Calling All English Teachers for Madagascar!!!
Posted on 3 February 2010 | 1 response
My name is Stacey Williams and I am currently volunteering as an English teacher for Azafady in Fort Dauphin which is in the south east region of Madagascar. The demand for English lessons here is outstanding, but unfortunately we only have volunteer English Teachers available until June. In order to keep continuity with the English lessons we are looking for TEFL qualified volunteers to take over the classes currently being taught and join Azafady’s team in Fort Dauphin. As I’m sure you would appreciate when learning a second language, or for some students a third language, a lot of knowledge can be lost if lessons lose stability so we are eager to get more English Teachers out here as soon as possible!
January 2010 Pioneer Diary 1: Touching down in Madagascar
Posted on 2 February 2010 | No responses
Touching down in Madagascan soil for the first time truly feels like you’ve entered a special and unique place. From the slightly hair raising walk across the tarmac into the smallest arrival hall you can imagine…everything is spectacularly different from home, especially the beautiful sunshine! We met at Antananarivo airport ready to spend the night, before heading down to Fort Dauphin in the south the next day. We relished the last bed we would be in for a while…it was bliss!
Once at the Azafady campsite in Fort Dauphin, with our tents up, we really started to settle in (little tip if you go on Pioneer -you tend not to have to carry your stuff too far so you can pack a roomy tent for extra comfort!)
Thanks to Ed Kashi for an amazingly successful photographing expedition, here’s hoping it makes a big difference!
Posted on 29 January 2010 | 1 response
With 12,000 photos ‘in the bag’ Ed Kashi’s stint of working in south east Madagascar to document sustainability has finally drawn to a close. The trip has seen him knee deep in mud, perilously photographing massive zebu (Malagasy cattle) ‘mangosy-ing’ the field in preparation for the rice planting, scaling mountains in the searing heat to capture the vast sisal plantations in the correct light and helping fishermen pulling in fish in the crystal waters of the beautiful Lakanony. One highlight was undoubtedly a stomach-wrenching trip in a light-aircraft to try and capture the landscapes of the southeast from above.
Project Mampisaina: HIV/AIDs and STIs Education - Condom distribution points
Posted on 22 January 2010 | 1 response
One of Azafady’s major projects over the last year, and for the coming year, is Project Mampisaina which aims to educate young people across the urban commune of Fort Dauphin in order to increase awareness about, and to prevent increasing levels of, STI’s and HIV/AIDs, and is funded by the National Lottery’s Big Lottery Fund. To keep you informed here’s the first in a series of updates from Project Mampisaina’s first year….
Mark’s latest from Madagascar and photographer, Ed Kashi, in action!
Posted on 18 January 2010 | 2 responses
Mark is currently in Madagascar seeing how everything is going with all the projects and specifically working with Ed Kashi, the photographer who won the commission of the Prix Pictet , and this is what he has to say about the first 2 weeks in Madagascar…
Ed Kashi, winner of the commission of the Prix Pictet arrived in Madagascar on the 9th of January to a hum of excitement from the staff of Azafady. His mission was to boldly go where no photo journalist had gone before and provide a series of photos highlighting issues of sustainability in the south east of the great red island. Not wanting to waste a second, after dropping off his bag Ed, Lisa Bass and I dived into a 4×4 and within 30 minutes of arrival had Ed knee deep in the mud of a rice paddy photographing a family planting rice, to the great amusement of the local villagers!
Pioneer Team October 2009: Diary No.3
Posted on 11 December 2009 | No responses
We arrived back in town from the bush on Friday the 13th October, ironically no camion break down this time! Suddenly the flushing toilets and running water seem like a luxury to be savoured. Thank god for the long house in the rain and bless those pineapples, vitamin C never tasted so good!
We’ve been working on 4 projects while we’ve been in town: building sanitation platforms (sanplats); health and sanitation education, beautifying the latrines on shipwreck beach and pot packing.
