God be praised for the willing hearts of 6 Evangelists, 2 Deacons, 1 Transitional Deacon and the first woman Priest ordained in the Episcopal Church of Madagascar!!
Those ordained were:
Rev Remamy Arisoa Nolavy Osoro (priest)
Rev Tsiavandeza Gaston (Transitional Deacon),
Lahitody Jean Florent (Permanent Deacon), and
Rafanomezantsoa Ferdinand Benjamin (Permanent Deacon).
Those commissioned Evangelist were:
Bon Coeur,
Rahavavy,
Jean Michel,
Crise,
Alfredino,
Jean Frederic.
Please hold them all in your prayers as they take this next step in the service of God.
Saturday 27th July saw a work day in the Cathedral complex, where the parishioners were busy cleaning the inside of the Cathedral and the grounds around it. All worked hard including Rev Patsy, Assistant Bishop Sami, his wife Holy down to the littlest child! (Bishop Todd was away visiting Churches elsewhere or we know he’d have helped too!)
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Everybody brought one cup of rice and the Miaraka Community provided the meat and vegetables to go with it.
Thanks to all those who put their time and energies into caring for the property so that it looks welcoming to all who visit
Would you pray for us as we take Rooted in Jesus to the northern part of Toliara diocese?
Before Christmas we led four, three day training conferences around Toliara. In January we flew to Fort Dauphin in the south-east and led conferences in Fort Dauphin and Ambovombe. The contrast between the beautiful and relatively prosperous Fort Dauphin, surrounded by the Indian Ocean on one side and mountains on the other, and the poverty and deprivation of Ambovombe was stark.
Dean Donne, Rev Derek & Jane Waller, Ev. Florent, & translator Miza in St Gregory’s Church, Fort Dauphin
We are now heading north for Morondava, on the west coast. It takes 25 hours by road but we will be flying via the capital Antananarivo. We will lead conferences in Mahabo (21st – 23rd March) and Morondava (25th – 27th March). Our team of Evangelist Florent, Jane and myself will be joined by Rev Victor, the parish priest of Mahabo. Victor is a missionary from Kenya to Madagascar and he will interpret for us at both conferences. Rev. Lova will host us at Morondava. We expect around twenty people at each training conference and our hope and prayer is that, once trained, they will go back to their village churches and start discipleship groups.
It’s a huge privilege to lead these conferences. By the grace of God, discipleship groups are springing up. We are also getting an insight into life in Southern Madagascar and experiencing the contrasting beauty of this fascinating island. We thank God for these opportunities. But travelling and staying in different places is tiring. And teaching in temperatures of around 30 degrees centigrade and 70% humidity is demanding on our energy levels and patience!
We so value your partnership in this work of growing disciples of Jesus. We hope that you see our ministry as part of your ministry, for it is your prayers and giving that keep us here.
May the Lord of steadfast love and compassion bless you richly through this season of Lent!
Evangelist Crescend tells us:
Thank you to God that the training of the Rooted in Jesus has been taking place in Ambovombe area, led by Rev Derek and Evangelist Florent. 23 adults and 27 children received certificates for passing the course.
Also there were 40 adults and 45 children baptized yesterday. Glory be to God!!
A team from Roman Catholic High School, Carmel College, in New Zealand stopped at the Women’s Center to make a donation and deliver 40 Days for Girls kits which their school friends had sewn. They are travelling round Madagascar with World Challenge and had heard about the Enterprise via Days for Girls International.
It is so exciting to see how well we have equipped the women in Toliara, Madagascar to make and distribute Days for Girls kits. October was a very busy month for the women working at the Days for Girls Enterprise. They had received an order from DfG International for 500 DfG basics kits (1 shield & 4 liners). They worked really hard to get them made in time and then distributed them in 9 different locations. 757 women and girls listened to their talks, and 500 were lucky enough to win these free kits as part of DfG’s 10th birthday celebrations. Here are some photos from the distributions:
As in 2016, Sue’s work on this trip was in relation to the Days for Girls Enterprise, based at the Women’s Center at the Anglican Cathedral in Toliara. This year was another great step forward for the Enterprise. When we visited in 2016, we taught many women to sew the kits, but did not have time to address marketing as well.
