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

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