Cutting the red tape

Theresa Haine describes what fundraising is like in Madagascar

The Imerintsiatosika School was chronically short of money at so we decided to put on a fête, with dancing and singing, stalls with handicrafts and local produce for sale and an exhibition of some of the pupils’ work. This would be no problem in the UK – just get on and do it, but in Madagascar there was a lot of red tape to go through before we could begin any preparations. Written permission was needed from the mayor of the village, the Chef de Canton (the next level of the local hierarchy), the Sous-Préfet (one step higher), the Préfet (like the chair of a County Council), and the Chef de Province (like the Chief Minister of Wales or Scotland).

We started with a sheaf of papers ready for signing and went to see the mayor. He was very supportive and signed our papers with a flourish – but it turned out that he was illiterate and he had signed in all the wrong places! We made another set of papers and started again. Correctly signed this time, we continued to the Chef de Canton and the Sous-Préfet, who both lived in the village and signed willingly. The next problem was the Préfet who lived in a town some 30 miles away. I was the headteacher and I had a car so one day after school I set off. On my arrival the Préfet invited me into his office, dismissed his secretary, locked the door and became VERY friendly! I was a little frightened but something told me to treat it as if it was all a great joke and fortunately he thought better of his behaviour and signed the necessary papers. The Chef de Province lived in the capital but as I went there every weekend it was relatively easy to make the necessary appointment and get his signature. All this took us at least a fortnight.

We put on the fête, attracted a fairly large crowd and made some money but that was first and last time that we ever tried that method of fundraising!

In the village I had no running water, no electricity and the toilet was a hole down the garden shared by several families so I went to the capital every weekend to do my washing and stock up on food. I also played music every Saturday night with the British Ambassador and his wife. More about that in the next episode.