This year’s visit gave us the opportunity to translate into Malagasy the Days for Girls lessons on female health and hygiene. We were then able to train around 35 women, from all parts of the Diocese of Toliara, to go out into the community and teach these lessons to others, and explain the benefits of the Days for Girls washable feminine hygiene kits.
The women were able to practice what they learned in class by teaching at various distributions in Toliara and Fort Dauphin areas. Over 900 women and girls (and a few men) heard the teachings. Over the four weeks, we distributed 437 kits in 13 churches and villages, 6 medical clinics and 1 school. (School exams and vacations meant we could not go into more schools).
Distribution at Ampasy Nahampoana
Sue was surprised by one of the questions during the teaching week, when the women explained they had been told that they could neither receive communion nor be a chalice bearer when they were menstruating. Bishop Sami explained that there was a custom in some areas of the south that required the women to wear a ribbon around their head identifying them during their periods. After consultation with Bishops Todd and Sami, Sue then led an hour’s Bible Study explaining why this was not a view propounded by the Diocese.
Harisoa & Josianne
At the end of the first week’s training, Ms. Harisoa was appointed DfG Assistant Coordinator at the Women’s Center for one year. We are hoping that this will enable the Enterprise to grow and many more kits to be distributed. She is a brave young woman, happy to demonstrate the ease of running and dancing while wearing a kit! Reports back from the women, who have had the kits for 2 years, were very positive. They love the fact that the plastic barrier prevents leaks and stains showing through.
We have been contacted by a Toliara business, which is talking of ordering 100 kits a month to be made by the enterprise, which will mean we can offer regular employment to women. If this is successful, we will then contact other businesses to see if they would like to follow suit.
We were also able to meet with representative of two UK not-for-profits: Blue Ventures (blueventures.org) and SEED Madagascar (madagascar.co.uk/projects/community-health) both of whom have community health programmes which dovetail nicely with the work we are doing with Days for Girls. SEED also has an embroidery project which sells internationally, and we are exploring the possibility of collaborating with them in relation to the paper bead products that are made at the Cathedral.
As in previous trips, Simon worked with the Diocesan accountant on various bookkeeping matters. He also led two philosophy sessions for clergy and prospective clergy.
Simon teaching philosophy class
The first session concerned the relation between faith and reason, and the role that philosophy can play in thinking about Christian doctrines. We considered St Paul’s conversations and speech in Athens, which illustrate the use he made of various ideas circulating in Greece at that time (Acts 17:16ff) and his comments on the possible abuses of philosophy (Colossians 2:8). We read Tertullian’s (160-200AD) hostility to philosophy expressed in his Prescription against the Heretics, and a passage from the Confessions of St Augustine (354-430AD) which describes the role that reading Neo-Platonic philosophy played in his coming to see Christianity as intellectually respectable. After his conversion, St Augustine’s view of faith and reason was contained in his program of “faith seeking understanding”; we read portions of St Anselm’s (1033-1109AD) Letter on the Incarnation of the Word that provided valuable insight and advice on how to pursue that program of “faith seeking understanding”. The choice of St Augustine and St Anselm was partly motivated by the availability of translations of their writings in both English and French (French being the language of high school and higher education in Madagascar). In both sessions, Bishop Samitiana did a wonderful job of keeping the discussion flowing between Malagasy, English and French.
The second session was devoted to understandings of the Eucharist. We identified and discussed seven different understandings that have been proposed by Christians over the centuries. The discussion of one of those understandings – transubstantiation – was facilitated by an explanation of the Aristotelian notions of ‘substance’ and ‘accidents’.
In addition to our work, we had a short break beside the ocean at a hotel in Ifaty (a short distance north of Toliara) between our time in Toliara and traveling to Fort Dauphin. Our time in and around Fort Dauphin included a visit to a lemur reserve at Nahampoana and a stay at the nature reserve at Berenty.
White-footed sportive lemurGiant Coua Hotel de la Plage, Ifaty
Thank you all so much for your prayers and support which made this trip possible! And thanks be to God!
Days for Girls trainings have been going really well. We are training over 30 women how to go out and teach others about women’s health and hygiene and the use of DfG kits. They came with notebooks and pens ready to take notes, and have been practising role play very hard, before going out today to do their first real-live presentation in the neighbouring village.
Simon has had two very good sessions with the Diocesan Accountant, working on
various aspects of the bookkeeping, budget, and keeping track of donations
made for designated projects.
