Madagascar School Project Blog

One of the continual challenges teaching here, is finding the material to work with. This country doesn’t seem to have discovered “Sticky Tack” or whatever you like to call the “silly putty” type stuff that helps us keep papers on the wall. I thought that lack of materials (books, paints) would be one of the biggest challenges, but it turns out, that because their lives are filled with all the same stuff, there are other challenges.

Take for example Graphing, which we do in math right from Kindergarten. In North America we graph how many children have shoes with laces, how many children are wearing what colours, colour of hair, colour of eyes, favourite T.V. show, favourite food, etc – you get the picture. In Madagascar, no one has shoes, they all wear uniforms, they all have black hair and brown eyes, and they eat what they are given, mostly rice! I frantically wrote to a good friend and Kindergarten teacher back home and she had some good ideas. The next day we graphed who had lost a tooth and who had not. The following day when I tried number of brothers and sisters in the family, I had another surprise. In Malagasy there is one word for brother if you are a boy, and another word for brother if you are a girl. There is a name for oldest child and youngest child, but no one-size-fits-all word for brother or sister. Well…never mind….we’ll do it anyway. They each had so many brothers and sisters, that our graph (consisting of little stick boys and girl pictures) had to be made down the aisle on the floor between tables!

We are finding out this year, as we didn’t do a staggered entry and have 36 four year olds in one class, that the children in Madagascar often don’t know their own names! This is because they are called things like “youngest boy” or “looks like mother’, or some other pet name that some family member has dreamt up. When we take the registration the names are often long (ex-Raharinomenjanahary Travina Feno Fitahiana), and we have to write it all down and then ask what name they are usually called. The parent will give us a name, but it often has no resemblance to what the child is actually called, and the student looks at you blankly when you use the name assigned. This year we must have had fifteen children the first few days, who had no idea what their names were, so even with cute little around-the-neck name tags, we got no where!

Another strange thing is that the people in the countryside don’t follow any rules about naming their children. They may use the same last name as one of the parents, or the family members may each have a different last name, even though the parents are happily married and have had these children together. There seems to be no rhyme or reason why some keep their names and others change them or come up with a different last name for one or all of their children. If it was hard as a teacher in Canada, learning who was who’s sibling, you can imagine the challenge here!

Early reading in North America involves reading labels and signs in the environment. Stuck again!!! These people see no labels. They don’t buy anything packaged, their clothes are all second hand and have long since lost the laundering labels, they don’t have cars, trains or slippery roads, so no traffic signs, (even in the city there are no stop signs, and very few street names), they don’t have anything marked Poison, or Recycle, as they eat only what is produced in gardens within 5 miles of their homes. All we could think of was the no-smoking sign on some buses, but most children never get to ride a bus. We will have to teach them about labels and hope that one day they get to see some!

At home, we beg and plead with students and parents alike to come and check out our Lost and Found, as there are so many shoes, coats, shirts, hats, boots and gloves that the pile is always spilling out onto the floor. Here, there is no such thing as a Lost and Found. I’m sure they wouldn’t understand what I was talking about if I mentioned it. Their clothes are very valuable to them and as they never have enough, so would never dream of leaving an item at school where someone else may take it! In fact when Maxville Public School raised money to buy each of our children here a pair of sandals, the children didn’t want to take them off and leave them unattended to go to recess in case someone took them!

Thank goodness for the many wonderful differences still existing in our world!

Our partnership with the One Laptop Per Child association (OLPC) began with the initiative of Madagascar School Project committee member Joseline Beaulieu. Having heard of the OLPC, Joseline researched the program’s mission and soon concluded that it was in line with the ideals of the Madagascar School Project and that the computers would be a great complement to our project.  She then reached out to the program, posting a note on their website that set everything into motion.

Michael Buckwam, a student at George Washington University saw our note, and told his debating friends to check it out. They all decided that they would like to be involved and Michael, Mary, Kate and Sean then got in touch with Joseline, who by now had been approached by a number of different groups. They emailed furiously back and forth until Joseline and others on the committee decided that she had found the perfect team. She wrote up a letter to OLPC in support of this group of young people who had great computer, travel and technical skills and knowledge. We all anxiously awaited a reply. There were 220 teams vying for the chance to deploy the program overseas.

