I have been so gratified to receive several email messages from my translator in the Madagascar training project I conducted 3 1/2 years ago!
While she has no way of finding out about most of the students’ successes, Manda has told me about several who are still diligently applying the principles and procedures learned when I was their teacher.
Eulalie is a woman who gave up her comfortable living in France to rescue her family farm from squatters and care for a brother. She was great when we were there, and learned the materials well, even though she missed many classes because of work. She would quiz other students and study their notes, as well as the written materials, and she always passed the quizzes and tests I gave. She continues to use the Mittleider Method of growing, and is teaching the villagers (for whom she built a dam and piped the spring water to the village).
Other students Manda named include Fidi, who was highly proficient at growing tomatoes, and Alain, who just received a $900 grant from the government to buy fertilizers for 5 hectares he’s growing this year. Nine hundred dollars is a LOT of money in that country, and really demonstrates great confidence by the government in Alain’s growing abilities. Alain is one who, immediately after our class ended, began to assist village families in an impoverished village some distance from Antananarivo (the Capital city).
I pray the Armenian students experience the same level of success! They are very intelligent, experienced, motivated, and hard-working, so I’m confident we’ll be hearing from them in years to come.
