Available now ! Find in the link below our new short activity report (the big one will be published later, in the beginning of 2016), which shows the work achieved during the past year, and the projects for the new year !

In his letter, Father Pedro deals with the economic and social situation of the island, the lost of traditionnal values, challenges the new generation has to overcome, etc.

As he says, « Akamasoa is not an island in the island » : all the issues which exist for Malagasy people, Akamasoa families have to deal with it too !

Short activity report 2015

Dear friends,

For all of you who take interest in our fight for extreme poverty, which has been lasting for 26 years now, with this movement we created in 1989. We want to introduce you to our new website, a modern way to keep you informed of what’s happening here, and spread the word of our action here, what we do each day for the thousands of kids and families we managed to wrest from the dump and from the streets, our work for the people whose dignity has been violated by each and every government that came in power for the past 55 years, here, in Madagascar…

Our call for universal solidarity…
At Akamasoa, we decided to tackle this hopeless situation head-on, and little by little we transformed those places ruled by violence, disregard, and jealousy into places of solidarity, work, mutual respect, fraternity and self confidence. There is still a lot to do with all the good will that can be found in this beautiful island of Madagascar. I would like to put forward the missionaries, catholic and protestant sisterhoods, as well as all the NGOs which operate throughout the island. Together, they do a great job in favor of the forgotten, from the slums and rural areas, to the most secluded parts of the forest. Thanks to their work, hope remains in the most difficult lives. Together with the state, the new government, the Churches, the civil society and all NGOs, we must hold hands and we must keep on working towards the elimination of extreme poverty in the next 15 years, make our realizations concrete, build schools, hospitals, roads, farming cooperatives, and so many other things.  

… to find a solution to extreme poverty
This poverty, which is in so many leaders’ mouths, can be truly eradicated only by working amongst the poorest, out of the paved ways of 5-stars hotels symposiums and meetings. You can fight poverty only by being amongst the poorest, and nowhere else. The slums of Madagascar’s capital city are a shame for us all. The living conditions of its habitants are worse than those of the sticks. For all of those rotting in extreme poverty, there is a solution.  We must take up this challenge, find the will and the courage to enter ourselves into those places of human misery.

A website to share
We want our website to be opened to everyone. We are aware of our weaknesses and have no ambitions of being a model. We have no interest whatsoever in criticizing others; we prefer to put our own house in order first. If people can see the good in what we are doing, it can be translated into the Malagasy proverb: soa fianatra, all good is good to take and to receive. Whether small or big, we all have something to share.

Thanks
I would like to thank all the organizations that support us and have created websites to be the relay of our action. Please see this website as a new way of working together. You are free to reuse all the material you may find useful.
I am particularly happy to know that this website will be managed from the same place where we fight poverty from, here in Andralanitra, by young Malagasy, in a place that was, just 26 years ago, a living hell, a place of desperation and total chaos.
Finally, I want to thank Pascal Mennesson, his company Maltem consulting, and his employees Loïc and Chafik, who helped us design this website, who gave their time and know-how to serve a humanitarian cause, along with two young French, Thomas and Benoît, who were passing through here at Akamasoa, who cooperated with them, and helped train the young people at Akamasoa to use and manage this website.
Please feel free to send any comment you may have, keeping in mind that nothing can be perfect. We simply want to convey the message that there is still hope, and that there are people willing to do good all over Madagascar, this beautiful island of Madagascar which will witness in the near term –we sincerely hope it will- with its youngsters, progress and development worthy of its citizens.

Father Pedro

Dear Friends,

With the Christmas and New Year celebrations coming up, we are sending you, as we usually do, a few words of kindness and are thanking you for all your help throughout this year coming to an end.

Today, I am writing with a heart still muddled by the murderous acts of November 13 during which 130 innocent brothers and sisters lost their lives and some 300 others have been hurt and disabled for life. In front of this evil we remain speechless. Firstly silence must be make as a token of respect for the innocent victims who lost their lives while they were on their way to meet a friend, grab a drink on a terrace, go to a concert or to a soccer game. But these barbarous acts from another time also cause our astonishment: we are struck, us who thought that we had acquired wisdom and built a civilization of respect for each other’s life, that such events could still be happening today.

The crimes of November 13, which cannot be named, bring us back to the reality of our world where still exists persons, brothers and sisters, who are manipulated and made fanatical by sects or religions of others. Because we cannot talk about religion when people are acting this way. In all great religions, God has always been designed as love, mercy and forgiveness, as the God creator of the universe and of all the human beings. How can we usurp God’s name of love while committing such crimes?

In this period of Christmas festivities that us christians are celebrating, God is incarnated in a young child born in Bethleem in the greatest deprivation, humility and simplicity. Which message of God-love can be stronger than this one, to tell all humans that we are all loved by this Creator, that we all have within ourselves this divine spark that unites us together to create and build a more fraternal, fair and united world?

