Madame Vice-President de Senat

First day in Antananarivo. 

We’re sitting in a large corner office with a desk that confirms the impression given by the front office. We are about to meet an important person. Looking like a cliché tourist, wearing zip-off pants and sneakers - topped by guide book authors’ all time favorite: the hidden money belt, I feel somewhat out of place. 

Madame or actually doctor Vice-President of the Senate of the democratic republic of Madagascar greets us in Norwegian… She excuses herself for haven forgotten most of the Norwegian, so we continue in French. This former Professor at the University of Toliara was one of the initiators of the exchange we are part of, now we’re here to get information on how to obtain a visa extension. 

This is a woman that immediately give you a good impression; she is welcoming and interested, but still to the point. She picks up one of the three phones on the table in front of us. In Madagascar even the politicians are using three different SIM-cards – calling from one company to another is expensive. Madame has told us that she will call the Monsieur le Directeur de Cabinet. She explains that he is number two, after the minister in the ministry of internal affairs. We felt no need to ask why she didn’t call the minister himself…
She explains us that in two days we can go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, we will be met by Monsieur le Directeur de Cabinet himself. He will see to it that we get an extension of our visa. 

We leave the office somewhat confused. We knew we were going to meet an important person, but assumed that she would just direct us to the right office, maybe give us the names of some key persons to contact. If Monsieur le Directeur de Cabinet delivers we will obtain our visa within a few days. With stories of other Norwegians in mind, waiting three weeks for the visa, we feel very privileged, but still somewhat confused about this way of saving the not so valuable time of NVIPs (Not Very Important People) like us.