Planting 15000 trees in Madagascar

Madagascar has experienced an exceptionally devastating cyclone season in early 2015. The severe weather and rain caused a lot of damage and made roads impassable and unsafe. We sent our founder’s nephew, a strong young man, who had to walk the last 20 kilometers on foot to reach our villages.

Dr. Ihanta, Zahana’s founder, sent us this explanatory background note: “The weather was terrible and most of people were forced to stay in their houses most of the time. In our capital many houses collapsed due to the rain and mudslides on the steep hillsides. Unbelievable, but since January it was raining everyday.  We learnt that the last timr we had a similar flood in Madagascar was in 1959 and it was also very serious."

When her nephew checked on the reforestation progress he filed this report (short and concise as usual):

Fiarenana: Planting trees became an habit in the village. The latest numbers to report are:

• Orange trees 57
• Papaya 13
• Local fruit trees 43
• Eucalyptus 4,494

Fiadanana: International Woman Day: Activity was planting trees. Accounting for recently planted trees:

• Eucalyptus 2,300
• Mangos 250
• Natalys trees 30 [a big shade three with small little leaves]
• Fruit trees 74

Happy New Year!

We got these great photos with the Christmas trees in our schools in Fiarenana and Fiadanana. We have so many beautiful pictures, it is hard to choose just six. We let them speak for themselves.

Since 2007 Santa has been visiting our schools in rural Madagascar. This year he brought gifts with him of cookies, sweets, bread and clothes. About half of the lucky ones also got a doll or a toy car. And yes, Santa is impressive. He is probably the tallest Malagasy the children might ever see in their lives.

If you are in a position to decide about your end-of-the-year donation, we hope you will think of our reforestation efforts in Madagascar and donate to Zahana. Thank you!

GlobalGiving offers options with just a few clicks:

Looking for a gift in honor of somebody? Why not consider a gift in her or his name (with an e-card or physical card sent to the lucky recipient by GlobalGiving)

GlobalGiving has an end-of-the-year campaign for 2014. To get one of the cash prizes, Zahana needs to raise at least $1,000 from 30 different donors for our reforestation efforts. You can do this with a few clicks and help us get closer to our additional monies goal.

And to sweeten the pie, if you set up a recurring donation to Zahana, the amount of your December donation will be doubled by GlobalGiving (up to $200), making your gift twice as big.

Or you may just click on the button “give now” below.

Thank you!