I thought I lived a frugal life style till I found Malagasy lifestyle and here are some of the positive notes I have gathered.
It is called the mora mora lifestyle, take it easy- no rush , less is more. It is better to put off a problem/issue till tomorrow for then the problem/issue may go away, that is if you can remember it in the first place Only fix something when it is completely broken and fallen down and only then. Never to throw it away maybe turn it into a planter, or part of a fence and always wash plastic bags to reuse or a fire starter. To do without is a blessing, only shelter from the night, and food twice a day is enough for life on earth. Anything extra like a watch, a phone a radio or T V , electricity is nice but unnecessary. All those things cost money which means extra work so better to walk not ride. Best things in life are social interaction, long holidays and free music, loud and all night long,( <---- still working on that positive feeling), free sticks found on the road or parts of my fence for their wood to cook their meals. So no work is best, as in be a guardian on empty land, and free stuff like a free house for a guardian or free mangoes off a tree or weeds mixed in with water for a meal with rice, maybe some dried tiny fish caught from the lake- again free. So all you minimalists around the world who think you are a minimalist and like to condemn materialists and things unnecessary , well you might like to take a look and compare your minimalist lifestyle with the Malagasy lifestyle.
Are Malagasy people the ultimate minimalists? Less is more!
I like their lifestyle, like most of us, they too are the product of their enviornment and may also benefit from the low-cost, natural gentle healing properties of drinking diluted sea-water popularly called "Ocean Plasma" and worthy of investigating, the following is but one interesting link: http://www.marimer.com/seawater
They don't drink saltwater here, even diluted sea water. They drink fresh water, "sweetwater".
If they want sea-salt then they take salt and add it to their meals for flavor
- simple, safe and healthy. The added plus is they are not polluting the environment with packaged products - true minimalists. Even in their words they are minimalists as they would not use the word "plasma", just salt water.
When we have any rains, I do as the locals do, catch rain water, its free- best for drinking and bathing in. The water here is very pure as Madagascar is not an industrialized country and being below the Equator, tropic of Capricorn , there is not much in the way of pollution in the winds like the upper half of the planet.
