Vakoka Vakiteny News

Todisoa

2012-02-12T13:11:00.000-08:00

We have finally received the corrected manuscript of Todisoa and are now reworking it. We hope to be able to send it back to Madagascar soon. It has also already be test read by several 14 and 15 year old adolescents and it was received very well. The test reading will continue and be extended to some other age groups.

The man who copied the text from the handwritten manuscript from the proof-reader into the computer told us that he really liked the story and actually shed some tears because it was so sad...

Now it remains to see if we will be able to print the book before the summer of if we have to be present in Madagascar before we can print it.

Todisoa

2012-01-18T13:30:00.000-08:00

All the pictures for the book about Todisoa are now complete and we are very satisfied. We are however still waiting for the correction which already has been finished, but not sent. Yet we have been promised to receive it soon in order to be able to revise the manuscript.

The German author, Mrs. Siege is now doing campaigns for the original German version. She will again go to Germany in May in order to read from the book and show pictures from Madagascar. Those who are interested can take a look at her web page http://www.nasrin-siege.com or contact her directly on info@nasrin-siege.com.

For German readers it might also be interesting to read this book review: Mit authentischemLeben gefüllt. This is a translated quote from the review: “This book combines the great human issues: existential fears, questions about meaning, friendship, everyday family life, playing and learning. (…) We feel with Todisoa in all her desires and fears in this completely foreign world because the author fills her with authentic life and guides us through”. Vakoka Vakiteny couldn’t agree more.

Book fair in Antsirabe

2011-12-08T02:53:00.000-08:00

Vakoka Vakiteny participated on a book fair in Antsirabe from the 29^th of November to the 3^rd of December. Unfortunately we don’t have the pictures yet, but they will be posted as soon as we have got them.

The fair was a success! The children were excited when they heard that they just could sit down and read. When they were told that the author of the book Takoboka, Mr Ny Avana Andriamboavonjy had come to the fair, they went searching for him. Mrs Hanta says that “it was as if they were looking for the President himself”, and they did not give up until they had found him.

Further, Mrs Hanta tells that our books were among the most popular on the fair. She counted 306 readers between 5 and 45 years of age. There were also sold a few books. When the arranger of the fair saw the excitement of the people at the Vakoka Vakiteny stand, we actually got 50 % reduction of the fee for participating on the fair.

Correction of Todisoa

2011-12-01T12:26:00.001-08:00

Finally the first correction of the Malagasy version of the book about Todisoa is finished. We hope to receive the corrected text soon, so that we will be able to know how we should go about it further on. According to Hanta the professor who corrected it did a very throughout job, so we might not have to get the whole manuscript corrected all over again, or at least only once more. Therefore we might be able to move on to test reading by the target group soon.

Radio

2011-11-25T13:31:00.000-08:00

Here comes a picture from Hanta at the radio in Antsirabe taken in October. I didn't have the chance to post it soon after it was taken, so I post it now.
Thank you for the enthusiasm, Hanta!

Pictures from the distribution of Ampanirio

2011-11-05T09:39:00.000-07:00

Finally we have received some more pictures from Madagascar! They show the distribution of the environment book Ampanirio to the schools Farimbona, Filadelfia and La Joie and the youth organization Green Pilots in Antsirabe. The feedback from students, teachers and the members of Green Pilots is very positive. A big thank you to ‘Grønn Hverdag’ in Stavanger!

Unwrapping with enthusiasm

The first glance into the book

Some of the students that had their contributions published in the book

Farimbona School

Ampanirio is handed over to Fanja, leader of Green Pilots Antsirabe

Green Pilots

Vakoka Vakiteny’s books in Japan

2011-11-02T14:18:00.000-07:00

In October we got an email from Fujii Books in Kyoto in Japan who had seen our web page and wanted to buy some books from us. We sent 6 books to Japan at once, and they were displayed at a book exhibition on the 13th of October. We are very happy that our books have got some international recognition and that people in other places of the world can have the opportunity to see Malagasy children’s books.

Tamagawa Children's Library in Kanazawa City received some books from Vakoka Vakiteny through Fujii Books and Ms Azusa Kita who works at this library explains their work as follows:

Our library was open in November 2008, and fortunately the number of visitors to the library reached 500,000 this year. Books we have are mainly for children. So it can be said that we're different from other ordinary libraries.
In our library, there is a room, called World Picture Books from the start. For this room, we have collected 4,000 picture books from 100 countries so far (Including your country).
Why?
Because we think that children can know the world through picture books, and it can rear children’s curiosity and interest much. We provide story-telling in as many languages as possible. And we believe that these can bear fruit as the peace of the world someday in the future.
Therefore we've longed to collect picture books from as many countries as possible. So actually we do collect not only Malagasy picture books but also other countries' ones.

We are very glad that Dangaligny and co. are at Tamagawa Children's Library and that Japanese children also can enjoy at least the pictures!

Here is their web page http://www.lib.kanazawa.ishikawa.jp/kodomo/ (in Japanese).

Vitrine de Vakinankaratra

2011-10-18T13:35:00.000-07:00

From Thursday 13^th to Saturday 15^th of October Vakoka Vakitenty participated on the Vitrine de Vakinankaratra, a fair and exhibition in Antsirabe arranged for the 14^th time. The reason for making this fair is to give industrial, commercial and agricultural manufacturers a chance to show their products in order to “fight regression” (source: FIOVA, the arranger of the fair: http://fiova.over-blog.com/).

Mrs Hanta reports that she had a very nice time these three days, assisted by Kathy, a young lady who has experience in marketing. There were many people visiting the stand and even the Minister of Industry Henri Rasamoela came and took a look at our books. The feedback from the Minister was very positive and he emphasised that Vakoka Vakiteny shows that it is possible to do great things with few resources and a small apparatus. Also the Major of Antsirabe, Mrs Olga Ramalason was impressed and asked for an appointment with Mrs Hanta.

