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The Big news

I’m moving back to Scotland this summer. Antananarivo has been a mixture of joys and sorrows, and while I am very glad I completed a year here, I’m delighted I’m coming home.

I’m back early July and hope to catch up with a few people then. It feels a bit like a miracle, I have a job starting in St. Leonard’s school, St. Andrews at the end of August. Miracle because it is tough finding a teaching job in the UK when abroad, and because I think I’m going to really enjoy the school!

I’m excited to catch up with old friends in Scotland and settle back into Scottish culture. It will be quite a change, just a few thoughts of things that will be ‘new’ to me:

• Traffic lights, we have none here. Will I remember to stop for them?
• Elections that don’t cause the country to grind to a halt. In Madagascar the presidential election date has not yet been set and already there are lots of peaceful protests and strikes here, including hundreds of state schools on strike despite the looming exams.
• Regular social ‘clubs’ to attend. Here after work most malagasy spend hours getting home and few have time for a ‘club’.
• Not having to go to some government office every few weeks to sign a piece of paper or other annoying administration. To give you an idea, here, driving license papers have to be processed in the capital which can be a multiple day journey.
• Being able to have more than a basic conversation with folk on the street.
• Speed limits and speed cameras.
• When riding, not having to watch out for: men pushing carts in the road, vehicles stopped in the middle of the road with legs sticking out into the traffic from underneath, chickens, huge holes hidden by the vehicle in front, motorbikes squeezing in the gaps, ducks being herded, people sitting in the road begging. Drivers here are wonderfully patient, there is rarely a hint of road rage. Can we export that attitude back to Scotland?

Life in the big smoke

Living in Antananarivo has had good bits and bad bits. Here are a few (G=Good,B=Bad, A=amazing)

G After Christmas I rented a simple middle class Malagasy flat near to the edge of Tana. It boasts gorgeous views and sunsets, has outstanding mountain biking nearby and includes a free viewing platform for the Sunday afternoon cockfighting (which is technically illegal to please the international donor community).

B My compound has a 9pm curfew. It keeps me safe at night but means I need to book a cheap hotel for a night out.

G It’s been great to return to classroom teaching with a group of lovely students and a simple science lab.

B Teaching multiple levels at the same time (KS3/GCSE y1/GCSE y2) is exhausting and I’m unsatisfied with the quality of instruction I can give.

G I have 2 sets of 2 wheels, my 10 year old mountain bike from Scotland (which is still a fabulous bike, albeit after a bit of local welding and a few bits tied on with string) and a small scooter. The mountain biking here is world class, as is scooting. Tana is a city for 2 wheels like no other, the back streets are lovely to ride. I was tempted by a real motorbike for longer distance jaunts but the license paperwork is too lengthy. Next time.f[‘

B Friends are scattered across the city and often getting to see them after work is difficult as a result.

A We have developed a wonderful primary teaching course, and trainer book written by a brilliant primary teacher Lara Dikha from Australia. She visited at Christmas and trained a huge number (about 220) of teachers in trainings we organised for her. We are now working on training local trainers to pass on her course. You can find her book for free download at http://mada-enseignants.org

? I haven’t trained nearly as many teachers as that…about 150 in the year.  But overall we trained as many teachers as last year…a wonderful surprise!! A big focus was working with a lovely high end Christian School – ‘Vision Valley School’.

G …instead I’ve been focusing on developing trainers in Antananarivo. So far local trainers in Tamatave have delivered about 80 certificates this year

B Due to plague, very rainy wet season, protests and strikes as we approach the presidential election and the size of the city, Tana schools have not been particularly interested in our training. Though if I’d stayed in Tamatave it would have been much worse. They were badly hit by the plague (despite the species of flea there being unable to carry plague), a cyclone and a couple of tropical storms! Our Tamatave training has been very limited as a result. (Country-wise this has been a very difficult year compared to the easy years in Tamatave)

G Riding to school passing cow drawn carts full of local bricks; buying fresh warm cows milk in fanta bottles; giving scraps to my neighbors pigs.

B I have been sick quite a lot this year, in contrast to last year. Not sure why. Nothing chronic.

G I’ve learnt you can do an incredible amount of development work on a tiny budget. My budget has been about £500 a month for everything. Here, big NGOs often have big value projects that are essential, but other times they spend a lot of money on not so much…

I remember when I came here 3 years ago, it was motivated by IS. I saw how they ruin peoples lives, and wanted to do something opposite to that. I think I’ve been successful in some small way. Sadly it is time to move on and leave local people behind to develop and improve the work.

We have spent a significant amount of time and effort developing courses that connect with local teachers where they are at, in their national language. For teachers who have really connected with our program, they say the results have been transformative.

Looking forward

I’m going to spend a small amount of time managing and supporting the training school while I’m in Scotland. Some key things my staff will be working on here while I’m gone:

• Promoting and delivering courses across Madagascar.
• Supporting trainers delivering courses.
• Selling the books in local bookshops.
• Registering as an ‘association’ in Madagascar.

If you think you would like to be part of what we do in some way (more than the incredibly valuable way you already are, by taking an interest and encouraging me), do get in touch by leaving a comment.

If you pray, you might like to pray for:

• Pray for the local trainers, that they would find joy in what they do
• Pray for the training school project’s success, moving forward.
• Pray for a successful and safe return. There is a lot to organise and I’ve been sick and exhausted in the last couple of weeks.
• Pray for the logistics of the move to Scotland (and somewhere to stay in St. Andrews) to come together

Pictures from the year

INFP and DEFI trainers’ training

A lake in the capital

River crossing near Tamatave

Pirogue ferry near my house

Brick kilns in Antananario

The main road through a bush village

Cycling in the bush near Antanarivo

Camoflage

Leaf tailed gecko – I’ll buy you a drink if you can spot the gecko correctly.

I’m back in the UK! It would be lovely to see you if you are around in Edinburgh or nearby in August. 

This blog contains

• Observations on return
• What’s been happening in Madagascar
• What next?
• Help me out!

Observations on return

There are many things that strike me about the UK, coming from Africa:

• The UK is oozing with great culture. It seems that everywhere there is fabulous live music, public art and poetry.

Malagasy street musicians playing with homemade instruments. I love the trumpet made out of hosepipe and a funnel

• I don’t have a house full of containers of water for water cuts, nor do I need to carry a torch at night for power cuts.
• Social engagements need to be planned in advance. Ugh!
• Public transport in the UK consists of huge, half empty vehicles that have a timetable. Malagasy transport is small, full vehicles that run when they are full with an office you can telephone to book onto.
• Children with learning difficulties receive amazing help in school. In Madagascar many teachers punish them thinking they are naughty.
• Malagasy culture is wonderfully child friendly. Parents bring children and babies to my trainings, take them to work, and have no anxiety about breast feeding in public.

What’s been happening in Madagascar

Recently, the World Bank published a report ‘Education is Great but a Good Education is Even Better‘. The report is accurate to what I have observed in the education sector and it identifies teacher training as being one of the major issues. It is great to see an international body correctly identifying sector needs.

Recent trainings included 38 trainees from Institute National Formation Pedagogique(INFP) and around 30 Ministry of Education staff. Overall Lili and I trained 145 people in the last 3 months.

Training INFP trainers

Even more exciting, our local trainers did a wonderful job training 42 teachers. We observed some of their training sessions and certified 6 as competent trainers:

Many of the teachers we are training have never had any form of training, and as a result they are seeing significant improvements in their classes. Some comments are:

• Improvement of the students’ performance
• Students are interested in learning and teachers are not tired.
• I have never had any teacher training, so that training has made a BIG difference in my teaching, I am more confident.
• Now, I always differentiate my lessons so, I do not waste time, students are always doing something. I have a good understanding of the importance of differentiation and I learnt different practical ways to do it in my class from this training.

Read more feedback here. Everyone who completed the training would recommend it to other teachers.

We’ve worked alongside an amazing project called Leadership for Life that my friends Tim and Maz have been bringing to Madagascar. The two projects fit together really well – training teachers to be great teachers and great leaders, and then training students to be leaders in their own lives…

So what about the future?

On my last Sunday in Madgascar, I went to church. A lady sat next to me. We chatted and it turned out she is the owner of the British school in Madagacsar. I visited and accepted a 60% FTE job to teach Science, Mathematics and Computer Science up to GCSE level. This is awesome because I wanted to get back into the classroom yet continue to support the teacher training in Madagascar.

Going forward our local trainers will deliver many courses on the east coast of Madagascar and wherever we have an opening.

I am going to be based in the capital this year and will try to develop a team of trainers there, as well as travelling to deliver training and observations around the country.

We are very blessed to have an Australian primary school teacher who has spent a lot of time in Madagascar visiting. She is going to develop a few modules we are lacking specifically for primary school teachers.

I’m also assisting Lili with a project to distribute audio bibles (either on MP3 CD for those with a TV, or SD card for use in mobile phones) to those who cannot read.

Hopefully I will find time to continue studying French and Malagasy as well as helping my friend with a guesthouse.

Can you help me?

Thank you to so many people who have contributed in little ways, from staying friends despite the distance, suggestions of experiments for the science course, chats about areas of education they are experts in, or finances to help with the project. You are making a difference, from wherever you are!

There are many little things you can do to get involved:

• Please keep in touch, I love hearing from people, and really value people who have stayed in touch. Or come and visit!
• I will have a few students (less than 10) in my class studying at different levels from Year 7-10. Currently the lessons are run as guided study sessions; if you have any other ideas about how to successfully teach multi-level (without a ridiculous workload), I’d appreciate some tips!
• If you like to pray, pray for me, Lili, and all the projects we are involved in.
• It would be beneficial to find an umbrella charity in the UK who would be willing to process any gift aid donations. If you have any contacts, let me know!
• I would like to fundraise the project expenses, mostly my local director and translator’s wages. Last year gifts were about £2000, which didn’t come close to covering expenses of living full time in Madagascar and employing a local director/translator. This year I’d like to raise around £2500 to cover staff and project costs.
• Should I fundraise for a salary for myself? If so how much?

Things still surprise and delight me here. A few from the last couple of weeks:

1. Tamatave had a bar called ‘ABD Beach’. I thought it a nice variation on ‘ABC Beach’. However Malagasy does not contain a ‘C’, so children learn their ‘ABD’.
2. The Bank of Madagascar has launched a new high value 20,000Ar banknote. This is twice the value of the previous high value 10,000Ar note. This is worth about £5,EUR6 or US$7. The largest UK banknote is £100, US is $100 and Brunei/Singapore is $10,000 (about £5000).  My wallet is not large enough to fit my Malagasy rent into, however many shops cannot find change for 5000Ar.
3. When starting the ‘Modern Teaching Methods 2’ course, I asked how the first course had changed teaching. One student told me she tried to help an ADHD student by giving them a sponge to squeeze. Unfortunately the student ate the sponge.
4. Sometimes locals stare at white people. Recently I caught myself staring at white people.
5. A malagasy proverb: ‘If a tree will make a good boat, it comes from a good bed’.
6. I made my own coconut milk, rather than buying it in a tin. Take an old coconut, have the coconut seller grate the white stuff, boil it in a little water and then strain the pulp through a seive.

7. An idea for trendy cyclists in the UK

8. I realise what I do here is successful because of the grace and favor of God. So many things have just ‘happened’ coincidentally. One example is when flying here in September I found myself sitting next to Tim and Maz who run a very complementary ‘leadership for life’ course. Many teachers have now completed both their and my courses.
9. A woman took our course. After the course her mother commented that home discussions are much more orderly and that her daughter is much more creative…she made a clothes box into a comfortable seat. It’s awesome to see the course has wider effects than I might think.
10. We trained a Physics/Chemistry teacher in practical science. Now his class think he is a magician. This is a problem as magicians are associated with witchcraft here. Maybe I need to include a section on ‘avoiding being burnt at the stake’ when I write the science course book.

If you pray, please pray for clarity about how to lead the organisation forward, and for what I should do next. I need to step back a bit form day to day running and training, but am unsure what to focus on now.

‘Vision without action
is only dreaming.
Action without vision
is only passing time.
Vision with action can
change the world’ – Joel A Parker

The last year has seen vision with action. Now I need a renewed vision.

I’m coming home at the beginning of July. I have no summer plans, though would love to join with some people and do some things…any suggestions?