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Life in a new world
Toky Andriamaherimanana sometimes finds himself clearing up his friends’ misconceptions about his native country, Madagascar. He doesn’t mind, he says. He answers their questions, though he says sometimes they seem a bit like teasing. He knows his friends are curious about where he’s from, especially since it hasn’t even been a full year since he and his family left Madagascar — a large island located in the Indian Ocean, off the Southeast coast of Africa. There, life was much different, he says. In Madagascar, if there isn’t enough gas, the electricity is temporarily cut, which usually happens two to three times a week, he says. And when it rains, dirt roads are hard to travel. In Utica, the roads are paved, and most everyone has a car. And the electricity, except for the recent massive power outage, can be counted on. “The city’s so nice,” he says. “Life is good here.” A 10th-grader at Thomas R. Proctor Senior High School, Andriamaherimanana is getting used to his new culture, one his parents encourage him to embrace. He isn’t wasting time. Wearing a Bud Racing shirt, he talks about his favorite race car driver, Colin McRae. He hasn’t been to a race yet, but he wants to see one. He’s also picking up baseball and football — two games he never played in Madagascar. And this year, he hopes to play high school basketball. He does, however, miss his friends in Madagascar. He corresponds with them frequently, he says. And he tells them what life in Utica is like. “They want to come here,” he says. |
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