Interview with Mr Ralay, headmaster at the teacher training college SFM

February 24^th we interviewed Mr Ralay, headmaster at the teacher training college, Sekoly Fanomanana Mpampianatra (SFM) in  Fandriana, Madagascar. He said the following about literature in schools:

Literature should be in a language that the children understand, otherwise it will a punishment for them. Unfortunately, this is not the case in Madagascar. Most literature is in French, if there are any books in the schools at all.

Schools usually do not have libraries, and if they own one, the books are all in French. Literature is not used in teaching at all, and the teachers do not know how to handle literature. They may be aware that children need fairytales, but they do not have sense for literature. Telling fairytales is the grandmother’s job.

To change the mother tongue teaching in schools in Madagascar is very difficult, but it is one of the most important tasks in society. It is the basis for development.

The same dream

Malagasy children are very different. They are rich or poor, living in town or on the countryside. Some have curly hair and some have smooth, some have dark brown skin color and some have lighter. Some like to play football and some like to sing. Some like fish better than beans and some like beans better than fish...

But they share the same language, and all of them want to be be proud of it. They want to use it and see it used. In books, for example. In funny books full of colored pictures and wonderful stories they can understand. And the best of all: It could be their book!

10,640,922 Malagasy children in need for books

The number of Malagasy children below 18 years is 10,640,922: ten millions six hundred and forty thousand nine hundred twenty-two! That is half of the whole Malagasy population which is 21,281,844.

Norway and Denmark’s whole population together would only give 10,191,880 which is 449,042 less than the Malagasy population under 18.

The median age, which is 18 in Madagascar, means that half the population is below this age, and the half is older. In Norway the median age is nearly 40 years, and in Germany it is 44.

Out of this facts from the world factbook (CIA), we can see that Madagascar struggles with many young people in need for education. Vakoka Vakiteny has distributed about 9,000 books. That means that we have reached only 0.08 % of the children!

Help us to reach more and contact the association for giving a donation!

Malagasy proverbs

Madagascar is famous for its proverbs, and they are being very much used in speeches and everyday conversations. The two proverbs we want to present here could be a slogan for Vakoka Vakiteny, but actually they are originally and traditionally Malagasy proverbs (translated into English):

• Words are like eggs: when they are hatched they have wings

• Words go further than bullets.

The words in our books give the children wings of joy and imagination even if they are not always accepted by the school as proper pedagogical and instructive (though this is a rather rare reaction). Through books the children can access a world they never would have seen, and literacy opens an immense range of possibilities for them.

A few children who have got books can reach a whole community of illiterate people, giving them a feeling that they are able to learn to read, and even that it could be fun.

So we can only thank our island Madagascar for the beautiful proverbs.

Have you voted yet?

We are very interested to hear what you think about our blog, so that we can make it more interesting and informative. Please take a look at our blog and tell us what you think on our poll to the left.

If you want to explain why you find it informative/ not informative, or if you want to tell us something else about our blog and our work, please feel free to leave a comment, or send an e-mail directly to our manager on mparany@vakiteny.org.

Thank you!

Literacy in Madagascar

A common definition of literacy is the ability to read and write at a specified age. CIA-the world factbook uses age 15.

According to CIA, the literacy rate in Madagascar is 68.9% for the total population – 75.5% for men and 62.5% for women.

In Germany, United Kingdom and the US, literacy is 99% for the total population, and in Norway it is even 100%.

On the other hand you have Mali with a literacy rate on 46.4%. In Ethiopia literacy for the total population is 42.7% and in Kenya it is 85.1% (90.6% for men).

We hope that our books from Vakoka Vakiteny can contribute with an increase of the literacy rate in Madagascar. When a child gets a book, the whole family will read in it, and literacy will spread.

The aim for every country should be 100%. So for Madagascar we only have 31.1% left!

Have you bought a CD lately?

Do you like Coldplay? Then you can buy their CD Viva La Vida on www.amazon.com for $ 11.88. Or you can give the money to Vakoka Vakiteny, who can produce and print 4.8 books for it.

If you use makeup, you probably have an eye shadow brush from the Body Shop for $ 18.00. That makes 7,4 Vakoka Vakiteny boos for Malagasy children.

