Vakoka Vakiteny will publish a green book

As noted earlier on this blog (http://vakiteny.blogspot.com/2010/06/vakoka-vakiteny-in-cooperation-with.html) Vakoka Vakiteny was in contact with the Norwegian organization Grønn Hverdag in Stavanger already in June. Grønn Hverdag, which means “green living”, cooperates with schools and youth organizations in Madagascar. Together with these partners they will develop a manuscript concerning the environment in Madagascar.

This manuscript will be written by the children in the partner schools together with two facilitators, a Norwegian and a Malagasy author during a 10 days’ workshop in November. The Malagasy author will be Mparany from Vakoka Vakiteny.

This green book will contain whatever the children want to express about the environment, and will be a mixture of several writing styles, for example stories, fact texts, fairytales, poems, etc. The children will also paint pictures to the text.

Vakoka Vakiteny will put the texts and the pictures together, make the layout had have it printed in Antananarivo. It seems that the printing house will be able to use recycled paper for the pages inside the book, which will underline the environmental message. We will also distribute the books to the partner schools in the Antsirabe area when the printing is finished.

We in Vakoka Vakiteny look forward to this cooperation, and especially Mparany is very glad to be asked to contribute with his experience to help the children write the texts.

Four children received their first book

The Norwegian tourist group who visited us two weeks ago bought books from us which they wanted Malagasy children to have. Vakoka Vakiteny is now free to give these books to children who need them, and the four first copies were given away yesterday. The children who received the books are all siblings living here in Toliara. We visited them at their home outside the town where they live with their parents.

Richard who is 15 years old got the book Takoboka and Vola (11) received the Dangaligny book. The two youngest, Francine (7) and Francia (6) both got Rebila, and Francia immediately began to look for familiar letters in the text. They have never owned their own book, and were very proud to finally have one. After they all had taken a look at their own book they switched, and Vola began to read aloud for Francine, whereas Francia found it very interesting to look at the pictures in Dangaligny and guess how the story goes.

They all go to a school which uses almost only French as instructing language, so the books in Malagasy are a new experience for them. But the parents encourage them to read even if they also find it strange with a book in Malagasy. Actually it was the mother’s wish that the children should have books that made us visit the family.

We wish Richard, Vola, Francia and Francine good luck with their reading, and we hope that they will have much fun with it. And we also hope that the books will give them self-confidence in using the Malagasy language, and pride in their mother tongue.

The test print of Uncle Tefy is here

Yesterday evening the test print of the new book Uncle Tefy arrived from the printing house. It is in black and white and without cover, but inside everything is as it will be in the real book. We now proofread it all over again and look for mistakes in text or layout. When we have corrected possible errors we will sign the sheet and return it to Antananarivo as soon as possible. Printing will start immediately after the printing house has received the signed test print from us.

Mparany proofreading

Hopefully we will see the first copy of Uncle Tefy in a colorful book in November.

Visit from Norwegian tourist group

Yesterday, Wednesday October 13 we received a group of tourists from Norway who wanted to hear about Vakoka Vakiteny. Their tour guides were Evy and Reimar Brun, former missionaries in Madagascar and friends of Sophie and Mparany.

We cooked a Malagasy meal for the group of 16 people and had lunch in the garden under a mango tree. After desert and coffee Sophie and Mparany informed about Vakoka Vakiteny’s work, current activities and underlying philosophy. Our guests were very interested and asked many questions.

We also had a look at the original pictures of Dangaligny which were exposed on the walls and Sophie read a passage of the story translated into Norwegian.

People looking at the book and listening to the story.

Vakoka Vakiteny received generous donations from the group. Many people bought books from us which they didn’t take with them, but left behind as a gift for Malagasy children. We also hope that some of them will decide to become members of the association for school and children’s book.

Thank you Evy and Reimar for bringing these people to us and thank you for a very nice afternoon.

Vakoka Vakiteny translating and publishing a German novel in Madagascar

Todisoa is a 12 years old girl living in the rain forest in the east of Madagascar together with her family. After a terrible storm that destroys their house and fields, the family moves to the capital Antananarivo. The parents don’t find work, so they end on the street begging and searching for usable things on the dump. Todisoa has to be a strong girl helping her parents and encouraging her younger brothers. She is the one who makes the family endure the difficulties so that they finally can head back to the rain forest.

The story of Todisoa is a youth novel written by the German author Nasrin Siege who lived in Madagascar for a long time. It is written in German, but Vakoka Vakiteny has already started the translation into Malagasy.

This novel shows the life of people who often are forgotten in the Malagasy society. It opens people’s hearts and eyes for the difficulties they face, and Todisoa can also be a role model for girls in a similar situation.

This book should absolutely be read by the Malagasy youth! Therefore we hope that many people will help us to get funds for translating and printing it. This can be done through the Association for Schools and Children’s books in Madagascar.