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 Ripple Group, Tina Smith prepared a special speech for each orphanage to explain the link between Ripple Group, 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 Ripple Group 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!

The run up to Christmas!

Alexandra House xmas fundraising for twin orphans

On the 16th November, Nicholas and Charlotte Lewis and Anish did a small speech at Alexandra House (Mauritius) to present the social work of Ripple Fish in Mananjary with Fanatenane and Catja. Their efforts were well received by all concerned and we are extremely proud of their involvement in raising awareness about twins in Mananjary and the hardship that they have to face.

As part of our social programme Cathy Lewis and Tina Smith are working together to implement a programme called "Friends stay Connected" (FSC).

Through this we hope to pair each child at the orphanages with a child from Alexandra House such that children can unite on a international scale.

The presentation received very warm and wonderful responses from parents and children associated with Alexandra house; many offered to donate clothes, toys, and even a power generator!

The awareness campaign was further displayed at Alexandra house through the co-ordination of a cake & gift stall on the 27/11/09 by yr 4 and yr 6 pupils. A big thank you to Mrs Bridget Langlois, Mrs Ingrid Koenig, Mrs Helen Ramdin, and all staff personnel at Alexandra house who worked hard to organise the event and all the children that participated in making the day a huge success.

The cake sale raised RS5,000 in support of Fanatenane and Catja children, which is truly wonderful! Gifts have been purchased by Cathy Lewis, which shall be sent across to Madagascar this week with Jeremy Lewis. Each child is now able to receive an individually wrapped gift thanks to the huge efforts and caring nature of all parents, children and staff concerned.

Alexandra House can proudly say that they contributed to making this Christmas a TRULY magical one for all of these wonderfully deserving children.

Details of the xmas parties shall be posted nearer to xmas time so remember to check out the next blog of latest information!

Have a very Merry Christmas on behalf of Ripple Group and warm wishes for the new year!

Randonnee 2009

Saturday 14th November - what an event!
Fanetenane Orphanage arranged a "Randonnee 2009" - an opportunity for all children in Mananjary to unite with those kids at the orphanage. With over 500 children to cater for on the day, Ripple Group sponsored the event through: advertising, staff assistance, supply of all food and drink, and donations of prizes and gifts for all children that participated.

The day commenced at 07:45 in Mananjary Market where children were organised into 20 teams of 25 children per team – badges and numbered T shirts were distributed prior to the start of the sponsored walk.

The security and music was sponsored by Telma phone company where a local truck wired with music lead the children through the streets of Mananjary passing 4 stall stands on route to Fanatenane orphanage. At the second stall stand, Ripple Fish prepared a small quiz for each team; questions surrounding Ripple Group including aspects of our work and eel biology, as well as a game concerning the structure of the human body catered to encourage interest in health education.

While the older children aged 8-12 took part in the sponsored walk, we arranged a sports event for the 3-7yr olds. This was a huge success! Using a ripple vehicle we collected all 35 children and piled them into the ripple wagon for their first ride in a luxury “pous pous”! Games began with a 25m relay race split between two teams followed by a very funny and exciting sack race sponsored by skretting feed bags would you believe! Children then rested a short while in the baking heat of the sun as we distributed water to some very thirsty children! Skretting continued to entertain us as we moved into penalty shoot out using ripple made goal posts and skretting footballs (these have been donated to the orphanage); this was very amusing trying to organise the little one’s to stand in a line and kick the ball!

By 11:30am, the 3-7yr olds were safely returned to the orphanage for a nappy change and a rest as they awaited the rest of the crowds.

All the crowds finally reached their end destination at Fanatenane at 13:30 where food had been prepared for all participants. All the food and water was sponsored by Ripple Group with plenty to go around as children enjoyed a full plate of rice and beef stew! Meat is quite a luxury for many children who often go for months without tasting any meat!

