The community of the Daughters of Charity of Vohipeno in Madagascar buys 25 tonnes of rice each year to redistribute to the most destitute, without being able to respond to all the distress situations encountered.

The objective of the project was to rehabilitate a piece of land in order to plant a rice field and thus continue to offer more and more meals to this destitute population.

Sister Marie Clotilde tells :

Several stages were necessary to realise our project.

From the preparation of the land (very damaged by the weather conditions), to the planting, then to the maintenance of the plans, to the harvesting and finally to the storage in the granary.

We were fortunate to have help from neighbours for the periods of heavy work.

In addition to the volunteers, we had hired a mentally ill person with a good knowledge of rice cultivation.

This man had previously found it very difficult to find work to feed his family. As soon as he arrived at the plantation, we saw him open up and transform himself, happy to make himself useful and to be able to help his family to eat and pay for his children's medical and school fees. He is very precious to us and flourishes in this agricultural life.

Today we have rice in our granaries. Thanks to you, we help people who are isolated because of their illness and/or their poverty on a daily basis.

The food aid we provide is essential. In addition to taking care of their primary needs, we also offer psychological and spiritual support: they finally feel considered, they who were often condemned to be as discreet as possible.

The direct beneficiaries of this new rice field are :

- 58 mentally ill people (16 men and 42 women)

- 76 older people (35 men and 41 women)

- The boarding school with 23 girls

- 150 children from the solidarity school canteen (65 boys and 85 girls)

Thanks to your donations, we can continue this beautiful mission and go to meet the most destitute people of Madagascar, in this tropical region with very difficult climatic conditions.

Misaotra anao !

Thank you and may God bless you !