View from Ambohimanga

This is the incredible view from the palace at Ambohimanga. The green patches through the middle of the photo are rice paddies, many of which have already been harvested this time of year though these look like they are still waiting to be harvested.

Ambohimanga: Historic and Sacred

On Saturday, February 7th, we visited Ambohimanga. It's a little more than an hour drive from where we live in Tana but is actually much nearer to our home than it seems. There just isn't a road that goes directly there (such is life in Madagascar!) and walking through the rice paddies didn't seem feasible! Ambohimanga literally means "blue hill" and is a large hill which was home to King Andrianapoinimerina's palace (the first king in Madagascar). His palace (a very high one room house) is still there along with a later Queen's summer dwelling. Ambohimanga is also a sacred place for ancestral worship for the Malagasy. There is a large stone set aside specifically for the sacrificing of zebu cattle. Sacrifices still occur to this day. Near the place where I am sitting above, we were surprised to see blood stains and candle wax from a recent sacrifice. It's an incredible place of history (one of the few that remains mostly intact) for the Malagasy but also a place of great spiritual darkness. It reminded us that animism is still so present in this place and how badly the Malagasy need to hear the Gospel truth.

L to R, top to bottom: Sarah posing with a monument outside the main entrance of Ambohimanga; a typical Merina tomb in the countryside on our drive; Daniel standing in the "servant entrance" of the palace compound; Sarah on a cliff overlooking the countryside where some sacrifices take place; Daniel looking at a Malagasy man's "collection" of currency and trying to decide if he's supposed to be bargaining to take some home; and finally Daniel on the same cliff with the view!

Wait and See...and Pray!

Thank you for your prayers! There is little new with the political situation here. The former mayor (he was fired by the president last week) still claims he is in control of the country. The actual president is standing strong and had a rally with thousands of supporters in attendance earlier this week. Yet the mayor is still installing his own ministers in a kind of parallel illegal government. He does not have the necessary papers to impeach the presidents and the courts have said they do not have the necessary grounds to impeach him. We heard that there were to be talks between the two parties, mediated by leaders from the four main church denominations here (Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Anglican). Most of the information we receive is purely conjecture and rumor. This is partly because the Malagasy thrive on rumors and hearsay; it's part of the culture. But it also because the newspapers, radio and TV stations are all owned and operated by an involved party. Thus, it's difficult to get an unbiased opinion! Yet, it seems to me (obviously my opinion is also biased) that the majority of the people I interact with long for normal life to return. For the most part, they seem to disagree with the way the former mayor has tried to obtain power even if they agree that the president has done wrong in some areas.

We are well and safe. Our school held classes all this week. So now we wait and see...and pray that peace will remain and the government will become stable once again without further violence or detriment to the economy of this already very poor nation!

Thank you, Grandpa!

If you check our blog regularly, it may seem to be "under contruction" at times. This is because our blog is a collaboration of our efforts here (with limited internet access) as well as those of my Grandpa Harold Hedrick back in the USA. He posts photos that I email to him (for some reason the internet connection allows us to email photos but we cannot upload them to the blog). So after he posts the photos, I will add the captions. So a big thank you to my grandpa for keeping you "visually" connected with us here in Mada! : )

Our Garden

This photo was taken on our front porch with our garden behind us. Daniel has been doing a lot more gardening lately with the help of our Malagasy gardener/guard, Tiana. You can grow almost anything in Madagascar! We now have papaya and coffee trees along with all sorts of flowers.

Akany Avoko

Akany Avoko Children's Home is just a 15-20 minute bus ride from our home. There are 100 troubled and orphaned children who live here. They have their own school and a training program for teens which teaches them skills (sewing, handicrafts, etc) so that they can enter Malagasy society at age 18. It's a wonderful place to visit and they are eager to have volunteers. I (Sarah) and one of my Malagasy colleagues from school may start volunteering there soon. Right now there are 14 babies living here. Can you imagine? That's 14 cribs in one room. They are so adorable, but I'm glad I'm not on staff in that room during the night. For more information, you should check out www.akanyavoko.com.

Miantsena aho.

As I've mentioned before, buying and selling is the way of life here in Madagascar. The subject of this post means, "I am going to market." Yes, there is actually a verb for going to the market in Malagasy. In this photo, I am standing on the steep stone steps overlooking Analakely, the largest marketplace in Madagascar. There are also sellers lining the stairs behind me with their wares. Even on the rural streets near our home, there are many vegetable sellers. It's hard to find a place in the city where there isn't someone selling something. I am wearing a Malagasy-made hat and carrying a Malagasy-made market bag. In this case, I was actually on my way to the post office to pick up a package but we do use these market bags for fruits and veggies, too!

Lemurs

At Christmastime, we visited the nearby Lemurs' Park and saw many of the various types of lemurs which live throughout the island. As you can see, they are quite tame in the park and very accustomed to visitors. While we don't see lemurs in the trees around our house, you can see them in some of the rural areas and in most of the national parks. We hope to visit as many of these parks as we can to enjoy all the unique creatures and scenery God placed on this island that are so unique from the rest of the world.

Happy Birthday, Daniel!

Daniel celebrated his birthday with brownie pudding cake and Classiko Cola (better than Coke, in our opinion, and made by the President of Madagascar's company!). Unfortunately, I didn't let the cake cool long enough before putting the candle in it so we had some blue wax along with our cake--yum!

Update on the Political Situation

The following is an excerpt from our January prayer letter, sent January 29, 2009:

We waited in line for four hours this week to gas up the car we are borrowing. Because
of the current political situation, the people are afraid there will be a shortage of fuel,
especially if the road to the port is cut off. As we waited, we realized how blessed we
are not to have experienced anything of this kind in the past. The price of cooking oil
has doubled this week to more than $8 per liter. The prices of rice, sugar, flour, and
other basic necessities will also rise. Dairy products are becoming scarce as the president’s
company is the main supplier of these items but is no longer producing due to
the turmoil. The Malagasy are very sad about what is happening so we try to empathize
with them but furthermore these experiences enable us to sympathize with those
in much worse circumstances around the world.

The mayor of Antananarivo and the president of Madagascar come from opposing political
parties. The mayor disagrees with some of the recent decisions the president has
made so has begun calling for his dismissal from office and replacement with an interim
government until the end of his term in 2011. The international community is calling
for the two to hold talks with an intermediary but so far the mayor has declined. Unfortunately,
some people have taken advantage of this situation by rioting and looting. However, we are quite safe where we live so please do not worry BUT PRAY! We will keep you informed.

Here is an update:
Yesterday (Saturday) at a rally in downtown Antananarivo, the mayor declared himself to be the president of Madagascar beginning on Monday. The president has called this ludicrous, stating that there are many mayors in the country but none has the right to declare himself president as he is an elected official. The mayor is calling for people to not go to work (especially government officials) until he has formally resumed his role as the new president. The president, on the other hand, has called the people to ignore this request and return to their normal routine, for the good of the country. There is a possibility for a protest or riot to emerge tomorrow (Monday) but as of right now, the country is completely at peace. We went to the city for church today and it appeared to be a typical Sunday, people quietly going to church, children playing soccer, some stores open, buses running. But we don't know what tomorrow will hold! Hopefully the mayor will agree to talk with the president about the disagreements and not continue with his ploy to overthrow the government. We will keep you posted. Please continue to pray.