The stand. Second and third from the left are Mrs Hanta and Kathy

Mrs Hanta (on the right) is showing the books to the Minister of Industry (third from the left).

Right behind the Minister is the head of FIOVA.

Mrs Hanta and Mayor of Antsirabe, Mrs Olga Ramalason are enjoying a drink

Children and youth who were passing by got the chance to sit down and read at the stand and totally there were sold 33 books. People were impressed by the quality of the books and they gave much positive feedback. However, Vakoka Vakiteny also received suggestions for improvement and ideas for further production.

The pictures in this post were taken by some journalists covering the fair. However, Mrs Hanta promises to send some more pictures that show the stand, taken by friends. We will post those as soon as we receive them.

Vakoka Vakiteny on RTA radio

2011-10-07T05:28:00.000-07:00

Mrs Hanta will be interviewed directly on Radio Télévision Antsirabe (RTA) tomorrow morning. She will tell about the work of Vakoka Vakiteny and the importance of books. Further she will inform about where it is possible to purchase the books and how schools can contact Vakoka Vakiteny if they are interested.

Mrs Hanta will also participate on “Vitrine de Vakinankaratra”, an exhibition where different products from the region of Vakinankaratra are exposed. She will make a stand with the books and products of Vakoka Vakiteny. It will take place October 13 to 15 at the avenue in front of the railway station in Antsirabe.

In addition she will train students and teachers at the Farimbona school in Antsirabe about books and literature on Monday. This is in connection with the distribution of Ampanirio, the environment book.

We will of course cover her activities on the blog and we also hope to be able to share some pictures.

The web page is updated

2011-09-14T11:46:00.000-07:00

Mparany has worked hard for several weeks now and taught himself how to update the Vakoka Vakiteny web page, www.vakiteny.org.

We have made modifications in the structure of the page and replaced some information. Now we are more satisfied with it. The association has its own space on the page (http://www.vakiteny.org/Association.htm) where the membership application form can be downloaded, and all our newsletters can be downloaded from http://www.vakiteny.org/Newsletter.htm.

If you should find some problems with the page, please tell us. We are still in the “learning by doing” phase, so we are happy to receive any feedback.

New pictures

2011-08-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

Here are two of the ten new pictures we have received from Nassar, our illustrator for the youth novel about Todisoa. They show Antohomadinika, one of the poorest quarters in the capital Antananarivo.

Report from Hanta

2011-08-16T05:01:00.000-07:00

Today we had a short meeting on Skype with Hanta, our coworker in Madagascar. She tells that she has worked with the distribution of Ampanirio, the environment book, and Uncle Tefy. Furthermore she has also sold some copies of Uncle Tefy and done publicity for this book in Antsirabe. The feedback from people is very positive, she reports. She has also presented Uncle Tefy to the “Alliance Franco-Malgache” in Antsirabe.

The cover of the geography book has to be strengthened a bit since the back of some of the first books we received from the printing house had a tendency to dissolve. Last week Hanta visited the printing house. Unfortunately she could not collect all the resting copies, but we hope that the last covers soon will be glued.

There have already been finished and delivered 10 new black and white pictures for the book about Todisoa, which will be scanned and sent to us this week.

Hanta has had much work to do during this first month. But it has been interesting and enjoyable, she says.

Vakoka Vakiteny’s webpage

2011-08-04T01:41:00.000-07:00

Now the webpage of Vakoka Vakiteny is up and run again with updated contact details and some updates in our book assortment. We will update it further as soon as possible. At least you can now click into our page and get more information about our work and philosophy. We have also updated the page about our sponsors/ partners.

We apologize if there still should be problems with some links, buttons or pictures on the page.

Events in Baden-Baden and Gernsbach

2011-07-18T09:49:00.000-07:00

On Friday 15th July Mparany and Sophie had two small gatherings with supporters and sponsors of Vakoka Vakiteny in Baden-Baden and Gernsbach in Germany.

In the morning we visited the Albert Schweitzer Gymnasium in Gernsbach to thank the school for their generous donations during last school year. With help of the Gymnasium we were able to print the geographic picture book in 1000 copies. After a short meeting with the headmaster Mr. Beil and the responsible teacher Mrs. Rauffmann we met the students in the canteen. We were surprised that so many were interested as the meeting was voluntary. We received many questions from the students about the geography book, our work and the general situation in Madagascar. It was especially pleasing to meet many students who had listened to our presentation about Madagascar and Vakoka Vakiteny at the school last year. Afterwards we spoke with two students from the student council who were very eager to continue the support and make publicity for our work in Madagascar.

In the afternoon the association supporting Vakoka Vakiteny, “Förderverein Madagaskar Schul- und Kinderbücher e.V.” had their annual meeting in the home of board member Mrs. Schelshorn (2nd from the right on the picture) in Baden-Baden. Following this assembly the 9 members of the association and 7 other interested people came to listen to our report about the activities during the last school year and look at our new books. It was a very enjoyable evening where we discussed both the work and the general situation in Madagascar. In addition we received inspiration, suggestions and feedback.

A great thank you goes to Mrs. Schelshorn for her hospitality. Furthermore we want to thank the staff and students at the Gymnasium and the association board for arrangements and support.

Presentation of two new coworkers

2011-07-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

This post was published a week ago but due to internet problems it suddenly “disappeared”. Here it comes again:

Mrs Hantanirin’i Joa, 39 years old and former teacher acts as our replacement in Vakoka Vakiteny during the period we will be away from Madagascar. Among her responsibilities will be to distribute and sell books, collect and pay the new books from the printing house and administer the correction and illustration of the Malagasy version of Nasrin Siege’s book about the girl Todisoa.

Together with Mrs Hanta, the young man Jean Elysé will work temporarily with the correction of the book about Todisoa. He will receive the corrected manuscript from the proofreaders and send out a new version to the next proofreader.

Two new books and other news

2011-07-08T05:46:00.000-07:00

There have happened many things since last time we posted on this blog. First of all two books are now printed. The first one is Ampanirio, the environment book, which is our first book printed on recycled paper. We are very satisfied with the quality of the print on this paper and will be happy to be able to distribute the first copies to the participating schools already next week.

