Clean Water Makes A Difference!

Pastor Gervais displays the clean water he has thanks to his new rain water catchment system.

Clean water is the most important commodity on the earth. It is more valuable than oil. It is more precious than gold. Without it you cannot live. Helping needy people gain access to clean drinking water is one of the many things we are involved with here.

Water is hand pumped from a shallow well for everyday use.

We are fortunate to be able to partner with the Africa Oasis Project through Assemblies of God World Missions as well as other interested individuals. Together we are making a difference in the lives of numerous communities in Madagascar.

Pastor Gervais checks the water level in his rainwater storage tank.

On the east coast we were recently able to help two churches and their communities by building rainwater catchment systems for their church roofs. In many areas on the east coast, the water table is very shallow and creates a difficult situation. At shallow levels, the water is easy to find but very polluted, but if you dig too far down you hit ocean water and it is undrinkable. There is a very thin band of acceptable water to be had, but it is hard to hit it just right. Most villages just drink the water they can access close to the surface but are faced with numerous water borne diseases as a result.

Another rainwater water catchment system in Foule Pointe, Madagascar.

In consultation with a local NGO who specializes in clean water projects, we sought a solution that would assure clean water for drinking for these communities. After an onsite inspection and testing, a three-pronged approach was used. A hand pump well was installed for everyday water use into the midrange clean water aquifer, then a water catchment system was constructed using the church roofs and a holding tank to gather drinking water, in addition, better constructed outhouses were dug far from where the wells were installed to ensure against possible under ground contamination.

Pastor Jose and his family pastor on the east coast of Madagascar.

Both pastors are very happy with the projects. Both tanks were quite full of clean drinking water when we visited recently. The pastors explained that the local community and their believers come by the church daily to fill their water bottles with clean drinking water. Both pastor’s families told me that their children had been free from diarrhea, the number one killer of children in the 3rd world, for many months. These types of stories make us so glad to have partners in prayer and support like you.

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Senior Trip Part 2- Amber Mountain National Park

Hiking down a road in Amber Mountain National Park

My Dad and I had already gone down to Ankarana in a taxi-brousse (bush taxi) and not wanting to go through that “culturally enlightening” experience again we decided to pay a bit more and we rented a taxi and driver for two days. Our next destination was Amber Mountain National Park, which is about a two-hour drive north of Ankarana towards Diego. The drive up there is very pleasant as much of the area is volcanic, so the landscape is both intriguing with it’s cone shaped mountains and hills and it’s lush flora.

Once we turned off the main road and had gone past the old French army garrison and Joffreville, the road got really bad, with lots of mud, erosion, and very steep hills. Then the driver of our taxi did something I had never seen before in Madagascar. He got out of his tiny Renault 4TL and put snow chains on the front tires! Even more incredibly the chains worked and we got up the mountain.

Our driver chaining up his Renault taxi. The only snow chains in Madagascar!

Amber Mountain National Park is an isolated area of rainforest and is surrounded by deciduous forest; it really is an inland island quite a ways from any other rainforest. For this reason, Amber Mountain has several species of animals that live nowhere else on earth. My main goal in coming here was to find one of these special creatures, the Amber Mountain Rock Thrush.

The Grand Cascade, one of many waterfalls in beautiful Amber Mountain National Park.

The forest was amazing with huge tree ferns and trees that stretched up 150 ft. into the air, forming a very closed canopy over us. We saw sunbirds, Hook-Billed Vangas, and other common jungle birds filtering back and forth in the trees as Lesser Vasa Parrots whistled loudly, wheeling around our heads. We passed a six foot long hog-nosed snake sunning itself on the path and then as started down another one of those long downward slopes I spotted, just to the side of the path next to me, a male Amber Mountain Rock Thrush sitting on top of a log looking at me. Well, I couldn’t have been happier.  Of all the water falls, Crowned Lemurs, leaf-tailed geckos, and other things we saw on the rest of that hike, nothing mattered as much to me as that Rock Thrush.

