[ Home ] [ About ] [ Donate ]  

Thank you for your interest in learning more about HELP Madagascar! 

Madagascar is located off the southeast coast of Africa, across from Mozambique. Many people assume that it’s a small island, but it’s actually 226,656 square miles (587,039 square kilometers) -- larger than Florida, Georgia, South & North Carolinas combined (or about the size of France).  The French ruled the island from 1896 to 1960, thus French and Malagasy are the two most commonly spoken languages. English was only recently added as the third language.

Madagascar is often described as a mini-continent because of its geographical diversity. Like Australia, its isolation has “bred” many unique types of flora and fauna; “85 percent of the plants and animals on the island are found nowhere else in the world”  (www.enviroliteracy.org/article.php/499.html).  Clockwise from middle: Black & white ruffed lemur; tomato frog; gecko; panther chameleon; ring-tailed lemur.

Madagascar’s earliest roots are most likely Indonesian. It’s thought that “(p)eople first came to Madagascar in boats about 2000 years ago…. Archaeologists believe that Madagascar may have been an important stopping point along a trade route that ran from southeast Asia to east Africa. The cultural practices of the Malagasy people reflect their mixed Asiatic and African roots” (www.pbs.org/edens/madagascar/eden.htm)‏.

The top and center photos (woman on left) reflect the people group with stronger Indonesian roots, most of whom live in the central highlands, which encompasses the capital. The coastal regions – including where HELP works – are dominated by people with more African features. 

HELP Madagascar (Health, Education & Life-skills Projects) is a non-profit Christian development organization created to empower the poor for self-change. HELP’s mission is to improve the physical, mental, social and spiritual development of marginalized people in Madagascar, regardless of their ethnic, political, or religious background. HELP operates primarily in the central east coast region of the country. Most of our activities take place in Toamasina-ville (population, 200,000+; the country’s second largest town and largest seaport); but HELP also has sub-projects in other rural and urban areas based on need and request. HELP has been operating informally since 2000 and was officially registered with the Malagasy government in 2004.

According to UN statistics, 85% of the population exists on less than $2 a day; 61% of the population lives on less than $1/day. That’s everything: food, housing, school, clothes, etc. Most of the people HELP assists live on less than $1 a day – and would consider making $2 a day “hitting the jackpot.” Almost 50% (48.6%) of children under five are malnourished. HELP beneficiaries are primarily single parent homes; orphans living with extended family; families headed by the handicapped (usually due to leprosy); and families that have been devastated by alcohol abuse. Locally made “toaka gasy” is a form of rum that is so cheap and potent, adults will often use it to squelch their hunger and become alcoholics in the process.  (www.ruralpovertyportal.org/english/regions/africa/mdg/statistics.htm)

For those living on less than one U.S. dollar a day, even the most basic health care is unaffordable. HELP provides free and subsidized medicines for the poorest of the poor, as well as partially or completely subsidized hospital care for the poorest children and adults.  HELP stresses preventive care, encouraging parents to have their children vaccinated and de-wormed. Exclusive breastfeeding until six months of age, better nutritional choices, and improved personal hygiene and sanitation are also emphasized. 

Supporting human rights is another aspect of positive physical, mental and social health. HELP intervenes in domestic violence and child abuse cases by helping the victim get proper medical treatment and file police reports – a daunting task for an uneducated person. 

This little boy was orphaned soon after birth when his mother died of tuberculosis. Severely malnourished by the time he was brought to HELP, he needed extensive nutritional therapy to gain weight. As he grew older, physical therapy was also required to teach him to walk (seen here at the provincial hospital). HELP provided baby formula, clothing and covered his hospital expenses.

Malaria, dengue fever, diarrheal diseases, parasites, and skin infections are common health problems that can be treated inexpensively when caught soon enough.  HELP also treats many burns and skin ulcers. Burns are common during the winter months when families cook inside on small charcoal burners. The national drink (ranon’ampango) is made by adding water to the burnt remains after cooking rice. This mixture is boiled until it turns almost black. Many burns are caused by pots of boiling water that have been knocked over by playing children cooped inside a tiny bungalow when it’s cold and rainy outside. 

The price of bandages and compresses is so exorbitant (one dressing may cost more than a day’s wages), it’s nearly impossible for a poor person to get the bandages changed on a regular basis, much less the needed ointments. HELP has had people come from remote rural locales because they have heard of our success in treating burns and skin ulcers.

HELP partners with other local organizations to meet similar goals. Population Services International (PSI; http://www.psi.org/where_we_work/madagascar.html), one of HELP’s partners, sells subsidized bednets to HELP at a reduced rate (about $2/net). Every year, HELP gives its on-site students nets to use at home with their families. We have seen a great reduction in the number of malaria cases amongst the children, which helps to decrease absenteeism. HELP also gives bednets to other extremely poor families who do not qualify for a free net under other government programs. 

The suburb where HELP is located is near a large leprosarium.  Many of those with leprosy chose to move out and started their own community, as they no longer have active leprosy and are not contagious. This community is extremely poor – made up entirely of lepers, their children and grandchildren. Many are illiterate; most are so disfigured that they are shunned by society.

