In mid-April, I set out with three colleagues on one of our regular training missions, this time heading to Miandrivazo, in southwestern Madagascar. I didn’t expect this trip to leave such a lasting mark on me — but by the end, I understood exactly why we do this work. A Journey Into the Heart
The past three months have been eventful for AiNA Soa: the FAWAY project continues its rollout in central-western Madagascar, our Swiss and Malagasy team ran for a good cause at the Wings for Life World Run, and a new piece of equipment is finally protecting our missions in the field. Here’s a look back
A discouraging start As part of the FAWAY project (First Aid for Women and Youth), carried out in partnership with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, our team continued its activities this year in southwestern Madagascar along the National route 34. In March, our first stop was Mandoto, about 267 kilometers south of the
In Madagascar, emergency medical help is not just a phone call away. In most situations of an accident, there isn’t a doctor, nurse or trained emergency rescuer present. Instead you usually find ordinary citizen, surprised by the situation, unsure of what to do, yet genuinely trying to help in the best way they can.
Every new year comes with its share of challenges—but also new opportunities. At AiNA soa, the first few months are rarely the most visible but often the most decisive. It is during these quieter moments, away from the intensity of fieldwork, that the foundations for the year ahead are built. When the rainy season
At the beginning of this year, our AiNA soa team in Madagascar got visited from our founder Nicole, who traveled from Switzerland. For me this was a very meaningful encounter. Nicole reminded us, the team, of AiNA soa’s core vision: "to see the Malagasy people take responsibility for their own development and make our
At the beginning of this new year, one quality keeps coming back to me insistently: perseverance. Not the kind that looks good in speeches, but the kind that is lived in real life, when everything seems to say that it would be easier to stop. The kind that quietly whispers: try one more time.
