GlobalGiving.org: A community school for all (children) in Fiarenana

Santa visits the school in Madagascar

Markus Faigle — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:14:35 GMT

Blackboard in our school in Fiarenana

The children had been asked to draw pictures of objects or events that they associate with going to school. Misaotra on the backboard is ‘thank you’ in Malagasy.

Christmas is a very important holiday for our villages in Madagascar. A Christmas tree inside the classroom is part of the celebration.

For a few years now (since 2007) Santa Claus comes to visit the school children with gifts. This year Santa brought orange bags to both our schools with a toothbrush, toothpaste, a pencil, a ball pen, and soap. In addition Santa also bought a package of cookies and a sweet treat.

And yes, with the end of the tax year coming up, the tribute card challenge is still on until December 31.

Happy 2011!

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

close-up blackboard

Christmas tree inside the classroom

The sweet treat for the Holidays

Santa brings a t-shirt

Update via cell phone from Dec. 15

Markus Faigle — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 21:13:05 GMT

Inside the classroom in Zahana's school

A big Thank You to all of our donors who supported our school in Fiarenana over the years!

Supporting an ongoing school is vital for us to be able to pay the teachers and gardeners and buy school supplies. It takes somebody like you to see the value in ongoing support so children can go to school every day. You make it possible. We could not do it without you!

In the age of text messages (SMS) we can communicate with our Zahana contacts and our teachers in the villages on a regular basis at low cost. The minimalist report from December 15, 2011 for November reads as follows: [text in brackets is added to provide context for the readers]

Fiarenana:

48 students: 22 boys, 26 girls aged from 4 to 13 [attended school in November]
2 levels of teaching: level 0 (beginner), level 1
Parents monthly meeting: 1st Saturday
School garden: vegetables [are being planted by the students]
Nursery: 1,199 baby trees (eucalyptus, papaya, bibasse, mango) ready to be planted, seeds of moringa olifera [ready to be planted again by our master gardener]

Fiadanana [our first village]:

90 students [currently attend school]
School garden: vegetables [are being planted by the students]
[School] Poultry project: 6 hens, roosters [this is a hands-on income or protein generating project for the students as part of our microcredit efforts]
106 baby trees and flowers planted around the school
Environment: asking people to collect plastic bags spread in village
Nursery: lot of baby trees [grown by our second gardener]

[Both] gardeners were told to keep all baby trees for Zahana [planting 15,000 trees] project.

- End text/SMS -

Did you know you can make donations to any our Zahana projects with GlobalGiving as gifts to friends and loved ones this holiday season? This gift in honor of someone might relieve you of the agonizing thought: what could I give her or him? (and help Zahana at the same time).

A gift in honor of somebody is easy: With a few clicks you can create a personalized greeting card via our project pages on GlobalGiving. Just click on the third giving option “gift or in honor of” right under the big orange “donate” button on any of our 4 project pages. We recently added the project: Planting 15,000 trees in Madagascar (#9470), which is eligible as well.

You can chose if GlobalGiving will send the gift recipient an email, print-at-home, or physical tribute card. For details about the ‘tribute card challenge’* please visit our website. And even better the challenge lasts until the last day of the 2011 tax year: December 31.

Thank you for your support.

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

*GlobalGiving is awarding funds to the projects that are able to get the most donations made in honor or in memory of someone between November 23, 2011 and December 31, 2011. Prizes between $500 and $1,500 will be awarded to the projects with the most number of donations made in honor of someone.

visual aid

Links:

Getting ready for secondary school

Markus Faigle — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:42:41 GMT

All they need to get ready for secondary school

We would like to share more photos with you. In a previous report we told you that seven students had successfully obtained the much desired CEPE, the primary school certificate (see our website). With the help of Zahana, three of the students from one family are able to attend the secondary school in Bevato, a small town about a 2 hours walk from their village.

To be ready for secondary school requires school uniforms, equipment (pencils, paper, etc) and bags, which Zahana bought for the students. Filled with pride and wonder about these amazing goodies you can see it being diligently inspected by the future students and their mother in the pictures. Since these pictures were taken, school has started. The students now live far from home with a host family, but they are doing very well in their new secondary school, making everybody in their community proud by being the first ones to ever attend a secondary school.

