Baby Stories
ERGObaby carrier > Baby Stories > ERGO in MadagascarERGO in Madagascar
Dear ERGO:My husband, Mitchell, and I have been conducting both ecological and paleontological field research in Madagascar for the last 10 years. This summer we are bringing our 8 month old daughter Ann for the first time, and as dedicated baby wearers, we plan to carry her everywhere (something all Malagasy mothers do with their own children!)
We do not yet own an ERGO carrier, but have heard very positive feedback about it, and feel that it would be sufficiently rugged for our needs abroad. Much of our work is funded by small grants (Conservation International, National Geographic, International Primate Protection League, etc.) but we also rely on sponsorship and equipment donations to succeed in our field projects. If ERGO is interested in donating a carrier to our project, we would use it as our exclusive baby carrier this summer, and acknowledge your organization in all of our reports/relevant publications. We would also take numerous pictures of Ann in the ERGO carrier for your own publicity, and post updates from the field on our own project websites/blogs.
Karen
Research Associate
Redpath Museum, McGill University
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Continued: November 25, 2007
My husband and I just got back from Madagascar a few months ago, and we wanted to tell you how valuable your product was during our trip. We have been conducting fieldwork in remote regions of Madagascar for more than ten years, and 2007 was the first year we brought our daughter (then 8 months old).
We wore her everywhere, and she loved being able to see her surroundings yet have the closeness to us. We even used the ERGO to hike her between our two research sites (an 8 hour hike through the rainforest). Not only was she comfortable on our backs, but it kept her entertained and happy for most of the trip!
Babywearing is an integral part of Malagasy culture, and it was very exciting for all of our local friends to see my husband and I wearing our daughter. We wouldn't have been able to do this trip without the ERGO, and we will certainly never go into the field without it in the future. Thanks for making such a great product!
Karen, Mitch, and Ann
Note:
Lying approximately 400 kilometers off the eastern coast of southern Africa and fully isolated for over 80 million years, the modern fauna of Madagascar is mainly comprised of animals found nowhere else in the world.
Karen's research focuses on the origin and evolutionary history of Madagascar's modern fauna, one of the most unique and endemic on the planet. How, when, and from where they arrived on the island has remained largely unknown due to a 65 million year gap in the fossil record that occurs precisely within the time period during which the modern vertebrate groups are hypothesized to have colonized the island. Karin's research has sought to fill in this "gap" in a number of different ways.
