We are the Babbs family. Sue, Simon & Matthew visited Madagascar in July 2014. We fell in love with the country, people and wildlife, and keep returning!
Paul Simmons (member of Friends of Toliara leadership team) writes:
One of the impressions from my first visit to SW Madagascar in 2016 was that the region has a number of serious ecological problems due to the pressure on people to survive. The main one is the destruction of the forest. If you are a farmer, drought or blight comes and crops fail, so you live off the forest, and maybe burn a stretch to graze your zebu, or plant some crop in the ash-enriched soil. You need to cook so you buy charcoal made from the forest timber. You build your house from wood cut from the forest. Toliara province is dry, and rain is irregular. Drought frequency and severity has increased in recent years due to climate change. The pre-human vegetation is mainly the spiny forest, dominated by didierea trees and baobabs. During one Friends of Toliara meeting, we discussed the devastation of the forest evident from an arial map survey comparison and the Bishop lamented how much the forest has been destroyed in his lifetime.
Deforestation in the Toliara region, 1985-2016
Last September we heard about a charity planting mangroves in Madagascar. Mangrove forest occurs along much of the west coast of the province, which may have one advantage over other forests, in that their brackish marine environments may be less susceptible to drought and climate change. In fact, this turns out to be complicated, since most mangrove species do need some fresh water, and climate change powered cyclones and sea level rises pose threats to their physical environment. Nevertheless, mangrove forests provide numerous advantages to a community, including protection of the coast from cyclone damage as well as providing an important food supply, especially fish which are a major source of protein in the area. Several of the coastal fishing villages in mangrove areas have Episcopal (EEM) churches, so Bishop Samy proposed we work with them in order to help protect the mangroves in their area.
After trying several mangrove research organizations, we made contact with Emma Gibbons, Head science officer at Reefdoctor https://www.reefdoctor.org/ which works on a mangrove reserve north of Toliara, near Ambondrolava. Emma explained that sustainable mangrove planting will only work with the cooperation of the community, so we developed a plan to involve the local EEM churches and their villages by first raising awareness.
On 10 July, Paul and Ialy Cael (Diocesan Economic Development Coordinator) took 20 members of the EEM churches in Mangily, Belaza and Ankilibe to visit the reserve in Ambondrolava.
We were given a guided tour by the president of the association. He explained they have 7 of the 8 Madagascar mangrove species in the reserve. They also have about 70 wetland bird species, the highest recorded wetland bird diversity in the region.
We explained the benefits of mangroves to the participants:
More fish and crabs, since the mangroves provide food, shelter, and spawning ground for these.
Fruit and leaves for food and medicine
Flowers for bees – potentially locals can make top quality mangrove-blossom honey.
Protection to the coast from cyclone waves and storm surges
Protection to the coral reefs and sea grass from land runoff
Potentially a sustainable source of excellent quality construction timber and firewood (although currently it is illegal to cut for this purpose)
Benefit to the world by absorbing greenhouse gases – mangroves are very effective in this
The ecosystem supports a wide biodiversity including plants, birds, and animals which may interest tourists
The ecosystem is a beautiful thing for the locals to enjoy
God made the mangrove ecosystem and saw that it was good. He made man to look after it (Genesis 2.15). He is not happy if we let it be destroyed.
Most of the visiting church members were very engaged and grew enthusiastic. They wanted to know what they could do to help.
On 11 July Paul, Ialy and Emily Nell Lagerquist (another Friends of Toliara Leader) visited the mangrove site at Belaza.
M. Gilbert Mandily (president of the local mangrove association) gave us a guided visit.
The mangrove forest here and in Ankilibe has suffered a lot more damage than at Ambondrolava, and needs restoration. There are only 3 species (Afiafy, Tangabe, and Sangora) and many trees have been cut or looted, reportedly by charcoal makers from the south who sell the charcoal in Toliara. The police turn a blind eye. We visited the foreshore where there is a large area which could be planted.
We planned a planting at Belaza on World Mangrove Day to take place in parallel with an event at Ambondrolava. Reefdoctor provided the propagules, technical and security backing, and the church and village provided the site and the manpower.
Emily Nell was present at the Belaza event, along with 51 adults and numerous children from the local community. It was a success, and a good first step to having a thriving mangrove forest on this stretch of the coast, giving people food and beauty, and giving God glory.
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First Ever Music Conference for the Diocese of Toliara WOW!
Salama! This is Josh Langhoff (Music Director from St James the Less, Northfield) writing about the Fihaonam-be Mozika Diosesy Toliara, the first music conference for the Diocese of Toliara. This conference, and the culminating Sunday worship, took place at the Cathedral Complex on the outskirts of Toliara, on the west coast of Madagascar. It was a great success, and very little went according to plan!
In the months leading up to our trip, we had a series of online meetings with two conference leaders:
Alfred (pictured right), the president of the Diocesan Music and Culture Department and a choir director who records original songs.
Vice-president, Rev. Zafy, a priest and musician in Betioky District, who served as a translator, as well as a musician.
They had several goals:
• Music leaders from around the diocese would teach one another their original songs, sharing the different styles of their various tribes. Many travelled several hours (or even days) to do so.
