Our first post from Madagascar comes with tired hands and backs, and happy spirits. We just finished painting at the Bible School, Kenny and Dona inside and Allysha outside on the window frames. The paint here is very runny, and I did a decent job of getting as much on me as I did on the walls. I may be yellow for a while :)
A fair amount of time has passed since we arrived, but it has gone by very quickly and has been quite rewarding! Our first day we woke up around 9:30, which seemed very early given the change of time. Sleep came easy, waking up did not. We had a wonderful breakfast of eggs and bread at Nate and Tammy's with them, Jon and Cassie, and then headed out for a tour of the city.
The land, and people, are beautiful. The soil is very red, and the people are some of the happiest I've ever met. We get a smile and a wave from everyone, and the children's happiness is infective. Our first stop was at one of Nate's church's, and was both rewarding and troubling. The people around the church were so welcoming and happily posed for a picture at every turn. The conditions around the church were typical for a poor Malagasy neighborhood, and very hard to see given our American expectations. There was a lot of trash everywhere, and the stagnate water smelled of sewage and rotten garbage. Its so hard for us, living in much cleaner conditions, to see the children living, walking and playing in such filth. It is all that they know, but seeing the kids in those conditions is so, so hard.
We then made our way to the queens palace, which is at the top of the highest hill (about 1000 feet above the city). The view was spectacular! We could see the city, the area around downtown, and the countryside. The locals are attracted to these tourist spots, and a very persistent gentleman did his best to sell Jon a musical instrument. I was very impressed with Jon's ability to negotiate the price down by doing and saying nothing :)
As we were leaving the overlook, a little boy asked Allysha for some money. As a parent, and a human, its so so hard to turn those children away. Many of them are "controlled" by a handler down the street and they do not benefit from any gifts. If we had small snacks or candy that the kids could eat, we should share it with them but money would not help. It's so hard to look into those big eyes, and wish you could help.
We returned to the houses, and relaxed for some down time. We stopped by a couple of stores to pick up some snacks and drinks (no MT Dew, but they do have Monster!). We also swung into the airport to see about our three still missing Action Packer tubs, which did not make the trip with us (yet). All our bags came, but two of the tubs we checked did not arrive and one of the tubs Jon checked did not come. Thanks goodness we have clothes.
We are now back at the house, relaxing a little after painting. The gals are preparing for tomorrow's luncheon with the pastor's wives, and the boys are all on their computers. Tomorrow will be a very busy day, with all of us going to do two children's worships in the morning at the orphanage, and then us guys will head to a village to do a children's outreach while the gals meet with for the luncheon.
Our time so far has been so enjoyable. Nate and Tammy are wonderful hosts, and being here is amazing. We are so excited to meet more people and see more of this wonderful country.
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