Programs & Projects

Prison Ministry Program

Prison Ministry is the first program that Friends of Madagascar supported. We are currently in 32 of the 86 prisons in Madagascar doing spiritual and humanitarian work.

FOFAJA

In the city of Antsirabe is a school for the visually impaired (FOFAJA). The main activity is primary school education. The pupils are from grade one to grade 5, corresponding to the different levels of the Ministry of Education.
The school also provides vocational training for some of the students. Some of them have never been to school so we teach them reading and writing Braille. Besides, a special class is open to receive those who have already attended ordinary schools, then they became blind for some reasons. They stay there for the time needed and are sent back to their respective initial classes for further studies.

Ejeda Hospital Nutrition Program

Ejeda Hospital Nutrition was the second original program Friends of Madagascar supported. The purpose was to provide support for providing rice and a protein for families who did not have money to come to the hospital for medical treatment.

Nofy i Androy

In early 2020, there was an article in the Lutheran Magazine “I am a Lutheran” about Mahareta Paubert Kaurin or Meta for short, and her life as a child mother. She then formed Nofy i Androy after coming to the USA this organization to help keep young girls in school and help the parents and community understand the importance of girls receiving an education and a career.
As a result of this article Friends of Madagascar Mission adopted this as one of our programs to support with a small gift at the end of 2021.

Today, there are 400 girls plus a waiting list, and Nofy is expanding into Bezaha with a second location.

Evangelists/
Evangelism

Friends of Madagascar Mission began by supporting three Evangelists. Today, individuals and congregations support 62 in some of the most remote areas of southern Madagascar. An Evangelist receives an annual salary of $600 plus $100 for continuing education and $100 for medical support.

John Dyrnes School

The John Dyrnes School in Bezaha started in the mid-1960s, by medical missionaries of the Lutheran Free Church and the American Lutheran Church. In 2019 there were 98 students. In 2023, there are now 378 students in grades K-12. According to the Principal, they do not have enough tables and chairs in each classroom because the number of students is growing. In the same city, there is also a Seminary. Unfortunately, many of the seminary students cannot afford to pay the tuition for themselves and the tuition for their children to attend Dyrnes school. Currently, Friends of Madagascar Mission supports 43 of these children.

Bible Schools

Bible schools in Madagascar train evangelists through a 2-year program which includes Old and New Testament, Church History, Lutheran Doctrine, Christian Ethics, Stewardship, Leadership Development, Malagasy Natural Religion and How to Witness.
The students are also taught how to teach reading to children and adults. Many people in the areas where these students will work as evangelists are illiterate, so they are taught how to teach reading so the people will be able to read God’s Word.
After graduating, the students are equipped to serve as an evangelist in an area under the supervision of an ordained pastor. They live in a specific village but they travel to surrounding villages.

Water Projects

In January of 2017 the Friends of Madagascar Mission board of directors approved a resolution to develop a strategy and process to teach drip irrigation at two teaching centers: one at Ejeda Hospital and the second at Manasoa Bible School. The strategy called for Evangelists at the Bible School to learn about drip irrigation so that when they graduated, they would take a drip irrigation system (pail and 100 meters of tubing) out into their area of mission and teach the people there about drip irrigation.

In June 2023, a team from Friends of Madagascar Mission met with personnel from The Madagascar Water Project and their CEO, Fred Rittelmeyer. Fred’s strategy is to repair pre-existing wells, hire local people to maintain the wells, and check back every few months to ensure that the wells are still working.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Fred took the action to develop a Memo of Understanding that describes how his company could work with Friends of Madagascar Mission. Going forward, the plans are to dig three new deep wells.