Sanitation platforms involved building 26 concrete squatting platforms for individual families who requested and collected materials. The families dug a hole 2m deep in their back yard and we then built a wooden box to structurally support the hole and installed the sanplat on top of the hole. The family was then responsible for constructing the cubicle around the latrine so they could enjoy some privacy! This project was carried out alongside the beautification of shipwreck beach (which was used as a public defecation site in the past) and allows them to use an alternative and more sanitary toilet facility. The “Dude” as he was known (the assistant chief of the village) was a definite highlight of the work. Who says you can’t get past a language barrier? He cracked us up as we worked by adding sound effects to even the most mundane activity. The local people were customarily generous, giving us coconuts and many smiles and thanks.
Jessica Killaspy’s story from her time on Azafady’s Conservation Programme: Lemur Venture in April 2009
Posted on 7 December 2009 | 1 response
Hi, my name is Jessica and I decided to get involved with Azafady before the start of my gap year in the summer of 2008. I had always wanted to spend some time in Madagascar and lemurs have fascinated me ever since I learned about their existence, so the Lemur Venture programme was just what I was looking for. I was also pleased to be volunteering with a charity, where I knew that my money was not just going to be swallowed up by one of the numerous profit-making gap year companies that are out there.
A day in the life of Azafady
Posted on 7 December 2009 | No responses
By Samm Short – Project Development Specialist, Azafady
It is mid-morning, and the electricity has been off for over an hour. In the searing heat of a Malagasy summer, Azafady staff put pen to paper in a fevered effort to work through the power cut; there are after all deadlines that have to be met, with or without a computer. In just 6 days time it will be World Aids Day, and the Mampisaina team are working flat out on preparing an education and awareness raising initiative for the local schools, utilising art as a medium for exploring what still remains a highly taboo subject. Mamy, the resident Doctor and project leader, has called in all available resources, and each staff member now has a pile of red ribbon and safety pins on their desk, waiting to be made into the universal symbol for HIV awareness in the hours when, say, the electricity cuts out.
Bringing a School to Agnenga
Posted on 23 November 2009 | 1 response
Education facilities in the Anosy region of Madagascar are extremely limited. In some communities, children have to walk 20km to reach their nearest school. But even then the facilities are minimal and often inadequate. Azafady’s Project Sekoly is all about addressing this.
Agnenga was one of the many tiny hamlets to be found in Madagascar with poor schooling facilities. Azafady, funded by the Bobasch-Joel Foundation, have now built a school here; as the village already had a teacher, it was just a case of constructing a suitable building. Agnenga’s old makeshift school was also being used as a cyclone shelter, a town hall and even a church. It was time for Agnenga to have its own, purpose-built school that would be used solely for learning.
Pioneers October 2009 Volunteer Diary no.2
Posted on 17 November 2009 | 1 response
We’ve just returned from Volobe - a beautiful remote village in south Madagascar - only a 2 hour bumpy ride and 3hr hike from Fort Dauphin!
The journey began in typical Malagasy fashion with the camion breaking down just outside Mahatalaky, where all the Pioneers were accosted by hundreds of school children on their school break. They entertained us with clapping games and songs until our mode of transport was repaired. The final leg of the camion ride was filled with enthusiasm and joy as locals jumped on the back of the vehicle just to support the Azafady team. Let the 3 hour trek begin… one river, 2 hills, many large puddles, and 3 shaky bridges later we arrived in Volobe.
Life in Volobe was completely different from our first week in Fort Dauphin. We woke early for breakfast, work began immediately after, and had a long lunch break during the hottest hours of the day. Showers were taken at the end of the work day – but not before you went down the hill to pump yourself a bucket of water (and climb up again!) Laundry was also done at this pump. Some days (before a shower) we would get in a quick game of football (soccer) with the locals. Evenings were spent under a temporary meal-shelter reading by candle-light, listening to the guides sing and play guitars, and getting to know each other better. Many of us did get sick that first week in the bush – where we were able to have intimate one-on-one time with the hole in the ground that was our toilet.