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| A visit to a Love'NCare school which is providing education for these children for the very first time |
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| Sunset over Antananarivo |
It was the end of our trip and we were staying in a little hotel in Antananarivo (Tana), which provided us with our 21st different bed, for a couple of nights before flying home (to England) via Johannesburg. Where does all that time go?
So what will follow next is a brief summary of what we have been upto since our last full update after we left Bulawayo in Zimbabwe at the end of March, you can read that post by following the link here should you wish!
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| Maz and Ken chatting about the products that he is making out of the flour he has ground from Breadfruit and Cassava as an alternative to traditional flour which is naturally gluten free. |
Arriving in Madagascar is always a bit of a culture shock, we know that much of our time spent in South Africa gave us the opportunities to enjoy many of the creature comforts of the western lifestyle that we enjoyed as we grew up in England and that aren't so available further up in Africa, but having visited other challenging nations such as Burundi and Zimbabwe we hold Madagascar at an even more challenging level.
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| Barge transporting charcoal which is the main source of heat for people to cook on given the fact that only 13% of the population have access to electricity. |
It's not only the stunning colours, scenery, the different smells and sounds overwhelming our senses, it's also the knowledge that Malagasy have some of the lowest levels of access to water, basic sanitation, education, employment and access to the outside world. It's a nation that seems to be stuck in time, taxi's are old Renaults that we used to see in the 1970's, carts drawn by cow or men are a plenty, cobbled streets are still de rigueur in Tana with other roads in the nation in such a state of disrepair that its hardly right to call them roads.
After arriving in Tana from Cape Town we spent a few days catching up with old friends in the capital city before deciding that it would be best to reschedule our planned trip and head across to Toamasina (Tamatave) to work with our contacts there first before returning to Tana towards the end of the trip.
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| An evening out with some very special people Colin and Kimberley, Cho and Deborah |
Once again we were welcomed in Toamasina by our good friends Cho and Deborah who head up the amazing local charity called Love'nCare (LNC) and whom we first met way back in 2013 when Cho, a South Korean pastor, and his Malagasy understudy, Theo, visited us at the Village of Hope in Grabouw. Since that meeting we were invited to visit their project in Toamasina in 2014 and have subsequently returned in 2016, twice in 2017 and after a year out due to the internal issues within Madagascar, a cyclone, the plague and a governmental election to name just three, and we were so glad to be back.
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| Maz, Cho and the ambulance |
During our first few days we were also to reconnect with two of the most wonderful people we know, Kimberley and Colin have been friends since we met them in 2016, they run an NGO called HELP Madagascar and have been running the Leadership for Life (LfL) and LEAD NOW programmes with those that they work with since we trained a couple of their staff in 2017. Kimberley and Colin have been great advocates for both the programmes and they were the main reason why we had returned to Madagascar this time.
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| LEAD NOW |
As usual we were keen to get out and meet other people and so it was wonderful to have the opportunity to visit a local school, the head teacher had been trained in the LEAD NOW (LN), children's leadership programme, by us in 2017 and has adopted it into the curriculum of five of the year groups within her school. The school has seen the dramatic effect that it has had on the children, not only are their grades going up, which is great news, but how the children see themselves and those around them has also improved, to such an extent that parents are now wanting their children to attend this privately run school (so many of schools in Madagascar are not run by the government) because of the new ways of teaching and the LN programme being offered!
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| Children being creative around the topic of 'heart and character' which is at the center of good leadership |
It was wonderful to see the teacher, her husband was later to attended the LfL Training of Practitioners (TtP) that we ran and who will now be using that to share with the parents of the children!, really embrace the LN programme, using it to be creative outside of the actual LN lesson, with children making flowers and hearts in preparation for the lesson in their art and craft class.
The lesson was on 'Heart and Character' and the children explored any of the characteristics that were causing keeping them small and not allowing them to grow into the full potential that lays within each one of them.
We also made time to visit the inmates who we had trained up to share the LfL within the local prison. I'm not sure if I can even attempt to convey the shocking conditions that are found not only this prison but also those throughout this vast island. Over 1500 men, women and children are kept in such shocking accommodation which not only plays havoc with their physical health (over the last year LNC have set up a daily feeding programme to combat the malnutrition which was found to be rampant during a recent Amnesty International report, see link, and during the time we were there one man died) but also their mental health.
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| Out fishing on the Panaglane |
It was great to see the seven men who still remain inside, as well as meeting up with the guards who were also on the same programme. We also met up with the new prison commander who has committed herself to implement the LfL to help both those new inmates and those set for release. We hope to hear some better news around the ways in which the prison will further improve as both the inmates and guards start to write a better story for their lives and the lives of those around them.
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| Maz meets up with some men walking to sell their recently made charcoal |
We were also keen to make a short trip down the 600km long Canal Des Pangalanes where we had worked and stayed in 2016, this was at a local village where LNC have just recently built another school and where they have an orphanage to care for some of the local children who live in this rural area. It was wonderful to spend a day with these people and have an interaction with some local people who were making charcoal to sell, you could read about this by following this link to an earlier post.