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

Inspecting their new things

Trying on the new secondary school uniforms

Proud owner of their first backpack

Ready for scondary school

Links:

The first school diplomas ever

Seven students from Fiadanana

Markus Faigle — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:40:20 GMT

Our seven students

We just got this picture of all seven students from Fiadanana that got award the CEPE (Certificat d'etudes primaires élémentaires or Certificate of Primary Studies). Our wonderful teachers trainer, whos work made this possible as well is to the left. So without further ado we wanted to add this picture to the last project report.

Links:

what is a CEPE??

A celebration: The first school diplomas ever!

Markus Faigle — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:44:50 GMT

The frist school certificate ever in the village

“Getting a CEPE is a very big deal for everybody. Nobody in their village ever got a CEPE so far”, our friend Dr. Ihanta told us on Skype. “Eight of our students from our Fiadanana school took the exam. They had been preparing for weeks every day with their teacher. Seven of our Students passed the exam, while from other village schools only 30% to 50% of the students did so well.”

In Madagascar a CEPE is a Certificat d'etudes primaires élémentaires (or Certificate of Primary Studies). A nation-wide standardized test, it can be awarded after attending five years of primary education. Students that don't pass either leave school without a CEPE or may try again after repeating the year in school.

Zahana’s school in Fiadanana is now 5 years old and these are our first students who qualified to take the CEPE. Established as private schools, Zahana has more educational freedom in choosing a culturally appropriate curriculum, but our children do qualify to take an external exam for the CEPE. Successfully passing the CEPE exam is a prerequisite to enroll in secondary education.

In Madagascar the CEPE - a milestone in a child’s life. It is a family affair and is at least as important as getting a high school diploma in the USA. Parents and grandparents accompany their children, who can range from 8 to 16 years of age, to the exam, often far away from home. They buy them a special auspicious lunch (something village children never get) and wait outside rooting for them the entire time. If they pass, they get gifts and in villages their diploma often gets framed, with glass, and hung in a prominent spot in the home.

Our students had to walk for two hours with their families to Bevato, the district’s administrative center and sit in a strange new building they had never been in before. While you might wonder why a bottle of Coke is proudly held up like a trophy, this is most likely their only soda this year and something very special.

If you count the bottles in the photos, you can see bottles: five of the children and their teacher to the right (who got the same rewards too).

Celebrating the CEPE (school certificate)

Zahana: ‘Project of the Month Club’ in August '11

Markus Faigle — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 03:47:42 GMT

Dear friends,

We are happy and proud to announce that for August 2011 Zahana is featured in the ‘Project of the Month Club’ at GlobalGiving.

Every month GlobalGiving awards this designation to a new exceptionally high performing project. For August our ‘Solar cookers for the school in Fiadanana’ takes the spotlight on the GlobalGiving website. We are thankful to GlobalGiving for this great opportunity to reach a wider audience of dedicated donors for Zahana.

Please check it out and let all your friends know.

Best regards,

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

Links:

Solar water pasteurizers in action

A clean and beautiful environment

Markus Faigle — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 01:24:03 GMT

Roses flowering at the school

Dear friends,

Please look at the pictures attached (you may need to click on the link in your email to see them on-line); pictures are the core of our update.

Dr. Ramihantaniarivo, Zahana’s founder draws inspiration from Sarvoday in Sri Lanka, one of the largest indigenous community based development organizations. Rooted in Buddhist thinking the Sarvodaya Movement has identified ten elementary and basic needs for development. Number one is: “A clean and beautiful environment”.

Creating a beautiful environment is one of these less tangible things. It does not have a budget or a dollar value attached. It makes people proud to be living where they are. In the spirit of this development need, the children have been encouraged to plant flowers around their schools, creating a beautiful space for them to spend their days learning in a rather arid environment.

How many schools have roses flowering next to their (only) classroom door?

