ministry

HEALTH

There is a lack of quality and accessible healthcare throughout Madagascar. In rural areas, this is expounded by the lack of resources and infrastructure. It is the goal of Red Island Restoration to see the physical health of the Malagasy people restored.

A natural starting point of good health is to begin with the caregivers of the family, the mothers. By providing quality prenatal and childbirth education as well as early newborn care, the next generation has the opportunity to start out living a healthier life. A recent statistic estimates that 8 Malagasy women a day die during childbirth as a result of delivering without a trained doctor, midwife or childbirth attendant present. This figure is compounded by the amount of mothers and babies who lose their life as a result of postpartum hemorrhage and complications associated with childbirth in a developing country. It is the dream of Red Island Restoration to one day open a birth center to restore this God-given gift of women being able to deliver their babies in a safe, clean and caring environment.

In the rural areas of Madagascar, the nearest medical facility or doctor may be a few days journey by foot. As a result, lives are lost due to common yet deadly diseases such as diarrhea, malaria and schistosomiasis. Red Island Restoration will continue to partner with remote villages along the northwest coast of Madagascar to establish village healthcare centers in which local Malagasy will be trained to provide medical interventions for common illnesses. Periodically, trained physicians and nurse practitioners will travel to these remote areas to provide more in depth medical consultations. In addition, we hope to partner with the Malagasy government to bring for the first time, life-saving immunizations to these remote areas so that health may be restored.

Bringing the Hope of Christ to the Malagasy people is the primary objective of Red Island Restoration. We have both personally experienced the peace that comes with having a deep relationship with Christ and long to see the Malagasy experience the same redemptive hope.

Traditionally, the predominant religion of Madagascar is ancestral worship. Today 52% of Malagasy people still follow their traditional beliefs while 41% embrace Christianity and 7% claim Islam (taken from the CIA World Factbook). Despite the high number of Christ followers, many Malagasy still retain their traditional practices such as sacrificing cows, unearthing and turning of their ancestor’s bones, and following taboos to please their deceased family members. These taboos range from not eating certain foods such as chicken, to not giving birth to twins, to following Jesus and the Bible. We have seen first-hand how these taboos literally steal life from the Malagasy people and in turn, we’ve witnessed the freedom from the bonds of taboos that come from truly accepting Christ. We are deeply aware that Jesus is the One living ancestor for all of us and only He restores true hope.

REFORESTATION

Over 80% of the forests of Madagascar have been destroyed by human hands. When forests are depleted, the nutrient-rich top soil erodes, rains decrease, river beds dry, crops fail and wild-life disperse, all resulting in the impoverishment of land and people. Red Island Restoration is partnering with Eden Reforestation Projects to address the root issue; planting trees and recreating forests.
Since the inception in 2006, over 8 million endemic trees have been planted in Madagascar. We are on target to break our annual goal for 2010 of planting 5 million trees. The result of this creation care is having significant impacts both physically and spiritually for many Malagasy. Along the North

west coast where the Mahabana Mangrove initiative is occurring, 142 people are receiving steady income to support their families. People who once made their living by cutting down the forests are now employed by Eden Projects to plant the forest. In these and the surrounding villages, people are keenly aware of the impact they are having in caring for creation and are passing along this wisdom to their children. As people are learning to love the world around them they are being drawn to the Creator. This has opened doors to share the love of Christ and many are on the verge of accepting Christ as their Savior, planting a new Hope in them that is not of this world.

HOPE