• We'd start writing new songs together, developing Malagasy-penned liturgical music to replace the American and European tunes in the original Malagasy Episcopal hymnal. It soon became obvious that the diocese is already overflowing with Malagasy music and that simply sharing it could take up most of our time. (Note from Sue & Simon here: it was clear from listening to the music now used in services that great developments had taken in writing Malagasy music for the hymns in the hymnal since our last visit in 2018. There has been tremendous progress in making worship more culturally relevant to the Malagasy people. )
• Josh would teach everyone solfa notation, a form of music writing based on solfege syllables (do-re-mi etc.) Currently most church musicians pick up new songs by ear, and almost nobody uses the staff (or stave) notation western musicians take for granted.
DAY 1: WEDNESDAY The conference participants convened this morning while our team was flying from Ambovombe on a nine-seater Mission Aviation Fellowship plane. Bishop Samy picked us up from Toliara Airport and drove us to our hotel. Then it was off to the conference to spend a few minutes introducing myself to everyone before starting teaching on Thursday. OR SO I THOUGHT FROM THE PLAN WE HAD MADE IN ADVANCE!
Instead, I was shown to the head table and invited to start leading. Eek! I had no solfa lessons with me and two Malagasy words at my disposal. What I did have were my tablet and a still, small voice telling me to go around the room and take a skills inventory. It turned out we had 28 participants, men and women, from 12 or so different parishes, 11 of whom were ready to share new songs. By overwhelming demand, their top request was to learn solfa. One musician, a seminarian and multi-instrumentalist named Anthony, served as my translator.
Josh, Anthony & Alfred
DAY 2: THURSDAY After devotion and prayer, Alfred taught us all the upbeat conference theme song he'd written.
I thought I would have a leg up on everyone here since Alfred had sent me a recording two months earlier, but I wasn't prepared for the amazing Malagasy music learning process! Alfred sang a line or two and everyone repeated it. He walked us through all three verses, and then taught us the song's chorus. Every once in a while he'd pause and worry over a line we'd missed, emphasizing the missed notes until we got them right. Then we sang through the whole song, with the young cathedral musicians, brothers Sanda (keyboard) and Manda (drums), accompanying. By just the second time through the verse, the group had come up with four-part harmonies! Soon little vocal asides and soaring descants appeared. The group had felt their way through the song and fleshed out a full arrangement.
This process of learning the song and composing harmonies by ear took about half an hour.
Now it was my turn. We started by learning the seven solfege syllables — do re me fa so la ti — with their accompanying hand motions.
Then I wrote the chorus of Alfred's song on the white board, and we sang through it slowly, pitch by pitch, writing the first letter of each solfege syllable above its corresponding syllable of the lyrics.
The rest of Thursday and Friday stuck to this pattern: someone would teach a song, and then I'd teach a solfa lesson using a Malagasy hymn everyone already knew.
I don't know what I would've done without our previous week in Amboasary. During our visits to the rural churches, I'd recorded several hymn tunes that had really grabbed me, and because we'd sung them in a number of places, I was confident they would be familiar to those at the conference, and would therefore work as good teaching tools.
DAY 3: FRIDAY At the end of Thursday's session we'd determined that seven more participants still had to share their songs. We'd split them up over the next two days... OR SO I THOUGHT.
After our devotion, Alfred gave an impromptu and somewhat impassioned talk. Anthony translated for me. Alfred thought we should no longer learn participants' songs, that the rest of the conference needed to focus on learning new music for Sunday's worship service.
I wasn't the only one surprised by the change in plans. Albert, a youth leader, songwriter, and dancer from Maroaloka, raised his hand and disagreed. He felt we should stick to the original plan. Others started chiming in. Nobody raised their voices, but when I proposed that Alfred and I meet privately with the seven remaining song-sharers during morning break, Anthony agreed: "That may help defuse the situation."
I started by apologizing for taking up so much time on Thursday. I acknowledged we had two worthy goals — learning songs from individual parishes, and learning diocese-approved songs for Sunday — and too little time. And then I asked whether anyone would humbly consider not sharing their own songs. As I'd expected, nearly everyone raised his hand. The two exceptions were Arsene, a university chaplain with a piece of liturgical music that fit neatly into Alfred's scheme, and Albert, the dissenter.
To everyone's delight, Albert's song was a total bop, a joyful call-and-response tune exhorting us to praise God with the sounds of guitar, drums, piano, kabosy, valiha, and a bunch of other things I didn't recognize. As we sang, Albert led us in some traditional hand-shaking high-stepping dance moves, and we all finished the song laughing. Alfred loved the song so much he had us perform it during his Saturday choir concert and Sunday's worship service — dancing included.
I thought we'd spend the afternoon learning more of the songs on Alfred's list. Wrong again — back to solfa!
For our final lesson, participants called out solfa syllables and rhythmic symbols to notate a popular hymn.
Malagasy hymns are more tricky rhythmically than western Anglican ones, making their notation more complex, so I was nervous about this exercise, but the younger musicians picked it up quickly. By the end of the day, I felt that anyone who'd find solfa useful had the tools to use it.
Teachers know the magic of seeing students' eyes when they're really getting whatever you're teaching. God granted me that gift during the conference. Malagasy musicians teaching songs in person clearly don't need it. But for those musicians, like Sanda and Manda, who might share music remotely across the diocese, solfa unlocks possibilities.
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY Finally it was time to share some of what we'd accomplished at Alfred's choir concert on Saturday afternoon, and in Sunday morning worship in the Cathedral.
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