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About Madagascar |
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Madagascar Fast Facts
Population: 20 million (approximately)Capital: Antananarivo; 1.4 million population Area: 587,041 square kilometers (226,658 square miles) Independence from France: June 26, 1960 Language: Malagasy, French, some English Religion: Indigenous beliefs, Christian, Muslim Currency: Malagasy ariary Life Expectancy: 55 Literacy: 69%
| | | Habitat for Humanity Madagascar background documents | For more background information on Habitat for Humanity Madagascar, click here. | | Continue | | | | |
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Our Itinerary |
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size:213.00 K
Word document of our itinerary | | |
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Joanna Gaines |
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I am 33 years old and grew up in Northern California in the Sierra Foothills, where my family still lives...with the exception of my amazing younger brother who flies Apaches in Iraq. I absolutely love where I grew up and really hope to be able to move back someday. These days though, Appleton Wisconsin is my home...I relocated here after taking a job as an internal consultant with Thrivent. Not my first time in the Midwest though...I have been here on and off for over a decade! I have a BA in German and history from Gustavus (St. Peter, MN) and more recently completed my MBA at the U of MN in finance and international business. The MBA changed my professional day to day pretty dramatically: from high school teacher to process improvement nerd. If I had known 5 years ago that I would be spending most of my time with spreadsheets and flow charts I would have rolled my eyes, but if you told me I would ENJOY it, I would have fallen down laughing. Travel and experiential learning is pretty much my main passion and I have made it a priority to figure out ways live, work and learn overseas: Turnu-Severin, Romania, Bielefeld and Freiburg, Germany, Solothurn and St. Gallen, Switzerland. After spending many years in these places I am really excited to step outside my comfort zone and visit Madagascar...especially to be there helping others in addition to experiencing something myself. Here in Wisconsin when I am not doing fun things like improving cycle time or reducing defects, activities include gardening, cooking, reading, hiking, yoga, and driving to Minneapolis or Chicago for the night-life. | |
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Chris Shultz |
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My name is Chris Shultz. I have been married to my wife, Cindy for 25 years and we have two kids, a daughter, Kasey who is thirteen and a son, Corey who is ten. We live in Tacoma, Washington, where I work as an Electrical Engineer for Tacoma Power. God has truly blessed me and I try to be a blessing to others. In my free time I enjoy spending time with my family, volunteering at my church and other ministries, coaching my daughter’s soccer team, riding bicycle, playing soccer, hiking and woodworking. I have been involved with the local Habitat for Humanity chapter here in Tacoma but have never had the opportunity to work on a Global Village build before. I am really looking forward to this opportunity to return to Madagascar to work on this Habitat event. I have lived in Madagascar for a total of twelve years but it has been over twenty years since I was last in Madagascar and my Malagasy is very rusty. I am looking forward to getting to know everyone as we travel and work together on this trip. I pray that God will bless our efforts and that we will be a blessing to those we will be building with. | |
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Maggie Snetting |
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I'm a Minnesotan, born in Minneapolis on September 11, 1983. I grew up in the house my parents still live in Minneapolis, MN, in fact my great grand parents bought the house back in the 1920s! I still attend the church as I did growing up and currently am the co-chair of church council at Lake Nokomis Lutheran Church, the same church that my great grandparents joined back when they moved to Minneapolis. Moving to St. Olaf College was my first move and in 2006 I graduated with a double degree in French and Political Science with a concentration in Management Studies. In high school I attended many mission trips with church and in college travelled to Paris and Prague. I’m hoping to enter an MBA program early next year.I began working at Thrivent Financial as an intern in the Twin Cities Regional Financial Office as an event planner in the summer of 2005. I coordinated Lutheran Night at the Twins for 2 summers and a visit of the Thrivent Builds Mobile to the MN State Fair before accepting a new position at the corporate office. I worked with Congregational Advice and Relationship Management for the majority of 2007 and now am working full time in the Fraternal division on project work streams, mostly related to Members’ Clubs, both creating opportunities for interaction with our members and giving input to the systems needed to support the management of the those activities. In 2007 I got involved with Thrivent Builds (after helping the regional financial office plan so many fund-raisers for Thrivent Builds, I wanted to continue to be a part of the program!) as a Thrivent Builds Chapter Specialist for the Central Minneapolis Chapter. I’ve always wanted to go on a Thrivent Builds world wide trip, and when I saw there was a trip to a French speaking country, I jumped at the opportunity to connect so many of my interests!
