The view of the neighbourhood

I took this photo from the roof of the half-finished guest house my Malagasy family were constructing. I remember the day I braved the rickety ladder to climb up to see the view and take these pictures.

The kids saw me up there and came running to yell greetings up to me on the roof. I could hear their cries of "Tante Claire!" "Tante Claire". Little faces full of joy.


One of the stories from these homes of less than adequate conditions still grips me. During Children's Ministry one afternoon we asked the kids how we could pray for them. The little girl asked us to pray for her because she had been bitten by a rat the previous evening. In my head the conversation went something like this... "Are you serious! A rat? That is so disgusting" The little girl went on to say that the reason she had been bitten was because Mum and Dad didn't have any candles and so when they heard the rustle of the rat they couldn't see it to get rid of it and later on she got bitten on the foot by it when she was sleeping. At this point the conversation in my head changed to "that's so not OK!"

Another neighbourhood, a different world.