Photo: Irin Name: Thierry Mafisy Miharivonjy Razafindranaivo
Age: 26
Location:Antananarivo
Does your spouse/partner live with you? Yes, my wife and one-year-old daughter
What is your primary job? Cook at a fast food restaurant
What is your monthly salary? 120,000 ariary (US$56)
What is your household's total income - including your partner's salary, and any additional same sources? 200,000 ariary ($93)
How many people are living in your household - what is their relationship to you? Three - my wife and my daughter
How many are dependent on you/your partner's income - what is their relationship to you? Just us.
How much do you spend each month on food? 130,000 ariary ($60) from 120,000 ariary ($56)
What is your main staple - how much does it cost each month?Rice, vegetables and meat - rice costs 1,400 ariary ($0.65) a kilo and - we eat 24 kilos a month, so 33,600 ariary ($16) from 32,000 ariary ($14)
How much do you spend on rent? Nothing. I live in my parents' house.
How much on transport? 600 ariary [$0.28] a day, because I now walk part of the way to work from 1,000 ariary ($0.46) a day
How much do you spend on educating your children each month? Nothing yet
After you have paid all your bills each month, how much is left? Nothing is left.
Have you or any member of the household been forced to skip meals or reduce portion sizes in the last three months? Yes, we now eat less rice
Have you been forced to borrow money (or food) in the last three months to cover basic household needs? Yes, I regularly receive coal and food from my parents now.
Thierry Mafisy Miharivonjy Razafindranaivo - "My biggest headache is that we can't find suitable jobs, and the price of food keeps rising."
ANTANANARIVO, June 2013 - Thierry Mafisy Miharivonjy Razafindranaivo, 26, is a cook in a fast food restaurant in Antananarivo, Madagascar's capital. In the months since he was last interviewed by IRIN, life has gotten harder.
"I still earn the same salary, but prices for the rice and the bus have gone up," he said. "So now we are trying to make ends meet by eating one-and-a-half tins of rice per meal instead of two. Also, I walk half the way to work, instead of taking the bus. My parents share their coal and food with us, so we can survive."
Razafindranaivo, his wife and their one-year-old daughter live with his parents and extended family. They are fortunate to live rent-free.
"My wife has started her basket-making business, but until now, she hasn't sold any. Normally, the tourist season would start now, but since the crisis [the 2009 coup d'état], there have been very few tourists in the city.
"Her business is our hope for the future, but the economy needs to improve before it can work."
"My biggest headache is that we can't find suitable jobs, and the price of food keeps rising."
This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations.
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