I enjoy reading, traveling, watching sports and spending time with family and friends. | |
| Derek Van Gundy |
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I was born in Sacramento on October 25, 1990. I have an older sister who attends Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma. I will be a high school senior next year. I like sports, but only play football in high school. I played recreational soccer and little league baseball until I was 14. When I was a freshman I played rugby, which is a sport that appears much more violent than it really is. My first overseas trip was to Norway when I was one and a half years old. I went to Norway again when I was 12. I have also travelled to Italy on two occasions and Greece. I have travelled to Hawaii several times and the U.S. Virgin Islands with my family. During the last 6 months I have also been to Canada and Mexico.We moved to Los Angeles in 2006 and I have been attending First Lutheran of Northridge. Our youth group is very involved in volunteer work and we went on retreat to Ensedana, Mexico and helped put finishing touches on a house that will be used to house seminary students. Members of the youth group are currently planning several aspects of the Lutheran Church Western States Youth Gathering which will be held in Anaheim while I am in Madagascar. This trip is very exciting because it will give me the opportunity to make a connection with the country and Malagasy people about whom he has heard many stories. My mother grew up in Madagascar and her parents worked as Lutheran missionaries with the Malagasy people for many years.
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Jim Van Gundy |
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I was born in Sacramento, CA on October 9, 1956. I was an excellent swimmer in high school and college. I taught Red Cross approved swimming lessons at private swim clubs, public park and recreation districts and public school districts in Sacramento while attending school. I graduated from California State University – Hayward in June 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Accounting. I then returned to Sacramento where I got a job as a tax auditor with the one of the State of California’s revenue departments. My wife and I met while we both worked for the State. My wife, Kari, grew up in Madagascar. Her father is a Lutheran pastor and her mother is a nurse. They were missionaries in Madagascar for over 20 years from 1959 until 1974 and from 1984 until 1994. We were married in 1982. In 1986 we went to visit her parents in Madagascar. During that trip we also went on a safari in Kenya. We have two children, Alyssa (20 yrs old) who is a junior at Pacific Lutheran University and Derek (17) who will be a high school senior next year. I was a volunteer soccer coach for many years and also was an assistant coach for my son’s little league baseball team. I have been actively involved on the boards of directors at both of the Lutheran churches we attended in the Sacramento area. We moved to the Los Angeles area in 2006 and I continued to work for my department in a different capacity in L.A. In January 2008 I was informed that my expertise was needed back in Sacramento and after a month of commuting between Sacramento and L.A. we decided that I should retire from the State and get more involved in volunteer activities. I love to travel and have been to Europe on several different occasions. My outdoor pursuits include hiking, fishing, snow skiing, snorkeling and scuba diving.
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Constance Waisanen |
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I was born in Minnesota and grew up on a dairy farm on the Kettle River, a tributary of the Mississippi. While in high school I was active in my church choir, high school choir and band, theater, and 4H. In 1969 I went to Brazil on an AFS exchange. After high school I attended the University of California at Davis where I received a degree in Chemical Engineering. My first job was at Wauna, Oregon in a pulp and paper mill where I held various management positions until my escape two years ago. After leaving the toilet paper factory I went to work as a financial representative for Thrivent Financial for Lutherans in Astoria, Oregon.I have two awesome grown sons. Michael graduated from the Department of Forestry at Oregon State in 2005 with a degree in Wood Science Technology and Engineering. Jesse graduated from OSU in 2007 with a degree in Forest Engineering. Mike is working in exotic wood sales in Oregon and Jesse is doing environmental setbacks and landslide analysis in southwest Washington. Both have wonderful women in their lives and I have two granddogs, Ruger the chocolate lab and Slate the Weimeraner. Our favorite family activity is to get out the tractor and work on our 20 acre tree farm. I am active in my congregation at First Lutheran in Astoria where I sing in the choir and serve as worship assistant. My other activities include biking, swimming, walking, yoga, chorale music, gardening and quilting. I love to travel and have been to all of the continents except Antarctica and guess what? Africa!
