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Three times a year we travel to the capital Antananarivo. Jurgen undertook this trip every month the first year we lived in Maroamboka. A trip that, if everything goes well, can be done in 16 hours. In the capital we meet friends, we get to worship in English at our church, and we can arrange the necessary administrative matters (such as visa, car and motorcycle papers and several money matters).
It is a tiring journey. We prefer to combine the trip with a stopover in Ranomafana. This is a tourist village in the middle of the national park with the same name. We always look forward to stay there for two or three days before traveling on to Tana.
Needless to say there are luxury hotels and restaurants in a place like Ranomafana. These hotels mainly rely on tourism. However, we prefer to stay in a simple hotel called ‘La Palmeraie’. It is simple but adequate and also affordable for the Malagasy in terms of price. Hotel La Palmeraie is our place. Maman’i Kano is the owner and she knows us well. She is very welcoming and receives us joyfully. The rooms are simple and, not unimportant, clean! We always have two rooms for which we pay a total of 60,000 Ariary (about € 15,–) per night. We share the toilet and the shower (with hot water) with other guests which is okay because there are cleaned several times a day.
We usually plan to stay a few days, from Monday to Thursday. We leave on Monday morning to arrive in the afternoon. We don’t do much on Tuesdays. The children usually go into the village or to a river to play. On Wednesdays we sometimes go to the thermal bath. This bath is cleaned weekly on Tuesday so Wednesday is the day to go. For us it is 1,000 Ariary (about € 0.25) per person because we live on Madagascar. For tourists it is slightly more expensive (5,000 Ariary, about € 1,25)). On Thursday morning we leave around 05:00 to arrive in Tana in the evening. This is the way we try to keep traveling a fun and a bit more relaxed thing to do.
We’ll post some photos of Hotel La Palmeraie below.
There are also rooms available with a private shower and toilet. The rooms vary from large to small.
Prices start at 30,000 Ariary (about€ 7,50) with the ‘most expensive’ room for 60,000 Ariary per night.
Telephone number: +261 34 45 940 88
-21.25822/47.45392 – OpenstreetMaps
21°15’29.4″S 47°27’15.2″E – Google Maps
Our area is rich in many respects: there is an abundance of rice, fruit, coffee and sugarcane. Most people have chickens, while the rich own cattle. Local stores sell basic food items such as beans, peanuts and dried fish. Despite low wages (Eur 0,74 a day) our neighbours have enough … until sickness arrives.
Treatment by a local GP costs anywhere between 5 and 8 days’ wages, whereas treatment in hospital – over 2 hours’ drive away – costs several months’ wages. Our neighbours often know where to find us when the dark days come. 
Letena came to us this last December. His wife urgently needed a caesarian in hospital, but he did not have any funds. If no help came he would lose his baby and his wife – also mother of his son.
We helped Letena with a gift and a loan. The same day his wife was transported to hospital where a healthy daughter was born. Now, over half a year later, both mother and child are faring well. The child received the name ‘Fandriana soa nomenan’Andriamanitra’, which means ‘The Creator gave a good bed’.
Meanwhile business has picked up for Letena: sofar he has been able to pay back over half of his debt to us. By giving money to pay towards medical expenses we help save lives; by giving credit our neighbours retain their pride and dignity as they show the ability to provide for their families. Giving and lending is also culturally appropriate: borrowing and lending are a normal part of interdependency in relationships.
On behalf of Letena and many other neighbours: a warm thank you to everyone who has helped us to live and give in this place!
The motorbike is a blessing! It saves so much time in travelling. Now, Jurgen is able to visit not one but two or three villages per day. Also the villages that are far away or hard to reach. As long as there is a doable path, Jurgen can travel on it.
The children love to come along as well. They scream and laugh whilst bouncing up and down on the bad road. In the villages they like to listen to the stories and they love the Malagasy hospitality. The Malagasy are amazed that they are able to hold on… That motorbike goes so fast!
