A letter from Christi Boyd serving in Congo
Winter 2014 - Child Migration, Madagascar
Dear mission supporters, family and friends,
Through the lens of television cameras, child migrants have arrived at the doorsteps of American households. For many, the recent influx of young, unaccompanied children from Central American countries has been bewildering. A border wall was to keep at a distance the desperate realities that bring parents to the heartbreaking decision to part with their children.
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aravohitra Director, Rev. Herimalala Rakotovao, and her husband, Dr. Arivo
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The 4-year-old toddler born to a former resident with one of Faravohitra’s housemothers
Poverty and violence can be both cause and consequence of child migration, child labor and child trafficking, worldwide. Child migrants became also a focus group for me this year. My last newsletter highlighted the ordeal of five young teens in Rwanda who had started drifting due to economic strains in their family. Thank God, they have reunited with their relatives and continue school now. It goes without saying, however, that many child migrants don't find their way home before their young lives take a turn for the worse.
Akany Avoko Faravohitra is a halfway house in Madagascar that primarily serves underage Malagasy migrant girls who have had a run-in with the law and are placed in the residential care facility by order of the juvenile court. Called after the neighborhood where it is located in the capital city of Antananarivo, it is a longstanding ecumenical ministry of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Madagascar (FFPM), and as such it is embraced by our PC(USA) partner, the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM). The Center has state authorization and operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Population. Faravohitra director and FJKM pastor Rev. Herimalala Rakotovao guided me during my stopover at the Center.
Greeted by the girls with a welcome song, I am struck by their young ages and tiny features. “The youngest is 13 years old,” explains Herimalala. "In the rural areas there are very, very poor families. When their children are 11, 12, 13 years old, they send them to work as a maid. But at that young of an age, the girls don't yet know how to do housekeeping and have no self-discipline. They may be told not to touch the food, but a child who comes from a poor family and never gets to eat cake, for example, is tempted to try it. So they are instantly let go by their patron: "We don't want you anymore. You are a thief!"
The girls are called away, and my conversation with them will have to wait to another time. Walking through the building, the architecture and interior breathe the long history of this vital church ministry. The creaking wooden stairs that lead to an attic lodging two sleeping halls under a sloping roof; the kitchen's antique furnaces and furnishings that have for years fed so many a meal; and the stuffiness that lingers around the entire facility—they easily stir a sense of nostalgia. Back in 1936 the London Mission Society had offered the Quakers to start Bible courses and vocational training here for unschooled teenage girls, but Farovohitra has since shifted its focus on modern-day concerns of Malagasy society. The grim reality of juvenile migrant girls has no place for romanticism.
At the time of my visit Faravohitra accommodates 36 youngsters. One of them has a criminal record and 24 are accused of petty theft or complicity in a felony. Some are awaiting their hearings, others have already received their sentences. The rest of the girls are taken in as children who lost touch with their families, except for the 4-year-old toddler who is bouncing around. She was born to a former Faravohitra resident, who had been sexually exploited by her patron and subsequently accused by his wife. Standing on the doorsteps two months after her release, the teenage mother had pleaded "Mama, will you take your girl, because you are the one who raised her. I can't meet all her needs. If you don't take her, I will sell her," recounts Herimalala.
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Raffia hotpads woven by Faravohitra residents
Indeed, occasionally a girl will come in having encountered sexual violence, though she may not be aware of that, Herimalala explains. The sugar daddy makes them believe he loves them by buying them treats, dresses and shoes, or he takes them to the theater, but meanwhile abuses them. Fortunately Herimalala's husband is a medical doctor and provides any needed medical check-ups or prenatal care. He negotiates for free consultations at a maternity ward and the Faravohitra staff is there for the delivery, the after-care and support.
In any case, covering the operational costs of a charitable ministry like this demands persistence and creativity. The State is supposed to pay $0.35 a day per child, but no such payments have been received in the last several years. The ministry relies much on gifts from FJKM women circles, called Dorkasy, clergy friends and their congregations, and personal connections. These contributions, however, cover at most 10 percent of the total needs. Responses from businesses have been low, so staff resort to door-to-door collections and even approach people waiting at the bus stand. The international church brings donations when they visit three times a year, and the upcoming General Assembly of the Protestant Federation, where Herimalala will give her yearly work report, provides an opportunity to once again draw attention to the ministry. A few assets help secure the staff's salaries. Farvohitra's location on the top of a hill has attracted the interest of a telephone company, which now leases a small piece of land for its communications tower, and a student rents the tiny house on the premises. To supplement her own income Herimalala provides pulpit supply and gives Bible lessons in schools.
As a rule the court doesn't allow the residents to leave the facilities, thus prohibiting formal schooling. The four permanent staff, who are on a rotating schedule and work every other day, educate the girls therefore on the premises. Besides personal care and spiritual nurture, they give literacy classes and teach them basic knowledge about domestic life, hygiene, home economics and child care. The girls are also offered skill-building activities such as basket weaving with raffia or grass, and embroidery. There is a weekly prayer meeting on Thursdays and a Sunday worship service.
Staying usually for three or four months, the number of girls served exceeds 100 a year. Because of the working relationship with the juvenile police, families searching for daughters who reside in Faravohitra will eventually find them. Those whose relatives cannot be found can stay till they are 18 years old. Then they are helped to get their identity card and find work or a foster family. In such cases a girl could even stay for up to three years.
With the ultimate goal of their reunification with family and reintegration in society, Akany Avoko Faravohitra gives Malagasy migrant girls another chance at life outside prison walls. At this crucial time when the economy is down and the situation of vulnerable children in Madagascar growing worse, says FJKM President Rev. Lala Rasendrahasina, the Church is in the process of drafting a plan for how to continue this important ministry in a way that remains faithful to its mission and pleases the authorities.
Thank you for allowing me to be part of this ministry through your moral accompaniment, financial support, and faithful prayers. By doing so you enable me to impart to you and the PC(USA) at large the crushing realities faced by rural Malagasy families, the efforts by our partners to restore the lives of vulnerable girls, and God's Grace, by which Faravohitra's ministry has weathered throughout the years.
Together in Christ's service,
Christi, also for Jeff
Note: To respect their privacy, no pictures have been included of girls placed by the juvenile courts.
The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 138
The 2015 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 146, 147
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