Family holiday in Madagascar

I didn’t fall of the face of the earth, it just feels like it.

After coming back from the north with the children things got back to normal very quickly. They went back to school and the days got busy. They wanted to start school, but then when it started….they wanted to have some time of. =) Now that the kids in grade 6 and 7 need to be more serious in their studies, they also have evening classes. So the kids from grade 4 – 7 have prep. classes from 7:30 till 9:00 in the evening. “Late nights”, and early mornings!!

Now I’m in Madagascar with the family, 17 if us. It’s quite the sight when we drive around in the bus we have hired. They people look and talk, no wonder!! Seeing 1-3 is quite normal, but a busload is not the norm.

We came here end of June, the whole lot. Went to Anakao, which is very close to what paradise must have looked like… beautiful. Right next to the beach, our own bungalows, hardly any other people cuz it’s wintertime. Can be a bit chilly in the mornings and in the evenings, but we have a lot of fun together and enjoy the fellowship we have.

The other day we went to the first place we lived while here, and there we met the gardener that we had way back in the days. The average age here is 56, and he’s 78 years old. A lot of emotions when we saw him again. Seeing the people that my parents worked with, meeting friends has been awesome. It has been 23 years since we have seen most of them, and it’s very strong. The word is now out that my parents are back, so many people come to visit…

We have also been at the Bible School where we lived the last 8 years. And on Sunday they invited all of us to come to church for a celebration - confirmation. 650 people in the church, and the service was “only” 4,5 hours. They had baptism, 7 different offerings and communion – so it takes time. Some of us sat the whole time, well my dad did… the rest of us went in and out several times.

The next step of the leg is a boat trip on a river that is known to have huge crocodiles, and quite a bit of mosquitoes. So my 2 brothers and their family will drive directly to the beach, cuz their kids are small – and then we’ll meet up with them there after a couple of days.