Feeding street children

Love-N-Care Ministries is a Christian organization based mainly in Toamasina Madagascar, which is dedicated to reaching the unreached with the good news of Jesus Christ, making disciples, and extending care to the needy. This unique organization was born in Toamasina, June 2011, and nowadays more than 500 street children, disabled young and adults get profits from this project everyday.

I’m little bit surprised and very happy to the discover that some BUEC members have a wonderful attempt to give those vulnerable and unwanted children hopes by using their own means and strength to break the cycle of illiteracy, poverty, and child labor, which are existing in big city children of the migrant workers who make their way to Toamasina for job, money and a better life reasons. As well as education, the organization also provides healthy nutrition and trying to build a child’s confidence by allowing their natural character to develop, giving them the opportunity of living and working as part of a civilized society.
Little request to end this article, Help to Feed Our Starving Street Children

Time to blog

I will be back to blog again

New updates of BUEC website

From now on you can learn more about what is Barikadimy’s English Club (BUEC) and what we are doing and that’s because of the hard work of Herinivohary who is our webmaster actually to update our website: http://www.buec-englishclub.co.cc/index.html

In the website, you can find too many options to learn about our lovely English Club such as: our latest activities and video and even you can contact us directly from our web. Thanks guy!!!

WHY ENGLISH? The creators created this English Club because there are a lot of students after they got their BACC degree and they have to go at University, there they don’t have any occasion to increase their English knowledge. And as we know that there is no way to follow English subject here at the University of Tamatave because it’s doesn’t exist yet. Nowadays, English takes great place in the World Communications .Therefore, we decided to create one club, is the place where the students can talk and exchange everything in English.

So welcome to the BUEC’s Web Site in which every options will get you happy. We are very happy to share with you our schedules. The BUEC is a place where everyone can exchange experience in English. Please join us at the University of Toamasina.

Foko Blog Club Tamatave on the radio RFT

After a very hard time of the Radio RFT of Tamatave, today is the second time of the program “Misy Raha la terre” which is presented by Mrs. Jeannine every Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. The two topics of the day were, first: the importance of blogging facing the political problems in Madagascar and of course Foko Madagascar which is presented by Patrick and Mada online which is presented by Kamy was invited to intend the discussion. It was a great opportunity for us to explain to the listeners about how Foko Blog Club and Mada online work out. Hope that our short time as a guest of the Radio will serve too many citizen to learn about this world of blogging which is actually becoming popular in this world. And the second topics which were presented by Mrs. Jeannine and Kamy as well talked about what happen yesterday on National conference.

FOR MEMORIALIZING DEAR DAVID

It has been already two years now, when You and Georgia were visiting us, it was unforgettable moment for me. Both of you took advantage of our very short time together to teach us how to upload an audio and/or a video file into our blog. I still remember when Georgia explained the processes of the upload and David took our pictures and filmed us at the same time, I really appreciated it. It helped us very much because you gave us a courage and strength to go further on blogging. So, David: “You did a wonderful job for all of us, and I wish you a very GOOD LUCK for your new job, may God bless you”. Please have a second of your precious time to admire our family pictures archive and this video. And to end this, let me please to welcome dear Eduardo Ávila who is going to fullfil temporarily his very heavy tasks as director of Rising Voices along the month of June. Congratulations!

