Traveling in Madagascar for a month just before COVID hit, I was lucky enough to meet several local people in the tourism industry who were working to raise money to send kids to school. Madagascar is a very poor country. Post-COVID tourism is still significantly reduced and fund-raising for this charity has been hit hard. I was able to get back to Madagascar this past spring for some ecology work and was able to meet some of the students in the program. They are all working very hard. I’ve agreed to reach out to folks in the US to help raise some funds.

Their organization, ASSOCIATION MISANDRATRA (Uplift) is a registered charity with the Madagascar government with internal administrative rules. The group is led by Rafanomrzantsoa Henri Celestin (Fano) with three other local colleagues and a local French person with administrative experience. All raised funds will be directly sent to Fano for use in the charity. The group raises funds for grade and secondary-aged children, with hopes to follow them through college. The annual cost of tuition and supplies is about 250 Euros (currently $264) per student.

Currently, AMI is hosting a dozen kids but would like to expand to help other children. AMI has systems in place to track the costs and progress of each child. Placing a child in school makes a huge difference in the life of a family that could not do this on their own. When I traveled in Madagascar we took school supplies to several villages and the kids just lit up when receiving notebooks and writing utensils. They want to learn. Any donation will be deeply appreciated and will make a difference in a child’s life.