A community school for all (children) in Fiarenana

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

We call it "journée des écoles", which can be translated as “Celebrating School Day”. It is traditionally celebrated the 23rd of February and involves meals and games across the country.
 
Since Zahana has two schools and we wanted to celebrate with the entire team, so all our teacher could attend both festivities, we held the celebration in Fiadanana on the day itself or February 23 and on February 24 in Fiarenana.
 
Our coordinator living in the village sent his photos with the following text:
 
Here is an echo of School Day: On February 23 in Fiadanana we had a special meal for the students at lunch, dancing, plus a friendly soccer match that we held at the EPP (Public Primary school) to actively involve these students as well, since the special day is for all schools and all students in the village.
 
On Thursday, February 24, 2022, the Fiarenana festivities also inlcuded a special meal for the students at lunch, dancing, and a soccer match. But here we also had a tree planting event with our students. While the parents gathered and danced together, the students planted trees together.

PS: Please watch “Reforestation with seed balls in rural Madagascar” our latest video documenting this seeds balls mada and 'planted' by our students for context.

Our video Combining reforestation with locally made improved cook stoves in Madagascar has seen a great boost in viewership on our YouTube channel in the last few weeks. Please help us to keep this exciting trend going by watching and liking it. If you feel so compelled please also leave a comment, it does make a big difference for the YouTube algorithm.

Links:

• Seed ball dance for reforestation with our students in Madagasca
• Reforestation by the community in Madagascar with Zahana