Several female Grey Crowned lemurs drying out after a torrential rain storm.

There was one other thing that I remember very well about that hike though. It rained cats and dogs for about half of it and I got wetter then I have ever been in my life. The rain soaked right through our raincoats. I was so wet that my IPod (which was in a water resistant fanny pack under my raincoat) got fried. We were soaked but it was still a great day.

The Amber Mountain Rock Thrush

Wanting to make the most of our time at Amber Mountain, we did another hike the next morning before we had to leave. This last hike was to a crater lake that was further up the mountain and, according to our guide, was the source of all the waterfalls on that side of the mountain. The hike was great with clear skies and bright sunshine. The lake was pretty cool and the water level was very high from all the rain. One of the best moments of the trip, however, was on the way back my Dad spotted my first Ring-tailed Mongoose, which is to my knowledge the only species of red mongoose.  He dashed past us through the undergrowth.

Caleb in his element, the forests of Madagascar!

We had already packed up our bags and as soon as we got back from the forest, we ate lunch and set off for Diego. The day was still quite young and we had a lot to see yet. I had never toured Diego and I still had to see the port, the WWII gun batteries, the beach… oh so much to do…. and so little time.

Caleb on the hill overlooking the bay of Diego-Suarez.

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Senior Trip Part 1- Ankarana National Park

Caleb winding his way through the towering limestone tsingy of Ankarana National Park.

As an MK, I have lived in Madagascar for six years and have seen most of the island. The one place I have always wanted to go was the northernmost city of Diego-Suarez and visit the nearby tsingy. The far north is very isolated, even though it’s only a few hundred miles from the capital of Antananarivo, it takes two full days of driving to get there.

For my senior trip, my Dad and I flew to Diego to fulfill my dream. We got into Diego at 7:00 A.M., after waking up at 3:00 to catch the plane. We hoped to catch the first taxi-brousse (bush taxi) headed south toward Ankarana National Park. The National Park is supposed to be about a two hour drive south of Diego. This park is the northern most section of Madagascar’s dry deciduous forests, in fact it is very near where the deciduous and the rainforest meet. This park is well known for it’s extensive areas of tsingy (massive razor sharp formations of limestone).

Nate and Caleb among the tsingy

The two-hour trip down to the park from Diego took nearly 7 hours in the 15 passenger van (taxi brousse), filled with 25 adults and several babies. We could hardly move a muscle we were so packed in.  My Dad thought we’d travel like the locals for cheap. We learned that the locals are amazing contortionists and not 6 feet tall either. Fortunately, we only got one flat tire, though unfortunately and unknown to us, it was only about 600 yards from our destination.

Caleb and our guide at the mouth of the fruit bat cave.

We arrived at the park in the middle of the rainy season, so it rained off and on the entire time. We explored large areas of tsingy and descended into a massive cave with two mouths, one had small insect eating bats and the other had huge fruit bats. The humidity and the heat were incredible; it was 89 degrees at 5:30 in the evening the first night. By the end of our first hike we were both totally exhausted and thoroughly soaked to the skin.

The tsingy has razor sharp edges.

The second day we hiked to a large hole in the ground, which becomes a vortex draining into underground caverns during cyclone rains. It was impressive. We also saw tons more tsingy and crossed a unique suspension bridge over a tsingy gorge. In spite of the rain and heat, the two hikes we were able to do were great with awesome views of the tsingy and of the local wildlife.

A massive drainhole for the rivers into the underground caverns of Ankarana. Note Caleb standing to the right.

At night we slept in a little wood and palm branch roofed hotel/ bungalow with surprisingly comfortable beds listening to the sounds of termites drilling through the beams above our heads.  Ankarana National Park and the tsingy were amazing and the wildlife and scenery was so unique. But we were not done yet, there was still more to do on this trip and more things to see up at Amber Mountain National Park further north closer to Diego. (See part 2)

Nate crossing the suspension bridge over the tsingy.

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