Association Soleil Marmailles

News from Amparihibe is excellent. We received a tractor with a plow and a trailer. This donation was made by the Trust Two Walters. They also helped us to complete the construction of the chicken coop. We thank them very much.  

The tractor has already carried the sand required for the construction of the henhouse. Again children and grown ups worked together .

I will bring you the first pictures of the grooves made ​​by the tractor early April. We are at the end of the rainy season. Plowing will begin when the soil is a little dryer.

The icing on the cake: the harvest was very good. The school has further increased its rice production. We will at least double the production of last year! Parents of students came to harvest. They were very motivated! It must be said that the arrival of farm equipment has lifted the spirirs of all the villagers. Margarett school will rent the tractor  to the villagers. Production increase and each school should be autonomous in less than a year! I'll let you know.

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A cycle of rice cultivation ...
The first pictures were taken last December. Children and grown worked together   ...

The last pictures were taken 3 months later. Making work pay !  It's good to see it.

We planned to inaugurate the new classroom funded by the Bel Corporate Foundation for the walls and by the alumni of Saint Michel ( Antananarivo ) de France (ASMF) for tables and benches. Unfortunately the bridge Sakay, located halfway between Tana and Amparihibe was out of use. This bridge was the victim of  thieves of scrap. They broke the concrete to remove the iron frames. Thus, the structure was weakened and collapsed in the middle. This incident illustrates the state of the country and all the work remaining. However, news is quite good. The 82 children enrolled are frequent and regularly attend literacy  and agriculture classes.

The construction of the henhouse of the Margarett school is going well. The walls were erected, we still have to put  the thatched roof on.

Out of bad come good... I took advantage from my short stay in " La Terre Rouge " to consider our activities in Tana. In particular, I valued the progress of the home built for street children and discussed with mothers who received micro-credits.

The main work of the home is almost complete. Congratulations to Nadia. The rest can be done gradually, little by little. Monthly meetings of Street Children who were previously outdoors will soon be done in the new room. Now, these meetings will no longer be subject to the whims of the rain.

Regarding the micro-credits, things are looking good. Let's recall that we loaned 40 euros for four mothers in early July to "capitalize" their micro-enterprise. Their micro-enterprise consisted largely of small businesses: buying and selling of scrap sales or of coal and beans ... We also loaned 40 euros for a farmer.
Paying back was not a big issue for mothers. They were able to pay regularly, two of them even paid earlier. The farmer had more difficulty, the production did not reach his hopes. He could not repay the loan but could think to do so in the next coming weeks.
For all families this influx of money changed their lives. The main change is the improvement of their alimentation. Families eat better, those who used to eat only once a day have now three daily meals. In addition, they were able to meet the needs they could not meet until today: electricity and school supplies. Beside those dramatic benefits, there are other sources of satisfaction. Until then, the family borrowed from loan usurers who choked them. Another side effect is the development of an economy between villagers who are part of this micro credit. The farmer will sell its products to retailers. 
Finally, a big thank you to the 'ASMF donated to help fund five other projects of micro-credits.

The third school funded by the Bel Foundation is ready! A big thank you to the foundation. Thank to it, we can send forty more children to school for the beginning of September.

The tables and benches making funded by  the ASMF ( Alumnis Saint Michel de France) is delayed . It will still be ready for the children after the holidays. A big thank you to the association.

Everything is for the best in our little village. Autonomy slowly takes place. During the past year, two major steps were made. The first is a canteen for the school children. The youngest eat every Friday, it is the day they are in the fields. The older are in the field every day, this is why they have a daily meal.  Regarding the diversity of their alimentation, we are helped by a World Bank-funded organization: SEECALINE. The local representative of the organization comes one Friday per month to provide a food education class.

The second step is the beginning of autonomy in school supplies. Agricultural production was sufficient for selling most of it in order to buy some school supplies that were missing ...

This is the end of the school year.  
Children of Margarett school will take a well deserved vacation. They gained knowledge in reading, writing and arithmetic. This year was marked by an higher production compared to last year.
In addition, crop diversification has not been outdone.
We have grown for the first time lima beans and a variety of beans from  a kind of shrub. Even nature is with us, sorghum has grown without being planted! We will collect it, prepare it and give it to the children.
We will keep seeds for the next season!

Le riz, le maïs, les haricots, les cacahuètes et les pois de terre des enfants  
Rice, maize, beans, peanuts and peas earth children

Un grand merci aux Inner Wheel qui nous ont encore une fois soutenus. Merci pour la confiance qu'elles nous témoignent.

Elles ont financé la deuxième salle de classe de l'école Margarette. Rappelons qu'en début d'année scolaire les élèves les plus grands ont dû quitter notre petite structure afin de laisser la place aux plus jeunes. Ces « grands », âgés d'environ 14 ans, ont de nouveau été livrés à eux mêmes. Grâce à cette salle de classe nous pourrons continuer leur éducation. Cette éducation poursuivra l'enseignement classique mais laissera une large place à l'apprentissage de l'agriculture. Nous les préparerons à entrer dans la vie active.

Madame Jeanne GUERIN, Présidente Nationale, et Marilynn CAMALON, gouverneur du district 920, nous ont fait l'honneur de venir dans notre village au bout du monde pour inaugurer la construction fraîchement terminée. L'ambiance a été festive pour le bonheur des petits et des grands. Les élèves ont remercié à leur manière les donatrices : chants et danses n'ont pas manqué. Quant au Inner Wheel, elles ont rappelé aux parents l'importance de l'éducation de leurs enfants et notamment celle des petites filles.

Madame Jeanne GUERIN, National President, and Marilynn CAMALON, governor of District 920, did the honor to come to our village at the end of the world to inaugurate the newly completed building. The atmosphere was festive for the pleasure of young and old. Students expressed their gratitude to the donor through  songs and dance . As for the Inner Wheel, they reminded parents of the importance of education for their children, especially the girls.

En plus du financement  de la salle de classe, la délégation des Inner Wheel n'est pas venue les mains vides. Elles ont apporté des fournitures scolaires. Une autre manière de rappeler le but de leur engagement : l'éducation.

In addition to the funding of the classroom, the Delegation of the Inner Wheel did not come empty handed. They brought school supplies. Another way to remember the purpose of their commitment : education. 

Tiana RAZAFINTSALAMA

Vice Président

Soleil Marmailles