The most enjoyable and encouraging thing in our work at AiNA soa is hearing about the impact of our first aid training on the participants. Mostly their minds have changed from being afraid to feeling empowered, from panicking to being thoughtful and thinking. These changes are a benefit for the participants and for their communities and villages, too.

“Thank you for letting me participate!”

Last September, our team gave training to the youth and scouts in Mananjary and Ifanadiana, on the south-east coast. A week before the training, the list of participants was already full. The local officer in charge of registrations asked us whether Davidson, who comes from a far away village, could participate additionally or not. Davidson begged to be accepted and allowed to participate in the training. We agreed.

Davidson is one of the scout leaders in his area. There are very few health centres in his region and there is a lack health workers. People have to walk for many hours to a health centre.

To get to Mananjary for the training, Davidson first had to walk twelve kilometers to Nosy Varika and then take a seven-hour ferry ride across the Pangalane Channel for a distance of 110 kilometres.

When the AiNA soa team left Mananjary, we received the following message on our office phone: “Thank you for letting me attend the training! My new skills will help my community. I was already able to experience that…”.

A demonstration during training

Testimonies multiply

Davidson is not the only one who sees and experiences the benefits of the first aid training. Mr Copertinot also confirmed the benefit in the district of Ifanadiana, where he is the delegate of the Youth and Sports. The villages are spread among the hills and the forests. Most of them are not accessible by car. Therefore, he did his best in sensitize youths to participate. He himself also actively participated in the training.

Mr Martinot delivering a closing speech at the training course

Cheftaine Lucie is a scout leader from the village of Ranomafana, the famous forest reserve of Madagascar. She heard about the first aid training in Ifanadiana and decided to travel the 25 kilometers distance by taxibrousse with three other scout leaders. She shared: “We already had some general information about first aid, but your training explained well the reasons behind all the acts to do. It will help us to apply in our teams when we have camps.”

It is part of the vision of AiNA soa to bring the knowledge about first aid to the hard-to-reach places where the needs are even greater. At the moment, we are limited by geographical challenges – so we are so glad when people from the hard-to-reach areas can join our trainings at the nearest village.

Sincerely,

Laza

Director of AiNA soa