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Kristen Weingartz |
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My cursor mocks me with writer’s block… and as a closet writer his mocking is especially cruel. So I guess I’ll begin as all good stories do… at the beginning of course. I was born in Mankato, Minnesota 34 years ago and I am the oldest of two. My family relocated to Burnsville, a southern suburb of the Twin Cities in 1986 and from there I headed off to the University of Minnesota, Duluth and Twin Cities for college. While the early days were a simpler time I love the challenges and adventures that are ahead of me presently. I’m in year seven of a truly cool career at Thrivent and when I return from Madagascar I will begin a new role in our Marketing Department. I’m a bit of a process dork (like Joanna) and so don’t be surprised if I have “ideas” on how arrange the worksite or track our throughput. When I’m not ticketty-tack-tack-tacking away at a keyboard I spend my time with my family and friends just hanging with a beer and some clever conversation, at a new restaurant or over a favorite board game. I also became an aunt for the first time last year so am enjoying my one-year-old niece Sophie. Hiking, fishing, golfing are my summer pursuits. In the winter I stave off cabin fever with reading, football and my love of movies (I will sheepishly admit to loving TV too). Also, these days I have also been obsessed with having people over for dinner (I love to cook and entertain) and conducting little tasting contests (e.g. Hollandaise-apalooza, The Guacamole Bowl, Chili challenge, etc.) and I’m game for an adventure or travel just about anywhere anytime—hence seeing all of you very soon in Madagascar. | |
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Advice about Money in Madagascar |
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Tips for exchanging money: The money in Madagascar currently is the Ariary. The Ariary floats against hard currencies and the exchange rater changes frequently. For this reason, some prices in Madagascar are given in euros. The franc malgache (Fmg) was replaced by the Ariary in 2003. Exchange rates as of July 2008:
US $1 = 1,556 Ariary (or MGA)
US $10 = 15,560 MGA
US $25 = 38,884 MGA
US $50 = 77,768 MGA
US $75 = 116,652 MGA £1 = 3,159 Ariary
€1 = 2,494 Ariary Money can be exchanged at banks, post offices, bureaus de change and travel centers. However, our host coordinator recommends using an ATM card to withdraw the local currency. You can do this at the airport, or at a few available banks in Tana. He noted that some ATM cards do not work in Madagascar banks, though, so you all should check with your bank to see if the cards will work in Madagascar. Also, VISA credit cards are widely accepted in Tana, but MasterCards are not, so if you have both, bring just the VISA. If you do plan to use an ATM or credit card to obtain funds, please remember to notify your bank or credit card company that you will be traveling. I submitted a “Travel Plan” with Wells Fargo, for instance, by simply calling their Customer Service number. You should also consider making copies of all your important documents, including credit cards, that you will be taking with you. Leave a copy at home with a loved one and bring a copy with you. Today, travellers’ cheques are rarely seen and difficult to cash, but if you still want to bring travelers’ cheques, do so in euros or US dollars (sterling travelers’ cheques are almost impossible to change). Cash is far easier to change, so this is the best option for all of you who really won’t need much money with you. A Madagascar travel book suggests money in $50 and $20 bills and about 10 single dollar bills which are ideal for handicrafts if you don’t have local currency handy. | |
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Communicating with home from Madagascar |
Phone calls: If any of you want to use international phone cards to call home from Madagascar, you may need to buy that in the United States because you will not find the appropriate cards in Tana. There are cream-colored phones that you can make international calls on from Tana, but keep in mind that rates are cheaper in the evenings after 10pm and on Sundays. It is usually less expensive to buy a SIM-card (Orange or Madacom, usually costing just a few US dollars) in Madagascar which can be put into your USA personal cell phone used for international calls, available at the airport or in some shops in town. It is cheaper to call with a Malagasy SIM-card than your own. Email: There are some internet cafes in Tana, but you will have to use your own money for this (usually about $1/half hour). Be warned that the keyboards are usually in French. We also might be able to access email for free at the Habitat Madagascar national office on occasion during the week in the evenings. | |
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Speaking Malagasy |
English - Malagasy - Phoetic pronunciation Hello! / How are You? - Manao ahoana! - Mano OWN
Hello! (rural areas) - Salama! - SalAAM
Goodbye! - Veloma! - VelOOM
See you again - Mandra pihaona - Mandra piOON
What's your name? - Iza no anaranao? - Eeza nanARAnow?
My name is - Ny anarako - Ny anaRakoo
Please/Excuse me - Azafady - AsaFAD
Pardon me (as I pass) - Ombay Ialana - M'BUY lalan
Thank you - Misaotra - MisoWTR
Bad - Ratsy - Rats
Let's go - Andao andeha - AndOW andAY
Crazy - Adaladala - AdAladAL
I don't understand - Tsy azoko - Tsi azOOk
Yes, I understand. - Een, azoko - Een azOOk
What news? - Inona no vaovao? - Inan vowvow?
No news - Tsy misy - TsimEEs
How much? - Ohatrinona? - OhtrEEn?
I am thirsty - Mangetaheta aho - Mangataytah
I am hungry - Noana aho - Noonah
I am tired - Vizaka aho - Veesacar
Yes - Eny (but the Malagasy prefer to say 'yoh')
No - Tsia (but the Malagasy prefer to say 'ah') | |
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Emergency Contact Information |
People to contact in case of emergency:Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity
• Team leader: Kelsey Midthun, 651-245-8942 (cell), email: kelsey.midthun@thrivent.com or kelsey.midthun@gmail.com
• Team leader: Erin Gladstone, email: erin.gladstone@gmail.com.