The main reason for this part of the trip was to train up 35 local people who the trainers who we'd trained in 2017 from HELP had been sharing the LfL programme with during the last two years, our five day training would ensure that each of the 35 people would be equipped to be able to deliver the LfL programme into the organsiations and networks where they are working.
It was great to spend time investing in these awesome people who we shared meals with and even in the humidity managed to keep from falling asleep in the afternoon session! They have all already been putting the leadership principles into action in their own lives and hearing the stories of the difference it has made.
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| Training 35 people in LfL is a tough task given the humidity which saps all your energy over the five days of training. |
We had a diverse group of people attend the
training, including a man who lives and works in some remote locations outside of Toamasina helping local people understand the need to live alongside the lemurs that they share their space with and helping to help maintain the unique flora that exists in that part of the big island under the MFFG organisation, a lady who works in the local fistula clinic that our friend set up after the Mercy Ships had spent time in Toamasina in 2017, and many other heads of local organisations who are helping to uplift some of the poorest people in the city via sustainable projects.
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| Smiling faces |
After spending near on three weeks in the east coast port we made our way back to Tana where we worked with some of the people who we had first met in 2016, most of these people are connected with the FJKM church in Ambohipo a huge church (well in numbers of people, 15,000, not the size of the building) which is based near the university of Antananarivo which attracts a large number of intelligent young people who are keen to make a difference in their nation.
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| Teachers trained to deliver LEAD NOW into their schools |
We hosted a three day TtP for LN where we trained 10 local teachers who will now be sharing the programme with the children that they teach. Once again it was great to invest in these people who will grow the potential of the children that they are working with, helping them understand that they are the leaders of their own lives and that the way that they lead themselves has an impact on those around them.
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| Third world meet first world at the port of Toamasina |
Madagascar is like no other place that we have ever been to, which as we said earlier include some of the most challenging places and nations in the world such as Burundi, Zimbabwe and the townships of South Africa, according to the World Bank 'Madagascar is lagging in a number of development indicators. Every second child (under the age of five) suffers from stunting, and the country has the world’s fifth highest number of out-of-school children. Furthermore, at only 13%, the rate of access to electricity is one of the lowest on the planet. In 2018, Madagascar’s Human Development Index (HDI), as measured by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), improved slightly from 0.512 to 0.519, but the country fell three places in the world ranking, from 158 to 161'.
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| Food is at the center! Although the photo looks more like the Last Supper. |
There are many factors that leave us with that feeling, but we think that the vastness, remoteness and failing infrastructure are major contributing factors but also it's risk to natural forces beyond its control, such as cyclone and disease, that place this nation of over 25 million people in a very challenging position.
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| Catching up and updating those who we trained in the LfL programme in 2017. Some very friendly faces there including Flaurid who was instrumental in organising our time in Tana |
After running the LN programme with the teachers, (which gave us such great joy as with all of the other issues the education system in Madagascar is severely lacking, as highlighted by UNICEF in this simple web page which shows that 'only 20% of teachers are civil servants and 97% do not have a vocational education degree') we were able to share the updates that had since been introduced to the LfL programme with those people we had trained in 2017. It was so good to see these wonderful people and to hear of their stories of how they had put the programme into action in their lives.
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| Prayer times with the Sisters |
Our final engagement of this early spring 2019 trip was to run a four day retreat for eight people who we would train up to share the LfL programme within their networks. We were hosted by an order of protestant sisters who live in a small 'center' just outside Tana. As we said eight people joined us as we ran a LfL TtP with some very long morning, afternoon and evening sessions but we made sure that we had the opportunity to join the sisters during their three times of prayer during our days.
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| Off to our 'Leadership' retreat Vonji and Voirana at the fore! |
We are thankful to our friends Flaurida, Vonji and Voirana who were so helpful in arranging all our needs in Tana, from gathering people, arranging interpreters and translating the LfL programme, now in a second updated format into Malagasy.
The accommodation was quite basic by European standards but it was great to share this special time with these people who had attended LfL programmes that had been run by some of the people we had trained during our time in Tana in 2017, we shared meals together, and I (Tim) even managed to get out for a couple of runs which took me into the communities that live in between the rice paddy fields that surrounded the center.
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| More food which was prepared to suit our 'Plant based diets' |
We left Madagascar with great expectations, we are very pleased with how the trip went and although we could have trained more people we are confident that those that we have trained are going to be great advocates and trainers themselves.
So now we are back in England having visited four different nations, worked with people from six different cities and sit with the knowledge that the Leadership for Life programmes are already having a huge impact into some of the most vulnerable communities in the world, delivered by local people to their own people groups, thus ensuring long term change coming through an understanding that everyone has amazing amazing potential to change their minds to change their lives.
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| Rice, rice and more rice |
It's kinda weird being back in England, we are overwhelmed by the good state of the roads, cleanliness and availability of food and other products that we often take for granted. As for the foreseeable future we no further planned trips until at least October so we are going to make the most of this time by spending some time with family, meet up with old friends and have some down time in readiness for the next adventures that we are sure will come our way.
Madagascar we'll see you soon!
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