Helping needy Malagasy kids to become 

Jesus’ kids!

July 2008                 Volume 11, Number 7

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

            Betikara continues to take in new children. This last month, since school is out, we received two new children. Schools in Madagascar do not allow the transferring of students from one school to another school during the school year. So, we do not even try to add children into Betikara unless it is during the between school years vacation. These new children are sisters and come to Betikara because of the death of their mother. The aunt states that she cannot properly care for them.

NANTENAINA Vieinah Irma

            Everyone at Betikara calls the above pictured child NANTENAINA. She was born on August 27, 1996 and came to Betikara on June 1, 2008. That would make NANTENAINA eleven years old. NANTENAINA came to Betikara not having formally studied in school before her arrival.

RASOANIRINA Irma Francoise (Aina)

            By looking at the above name you will not find the name that I have included in parenthesis. This is not uncommon in Madagascar. However, when “Aina” arrived at Betikara she was adamant that she would not be called by any other name. This caused a problem for a while since her older sister wanted to be called Aina. After all, if you look at Aina’s older sisters name you will find that Aina is a part of her name. In order to stop confusion we were able to talk Aina’s older sister into being called NANTENAINA instead of Aina. Aina was born on September 24, 1999. She is now eight years old. Along with her older sister, Aina came to Betikara not having formally studied in school before her arrival. So, the two sisters have a lot of catching up to do. Please pray for them both as they start school and adjust to life at Betikara.

At the Crossroads

            Betikara and some of the Betikara Lambs are at a new crossroad. Betikara is at a crossroad because we are in uncharted territory. We are finding that we are not prepared for the inevitable leaving of the older Betikara Lambs. Tsiry is at a crossroad because he recently left Betikara to enter a new phase of his young life. No one quite knows what to expect and how to proceed at this time.

Tsiry

            Tsiry is not the only Betikara Lamb that will soon be affected by these changes. Robert, Sedera, Jean Louis, Fetra, Andry, and Hermine are a few of the Lambs that will be ready to leave Betikara in the near future. Robert and Sedera are taking their high school leaving exams and will know shortly whether or not they have passed. If they pass they will then be ready to try to pass the university entrance exam. If they do not pass the high school leaving exam they will have one more year under the government policy to study and retry to pass their high school leaving exams.

            If they still do not pass they are out of the governments system of education, but they could still take the exam again the following year if they study in a private school to further prepare them for the upcoming exams. Many students do not even try a second time if they do not succeed the first year. For the most part they are too discouraged and just give up, thinking that the exams are impossible for them to pass.

            Therefore, Betikara needs to set policy in order to both encourage further study and to let the Lambs know how far along the way they will be helped towards getting a better education. Our original policy states that the Lambs will leave Betikara once they are 18 years old, unless they desire to continue to study some form of higher education or technical training. In order to receive technical training you do not have to have a high school diploma in Madagascar, but you do have to pass a test stating that you are capable of studying in a technical school.

            Betikara is also making some decisions as to what we will do to help the Lambs financially, so that they can get a good start in their lives. We are talking about actively trying to find jobs for the Lambs that are ready to leave us and enter the working phase of their lives. We still have a long way to go as we discuss the things that we feel will best help the Lambs become an asset to their country and also help them have a firm spiritual base as they go out from us. Please continue to pray for Betikara and the Lambs.

  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