by Jeremy Aitken (Intensive Care Nurse at the Good News Hospital)
Mananara is a town on the east coast of Madagascar – around 70 miles as the crow (or Mission Aviation Fellowship) flies. There is no road and the journey takes 4 days on foot in the dry season – it can be twice as long in the rainy season. Incredibly, patients make this journey, or part of it, to the Good News Hospital. They walk, or are “carried by four,” from Mananara or villages along the way.
I had planned, along with a couple of others, and some Malagasy friends, to do this journey as a “sponsored walk,” raising funds for the Mandritsara project. But it also served to show me just what our patients (and those who accompany them) have been through when they arrive at the Good News Hospital.
The walk to Mananara was as long as I expected, but I didn’t expect to get a little taste of what it is like to do it when you are sick… I’ll spare you the details but a tummy bug had hit our home just before I left with the group and it seems I took it with me! Thankfully I was still able to see out the very memorable journey.
Day 1: Chickens and cramped legs
The walk began before sunrise after finishing last minute packing late the night before. Knowing it was going to be exhausting I tried to pack light which is easier said than done! My packing list was a far cry from matching the packing list of our Malagasy brothers!! Theirs consisted of a machete, a little backpack with a bottle of rice water and a few spare clothes, and two light raffia bags with chickens to give to some relatives along the way! Thankfully they were able to help carry some of the team’s bags.
The first leg of the journey turned out to be via motorbike instead of by foot. This was apparently necessary to avoid some areas that have had trouble with bandits. I was at first disappointed to miss out on walking the entire 150km but later learned it is not uncommon for some of the patients to also take a 4×4 or motorbike for this leg of the journey.
Moto-taxis
And though it was painful folding up my long legs for the bumpy ride as a passenger on the small taxi moto I also couldn’t get the grin off my face! If only I had my old motocross bike to do the journey solo…
After getting our cramped legs and dusty faces off the taxi moto a few hours later we walked on until dark. We had the company of a Malagasy man who knew the road and local villages. He had his energetic teenage sons with him carrying the chickens. Soon after we started, they proceeded to run, backflip, sing, dance and eventually make up a friendly rap about the tired, sick and sore foreigners with them! It was quite entertaining and distracted me from my lesson on what it is like to journey these roads whilst you are sick…
Day 2: Learning what the journey is like when you’re sick
Night Time
On day 2 we set off at sunrise and I was told the weather had been dry recently and the trail was in much better shape than normal. My headache and dehydration stopped me from foolishly wishing it was more difficult so I could try and conquer the worst conditions possible! Even though the worst mud had dried out there were still plenty of water crossings, slippery log bridges, and a whole load of deep footprints, landslides and erosion to show how quickly things change in the rain. I think it was on this day that my compassion for the sick jumped up a level as we chatted about a poor lady who was nearly dead from obstructed labour… She had been carried along this trail to our hospital just a few weeks before, and had recently returned along the same trail we were walking. I was exhausted at the end of the day, and since my tummy was not going so well, I skipped rice and bits of chicken for dinner and opted to collapse into bed. I slept deeply only to be woken by my rumbly tummy and then again by a fat rat launching from the ceiling! Imagine if I was really sick…
Day 3: Relief!
I Can See the Ocean
On day 3 we were feeling the pain but we got a glimpse of the ocean! We were pretty exhausted. Old injuries were causing some grief but the sight of the finish line was a real boost even though there was a long way yet to go. I can’t imagine how relieved patients must be to finally get to see the open gates of The Good News Hospital after such a journey! I felt much better on day three and enjoyed the exhausting walk until dark much more than the day before. God’s creation around us was incredible even though large parts of the forest had been cut down by the villagers trying to make a living. So many people here are yet to hear the Good News of Jesus.
The loads people carry on these journeys are phenomenal. I helped one bicycle taxi guy push his bike up over some rocks and I think my eyes nearly popped out of my skull as I felt the impossible weight he was transporting. I couldn’t believe the wheels on the bike were not crushed let alone how he could do this journey. Did he have concrete in his bags!? If heavy mountain path transport via bicycle became an Olympic sport this guy would have been a gold medallist for sure!
A load on a bicycle
Day 4: Arriving at the beginning of another journey
The strong local coffee hit the spot at our first pit stop on the morning of day 4. We had hit the trail early in anticipation of reaching the coast. In the middle of the night there was no fat rat falling from the roof but there was a group of people continuing their journey past us by torch light. For these people you can’t say “That’s a day’s hard work” because they are working/walking through the night as well! After a canoe ferry ride over one of the final rivers we walked our weary legs down the last leg into the coastal town of Mananara. And it was so good to sit down and know we did not have to get up right away and push through the pain that came each time we got our muscles moving again. It took us around 4 long days in optimal conditions. It would have been so much longer if it had been in the pouring rain and deep mud. It would have been incredibly hard if I had been any more ill, and near impossible for us if we had to carry somebody!
When we arrived at the coast, I was still a little sick, but I was in a completely different situation from those who walk the opposite direction… Hopeful families finally arrive with loved ones at the gates of the Good News Hospital and their journeys are just beginning…
Arrived at the Coast
Praise be to God who has raised up this ministry to receive these weary souls. To embrace them with the love of Christ, share the Good News of everlasting hope and rescue them from physical suffering. Thanks be to God for all who pray and give to enable the ministry and its workers to be here.
Prayer points:
Pray for patients travelling to the Good News Hospital from far away, that the Lord would protect them on the journey and be preparing their hearts to hear of His love and salvation.
Pray for the staff at the hospital that they may show the compassion and love of Christ for all who come, and a patient understanding of their medical, social and spiritual needs.
Pray for Jeremy, his wife Felicity and their 5 sons that God would bless them as they serve Him in Mandritsara.
Pray that the Lord would continue to supply all the funds needed for the running of the hospital, care of the patients and gospel outreach.