The Boulter-Hodson Clan in Toliara

5TH JANUARY 2021

When I last wrote it was July, my father (Hugh Boulter) had just died, and we were trying to get back to the UK for the funeral.

After a frustrating month of trying to arrange the permissions to travel, it became clear that the road was no longer safe. So we contacted ‘Mission Aviation Fellowship’ (MAF) who very speedily arranged permissions for us to fly to the capital. They picked us up in a small light aircraft and were calm, competent, and simply sorted everything out, I can’t praise them highly enough.

We then went on a repatriation flight with Air France to Paris and then on to the UK to quarantine with my mother near Reading.

We held Dad’s funeral a few days after the quarantine lifted. It was a beautiful occasion held out doors in the church yard of St Mark’s Englefield where Beth and I were married. It was a beautiful if poignant day and an amazing number of people lined the street to the Church (all socially distanced), or sent their condolences. It has been strange not having Dad to talk to about so many things, and I miss him dreadfully.

Having made it back for the funeral we then faced the problem of how to get back to Madagascar. Madagascar closed its borders in March and all commercial passenger flights stopped. Now in January the island has still not reopened and flights have not resumed, and so we cannot get back for the time being. Once the relief of making it back to see Mum and getting to Dad’s funeral had passed, we realised we needed to put our emergency backup plan into action.

Before leaving for Madagascar we had left our belongings in a friend’s barn in France with the understanding that if we had to evacuate for any reason we could use their gite while we sorted ourselves out. In mid September we traveled to France and took up residence in the middle of the countryside.

The younger children are in the local primary school, and our oldest we are teaching from home. Beth’s work has carried on at a pace with her working remotely from France. It is not where we intended to be, and we all miss Madagascar, but we are safe and well, so we are counting our blessings.

Meanwhile I have been doing what I can for the Bible College in Toliara from France. That has meant regular email correspondence about a range of issues from discipline cases through to hiring a new college secretary and sorting out a refurbishment of the buildings and equipment. All of that has only been possible owing to my colleagues in Toliara: the Rev. Victor, Bishops Todd and Sami, and our new secretary Cynthia. We talked about what it might be useful for me to do to support the college intellectually while I am away before I left, and we realised that the internet connection is just not fast enough for me to teach via zoom.

Instead we agreed that I would teach remotely using the old fashion method of writing up my lectures to be sent to the college to be translated into Malagasy. The hope is they will start to form a learning resource and course book for the students. That work has been going on at a pace and so far I have sent three six-lecture long courses for translation with another three in the pipe line for the next couple of months.

Fundraising has also been ongoing, and we were given a grant for equipment from Franciscan Aid, and then have also raised an amazing £10,000 for the education fund which is going through the Anglican agency ‘Christians Aware’, who have been incredibly helpful and encouraging. That money has meant we have been able to have the class rooms repaired, and painted, to have new tables and chairs to replace the sparse and broken ones that were there, and to have bookshelves made so that the books the college do have are available for the students and do not get eaten by termites and other insects. These generous donations have also meant we can feed the students a good diet, and renovate their sleeping area and washing facilities, both of which were dirty, broken and basic. That means that we have students who are ready to learn rather than hungry, dirty and tired.

The college has been teaching in my absence with an altered time-table so that I can pick up my teaching load as soon as we can make it back. Realistically it is hard to say when that will be. We live in such an unpredictable world right now, but the college is now on the Summer break until March. Meanwhile we will keep doing what we can from here. Like many people in the West we are having to learn what the people of Toliara know very well: how to live with uncertainty. My hope is that this realisation that we cannot control everything in the world will teach us all to trust God and care for all of his creation, especially the marginalised and forgotten people and places.

Blessings,
Adam, Beth, Joseph, Hannah and Benjamin.

PS: Do check my web gallery of my paintings at: www.adamboulter.co.uk

PPS: The Education Fund for Toliara diocese is still open if you would like to donate.