The second book is the geography book with the new title “Fantaro ny Nosintsika”, which means “Get to know our island”. Also this book is now laying out for sale and distribution in Madagascar in this very moment.

On Saturday the 2nd of July we met the pupils in the village Ambohimanambola who received the book Dadanaivo Tefy printed with the means of the company Henzmann. Some of them had also brought their parents, and they all were very positive towards the book.

Some of their comments were:

“I found it very funny when Uncle Tefy stole the food from the herdsmen and burned his mouth.”
Pupil

“We like the story and especially the pictures inside the book.”
Pupil

“I see how fast the children who have received this book develop their reading skills in school. Their advantage compared to children not owning a book is incredibly!”
Teacher

“Sometimes in the evening our children read aloud to those not going to school and explain the story of Uncle Tefy. They are having a good time. Also we grownups like to take a look into the book.”
Father

Sophie and Mparany have now come to Germany where we will stay about one year due to studies in Norway. Our temporary replacement for Vakoka Vakiteny in Madagascar, Mrs Hanta, has already been working with enthusiasm for some weeks. We will soon introduce her officially on this blog.

Our web page www.vakiteny.org has been down and under construction for some time now. However, we hope to have it repaired soon and apologize for the trouble this may have caused.

Pictures for the book about Todisoa

2011-06-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

Our illustrator for the youth novel about the street girl Todisoa, Nassar, is a young man from Sakaraha, a small town east of Toliara. He has already finished several drafts, and will now begin to make the about 40 small black and with pictures for the book.

We are very glad that we have found this talented illustrator, and we believe that the pictures will give the book an attractive appearance. However, the pictures shown here are some first drafts, and will not necessarily be the pictures which we are going to use.

Distribution of Uncle Tefy at La Joie

2011-05-30T09:46:00.000-07:00

Today 70 Uncle Tefy’s were distributed at the school La Joie in Antsirabe donated by Mrs. Ebba Hauken and the municipality of Stavanger, Norway.

Our coworker, Hanta Nirin’i Joa distributed them together with the Norwegian Peace Corps volunteer Trine Lund. All the students in 6th to 9th grade received one book each and Hanta read the story aloud for them. It was obvious that they liked the book, and they were very active in the discussion afterwards. They all would have liked to continue the reading and discussion because the 30 minutes scheduled went so fast.

Afterwards there was a short meeting with some of the teachers about the use of literature in school. They promised to make a small library so that all the pupils can get the chance to read the books. The school has previously received all Vakoka Vakiteny books, and they also got some books in English today. Those were not from Vakoka Vakiteny.

This was the first official mission for Hanta in the name of Vakoka Vakiteny, and we are very glad to see that she has the talent to fascinate youth. We are sure that today was not the last time Hanta will promote literature.

Both pictures by Trine Lund

Three manuscripts at the printing house

2011-05-24T00:14:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we sent the manuscript of the geographic picture book to the printing house in Antanananrivo. It will arrive there tomorrow and the process of test printing can begin. It is always hard to separate from a manuscript which has been worked on for many months, but we are satisfied with the result and eager to see it released as a book.

The manuscripts of Ampanirio, the environment book and the second edition of Dangaligny and Konaky have already been at the printing house for some weeks. We are now waiting for a second, corrected test print of Ampanirio before we can sign the printing contract. However, we hope to be able to do it this week so that the printing can begin as soon as possible.

Vakoka Vakiteny has got ISBN Numbers

2011-05-14T06:48:00.001-07:00

Today Vakoka Vakiteny received 10 ISBNs (International Standard Book Number) from the agency in charge of the international francophone literature. All future books we publish will now have this number, which will make it internationally recognizable.

Maps for the geographic picture book

2011-05-06T03:49:00.000-07:00

All the maps for the geographic picture book are now finished and we are indeed very satisfied with the result! The illustrator we first intended to use was hindered. Therefore we were very thankful when Dr. Klaus-Christian Küspert offered to make them. We received eight artistic maps from him in a very short time. They are all hand painted with many details and symbols.

The manuscript has now been proofread by teachers and people with higher education in geography. We have begun negotiations with several organizations about this book and we have got positive feedback on the manuscript already. Therefore we hope that some of them will decide to buy a large number of copies of the geographic picture book from us already in advance of the printing.

Distribution of Uncle Tefy

2011-04-24T01:48:00.000-07:00

The 385 books for the schools in Ambohimanambola and the surrounding were distributed in January and February. We have now got the report and the pictures from the distribution, and they are very encouraging. All the children in the 5^th grade at seven schools received their book, and they also brought their parents to listen to the training about literature and reading.

Teachers and pupils carrying the books to their school

Pupils in Ambohimanambola

Pupils in Ambalavao (Ambohimanambola)

Parents gathered in the classroom

The green book “Ampanirio” has been sent to the printing house

2011-04-19T12:07:00.000-07:00

We have now sent the manuscript of the environment book "Ampanirio" written by young people from Antsirabe to the printing house in Antananarivo. It remains to wait for the test print which we hope will come not too long after Easter.

One of the paintings included in the book, made by the girl Hasina

The youth in Toliara is interested in books

2011-04-16T10:19:00.000-07:00

Today we were at the marked place again, as last Saturday. There were even more people stepping by today, and many took their time looking at the books and reading. We are very happy that so many especially young people are interested in our books. Many of them asked us to come to the market place every day and not once a week, but unfortunately this will be impossible for us.
Next Saturday, however, we will be at the same place again together with our books.

There was a person stepping by today who turned out to be a poet and asked for cooperation. We hope that our approach will make us known to other authors, poets and illustrators in order to be able to promote the talents of Toliara’s youth.

Public launching of Uncle Tefy

2011-04-09T06:39:00.000-07:00

Today was the official launching of the book Uncle Tefy in Toliara city center near the market place. We made it very simple and brought the books in our car which we positioned on the place we had been given by the municipality.