For one pair of converse from www.converse.com you have to spend $ 50.00. Vakoka Vakiteny spends the same money for producing and printing 20.5 books.

If you have bought a Canon PowerShot SX200 digital camera, you probably spent $ 329.99. That makes Ariary 679,647, which means that we could have produced and printed 135.9 books for the same amount.

Or perhaps you plan to go to Christina Aguilera’s concert in Uncasville, CT on July 15. The lowest price for tickets from www.ticketmaster.com is $ 495.00. That makes no less than 203.9 books for Malagasy children through Vakoka Vakiteny.

It takes so little to make a difference! Use your old Converse one more season or listen to Coldplay on YouTube – and spend the money on books through Vakoka Vakiteny's association in Germany. Scroll down this page or press here to see how.

Thank you!

Vakoka Vakiteny on Wikipedia

Check out Vakoka Vakieny’s page on Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vakoka_Vakiteny.

Books for blind children

For Vakoka Vakiteny, every child has a right to read books and to own its own book. Therefore, we have established cooperation with the center for schools for the blind in Madagascar (FoFaJa). Together we want to translate some of our books in Braille (writing for the blind). First we will start with the books “Rebila” and “Dangaligny sy Konaky”, but our aim is to translate every book we publish into Braille.

We really want to give these blind children this great gift, and we are sure they will appreciate it very much. We have already found a translator and made sure that the necessary machines are at hand at the school for the blind. The only thing we still need is money. For € 1000 we can have 300 books printed (translation included). That makes € 3,3 per book or NOK 26,5.

Association for children’s books

In 2009 there was established an association in Germany working together with Vakoka Vakiteny. The German name is “Förderverein Madagaskar Schul- und Kinderbücher e.V.”. Donations to this association will go directly to our work in Madagascar and to books for children.

The association is still very small, and seeks members. Everyone can become a member, and you can decide your annual contribution yourself. However, we suggest € 25 / NOK 200 / £ 20 as a minimum every year. In return for your membership you get a newsletter every three months directly from Madagascar. If you wish, your name will also be published in our member list at our web page.

Still, you don’t have to become a member if want to support Vakoka Vakiteny’s work. However, please still do this through this association. Their bank account is in Germany, but it is no problem to transfer money from other countries.

The bank details are:

Förderverein Madagaskar Schul- und Kinderbücher e.V

Account number: 3077286

Bank code number: 683 515 57

Bank: Sparkasse Schopfheim-Zell

Please announce your donation in advance if you need a donation certificate. All questions can be asked directly to the head of the association, Dr. Klaus-Christian Küspert on e-mail: kuspert@smbara.org.

Thank you!

One coffee or one book?

In Norway one coffee in a café costs from around 25,- NOK up to 50,- NOK. This is as much as Vakoka Vakiteny needs to produce, print and distribute 2 books! In Germany or Great Britain the coffee prices are lower. But still, one coffee = one book.

So every time you go to a café and take a cup of coffee, you could have given one boy or girl in Madagascar a book all for him- or herself.

This book would follow this child her entire childhood and adolescence. It would be a proof for her that someone cared for her and that Malagasy is a language of value. She will read this book over and over again, getting accustomed to language and literacy and learning to love reading.

You can do so much with only one coffee…

Dangaligny with new layout

Our success book “Dangaligny sy Konaky” has got some new pictures. It allows the text to be bigger and with more space in between. It is now much easier to read than before, especially for the children. We really hope they now will like the book even better than before.

The text on the other hand has been shortened and improved. Both author and illustrator have worked hard to get it ready in time for the trip to Germany in summer.

Whether the children will receive this book or not depends on how many copies we will be able to print. Our expectation for Vakoka Vakitenys promotion tour in summer is to get enough donations to print and distribute many new Dangaligny books.

Do you want to help? Please write us an e-mail on mparany@vakiteny.org or leave a comment on this page.

A book: the greatest gift ever

In April 2008 Dr. Klaus-Christian Küspert and Mparany Rakotondrainy made research among the children who had received the book “Dangaligny sy Konaky". It clearly showed that the children appreciated the book very much, and that this was one of the greatest gifts they ever had received. The following interview is a good example for how the children answered.


Interview with Tahoala Adison Sowarski, 13 years

-       Where is your book now? What do you do with it?