The first response we got was negative. We hadn’t been selected.  OLPC had chosen only 15 teams. Five days later we got news that the number of teams chosen had been increased to 30 and we were now one of the lucky projects/teams chosen.

OLPC’s mission is to provide a means for learning, self-expression, and exploration to the nearly two billion children of the developing world with little or no access to education.

The OLPC organization believes that children will be empowered when they can learn through experimentation. Working from this constructivist philosophy, they believe that children need time to play and discover the possibilities.  One of the OLPC’s desires then, is that each child actually own their own laptop, and take it to and from class, as our children would take text books and notebooks. The laptops have a handy carrying handle and the antennae fold down so that it is very portable and fits into even a small school bag.

Deployment of the XO laptops to the school was significantly delayed at the customs department in Madagascar. Ours is the very first deployment for OLPC in Madagascar, and so the customs officials had many meetings to decide how to proceed. When we finally brought a laptop in to show the director, he realized that it was definitely for children and not something that would be easily sold.

Computers finally arrive

Then we worked on each logistical obstacle one at a time. Our terrific group of Michael, Mary, Kate and Sean had already graciously shared their four XO laptops with the children of the school and all our teachers, bringing their laptops down to the school at lunch time and working each with three children at a time, and after school, having all the teachers up to their house (where there was electricity), to learn on the computers. We worked meanwhile to bring electricity down from the college 200 metres away, as it was evident that we were not going to get the electricity company to install our own metre any time soon.

Teacher training started the day after we finally got all the chargers released from customs. Teachers from our school and three from a neighbouring school came to class each morning. We learned how to take pictures of objects and make up our own learning games with them. We made paper airplanes, flew them, measured the distance with the computer echolocation program (Dolphin), made improvements to the design, and then recorded using video or still photos and the writing program, instructions on how to make the best paper airplane. Once everyone had finished the task, we were able to share each other’s work, by working in an interactive way, inviting each other in the “neighbourhood” to look at our work.

Teacher Training

Teachers were challenged, after learning a number of programs, to begin designing their own lesson plans, using the laptops as a tool. The results were varied and led to great excitement about the possibilities that the computers brought to a classroom and to learning!

We held a big opening ceremony at the school at the beginning of August. All the children ages 5 and up with their parents were invited. Each child was assigned and given a computer – the computers, all numbered, were entered into the team’s data page so that each child would be the sole user of his/her computer.

Families

The parents were asked to make sure that their children were accompanied by an adult coming and going from school, so that the children and laptops would be safe. They were told that it was important that the children be given time at home to work on the computers, but that if a single computer was lost, being either stolen, sold or destroyed, then the lending program would stop. We had the mayor of the township come and speak at our meeting and he agreed to be co-signatory on an acceptance of responsibility agreement drawn up between the parents and the school.

The following day was the opening of computer camp! What excitement! What a lot of wires and power bars leapfrogging one another to reach all around the room! What a picture with all the fascinated faces staring at their screens as they went from one incredible program to another. The children first laughed out, then elbowed their neighbour to share their find, then stared mesmerized at their own image, seen on a screen for the first time, as they discovered the Record (camera) program and learned how to take pictures of themselves and each other!

The next three weeks were full of delight as each day marked new learning and hours of delight in discovery. Our four American students, our five Malagasy teachers, our English teacher, and I would walk around the room assisting children when it was necessary, and taking care of the power and technical needs as they arose.

For three days in the middle of that, we were without electricity, and so the more regular day camp activities were a replacement for computer work. The children learned how to play frozen tag, and had their first three legged race, all with the participation of the keen American students and the amazed but quick to join in Malagasy teachers!

