Week 2: Andranosoa

The last few days in the village saw a wealth of activity. 20 benches were completed by Mr Opie's hard working team and Miss Ellis's group finished two murals inside the classrooms. All pupils had the opportunity to have a walk up to the top of the sacred hill to see the tombs of past kings and queens of Madagascar and understand a little more about the culture of ancestor worship. A team has been surveying the village to find out the houses most in need of solar light bulbs while a separate group of students has been handing out stationary equipment to local children. Mrs McCall's hard work around camp and organising all of the food has been well recieved. 

We are all excited to confirm that we will be returning to Andranosoa on the 3rd of August for the opening ceremony and an afternoon of Malagasy music and dancing. We might also squeeze another football match in too (unbeaten so far W1 D1 L0). Today we are in the city of Andtsirabe and have taken the opportunity to have a hot shower and sleep in a bed for the first time in over a week. Tomorrow we will be travelling to Miandrivazo for the start of the 3 day long canoe trip down the Tsiribhina river.

An afternoon walk up to the sacred hill overlooking Andranosoa.

Both of the murals have now been completed

Nokero solar bulbs have been sponsored by the Upminster Residents Association. 

A proud man showing off his new solar light bulb. 

Local children with their gifts of pencils. 

Joe and the rest of the bench team have worked extremely hard to finish all of the benches.