Missives from Madagascar
Final epistle
Hi everyone.
We return to the
Bum wiggling and tropical islands
With Independence Day coming up on 26 June the white, red and green Malagasy flags are out in force. We leave for Ile Sainte Marie tomorrow to work with a church project so we'll be spending the national day on a tropical island. The centre is run by the same people that run the street people's services in Tana. That group provided one of the highlights of the last few weeks. I led a Bible study with them on the text I'm studying for my MA dissertation. It was very enlightening and gave me a few surprise answers. There's a great word in Malagasy, fetsy, which loosely means cunning. These street people are very fetsy because on the week I led the study there were few there and they got triple portions of food. We asked them to tell their friends that the service was on the next week but again the church was pretty empty. They realised that if they didn't let people know they got more rice. That was almost beaten for fetsy-ness by a woman that rolled a blanket up and pretended she had a baby to get two bowls. After the service we, the workers, went about town in our car handing massive bags of rice to people and advertising the service. I think people were a bit confused by these bags being thrust at them and then the car driving away into the night, especially with the two white people in the back. The other highlight for Kerry and I was to dance on stage with Madagascar's top pop star Jerry Marcoss. There are pictures of us wiggling our bums in front of thousands but highest bidders only. He got us up for a dance competition and I got into the final 2 of the men's comp and Kerry the final 3 of the women's. A few of you have been asking when we're coming home. Well, it's been confirmed as the 23rd of July so we'll see you in a month, if we can tear ourselves away from Ste Marie that is. Take care and God bless.
Crushes, police brutality, sheep, Bibles and tropical beaches
Kerry and I are off to Bali on Friday for the CWM Global Gathering of missionaries. (Yoof joke: Don't know if glow sticks and whistles will be required at this Global Gathering) We're staying at what looks like a very nice hotel on the beach front. We then have a five day stop over in Bangkok on the way home. So this year has seen us go to Madagascar, Kenya, Thailand and Indonesia. Quite an achievement for someone who was scared silly by my tutor John Parry's suggestion that I spend a year abroad. That's the tropical beaches of the Subject catered for, now the crushes and police brutality. On the weekend before Kerry returned from England I took one of the older boys, Njara, that lives at Akany Avoko to see Madagascar play Ivory Coast at soccer in the African Nations Cup. We were there at 7.30am and already there was a massive queue going around the stadium. Tickets went on sale at 9am. The queue was very well behaved until then when it started surging forward. I was trapped in the middle of a crush of people and the police's way of dealing with it was to take off their belts and shape to hit the people with it. I was scared for Njara cos he was near the edge of the crowd. We managed to get our tickets safely though and entered the ground at 10.30 which meant 4 hours waiting for the kickoff in bright sunshine. We had a good time but Ivory Coast won 3-0. The sheep and bibles are because we went to Bevalala to hand out the Bibles bought by St Andrew's URC in Sheffield. We went into the poorest areas and called everyone together. We sang hymns, said prayers and the pastor and deacons impressed upon people the importance of the Bible. I then handed them out. It was a great couple of days. I also preached in Malagasy for the first time in that church on Jesus as the good shepherd. I started off making baa-ing noises (when you're not fluent in a language sound and action become very important.) This was great until I got to the climax of the sermon when a small kid went baaaaaaafrom the balcony. I hope this finds you all well. God bless and I'll be in contact again after we return from Thailand.
