22 September 2007

Madagascar… not the movie

We’ve seen six different species of very cute lemurs, but none of them have spoken, sung or broken into a jig. The only fosa (lemur predator) we saw was sleeping so it didn’t seem quite as vicious as in the movie. I did see a Yankees’ hat but we didn’t run in to any New York Giants. It’s not surprising, but the movie isn’t a very realistic depiction of Madagascar. The only possible similarity to the movie is the radiant beauty of the rain forest which left us in awe. Other than that our experience in Madagascar took us back into a 3rd world culture with no traffic lights, dodgy “taxi-brousses” (or “taxibes”) for public transportation, intermittent & undependable public services, and masses of people staring at us (the “vazaha” or foreigners) walking through the crowded markets filled with persistent sales people. Some differences to our other 3rd-world experiences in African are the extended mid-day lunch break for many shop keepers, the lack of any lines on the road (except for a few lines put in for the India Ocean Games a month ago), and the multitude of smokers… maybe a because of the French influence. We flew into Antananarivo (or “Tana”) a week and a half ago and were greeted by an affectionate, unique couple Nelly & Solo, both alumni of the International Sports Leadership School (ISLS) in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Nelly is Bulgarian and Solo is Malagasy; an interesting mix and a gracious duo facilitating amazing work with Kids Games. Their three kids (Gabby, Mickael, & Sonja) showered us with affection, and we adopted their 17-year-old neighbor Vero for an adventure down to Andasibe. Solo & Nelly are gearing up for a huge Kids Games event at the end of October where they expect over 100,000 children and 5,000 youth workers to participate! We joined them for a “counselors” training in which 2,000 of the leaders showed up. It’s incredible how God is opening so many doors for them. We also squeezed in a short yet very meaningful visit with the family of our new friend, Hanitra Raharinosy, who we met at the Cultural Studies workshop that we attended at ISLS in collaboration with the community development program ALICT. Her sister, Vololoniaina, and brother set up an insightful meeting with Fafah, the Deacon overseeing youth for their FJKM Ziona Fanantenana Ambatobe Church. Then we rushed to catch a beautiful choir competition. Along the way, we randomly witnessed a “famadihana” ceremony in passing (a strange ceremonial exhumation and reburial to revere Malagasy ancestors). The Ziona choir, led by Hanitra’s husband, won the competition, and we went out for a celebration dinner with him and their two beautiful daughters. Next, we took a mini-“vacation” to the lusciously green Andasibe (between Tana and the east coast) — our first ‘touristy’ experience in 2 ½ months since we’ve been so blessed to be graciously hosted and richly surrounded by the family of faith. As our first hotel & sight-seeing endeavor, it was beautifully serene, but being amidst so many other tourists made us want to minimize these sorts of ‘touristy’ things because it diluted our cultural experience. Our time hiking through the rainforests was amazing yet a bit wet and soggy. We finished our extremely short visit to Madagascar by joining the Turks—a PC-USA missionary family that has been here more than 14 years and that has given us a wonderful perspective of this unique culture. Dan shared his expertise on Malagasy agriculture and environment while Elizabeth shared her outlook on the country’s health issues. As a couple, their partnership lends an incredible amount of expertise to the relationship between the Malagasy FJKM and the PC-USA. They graciously welcomed us into their family (son-Robert & daughter-Francis) and community (Betsy-former Nieu Communities-Pretoria participant & Noro-“older sister”). They took us to visit both the Topaza and the Akany Avoko orphanages. And they helped me facilitate a recreational evangelism workshop for 35 youth workers. It’s been a very fruitful yet busy end to our stay in Madagascar. We wish we had more time here, just like everywhere we go. It’s a struggle to travel in and out of communities and cultures so quickly. We always wish we could stay for longer in each place, but we’re just getting a taste of everywhere we go—just grazing the surface. We realize that connecting with ministry communities and missionaries is vital to our gaining perspective more efficiently. Please pray that God will continue to bless us with these connections. We’re flying back to South Africa tomorrow for a less than 24 hour layover before we fly on the India Monday. We’re a bit nervous about our time (and especially our arrival) in India. As usual God hasn’t revealed His plan to us, but I know it will all work out… it always does… His sovereignty is more real to me than it ever has been.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Hope and Heather

Only now that i see your website talking about your trip in Madagascar.
It is very interesting, you've got a big souvenir.
My best wishes, GOD be with you
Merry Christmas
Vololoniaina