Un vero paradiso tropicale di Tamatave

Prima di tutto, andiamo visitare isieme il Parco Nationale d’Ivoloina e lo zoo dei lemuri con il nostro circuito turistico. Inizieremo la nostra escursione con una visita panoramica della cittadina di Tamatave, il decadente quartiere coloniale, il Boulevard Joffre, l’Avenue del’Indépendance arteria principale della città e l’affollatissima Rue du Commerce occasione quotidiana di incontro per i locali malgasci e per le donne che ogni mattina vi si recano per la spesa nel grande mercato antistante di Tamatave. Dopo una breve visita al mercato, dove avremo la possibilità di conoscere ed acquiestare ogni sorta di spezie e piante medicinali, oltre ai tipici oggetti dell’artigianato locali i tessuti stampati in cotone e le creazioni in raffia e vimini, ci dirigeremo a Nord di Tamatave per raggiungere Ivoloina. Questo ci offrirà la possibilità di ammirare la bellazza a tratti selvaggia e incontaminata della costa est del Madagascar. A bordo del nostro macchina (minivan) attraverseremo il centro di Tamatave per scoprire una grande città tipicamente africana, affollata e trafficata, con reminescenza coloniali che, seppure erose dal tempo e dalla forza della natura in questa area del mondo spesso inclemente, ancora affiorano nelle facciate degli edifici più nobili e antichi. Un assaggio della vita locale moderna, tra risciò trainati da giovani ragazzi, donne locali che affollano i mercati e uomini che si recano al lavoro, sarà l’occasione per ammirare i colori di questo paese diverso e affascinante avvicinandosi a una cultura molto lontana dalla nostra ma che molto ha in comune con la vita rurale dei nostri antenati. Lasciata la città, Qui potremo visitare il parco Nationale creato come giardino sperimentale nel 1898 sulla riva ovest del fiume da cui prende il nome. Questo parco ci offrirà la possibilità di ammirare numerose specie vegetali rare, qui conservate, differenti specie di lemuri, numerose specie di rettili, quali tartarughe di terra, serpenti e cameleonti che, rinchiusi temporaneamente in gabbia per essere studiali e preservati, vivono liberi e numerosi nella riserva.Dopo quest’emozionante esperienza, raggiungeremo le strade Nationale numero cinque per Foulpointe: la storia e natura, ammiraremo un paesaggio vario e scenografico in un susseguirsi di costa oceanica campagna, campi coltivati, foresta, laguna e villaggi. La vita rurale ci apparirà ferma nel tempo: villaggi formati da tipiche abitazioni a campanna, comunità basate su antichi mestieri, donne affaccendate nelle attività quotidiane, gruppi di bimbi che, in modo semplice, con quello che loro offre la natura, giocano all’aperto. Dopo un’ora e mezza circa di tragitto, sempre vario e pittoresco, giungeremo alle vestigia di un’antica fortezza risalente al XIX secolo: Mahavelona in lingua malgascia, Foulpointe secondo i colonizzatori europei. Entreremo dunque in un sito considerato sacro dai locali, ancora oggi meta di pellegrinaggio. La fortezza ci colpirà a prima vista per lo spessore a la tipicità delle sue mura, edificate dalla tribù dei Merina secondo un’antica tradizione edilizia, mischiando pietre, fondo marino e albume d’uovo in una miscela che ha resistito nei secoli agli attacchi nemici e alle intemperie. Una piacevole passaggiata all’interno della fortezza ci consentirà di amminare i resti delle dimore dei soldati e dei capi militari, nonché un grande albero ai piedi del quale ancora oggi vengono deposte le offerte agli antenati. Apprenderemo informazioni sulla storia del paese, sulle vicissitudini dei suoi reali e sulle dominazioni che nei secoli si sono alternate. Nel rispetto dell’antica tradizione animista, ancora oggi molto diffusa, scopriremo come sia oltraggioso puntare il dito per indicare i luoghi considerati sacri. Sarà come fare un tuffo in un passato lontano ma per certi aspetti ancora presente nella magia di questo paese esotico e lontano. Procederemo quindi in macchina (minivan) verso una simplice strutura alberghiera affacciata sull’oceano per assaporare il dolce gusto della frutta fresca appena colta per rilassarci al ritmo musica tipicamente Malgascio (vako-drazana) sulla bella spiaggia di Foulpointe per permetterci di sentire un vero paradiso tropicale. Per finire, turneremo verso la città di Tamatave e la giornata e finita.