Mandehana sy manaova mitovy
Hi, The title of this post was the last line of my first Sunday morning sermon in Malagasy. It means 'Go and do the same'. I preached in a lovely little church in the middle of the countryside near the old capital of Ambohimanga. The pastor there, Marc, is a funny guy who comes to Akany Avoko every Tuesday. The theme of the year in the FJKM is the Lord's prayer and this month it's 'Hallowed be your name'. So after dressing up in the correct white robe and with added football mimes and dressing up I think I managed to tell people to hallow God's name just as Jesus did in everything he did - hence 'Mandehana sy manaova mitovy&'. In my run through the day before with Steve Wilkinson, the director of Akany Avoko, I'd made a load of mistakes but the actual preach went really well. The Holy Spirit must have been with me and I thank all of you for your prayers. Life without Kerry has been a bit odd but ok. Routine of services and study seems to be keeping me just about sane. Kerry gets back this weekend because she's got a job! She'll be working at her old school covering maternity leave. God seems to be really working in our lives as this leaves us free to go wherever we are called in 2008 when I finish my studies (that's if I get my leaving certificate, of course). I hope this finds you well, Take care and God bless,
Catwalks and flashbulbs
Hi, Hope you're all well. It's very hot here and summer seems to be properly here now the rains have stopped. It's been a erally wet summer with many people having to leave their homes on the rice plains and live in tents by the side of the road. The rice harvest has been a bit of a let down because not all of it could be saved. The waters are now receding and people can think about the preparation of the next crop. Kerry is now in the UK busy looking for jobs and taking assemblies at her old school. Before she went home though she helped organise a fantastic Expo 2007 at Akany Avoko. This was a chance for the girls to show off their talents in photography, painting, crafts and fashion. Kerry had been teaching the girls photography and the best pictures were displayed. It looked really professional and the reaction of the staff was priceless. There's also been a volunteer who works in the fashion industry and she helped the girls to make their own clothes and bags. We then held a catwalk show to show it all off. It was a great success and the sale of the photos made 200,000 Ariary: about £50 for the centre. My life has been going as as usual. Had a Hebrew exam. I got 13.25/20. My excuse is I'm new and all the marks I lost were on pointing (for those non-Hebrew scholars these are little marks to indicate vowels. They're in Biblical Hebrew but not Modern) and that doesn't count. I'm still helping out at street peoples' services on Mondays and Wednesdays and this Sunday I preach in Malagasy for the first time in a Sunday morning service. Prayers for that will be welcome. About 7am your time. That's about it for now. Take care and God bless,
If it's good with you...
Hi, It's been a while since I last wrote so it's time to update you all on what's been going on. Last time I mentioned that Kerry and I were to start helping out Pastor Helivao at her development centre. That's happened with us going every Monday night to a church in the centre of the city to help with a service for street people. The service begins at around half past six with the kids. A student pastor (all students must do this as part of their training) gets them quiet - which is a job in itself - then leads them in song and prayer. While this is going on the rest of us are dishing rice and sauce into bowls. When the prayers have been said then the food is dished out. The kids have to sit quietly and eat their dinner and then they can leave. The people are pretty strict with the kids but they have to be to get any order. Two kids were pulled out for not praying with the rest of them a couple of weeks ago. When the kids have finished then the process is repeated for the adults but as a full(ish) church service. There are hymns, prayers and a sermon. While this is happening we're busy washing up and dishing out more food which is then handed out. It's quite a motley crew of worshippers on a Monday from young mothers to old gents. All of them are in shabby clothes and a fair few smell of the demon rum. All-in-all a great bunch to preach my first Malagasy sermon to! One week the pastor didn't turn up and so I had to fill the void. I preached on the healing of the leper in Matthew 8 which thankfully had an easily rememberable verse in it. So with the help of the Holy Spirit, I managed to preach to them in their own language. One man even gave me a clap at one point which is more than has ever happened in the UK(!) It was a great experience and I hope God used me in some little way. We're both a lot busier now and Kerry's preparing for a photo and fashion exhibition next Saturday. Your prayers are needed for Kerry because she's going home in March to find a job. And keep praying for Akany Avoko, which seems to be having a lot of problems recently and not just because we're staying there. God bless,
Inona no vaovao? Misy!
