Below is a Christmas greeting from Lillian:

I believe it is rather original to receive a Christmas greeting from Madagascar, but here it comes. Unexpectedly a vacancy at our newly opened embassy. I was not at all planning to go abroad again, but suddenly this seemed right. The newly appointed ambassador, who actually had his office next to mine in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs encouraged me to come on his team, and I think it is going to be very good. We are presently in small, temporary offices, with only three Norwegians sent from Oslo and two local staffs. They are extremely nice, and I find so many nice people around. The mixture of Asia and Africa is so interesting. I feel very welcome as a white person here, and a part from some beggars close to the most touristic parts of town, there is not much begging at all. It was such a nuisance in some of the countries I have served.

Two weeks ago I could move into a very nice house in the best part of town. For the moment I have some ways to go to get through traffic to the office, but this will change when in April we will move to our permanent office building. We cannot wait, as things are extremely difficult for us at the moment. Enormous telephone bills in order to connect with Oslo, on an analogue line, passing through France. I have a guard at the door 24 hours, looking after the house. I have also in my personal service a maid, a gardener and presently also a driver because of the heavy and difficult traffic in town. Christian, a big and kind man of 30, drives me patiently around and waits while I do all my shopping, too. Then I can sit in the backseat and read the newspapers and documents I have to get through, while he conducts the car through the narrow streets and up the hills. So many people and small busses are everywhere. I would be so exhausteed driving myself.... Nice work sharing. </! P>

As I mentioned the house is grand, now with very nice locally produced furniture from the palisander wood. I look out onto the lovely garden, which needs a lot of attention, and has a collection of lovely scrubs, trees and flowers. Many interesting birds and insects visit or have their homes in my garden.

Madagascar is very French dominated. Everything passes through France, but Norway has a special standing here in Madagascar as well. Very many Norwegians have come out to this enormous island (4th biggest in the world) as missionaries. The first ones came about 140 years ago, and have never left since then. The missionaries did a lot of good - particularly in the fields of agriculture, health and education. And they succeeded with their evangelisation project as well. A great number of the population are Christian. The biggest group is Catholic, but then comes the Lutherans. I lived next to a church for about two months and Sunday morning I was entertained with the wonderful singing of the congregation. They all seem to go to church on Sunday morning for the services. It is also an important social thing, and everybody dresses in their best outfits. The forefathers and the foremothers are also extremely important in a Malgache person's life. If you do not treat them well,! things might happen to you that you would rather not have to occur.

I often get the question - why have we not had an embassy in the country, given the close ties between so many Norwegians and Malgache. Well, at least part of the answer is that the political situation in the country has been extremely difficult untill 2 years ago, and therefore Norway has not been willing to have a state-to-state cooperation with the former governments. We have had a program here over the many years, but only through international and locally based organisations. The Norwegian Lutheran Mission has been one of the channels of Norwegian development aid as well as of private support for very many years. Thirty years ago also the first Norwegian milk cow was brought to Madagascar. It gives a lot of milk, compared to the local Zebu cow. This has been a great success and still the Norwegian high quality oxen provides seed for the race to continue to grow. Potato growing has also become a good earner and this year 1000 tons of potatioes are exported to La Reuni! on, two hours by plane away.

Life is hard for most Malgache, and presently everybody talks about the extremely high rice prices. All Malgache has rice as staple food, and it has to be the right kind. Import from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka is not the same thing. They regard it not as proper food, nor does potatoes and other vegetables. 3/4th of the population are said to live below poverty line, and I feel ashamed that we can complain when you compare life in our two countries. I guess one has to travel, in order to really appreciate how well we live today in Norway. It is a hope that more Malgache will profit from the privatisation and modernisation of the economy here. The biggest problem is however, corruption - small and big corruption. Norway is trying together with other donors, to support the President's anti-corruption efforts. It is not an easy task, and we were very proud to have the visit of Eva Joly, the Norwegian, who as a French judge managed to bring many influencial men to justice (! The Elf-Aquitaine affair). Madagascar has more or less the same judicial system as France, and therefore she is well placed to bring some of the problems here out into the open. Presently she is working for the Norwegian Government, and it was in that capacity she come here. As her visit was a great success, I believe we will soon see her again. I am very proud of this little, active woman.

It is hard to understand that we are close to Christmas, as it is here full summer with pleasant temperatures day and night. I will pass Christmas on the Ile St. Marie, formerly the haven of the many pirates.

It is supposed to be very beautiful - maybe like Zanzibar. It will be nice with a small break, as the year has been quite busy for me.

I would like to send my best wishes for the holiday season to all my family in the US.

Love from Lillian