« Erosion of Education » by Michella RAHARISOA SPECIAL EDITION FROM DECEMBER 2011 FROM THE DAILY EDITION OF L’Express of Madagascar – page 25
With the Fihavanana Association in the Discovery of the TO.PA.ZA Center
My name is Sarah Razafindrafito and I am a Malagasy law student. I have had the ambition, since high school, to study Human Sciences in order to be able to practice a profession in which I can be in contact with, and help people. Before I started my third year in university, I hoped to have my first work experience. But unfortunately the training accessible to me had nothing to do with humanitarian interests; until someone introduced me to the Fihavanana association.
I was lucky to have the chance to begin my vocational apprenticeship and to get to know the Association’s dynamic team. I passed my first two days in the office, which I spent trying to understand the processes regarding requests for aid, requests to care for ill people, and for needy families, and soon I would have my first field experience. On September 6th I met Mélanie Garnotel and Camille Branche, two young volunteers, from a children’s association in France called Color le Monde (Color the World) which collaborates with the Fihavanana Association. In our first contact, I was caught up in their enthusiasm to see the kids at the TO.PA.ZA center again.
Actually, it was their second time in Madagascar and their second collaboration with Fihavanana, because they had already come for the first time in December 2010 for a plastic art workshop. They brought the supplies, books, games, and as a result of the work they returned and spent one year in France collecting different donations and preparing for a return trip. The joy that one could guess was in their voice was tainted with light anxiety because they were happy to see the anxious children again but had the idea that they wouldn’t remember them. But, when they opened the doors to TO.PA.ZA what a shout of joy! What smiles on their faces!
Not a single child had forgotten them. While Mrs. Herizo and Mr. David, the supervisors of the center, welcomed us, the oldest (overall girls because the boys were always a little bit timid) rushed to hug us and all of the small children sat down in the grass with their toys and watched us with large eyes.
Waiting for the children who attended school to join us, we went up to the library to empty the large bag of materials that we would use for the week’s workshop. On the premises the work done last year already proudly decorated their rooms and we felt their excitement when they caught sight of the program for the following days. So, from 7 to 10 my mission was to assist the women to facilitate communication with the children who didn’t speak French and to help during the plastic arts workshop but the children were true little artists!!!
For a more uniform work we took the children by age group: the very small, the medium, and the oldest (or the adolescents). Every day they arrived before us, each taking their little place and becoming silent the moment when Melanie started to talk about the time period with which we were going to work. For three days they worked this way with Kandinsky, impressionism with Monet and Van Gogh, arabesques with Klimt. We had discovered young talents such as Eugene who reproduced the nymphs of Monet, and Nambinina the perfectionist who often finished before the others could even begin. He was so meticulous that they called him the architect!!
The little boys tasted the pleasure of manual labor, while the rings and buttons were for the happiness of the young girls. The little hands painted thank you cards, and the picture frames from bottle tops (the frames were made from Canson paper on which they glued plastic bottle caps in many colors.) and the windmills were a great success. Collages, painting, and sandals, the large and small children were equally motivated that most of their work would serve to decorate their rooms or be exposed at the library of TO.PA.ZA.
This was how I passed four days with the great family of the Fihavanana Association and TO.PA.ZA: in a joyful ambience of work thanks to laughter and the enthusiasm of the children. I felt a little bit more attached at the end of each day, amazed that their facility adopted and loved these unknown people. After the afternoon party on Saturday the 10th, with Mrs Cinzia, the president of the Fihavanana Association, Elisabetta, who assisted, Camille, Mélanie, and the team of children at the center, Mr. David, the director of the center, shared with me that the children of TO.PA.ZA were the “fruit of God” because each of them were more precious and fragile than a flower. And he was right… My first week within the Fihavanana Association was very constructive, full of surprises but also rich in emotions.
