A community school for all (children) in Fiarenana

The new school year in Madagascar starts in school started in September. We had a series of community meetings about our school and here are the decisions made:

All students attending Zahana’s school have to use and improved cookstove at home. Their parents must commit in writing that they are using and improved cookstove before their children get admitted. Spot inspections by our Zahana representative assure that they actually do indeed use improved cookstoves.

Our school will remain a private school, so we have full autonomy over our curriculum. We had been told by the ministry of education that if we want to offer state exams, such as the CEPE, we have to adopt the official curriculum (although they do not pay the teacher’s salaries).

To avoid any potential misunderstanding, it was decided that students who want to pursue a CEPE should attend a public primary school. Our students will not participate in the external CEPE anymore in the future. In summary, all students wishing to continue secondary school or needing a CEPE will have to migrate to the public school from the 4th year and they can come back to Zahana school for the 6th year if they couldn’t continue to secondary public school.

Zahana’s schools will provide basic courses from first year (T1) to fifth year (T5) with a curriculum focusing on reading, writing and mathematics, but also reforestation and growing vegetables.

A new class called technical class (T6) is added this year. The program for this new class draws from Zahana idea to make our schools truly a rural university as a place to get more higher knowledge that improves people’s lives. Courses provided in this class: agriculture, Zahana imprioved cookstove and biocharcoal, farming, pastry, making soap, cooking, family planning, domestic economic (managing a family budget…), community living, making bricks, basic law, etc.

The wife of the Lutheran pastor from Tsaramandroso has joined our teaching staff. She has important expertise needed for rural development in T6. Our own Donné will co-teach T6 with her.

Zahana will contributes all the raw materials for the practical part of the class, such as flour, sugar, oil or materials for making the soap.

These changes will take effect immediately for the 2022-23 school year.

Links:

• A video: How to built a school with the community

In Madagascar, Independence Day, June 26, is celebrated across the country. This important holiday is marked by various cultural events such as songs, folk song contests, and visiting villages for cultural dances and sports competitions.

Zahana Soccer Cup
 
In our villages, young people organized a women's and a men's soccer ‘Zahana cup’ in conjunction with a folklore tournament for Independence Day. Many of the soccer players are alumni from our two schools. Some said playing soccer in school helped them to keep up their love of the game.

Eight participating teams for our 4 villages competed with the promise of a prize for the 2 finalists. The first qualifying match started April 10. Like a good soccer tournament, Zahana hired outside umpires to make the games as fair as possible. The men’s teams played 90 minutes, the women’s 60.
 
In the women's category: the score of the final game was 2 to 0 as the Tsaramandroso women’s club won 2 goals against 0 for Fiadanana.
 
Tsaramandroso’s women’s club won the first prize: a pig plus a brand new soccer ball. Fiadanana was entitled to a big box of pasta and biscuits and a new soccer ball. Pasta is considered a major prize and an exotic treat in a rice eating culture. The winning women’s team decided to raise the pig for breeding instead of preparing it for a big Independence Day feast. They stayed up all night in Tsaramandroso to mark their victory.
 
For the men's category: the Analakely club won against Tsaramandroso. During the normal time of the 90 minutes game, no goal was scored. The 2 teams demonstrated know-how worthy of professional players. As agreed, in the event of a tie, we proceed directly to the penalty shootout where each team has 5 chances to take a shot at the goal and score.
 
It was the Analakely team who obtained without fail their 5 goals against 3 for Tsaramandroso. The first prize for the winner in this case is a soccer ball and the equivalent of the prize of a pig. Analakely is identified as an Adventist community and a pig would not be appropriate. The second team enjoyed their new soccer ball and a big box of pasta and cookies that they displayed proudly in their dance.
 
We have noticed how football is the favorite sport in our villages and it is a great unifying experience that brings villages and communities together, since they visit each other to watch the games. All villages are within an hour’s walk from each other, so joining a neighbor in a game is within walking distance.
 
Folklore part of the Independence Day festivities
 
As a launching point, a vigil was organized at Fiadanana with a big campfire, to wait for June 26.
 
No holiday is complete without dancing and folk songs celebrating the occasion in Madagascar. (See videos on our YouTube channel.) Each community performed their folk songs and dances created for the celebration.
 
These dances are not always the same every year and often involve current events.  We only learnt during the Independence Day itself that they included Zahana activities as a theme or common thread for their folksong lyrics: Analakely presented the cookstove and bio-charcoal in their dance. Plus, they gave us cakes made in the communal pastry oven and yoghurt made in the solar refrigerator - very tasty.
 
Moreover, the themes that each group has conveyed in their performances reflected the history of Zahana Association from its beginning: water supply, schools, health center, improved homes, bio-charcoal, reforestation, pastries, new cassava cultivation techniques and biological insect control.
 
Given the respective involvement and commitment of each village, and to honor their creativity, we have decided to consider all 4 groups from the 4 villages as winners: Fiarenanana, Fiadanana, Analakely and Tsaramandroso, each ‘won’ a box of pasta and cookies.
 

Links:

• Seed ball dance for reforestation with our students (video)
• Combining reforestation with locally made improved cook stoves
• Reforestation with seed balls in rural Madagascar