last week was a little hectic and although we did enjoy some 'me time' it was 'full on' for three days in the middle of the week and over the weekend too. the week bought to an end of our time in Toamasina where we were able to run three 'cafe'/feed back sessions, teach the whole four module Leadership for Life training to a group of people who joined us from a local charity network and were surprised (although not shocked) to have the opportunity to share at the Bethany School Church service again on Sunday.
our week started with the usual run around to the local photocopy shop to get some printing sorted prior to the start of Leadership for Life workshop that we were to start on the Tuesday morning. we have grown to love the town (second largest in Madagascar) of Toamasina, its small enough to know where we can get hold of the basic needs such as western style food (if required) a good cup of coffee and yes our faithful photocopy shop.
18 people had joined us from six local organisations who work with the vulnerable children in the town, these organisations range from a large children's center set in some extensive grounds where schooling and homes for orphans are provided with house mums looking after up to 10 children in their homes (sorta the Village of Hope dream we had back in 2005 come to life!), to smaller set ups who are working with the street children in the various neighbourhoods of the town of around 250,000 people.
once again Theo from Love'nCare interpreted for us and it is always so exciting to see the hearts and minds of those we share with come into a realisation that they can start to think differently and pick up their pens to write a different story for their lives.
this was the sixth group that we were sharing with and since arrived we have lead over 280 people through the four module Leadership for Life training. we normally like to gather people together for four separate sessions (each three hours long) over four weeks to enable the new mindsets to take root and begin to have an impact in the people lives, however time was against us with this new group and we had to 'cram' the modules into two full days.
Theo is due to meet up with the group again early next month but we have already received encouraging news of the training really helping individuals who were sent from their various organisations. thanks to Kimberley from HELP Madagascar who has provided us with these updates!
on Wednesday we had the opportunity to meet up with two previous groups, both the Officers, Wardens and administrative staff of the prison, as well as the group from the large church in town. once again we heard stories of how lives had been transformed with new ways of thinking. the whole essence of the modules is to call people to action, it's not just training material that people keep for themselves. so the stories of families and communities transformed confirm that this Leadership for Life can really really have an impact in Madagascar and we are already planning to build from that.
we hope to share some of these incredible stories on a separate blog but that will have to wait until we are back in England with some stable internet connection, however it is so great to see people putting together action plans to bring hope to their lives, financial budgets and commit to community programmes that will see their lives and the lives of those around them improved for the better.
on saturday morning we had the joy of meeting up with the teachers and key staff from the schools that Love'nCare run in the peri rural areas around the town, this group of over 40 staff have joined together to see their schools changed and with those who we'd already meet up with during the week we were able to present their Certificates in Community Leadership to them bringing the total of those who have not only attended all four modules but attended a follow up cafe/meeting and shown themselves to have put their learning into action to over 220 people, thus if they all have an impact on just five people over 1,000 people will have seen their lives transformed in some way since we arrived in February!
we were given the opportunity to spend our last Sunday sharing at the church service that takes place at Bethany school, with no planning we shared the story of Joshua and the fall of Jericho with the children and adults who had joined us and spent much of the morning marching around the open sided church singing 'we are marching in the light of God' which caused much joy and laughter.
on Sunday afternoon we took the short, forty five minute, flight westward to the capital Antananarivo where we are spending the week prior to our flights back to England via the Seychelles and Abu Dubai on Friday. since arriving we have had the chance to meet up with a local pastor (of a church with a congregation of 15,000) who is very very keen to see some of his members join us in September where we are looking to train up local leaders to take this incredible material into the most inhospitable and rural areas of this vast island.
it is with sad hearts that we will be leaving but we know we will be back later in the year (God willing) and that it's important for us to spend some quality time with Maz' mum who is currently battling cancer.
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