I read in it in the evening when I am in the house, and I preserve it in my schoolbag.

-       Whose book is it - who is the true owner?

It is mine!

-       Have you read books before - which books and where did you get them from? Do you own other books?

Only school books, but I have no books of my own.

-       Have you shown the book to others - children or adults? Have you told the story of "Dangaligny sy Konaky" to others?

We often tell the story to each other and we talk about the book when we are together.

-       Can you give us some advice when we now want to create a new book? How would this book be? What kind of books do you like?

I like books with long stories. Stories about children or the life. There should also be pictures, but it must not necessarily be the same as “Dangaligny sy Konaky”.

-       Do you want to say anything more about "Dangaligny sy Konaky" or about reading books?

We like all the funny things and when they play jokes.

When you give children books, you open a new world for them. It gives them joy, happiness, knowledge, inspiration, experience and a whole new dimension in their life. They protect the book as a great treasure. It shows them that their mother tongue is worth something, and that you can do beautiful things in their language.

This is what Vakoka Vakiteny wishes: Many more children like Tahoala experiencing joy of reading!

Toliara Talent Centre

Malagasy children and youth have no place where they can come and paint pictures, read books in their mother tongue, listen to music and do whatever they want without a teacher telling them. They have never experienced to use as much paper as they want when they paint, or just sit and play board games with friends.

We want to build such a place!

This place, known as Toliara Talent Centre, is intended to be built in the coastal city of Toliara. We want to combine this centre with the office of our publishing company, and a café.

The first step is to find a place suited for this, and enough money to build it. We really hope that someone out there could be interested in helping us. If this dream becomes real, many Malagasy children and adolescents will get a good place to spend their spare time, and we will be able to discover talents. There is so much Malagasy youth with talent, but with no one discovering them and helping them developing and publishing their talents!

Help us to make this dream come true!

Our new book, Uncle Tefy

Take a look into our new book, “Uncle Tefy” (“Dadanaivo Tefy in Malagasy”). This new book is about to be ready for printing, and Tojo has worked hard on the pictures. See for yourself!

We won’t reveal much about the content of this book, but we can tell that it is about the oxen Uncle Tefy who experiences some wild adventures and finally comes to Zanzibar.

As you see on the picture, his trip to Zanzibar is not always easy. He has to be very inventive to come all the way there, and also to come back again…

Who are we?

Vakoka Vakiteny is a group of young and idealistic authors and illustrators who want to contribute to change. Our vision is that every Malagasy child should own his/ her own books and learn to read in their mother tongue.

We want to encourage young Malagasy talents to publish their ideas as books through Vakoka Vakiteny and fill homes and schools with them. For more information about us, please look at our web page http://www.vakiteny.org/About%20us.htm.

Currently we are three fix coworkers in the company:

Andriamparany Rakotondrainy, manager, 30 years old, profession: teacher and project coordinator

Tojosoa Raherinirainy, designer and illustrator, 22 years old, student

Sophie Küspert-Rakotondrainy, assistant, 22 years old, student

And these are also our coworkers providing us with ideas and inspiration for our work. They show cheerfulness and joy even in a very difficult life situation. And they are the reason for the work of Vakoka Vakiteny: They are the children of Madagascar!

We have an association working for us in Germany called "Madagaskar Schul- und Kinderbücher e.V.". For all questions concerning membership, etc. please contact Dr. Klaus-Christian Küspert on kuspert@smbara.org or see his blog: http://klaus-christian.blogspot.com/.

Welcome to this new blog

Welcome to our blog and thank you for reading this contribution. We hope this blog can be a source of information and inspiration. So please don’t hesitate in contacting us if you have ideas, meanings or questions about anything concerning Vakoka Vakiteny and its work.

What we want to achieve with this blog is to draw attention to what we are doing and what is happening in our company. However, this blog will not be a substitute for our web page www.vakiteny.org, where all major information will be and where you can see our products, our main activities and more about who we are. Please take a look if you are interested.

The reason for beginning a blog right now is that our company will go to Germany in summer, where we will inform and advertise for our work at many different places. Among others, we will meet the Malagasy Embassy from Berlin, a Swiss/ German children’s book publisher and several associations. So please follow our blog in the weeks coming for update about our activities.