Hi, In Madagascar the traditional greeting is to say 'inona vaovao?', which means 'any news?'. The response is always 'tsy misy' which means 'there is not'. Well for Kerry and I there is news this week because the New Year has seen us become very busy. The new term at Akany Avoko has started with me taking sport lessons. This means I let them play football and hope they don't kill each other. They are a good bunch of kids and we seem to be getting on all right. Kerry has decided to sort out the afternoon curriculum to bring in some more interesting subjects. The centre has a well-stocked library which the girls don't really use. The fact that the books are in French and English is one reason, the fact that the television is in the same room is another why the books are underused. Kerry wants to bring in library lessons and also visits to local people so that the girls can have a sense of the outside world. The girls have a very good life at the Akany and sometimes forget how good it is. An example of this was some girls giving back presents that some visitors had kindly bought. (However I think Western attitudes to 'the poor' didn't help there either.) Because of this we are now doing some work outside the centre which, although it means we are busier, is what we have wanted to do for a while. Kerry is working at the development department of the FJKM for three nights a week to help with their English because they have a lot of correspondence with CWM, the Presbyterian Church in the USA and also English-speaking NGOs. We are also beginning work with Pastor Helivao at the Akany Fifampandrosoana, a centre for people in the poorest part of Antananarivo. We will be helping at the Monday night service for street people as well as on Wednesdays at the main centre. Personally speaking I hav begun working with Pastor Lalao at Bevalala, a village south of Tana. I will help her in her work and see the life of a Malagasy pastor. I preached there on Sunday. I even wore the white gown of FJKM pastors. There are pictures but they may have to go to the highest bidder. It went well and it was great to be in the pulpit again. I had a great translator but my Malagasy is improving all the time. Another help to this is that I have started going to Hebrew classes at the Faculté de Theologie. It's quite hard to be doing 2 languages I am not so certain of but it's made me realise I know quite a bit of Malagasy. Today I have just finished meeting with a group of people that have worked through CWM. That has yielded more contacts so I'm very busy now. We hope this finds you well. Everything is going well here and already I'm thinking of how I'm going to cope back in the UK. Take care and God bless.
Tratry ny toana
Hello and happy new year to you all. Some volunteers at Akany Avoko sometimes express their dislike of Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar. I'm the opposite. It gives me a thrill every time I go. The city is built on a hill that rises up above the rice plains and can be seen from miles around. On top of the hill aer the old Prime Minister's palace and the fire-ruined remains of the old Queen's palace or rova. It makes Tana look like a fairytale city. It was sitting on the church steps at Bevalala last year looking at this view that made me want to come back for this year. Tana was alive at Christmas time. People had set up stalls selling Chinese tat on every conceivable pavement space and the place was heaving with people. Along the main street, Avenue d'Independance, there were little tents set up for people to have their pictures taken with Father Christmas or even Spider-Man. There were also fair rides and bingo stalls as well as gambling games. The smell of barbequed meat wafted around us as we walked along the street one night before Christmas. It was a special occasion. Things start again in earnest this week after a relaxing Christmas holiday. Most post things have come: thanks to the Dicksons for Observers (especially the one with Great Britain rugby league on the front. I'm imagining history stops after that win over Australia), parents and in-laws for cards, David Hill, Central URC and Intake too. Also, to Parkhead Congregational Church in Glasgow, although I don't know why they've sent us a card. I'm thankful though. It's nice to know people are thinking of us. Take care and God bless.
Tratry ny Krisimasy!
Hi everyone,
Sorry it's taken a while but we've been to Kenya and on our return the internet cafe in Ambohidratrimo didn't have a connection. The Kenya trip was great: the visa was sorted out straight away and the Consul was really nice. We also took a 4-day safari and stayed 2 nights in a posh hotel so if you gave us some money for our wedding then thanks for contributing to our holiday. All the famous animals were seen and Kerry got some great photos. We've come back to Christmas in Madagascar and the girls gave a show on Saturday. Friends of the centre came for a really nice big meal which was great. They'll repeat the show at the local church tonight.
We've got a bit of tinsel up in the house but it's hard to get into the Christmas
spirit when it's cracking flags outside. The rains have stopped for the time being
and the sun is out. Mafana be - as they say here.
We're both ok, perhaps a little homesick but nothing serious. I'm looking forward
to spending time with Pastor Lalao in the New Year, I don't think I'm suited to
working with kids unlike Kerry who makes me really proud every time I see her interacting
with the kids.
Another example of this country getting you closer to the Biblical record is that
many people have animal pens next to their houses. It's an idea of mine to have
a small, reflective service at one of these places sometime this week. It will hopefully
give a sense of the conditions that Mary and Joseph found themselves in 2000 years
ago.
