I wanted to share some texts and messages from all over Madagascar, from friends and students and people living through the cyclone, before, during and after ENAWO. Just to clarify, I had left Antalaha 2 weeks before the storm hit to return to Canada . When I left Madagascar on February 20th, ENAWO was not yet on the radar. This was my experience being so far away from it all and in the dark for days…

Part 1: Just as ENAWO was on its way, before communication was lost:

Arnaud, English student and friend in Antalaha

Manny, Peace Corps volunteer in the SAVA region, evacuated from his site to Sambava (SAVA stands for Sambava, Andapa, Vohemar and Antalaha)

Dan of USAID Madagascar

Part 2: All communication was lost for a week. Antalaha had no electricity, no water, no cellular networks and no wifi. (That is still the case today in some places):

David of Aust&Hachmann Canada

Danny in Tamatave, Madagascar

Stan in Slovakia

Part 3: People that were able to get out after ENAWO started sending messages from Sambava, a town about an hour a half away that was not hit as bad and still had working wifi:

Part 4: Finally some news from Antalaha 8 days later…:

Student and friend Juvelle

Friend and student Arnaud

Peace Corps volunteer Mahalia was evacuated from Antalaha to Sambava before the storm. A week later she was allowed back and this was her text to me.

“Wifi is back but connection is not good.” MHKHZ

“Finally we have connection! Your Malagasy family is doing ok (see photo). The beach has decreased significantly. ” Marie Helene Kam Hyo Zschocke

Regarding the leprosy village: “The water needs to be restored, the metal roofs, the walls, the mattresses! We have to buy them all rice! The kindergarten is destroyed, “out of order”! ” -Marie Helene of CALA villages https://calantalaha.com/

“How are you? You’re family, your house?” “Very well thank you, the house is destroyed.” -Euphrasie, a friend

This next one is by Matthew, aka Mat Lo on FB. He is from La Reunion/France and lives in Antalaha. Written so beautifully in French, here is my attempt at translating his poetry in to English:

The days following… The town is busy without any assistance to date. The metal sheet roofs that flew off, torn by the wind are being placed back one by one. The roofs look like scattered broken teeth. Mounds of vegetation form on every corner of the street. The days of sunshine that we had were a saving grace to dry some of what is soaked. The atmosphere is heavy, thick, no more tree shaded corners to escape to. After having hoped so much for the skis to clear, we now suffer the full burning March sun. The term “resilience”, makes complete and utter sense here …

-Mat Lo resident of Antalaha

Ertice, a colleague at Macolline, a student and a friend.

And the best message of them all…

Your beautiful girl is doing well! At the moment she is living with her grandfather in a rescue house in the middle of the village. I wonder how she manages to be so presentable and clean when she lives in the village… Bernd will begin construction in the village today and he is starting with Yola and her grandfather’s house and it will be covered with a metal roof!

All donations to my fund will support disaster recovery and relief efforts. Initially, the fund will help meet people’s immediate needs for food, clean water, hygiene products, shelter and fuel. Once initial relief work is complete, this fund will transition to support longer-term recovery efforts. Donating money means that affected communities can recover sooner because they can make their own choices. This includes choosing and purchasing goods to help put their lives back together again. Another benefit of allowing those affected to choose their own purchases is that money is being put back into the community to stimulate local businesses, an important part of the local economic recovery.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DONATE https://jhafund.com/contributor-information/

Click below for recent articles about ENAWO appearing in English, French and African news:

http://reliefweb.int/report/madagascar/flash-appeal-madagascar-intense-tropical-cyclone-enawo

http://www.lexpressmada.com/blog/actualites/declaration-durgence-les-aides-internationales-en-stand-by/

http://www.linfo.re/tags/tempete-enawo