February 2019
I have arrived in the South of Madagascar and have checked in on the Conservation Club in Fort Dauphin. We weren’t able to hold a meeting because the president of the club was mourning a death in his family. There are some problems with the club that I want to share with you. The main issue is that I was sending 90$ CAD for the monthly rent of the club house and for snacks for weekly meetings. What happened was the president of the club changed the club house to a smaller club house with a room attached that he could stay in with his family. This might have been OK if the new club house was large enough for the club meetings but unfortunately it was too small to have all 45 members of the clubhouse sit comfortably. We arranged for a larger club house once again and this was moved into at the start of May.
Re-establishment of larger club house in May of this year.
The bigger club house was a better fit for the many new members of the club
In order to avoid confusions like this in the future we are working on a list of club house rules that everyone will be expected to follow. Thank you for following our progress and continuing to believe in us as we learn and grow.
June 2019
I am now back in Canada and ready to report on our developments during this trip. We had a generous donation from Global Wildlife Conservation of 100 pocket field guides on Madagascar’s nocturnal lemurs. We also received two larger field guides on the lemurs of Madagascar. Half of the guides went to the grade 4/5 classes at Berenty Village school while the other half went to the members of the conservation club. The children at Berenty Village school really enjoyed their guides and also the larger guide which was used by the teacher to construct lessons. The Red Book Challenge hired Ramanorintsoa Fiankina Milliasse again this year as a teacher to bring conservation lessons to the grade 4/5 classes in Berenty. Milliasse taught nine lessons to the children about various topics relating to the animals found in the area. Some lessons were based on the field guide Lemurs of Madagascar.
The children at Berenty Village school enjoying their new lemur guides