Thank you for your support for our work

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

Fiadanana's school house

Flowers close up

Flower bed next to the school

School in Fiadanana

Fiarenana, the second school

Fiarenana, the second school - side view

Fiarenana - the front of the school

Fiarenana - school well in the background

Links:

That's why we do it

Markus Faigle — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 01:55:38 GMT

Children eating soup in the school

In mid March of 2011 we got a call from Fiarenana's teacher (cell phones are amazing) that the food situation in the village is getting much worse. Many children were so hungry, they couldn't attend school anymore. All the while their parents had to spent all day in the the rice paddies, making sure the future rice harvest would be tended. Zahana immediately bought and delivered bags of noodles and protein powder, so the children could get a bowl of soup in school. The pictures are from the first day after the ingredients arrived there.

Thank you to all of you who support our project and make such effort possible.

Cooking soup in the school yard

Eating soup in the class room

Happy kids

Soup in the school yard

All of the village's children get their soup

Bags of noodles for the village

Links:

More about the school in Fiarenana

Thank you for making us a superstar!

Markus Faigle — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:27:24 GMT

Thank you!

We could not have done it without your support! The temptation was big to just send a progress report with two words: “Thank you”. But, we wanted to explain it a bit more:

February 2011 Zahana was awarded “Superstar” status, the highest level an organization can reach on GlobalGiving! Regular progress report by our amazing Malagasy team, combined with your donor support got us among the 30 superstars, a brand new program launched at GlobalGiving.

Last but not least: March 16 - Bonus Day at GlobalGiving.
On March 16, 2011 GlobalGiving is matching at 30% all online donations (up to US$1,000 per donor per project) with $75,000 available in matching funds. The last time matching funds were depleted half way into the Bonus Day, so be ready midnight EST on March 16 if you would like to top off your generous donation to Zahana.

Thank you.

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

P.S. Zahana did not get chosen for the Ford Focus test drive in February 2011.

Links:

Zahana Hompage

Zahana’s video & the Ford Focus Global Test Drive

Markus Faigle — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 23:13:18 GMT

Dear friends,

Thanks to GlobalGiving’s endorsement Zahana is entitled to compete for the $10,000 prize money in the Ford Focus Global Test Drive. Another creative fundraising strategy to explore, we just submitted a video. Now we hope to get chosen with your help.

If you are on Facebook and would like to support us, the steps are:
Please watch the video “Changing lives in Madagascar” click on “love it” in the bottom and encourage all your friends to do the same. If we get enough “love its” we are in and get the $10,000. We only have until Dec 31, so procrastination is not an option anymore. (If this does not work just send me an email at markus@zahana.org and I forward you the URL by email.)

And while you are on Facebook why not “like” Zahana’s Facebook page as well?

We are in the process of redesigning our own website www.zahana.org, to make it (hopefully) easier to navigate. Please visit if you get a chance and let us know what you think of the new look.

Last but not least with the end of the (tax) year near, we hope you might consider Zahana in your giving as well. You may do so on-line from the links in this update, or you can as always send a good old check in the postal mail to Zahana (see website for details).

For the last minute virtual gift you could always download a Zahana Thank you card and make a donation in somebody elses’ name.

Happy Holidays,

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

Zahana in Madagascar illustrates success

Markus Faigle — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 23:52:36 GMT

Water supply before Zahana until 2005

Dear Friends of Zahana:

This is a reminder: Thursday, December 16 is Bonus Day at GlobalGiving. Every donation is matched by 50% until they run out of matching funds. Last time GlobalGiving ran out of matching funds for the first time, so please donate early, if you can.

We apologize in case you get this progress report from another GlobalGiving project. This issue is overarching and posted on all three. The latest Zahana report (Nov. 2010) illustrates our definition of “success” quite drastically:

Background: In 2006 the community of Fiadanana built their own water system with help from Zahana. Zahana hired the water experts, who living in the village for two months, taught the villagers how to lay pipe from a ground well in the mountains over a mile away. Seven communal faucets provide clean, safe water to everybody all year round all over the village ever since.

Report from Ihanta in Madagascar: “In Fiadanana where they got safe drinking water in 2006 through seven communal faucets, the impact is tremendous. A key reason why we found teachers willing to move to the village of Fiadanana was the availability of clean safe drinking water. It is the only village in the area that can make such a claim.