• Thrivent Builds Worldwide trip Coordinator: Christy Fellner: 1-800-422-4828 x7970
• Director of Habitat for Humanity International Global Village Programs: David Minich: 1-800-422-4828 x7531 (emergency contact only) Habitat for Humanity Madagascar
• Mailing address: Habitat for Humanity Madagascar, lot II A 23 Antaninandro, Antananarivo 101, Madagascar
• Office phone: +261 (20) 22 37353
• Mr. Eperlan, Volunteer Coordinator and in country guide and translator, mobile phone: +261 (33) 12 43637, email: eperlan@hfhmadagascar.org or gv@hfhmadagascar.org
• Mrs. Mamy, RD Manager, mobile phone: +261 (33) 09 82272, email: mamy@hfhmadagascar.org or rd@hfhmadagascar.org
• Serge Andiramandimny, National Director, email: nd@hfhmadagascar.org Travel Beyond-Suzanne Zapolski
• Mailing address: 214 S. Minnetonka Ave, Wayzata, MN 55391
• Tel: 800-876-3131 or 800-823-6063 or 952-540-4109
• Email: suzanne@travelbeyond.com |
size:217.00 K
Word document with detailed emergency contacts and all accomodations contact information | |
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The Africa Centre Inn and Backpacker - July 26 |
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Address: 65 Sunny Road, Lakefield, Benoni, Johannesburg 1501, Republic of South Africa
Telephone/Fax: +27 (11) 894 4857.
Tel:: +27 (11) 894 7887
Cell: +27 83 (934) 2559
Web-site: http://www.africacentre.co.za/This hostel is just 5 minutes from the airport in Johannesburg. We'll be staying in double rooms on our one night in South Africa. The hostel has a garden, a swimming pool, a sauna and jacuzzi, a pool table, internet facilities and serves meals. There is a bird santuary within walking distance, a flea market and restaurants. | |
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Riviera Garden Hotel - July 27 - August 5 |
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Address: Route de Majunga - PK 13 Mandriambero. Ambohidratrimo, Antananarivo 105, Madagascar.
Telephone: (261) 20 22 442 35 or (261) 24 782 70.
Cell: (261) 32 04 702 63 or (261) 33 02 702 63.
email: rivieragarden@wanadoo.mg
Web-site:www.rivieragarden-mada.comThis is where we will be staying in double rooms throughout the trip while we are building in Tana. It's in the northern quarter of Antananarivo, 10 km from the Tana city center and 20 km from the build site in Mahitsy. There is a restaurant and bar offering typical Malagasy food, European or Chinese food.
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Hotel Feon'ny Ala - August 6 - 8 |
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Telephone: (261) 20 56 832 02
Web-site: http://taniko.free.fr/parks/andasibe.htmThis lodging is next to Andasibe Park, around 140km in the East of Antananarivo. We will have 5 of the 30 closely-placed bungalows there. The name of this hotel means "voice of the forest" because it's close enough to hear the Indri lemurs call. This is a popular place in a prime location overlooking the river adjacent to the reserve. There are orchid gardens and chameleons. The travel book mentions that the bungalows are becoming a bit shabby over years of use and that there are no heaters. It also mentions that the Chinese owners are helpful. | |
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Hotel Feon'ny Ala - August 6 - 8 |
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Telephone: (261) 20 56 832 02
Web-site: http://taniko.free.fr/parks/andasibe.htmThis lodging is next to Andasibe Park, around 140km in the East of Antananarivo. We will have 5 of the 30 closely-placed bungalows there. The name of this hotel means "voice of the forest" because it's close enough to hear the Indri lemurs call. This is a popular place in a prime location overlooking the river adjacent to the reserve. There are orchid gardens and chameleons. The travel book mentions that the bungalows are becoming a bit shabby over years of use and that there are no heaters. It also mentions that the Chinese owners are helpful. | |
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Motel D'Antananarivo - August 8 - 9 |
Address: Ex Solimotel Anosy – Antananarivo.
Telephone: +(261) 20 22 670 8
e-mail: motelanosy@wanadoo.mgOur last two nights in Tana will be at this motel. |
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Madagascar Presentation |
size:3.66 M
PowerPoint presentation to use to share about the trip to Madagascar |
Please consider using the PowerPoint presentation as a starting point for sharing information, photos and stories about our trip. Save it to your computer and open it in "Notes" version to see facts and information about our trip that you may (or may not) want to include in your presentation. Add your own photos and stories, too, and feel free to shorten or change this for different audiences!
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Newsletter/Web text introducing a Madagascar presentation |
size:27.00 K
Text to introduce a presentation on your trip |
Please consider using the attached language as a starting point for an introduction to sharing a presentation on your trip. Again, feel free to shorten or change this for different audiences. This version is filled in for Maggie, but please replace her name with your own!
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