Madame Dety came to HELP to request a pair of shoes for her toeless feet (see left foot in first photo). The local hospital has a rehab ward, including a technician trained to make shoes to order for the handicapped. It seemed like a great idea, although we warned Dety that the shoes would be heavy and hot. She insisted that she would wear them no matter what, so HELP made her their test case. The resulting boots (photo two) are well-made, but as we suspected, became expensive "book-ends" after a few months. They were simply too heavy for her petite frame and too hot for Toamasina’s climate. In addition, lacing up shoes when one has no fingers is problematic.

Since this “experiment,” we’ve discovered by accident that the popular shoeware “Crocs” is almost ideal for those with leprosy. They’re lightweight and cushy, so they're easy to walk in and prevent foot ulcers.  They’re also simple to clean and rain-resistant – great for a region that can get more than 11.5 feet of rain a year. Lastly, they’re wide, which is needed for lepers who have foot deformities caused by losing toes and other malformations which result in a wide, short “foot.” HELP intends to explore this avenue as a solution for other leper’s footwear needs.

Imagine that your entire life is defined by a piece of paper. If this paper is missing, you can’t register for school, take official exams, get an identity card, vote, legally marry or apply for higher-paying jobs. In Madagascar, not having a birth certificate equals lack of opportunities that usually guarantee poverty. It’s a vicious cycle – illiterate, poor parents don’t register their babies at birth, thus dooming their children to never enter school, creating more illiterate adults. HELP works to break this cycle by assisting children to get both an education and their birth certificate. 

Each year, HELP assists at least 200-250 students, either through sponsorship or direct instruction.  In 2007/08, HELP sponsored or subsidized over 110 children and young adults to school or university. Some students are sponsored 100%; others receive assistance with school fees, supplies and/or uniforms (mandatory in Malagasy schools). HELP also assists several Malagasy-run schools for the poor by providing part or all of the teachers’ monthly salaries. One is a large charity school of over 850 students in Toamasina-ville called Enfants de Joie (Children of Joy), pictured above. 

We were so impressed by their teachers’ dedication and their willingness to work despite low salaries (about $20 a month in 2002), that HELP pledged to find a way to help them raise salaries and make them available on a monthly basis. In the past, teachers had gone over five months with no pay (due to cash-strapped poor parents reneging on monthly tuition), but continued to teach because of their commitment to the children. Humbling….

Under a separate initiative coordinated with the Ministry of Education and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), HELP runs classes for an additional 100 children a year on-site. A two-month course teaches and reinforces crucial literacy skills. The follow-on ten-month program is an intensive “catch-up” class for illiterate teens and drop-outs. Free school supplies, health care, clothes and a daily hot lunch are important incentives to poor families. At the end of the academic year, students take the government exam to determine if they can continue on to junior high school. This program is part of UNESCO’s international “education for all” initiative: http://www.unesco.org/uil/literacyprogrammes/07_en.html.

Although not one of HELP’s major objectives, every year we are asked to help with the rehabilitation/construction of rural schools, schools serving the urban poor, or schools in under-served areas (for example, building middle schools where none exist). Each request is evaluated on a case-by-case basis and usually one or two modest schools or classrooms are built each year. The lower right is a school attached to a church in a rural area where no middle school program existed for decades. Parents’ only choice was to send their children off to Toamasina to continue their education – at great expense for housing, transportation and tuition fees. The expansion of the existing primary school to include middle school has been highly praised by local parents and government officials.

Vocational training is another crucial aspect to help break the cycle of poverty and hopelessness. Every year, HELP sponsors adolescents and young adults to programs that prepare for a career in carpentry, metalwork, sewing and embroidery, English translating, etc. HELP-run classes in sewing, embroidery, knitting and crocheting have taught local women a marketable skill.  Modest, no-interest loans are available on a case-by-case basis for small enterprise development.

The East Coast of Madagascar is appropriately called the Cyclone Coast. The last two years (2007/08) have been particularly bad years for cyclones. In February 2008, Toamasina-ville received a near direct hit by Cyclone Ivan. Because of HELP’s reputation for hard work and financial integrity, we were approached by the World Food Programme (WFP) to assist with relief efforts to over 25,000 people in rural areas surrounding Toamasina-ville. HELP staff organized distributions of rice, oil and beans provided by the WFP and other international donors. The helicopter seen in these photos was hired by the UN for HELP’s use and carried three tons of commodities at a time.  The cyclone had arrived during the lean season and had wiped out many of the foods that families live on between rice harvests: breadfruit, bananas, manioc (cassava), etc. People literally cried as the “flying mechanical chicken” (helicopter) landed in their village…. 

One of HELP’s future dreams is to renovate this former government leprosarium located on the beach about a five-minute drive from our current school/office site.  Our tentative plan is to have a clinic/health center on-site. A large plot of undeveloped land at the back of the property could be turned into a model garden that would teach local families about nutritious foods they could easily grow in the sandy soil.

A second dream of HELP’s grew from a request from the regional health department: Would HELP consider running periodic mobile clinics up and down the Pangalanes Canals (Canal des Pangalanes), 370 miles of curving natural and man-made waterways running south from Toamasina along Madagascar’s eastern coast? Many of the villages on this waterway are so remote, the people can only travel via dug-out canoes – and in some locales, only during certain times of year. HELP has been offered the free use of land near the “center” of the Pangalanes to use as a base for a supply depot and boat/pontoon dock. 

"...(M)ay God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor."

As quoted by Philip Yancey in “Prayer, Does It Make Any Difference?”