We brought information material and books, and there were many people passing by to ask what we were doing. For most of them, children’s books in Malagasy language was a totally new thing, and they were very eager to hear more about our work. We also met representatives from schools and bookstores here in Toliara.

We have promised to be present at the same place almost every Saturday now, so that those who want to bring friends or colleagues can come and talk to us. We hope that we will be able to sell books and make negotiations concerning distribution during the next few Saturdays. We also plan to have readings for children here.

Translation of Todisoa

2011-03-30T01:26:00.000-07:00

Vakoka Vakiteny is about to translate a German novel about the Malagasy street girl Todisoa, written by the author Nasrin Siege who lived for several years in Madagascar. Due to changes in the original manuscript we had a longer break in the translation work from November to February. Now we have begun the process of translation again and we have translated about a quarter of the book already.

This is a very challenging job, especially because the German and Malagasy languages are so totally different. But it is also interesting and exciting, and we are enjoying it very much.

Still we haven’t got means for developing the manuscript or printing the book. We want to do an authentic and approved translation which needs researches and thoroughly corrections, and a good quality print with black and white paintings. We want to sell it subsidized on the marked here in Madagascar and are therefore depending on donations through the association for schools and children’s books.

The Sifaka and the Babakoto

2011-03-23T22:48:00.000-07:00

This is a funny fairytale from Ampanirio, the environment book. It is written by Sarah, 12 years old and translated into English.

The Sifaka and the Babakoto

One day the lemurs Babakoto and Sifaka talked to each other.

Sifaka: Tell me, my friend. Why is your tail so short?
Babakoto: That’s the way I like it, and don’t you know that this is exactly the fashion this season?
Sifaka: Then I will go to the hair dresser and cut mine like yours.
Babakoto: That’s good! Will I see you then in the evening?
Sifaka: It depends. Bye!

In the evening:

Babakoto: Hello Mrs. Sifaka. It is you going to the marked tonight and not Mr. Sifaka?
Mrs Sifaka: He is very ill, Mr. Babakoto!
Babakoto: Ill?
Mrs. Sifaka: You know, this fashion of yours, it is really dangerous. He went to the hairdresser and his tail was cut off together with the hair.
Babakoto: Really? How would he get such an idea? Stupid!
Mrs. Sifaka: Bye, I have to go.
Babakoto: Isn’t Mr. Sifaka’s birthday party tomorrow?
Mrs. Sifaka: Indeed. That’s why I bring all this food now. See you tomorrow.

Next day:
All the lemurs are gathered.

Sifaka: This I want to tell you, my friends. First of all I greet every one of you. Remember this: When God made us Sifaka with a long tail, please don’t try to do something else, even if it’s fashion. Look at me. I wanted to have a tail like Babakoto, and it was cut totally off. So please be satisfied with what is given you!

News about the geographic picture book

2011-03-22T01:42:00.000-07:00

We have now completed all the texts for the geographic picture book and they are sent out for correction. The layout and processing of photographs is about to finish and we have begun the negotiations with the printing house in Antananarivo.

There are some minor changes from the last information we posted about this book. It will contain 68 and not 52 pages and even more photographs than estimated. The target group will be somewhat older students than first considered – from 11 to 15 years, but it can still be used together with children in primary school. We think that it even might be quite interesting to read for students in upper secondary school and teachers.

In addition to the information about each province: major towns, the nature and environmental problems, mountains, lakes and rivers and occupation of most people (agriculture, industry, etc.), we have included the story of an adolescent living in each province (4 of 6 have now been finished). We also write about special topics like for example eco-tourism and the pirate tales from the east end north.

We have estimated the print of the book to be finished in June.

Page 60 and 61 from the chapter about the northern province Antsiranana.

455 of 3000 Uncle Tefys are distributed

2011-03-14T08:19:00.000-07:00

We have begun the distribution of the book Uncle Tefy. 15 copies are on their way to Germany right now and 455 copies have been distributed to Malagasy children.

We plan to have a public launching of the book in the center of Toliara city next week.

Happy New Year

2011-01-07T06:20:00.000-08:00

We in Vakoka Vakiteny want to wish all of you a happy new year 2011!

For us this year will hopefully be full of activities and we estimate at least 3 or 4 manuscripts to be ready for print and distribution within next new-year. We also hope to find more people who support our work. Therefore we also will try to be more active on this blog.

Christmas markeds in Baden-Baden

2010-12-05T23:27:00.000-08:00

Member of the association and long-standing supporter of Vakoka Vakiteny, Mrs. Christel Schelshorn recently participated on two Christmas markets in Baden-Baden. Here she sold handicraft from Madagascar and told about our work for Malagasy literature. She will also contribute on a third marked on December 11.

Mrs. Schelshorn also received generous support from the German-French society in Baden-Baden and the association “Eine-Welt-Verein Keniahilfe”.

We want to thank Mrs. Schelshorn and her associates for the great job in collecting money and spreading information about Vakoka Vakiteny.

The stand together with the “Eine-Welt-Verein”

Mrs. Schelshorn (r.) here together with the German-French society

Covering of the north of Madagascar for the gepgraphic picture book

2010-11-24T11:57:00.000-08:00

Currently we have a co-worker in the northern part of Madagascar doing researches for the geographic picture book. He is now visiting the northeastern coast where there are vanilla and coffee plantations. The north is also very famous for its mixture of people from different cultures, fusion between traditional, colonial and modern culture and architecture, and beautiful coastline and mountains.

Our co-worker called recently telling that the work goes well, but that it rains very much. The northeastern coast is also very well-known for its bad roads and heavy rain. Still we believe that he will be able to finish his researches and bring back new knowledge, pictures and other important material for the manuscript.

