The serious game of 'CATER-ACACIA life' – April 2026 School
A brilliantly creative reflection by CATER 2026 alumnus Mathieu Huyez on the recent School. Taking a core component of the School group work (building a climate risk-related serious game) and flipping it on its head - Mathieu writes as if the School itself was a serious game! Read on to hear about what it was like to one of this years players...
Let’s set the scene on the gameboard. You’re in a tropical island, on the seafront of a beautiful hotel. The ocean is unusually hot at this time of the year, in the end-of-summer season. Potentially perfect for a last (but not least) tropical cyclone before the warmth fades away. But do not be concerned, you will actually experience only a few late night thunderstorms with beautiful lightning. Your accommodation is awesome, and all the staff are very caring. Welcome to Ravintsara Hotel in Nosy Be – Madagascar! You are 24 players with 9 facilitators.
The game’s rules are simple: you will have to listen to, learn from, and share with others. Other researchers and students in climate risk adaptation. Other public and private practitioners co-producing climate services with differently vulnerable local communities. More simply, just other people, from diverse cultural and knowledge backgrounds, interested in dealing with climate change – and cyclones.
How do you play? Just by being yourself. The facilitators will be there, in a collaborative way, to help you connect with the participants… and with your real you.
How long will the game last? 11 days in a row. This could seem quite prolonged to play, but don’t worry! You can have some lazy rest in the evening, do morning running along the beach, dive into the ocean at sunset (or sunrise if you’re foolhardier) and, of course, eat all the local food specialties. Have you ever heard about koba? Zebu stew? Cassava fricassee with Bambara beans? Soursop juice? You won’t be able to forget those tastes anymore…
What are the aims of this serious game? Discovering how some of the Malagasy people and communities cope with climate change. Fostering relationships with your fellow participants while adventuring in the muddy mangroves - then drinking the cocktail of the same name as a victory! Thrilling your soul at the notes of the local women villagers’ song. Acting out charades with your group on the learnings of the day. Freeing the circulation of ideas thanks to any hierarchy between students and teachers being abolished. Chatting as deep as the sea with your roommates. Laughing out loud under the milky night sky. Contemplating the diversity of the clouds. Naming all the nuances of blue and green that would have made Claude Monet regret using Nosy Be’s landscapes as inspiration. Taming your humanity while fixing the eyes of the lemurs. Dancing on the sandy beach with your feet taping out the beat of a New Zealand rugby Haka. Sealing young friendships until your old days. And all that time, having fun!
Time is up, folks!
End of the CATER-ACACIA life 2026 game. You have now to get back to reality – i.e. home and normal life. Meanwhile, your brain has more synaptic connections. Your heart is widened by all the loving humankind you experienced. And your soul is full of new Malagasy memories that may sodade-ly come to your mind once you admire a glowing sunset or moonset. The gentle sea breeze could then whisper to you “Nosy Be”. Hence, you may have without realizing, levelled up your future work as well as your daily life. You can be sure to cross paths again with CATER’s team in some way as you’re part now of its alumni family.
In a nutshell, it’s all win-win with CATER School. Nothing to lose… or maybe the 6 pounds you might have gained after being thoroughly pampered by this amazing venue.
So, are you in for the next session?
