Traveling does not only mean going on vacation and spending time relaxing on a beach at the end of the world. To travel is also to see what is done elsewhere. You don’t have to go far to see what’s going on. Traveling allows us to get out of our daily lives. Far or near us there are always things going on that we don’t know and the trip allows us to go see these things. Whether good, bad, sad or happy.

Building yourself requires knowing what is going on or what is going on around you. This is what Benjamin decided to do: travel to build himself. He says he has made several trips in his life and admits having always learned something different from these multiple journeys. Culturally, geographically and even economically these the young man has His first trip was, when he was 10 years old, to the Madagascard. « When I arrived on the islands, I was completely disoriented, » recalls Benjamin. “Everything was different. The language, the weather, the landscape ”. When he arrived at Madagascard, the first thing he did when he was younger was to get in touch with the locals right away.

The purpose of this trip was to get Benjamin, from an early age, out of his comfort and confront him with other realities. Far from the country’s capital, the young Frenchman will be staying with residents of a remote village. « In the small village where I was it was a cultural shock compared to my home in France, » he says. It was 10 years between his trip and the time when the editorial staff met Benjamin to review his stay in Betafo in Antananarivo, the country’s capital.

During our meeting Benjamin had released his photo album specially dedicated to Madagascard. It is to « immerse yourself in memories » as he likes to say. He has a smile on his face and his face becomes brighter every time Benjamin turns the pages. The photos scroll and he stops on a photo. This one shows Benjamin surrounded by children who seem to be in the same age group as the youngster from Poitiers. They all pose, arm in arm with Benjamin in the middle of the photo. They are all smiling and seem to be happy to be at Benjamin’s side. « I stopped on this photo because it was a moment that marked me a lot, says he « It was my last day in this small village. Before taking this photo we had a great day playing with all the children. I will remember it every day of this day ».

The photo captured a moment of Benjamin’s stay, who has many memories and now analyzes that he is old enough to understand things. A little more than before and a little less than the future. To learn more, Benjamin told us that he still has travel plans.

Noah Merlin.