claiming the one next door, we went for a lie down to recover
from our long journey.
Henriette returned to see how we were. She stood in the doorway, still with the same
beaming grin on her face, then her expression changed and she looked as though
she was the messenger of some important information, “There is no electricity…”
she paused for breath “now” she said slowly.
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| Trish, Me, Carla, Henriette and Carly, stood outside our rooms at Grace Lodge |
There was a moment of silence as we were expecting her to tell us more but that was it. She got to the point, gave off another huge chuckle and wandered off. Trish and I looked at one other and burst into laughter. We soon realised that this was a typical ‘Henry comment’. We soon got used to them yet appreciated them, even more, every time.
Breakfast times were always amusing. No matter how tired we were from the night
before, Henry would brighten up our day and get it off to a flying start.
“They are saying things to each other like - I love you Trishy!” Henriette giggled as she informed us about the Lemurs calling to one another, whilst she brought us over another a pot of tea to help wash down our breakfasts. “I’ve put more than two tea bags in there….” she smiled, “that means three!” she added with another classic laugh.
The first time we went out to film in the rainforest
the weather was raining one minute and glorious the next, so we decided not to
worry about coats. Henry saw us leave
and panicked, she was well wrapped up in her woolly jumper and coat; “I’m
freezing!” she declared.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine. We’re quite warm.” We reassured her.
“You will all get very wet.” She fretted as we left.
We continued walking down the track that lead out of lodge,
only minutes had passed since we’d told Henry not to worry yet her maternal
instincts were so strong she could not relax.
We heard footsteps down the track; it was Henry running whilst swamped
in a pile of different coats for us to choose from. She had copious amounts of kindness to give
and we were lucky enough to get more than our fair share.
Not a day went by when we didn’t get told how beautiful she
thought we all were; yet she refused to accept the same compliment in return.
“I’m ugly” she blushed, a statement that couldn’t have been
further from the truth.
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| Henriette holding a picture of herself, aged 18 |
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| The same photograph that Henry is holding. She told us she was holding a bible and had just been to church. |
After long treks in the forest, Henry’s life stories were
most welcome and we were always excited for the next instalment. We learned that she was once married but they are
now separated.
“What happened?” I cautiously asked.
“He has another woman now.” She replied.
“Awww, Henry, we’re sorry to hear that. It must have been hard for you.” We all sympathised.
A huge laugh slowly built up from within her. “It’s ok, I don’t mind!” she stated whilst
still laughing. “When I got married, I
was so young I didn’t know what I had to do.
I did not know I must make love with my husband!” her laugh changed from a chuckle into one you
may hear from a giggling schoolgirl.
Not only did we love hearing all her funny, personal and emotive
tales, we all admired her ‘Keep calm and carry on’ attitude to life.
Carly had only just found out she was pregnant so she asked Henriette’s advice. We all couldn’t believe it when Henry told us that she gave birth to one of her four children on a Christmas Eve and, due to her lack of transport to the hospital, how she had to walk five miles in the rain down a long, dark road, whilst in labour, yet she still didn’t complain, she knew what she had to do so got on with it. She is truly a wonderful inspiration to us all.
By the end of the trip she told us how she considered us all
as her daughters; probably the best compliment I have ever received and I
imagine all the girls feel the same way. I feel proud to say I now have a Madagascan mother.
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