The children brought their computers home every night. Parents quickly organized into teams to take turns walking the neighbourhood children to school and home. Computers were dutifully signed out and if a child was absent one day, the parent would make sure that the computer was returned by a friend. We even gained in another way by the computer lending program. The Lova Soa school has large gardens which are planted and cared for by the parents of our school.  The harvest is used to feed the children a noon meal at school every day. As we had four parents who had not been keeping up their plot well, they were told that the computer would not go home with their child until the gardens were back in form. Talk about pressure for the parents! It was no time before all the gardens were back in shape!

The computers will run about two hours before they need recharging. That means that as soon as the children get to school they plug their computer in. They can use it right away near an outlet, or charge it and use it later, during class. Then the computers need to be recharged again before they go home with the children in the evening. The biggest problem we have is that we did such a good “this is your responsibility” talk, that the parents don’t always give the children the freedom to use the computers when and how they want to. We will work on this over the year. The computer automatically stores everything that the children have done on them, so they can show their friends in the schoolyard the next day all that they’ve worked on.

One of the greatest thing about the computers is the way it has given the young children something of value to contribute to their family. Now the 5 year old is the expert and the ‘go-to’ person when anyone else in the family wants to try out the computer. The parents, of course, value the computer a great deal, as it is something that they never dreamed they’d be able to have.

Student With XO Laptop

We plan to send the computers home every evening until the middle of November when the rice transplanting season begins. At that time, the parents will not be able to come to walk their children to school and home, as everyone will be busy in the rice fields, so we may have to keep them at school until after this busy farming time.

So, as you can see, it has been a huge benefit and gift to us to receive this grant and to have four wonderfully, capable and intelligent young students come and work with our students and teachers. We are greatly indebted to both the team of Kate, Mary, Michael and Sean as well as to the OLPCorps for offering us and our children such a tremendous gift and opportunity!

The OLPCorps team have been keeping a blog of their experiences and have also shared photos.

The students at Lova Soa continue to thrive. Most came to school for more than half the summer to work on their computers at computer camp and in their spare time after camp finished. They are healthy and happy. Parents are working in the garden and have a good fellowship going so that before the American students left, they organized a thank you get together with gifts bought by and with contributions from the parents.

We have found huge spin offs in the lives of the children, as for example, we are not seeing the foot parasites or infections from cuts as we saw in the past, as the parents have been taught by our village doctor during sessions at the school, how to care for these things. Knowing that they have access to a doctor now, has had the effect of increased vigilance among parents in regard to the health of their youngsters. As well, the children are showing their parents how these magical computers work, which has earned them a new respect in their families.

Students With OLPCs

We expand our student population this year to include 12ieme (last pre-school grade), and have 87 students registered for this year, which starts on October 12th. We have decided not to expand in a physical sense and will maintain our present buildings for this year, as we are, as yet, unable to have total independence in the decision making process surrounding Lova Soa. We are working on an agreement with the college, which owns the land on which our school is built and will hopefully expand next year. We have decided to not include the 3 year old, petite section this year, so that we can keep all our present students and not be too crowded. It is felt that we can serve the population best this way, and will receive these children as four year olds, next year.

On September 21st we began our teacher preparation for the new year and resumed our English lessons for two hours a day at Lova Soa. We have approximately 11 people who come to all the English lessons regularly. These people are staff of our school as well as other teachers in the area.

October 12th is the first day of this school year, and we’ve been busy waxing floors, washing tables and chairs and generally brightening up the school in preparation for the opening day of year two of Lova Soa.

parents working

It is such a different atmosphere this year! The excitement and nervousness of last year’s opening is replaced by a feeling of fellowship and caring among our parents and students. The families know what is expected of them in the gardens and they have a great sense of pride and ownership in their little school. They come by regularly to care for their plots, to visit and find out what’s new. Children are here all day playing on the computers, as long as I am here to supervise. If I am away, they play on the slide, fly their kites, or sit and play their form of a game of jacks using stones and no ball. In short, everyone is at home here and it is so good to see!

School Children

We look forward to welcoming English speaking teachers who wish to enjoy a new cultural experience while volunteering here at our little school.

It is September 9th and I am enjoying two weeks in Antsirabe, Madagascar, about 5 hours by taxi brousse south of the capital city of Antananarivo, where I am studying to learn how to communicate in Malagasy.

