The parish of Ampangalatsary lies in the east of the island of Madagascar in a region of rainforest. For many years now the Catholic faithful here have longed for a church of their own, since until recently they had to walk distances of 5 km or more in order to be able to attend Holy Mass. Although most of the people here live in deep poverty, the Catholic faithful have nevertheless made many sacrifices in order to raise money to build a small chapel, but sadly the money was never enough. So it was that their parish priest turned to ACN to ask if we could help. And thanks to the wonderful generosity of our benefactors, we were able to step in with a contribution of 12,000 Euros.
Nevertheless, building the chapel was far from easy. As a result of the pandemic it was hard to get hold of building materials, and at the same time prices had risen alarmingly. Then there was the challenge of the adverse weather conditions. For this is a region where it rains for eight months of the year, making both the transport of building materials and the work itself all the more challenging. And in this case they had to cope with added difficulties, such as tropical storms, for example. But despite all this they have now finally managed to complete the church, to the joy and delight of all concerned. On the day when it was finally consecrated by Bishop Rosario Saro Vella there were almost 1900 people taking part in the celebrations.