Madagascar and You - Madagascar - page 228

Mission Aviation Fellowship Ivato Airport, Antananarivo; / f 22 453 22; e mafm-
[e-mail] ; www.maf-madagascar.org . MAF provides transport by light aircraft & vari-
ous logistical services to support people & organisations. See box on Click Here .
Money for Madagascar Llwyncelyn Isaf, Llangadog SA19 9BY;
e [e-mail] ; www.moneyformadagascar.org . This long-established
& well-run Welsh charity funds rural health & agricultural projects & supports deprived
groups in urban areas. It also provides funds for cyclone relief & other natural disasters.
MfM sends funds on a regular basis to The Streetkids Project ( Click Here ) & Akany
Avoko ( Click Here ), both of which run child sponsorship schemes. As with MOSS (see
below), the staff are all volunteers & they don't even have an office, so the overheads are
very low. Thus you can be confident that almost all the money you give will go directly to
the project you want to support. If you are singling out the Streetkids Project or Akany
Avoko, write the cheque to Money for Madagascar but enclose a note saying where you
want it to be sent and address the envelope simply to 'Madagascar' at the above address.
MOSS c/o Oliver Backhouse, Denby Hse, Minskip, York, North Yorkshire YO51 9JF;
e [e-mail] . MOSS (Madagascan Organisation for Saving Sight) was
set up in 1993, following a year's work by ophthalmologist Oliver Backhouse & his wife.
Approximately 250,000 people in Madagascar are blind. Research undertaken by MOSS
has shown that 70% of adult blindness is treatable & 90% of childhood blindness is pre-
ventable. MOSS is currently involved in a Childhood Refraction project in Fianarantsoa &
an Outreach Cataract programme, delivering ophthalmic services in remoter areas. A re-
cent similar project in Antsirabe was very successful: of the 65,000 children & teachers
screened, 3,000 required spectacle correction.
Population Concern Studio 325, Highgate Studios, 53-79 Highgate Rd, London NW5
1TL; 020 7241 8500; f 020 7267 6788; e [e-mail] ;
www.populationconcern.org.uk . This organisation is working in Toliara & Antsiranana on
a variety of initiatives to improve the sexual health of young people. They also aim to re-
duce the incidence of teenage pregnancies. Doing similar work in Madagascar since 1988
is Population Services International ( www.psi.org ) .
Water Aid e [e-mail] ; www.wateraid.org . A UK-based NGO, which works to
help poor communities gain access to drinking water, safe sanitation & good hygiene. In
Madagascar, where the majority of the population has none of these vital services, they
have been working since 1999 with local partner organisations & the national govern-
ment. In the highlands they support programmes in rural parts of Antananarivo & Fi-
anarantsoa provinces, as well as parts of Toliara & Toamasina.
FLYING (AND DIGGING) FOR LIFE
John Segeritz, MAF yieldmaster