Helping needy Malagasy kids to become 

Jesus’ kids!

December 2008                 Volume 11, Number 12

"A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor."         Proverbs 22:9

   Christmas Spirit

Things are starting to gear up for the Christmas holidays at Ambohimarina and the Betikara Orphanage. There are several programs planned for the weekend of the 20th. The Betikara school, where many of our younger Lambs are presently enrolled, will be having their Christmas gathering on Saturday morning the 20th of December. Of course everyone is invited, so we expect to see many of your smiling faces.   :-)

Then in the afternoon on Saturday the 20th we will be having the gift sharing time that so many of you have provided for, either by sending gifts or money to purchase gifts for your Lambs or the whole group. During this afternoon time the Lambs will be performing several songs and skits that they are preparing for the occasion. I am sure that it will be a grand time together. I will try to take some pictures for next months newsletter. Then on Sunday, December 21st we will be having a Christmas show that will star all of the kids that attend bible classes at the Ambohimarina congregation. Then right after our morning time of worship we will pass out cookies and candy to all of the children of the Ambohimarina congregation.

Several individuals in Madagascar are getting into the Christmas spirit. We are receiving boxes chocked full of clothes, books, toys, and games that we will be distributing to the Lambs on the 20th. There are also some people who are interested in giving of their time to volunteer at the Betikara Orphanage. We will be taking some of them out to the orphanage this coming Sunday afternoon so that they can meet the children, see the property, and start to set up a plan for what they would like to do towards helping the Lambs.

We even received two different pieces/sets of plastic playground equipment for the children at the orphanage and the smaller children of the Betikara school. Along with this play ground equipment there are also two plastic sandboxes that we will be setting up soon. The children are ecstatic about all of the new things that they are receiving due to the outpouring of love we are so richly blessed with these days.

The American School of Antananarivo is not to be left out of all of the Christmas spirit. The Lambs names were put up on a board at the school during one of the recent Saturday events. All of the children’s names were selected by different people who attended the event and now gifts are starting to pile up to help out the Lambs during this holiday season. It was not to long ago, for Thanksgiving, that the parents and children of the American School gathered rice, oil, beans, and sugar to help the Lambs with food.

Betikara School donation

The Betikara school continues to grow. The enrollment now is around 160 students. There are many problems that still need to be worked out, but for the most part things are settling down. Some of the donations that we recently received for the orphanage were given to the school director who is pictured looking at one of the books. So far several boxes of English language books are now Betikara school property.

As the word  continues to spread in Madagascar about the Betikara orphanage and school we are finding more and more people that are interested in helping out in some way or another. Recently a person expressed the desire to give text books for teaching English to the school. The director is now getting together a list of all of the teachers names, children’s names, class levels, and ages of the children that are being taught English at the Betikara school.

Donations such as these from within Madagascar are very helpful. First, we do not have to be concerned about shipping or customs duties as with the items that are shipped/mailed into the country. Second, books such as these English text books are geared towards a third world setting. Third, Madagascar is like a lot of the African nations. There never seems to be enough governmental funding for school books that meet the governments published criteria for the Malagasy education system. Many times we find ourselves copying the only textbook that is provided for the school by the government.

  Indiana Church of Christ 
  225 East Pike Rd. 
  Indiana, PA  15701 

“He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.” 
                           Proverbs 19:17