MADAGASCAR

We didn’t plan to go to Madagascar.
Originally we signed up to spend an extra 2 weeks in the bush of Africa, volunteering in villages with no electricity or running water. But in my first week in Mozambique, I had a dream that really challenged me. I didn’t even know where the location of the dream was, just the issue. I saw newborn babies abandoned and dumped like trash. This was a nightmare, not a pleasant scene by any means.
The imagery was hard to shake, I told my Harvest Leader about it, hoping she might have some insight on what it could mean. She told me how the founder of Iris Madagascar had the exact same dream before pioneering the base… and sadly, it was a real issue. This shocked me. Apparently, in Madagascar and many other developing countries, babies, some only hours old, are abandoned on street curbs, doorsteps and even put in the garbage like trash. This thought rocked me. At the end of our school we got to choose an outreach location, we had already picked the Africa Bush, but I felt God inviting us to the Madagascar Base to serve.

James and I decided to pray and ask God for some confirmation if we were to change the location. Not long after, we were told the Africa Bush outreach was canceled and we needed to pick a different location.
As easy as that, our decision was made. We were going to Madagascar!

Landing in Madagascar, we were meet by 5 smiley faces waving a sign to greet us. The Capital, Antananarivo, had a unique French, African and Indonesian influence. All the old antique cars and European pebbled pavers made me feel like we had gone back in time.

The Iris base homes over 120 children in 4 different children homes. They feed families in the community living in poverty and work with the poorest of poor. We only had a week with them but the time was priceless. Carolyn, the founder, was truly an inspirational woman. We ended up filming her story and a few of the children that were rescued from life-threatening circumstances. Carolyn has adopted three of the children as her own, although she sees all the kids as hers. Her 3-year-old son, Jeremy, has only one limb. Missing two legs and an arm. But with his joy and huge grin, you don’t realize. Her little girl was rescued as a newborn. She was abandoned, like in my dream. She is now a happy, bright girl with a lot of sass!

Many of the children have an unbelievable past, but the restoration and love they walk is proof that there is hope for all. There is such a rich sense of family. The buildings are true homes and there are no orphan spirits there, they all feel loved, wanted and adopted!

They also run a children’s program at the local dump site. This was a confronting and heartbreaking experience. I have never seen anything like it. Picture burning rubble, smoke, mountains of trash and then children. Or even whole families, living and building a whole community around the chaos. The poverty was unspeakable but the children were still full of joy and laughter. They didn’t have the worries of the western world. I loved sitting with them in the dirt in this place. I could learn a lot from them… We sang them songs, gave them food, played games and wiped dirt off their beautiful faces. They won my heart! I could see why God took us to this place.

It was very bitter-sweet. Someone once told me it’s okay for your heart to break for the right reasons.
This was one of them.

I’m so great full for the long term staff in bases like these. They really pioneer movements that restores and transformers communities and cultures. Building relationships and planting their feet in the ground for the long hall. Although there are international volunteers here, the majority are local Malagasy. They are leading a positive change to see poverty and other social issues irradiated. Even if it’s just one mouth fed, or a single child rescued at a time. Every bit counts.

With the video’s we filmed, once we have edited them we will blog them! I wish I could go on but I’ll let the pictures speak where my words lack! I really am a photographer, not a writer. So thank you so much for being so graceful with my posts!

Jess x

 

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭18:1-5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

[Special thank you to Su Wen Low, for taking the few photos of me, you are a treasure]