Jurgen hopes to travel to Vatohanitra soon. Vatohanitra is the next community from our place. The purpose of this visit is to meet up with a new pastor, Stanis, who came to live their just two months ago. We hope we can work together. If that works out we can leave the care of some villages near Vatohanitra to him and his church. The pastor does not speak the dialect yet so we have to be patient. The first meeting, two months ago, went well. He was very enthusiastic about all the work that has already started.
We’ve made some pictures around the house.
What is that over there walking through the shrubs? What is growing in the garden and on the trees? Who is looking through the window?
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We (Menja and Jurgen) have been working hard the last 1.5 year! The very first story set in the Tanala language is ready to be used.
Our friends, Doris and Alphossin, gladly received the first set. Both go to several villages on regular base. They try to motivate the young Christians to come with them to learn the ‘trait’. Many of them mostly speak and understand the Tanala dialect. With these stories they to can reach out to their own people and tell them about the wonderful news of the Gospel. In due time, when internet speed allows it, we will upload the stories together with the audio files. This way others can use them as well.
We are happy and proud!
When we arrived in Madagascar, we lived the first year in the capital, Antananarivo (Tana). In Tana, we started learning the official national language (Malagasy) and we researched where we would live and work on Madagascar. Many on Madagascar live in remote areas. These groups, roughly subdivided into 18 tribes, often can not read or write and speak their own dialect and therefore have great difficulty understanding the official language.
It is our passion to tell people about the good news of Jesus Christ. This good news, that Jesus came to restore the relation between humans and God, is almost unknown among the Antanala of Madagascar. This is why the Antanala are considered to be a so called un-reached people-group. What is more, the Antanala are considered to be one of the least reached people-groups on Madagascar.
The Antanala worship the spirits of their ancestors, they do nothing without consulting the spirits. Do you want to grow vegetables? Only if it is allowed! Marry that sweet girl from another tribe? That will not make the spirits happy! Someone in the family sick? Somebody else has done something that made the spirits angry! These and other thoughts are incomprehensible to an average European, but to the Malagasy it is part of everyday life.
From the capital we visited the area where we live now. We spoke with various village elders and asked whether we would be welcome to come and live with them. When the village elders heard that we wanted to tell the people about Jesus, they unanimously agreed to help us where necessary. “If your news is really good then you have to come soon!”
Now we have been living in Maroamboka since February 2017. Maroamboka is one of the bigger villages in the area. We started to do what our hands found to do (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Clean water supply was one of the first things that we have been working on. If you do not speak the language correctly, it is best to start with your hands and feet. Also, we are trying to create an awareness of the importance of a good hygiene. Things, such as good toilets or keeping the rats away (fleas on rats can pass on diseases like the plague) are self-evident to us. These basic things are taught in school. Schooling! Such a privilege, and in the West we take it for granted. It is good to be able to let people share in that knowledge.
We have become good friends with the local teacher, Menja. Menja speaks both the official Malagasy and the Tanala dialect. We are teaching him English and in exchange he helps us with the dialect. Eventually, he hopes to teach his students some English as well.
As we started to understand the Tanala dialect better, we also started translating Bible stories. Together with Menja we translated 41 stories in Tanala during the first period:
Besides the stories, we also started to translate the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. For the first time, people see their own language in writing! As noted earlier, most people cannot read or write and have a hard time understanding the official national language, Malagasy. How beautiful is it to hear these beautiful stories in your heart language.
Armed with these stories, we will go from village to village. Menja is already Christian and as the translations progressed, he became extremely enthusiastic. We sincerely hope that people like Menja will tell the Gospel of Jesus among their own people so that they can make their own choice.
We are convinced that the biblical truths bring true freedom. Free to plant what you want; to marry whom you want; think outside the box whenever you want. With Jesus as Lord, you do not have to be afraid of the spirits any more. These spirits all have one thing in common: They are the spirits of the dead. Jesus, He who has been dead for three days has returned from the grave, is stronger than death. He is the Lord of the living.
