After having received my new obedience to the city of Fianarantsoa, I departed from Morondava on October 8th, 2017 shortly after Mass. It was announced that Father Rivotina Jocelyn Rasamoelina was to replace me as director of the school of Eugene de Mazenod in Morondava.

The school year of 2017 – 2018 began on October 2nd. This is the third year that the school exists. During the inauguration I delivered the speech opening the school year.  Also, I presented the new director as well as a new secretary Sister.

In this school year on the level of preschool and technical school, there are 283 students. We have eight teachers, a Sister Secretary, a priest director and a priest bursar.

Let us remember that during Mass at the closing of the second school year on June 30th, 2017, we bade farewell to Sister Lucy, secretary of the school who worked here for two years. She intends to study in post graduate work. Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart from Ragusa accepted the request of Father Mariusz Kasperski and sent a new Sister as secretary.

We have thirty students adopted by readers of “Misyne Drogi” and fifteen by families in Slovakia. All of them are studying in our school. On February 2 and February 3, 2017 a representative of “Misyjne Drogi” visited our school.

For our children, we always celebrate Mass for them in the church of St. John Paul II (our parish) on every first Friday of the month. Twice a year, we lead retreats for children: in Advent and in Lent. During the rainy season, in January and February of 2017, we planted 200 trees in the schoolyard.

We also built a hangar in the dimensions of 15 by 10 meters, meant for meetings with parents and the celebrations of Catholic Children’s Day in Madagascar. In the days of August 14 – 20, 2017, the school was connected to the sewage system, and the electricity was connected a little earlier in May 2017.

We prepared and realized the National Catholic Children’s Day, which took place from September 17 – 20, 2017. That is why we asked the town to provide us with city water.  We also have water from the parish well, which was installed during the second year.

These are the messages which I wanted to share with you. I hope that our third year will be even more fruitful. God bless !

Father ANDRIAMANANTENA Riri Léonce, OMI