At 15:30 there were presentations and prizes for all the teams. Speeches were made by:
Monsieur Andriatsiferana Rianarisoa Abdon – Chef de district de Mananjary Monsieur Razafindrakoto Samuel Martel – Maire de la Commune Urbaine de Mananjary Madame Zakarisoa Lucette – Juge des enfants au TPI Mananjary Monsieur Koto Florent-Chef CISCO de Mananjary
Claudia – assistant director of Fanatenane
Monsieur Tovo- on-site director of Fanatenane

Great coverage and thanks was awarded to Ripple Group for sponsoring the majority of the day’s events and for providing staff support to assist in caring for all the children on the day.

The day ended with cocktails and snacks between all the sponsors and a big sigh of relief and joy by all that the day was successful and all children went home happy and content and no doubt with another friend by their side- the purpose of the day; to unit all of the children in Mananjary especially to those children from the orphanages Fanatenane and Catja who by some local beliefs are considered not welcome in the community for reasons surrounding the fady of twins.

A huge thanks to Mr & Mrs Lewis and Ripple Group for sponsoring this event – it was exhausting but very pleasurable to be a part of especially as we too made friends on the day (see photo album Randonnee 2009)…!

Ripple Group wants to share an album of Catja children

	Tina Smith (tsmithripplefishmu) wants to share an album on Photobucket with you! View now Check out this album on Photobucket!
If you are having problems viewing this email, copy and paste the following into your browser: http://s948.photobucket.com/albums/ad328/tsmithripplefishmu/?albumview=slideshow&track=share_email_album_view_click

Congratulations Charlotte, you are the first subscriber to follow our news at the orphanages of Fanantenane and Catja!

Children's photo's

On wednesday afternoon (14/10/09) I visited Fanantenane Orphanage to take photos of all 59 children! This has been added to a child database with details of their name, age and relatedness to other children in the orphanage. This gives you an idea of how many twins there are at Fanantenane at present and for some children to detail whether they are motherless or fatherless.

Each time RG sponsor gifts or arrange activities that are personal to each child, this will be documented in the spreadsheet and reported for your information.

Milk provision Catja Orphanage

Yesterday we visited Catja orphanage to deliver 30 cartons of Nestle Guigoz Milk powder like we did for Fanantenane Orphanage. We also provided 4 footballs sponsored by our feed suppliers, Skretting in Holland. These were greatly appreciated and it wasnt long before the boys were outside playing with their new ball.
Tomorrow we shall visit the orphange to obtain the names of all the children such that we can provide the information to the school in Mauritius for our FSC project.

Introduction to Catja Orphanage

The second orphanage in Mananjary is also in need of our help.

The orphanage is called CATJA “Centre d’accueil et de Transit des Jumeaux Abandonnes”. In English: “A Centre welcoming and transiting abandoned twins”

The orphanage was established in 1987. When children first arrived their main ambition was the immediate interests of the children to provide by means of; food, clothing and medical aid. After time they decided that the only solution for the abandoned children was through an adoption scheme. The idea being that adopted children grow up in Tana, Antsirabe, Fianarantsoa etc but return as adults to their biological families and work in collaboration with the orphanage to help educate the families in rural villages of the life he/she has endured and how the situation is construed in other parts of Madagascar. This is a form of indirect means to help those in the more remote villages rather than bringing them back to the orphanage to work on-site. The problem in Mananjary is that those people that live in the main town are used to the mix in cultures and beliefs and often accept twins for that reason. Those in more remote locations where the beliefs of the Panzac are influential on daily life; there is not the same mix of people. As such they are often isolated from the rest of the community and “set in their traditional ways".

There are 82 children in total ranging in age from only a few months to 20 years of age. The breakdown is as follows:

0 - 2 ( 16 children)
2 – 5 (18 children)
6 – 20 (48 children)

There are 68 abandoned children and 14 child workers that assist at the orphanage but who are provided for in the same way in terms of food provision, lodging and medical help.

Twins are mostly brought in after birth but they also cater for older abandoned children that are not necessarily brought in due to reasons surrounding the fady culture. Some may have no parents.

They also have a rehabilitation programme to take children that are in trouble with the law rather than sending them to Jail.

