Madagascar School Project
PO Box 684 K6H 5T5 Cornwall, ON, Canada

It's beginning to look a lot like ... time for holiday shopping! Please remember the children at Tenaquip school - $2 per week ($100/year) towards our Toonie Twinning program covers the cost of a child's education, including their daily noon meal. You can also check out our WishList at www.madagascarschoolproject.com, and for details of how to organize payment. The school does some wonderful things for the children and the community - share the good feeling of contributing towards their future!

The Grade 13 students of Tenaquip School are writing their exams this week in the city. They have been living for the week at the orphanage - Akany Famonjena, sleeping there and sharing meals with the orphanage children. They walk an hour to the high school in Ambohidratrimo where the exams are invigilated. We are very lucky to have such generous friends at the orphanage to help our students. This orphanage was founded by Mary Sherwood, a resident of Carleton Place, twenty five years ago, and is overseen by the Anglican church of Madagascar with the help of Canadian donors. We have been blessed by Mary’s friendship and have learned much from her experiences living and working in Madagascar.

Anna Vololoniana, one of our former teachers, took the initiative to start an English Club for some interested students while the school was closed. Our teachers give back to the community in many ways - raising up leaders is always a good thing!

While the children and teachers are off school, the community is busy working. Their latest project is to build a bridge at the bottom of the gully, making passage over to the village of Ambohiborosy easier and safer. We are very happy seeing them working together.

Our students did comparatively well in the Gr. 7 exams despite missing so much school during Covid lockdown. We have not yet had official results for the other classes. Students will come to pick up their report cards from school on Sep. 30th, and will reregister then. New registrations will happen Oct. 12 - 16. The 2020-2021 school year will begin on October 26th, God-willing.

These children would never have bicycles without the jobs their parents have at the school. Bryan (son of Bruno, teacher), Antsiva (son of Pascal, principal), and Vahatra (son of Feno, maintenance man). A cute little group on campus! Maybe future leaders?

Many things are growing in Madagascar just now! On August 22nd Mme Fenosoa and M. Pascal (our senior principal), had a baby boy! Congratulations to them!

School is still closed in Madagascar and the country is still on lockdown, but the numbers seem to be lessening. The state exams will go ahead despite Covid, so on Sep. 1st our Gr 7’s will write their exams and on Sep. 14th our Gr. 10’s. The Gr. 13 BACC will be scheduled later. Good luck to all our hard-working students and their dedicated teachers!

Our congratulations to Mme Dorette (principal of the elementary section) and her husband M. José, (English teacher, Waldorf Education student leader), on the birth of a baby girl, Balsame.

Here are some pictures of the rice that was delivered to the school this morning. 28 tons were delivered and 2 more tons are coming from a local farmer, to be delivered next week. The school had been operating with 6 grades (the exam grades and the cohort just above each of those grades) but now they are back in lockdown because the numbers of positive Covid cases in the city are increasing rapidly. No one at the school or community of Ambohiborosy has reported being infected so far. The gardeners are the only ones working and the cooks have been asked to help in the garden.

Getting up-to-date once more: the kitchen stoves have been redone, there's a new toilet that can be emptied for composting, and now the schools have been ordered closed again for another 14 days. It's a good move: better safe than sorry.

Things keep moving ahead - everyone doing the best they can under the restrictions of these times. The stove in the kitchen got a new top, and the children now have two beautiful new slides on their play structure! A big thank you to the folks who keep things moving to better the Project.

Check out this lovely 5 kg watermelon! When Peter Ross and I were at the project in December we shared a watermelon with the children, and they saved the seeds. It was a success! Thanks Anna Vololoniaina for recycling!

This week schools in Madagascar opened up again for exam grades of 7, 10, and 13. That involves 18 teachers and 135 students at our school. They have their masks, and are practising physical distancing and hand washing. Doing their best...

Today is our Plant a Tree for Earth Day event! Donate $5 to provide a Moringa Tree, The Tree of Life. Our target is $4500 - 1 tree for every student and staff person at the Project! Every $5 helps towards our goal. Donate at our website www.madagascarschoolproject or mail your cheque to the address in the sidebar. Thank you for sharing life and health with our students and their families!