Green literature workshop 2

2010-11-21T02:26:00.000-08:00

On Tuseday November 16 we had a final meeting and a goodbye party for the green workshops. The results we have after end of the literature workshop are short stories, fairytales, funny stories, poems, fact texts and jokes written in Malagasy by the young participants from 10 to 25 years. Unfortunately we will not be able to include all the about 40 texts in the book, and it is now our work to sort out which texts to publish. This is a very difficult work as many texts are well written and have a clear environmental message.

The book which will contain the chosen texts is going to have 32 pages, hardcover and colorful pictures also made by the youth. It will be printed on recycled paper. The target group for the book is estimated to be from 12 to 14 years. A preliminary title for the book is “Ampanirio” which has a double meaning: “let it grow” and “hope”. It is also the title of one of the poems which will be included in the book.

We have not yet decided the picture for the front cover of the book, but one of the suggestions is this:

This book will not be sold on the free marked, but distributed to green schools and youth organizations in Madagascar. The expenses will be covered by Green Living in Stavanger through the association in Germany.

Green literature workshop

2010-11-13T05:30:00.000-08:00

We are now in the middle of a very exiting workshop in Antsirabe. It is prepared and led by Green Living in Stavanger, Norway. The workshop trainers, however, are both from Madagascar and Norway, and the participants are Malagasy youth.

Our part of this workshop is a literature seminar for youth where the outcome will be a book containing texts about the environment. Until now there have been youth groups from the organization Green Pilots and student groups from several schools sharing experience and learning how to write good stories. We have been able to collect many good short stories, fairytales, funny stories and poems for the book. It will be hard work to select the texts which are going to be published in the book.

Young writers together with authors Terje Torkildsen at the left and Mparany at the right.

A girl sharing her story with the other participants and receiving feedback.

Workshop trainers together with pupils from Farimbona School.

Donation from Sunde skole

2010-11-03T03:04:00.000-07:00

The primary school Sunde skole in Stavanger, Norway has donated NOK 8000 (€ 980) for the development and publishing of the geographic picture book for Malagasy school children (http://vakiteny.blogspot.com/2010/08/atlas-geographic-picture-book-for.html). The transfer will be accomplished through the Association for School and Children’s books in Madagascar.

We in Vakoka Vakiteny are very grateful for this support, and we want to thank pupils and teachers – especially our contact at the school, Mrs. Bodil Hauken – for this generous donation. The school will continuously receive information about the writing process. Sunde skole will be mentioned in the book, and the school will also receive some copies when it has been printed.

There has been cooperation between Sunde skole and Vakoka Vakiteny before as Sunde skole has bought books from us for their partner school La Joie in Antsirabe, Madagascar. We also hope that the cooperation will continue in the future.

Vakoka Vakiteny will publish a green book

2010-10-27T03:44:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-24T22:53:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-20T10:49:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-14T01:07:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-05T00:25:00.000-07:00

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.

Association for school and children’s books in Madagascar

2010-09-29T06:40:00.000-07:00

The German association “Madagaskar Schul und Kinderbücher e.V.” / “Association for school and children’s books in Madagascar” is still searching for more supporting members. Even if the association’s head quarter is in Germany you can easily become a member if you live in another country. There are for example three members from Norway in the association. The yearly membership fee on min € 20/ NOK 200/ $ 30.

As a member you support the development of literacy and literature in Madagascar through Vakoka Vakiteny. This is a very important work as literature is a mostly unknown term for most people in Madagascar, and because the children have no books, especially not in their mother tongue. Our books are always in modern Malagasy language, richly illustrated and printed with high quality. They are mostly written by Malagasy authors and deal with stories from a Malagasy everyday life recognizable for children and youth.

As a member you will in return for your membership receive electronic newsletters about the work every three months directly from us in Madagascar, and you will also receive news from the association. You are free to ask for whatever information material you need if you want to do extra publicity for the association, and your work will of course be honored here on the blog.

This is the application form in English:

If you need it in another language (e.g. German or Norvegian) or if you need some more information, please contact the head of the association Dr. Klaus-Christian Küspert on kuspert@smbara.org.

Finally everything is OK with Uncle Tefy

2010-09-23T22:52:00.000-07:00

Tojo has been successful in Antananarivo. He managed to transfer a readable version of the manuscript to the printing house. He returned to Toliara with this good news yesterday, and according to the printing house the test print will also come very soon. So now it won’t take long time before we finally can see Uncle Tefy in a real hardcover book!

Tojo is on his way to Antananarivo

2010-09-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

We estimated Tojo to go to Antananarivo to meet the printing house in the middle of next week. Fortunately he has already finished the new version of the manuscript which will be readable for the printing house, so he left Toliara a few hours ago. When he comes to Antananarivo tomorrow morning he will meet the printing house at once and look at the files together with their technician.

Have a nice trip, Tojo, and good luck! We really hope that the printing house now can open and use the files, so that we soon will be able to see the test print of Uncle Tefy.

Solutions for Uncle Tefy

2010-09-13T05:19:00.000-07:00

Tojo is searching for solutions to make the manuscript of Uncle Tefy readable for the printing house. His own suggestion is to go to Antananarivo himself to talk to the people and try to transfer the file directly from his computer to the printer server. Anyway he will of course make a backup file with an older version of InDesign. He hopes to find the needed software soon, hopefully this afternoon. Then he has to do the layout work once again as he did with the version before. Anyway this will only imply a temporarily suspension of the printing.

Delays for Uncle Tefy

2010-09-07T05:45:00.001-07:00

We have had a meeting with the printing house in Antananarivo printing our new book Uncle Tefy and have got the information that they are not able to read the files containing the manuscript on the CD we sent them. The reason is that the printing house has an older version of InDesign not being compatible with the newer one we have used. They are also not able to upgrade their system.

This means that the test print of Uncle Tefy must be delayed and probably that Tojo has to do all the work once again with an older version of InDesign. But we are not giving up, and still hoping to see the test print of the book soon.

The baobab alley at sunrise

2010-08-31T23:16:00.000-07:00

The famous baobab alley is located here in Morondava, and we went to take pictures of it this morning at sunrise. Many children in the highland have never seen a baobab, and some of them wonder whether it is true that they exist or if they are a fairytale.

