Who are the most important and effective healthcare providers in the developing world? ... Mothers! This was the most powerful statement that I heard at the Global Missions Health Conference last month. This conference in Kentucky was attended by thousands of global healthcare workers. One of the themes of this conference was approaches to community healthcare systems in the developing world. I was able to hear about many experiences and projects as well as acquire resources.


So why are mother so essential to healthcare? They have 24/7 contact with most of the patients in a given community. They are the ones treating day-to-day health issues. And people listen to them! This is such an important concept for our project in Madagascar as we build a "grass roots" health care system. Traditionally, a system is developed by first building a hospital. These systems can work great but they usually require a continual influx of outside money and people often have to walk days to get to the facility. In our approach we are starting with the foundation of the family unit... the mothers. We want to empower families through education in healthcare prevention and treatment. Not only is this cheap and sustainable but it is available right in the home.

Will this work? At this conference I learned about several examples where this approach has had powerful and effective results. (One such example in India you can read about in National Geographic Dec '08.) In rural Madgascar, more than 60% of deaths are easily preventable--the causes are pneumonia, malaria, and diarrhea. With some basic education and resources, village health workers can treat most of these cases without a visit to a hospital. With our "grass roots" approach, mothers can effectively provide health care and impact thousands of lives.

Taboos, or fady, play a large role in many Malagasy communities. They are derived from an animistic belief system. Daily life is a dance between survival and appeasing the spirits who take the form of their ancestors. Each community has a set of taboos or actions to avoid that would anger the spirits and bring calamity down on the individual or community. This system creates an atmosphere of fear that can be quite paralyzing. Some of these taboos in and of themselves are harmless. One such taboo I learned about while in southeastern Madagascar is wearing red on the beach. This was easy to avoid and does not limit daily life for the most part. Other taboos can be devastating to a community such as having twins, a taboo in the southeast region. The tragic outcome is that one or both of the twins are abandoned, thrown in the river, or left in a hole to die. If a couple tries to keep their twins, they are ostracized from society and survival for the whole family can be almost impossible.

Several years ago I visited an orphanage near Mananjary that has functioned to save the lives of these twins. It was tragic to see these children living with the emotional and physical scars of their abandonment. The difficult challenge is to provide an escape from this practice while keeping intact the cultural integrity of the community. This is going to require a multifaceted approach. Education and health care will be important to show the possibilities of life with twins. Along this line, the government of Madagascar is promoting an educational initiative in this region in an attempt to change some of this practice. Even more important, is the need to break the cycle of fear that is griping these communities. Some local Malagasy pastors have been sharing the love of Christ in this region which has begun to have some dramatic impacts on healing this cultural wound.

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear… We love, because He first loved us.”( 1 John 4:18-19)

Mandy and I have some exciting news to share as we move forward towards our goal of departing for Madagascar in autumn of '09.

We recently received notification that we were accepted for a grant to repay our school loans. This is a huge blessing and brings our departure goal closer to reality. Without this help it would be many more years before we could head to the mission field. The granting organization is called MedSend. They will take over our payments as long as we continue our work overseas.

We are also excited about our new partners both here in the US and in Madagascar as this "Mad Vision" builds momentum. We now have 30% of the ongoing monthly expenses raised! Thank you to those who have donated recently or are continuing as monthly givers.

Fun Fact



The Malagasy language has the same letters as the English alphabet minus the letters C, Q, U, W, and X. The word "Madagascar" is not in the Malagasy language since it has a "C". The Malagasy spell it Madagasikara. The name came from the European explorer, Marco Polo, who never went to this area of the world and probably confused it with the town of Mogadishu in Somalia. The Malagasy people actually have several names for the island including Nosin-dambo, Izao tontolo, or Ny aninvon'ny riaka.
(Info from www.wildmadagascar.org)

Thank you Heart Touch Ministries and St. Philips Episcopal Church for hosting us in Katy and Beeville as we shared about Mad Vision. The helping hands of so many worked together to makes these two events possible. We were thrilled to meet with many old and new faces as we shared our heart and vision for ministry in Madagascar. Welcome to our new partners who are coming alongside us in prayer and financial support. We are excited to be on this journey of helping to promote health and healing in Madagascar with you.

