Madagaskar : THE WEEK – 20/11/2022

Nov 27

If anything, I learned one lesson this week; don’t let your bias of a culture cause you to become so suspicious that you don’t expect positive behaviour from people. Euphrasie and I were convinced on Thursday that the teachers at Ampamata school were sincere and totally innocent in this situation with the French man. Why he twisted the truth or embellished certain facts, I don’t know. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and put it down to ignorance. We are very thankful to him for the good quality stationery which he donated to the school and will save us a lot of money. I trust that there will be a way for us to work together, so I’ll keep you posted. Thank you for your prayers in this regard and all the encouraging messages.

So after the dreaded meeting with the teachers, which passed in a very positive way, Euphrasie and I still had a few hours available before the boat returned to Nosy Be. We emptied the classrooms and sorted everything out. One thing that I am really good at, I am not sure if that even counts for much really, is sorting out, bringing order. Ledesy sanded down the desks and the rest of us packed out all the boxes. The further we unpacked, the more I realised that they have not really used the resources to teach. The children were simply allowed to play with very valuable teaching aids. A lot is broken and damaged beyond repair. Much of it has simply vanished. This time it was Euphrasie who had the meltdown and told them that it was unacceptable. I wanted to go and hide around the corner and cry, but decided that I have been doing to much of that lately. Why does this seem to be Africa’s problem? Various reasons come to my mind and I think that I should sit down and write a book about it some day.

There are fourty-three children in Lovako school now. The village is growing and therefore the school is growing. There is lots to be done though, firstly the walls of the building need to be replaced and secondly, the teachers need more training. Within less than two years of us not being able to go there, they have reverted back to what Euphrasie called ‘blah blah’ Malagasy teaching, not using the resources and not applying what they have learnt. It is very discouraging, because when do people ever come to a point where they see the full picture? They are very loyal and honest though, so that is a good start.

JoshGen school on Nosy Be is doing well, but they have had many years of input. The ineffective way of teaching in Madagascar is never very far under the surface though, and it require patience and vigilance to keep a good standard. If you think that I am very brutal in my evaluation of the situation concerning education here, it is because it is the truth.

The new roof is enjoyed by all, except maybe by Dries who has to go back on and fix some poor workmanship.

I spent some time with the little ones and they are just a delight, because they love school so much.

Have a good week.