There are currently 112 people living at the orphanage, which is more or less their capacity but given the transient nature of their establishment they tend to work at capacity whilst maintaining new arrivals.

Milk Provision

There is a shortage of milk in Madagascar as it is but given that both orphanages need to provide “First stage baby milk” to those infants that are brought in imminently after birth, the provision of adequate nutrition is a high priority issue that these assocations are facing at present. They often rely solely on the milk brought in from Europe by director associates and/or volunteers travelling into the country.

RFI recognise the hard work, time and effort that each orphanage is putting in to care for abandoned twins. The next delivery of Milk from Europe for Fananantenane is only in November and this does depend on funding. As such RFI arranged yesterday for 30 cartons of Nestle Guigoz milk powder to be delivered to the orphanage to ensure support is there until the next delivery arrives.

Today, the family of Mr Lewis along with friends visiting from Mauritius and myself visited the orphanage to deliver the milk and also assisted Claudia and other staff with feeding the babies. See photos of both Cathy and Charlotte Lewis feeding an 18 month old baby named Toavina

Also see a great photo of Nicolas Lewis picured in bright blue playing football outside with the other boys at the orphanage; making fun use of the sponsored balls from skretting feed supplies.

orphanage projects

The main feed supplier for our eel stock "Skretting" based on Holland, have sponsored the production of 25 footballs, which they have kindly donated to our operations based locally in Mananjary. We have since donated 4 footballs to Fanantenane orphanage last Friday, which was greatly received and appreciated. Tomorrow (10/10/09) both myself and Cathy Lewis will donate 4 footballs to Catja orphanage.

Project objectives

• Provide the financial means to develop each orphanage to a level that will facilitate their capacity for both volunteers and workers to integrate and educate the children.
• To assess priority areas where help is needed such that RG can help on both a financial and work basis, and to make provisions for additional facilities that are otherwise unavailable to them due to limited funds.
• To collaborate with the directors on site who can provide research into the current social context for each child's situation and background that led many of the children to the orphanage. Through this RG would like to propose and prepare for a means by which children from Mauritius can indirectly/directly integrate with each child through an FSC project operated by Tina Smith in Mananjary and Cathy Lewis based in Mauritius - "Friends stay connected". Children from Mauritius will have the opportunity to learn about the lives of children here in Mananjary and work together to operate small-scale fundraising events that can be donated directly to the children by way of toys and materials; items that will enhance mental and social development in each child. Furthermore, each child will be paired with an International friend who through this blogspot can access up to date information on activities and progress made at the orphanages, and/or any personal messages sent between friends online. Children may also want to send hand delivered mail, which can be delivered by Management on their regular visits to Mananjary.

Orphanage projects

Local Taboo or “fady” culture is commonplace in Madagascar and an important influencing factor in the ways of daily life. Fady varies between communities and from person to person. While fady culture may relate to daily actions, or food, there are fady’s like the situation surrounding twins that may be considered cruel among the more educated people who have a more modern way of thinking and approach to daily life.

There are currently only two orphanages in the town of Mananjary that cater for abandoned twins.

One is called Fanantenane, which in Malagasy means “hope”. The Director’s name is Gerrard Bouffet who is based in France in Poitiers. The orphanage has an on-site medical centre, which they have named Marie Christalle. This was named after the Director’s daughter who died at a young age. The onsite assistant director who manages the operations on-site is Andriamampionona Tovo Aina.

At this orphanage there are 59 children in total ranging in age from only a few months to 18 years of age. Twins are mostly brought in after birth but they also cater for older abandoned children that are not necessarily brought in due to reasons surrounding the fady culture.

The second is called CATJA “Centre d’accueil et de Transit des Jumeaux Abandonnes”. In English: “A Centre welcoming and transiting abandoned twins”. Here, there are 82 children in total ranging in age from only a few months to 20 years of age. The Director is based at the Orphanage. Her name is Madame Julie.

Ripple Group in Madagascar are in a position to help such local organisations both on a financial scale and through the provision of additional facilities and materials that may be used for and by the children as a means to improve and enhance daily life through; education and social awareness.