We want to show the whole island in our geographic picture book. This will take a long time, but at least we now have the southern towns Toliara, Fianarantsoa and Antsirabe – and the baobab alley in Morondava.

Uncle Tefy at the printing house

2010-08-25T07:36:00.000-07:00

The manuscript for the new book Uncle Tefy which we burnt on a CD and sent to the printing house in Antananarivo by post has arrived. To do the test print can take some time, but we hope that we can see it soon. After that, the printing of the 3000 copies can start.

Our homemade test print for doing the last corrections and looking at the layout.

Atlas/ geographic picture book for Malagasy school children

2010-08-22T07:56:00.000-07:00

We have decided that the structure of the new Vakoka Vakiteny book, the atlas about Madagascar is going to be the six provinces. The target group is children in grade 5 (about 10 - 11 years old).

For each province we want to show pictures and explain about the major towns, agriculture and what people live from, environment and nature special for the area, and also about rivers, lakes and mountains in the province. For each chapter we also will have a small interview with a child living in a place special for the province (e.g. rain forest) with pictures.

The six Malagasy provinces are:

• Antananarivo with the big cities, vegetables (i.e. potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, etc.) and three major lakes.

• Toliara with the dry forest, goats, big mango trees, dry rivers and lack of water.

• Fianarantsoa with the rice fields, tea plantation, zebus and forest.

• Mahajanga with the hot climate, the sea, mangrove forest and the Betsiboka river and Kinkony lake.

• Toamasina with the rain forest, coffee and pepper plantations and the largest lake in Madagascar.

• Antsiranana with the famous island Nosy Be, vanilla plantations and the highest mountain in Madagascar.

We hope that we can make the six provinces known to the children through many photos and easy explanations. The work starts already the first week of September where we will go to Morondava and afterwards to Mahajanga to take pictures.

Books for “ONG Bel Avenir” and “AVAT”

2010-08-19T01:04:00.000-07:00

The big NGO Bel Avenir working with children and schools in the south of Madagascar has decided to buy 12 books from Vakoka Vakiteny. The project AVAT working with street children and women in Antananarivo has bought 15 books from us with the help of people in Germany.

We hope that we can spread our books even more with the help of NGOs and projects, and hope that we can establish even more cooperation with these and similar associations. Thank you very much!

News from “Uncle Tefy”

2010-08-15T05:01:00.000-07:00

We are putting the finishing touches on the manuscript of the new book “Uncle Tefy”. The text has been given to two professors in Malagasy here in Toliara to do the last corrections, and the negotiations with the printing house in Antananarivo are finished. We have got a good price for the 3000 copies we are going to print.

Tojo makes the last check on the pictures while using the pad he got as a gift from the company Otterbach in Rastatt in Germany where he had his training in July. This is of great help, and now we are able to do the layout in InDesign and PhotoShop instead of Microsoft Publisher and Adobe PDF as before. This will make a great difference when it comes to the quality of the print.

Tojo working on the pictures in our home office in Toliara.

Our deadline for giving the manuscript to the printing house is August 23, and we hope to see the first test printing within the end of the month. At that time Sophie and Mparany will be present at the printing house to survey it.

Back in Madagascar

2010-08-02T06:11:00.000-07:00

The team of Vakoka Vakiteny came back to Madagascar Wednesday July 28, and we arrived in Toliara Saturday July 31. But already in Antananarivo on the day we arrived, we made contact to a project interested in our books. The project, called AVAT, takes care of street children and unemployed women and they were very interested in receiving books from us.

Today was the first working day for us, and we now begin to make plans for our further work. The next newsletter is now on its way. If some of you haven't received it before, please send us a short e-mail with your address, enabling us to send the newsletter to you. It will be ready before end of the week.

Markt der Möglichkeiten, Schopfheim

2010-07-26T16:11:00.000-07:00

Vakoka Vakiteny participated on the market of opportunities in Schopfheim last Sunday. Situated in the old Kulturfabrik (“culture factory”), this Africa bazaar showed a wide range of ways to support Africa where our initiative was one of it. Around 10 associations or projects had built up their stands where they told about their work, showed pictures and sold articles.

The stand of Vakoka Vakiteny contained many different items; Malagasy handicraft, vanilla and canella, t-shirts and information material. It was decorated with many pictures of Malagasy children and we exposed some of our books. People were very interested in our work in Madagascar, so many of them also contributed with donations. We were also interviewed by the free radio channel Kanal Ratte. This interview will be sent on the radio frequency 104.5 (UKW) / 89.35 (cable) this week or on their web page www.kanal-ratte.de.

It was a very pleasurable day and we had many inspiring conversations with people. We want to thank Mrs. Marion Kienzler, cashier of the association “Madagaskar Schul- und Kinderbücher e.V.” in particular for preparing everything for the marked and Dr. Klaus-Christian Küspert for driving us and covering the petrol expenses from east Bayern to Schopfheim and back.

Dance: Mparany as Dangaligny, Tojo as Konaky, and Sophie

Visit at Cadolzburg elementary school

2010-07-23T12:45:00.000-07:00

Today, July 23 the team of Vakoka Vakiteny, together with Dr. Küspert, presented Madagascar and our work for around 80 9 year old children in Cadolzburg near Fürth/ Nürnberg. The focus of the presentation was children in the world, so we showed pictures and told about the everyday lives of children in Madagascar – work, school and leisure time. The children were very interested, and the presentation actually was a conversation with the children.

Tojo and Mparany played a scene from the book “Dangaligny and Konaky”, and we danced to Malagasy music. After 60 minutes and end of the presentation, the children almost refused to go to brake, but they still wanted to ask a lot of questions about Madagascar and the books.

It was a really great experience to be in such a close dialogue with the children. Thank you all!

Article about Vakoka Vakiteny presentation

2010-07-20T05:06:00.000-07:00

Article and pictures from our presentation in Bühl on the Schüttekeller web page (in German). A big thank you to their web master, Mr. Klaus Zimmermann.

