Since returning from home assignment at the end of 2021 the Lord really placed a burden on my heart for the many vulnerable ladies here in Mandritsara, especially those in prison. In January 2022, a local friend Chamina and I visited the prison for the first time. Since then, we have been able to visit regularly on a Wednesday afternoon. We have been amazed at the access we have been given and how the Lord has opened this door for us. We have seen many ladies accept Christ and 8 have been baptised. One lady recently told us with a big smile on her face that “If I hadn’t been put in prison, I might never have heard the Good News about Jesus!” What a statement! These ladies are often very poor and vulnerable and when they get out of prison, it isn’t easy for them to reintegrate back into life – there is a lot of shame and stigma attached to being in prison.
While in prison the families of the prisoners are responsible to bring them food and water, otherwise they go hungry or depend on the generosity of other prisoners. Unfortunately for many ladies their families live far away. We have been able to identify those ladies and regularly provide some food for them. For example, there is a little girl who is 10 months old and who is with her mum in prison and we are able to buy food and supplies for her.
The other vulnerable group of ladies that the Lord has placed on our hearts is the local prostitutes. This has been a much more complicated work. Chamina is well positioned in the town. Her shop is near the district where the prostitutes work, and has become like a drop in centre where many people come to talk and share with her. We are working with a group of prostitutes who are all from Befandriana, about 4 hours from Mandritsara. They live in rooms close to each other and they have a president (who is a lady). They are a community of girls who live far from home and this group has become their family and security. Some are as young as 13 and many have children who live with grandparents.
Chamina has built up a friendship with their president, and so we have been able to visit the girls on a number of Sunday afternoons. It has been such a joy to get to know them and when I am in Mandritsara town I often bump into them. But their situations are heart breaking. I have puzzled and wondered for many hours how we can really help these girls practically. Many of them have asked us if we have any work or jobs they could do for us. They are desperate.
Raffia
Over the years I have heard snippets of what other organisations are doing here in Madagascar. One project that has stood out to me is the Nehemia centre in the capital city. One of their ministries is to teach people how to work with Raffia. Raffia is plentiful here in Mandritsara and very cheap. There are already some people here who make and sell Raffia products but the technique and quality that the Nehemia project teach is better. You can make many things with Raffia - bags, baskets, table mats, mats for the floor, earrings, wall decorations etc.
So, the idea is to begin a similar project here in Mandritsara with the focus on these vulnerable ladies - giving them a chance to learn a skill and be independent. Many details are still being worked out and we will learn a lot as we go, I’m sure. The programme will be 3 or 4 months in duration and at the end our hope would be to set these ladies up with the equipment they need to begin a small business. Whilst they learn Raffia each day they will also have a time for Bible study that will take them through the Gospels. We believe that the transforming love and grace of Jesus and the Good News of the Gospel is the only thing that can truly change their lives.
Two ladies, Yvonne and Lova, are planning to work with these girls. They are both local Christians who are compassionate and keen to help. Yvonne and Lova went to the capital city Antananarivo at the beginning of April. They will stay at the Nehemia centre for 3 months and learn this method and how to teach it. They will return at the beginning of July and we hope to start the programme shortly after that with 5 ladies. We have already found a suitable building and begun to do some repairs and get furniture etc.
We have a number of girls who are keen to start. The priority will always be ladies who get out of prison or who want to leave prostitution. We aim to give each girl a bursary during their study - especially the prostitutes so they don’t need to work. Our prayer is that this will empower them to be self-sufficient, independent ladies and that they will come to know and accept Jesus during their time with us. Ultimately it is He alone who can change their lives and I believe with all my heart that He can and He will.
When we visited the group of prostitutes on a Sunday afternoon in January one particular girl stood out to me. She listened to every word Chamina spoke and she didn’t take her eyes off her. I could tell she was desperate and unhappy. She is called Mirana. Since then she has been going along to church with Chamina each Sunday. The next time we visited it was the same - she was engrossed in the message we shared. She has visited Chamina regularly in her shop and talked a lot with her. She is 26 years old and has a 5 year-old son whom she needs to support. When she was 7 months pregnant her husband left her. Mirana worked in the rice fields and last year the rains were poor and the rice harvest wasn’t enough. So she came to Mandritsara to sell her body.
We spoke to her about the Raffia project and she immediately reacted with a yes, with relief in her eyes that she might find a way out of prostitution. A few days later she came back and said her Mum wasn’t happy as they really needed the money she was earning. She said that making Raffia bags wouldn’t bring enough money. But Mirana had already made her decision to leave. We promised her that if she left now we would find her work until the course started. On Friday 10th May she left! It was such a brave decision - to leave her friends and only community here in Mandritsara.
The classroom where the Raffia will be taught is 2 rooms joined to the house of 2 good friends who work at the hospital with me and go to the same church as I do. We quickly made a bedroom and Mirana moved in. She will stay there until July when the course begins and we will find her a room close by. To see how the girls have welcomed and loved her has been such an encouragement. The house is close to the hospital, about a mile outside Mandritsara town.
We built a ‘shop’ nearby for Mirana, and bought a crate of second-hand clothes. We then bought a second crate from the capital city which was much cheaper. She began selling on Monday. It has been incredible to see how the Lord has provided for her and is showing her that she made the right decision. On Monday, the profit she made was more than she would have made in a week before! She has been thanking God daily for how he has provided for her. We have been trying to help her organise her money and how to turn it into new stock. On Sunday she came to church with us. She can no longer go with Chamina in case she is seen in the town, whereas our church is beside the Hospital. Please pray for her. She has many questions and we need wisdom to respond with truth, love and compassion.
Prayer points:
• Praise God for the opportunities we have had to share the Gospel with these ladies. Pray for those who have accepted Christ as their Saviour, that we may disciple them well and connect them with local churches. Pray that they would truly know the meaning of this verse in their lives, “…whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:14
• Praise God for Mirana and her journey - pray that the Lord would continue to work in her, that she would know and understand she is forgiven and that Jesus’ blood is sufficient despite how big she thinks her sins are. Please pray for wisdom as we respond to her questions and disciple her.
• Pray for Lova and Yvonne who are training in Tana. They are far from family and often homesick. And pray for the logistics, organisation and support for the project.
DATE FOR YOUR DIARY!
Our Annual Prayer Day will take place at Trinity Road Chapel, London on the 12th April 2025