27th August 2011 

They have 2 teachers coming each day to teach the children and considering most of them have never been to school, they are doing really well. The official language is French so they are now being taught in French, but they all speak Malagasy which is an interesting language of Indonesian origin. They take all the children to the local church on Sundays and folk from the church have been very welcoming. 

12th January 2011

A visitor's view

A warm welcome awaits all visitors to the 'Mad House'. The Malagasy team (Patty and Julio and Tina and Gerard), as well as Caroline and Rachel are always pleased to welcome you and whatever time you arrive, they make you feel that you're their priority at that moment.

It starts to get light around 5am and it's a good time to enjoy the coolness and peace of the day before the children and animals wake up!  Tina starts work early. She feeds her family as well as the 2 boys (Tiana and Fifi), who now live with them, before they start school. She often starts preparing lunch before 8am. She goes out to the local shops to buy the ingredients before lighting the two charcoal stoves in the yard, ready for her huge cooking pots. A lady arrives to wash the clothes (it's a wonder they survive here for long with the scrubbing and pounding they get!) and after a few hours out in the blazing sun, the clothes are usually dry. Once the food is bubbling on the stove, Tina starts cleaning inside the house. Floors need to be swept and polished and bathrooms and toilets cleaned. All the time she is coping with her eighteen-month-old daughter, Yasna, who frequently demands attention or a feed from her breast. Clarissa has changed her job of washing and ironing clothes to care for the three children (Ravaka 7, Sansia 4 and Michel almost 2), who have just come to live here.

The morning is punctuated by various arrivals at the gate, mostly women looking for work, or those concerned about a sick child. They are seen by either Caroline or Rachel, usually with someone to help with Malagasy interpretation. There is a vast ocean of need here and both Caroline and Rachel need great wisdom to know which people they are able to help with the limited resources they have. On Tuesdays, Julio leads a Men's meeting and on Thursdays Rachel is responsible for the ladies group.  

At midday on weekdays around eighty or so hungry children assemble outside the gate. Gerard ticks off their names on his register before he lets them in and after they have washed their hands, they queue up for a bowl of rice and loca, whatever the topping is for that day (eg soup, beans, vegetables, meat). The heat of the noonday sun is intense and the children head for the shade of the veranda or the newly built shelter to eat their food. Many are dirty, dressed in filthy rags, with runny noses. Older children feed younger siblings but there are always lots of smiling faces, especially if there is a photo opportunity! After the food is finished the children have club time, led by Julio and Gerard, when they love to sing and have stories from the Bible.

When the children have left, Tina and Clarissa wash up and then continue with their chores, sometimes finding time to rest for a while. Often more visitors arrive. Most Wednesday afternoons, some of the team visit the Children's Hospital in the city to play with the kids and, when the opportunity arises, to pray for them. The afternoons are unbearably hot at the moment but the rains have not yet started properly. This is a good thing for one reason - it means that there aren't too many mosquitoes around. However, flies are a constant problem! Most days there is virtually no water in the taps but this problem is overcome by collecting water, when it is available, and storing it in big blue barrels, for later use. When the rains come, with the accompanying thunderstorms, the power often goes off for a time.

One evening a week, Caroline and some of her team visit the city centre to meet up with the homeless people who live there. She always gets a very warm welcome from adults and children alike and takes them all to a local street stall, where she is able to buy rice and loca for them very cheaply. Sometimes there is an opportunity to share something spiritual with the people or to pray for their needs.

It was a real privilege for us to see for ourselves the work that Caroline and Rachel and their team are doing in Madagascar. They are certainly making a huge difference to the lives of many needy and vulnerable children there.

George and Ruth Richardson    December 2010