Events in Baden-Baden, part 4

2010-07-19T04:25:00.000-07:00

Friday July 16 at the Bookstore Mäx und Moritz, Sophienstraße 9, Baden-Baden

The last event in Baden-Baden was again in Mrs. Wasserburger’s bookstore, and this time the presentation about our work was for adults. Mrs. Christel Schelshorn made a small introduction before the presentation because she has been the connection between Mrs. Wasserburger and the team of Vakoka Vakiteny.

During our presentation we told about Madagascar, history, language, nature – and of course our literature work. Sophie also read a small passage of the book Dangaligny and Konaky.

After the presentation we had many interesting discussions together with people from the audience, and we were very glad to see representatives from the French German society there too. We received donations and recruited members for the association “Madagaskar Schul- und Kinderbücher” supporting Vakoka Vakiteny. Thank you all for a nice evening.

Discussions after the presentation: Mparany, new member of the association Mrs. Carina Moser, Mrs. Wasserburger, Sophie, Klaus-Christian Küspert and Tojo.

Events in Baden-Baden area, part 3

2010-07-18T07:43:00.000-07:00

Friday July 16 at the Albert Schweitzer Gymnasium, Gernsbach

The cooperation between the Albert Schweitzer Gymnasium and Madagascar is not new, and the school has done much aid for the country already. Mparany visited this school when he was in Germany in 2005, and he was very glad to be back again. However, this is the first time that Vakoka Vakiteny is in contact with the school.

When we came to the school in the morning we were received by French teacher Mrs. Beatrix Rauffmann also responsible for the north-south relations at the school, and the school director Mr. Stefan Beil. But the idea to invite Vakoka Vakiteny originates from the former headmaster, Mr. Willig who also was present at the school.

The team from Vakoka Vakiteny explained about the work among the Malagasy children for two school classes in the school canteen. We were very surprised and happy that so many pupils had questions and comments about what we had told, and we tried to answer them as best as possible.

Everyone is dancing Malagasy dance: pupils, Dr. Küspert, Mrs. Rauffmann and Mr. Willig

After the second presentation Vakoka Vakiteny received a check on 2000 € from the deputy school director Mr. Dietmar Laux. The money had been collected through a run arranged by the school and completed by the pupils.

We promise the school to send regular information about the work and the use of the money. Thank you very much!

Events in Baden-Baden area, part 2

2010-07-17T12:34:00.000-07:00

Thursday July 15 at the Schüttekeller in Bühl

Vakoka Vakiteny was invited to the association “Eine-Welt-Verein Keniahilfe” in Bühl Thursday evening. Head of this association, Mr. Hansjörg Willig arranged this event, and we were much honored to be there.

We also received high guests from the Malagasy embassy in Berlin; business wearer Léa Raholinirina and counselor Brigitte Rasoanirina. We want to thank them for their coming.

Our team, together with Dr. Klaus-Christian Küspert, presented the work in Madagascar and the situation the country now is in, concerning language, education, environment and politics.

Vakoka Vakiteny received a check on 4000 € from the association Keniahilfe, which was handed over by Mr. Willig. We were totally baffled, but of course very glad to be given such a large sum. Thank you. We will use the money well!

Article written by Philipp Rauffmann for Badisches Tagblatt about this evening:

Events in Baden-Baden, part 1

2010-07-16T16:18:00.000-07:00

Thursday July 15 at the Bookstore Mäx und Moritz, Sophienstraße 9, Baden-Baden

Vakoka Vakiteny presented the publishing company for the pupils from two classes from the Vincenti elementary school in Baden-Baden together with their teachers Mrs. Karin Soukup and Mrs. Ursula Groß. Vakoka Vakiteny also received a gift from the class fund.

Mparany and Tojo played a scene from the book Dangalingy and Konaky, and we danced together with the children. We also showed pictures from Madagascar and talked with the children about our work.

We want to thank the owner of the bookstore, Mrs. Marianne Wasserburger for inviting the school and permitting us to use her premises.

Tojo dancing with Dangaligny and the children.

Explanation about a book: Pupil, teacher Karin Soukup and Tojo.

Buffet together with the French-German society

2010-07-14T15:32:00.000-07:00

This evening the team of Vakoka Vakiteny was invited to a dinner buffet together with the French-German society in Baden-Baden celebrating the French national day July 14. This association was also the one arranging the old-timer meeting last weekend which Vakoka Vakiteny had the pleasure to join.

It was a very nice and interesting evening together with French and German people. Vakoka Vakiteny got the chance to hand over a painting and some gifts from Madagascar and the society wished the team good luck and much success in Madagascar.

Vakoka Vakiteny handing over the painting:

Secretary Mr. Dr. Stier and Vice President Mr. Kesselhut together with the Vakoka Vakiteny team.

We want to thank the French-German society for the hospitality and support.

Old-timer meeting in Baden-Baden

2010-07-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

Vakoka Vakiteny had a stand at the famous old-timer meeting in the German city Baden-Baden Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th of July. We were selling handmade cars made from old tin cans in Madagascar and other Vakoka Vakiteny products. People were very friendly, and there was still quite much activity at the old-timer meeting despite the heat (40°C)!

Vakoka Vakiteny will also be part of a buffet on Wednesday 14th arranged by the German-French society also organizing the old-timer meeting.

Vakoka Vakiteny meeting Baobab Books in Basel

2010-07-09T23:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday July 9th the team of three from Vakoka Vakiteny went to Basel to meet with Mrs Sonja Matheson from Baobab Books Publisher. Baobab Books publish books in the German speaking world written by Asian, African and Latin-American writers promoting diversity and expressing the value of social migration.

Baobab Books are very interested in Vakoka Vakiteny and our work. We want to thank them for the interesting and motivating meeting where the base for further cooperation was set. Vakoka Vakiteny received the book “The amazing tree” by John Kilaka from Tanzania as a gift. This beautiful book will be an inspiration for our further work.