My time has been very interesting and diverse here, as my wonderful language teacher, Fanja, gave birth, before term, to her fifth child and only daughter. On only the second day of my language lessons she called me to say that she was in labour at the hospital and so would have to postpone our language lesson for the day from 8 am to sometime in the afternoon!!! I told her she was crazy to be thinking about her teaching at a time like this, but she insisted that I come in and get the lessons she had prepared for me.

Picture, if you will, our maternity wards, and now remove from your mind’s eye, the nursery, baby bottles, incubators, diapers, cribs, baby baths, buzzers by the bed, and what you have left is a room with a bathroom and a bed. This is a private hospital, so it is somewhat more luxurious than most. Here you have your own bathroom, with toilet paper and sheets!

Everything that you need while in hospital has to be provided by the family, including someone to look after you, morning and night, as the nurses are there to assist in surgeries, and the orderlies to carry patients (usually in sheets, as there are no stretchers or elevators) and clean the room. No meals are provided and no medications brought around. If you need medication, your helper or family member must go to the pharmacy and buy it for you. There is no nursery so the baby sleeps and stays always with the mother, (no cribs anywhere). No one shows the new mother how to bathe her baby or help her get started breast feeding.

As I was available and wanted to learn the language, I was quickly given the role of being Fanja’s in hospital day helper. So the next two days were spent walking, rocking, changing and generally caring for a beautiful newborn baby girl, “Nariko”. It was a lovely job and enjoyed it thoroughly.

My first morning on the job proved challenging as mother was operated on, as she wanted this to be her last child. The baby had nursed at 7:30 am and then had to wait until noon to eat again as her mother was put under general anesthetic, and there are no baby bottles to be had in this city! Singing, rocking and pacing around the room with a screaming infant and a mother who was delirious as she came out of the anasthetic (no recovery rooms either), was interesting. Fanja kept calling for the doctor, and saying that the baby was hungry, (I won’t easily forget those words), and finally, in desperation, I put the infant to the sleeping mother’s breast. Wonder of wonders – it worked! Peace reigned again in our little room.

Soon after the baby was quietened and back to sleep, I was able to convince Fanja, that the operation was over, the baby and she were well, and she could just rest and sleep. The broken record recording at that point changed from “Doctor” and “baby hungry” to “Praise God its over!” Then Dad arrived with food and hot water in a thermos, as well as a blanket for Mom and diapers for baby. All was uphill after that. I took pictures of the baby, which thrilled the parents, as they have no pictures at all of their other four children.

Ansirabe is a place where many foreigners who are planning to work in Madagascar come to learn the language. I was given the name of a woman who had an inexpensive room where I could stay. Well, what a happy surprise it was when I landed to find out that it is on a small farm and retreat centre! Betty, a 74 year old Swiss woman, started this place about 9 years ago, with the help of a Christian group  in Switzerland. She has built a house for herself and guests, and a very large building that can house 200 people for groups to gather for seminars, workshops, music camps etc.

Having never had a family of her own, Betty has made hospitality to others her life. Her dinner table resembles the United Nations, with all ages and colours and she casually switches from Malagasy to Swiss/German and then to English or French, only occasionally making a mistake and addressing someone in the wrong language. You can always get a meal at Betty’s, the meal will always begin with grace, and the door is always open. This is the only time since I have been in Madagascar that I haven’t had to carry around a set of keys and unlock every room that I want to enter. I pay $7.14 CAD a night and get a private bedroom, desk, three meals a day, and a bicycle any time I want it! How does she do it? Well, she has 4 cows that she milks and with the help of some fourteen Malagasy people she has employed, makes her own butter, yogurt, cream, and cheese. She makes all her own bread and jam, collects leaves for tea and herbal remedies, uses solar heating for water and some cooking. She also raises chickens and rabbits. It is very hard to find her sitting for more than 10 minutes at a time. By providing her facilities at such a wonderful rate, she has been able to provide the opportunity for thousands of children to come to camp for a week.