Brothers and sisters, even if it’s hard to forgive, in the name of God who we believe in, we must forgive our persecutors for the wrong they did to us. But it doesn’t mean that we mustn’t defend ourselves and do everything we can so that such criminal acts won’t exist anymore anywhere in the world.

Dear brothers and sisters, there are other attacks on human dignity happening everyday in Africa and in Madagascar, in which innocent children die of hunger, miss drinkable water and are in lack of everything. Facing these attacks to the dignity of man, the United Nations are -as they say- fighting with gradual programs, for example to reduce hunger by 2030. We are putting together reports when we should on the contrary flood the medias and use all means to tell each man that we are all responsible for each child dying of hunger, for each mother dying when giving birth of diseases that we cure in the rich countries, of elders who, when they turn 60, die of exhaustion in complete indifference. We should, we the tools we have, be more striking and more relentless. 

We hope that the great international meeting happening in Paris at the beginning of December 2015 -the COP 21- will move the hearts and minds of all men on earth, for us to feel responsible for each other, all responsible in the fight against extreme poverty, especially in Africa and in Madagascar, and we are all invited to participate according to our means, even if modest, to share with those who, as the missionaries of Christian churches and as the NGOs, are on the front line to fight extreme poverty.

Dear friends, we can give up for no reason, because none of these are valid reasons to shy away from the child dying of hunger. May Child Jesus who is born in this Christmas day bring us this border-less love, justice for all and a border-less brotherhood too.

Happy Christmas with all your family and friends! Happy new year 2016!

And, if we are wishing you the best for the end of year celebrations, it is because, in spite of all the barbarous acts of 2015, hope, truth and love will always win over fanatics and evil.

Strength and bravery!

Father Pedro

Hier soir Jeudi 26 novembre, à Paris, lors d’un dîner de charité, le père Pedro a rencontré le footballeur argentin du PSG, Ezequiel Lavezzi.

Cette rencontre entre l’homme d’Eglise, connu pour sa lutte en faveur des plus pauvres, et l’attaquant du PSG, présageaient ainsi de bonnes choses. Les réactions ne se sont pas fait attendre. Quelques heures après cette soirée, le footballeur argentin postait sur son compte Tweeter : « J’ai été enchanté de faire la connaissance d’une personne qui a fait tant de bien pour les gens qui en ont le plus besoin. »

Les deux hommes avaient au moins deux points communs pour bien s’entendre : la nationalité argentine et leur passion commune pour le ballon rond. Le père Pedro, en effet, avant d’être ordonné prêtre, jouait presque en professionnel. Et l’on sait que, depuis cette époque, et dans le combat qui est le sien aujourd’hui, il n’a jamais perdu cette passion, puisqu’il a toujours encouragé les jeunes d’Akamasoa à pratiquer ce sport, dont il est persuadé des bienfaits comme des vertus : l’effort, le combat et la solidarité en équipe.

Devant la générosité du jeune argentin, le père Pedro s’est pour sa part réjoui qu’ «un sportif de si haut niveau soit aussi sensible à la détresse des enfants pauvres. Cela veut dire que l’humanisme et le sens du partage existent toujours! Quel bon exemple ! » Et d’ajouter : « Dieu soit loué pour tout cet humanisme  qui règne dans les cœurs des hommes et des femmes sportifs ! Le monde peut être meilleur, cet exemple est la preuve ! »

Estoy encantado de poder conocer a una persona que le hace tan bien a la gente que más lo necesita! #PADRE #PEDRO pic.twitter.com/R5cfTf8LPf

— Ezequiel Lavezzi (@PochoLavezzi) November 26, 2015

Le dialogue Judéo-chrétien

De passage à Jérusalem, le père Pedro a été invité par la chaîne télévisée i24, le 29 novembre dernier, pour dialoguer avec le Docteur Henri Cohen Solal (Fondateur de l’Association Beit Esther, qui construit des « maisons chaleureuses » d’accueil pour les jeunes en difficulté et des instituts de formation professionnelle).

Pendant 15 minutes, le Père Pedro s’exprime sur la venue du Pape François en Afrique, « extraordinaire », un pape qui, dit-il, vient aider l’Afrique « à se lever, à croire en elle-même », et qui n’a pas peur d’aller dans les bidonvilles pour affronter le défi que les injustices et les déséquilibres mondiaux donnent à notre époque.

C’est l’occasion pour le père de rappeler la genèse d’Akamasoa, l’électrochoc de cette vision apocalyptique de la décharge d’Antananarivo en 1989, et qui l’a poussé à donner toutes ses forces pour sortir ces enfants de l’enfer et de la rue. 26 ans après, 13.000 enfants scolarisés dans les écoles d’Akamasoa !

Plus généralement, le père parle des religions, qui doivent « unir les gens« , et répète son incompréhension devant les récents attentats de Paris.

Mais aussi, il s’exprime sur le rôle des Églises dans nos sociétés, la valeur essentielle de la solidarité, la place centrale de l’être humain qui doit être retrouvée, à contre-temps de la recherche effrénée de l’argent et du profit, …

Retrouvez cette vidéo dans notre partie « Reportages » !