The dry season has started
When it becomes summer in Switzerland, the southern winter arrives in Madagascar. The climate on the big island is now drier and colder. The roads are passable so that our team could carry out first aid training in the capital as well as in more distant regions in the last months.
First aid training along the National Road RN7
We were in the three districts of Ambatolampy 70 km from Antananarivo (Tana), Antsirabe (170 km) and Ambositra (265 km) to train young people. The participants were members of youth associations, sports clubs and scouts. In total, we have already trained 207 people in this region over the last few months. Many were enthusiastic about the training and are eager to apply the skills they learned in the future in their respective communities of residence.
High school students
As part of the celebration of the 10th anniversary of a public high school on the outskirts of Tana, we were asked to train the students in first aid.
“The exchange with the 55 young students awakened hope in us. We are confident that Madagascar’s young adults can mature into responsible people when they are well trained.”
Collaboration with Capital Humain, Avenir de Demain (CHAD)
This association, CHAD, was looking for a first aid course for a training event they were holding with private schools. A teacher, who participated in one of our training a few months ago, gave positive feedback to the organizations about our work. That is why they decided to cooperate with us – they were not disappointed.
Many of the participants were already a bit older, but they participated very actively in the training. We are very happy that we were able to train 131 teachers through this collaboration.
Training for employees of companies and individuals
It was COLAS, the construction company, who asked for initial and also reinforcement training.
In order to raise our visibility and expand our relationships with companies, we participated in business forums in Tana. Through the new contacts we would like to find companies that would like to take advantage of our first aid training.
Individuals who do not belong to any company or other organization, we are now training in merged small groups. In both April and May, we were able to provide one first aid training session each for interested individuals. We continue to welcome more interested citizens.
Charity Run – Wings for Life World Run 2023
May 7th was a special day. Because among the 206,728 worldwide participants in this year’s Wings for Life World Run were 26 runners on the AiNA soa team. With every kilometer they ran, they made a contribution to spinal cord research and at the same time collected donations for AiNA soa.
“The 17 runners in Switzerland and the nine in Madagascar were able to reach a total of 356 km. It was impressive to see that we brought the run to Madagascar.”
Congratulations to the runners! Many thanks to the family members and friends for their support.
www.ainasoa.ch/run there are more impressions of the event.
National News: Power Cuts
One situation that affects the population in general and workplaces in particular is the frequent power outages. The existing power plants cannot meet the country’s energy needs. As a result, power cuts have to be made again and again to prevent the power grid from collapsing altogether. The government is always looking for a permanent solution, but every company has to find an alternative to be able to work efficiently despite the circumstances. We are currently looking at alternative ways to better bridge the power outages.
Prospect and Thanks
Our collaboration is expanding and our outreach weeks will go deeper into southeastern Madagascar in the coming months – all the way to the city of Mananjary.
Thanks to the valuable support of many different people, we are able to continue our work. We sincerely thank all those who support our work.
Kind regards,
Laza