All that remains is to say: Tratry ny Krisimasy! God go with you into the New Year.
Lemurs, rum and coups d'etat
Hi everyone. Because Kerry is a teacher and I'm a student we can't cope with extended periods of activity so last week we took a trip with our friends Joe and Elise from Kenya to the south west coast of Madagascar. We started out travelling by taxi-brousse (a 15 seater Peugeot van) to Antsirabe 3 hours away. We were met there by pouring rain and incessant pousse-pousse drivers. A pousse-pousse is a cart with a seat pulled by a man. They took us to three hotels before we found a hotel with rooms and then had a standup argument about the cost. It didn't help that one of the drivers was drunk. The next day we left very early to go to our next stop, Fianarantsoa. The taxi-brousse ride there was very pleasant and we arrived in daylight to find the area around the station (Fianarantsoa is a town where the train actually runs) packed with people attending a concert for a candidate in the presidential elections. We had a wander round the city and before dinner we found another rally going on for the incumbant president, Marc Ravalomanana. I asked a woman if I could have a poster and she happily obliged but there were many strange looks because a. I was white and b. a man. It was a women's rally, you see. Joe was a little more blatant and asked for a free bottle of orangeade because the president owns a dairy and soft drink company here, Tiko. Ravalomanana is also the vice president of the church, the FJKM, which I am working with here. He was elected last time because he was not the former dictator, Ratsiraka, but he also promised to improve the roads. We found that he had kept that promise later in the journey. Our guidebook says that the road south from Fianarantsoa is in very bad condition so we hired a driver and a car to help us get to our next stop, Parc d'Isalo - a huge National Park. Our driver, Paul, and his car - a Peugeot 505 called the Jolly Jumper- were great and we stopped off at a woman's collective producing fabric goods and at a paper factory run by local women. It was great to see these projects and gave Kerry and I many ideas for Akany Avoko which attempts to do similar things with the older residents. Far from getting worse the road improved because it has recently been relaid. Driving south we passed though grasslands and plains with hardly anything around for miles. I saw village after village seemingly without churches. This made me think about the missionary endeavours of those who came before me with the LMS and of the church here. If these villages on the road had not heard the gospel, what of the villages away from the road in the great mass of Madagascar. Of course, the hearing of the gospel does not need the presence of church buildings so this could be a false conclusion. We also stopped at a small wildlife reserve where we saw ringtailed lemurs and stoked an old brown lemur that also doubled as our guide. Great stuff. Then, in the middle of nowhere we stopped in a gathering of some 10 houses on the height of the plain. We were met by lots of kids and by the Malagasy Bob Dylan who serenaded us with out of tune blues and gave us rum. We managed to extricate ourselves long enough to give some sweets to the kids. My highpoint of this visit was to enter one of the houses where an old woman and her daughter were weaving straw mats. I sat with them and had a conversation wholly in Malagasy with them. This was what I love doing. Meeting people in their homes and making a connection with them. I can't wait to start that type of work after Christmas with a local pastor. We came to the Park at a decent hour and we stayed in bungalows overlooking the mountains that framed the Park. Not bad for £6 a night. Parc d'Isalo was everything you could expect and more. Lemurs, sheltered glades, a natural swimming pool, long hikes in 40 degree heat and then watching the sunset through a natural window of rock. God has blessed this country with some amazing wildlife and scenery and I praise him that I have had the opportunity to see it. We ended our trip on the beach in a resort where the people did not have the same warmth that we have experienced elsewhere here. We were left to ponder if that is the result of tourism ot they've always been like that. Although we had a great time we were very happy to be back, although from bright solid sunshine we came back to find that the Akany had been hit by a hailstorm. It's never happened in at least 60 years and it decimated trees and the side of our kitchen. The kids were very excited that they had "orana glacé" -frozen rain- but it was very strange. A great example of the contrasts on this great red isle that has truly captured our hearts. Couple of pieces of business: If you've sent us things could you say when you sent them because we're yet to receive them. Chris, I was writing to you but then the keyboard packed in. Sorry. Rest assured I was stroking my beard whilst writing it. Love to you all, off to Kenya on Wednesday to get a new visa. Prayers for easy arranging of that most welcome. Keep praying for Akany Avoko and for the country as a whole as it goes to the polls on Dec 3. A general tried to take over the country but was laughed out of town. Unfortunately one soldier was killed but don't rely on the BBC for your information on Madagascar because for some reason it seems to be against the president and that's been confirmed by many wiser observers than me. Take care, God bless.