Mission in the 21st century, what is it all about? Many definitions can be given, such as this one: ‘the proclamation of the gospel amongst and development assistance to peoples in the third world’.
What we like about this definition is that it shows that words and deeds go together. A missionary proclaims the gospel and provides aid where necessary. The one without the other is incomplete. Where only foreign aid is given, often there are no lasting results. The aid remains something of the ‘white foreigners’. For successful development assistance a change of mindset is important. The gospel provides exactly that.
On the other hand, when the gospel is only preached whilst no actual help is given when needed, the words become hollow and void. A follower of a loving God will show love in his actions.
The last element in the definition is ‘in the third world’, in developing counrtries. We would like to say that indeed much missionary work happens in developing countries, but not exclusively. The gospel needs to be preached everywhere. The needs are often greater in the ‘third world’, whilst not all people have access to the gospel message. Hence most mission happens there.
Would you like to read more on the importance of modern mission? Read the full article here.
We also have the story from Emy on our website. She has written down what the arrival of a missionary meant for her.
Seen From a Secular Viewpoint 1
Introduction
A commonly heard statement against missionary work is to leave people alone: do not spoil their culture and belief systems. One should not bother people groups with alien belief systems.
This argument is understandable because many appreciate the diversity of cultures around the world. Rightly so, it is one of the many beautiful aspects of human beings. Humans around the world have developed their own style of music, dance, and other traditions.
Nevertheless, the aforementioned objection is not as obvious as it seems. This paper will accommodate the given objection with the necessary comments. Note that most of this paper’s focus will be on rural African situations. Yet, this does not mean that the discussed ideas are restricted to this setting alone.
World-view
Before we move on to the actual objection it will be valuable to be familiarised with the concept of ‘world-views’. Cultural diversities make a big difference in people’s understanding of the world around them—how one interprets diseases, prosperity, natural events, etcetera, depends strongly on one’s belief system. To illustrate how one’s world-view can differ from others we will take a look at a paragraph from Burnett’s book ‘Clash of Worlds’:
Implications
People who state that it would be better to leave other cultures alone, often forget that their statements have come forth out of certain presuppositions. Firstly, to say that Christian missionaries are bound to spoil one’s culture seems to implicate that the culture in question is ultimately satisfying to its inhabitants. And secondly, it indicates an outdated idea of missionary work where missionaries try to ban the established cultures in order to Westernise the world.
Satisfying in Every Aspect?
The first implication basically states that people from other cultures are most content with their own belief systems and co-existing cultural traditions. This, however, is not as straightforward as one might think. Especially in many rural African societies, where people give a lot of weight to the worship of ancestors and nature spirits, people suffer many fears. Frequently the people consult so called witch-doctors or medicine-men, who prosper on the fears of their ‘patients’. Diseases and other misfortunes are quickly explained as being a punishment or as inflicted by an upset spirit or by a witch. 3 Often it requires a sacrifice to restore the delicate balance. To say that this cultural facet is satisfying to the inhabitants is far from the truth.
Missionary of Culture
The second implication seems to have some historical truth in it. True enough, in colonial times many (but not all) missionaries viewed their own culture as superior to that of the people they tried to evangelise. Christianity was not only a personal belief, it was embedded in every aspect of many Western societies. Thus, bringing the Gospel was, for many, equivalent to bringing one’s culture. This attitude, however, changed rapidly after the enlightenment period. Today the West is no longer predominantly Christian.