Many of the things that Betty does here to make comfort affordable, are things that I think we, at the Madagascar School Project, could do at our sites. For instance, she has an ingenious way of allowing many children to wash their hands at once. A long metal pipe, with small holes drilled in the underside, at an angle, over a cement waist-high trough, with a tap to allow the water to flow from a container, down its length and drip in many different places, allows about 50 children to wash their hands or brush their teeth all at once. Since I am not in the main house and therefore don’t have access to the water heated by the solar heaters, I was given a big, black, rubber bag which I half fill with water in the morning and leave in the hot sun. The next morning, I have my own hot (a gross exaggeration perhaps, but warmish), water to shower in. The best thing about this place is the kindness of the people, many have suffered greatly in their own lives, and are set on making life as pleasant as possible for everyone they meet.

- Kathy

I arrived at the school on July 2nd to a wonderful welcome from the students and teachers of Lova Soa. They sang for me and showed me what they can do. They know many phrases in English now, and greet me always in English. The teachers all donated to the cause to have a little party to welcome me back. The jet lag made me long for a bed, but the enthusiasm of the teachers and students and their desire to share with me all that they had learned warmed my heart.

It is cold here in Madagascar right now, with our apartment being around 15 degrees Celsius most of the time. It is also supposed to be the dry time, but has rained a very fine rain for much of the past week. The local mason has just finished building a brick shower for us at the side of the office of the school. Most days our guard has heated lovely warm water when we get up, for our morning sponge baths.

The children come to school around 7 am even though school doesn’t begin until 8:00. They play on our new play structure and enjoy being among their friends. In class I quickly learn that our Kindergarten class now know the days of the week, the months of the year, the seasons, and can count, most of them, up to 130. They know all the letters of the alphabet and their sounds, can each write their name, and have a bank of known English sight words, as well as many English songs.

It astounds me how much patience they demonstrate. They will wait quietly in class, sitting at their desk or standing in line for 20 minutes without fussing or fidgeting. They are respectful and well mannered in class and if they are asked to come and show something on the black board they are happy to have the chance and will say “thank you” to the teacher when they are finished, before returning to their seat.

Our OLPC (One Laptop per Child) team is here, ready to work with children who will receive the gift of a small laptop. Mary, Kate, Michael and Sean are all university students who have given of their time this summer to come to Madagascar and deploy these wonderfully designed computers. Our team received a ten day training course in Rwanda before coming to our village of Ambatoharanana.

The XO laptops, as they are called, were designed specifically for children in developing countries. They are extremely durable, dust-proof and made to be able to be worked with outside as the screen doesn’t reflect the sun. They are very intuitive and are able to be used in many languages. The children can chat amongst themselves in their villages, do a work of art on a paint project, learn programming through simple commands, take pictures, measure the distance between objects, do creative writing alone or along with others on their computers, etc. etc. We hope to employ the computers to help us in the teaching of numeracy and literacy as well as science, social studies, etc.

So far the four university students have been teaching the teachers every evening after school on their own 4 XO’s. The 100 computers that will be given out to students are still being held at the customs office awaiting the endless amount of paperwork and bureaucracy that needs to happen to process them before they are freed to us. Yesterday the OLPC team came to the school at lunch time, and during recess, they each worked with two students at a time until all 29 had had a chance to be introduced to the computer. The concentration on the faces of the children was quite something to behold, as they tried to make the track pad mouse go where they wanted it to.

We have been blessed with an incredible staff here at the school! From the teachers, who are so keen to learn anything they can and who are there to help the students through any difficulties, to our guard, Olivier, who knows the children by name and who cooks, sews, runs errands, cleans the school and is a friend to all. We also have a very dedicated committee here, who keep everything running smoothly and are willing to put aside their own work when called on to run to town for a meeting or other necessary business activities of the school.

We could not have asked for a better group of people running our school! Their dedication is obvious in the way the children have learned and the mutual respect and love that is exhibited by all.

The teachers and students asked me to thank all our supporters very much for all that you have given to this school. They are so very grateful for a hearty daily meal and the opportunity to learn.

-Kathy