BUEC documentary movie

Watching this very short movie will serve you to learn about BUEC’s history, goals, and problems as well. The movie is produced because BUEC deserves to be heard by this world. Despite its effort on helping to protect the environment inside of the campus of the University of Tamatave, and to spread the importance of the English languages, we still realize that there many people and even some students of the University of Tamatave doesn’t know what Barikadimy’s United English Club is. That means that we should go further again. But that would be little bit difficult without your hands. And to contact us, randriamboavonjy_niainapatrick@yahoo.fr is always available for your supports. Thanks before a hands and indeed please forget to enjoy the movie. Sharing this movie to your friends is already a great contribution on helping us to be heard and known as well. Just little message for guys, especially the students of the University of Tamatave: “Love your English Club first so that everyone else will too”

BUEC Midola

With this wonderful video archive you will understand more about what Barikadimy’s United English Club of the University of Tamatave is doing. BUEC is not only the place for English practice but also the place where you can have fun as you see in the video. So please enjoy this very nice Easter gift from BUEC.

A RAVINALA TOUR GUIDES ASSOCIATION’S OUTING ON THE PANGALANA CHANNEL

This article will serve you to learn about how do the three most active tourists guide associations (Taratra, A.G.T.T and Ravinala) of Tamatave to become a knowledgeable, competitive and to ameliorate their know-how and their good manners in front of the tourists who are going to pay the Eastern of Madagascar visit. I won’t never get bored to encourage you to come around here, because assuredly I say you will feel more satisfied than you expected. After having given you a chance to enjoy a few wonderful places which are all very rich in stories, many endemics species of plants and animals each, such as Foulpointe, Ivoloina Zoo and Vatomandry, I would like to invite you to learn more of the most recent activities of Ravinala tourists guide association along the Pangalane’s Channel. Do you think that is there any place in this world deserve to be named as an earth paradise? The answer is YES, here where it is, on the Pangalane Channel, the world of dream. And there we went, not only for admiring gasigasy sceneries but also in term of tourists guiding services; it converted us into a total perfection.Before starting, here is very neat important information about this splendid resort. It is a man-made channel which forms a very wonderful inland waterway on the East Coast of Madagascar. The Pangalane channel is 600 Kilometer long lagoon which is formed naturally by the washing of sand up on the island by the Indian Ocean currents and by silting of rivers, has been used both as a means of transportation come and back on the coast and indeed as a fishing area.

 As the one of those three tourists guide associations of Tamatave, we, the Ravinala’s Tour guides members had a chance to update our knowledge on the Pangalane Channel resort until the famous Palmarium Park this last weekend. This channel was designed to facilitate the transportation of goods to the main trading port of Tamatave because shipping on the Indian Ocean was too dangerous. Until this time the channel still keeps a very high place in this region’s daily life because it provides the main source of trade, transport and travel as well. I would like to say that cruising by boat on the calm water of Pangalane is really fascinating journey. Many traditional Betsimisaraka villages, traditional dugout canoes, local fishermen, over-crowded ferries, and rafts with straw huts carrying timbers and/or other Tamatave’s needs can be seen on the way and surely gave us a new point of view of a real gasigasy life. As we are in a big group of tourists guides, we had to rent one bush boat called “Tongasoa Cruseur” which is certainly the much less expensive than the others. It’s true that it was very expensive for us but it is like a must as tourists guides. By the way we really enjoyed it with Maxim who is our boat driver. The Boats are generally safe, but very much overloaded. Just look at the picture bellow. We left fluvial port of Tamatave this last Saturday morning around 8:00 a.m and we already started our visit in Andranonkoditra, it is located only 5 minutes boat drive from Ankany Nofy, literally means dream’s nest (64 Km from Tamatave) where our final destination took place. In there, I mean Andranonkodotra; we already had a chance to visit the only one organic essential oils site and “La boutique de l’association Vonona Vohibola” where is the human and environment base site. It was amazing to see such this traditional village because it reminds me very much the village where I grew up. It’s called Antanambaobe just 20 Km from the city of Mananara-Nord.  There where is my root, and I will come there one day for you my hometown. I love you!!!

Then we arrived into our end around 4:00 P.m in the same day. This last is the one of the best which kept secrets of Madagascar. On the shores of Ampitabe Lake, the palmarium is an incredible well run bungalow hotel. Each bungalow has a veranda and hammocks and Lake View as well. Only accessible by boat from either Manambato or Tamatave, the peace and tranquility are hard to find elsewhere. Am I right? I think so. Everybody is very welcoming to make our visit pleasant and note that two nights in here are surely not enough.