Famadihana and other stories
Hi again. The big update this week is that last Saturday, Kerry, me and the other volunteers went to a famadihana. What's that? It's a ceremony where dead members of a family are brought out of their tombs and the remaining family members have a party with them. It was for the family of one of the orphaned girls here at Akany Avoko. We arrived at her home village at about 12 and were immediately plunged into a procession through the streets carrying the coffin of a relative that had died in another part of the country. There was a little band of trumpets, clarinets and drums and people were happily dancing their way to the tomb. We arrived at the tomb and there was more dancing until the president of the village called for order. He then gave a speech before welcoming us with a speech in French. The tomb was opened and body after body came out. They were wrapped in a mat and as some of the bodies came out there was an almighty scrum of people trying to get their hands on the body. They were then laid down on the floor and people came and talked to the bodies. One of the volunteers, Donna, was asked to kneel with some of the family and ended up with a body on her lap. When this part is over the dancing begins again, this time with the re-wrapped bodies being held in the air. The bodies are then danced around the tomb 7 times - still with the trumpets going although the walls didn't come down - and laid back in. It's a crazy and exhausting day where the whole village seems to get as drunk as possible. We had many people coming up and saying what an honour it was to have us there. Not many white people get to see these things by all accounts. I can see why the church would have problems with it though. Digging up graves, dancing and drunkenness isn't a good combination for a Welsh congregationalist to be faced with. We also saw a FJKM school which was quite nice and I've secured a preaching invite for their weekly service. We're both really well, hope you are too, God bless.
Manao ahoana, daholo!
Things are still going well here although Kerry and I are feeling a bit rough today. Nothing a good sleep won't cure. We spent Tuesday digging the foundations of a house for one of the girls and it's very hot here so it's sent us a bit funny. The houses are being built for staff and leaving girls in conjunction with an NGO called Habitat for Humanity, which allows people to buy and build houses at very reasonable rates. It was great to join with people in digging the land and sharing a meal together. Things are going well at Akany Avoko, Kerry has started teaching and I'm getting my language skills up with a view to giving a Christmas sermon. I've also been using a solar cooker to cook braising steak which seems to work quite well. The environmental side of life is one of the things I'm really interested in, so any churches I may end up in will have to cope with digging the manse garden up for an allotment and strapping solar panels to the church roof. The time at Akany Avoko will help to see how practical that may be. The only set back we've had is that they gave us the wrong visa at the airport so Kerry and I are having to go to Kenya to visit a friend and get a new visa. Such are the trials of life. Kerry and I are off to Antananarivo tomorrow to be introduced more fully to the FJKM. I hope this finds you well. Veloma!
First entry
Hi there. We made it safely to Madagascar and have spent the last couple of days settling in. We're staying at Akany Avoko, a home for girls. We have a room and a small kitchen all to ourselves. It's lovely and we're already planning changes to our new home. Our flight was uneventful but we had our customary rush through CDG because the UK flight was delayed. We arrived to be met by Steve, the man in charge of Akany Avoko, and a couple of girls. The past week has been very gentle, we've just stayed around Akany, meeting the girls and reading. Yesterday we went to church, thankfully at 9, not the usual 6. It was as long as we remember - longer because the revival group were casting out demons at the end of the service. Today we have ventured into Tana to be introduced to the FJKM and get some money. The introduction was very nice. There is also a CWM missionary from Zambia who was also introduced. We're writing this in the central post office on a slow computer with a French keyboard and a sticky spacebar. Such are the joys of Madagascar internet use. Lots of love and God bless, Phil and Kerry.