Mparany, our Zahana teacher, reported that since he has been living in Fiadanana, no child’s death was reported. The only death in the village was a woman who had surgery in the hospital of Tsiroanomandidy for appendicitis some 2 months ago. Berthine, a member of the women’s group, confirmed that before Zahana in the “hard times period” (époque dure) between the harvests from October to December, it felt like almost every day one child passed away from diarrhea. (She said 26 deaths in 2 months.) She explained that people from Fiadanana now have to carry their water with them if they have to go to another village, since their stomachs don’t feel well drinking the water from the other villages.” (More in our November Newsletter.)

It is Zahana’s guiding development philosophy to make life in the villages so livable and attractive that it is worth staying there with your family working the land. A lot of development problems connected with urbanization and sprawling slums attracting impoverished farmers can be avoided if people are not forced to leave for the cities in an often futile search for a better life.

As you might plan your end of the year giving, we hope that you will remember Zahana (even if you missed “bonus day”). We have ready-to-use Zahana gift cards you can download off our Zahana website as a do-it-yourself project if you want to add a personal touch.

Happy Holidays and thanks for your continued support

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

Building the water tank way up on the mountain

A big tank stores all the water in the village

One of seven communal water faucets

Links:

Seven Daughters in Fiadanana's school

Markus Faigle — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 19:59:32 GMT

Seven sisters in the school in Fiadanana

Aloha friends of Zahana,

Sometimes we get a photo we really like, such as this one (see below). Later we get a chance to talk with our partners in Madagascar and learn about a story we never imagined behind such a picture.

What you see: Seven beautiful sisters in the newly community built school in Fiarenana.

What we learned: The teacher told us that in this family with seven daughters, every day one of the girls is skipping school. Not attending school for any child being very unusual in Fiarenana, Zahana inquired with the parents. They explained that this is indeed the case. The reason being simple: While the parents are out in the fields working all day with the increasing help of the oldest daughter, somebody has to take care of the little one, not in school yet. Not to single out one child as a designated caretaker, they felt the fairest thing to do was to task a different daughter every day to be in charge of their little sister at home.

Best regards,

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

PS: We have updated our privacy policy. Take a look if you are interested.

Links:

Zahana's privacy policy

The new school garden grows every day

Markus Faigle — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 03:16:28 GMT

The teacher and his students

Jean our gardener with an amazing green thumb has expanded his activities. Besides continuing to grow trees saplings for the entire community, he is now actively involved in the school curriculum, teaching the children to plant vegetables, such as zucchini, tomatoes and carrots.

The vegetable beds were dug by a group of parents right after the official school opening in March (see that report for details) and the children have been planting and tending to the vegetables ever since. The only well (dug by Zahana), that has water all year round in the village is next to the school. The proximity to water makes it possible for the children to water their plants daily.

The school garden

Tending to the garden

Links:

Different news from Madagascar

Markus Faigle — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 02:34:41 GMT

The typical hump that gives the zebu its name

Dear friends,

It is certainly easier to report about the opening of a school or the planting of trees, but on a more somber note, here is the latest sad news from Madagascar.

Our village of Fiarenana was attacked for the third time by ‘dahalo’, or cattle thieves, a few weeks back. They came into the village at night, shouting loudly, throwing stones at the house and firing gun shots in the air. People huddled inside their houses in fear for their lives. They stole 11 zebu belonging to the pastor and 2 other people in the village. Our contact in the village reported on the cell phone: “The entire districts is devastated and in a state of shock, most villages have been attacked and robbed by dahalo at night, something that we have never experienced before in our area. In the village next to us a 15 year old boy was shot dead”.

Note: Zebu are cattle and prized possessions in Madagascar. Poor farmers raise cattle as a living savings account. They need at least two heads of cattle to plow their fields and pull their carriages. Zebus are an important source of milk. For centuries zebu have had great cultural significance and are vital for funerals.

Guns are very uncommon in Madagascar and nobody in the villages owns any firearms or weapons. In the past cattle thieves were very uncommon in our part of the country and armed with sticks they occasionally stole a cow or two grazing at night far away from the village, scaring and making the child watching it run away. People in Madagascar, rooted in cultural traditions, do not go outside after dark if they can avoid it. Since the situation got more volatile, many farmers have gathered all zebu inside the village at night to guard better against cattle thieves, putting them at the same time as risk of a violent attack inside their village. Fortunately for Zahana, people do not feel that they are more prone to fall prey to dahalo because of their cooperation of working with us, the ‘outsiders’.