Today’s missionaries understand that the Modern Secular Western culture is not advertising the Christian faith. 4 In other words, Western culture is not the appropriate tool to evangelise people since it does not guarantee a sound understanding of Christianity. Thus missionaries will try to make the Gospel culturally relevant for people. They cannot water down the Gospel but they can highlight different aspects. Take Jesus’ sacrifice for example: In the West we tend to highlight the juridical solution. In a nutshell this view says that all people have sinned against God and deserve punishment for their wrongdoing, just like a thief or violent person needs to be punished by a judge. It was Jesus Who took the punishment for us and He fulfilled the juridical requirement. Those who accept His offer can go free. However, cultures that do not highlight the legal side of society tend to emphasise aspects like shame and traditional fears for ancestors or spirits. For these societies it will be more applicable to focus on Jesus’ victorious work over all evil. Jesus had authority over evil spirits, He was shamefully treated and hang naked on a cross. He took the shame upon Himself of being separated from the Father. He died, but after three days He came back to life thus defeated death itself. Both viewpoints are equally true but will not always resonate with the listeners. It is important to find the most relevant aspects to make people listen. Later one can always teach the other aspects as well.
Secular Gain Through Missionary Work
Language
Most rural Africans have their own language and will have great difficulties learning in the official language. Often one of the primary goals of missionaries is to learn the native language. Normally they will try to put this language into writing. It does not need explanation to state that this is a great advantage for the people. Many local schools started right after these writings were (partly) finished. By learning how to read and write, people are more armed against fraud when buying or selling their goods.
Healthcare
Another very important aspect is that of healthcare. Clean drinking water, simple remedies against diseases, AIDS/HIV prevention programmes, etcetera, are all part of many modern missionary organisations. The success rates of these programmes are hard to express in figures. However, many organisations are committed to stay on a long term basis. During this period they will seek to train the native Africans. This way the organisation shares its knowledge and consequently the people become less dependent.
Economy
Although missionary work starts with the longing of spreading the Gospel, it is often a great boost for the local economy. Missionaries do not consider profitable areas as more important than non- profitable areas. That is to say, secular Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) will have to abide to strict regulations of where to go and what to do. 5 Furthermore, secular NGOs may do a good job in education and the like, but more often than not rural Africans are not capable, due to religious convictions, to fully profit from their help. 6 Parris says the following about it:
Missionaries, on the contrary, have the freedom to go to people groups who do not have access to proper education and/or healthcare. Additionally, Christians are not committed to a secular world- view thus capable to address the religious aspects more effectively.
The Christian faith strongly depends, in contrary to the traditional rural African religions, on individual decisions. The Christian faith emphasises the unique bond between God and human. Christians do not need intermediaries in order to have a relationship with God. No longer will the person have to be subordinate to others, which will result in a bolder attitude towards progression. A naturalistic and materialistic approach to a people, who are deeply rooted in religious traditions, will not help them. Their religious system will have to change alongside. Fears need to be addressed. The traditional rural Africans will not change certain habits because they fear the possible negative consequences—better not disturb the ancient spiritual order. Those who entrusted themselves to the Christian faith however, will abandon these fears because they know that their new Saviour became victorious over all evil. Parris testified that the Christians he met “were always different. Far from having cowed or confined its converts, their faith appeared to have liberated and relaxed them. There was a liveliness, a curiosity, an engagement with the world—a directness in their dealings with others—that seemed to be missing in traditional African life. They stood tall.” 8
Conclusion
Missionary work in Africa is not only about winning souls. It digs much deeper in the change everyone wants to see in Africa. Although secular NGOs are of great worth, they cannot replace the deepest longing in the hearts of many Africans. Many rural Africans have a deeply rooted religious system which is unlikely to change through secular education. Missionaries can offer a solid replacement of their, often fear-driven, religious ideas.
To change the beautiful African culture should not and is not the goal of most missionary organisations. Nevertheless, there are certain aspects in these cultures that need a head on approach. 9 Many Africans are illiterate because in their culture they never actually needed it. Times change and so do trades. A literate person will not likely be a victim of fraud. Furthermore, reading and writing is of great use when it comes to education. To read that certain customs are harmful can help to change their (often cultural infused) habits. 10
Instead of spoiling a culture it would do more justice to missionaries to state that they enrich one’s culture. Not only in spiritual aspects but also in materialistic ways. This holistic approach has proven to be very sufficient for economical growth—and economic growth that many Westerns wish to see happen among the people from this beautiful continent called ‘Africa’.
Endnotes
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Also read Emy’s story