Dear brothers, sisters and friends,
We are once again preparing for our departure back to Madagascar.
The months in the Netherlands have gone by quickly. It was not a normal furlough, but a special one due to family circumstances. That may sound very serious, but in our case it simply meant that the exams of our oldest son and the partial exam of our second daughter were classified as ‘family circumstances.’
The exams
Both passed with excellent results… But, well, they didn’t exactly want to be in the picture!
We had also planned to be in the Netherlands during August, as this month can be used for any resits. But as mentioned, this was not necessary, so we had a few weeks to really enjoy a holiday together. Great fun, of course! Our oldest daughter also came to Oudewater to spend the summer holidays with us. Once again, the Hofmann household was as busy and lively as ever.
Short but sweet
Although we were in the Netherlands for a somewhat shorter period this time, we were still able to do a lot. I, Jurgen, visited several churches to talk about our work and/or to preach. We feel privileged to have such a diverse group of people supporting us. I sometimes joke that in one church they hang from the lampshades and swing around while praising the Lord, while in another church we may sit properly dressed and sing Psalms. That diversity is a wonderful thing and shows us who our God is!
As a family, we visited family and friends and had the opportunity to hold the newborn babies of some of Jurgen’s cousins.
Of course, we also enjoyed the wonderful weather. In Oudewater we are just a stone’s throw from the IJssel, so during the hottest days the children could take a refreshing swim in the cool water. As I write this, our youngest has just set off toward that same IJssel, but this time armed with a fishing rod and some bread.
Translation and work
In between everything else, I was also able to continue working on the translation project. Genesis 1–11 is now ready to be tested. Hopefully our translator, Menja, will also be able to deliver the remaining chapters soon.
During our stay in the Netherlands, our house in the village served as accommodation for a group of Malagasy missionaries. Our friends, Sylvestre and Fanja, asked if they could use the house. Well, of course! Sylvestre has the key, and we fully trust him and his wife. How wonderful it is when these kinds of things become less and less dependent on our presence. We can thank the Lord for that.
Homeschooling
As mentioned, we are returning to Madagascar, where the children will once again receive their full education from Katja (with me teaching a few subjects). Homeschooling is a tremendous blessing, and when we look at our children, we can now also see the wonderful fruits it has produced. Nevertheless, you may have noticed that homeschooling has become a subject of discussion in the Netherlands.
For us, there is not much to worry about because we are returning to Madagascar. But for around 2,860 other Dutch children, the coming year will be an uncertain one. In April 2026, the Supreme Court ruled that, in principle, children must always attend school. So how does that work? If someone wants to homeschool their child, they have to apply for an exemption. This exemption is granted if the parents cannot find a school in their area that fits their religious or philosophical convictions. That may not sound very appealing, but that is simply the legal route that must be followed in the Netherlands.
We also apply for this exemption every time we are in the Netherlands, because that is the legal route available to us. The Supreme Court has now ruled that if there is a public school nearby, the child must attend that school. No consideration is given to how well these homeschooled children are doing (and generally, they are doing very well). No, as things currently stand, all these children will simply have to sit in school classrooms next year.
Why am I mentioning this? Because after 18 years of homeschooling, we have seen just how wonderfully well it works. Many children simply do not fit comfortably into the school system, yet they thrive when educated at home. This is also known as personalized education. When we return to the Netherlands again in 2028 for exams, we simply hope that we will still be allowed to continue teaching our own children during those months in the Netherlands.
We simply wanted to bring this to your attention because it is a major concern for many families in the Netherlands. During this furlough, I have given several interviews about this subject. This issue deserves attention, and we would also ask you to include it in your prayers.
Would you like to hear how we got started with homeschooling? Then you can watch the video below (click on the gear icon to choose the dubbed version):
A brief explanation
You may have noticed that we no longer mention the children’s names. This is at their own request. They are getting older and want to be intentional about making their names public. They are particularly cautious about this because of social media. Of course, we want to respect their wishes.
Thank you very much!
Well, this newsletter is a little shorter than usual. Next time, we hope to send it again from Madagascar. Tomorrow, September 8, David will pick us up and take us to Schiphol Airport. The five of us are travelling together. Our oldest daughter has started university again, and our oldest son is currently staying with friends in Kansas, America. He will return to the Netherlands in November and stay with his sister for a few weeks before travelling on to Madagascar.
