From Sibford to Madagascar

For Hannah Leavett, Sibford Ferris is a small village with lots of teenage memories, such as dodging angry horses on Oddies field and celebrating midsummer by dancing around trees with Swedish exchange students. Very different from her three months in an equally small village in Madagascar. Here she tells of working at a centre for orphaned children and girls who were on remand or destitute.

My desire to help others can be attribute to Sibford. During my seven years there I was very involved with the charity committee, raising money for different causes by organising school discos and casuals days, and helping out with summer camp for children from inner city London. At the time the charity committee gave me a chance to do something productive about the fact that my Mum had breast cancer, but it also set me up for the future: I’m now studying to be a nurse.

In 2003 I went to Madagascar to work in a centre called Akany Avoko, based in a small village just outside the capital, Antananarivo. At that time it housed 120 children in three buildings: the Child Care Centre, the Half Way Home and the Main Building. The children, the majority of whom were girls, are given the chance to go to school either in the village school or by attending classes run by the centre. For the girls that arrive at the centre too late for formal education there is the chance to learn skills such as arts and crafts, gardening, cooking and sustainable living.

Babies are abandoned at the centre on an almost weekly basis and are taken in and cared for in the Child Care Centre. Many need hospital care on arrival and the centre pays for this.

I lived in the Child Care Centre so was able to help out with the children there on a daily basis. In the mornings a kindergarten group was run out of the dinning room without many resources, so I spent some time constructing teaching aids and learning games that could easily be translated into Malagasy. In the evenings we would play games with the older children so they had some structure to their play and didn’t get bored. If I was feeling brave I would try to help with their

English homework as most of the children old enough to attend school are expected to learn English. As Madagascar was a French colony they may be the only children in the country who get English lessons as standard.

During my time at Akany Avoko I was able to help out with the arts and crafts that are sold internationally. The Half Way home supports those girls who feel too old to begin schooling. They learn life skills that may help them to be self-sufficient when they finally leave the centre. I was taught how to make recycled paper which is used to make cards, picture frames, note books and photo albums which are sold locally and overseas. They also produce beautiful hand-sewn tablecloths and mats, and have a screen-printer on site. It is hoped that the girls will be able to go into business selling crafts or cooked foods from a street stall when they leave.

Akany Avoko has a policy of renewable energy, which involves compost and biogas toilets: an interesting experience and not one for the faint-hearted. They also use solar cookers to boil water and a solar water tank for hot water resides on the roof of the Child Care Centre. I made them their first fruit dryer, out of an old oil drum, which has led to more being built. The girls from the Half Way Home can now sell dried fruit at the market.

The centre tries to make sure that every child gets a holiday every year, and I managed to join two: one to the rainforest and another to the coast. These holidays are a real chance for the children to unwind and relax. The rainforest was beautiful and exceeded all my expectations. The coast was amazing until we were hit by a cyclone and had to emergency evacuate.

I had a wealth of experiences in Madagascar that I will always treasure. Akany Avoko, the children and staff, are amazing. It’s not the easiest country to survive in but somehow, through dedicated support and ingenious fundraising, they manage.

Hannah left Sibford's Sixth Form in 1998