There are free and domesticated lemurs are playing around the bungalows courtyards. Imagine, there are sharing rooms with you. Don’t you feel in a full contact to the natures? A walk in the national park rewarded us to see ant touch with our own hands not less than 8 lemur species in two nights of camping such as: “Sifaka, Brown, Black, red, Sleeping, Bamboo, Crowned and black and white ruffed”, Leguane, and large variety of plants and trees. We didn’t success to see the Indri Indri but I can tell you that we really enjoyed our unique chance to discover what are in this channel.

Also what impressed me much is to see in my own eyes one of those two very famous species of Nepenthes which is only known in the name of Madagascar (Carnivore Plants). In Madagascar we have Nepenthes Madagascariensis, and Nepenthes Masoaliensis. We could find them nowhere else around the world except in my wonderful country Madagascar. I’m pretty proud to be Malagasy. We didn’t find the Masoaliensis one but we really enjoyed to see and touch at the same time the Nepenthes Madagascariensis. I was amazed to see it and I even brought its seedlings and planted in our courtyard. As you probably know also that Madagascar is the richest and has the most exciting orchid flora in the world. So we didn’t miss our chance to admire them too. Despite this latest cyclone on the East Coast of Madagascar, we rocked our outing. We had also a chance to meet  one of the President Filbert Tsiranana’s bodyguard who is now 86 Years Old and his wife is 91 Years Old because we camped just in front of the Filbert Tsiranana camping’s houses during his period. Will you discover a real wild life?, Betsimisaraka traditional villages and cultures? Just an advice: “Come over here please”.To end this article, I will let you enjoy these two funny pictures of 4 of us. We were crossing this small stream on the way to discover the Nepenthes Madagascariensis because it is an aquatic plant. Life is even more beautiful if we enjoy it as it is. Don’t you see? Just look at us, personally I don’t have even one Ariary (Malagasy money) now in my pocket but I’m happy, we were happy. I was on Estelle’s back and she said that I’m too light for her and she could bring even two of me in a one day without having any rest. Lol. But Angenickel said the opposite to Ludger because Ludger weights around one hundred kilograms. Then he said: “this is my first time and it’s going to be the last.”

GUESS WHERE ARE WE?

We’re now exactly 183Km in the South-East of Betsimisaraka’s capital. Formally, it was named “Analambay”. Here is the place where the fishers used as their refuges after a very long ways on the sea. This town was started on the North of the main actual town which is becoming a paradisiacal island at this time. That serves this town to receive too many different kinds of National and International tourists to visit this marvelous resort. Now, I would suggest you to come around too because I’m pretty sure that you will enjoy this place and like in all around corners of Madagascar, people in here are also even more than welcoming. Just come and you will see in your own eyes the two amazing coconut trees growing on a stone in the middle of the sea. Personally, I’m amazed. One of them was planted by Mr. Letsara in 1930 and the second one was in 1992 by Mr. Sampy Réné Fabien. The common activities of the villagers are the fishing, plantations and commerce as usual. It is also among of those areas which where the most victim of the cyclone attacks on the East Coast of Madagascar because most of the people here are still sheltering under a very “gasigasy” houses. It’s easy to have but it’s even easer also to lose. To give you more precise clue where are we now; there was a queen called “i Mandry” who reigned there and in addition, just in front of her kingdom, there is a very small island in where there is one sleeping stone which she used as a resting place. When the queen had nothing to do she spent all of her time to cross the ocean until the sleeping stone where she took rest and admired the waves, landscapes, and her villages just in front. Then when she is died, the villagers said that the stone is still belonging to i Mandry which is literally translated “Vaton’i Mandy” or simply Vatomandry is the place where we are now. Come when you get ready, because I guarantee you that you will be more satisfied than you expected. Restaurants, hotels, landscapes, beaches, and indeed a knowledgeable guide are available for you. Enjoy the picture.