Here are a few pictures from Mad Vision Beeville:

This week we are headed to Texas for a whirlwind two and half week trip. We will be reuniting with family and friends as we share about Mad Vision. On Sunday, June 22 at 3:00 pm we will be presenting at Heart Touch Retreat Center, 2221 Porter Rd Katy, TX 77493 and then again at St. Philips Episcopal Church, 311 E. Corpus Christi St. in Beeville, TX 78102 on Tuesday, June 24 at 6:00pm. If you are in the area, we sure hope you'll join us!

During the first weekend of May, we had the opportunity to spend three days connecting with our Valley View family in Clackamas, Oregon. We had seven meetings over three days ranging from men's and women's breakfast to combined sunday school to home groups. We also had a "David Letterman" style interview from Pastor Steve during the morning service. We were able to reconnect with friends of Jonathan as well as meet new people.

This was a rewarding time as we shared Mad Vision and experienced others growing excitement about opportunity to meet physical, emotional, and spiritual health needs in Madagascar. We have gained new financial partnerships bringing us to more than 10% of our financial goal.

Here is Oliver soaking in grandma love at Valley View.

Coming this Weekend!...
Mandy and I will be spending some time in the Portland area with the Valley View Evangelical Church family to share about our work in Madagascar. This feels like a home coming for me since this is the church I grew up in. I did my first mission trips through Valley View when I was in high school. I have fond and impacting memories of my spring break trip to Mexico with the youth group where we helped at an orphanage and led some worship services.

Now as I return with my wife Mandy and my son Oliver, we are excited to become reacquainted with our Valley View community and meet many of the new faces. We are looking forward to exploring what it means for Valley View and the Casurellas as we partner in their mission to "reach out to one another, our community, our world, in reaction to God reaching out to us."

Here are the details:
Where: Valley View Church
11501 SE Sunnyside Road
Clackamas, OR 97015
When: Sunday, 4th May 9am

We will be sharing more about our plans for ministry in Madagascar at our church this upcoming Sunday. All are welcome as we share stories, pictures, and dialogue about the people and needs of this unique island.
Here are the details:
Where: First Covenant Church
1145 C St. Anchorage, AK 99501
When: Sunday, April 6th, 3:00-5:00 p.m.
Children are welcome to join, childcare will also be provided.

We are keeping rather busy as our plans and vision for our work in Madagascar continues to take shape and pick up speed. Last autumn we shared about our vision with friends and family in Portland, OR (where Jonathan grew up). We have connected with Valley View Evangelical church and are excited about partnership plans with them. Over the Christmas holiday and through January we have been working on developing this website. We've realized that web design is a ton of work for two web design rookies!
Right now we are in our "partner development" phase. This is a challenging and rewarding job. We have enjoyed seeing others come alongside our vision for work in Madagascar, supporting us in a variety of ways. Our financial base is beginning to grow as we connect with people and churches. We are striving to connect with experts in our fields as we continue to brain storm and pull details together.
Well that's the Mad News for now. We will update again in a few weeks. In the meantime we are awaiting the arrival of our first child... due this week!

One exciting opportunity has been brought to us by Reuben Schug, a real estate agent in Portland, Oregon. He has generously offered 50% of his commission that is generated through Casurella referrals. So if you or a friend is trying to buy or sell a house, contact Reuben and let him know we referred you. He can work directly with you in the greater Portland Metropolitan area. He also gets commission if he refers a client to another agent anywhere in the country. For example, if you live in Houston, TX, you can call him up, give our name, and ask for a good referral in your area. He will do some research and find an agent with a great record and great service-- and he will donate half of his referral commission to ministry in Madagascar.

So if you or anyone you know wants to buy or sell a house... contact Reuben! Click on this link for more info: www.reubenschug.mywindermere.com