Water Tower project

At Fanatenane, the Director is currently constructing a Medical Health centre that will serve not only orphans and staff but also be open to the wider community. Part of the project required the construction of a large water tower reservoir. One of the limitations to completing projects efficiently in remote areas such as Mananjary is access to materials and transport. Given that Ripple Fish are currently also working in construction and transporting many materials between the Capital City and the farm, we were in a position to help the centre in terms of getting materials down to the centre and using known suppliers to buy materials from. We also have a large labour force now trained and specialised in many areas of work especially fibreglass work. As such we offerred our services to the centre to provide both labour and transport means to complete the project.

The project took 2 days of actual labour to complete; fibreglassing the inside of the tank reservoir ready to fill with water. See photos below.

Project Lullaby

Over the past year or so both orphanages Catja and Fanatenane have been working over capacity caring for both newly born infants and teenagers. The bed capacity has been far from sufficient with children sleeping perhaps 4 to a single bed. The Directors approached me for help to raise funds towards new beds that may help to increase the sleeping capacity for each centre thereby allowing not only more comfort for the children but also more privacy for those children that are reaching teenage years.

I contacted Cathy Lewis in Mauritius to assist me on this project to raise the project profile to her colleagues and friends. I am pleased to say that between various members of Management in Ripple Fish, a private sponsor, and a school fundraising event held at Cefn Hengoed Community School in Swansea, Wales (UK), we have raised over GBP1,500 towards the costs of additional beds (over $2,250).

The Director Eliane Bouffet was truly grateful to Ripple Fish for helping to co-ordinate the project and to the kids at Cefn Hengoed Community school, but especially thankful to Tracy and Jon Ball and their twin daughters Maddie and Sophie and daughter Amelia (from UK) who personally donated GBP 1,000 towards the cause. Their huge generosity will go a long way to ensuring the comfort and welfare of many orphan children. (see their photos)

Fanatenane have in September 2010 received 10 bunk beds. See photos below of children taken alongside the newly installed beds in each dormitory. The local director contributed through the provision of mattresses with funds raised externally in France.

There are 12 beds currently being completed in the workshop in Mananjary which shall be delivered to Catja towards the end of September. Photos of these will be posted nearer the time along with specially made plaques that will be fitted to each bed engraved with “DONATED BY THE BALL FAMILY 2010” as a keepsake for the children of their main sponsor.

A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL CHILDREN AT CEFN COMMUNITY SCHOOL IN SWANSEA     FOR THEIR KIND THOUGHTS AND HARD WORK TO RAISE GBP179 FOR THE CHILDREN IN MANANJARY! ALL THE CHILDREN SEND THEIR LOVE AND THANKS TO YOU IN RETURN!

Finaritra returns home

At Catja rested a little girl with not much hope for a normal upbringing. Both of her feet were badly deformed to the extent that her walking would be permanently hindered thereby reducing her quality of life and future opportunities. I made a request to all for sponsorship to help Finaritra.........

Little Finaritra (aged 18 months old) has returned to Catja orphanage after 3 months of physical theraphy at a specialist health centre in Ambositra (arranged through the NGO: AKANIN’NY MARARY). There she received daily massage, limb manipulation and followed a strict programme wearing specialized orthopedic shoes and the results are fantastic! Given her young age the bones and cartilage were able to adapt and she responded well to treatment.


Yesterday I heard news of her return and went to see her. She has been given special supportive shoes to assist in her continued rehabilitation but her feet are no longer deformed (bent backwards) and she can walk unaided comfortably.

Thank you so much to all RFI management who kindly donated money to sponsor her medical fees.

JEREMY LEWIS

CATHY LEWIS

RUSSELL BEDFORD

JON MATHEWS

She is now able to lead a normal childhood and no longer hindered by her past physical disability. It’s amazing what can be achieved if treated at a young age.

Pen Pal programme

Following Christmas, children at Fanatenane and Catja wrote thank you letters to Alexandra House for all their efforts into making Christmas 2009 a really special time. Some letters were French and some English but all with the same theme, which was to unite with the children in Mauritius who donated their toys, clothes and other gifts.

Following reception in Mauritius, Cathy Lewis and Alexandra House joined together to commence the "Friends stay connected" project. Each child listed from both Orphanges were paired up with an individual child from Alexandra House. Letters were written in response to the thank you letters and personalised for each orphan child.

The efforts that went into making the cards, letters and posters is something of note; all were beautifully hand crafted withy amazing creativity! There were wall posters for the babies, a lovely tree, which was later decorated with leaves (each leaf had a short letter written on the back), and a cool hanging chain of buses each inscribed with the names of some of the children! The cards all had lovely hand drawn pictures inside them all in different colours and designs.

The parcel arrived in Mananjary, Madagascar hand delivered by Mr Lewis himself (CEO Ripple Fish). The orphans received their personalised letters on 28th April 2010. Children gathered round in a state of excitement all eager to hear from their new pen pal friend!

The "Friends stay Connected" project aims to encourage communications between the children and to demonstrate to the children that others are thinking of them and that they are not individuals that should be isolated from society for reasons surrounding local fady. The letters/pictures will focus on general subjects such as: the environment, animals in the sea, etc such that we do not highlight the vast difference in wealth or family status between the orphans and those at Alexandre House, Mauritius.

