We recently had the opportunity to visit our Humanitarian Couple in Madagascar,
Calvin and Marsha Asay. They were such great host. Usually when we go to visit a couple we travel to see some of their projects. The Asays had planned to take us to see their projects before they realized that the country would be celebrating independence day while we were there. Every appointment they had made cancelled.
We made the most of our time together and did as much training as time allowed.
The first day we arrived we were able to meet with a dentist, and deliver some dental equipment and then attend the English Class that the Asay's teach.
We had so much fun. The students were very enthusiastic. Many of them stayed after class to speak to us and have their pictures taken.
Then we enjoyed a wonderful celebration..
During the day the streets were crowded with vendors selling lanterns and flags.
At night the people insert a candle into the lanterns and walk up and down the streets.
Once it was dark we walked to a restaurant down the street from the Asay's apartment and watched the fireworks. The streets were so crowded with people and cars that the traffic was not moving. Families were everywhere. They were sitting on cars and trucks, standing in the street. Children were on their fathers shoulders. It truly was a celebration. The crowded streets were lit up with people carrying bright, colorful lanterns.
The next day we took a drive out of the city and saw so many interesting sights.
My favorite sight is always the children.
I captured this sweet picture as we drove by these two children playing.
This older girl saw me with my camera and she smiled and waved. Look at her beautiful smile.
Oh how I wish I could have stopped and played.
You never know what you are going to see on the streets.
People are so creative when they have to transport things.
They pull carts, and carry just about anything on their heads.
I am never really sure what I am capturing on my camera because most of the time I am taking pictures through the window as we drive through town.
I'm pretty sure that I was trying to take a photo of the meat hanging in the top corner of this photo.
The meat is usually just slabs of meat hanging in a kiosk.
Sometimes you can tell it is a chicken, or a goat and other times it is a much larger animal like a cow or pig. We saw lots of people carrying chickens that were dangling by their feet.
Even people on motorcycles were carrying chickens dangling from the handle bars.
We saw live chickens and ducks for sale laying in patches of straw by the roadside.
I guess this is the car parts shop
As we began to leave town we passed rice fields
And then began to see the beautiful countryside
and old buildings
We traveled through small villages until we eventually reached the Lemur Park where we took a small canoe to see the Lemurs.
Sister Asay brought a bag of bananas that were very popular with the Lemurs.
As soon as we got off our canoe a Lemur jumped on my shoulder.
Now I love animals and I expected to really like meeting these little guys up close and personal. However, I was not excited about these little creatures with the beady orange eyes and long claws flying out of the tree and landing on my shoulder.
It reminded me of the haunted house at Universal Studios.
I just didn't know when the next one was going to land on me, once I saw three of them jump on Sister Asay I decided I did NOT want to hold the bananas.
However, Bruce didn't mind at all.
These little guys were all over him
and everyone else! I was happy just watching.
We saw several different types of Lemurs.
This one was shy. I liked him because he stayed in his bush.
The next day we went to church where we met some sweet little children
And just like that it was time to return to Johannesburg.