We apologize if you get this update more than once, but by the same token say: “thank you for supporting more than one of our projects on GlobalGiving”

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

Zebu in a village

The typical carriage drawn by two zebu

Links:

Bonus Day: Wed. June 16, 2010

Markus Faigle — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 23:20:56 GMT

Fiarenana men's soccer club

Dear donor to our school in Fiarenana,

50% interest in one day? Sounds too good to be true? Not really: The GlobalGiving “Bonus Day” is a wonderful opportunity to ‘super size’ your donation to Zahana by 50% at not additional cost.

Thank you! It is your donation that makes our work possible. GlobalGiving has offered Zahana an opportunity to meet generous donors like you we would never meet or reach otherwise. We hope an event such as Bonus Day might entice you to give again, or encourage your friends and family to support our work in Madagascar.

How it works:

On Bonus Day (Wednesday, June 16) your donation to Zahana will be matched by 50% by GlobalGiving. This opportunity is a one-day only event, from midnight to midnight EDT on Wednesday June 16 (Eastern Daylight Time, not your time zone.) All three Zahana projects with GlobalGiving are eligible. (Yes, we will send this reminder again on June 15 and June 16.)

Yes, there is a US$1000 bonus again for the group that raises the largest amount of money and the one who finds the largest number of donors, so please help us make that goal.

The latest exciting news: Zahana was invited to participate in National Geographic’s (yes, the iconic yellow magazine) Global Action Atlas. The Global Action Atlas is a way for National Geographic’s readers to learn and get more involved with projects. With the reach of National Geographic, this is tremendous opportunity for Zahana.

Please visit the Global Action Atlas though our website. National Geographic tracks the click-throughs from our website and recognizes your effort by giving Zahana projects prominent placement.

This was made possible thanks to Global Giving. In April we had a chance to visit Global Giving in Washington DC and give a presentation about our work to the staff. Currently all Global Giving projects are listed on National Geographic’s Global Action Atlas.

Last but not least we have switched our newsletter to VerticalResponse (free to community benefit organizations) and you can find a link to it below.

Thank you.

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

Solar water pastuerizer tested at the school

Links:

Official Inauguration of the school

Markus Faigle — Thu, 06 May 2010 00:00:54 GMT

The flowers spell "zahana"

Dear friends,

The official opening of the school in Fairenana was celebrated on March 4, 2010, although school already started in January after the completed teacher’s training. As you see in the photos the surroundings of the school have been planted with flowers and the environment has been beautified for the inauguration. A well was dug in the schoolyard. It is currently the only well that still has water in the village.

Malagasy celebrations traditionally feature official presentations as did ours with speeches by community representatives and Zahana, performances by the students and food. Congregating around the flagpole, in front of their school, the students sang and recited poems as part of the festivities. A meal for the entire community followed the official opening. It was served inside the school for the community leaders and for the children outside under the gazebo.

To celebrate the official school opening books were presented and donated to the community by Dr. Noro, one of the Zahana supporters. These books are now are the first library ever in the village of Fiarenana.

After the celebrations the community came together to dig the beds for the future school garden. These beds will be planted and tended by the students to provide vegetables and fruit for the school food in the future. In keeping with the idea of a rural university these beds can also be used to test new crops or new seeds in a more “playful” manner, without farmers having to commit their valuable land to test something new they might have never planted or seen before.

Please visit our website for more information and photos about the school.

Thank you for your support!

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

Children singing and dancing for the clebration

Children eating after the clebration

The new school with flower beds

Eating in the school after the celebration

Books donated for the first library

A cupboard waiting for the new books

Links:

Latest nes from the school in Fiadanana

Markus Faigle, Jeannette Koijane — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:09:14 GMT

Inside the unfinished school

Our friends in Madagascar just returned Dec 22 from a site visit to the villages and we wanted to send you a short update on the latest Zahana events.

