From 22 July to 9 August, we went back to the fourth largest island in the world. In 2019, we were in Antsiranana in the north-west of the country. This time, we were heading for two places: Antananarivo, the capital, and Toamasina, the second city, on the east coast. Our first bit of bad luck was having to wait more than two hours for our bags to arrive. But at least they did arrive!
First, we met the children in the churches at Lolona and Ranja. Their praise songs filled our hearts (with joy). After talking with the teachers and parents about how important it is to have handicapped children in school, we set off for Tamatave.
For six hours, we came across very young children begging for a few coins in return for filling holes in the road with pebbles. Our second piece of bad luck was that our driver seemed to think it was some kind of race, which made Francine feel very sick. Fortunately, the countryside was magnificent, rice fields, canoes for extracting sand from the rivers, beautiful plants and trees.
At Toamasina, we met people from the seven regions that the Lord led us to with Hanta and Roger Rakotoarijao…over twenty years ago. It was an emotional reunion. Even Maman Marie, aged 80, had come from Majenga on the west coast. She is an amazing servant of God!
Florian and Nasser were with us this year and we were able to sing and spread God’s Word in clubs and churches.
Oh, I forgot! We walked around the merry-go-rounds near the beach. The big wheel turned thanks to some very sporty young people climbing on it. No need for electricity…
Good-bye children, good-bye dear lemurs. Veloma! (Good-bye!)
