Antananarivo

Trip Start Jan 16, 2007
1
8
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Trip End Feb 12, 2007


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Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Patrick and Maminiaina came to the hotel about 10:00 this morning and we drove over to Patrick's office at the airport. It was fascinating to see not only the people but also the architecture typical to Antananarivo. The Malagasy people have quite a mixed origin. Some are clearly Asian in origin, others African and others similar to East Indians. Patrick said that is spite of these differences people get along with each other very well. Many of the houses we passed along the road looked very European, French in particular: made of brick covered with plaster, and steep sloping clay tile roofs. It is very different from what one sees on the African continent, except perhaps some of the very old Dutch buildings around Capetown, and those are three or four hundred years old. The Tana houses are much more recent but still show the French connection.

The roads were full of cars, trucks and busses of course, but also of ox carts, and carts full of goods, pulled by one or two men Clothes out to dry
Clothes out to dry
 . Cows grazed along the sides of the road. The road to the airport often runs on top of dikes that separate the vast rice paddies that surround Tana. The water level is very high right now, since it's the rainy season and some of the paddies are flooded to deeply for cultivation. I noticed a pump station along the way too which must be there to regulate water depth in order to protect the crops.

While I was observing all this, Patrick, Maminiaina and I kept up a steady discussion, asking questions, making comparisons and contrasts and so on about our two church associations. Once at the office I set up my laptop and we went through two PowerPoint presentations about the work of UCG, including French-speaking areas of course, and about the structure of our administration since that is an area they wish to understand. I also gave them copies of notes I had prepared for them about our understanding of the annual festivals observed by Jesus and the early New Testament Church and which we observe also, following their examples. I also gave them the electronic files to be able to print a copy of our Fundamental Beliefs booklet, so that they could study it later in the day. After four hours of discussions we decided to meet again the next morning. That would give them time to read what I had prepared for them (they have to translate it into Malagasy), so they could ask questions and get clarification on any issues that caught their attention. I asked them also to be ready to explain to me any difference between their beliefs and what we have in our fundamental beliefs, so that I would have a clear idea of where things stood.

I got back to the hotel in mid-afternoon, and spent the rest of the day on the computer among other things preparing for upcoming visits.
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