Hopefully there will soon be a close cooperation between Baobab Books and Vakoka Vakiteny.

More information about Baobab Books on http://www.baobabbooks.ch/en/.

Vakoka Vakiteny in Germany

2010-06-25T05:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Thursday June 24^th Mparany and Tojo came to Germany. Sophie had already been there for one week, so now the team of Vakoka Vakiteny is complete and ready for the events beginning in about two weeks!

Vakoka Vakiteny in cooperation with “Grønn Hverdag”

2010-06-20T02:08:00.000-07:00

June 14^th, Sophie Küspert-Rakotondrainy from Vakoka Vakiteny had a meeting with May Lise Talgø from the environment organization Grønn Hverdag (which meens “green living”) in Stavanger, Norway. Vakoka Vakiteny accepted to join Grønn Hverdag’s book project which will be accomplished together with their Malagasy partner Green Pilots in Antsirabe and Foul Point, Toamasina.

The intention of this project is to publish a book which contains traditional stories from Madagascar. These stories shall show how the nature can help itself, and how important it is with an intact ecosystem, for example how the lemur indri-indri contributes to growing trees.

How much Vakoka Vakiteny will be involved is not yet decided, but we will at least be in charge of the layout and printing of the books, which is estimated to be in about 1000 copies.

Vakoka Vakiteny’s summer program in Germany

2010-06-12T14:12:00.000-07:00

There has been made some minor changes in our summer program in Germany. The new dates for our presentations, meetings and events are:

Saturday 10^th of July, whole day

Baden-Baden: Stand at the old-timer meeting

Thursday 15^th of July, 10AM

Gernsbach: Bookstore Mäx und Moritz – Lectures for children

Thursday 15^th of July, 5PM

Bühl: Meeting with the association Eine-Welt-Verein Keniahilfe e.V.

Friday 16^th of July, 10AM

Gernsbach: Presentation for the children in the secondary school Albert Schweitzer Gymnasium

Friday 16^th of July, 5PM

Gernsbach: Bookstore Mäx und Moritz – Lectures for adults

Special guests: Counselors from the Malagasy Embassy in Berlin

Sunday 25^th of July, whole day

Schopfheim: Participation at the bazaar Markt der Möglichkeiten

We want to invite you to join us at these events if you are in the area.

Welcome!

Do you want to join the association?

2010-06-08T12:31:00.000-07:00

If you want to become a member of the association supporting Vakoka Vakiteny, you can easily fill out a form and send it to kuspert@smbara.org. As a member you will get continuous information about our work. You can decide for yourself how much you want to donate, either monthly or yearly.

Here are the forms in English and German:

Print out the form, fill it out and send it back! It's easy :-)

Please see also this for more information about the association.

Mirana's story

2010-06-04T00:35:00.000-07:00

My name is Rasivelonoro Miranaharisoa Josephine and I am 12 years old. I am in grade 7 at the Lutheran secondary school in Ihosy.

I really love to read books, especially fairytales and other stories. We have some books at home, but most of them are in a foreign language, generally in French. Also nearly all of them are comics like Donald Duck or Lucky Luke. I often don’t know the language, so I just look at the pictures, but I still like it very much.

When I was in the 5^th grade in school we had some books distributed in class. That was the last time I read a whole real book. In school now, we sometimes have to read, and we go to the school library. The teacher tells us what to do and what to read. Mostly we only learn lessons in the library, and we don’t read books. In the library there are no books telling stories but only fact books.

One thing I really wish is to have a book on my own. My dream is that someone just gave me a book, even if it’s lust for loans. If someone did this to me I would dance of joy, and I would tell all my friends that I now have a book!

Children's atlas

2010-06-03T00:16:00.000-07:00

Where is Antananarivo, where is Toliara and where is Mahajanga? Some Malagasy children don’t even know what the largest cities of Madagascar are called and where they lie when they finish primary school. Not because the teacher hasn’t told them, but because the long and complicated theoretical explanations are simply way too incomprehensible for them. They lack any kind of map or atlas, and without this equipment, the teacher can explain to them a thousand times, that Toliara is south of Antananarivo - they cannot even imagine what "south" means.

The solution is simple: the children need a handy children’s map book or atlas of Madagascar. It should be telling about every region and major cities with pictures and short explanations. This book should therefore be found in all the schools and homes on the whole island.

We in Vakoka Vakiteny want to write such a book. To achieve this, the illustrator has to travel all over Madagascar to take pictures. All maps must be remade to make them suitable for the children’s age.

For around € 2000 Vakoka Vakiteny kan have this book written and illustrated, including all travel, and when it is printed the expense will be around € 4 per book (if in 1000 copies or more).

The association will collect all donations and forward them to us.

Malagasy children watch TV, but they don't read

2010-06-01T14:47:00.000-07:00

In February Sophie Küspert-Rakotondrainy completed a questionnaire among 112 children in the 5^th grade at 4 primary schools in Toliara. These are some of the results:

44 % of the children watch TV every day

46 % of the children don’t own a single book

18 % of the children never read books

These results show that the children watch a lot of TV, but that they don’t read because they neither have books at home nor at school. It must be mentioned that these children live in one of the biggest towns in Madagascar. On the countryside they won’t have TV (or books), whereas it is normal with a TV in nearly every home in town.

Do you want to contribute to change this situation? Help us producing books for Malagasy children. Please contact the association.

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

2010-05-31T01:32:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-29T01:58:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-26T23:27:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-26T04:50:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-05-25T05:58:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-24T08:19:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-05-23T06:11:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-22T23:36:00.000-07:00

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

Books for blind children

2010-05-22T06:07:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-21T14:11:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-05-20T12:20:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-19T11:42:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-18T15:15:00.001-07:00

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

2010-05-18T00:53:00.001-07:00

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

2010-05-17T01:22:00.001-07:00

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?

2010-05-16T04:42:00.001-07:00

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

2010-05-16T00:13:00.000-07:00

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.