The Delegation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate – Madagascar was delighted to welcome Fr. Asodo HENRICUS OMI, Assistant General for Formation. His visit to Madagascar was scheduled prior to his trip and participation in the Joint Session in Senegal of our Africa-Madagascar Region. He arrived from Rome on Tuesday, February 27, 2024, and left Madagascar on March 12, 2024.

Being responsible for Formation within the Congregation, he prioritized visiting our Formation houses: the Prenovitiate in Tanamakoa (Toamasina city), the Novitiate in Ambinanindrano, and the Scholasticate in Fianarantsoa. The day after his arrival, despite the fatigue from the long plane journey, we immediately set off for the Novitiate via Mahanoro. We traveled for two days; the first from Antananarivo to Mahanoro by car with a challenging 85 km stretch (at the entrance to Mahanoro) which took us 4 hours!!! The second, even worse, from Mahanoro to Ambinanindano. A distance of 70 km typically takes 4 to 6 or 8 hours by motorbike taxi, depending on the weather. We covered this distance in 6 hours, under the rain, with some walking because a small river had overflowed due to the rain, preventing the motorbikes from passing. Nonetheless, we arrived at the novitiate well, where the people and students of our school gave us a joyful and warm welcome, which made us quickly forget the arduous journey.

Fr. Asodo met with the novices and the community of fathers. He was pleased with the trip and the visit to the novitiate. He greatly admired the locality with its green and fruitful environment! "Magnificent," he would always say in front of the lush and vast mountains!!! The novices were also interested in this encounter with the head of Formation who had come from Rome, from afar.

We left Ambinanindrano on Saturday after mass with the Christians. The return only took us 4 hours as the weather was quite good! What luck! There were talks of an approaching cyclone in the north, but we were not affected.

Once in Mahanoro, we had some time to rest, then Father Asodo met with the members of that community and those from Masomeloka, who arrived by canoe. On Sunday, we celebrated mass in the parish and immediately departed for Toamasina, to the prenovitiate.

Our schedule was very busy. On Monday morning after mass, we went to see Ivoloina, where we plan to transfer the Novitiate. We carefully inspected and admired this vast 35 ha site, home to rice fields and fruit orchards (bananas, lychees, etc.).

After that, we returned to Tanamakoa for lunch and in the afternoon visited the parish of St. Eugène de Mazenod in Tsarahonenana, where Fr. Marius Kasperski serves as Parish Priest and Fr. Arsène Randriamahefa as Vicar. Fr. Marius showed us the church, the ongoing construction of the presbytery, etc. After that, we went to see the community and parish of St. Jean Baptiste. Fr. Asodo met the pre-novices and then all members of the 3 Communities in Toamasina city… A dinner together with the 3 communities concluded our stay in Toamasina.

On Tuesday morning after mass at Notre Dame de Lourdes and breakfast, we departed for the Capital, Antananarivo. We arrived in Antananarivo on Tuesday afternoon and had Wednesday as a day of rest.

On Thursday, we continued our program with a visit to the Scholasticate (Fianarantsoa). It was a long journey as the distance between Antananarivo and Fianarantsoa is 405 km with poor road conditions. On Friday morning, Fr. Asodo visited the city of Fianarantsoa with Fr. Etienne OMI, superior of the Scholasticate, and at noon we went to Sahalava to visit the community and parish of St. Eugène de Mazenod.

He had personal meetings with some scholastics in the afternoon and with all the scholastics in the evening. On Saturday morning, we met Bishop Fulgence RABEMAHAFALY, then we visited the community of Omifilm, our audiovisual center, where we had our lunch. On Saturday afternoon, Fr. Asodo again met some scholastics, and we had dinner with the 3 communities of Fianarantsoa at the Scholasticate.

On Sunday, we celebrated mass in the parish of St. Eugène de Mazenod Sahalava followed by breakfast, after which we departed for Antananarivo. Monday was a day of rest and touring the capital. Fr. Asodo left Madagascar for Senegal on Tuesday after lunch, while Fr. Alphonse took the night flight to the same destination.

Thus concluded the visit of Fr. Asodo. He was satisfied, and we were very pleased. Our young trainees were truly fortunate to have met him; his visit encouraged them and enriched their sense of Oblate religious and missionary life. The last visit from someone from Rome was back in 2017.

Fr. Asodo met the majority of the Oblates and saw most of our communities despite his fairly short and tight schedule. He witnessed our reality, and I believe he will return one day. Thank you, Fr. Asodo, and thanks to God who accompanied us !!!

Fr. Alphonse RAKOTONDRAVELO, OMI

Superior of the Delegation