A big thank you to all at Alexandra House!

Donations

Two dutch visitors from Holland Marius & Willemeen Barboel kindly donated 920,000Ar (320 Euros) to both Catja and Fanatenane. With the money Catja received educational items to improve the existing classroom along with a supply of baby feed bottles that were urgently needed by the baby unit. Fanatenane requested for a water filter to purify local drinking water and nappies for the baby unit. All items greatly received and appreciated! A warm thank you from the directors and children xxx

Cathy Lewis arranges the delivery of 200 Easter eggs for both Catja and Fanatenane. Chocolates well received and enjoyed by all! Big thanks to Cathy!

The moment you have all been waiting for…..CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Preparations began two weeks in advance as Tina and Lieke from RFI individually wrapped each child’s present according to their age, height, weight and where possible personality! It doesn’t take long to form friendships with these very special children as each of them have very endearing characteristics about their personality! The house turned to chaos as bags and bags of clothes, toys and books all arrived from Mauritius all marked with “special attention for Catja and Fanatenane!”. Being involved was very exciting and I was personally touched by just how much Alexandra House had contributed!

On the day, I woke up at 04:30am to load the presents onto my sleigh! Stephanie and Fabriola assisted me as my little elves and off we went at 05:30 to Catja! Two minutes before arriving we phoned the Director who assisted by gathering all of the children in the garden….shortly afterwards, we came hooting down the drive way with our festive cheer and a car full of “surprises”..the moment THEY had all been waiting for! Each child was called up to the sleigh one by one to receive their personalised present. Once all children had a gift the unwrapping began! See the photos of all the children as they unwrap, try on clothes, munch on sweeties, and show off their new toys! An exciting moment for all, and a novel experience to receive gifts in this manner.

At 06:45, we headed to our next delivery stop. You may not all know this but there are two very small orphanage care centres in Mananjary that cater for children with physical and mental disabilities, or children whose parents cannot afford to provide education and nutrition; Tsarazaza and Akany Fanantenana. These two orphanages have 26 and 37 children respectively. As all the children at Alexandra House were so generous this year, we decided..why not extend our thoughts to those children also in need and send some of the gifts to these very special children as well! These two orphanages do not receive a lot of outside support and were so happy when we delivered the presents again individually wrapped for each child. Children at Tsarazaza prepared a special local dance to say a BIG THANK YOU to you all…some children though were so excited that they couldn’t finish their dance and had to rush to open their presents!

The final stop was Fanatenane…we began with the babies as we waited for the older children to return from Church. Whilst the little ones are perhaps too young to understand, it gave enjoyment to the staff as they dressed the children in their new tiny clothes. When the rest of the children arrived it was manic; all children gathered by the car eagerly awaiting their gifts! Again we have provided some photos for your enjoyment such that you can see the delight and excitement of children far away opening presents that were specially arranged by yourselves!

I can honestly say that all of your efforts and support have truly made a very special Christmas for over 200 children this year at: Catja, Fanatenane, Tsarazaza, and Akany Fanantenana! A big THANK YOU to all involved; lets hope this friendship blossoms into the new year as we maintain our thoughts and link between the children here in Mananjary with those in Mauritius.

See below as some of the kids say a personal thank you to ALEXANDRA HOUSE!

Finally, I think a warm hug and thank you is due to both Jeremy and Cathy Lewis and their two children Nicholas and Charlotte whose personal passion and involvement for this cause is something of note.

Party time!

The time had arrived…it was party time for all children at Catja and Fanatenane! Both orphanages were treated to a special three-course xmas meal on behalf of Ripple Fish as a gesture of friendship and support for all their hard work and efforts this past year in caring for so many children. Food, drinks, cake and party items were all prepared in advance ready for the big day, and children dressed in their best party clothes looking forward to the festivities!

On behalf of RFI, Tina Smith prepared a special speech for each orphanage to explain the link between RFI, Alexandra House in Mauritius and the two orphanages; a chance to reiterate the importance of this friendship and why we want to help. The mere mention of a “special surprise” arriving on xmas morning on behalf of Alexandra House and RFI was enough to cause cheers of laughter and happiness in the crowds! In return, both Fanatenane and Catja had individually prepared a special show by way of a huge thank you to all the kids in Maurtius for thinking of them at xmas.

Fanatenane prepared a special Nativity of sorts; children made their own party hats, stood side by side on a stage near the xmas tree singing, dancing, reading poems and playing the guitar! It was beautiful to watch and children went to a lot of effort to show their appreciation.

 Catja too prepared a wonderful show! The garden was transformed into an arena of entertainment; xmas tinsel around the tree, balbals, music and karaoke, and a Journalist from TV Plus! The journalist was interested to hear about our activities on the day and the link between the children in Mauritius; in discussion special reference was made to Alexandra House for all of their kind work and efforts into making xmas special for the children here in Mananjary. The journalist watched and filmed as the children prepared special dances and songs for us, played in their new tent all the way from Mauritius and learnt how to play snakes and ladders! A special moment for all was when everyone gathered around the big xmas tree in the garden, linked arms and danced in circles around the tree singing “silent night!” (in English).

Dancing and singing continued into the afternoon; children of all ages performed perfectly choreographed displays of entertainment and we were all so impressed by not only their talents but by their endeavour to please and make the day enjoyable for all!