Helping needy Malagasy kids to become 

Jesus’ kids!

November 2008                 Volume 11, Number 11

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

  Prayers for Sedera

Many things have transpired since we last wrote about Sedera in the September newsletter. We spent many hours and days preparing for Sedera’s future at Betikara. Sedera had already expressed to us that she wanted to study “tourism”, and plans were being made to get Sedera enrolled in the proper courses.

Sedera is still on the waiting list for the university in Antananarivo. We did get her enrolled in a course for tourism. She already started that course, and is progressing, but complains about all of the time that they are out and about the city and countryside preparing for their course assignments. The students are required to visit all of the frequented tourist areas and become familiar with their history and characteristics so that they can be informed when showing tourists around Madagascar. Betikara already loaned Sedera a camera (a course requirement for every student) so that she will be able to take pictures of the different sites that the class is required to visit throughout the course.

Everything seemed to be going okay with Sedera and her studies until recently. Sedera has always been temperamental, however, since she passed the high school leaving exam Sedera has become even more temperamental. Sedera has the God given ability of being able to change the mood or atmosphere that surrounds her. We have seen days where all of the girls at Betikara are gloomy and realize that it is because Sedera is gloomy that day. Other days Sedera seems to be on the top of the world and so are the rest of the girls. When Sedera is happy then everyone else is happy.

Well, recently Betikara made a decision concerning the use of mobile phones at Betikara. Mobile phones seemed to be coming “out of the woodwork” as the expression goes. We were seeing the use of the phones adversely affect the children and we were also wondering where the phones and the money for needed credit were coming from for these phones. A Betikara board decision was made to disallow mobile phones for all children. Even Robert who is three years older than Sedera had no problem with turning his phone over for safekeeping. Sedera, on the other hand, hid her phone and refused to turn it over to those responsible at Betikara.

It was during one of the many discussions that we had with Sedera that she stated she was leaving Betikara. What could we do? Sedera is now 19 years old and can legally decide for herself what she wants to do with her life. Needless to say we were devastated. Sedera was ready to throw away more than 8 years of caring and nurturing that Betikara had provided for her, all because of one phone.

The morning that Sedera was to officially leave Betikara we had one last discussion before getting in the vehicle to take Sedera to town. I pointed out that if she left she would be hurting and letting down a lot of people. I mentioned all of the caregivers and children at Betikara, her younger brother (Jean Marc) who is at Betikara, and those who have given so faithfully over the years to provide for her care at Betikara.

As with all of our meetings concerning Sedera we took time to pray. It was after the prayer that Sedera stated that she would stay and abide by Betikara policy. Now we need your prayers so that Sedera will be able to look at things objectively, and be able to make good decisions that will help her future life. Please pray for Sedera and us as we try to work together for the welfare of all of the Betikara Lambs.

Christmas 2008 at Betikara

Many of you wrote asking about Christmas at Betikara. In particular about sending packages for the Lambs. We are sorry that we did not get this notice out in the October Betikara newsletter. However, if you do decide to send a package for your Lamb there is still time, since all packages are arriving via air mail these days.

Things with the postal system in Madagascar continue to be expensive. Many of you have expressed how expensive it is to mail packages. On this end there is a new worker in the customs area of the post office and she is charging everyone for any packages that enter Madagascar.

It does not seem to matter what is being mailed. This worker is “going by the book” right now as far as calculating customs on packages. I did notice that the declared amount is what is being used to calculate the customs fees. It does not matter if she thinks the item is new or used. So, if you can send things with little value, then the customs charged will be less.

Several already stated that they would like to just send money this year. That will work well. We always have a big meal together for the Lambs, workers, and board members. We can use some of the money for this event. Also, if there is enough money we might be able to plan a day trip for the children. This is something we have not done for a while due to higher costs for fuel and other items.

We are still in the building process at Betikara. We are looking towards the time that we can put up some basketball hoops. Also, the kids are always playing soccer using two stones for goal posts. We could build them proper goals for the soccer field. A lot of different things can be done as well as buying a gift specifically for your child, if you so desire. Items that all the Lambs can use are presently easier to supply than going into town to shop for an individual child. You decide what you want to do, and we will try our best to help you support your Lamb.

  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