Madagascar 2

Many of you have asked why we were in Madagascar was it just for fun or we were working. Well a little of both! We went to check on the hospital and doctors that treat our missionaries. Visiting with the missionaries and checking on their health was also on the agenda.

While we we were there we we invited to a dedication of a water project that our church funded. The villagers dung the trenches and made the bricks and we supplied the pipes, cistern and pump for the water, along with the facets and cement. This project brought clean water to 12 villages and a school. With out clean water these people walked up to three miles to a stream for water. Most of the time the water is not sanitary and many children die from the bacteria in the water.

Some of the cute little boys from the village.

The toilet facilities are pit in the ground with bricks enclosing it! The little kids have to be careful or they will fall in! The one room school house

Madagascar is known for their Lemurs. We got a chance to go to the jungle/rain forest to look for them. The only place in the world that Lemurs live and are found in the wild is Madagascar. They have 13 types here. Two of the cutest!

Madagascar

MADAGASCAR
Never saw the movie either #1 or #2 but actually got to go there. We made a trip across the the ocean to an island off the east coast of Africa. Madagascar is the third largest island in the world. Antananarivo is the capitol city and sits on top of a hill. During colonial time it was built here to protect the city from attacks. Madagascar was a french colony so the older part of the city has cobble stone streets and many building have French architecture. Our Hotel was right next to a french patisserie and oh the croissants, bread, and sandwiches. If you ever watched the Amazing Race this was one of the spots they stopped at. The country is very hilly and they can grow anything in this climate. The farms are terraced up the hill side. Everything that is grown here is organic and the road side stands are filled with beautiful fruits, vegetables, and flowers. The farmers support themselves with what they grow and will walk many miles twice a week to a local market to sell what they have grown. They average Malagasy actually eats 350 pounds of rice a year.
These are the kids pounding the bran off the rice.















Then they sift the bran off by flipping he rice in the air and having the bran fall to the ground. They sift off the most nourish part of the rice.





They were more than happy to do this work while we around watching--I wonder if they were this helpful if we had not been there.



They also make bricks by hand out of clay they dig out of their plots of land. All the buildings in rural Madagascar are made of bricks, instead of wood or tin. They actually use all the wood for fires and cooking