THE NEW SCHOOL IN FIARENENA The school in Fiarenana, Zahana’s second, is to be completed soon by the community. The building was made a bit bigger than originally planned and a fourth window will be needed. The community has chosen January 17, 2010 for the official inauguration. But: we just learned that the parents and children decided to already attend school, despite the incomplete building, since the teacher is already living in their community. Early in the morning an eager child rings the bell around 7 am and all 55 children in the village rush to school. They stay there all day and are all taught by one teacher. While they go home for lunch, they come back in the afternoon. See our website for more information about the school.

TEACHERS’ TRAINING Three teacher candidates have been selected by the communities and Zahana. Two teachers are for the school in Fiadanana and one for Fiarenana. All teachers attended a 3-week training with Zahana’s educational consultant in the village. The first week was taught in conjunction with the agricultural specialist and the remaining two focused on the school curriculum. In February or March (depending on the rainy season) another week of training in cooperation with the agricultural specialist will round out the teachers’ training.

We will put photos on our website as soon as we get them from Madagascar.

Happy Holidays and thank you for your support!

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

The new school uniforms made in the village

The almost finished school in Fiarenana

Links:

More photos about the school on our website

Thank you for your matching gift

Markus Faigle, Jeannette Koijane — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:18:49 GMT

Dear friends,

This is the quickest way to reach you and say: “Thank you!”

Thank you for donating to Zahana during GlobalGiving’s “Give More Get More” Challenge. The community in building their school in Fiarenena. If you get a chance, please take a look at the slide show (link below). With the rainy season in full swing and the dirt roads hard to impossible to pass, we are not sure when the next site visit with photos will be possible, but thanks to cell phone technology we can stay in touch with Fairenana every week.

After the challenge the project will remain active on GlobalGiving’s website until it is funded, just without the extra bonus of a match. We hope you will consider Zahana for the coming holidays and tools such of the gift registry with GlobalGiving make it possible with a few clicks to tell your friends and family about it.

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

Links:

The new school for Fiarenana

Give More - Get More to buiilt our school

Markus Faigle, Jeannette Koijane — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:47:50 GMT

Building the school and everybody helps

Dear friends,

If you considered donating to Zahana again in this 2009 tax year, now (until Dec 1) might be a very good time.

This project building a school in Fiadanana was invited to join the Give More - Get More Challenge and GlobalGiving will match your contributions incrementally. (The link with more information is on the top part of the project web page.)

Please help us getting these matching funds. Please tell your friends and encourage them to give too.

The challenge details: November 10 to December 1 (but ends Dec 1 at 12:59 EST, not your time zone!)

Matches are staggered based on the amount we raise, or in other words: The more of the total amount of all donation we raise the bigger the match. We raise up to $2,500: donations will be matched at 30%. We raise $2,501 - $7,500: donations will be matched at 40%. We raise more than $7,501: donations will be matched at 50%.

The three projects that raise the most money will receive additional bonuses of $5,000, $3,000, and $1,000. More details at the GlobalGiving Give more – Get more Website

* Donations up to $500 per individual will be matched by GlobalGiving, so the matching funds don't get depleted too fast.

Links:

Zahana's Home page

The Community is building their school

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:10:31 GMT

Everybody carries bricks for the new school

The village of Fiarenana is currently building their school literally brick by brick! The photos we got from Madagascar are amazing and we encourage you to visit our website’s link below to witness this truly community wide effort. (Pictures indeed tell more than a thousand words). Zahana is currently interviewing the new candidates for teachers. As soon as the right candidate has been found in consultation with community representatives, a teacher’s training will be conducted in the village for a month. In keeping with Zahana’s philosophy, the trainer from the capital will live and work in the teacher’s community, providing a truly tailor-made training.

Based on the community’s request, the educational specialist will not only focus on training the new teacher/s, but also provide an adult literacy class for the parents at the same time. The teacher will participate in this segment and learn skills for future adult education.

To learn more about the schools’ role in the community please and the ideas of a “rural university,” please see the pdf file under additional project documentation.

Hot off the digital press: Zahana and its founder Dr. Ramihanataniarivo are features in the latest issue of the University of Hawaii Magazine Malamalama (Malamalama means 'the light of knowledge' in Hawaiian). We have included the link below.

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

Truly a community effort

Building their school in Fiarenana

Links: