Building a school in Manambaro
Our group of Pioneers has spent the past six weeks in Manambaro, a small village about half an hour’s drive out of Fort Dauphin, where they’ve been constructing two new buildings for the lycée (high school) there. This week we join Kathryn to find out what they’ve been up to!
On arrival to Manambaro, the town our Pioneer group was to stay in, I was stunned by the scenery. Our camp sat on the top of a hill next to the school we would help to build, with views of mountains on three sides, miles of irrigated land and a beautiful landscape. The trip there had been equally stunning.
The facilities were simple (long drops, bucket showers and tents) and so was our daily routine; breakfast at 6:30 (rice, banana, mofo balls and banana cake) followed by our Malagasy lessons, lunch at 12:00 (rice and beans), and dinner at 19:00 (spaghetti, fish or meat, and a range of vegetable dishes). We started work from around 8 until 12:00 and 14:00 until 17:00. Life was great!
Our aim was to start constructing the second of four school buildings and to finish off the first. It could be physical work at timesm but with a supportive team of pioneers, our guides Yvon and Aimé and construction crew - and many laugh-out-loud moments - the time flew by. Work was varied. From digging foundations, moving materials and cement mixing, to bench making, painting and wire work. The best part about it was seeing the growth and progress of the school building; that you could say, “I helped build that!”
Pioneers with the construction team. Romino is the youngest member, having just celebrated his second birthday!
After a hot and hard day’s work, it was your time to grab a nice cold bucket shower, relax, and maybe enjoy a cheeky beer in the town’s only refrigerated bar. A group of kids were often gathered in the field next to camp and this gave a great opportunity to play games and interact with some of the locals. It would get dark quite early and this meant sitting in candle light, eating the tasty food of Manga and Romain, chatting and playing cards together before a good night’s sleep.
Education is particularly poor in many areas of Madagascar so it was very rewarding to be given the chance to teach English to a number of students. This was arranged for every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon and there was a large turn-out of students. Through the lessons we taught we were able to develop their construction of basic and intermediate sentences, and encourage the practice of speaking English - something they clearly hadn’t had the opportunity to do frequently.
However, not everything was work. We had a great opportunity to interact with the local community, visiting the local market, exploring the surrounding area with the children and supporting the Lycée’s annual football tournament. In fact, we provided the trophy for the tournament, which they can re-use in following years. Our days off were spent visiting national parks or back in Fort Dauphin enjoying the beach!
Playing football with Manambaro Lycée’s team
By the end of our time in Manambaro, we had made great progress on the second school building, whilst the first needed just a few finishing touches. At the end of our six weeks there it was sad to leave behind our camp, the beautiful setting and the great friends we had made.
Progress on the first building - just the roof to paint now!
The second building - walls nearly complete!
To find out more about SEED’s volunteering opportunities in Madagascar, visit our website: http://madagascar.co.uk/get-involved
For more on Manambaro Lycée or if you’d like to donate to the project, visit our GlobalGiving page: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/save-manambaro-lycee/