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The
past year has seen Akany Avoko burgeoning with life. At times the endless streams
of new children to care for seemed quite overwhelming. In November we almost caved
in under the financial strain but thank God many of you rallied to our rescue
and now Akany Avoko is blooming again.
Thank God not every child is as fragile as Ginah. Although medical care is not the primary function of Akany Avoko, most of the children arriving here need medical attention. Most common problems result from malnutrition and poor sanitation prior to arrival at Akany Avoko. But we also have to cope with viruses and diseases like malaria which have been particularly prevalent this year. (For example we treated 250 cases of bronchitis and 130 cases of Malaria amongst our children this year.) Several children also needed surgery this year. Operations included a cleft lip, a perforated ear drum, removal of adenoids, removal of cists and an umbilical hernia. To help us keep the children healthy we have an Indian nurse volunteering with us for 2 years. We depend entirely on donations of medicines and money to cover the children's treatment. | ||
 Apart
from reinforcing our medical team, we have been making efforts to improve the
quality of care in a variety of ways. These include improving our primary school
and investing in preparation for independence. September 2005 saw the opening our new block of 6 classrooms. Numbers of primary school children studying at Akany Avoko had risen from 15 to 50 over the past 5 years. Classes were being held in corridors and even in the cow shed. Thanks to donations from the Kreitman Foundation and Casemir Chocolates we were able to build a new block of 6 classrooms, 4 primary classes, 1 language classroom and 1 IT classroom. The children clearly appreciate learning in a good environment as this year we had 100% pass rate for the secondary school entrance exam (CEPE). We have also been improving the training for the older girls. Finding decent employment in Madagascar is extremely difficult even for the most advantaged children. So equipping our teenagers for independence is no mean feet. This year we recruited new teachers for our domestic science programme including 2 Akany Avoko graduates. The programme now covers: cooking, dressmaking, healthcare, family planning, budgeting, literacy and numeracy, French and English, IT, gardening, & hairdressing. In the New Year we plan to add a careers adviser / business management teacher to our team.
Preparing children for independence starts the moment they walk into Akany Avoko. That's not to say we don't want them to feel welcome! Instead we must work at every level: physical, educational, psychological, emotional and spiritual to help each child find their equilibrium and achieve their potential. We feel that some children are still held back by unresolved problems from the past. To this end we plan to recruit 2 counsellors and a part-time psychiatrist. We also want to further develop our expressive arts programme as we have found music, theatre, dance, art and sports really help the children to become more happy balanced individuals. Any support for this programme would be very welcome. Some people help by supporting activities whilst others prefer to sponsor an individual child. We are delighted to receive whatever help you can offer. It is a constant challenge to try to meet the diverse needs of all our children. Thank you for your part in helping each child to reach their potential. How can I help Akany Avoko? To
make a donation please make a cheque payable to our UK registered charity account
"Money For Madagascar AAA" with a note to say it is for Akany
Avoko and send it to: Akany
Avoko, Or
you can make a bank transfer
directly to our Madagascar account: Account name & address: "Centre
de Reeducation FAFFIP" , Akany Avoko BP29, Ambohidratrimo 105, Madagascar. Bank Code 00009 If you would like information about our child sponsorship scheme or other ways you can help support the children at Akany Avoko then please email us on akany.avoko@wanadoo.mg Sincerest thanks for your support, from all the staff and children at Akany Avoko. | ||
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For
example Ginah was recently in intensive care for 2 weeks. At 20 months old her
weight dropped to 3.5kilos - the weight of a newborn! We almost thought we had
lost her, her veins wouldn't support a drip any more and the doctors had little
hope, but somehow she turned a corner and 
started
to eat again. 
Our
vocational training program has been much enhanced by the recent opening of the
'Akany Avoko café'. Run by Akany Avoko graduates and staffed by the domestic
science students, this provides real work experience as well as generating income
to fund the domestic science programme. Crafts are also on sale in the Café
and Tours of Akany Avoko can include environmental or solar cooking or dance demonstrations.
To
further secure the future lives of our graduates we have developed a social housing
scheme which we call 'Habitat'. Thanks to a donation from the Glass House Trust
we were able to buy a plot of land which we divided into 22 plots of 120 square
metres. In collaboration with 2 NGOs we have helped our young people to produce
house plans and take out affordable loans to cover the building costs. So far
we have built 15 houses. We are looking for new funds to buy the next plot of
land for the next 15 Akany Avoko graduates. We would also love to build a water
tower and to power the little village with a wind turbine or solar panels both
to save money and be a model us sustainability. We would be delighted to receive
any support for this.