We would like to sincerely thank all of you for your prayers, involvement and lovely cards! We have had a wonderful time and look forward to seeing together with you what God will do among the people of Madagascar in the coming period.
Finally
When we look back on everything we have been able to do here, one thing becomes very clear: God is faithful. In everything!
We can make plans, but it is the Lord who leads the work. And we are grateful that we can do this together with you—with your prayers, your involvement, your support, and your encouragement. Let us continue to trust in Him together. For God is good—always. And always—God is good.
Thank you all.
Katja & Jurgen
and the Hofmann children.
Prayer and thanksgiving points
We are thankful because:
- we serve a great and mighty God;
- the local Christians in and around Maroamboka are organizing things independently;
- we have had a wonderful furlough;
- the children’s exams went extremely well.
- Katja prepared the children so incredibly well.
Please pray for/that:
- our financial situation will return to a healthy level;
- the translation work and its distribution;
- the translation work on the book of Genesis;
- homeschooling may come to be recognized as a fully-fledged educational pathway;
We wanted to visit the side earlier but putting all the car papers in our name took much longer than anticipated. Finally, we received all the papers… that is to say, the temporary papers. Hopefully he official papers will be ready at the end of December 2016. Jurgen’s Malagasy drivers licence is a whole different story. To get the official licence we need a visa that has to be still six months valid. This is not so straightforward as it might sound. When we apply for a visa (for the new year) we receive a paper that says that we have applied. With this paper we can travel but it is not the same as the official visa. Still, the validity of the visa starts as soon as we apply. In other words, if we receive the official visa after 4 months it will only be valid for eight more months. Our hope is that we will get our visa in time to transform the temporary licence to a permanent one.
The national roads on Madagascar look very much like Dutch cheese with holes. This makes travelling very tiresome. At noon Issa and Jurgen arrived in a place call
ed Abohimahasoa. There they stopped to spend the night in a hotel. The next day they travelled the second part. Near Ifanadiana one of the tires went flat, a piece of wood stuck right through. Fortunately help was not far. Jurgen stopped the car near one of the many police checkpoints and asked one of the officers for help. The officer first had to put his AK47 aside and then he stopped a lorry. He told the driver that the foreigners needed help. The lorry driver, together with a local, changed the wheel and said that there was no need for Jurgen to get his hands dirty. A few miles further the tire was repaired in Ifanadiana for about € 1,70.
The house is situated next to a water-well with clean water. Most of the time there is enough pressure to install some plumbing. This is something the builder will look at. However, during Jurgen’s and Issa’s visit the well didn’t give much water due to a lack of rain. We will have to see whether we can solve this with a water reservoir that can collect and store rainwater. The house is mainly built of wood from the nearby rainforest. We will have, however, a tin roof and the ground floor is made of cement. The traditional houses have a leaf roof and a wooden or mud floor. This is a set up for trouble during the rainy season. Coming month we will look for a solar panel system. Solar panels are more common as many have a little system to recharge phones and the like.
The came back with a lot of fruit given by the locals. We are planning another trip to Maroamboka soon. We will have to bring more furniture and other things like our bed and school material for the children. The builder estimated that we can move as a family somewhere in January 2017.
This is it: our Nissan Patrol, built 1999. We had to search a long time for this mechanical vehicle, but now we have succeeded. It is important that the car is not only a four-wheel-drive, but also that it is mechanical rather than electrical. Mechanical cars are easier to repair; if necessary even by non-mechanics. Some simple tools and a phone in hand will come a long way. For the car-lovers among you: the engine is a 4.2 litre diesel, 6 cylinders. Click on the photo to see more pictures.
The builders al ready started to build our house. A couple of weeks ago we heard that the house was al ready finished for 50%. Initially we thought that they meant to say that the builder collected 50% of all the material, but no! He send us some pictures, which amazed us. We have good hopes that the house will be finished at the end of this month. However, the builder told us that the rain does make things harder. Still, we expect that we can move, as a family, at the beginning of the new year.
We have provided the drawings for the house ourselves. The builder adjusted a few things… and, as you can see, during the construction things have been changed a bit more. The ground surface will be around the 40m2. On each side of the house we will have a second floor with two bedrooms: One for the girls and one for the boys. The master bedroom will be on the ground floor with at the other side a living room with kitchen. Outside the house we will get a toilet and a washroom. Attached to the house we will get a porch where we can sit and dry our clothes. The builders use local material: the house will be made of wood with a concrete floor and a tin roof.
