'austraLasia' #313
MADAGASCAR: SALESIANS PLAN TO ASSIST PEOPLE
ANS 10th march -- (translated, paraphrased and abbreviated): In the
aftermath of the cyclones, the human cost can begin to be counted - at least
200 dead, 11,000 homeless, 13,000 stranded by floodwaters...but some 600,000
people in all directly affected. Salesians are all safe and not too much
damage to structures. Our House at Ankilolokar in the North remains isolated
by floodwaters. The two confreres there are safe, though their radio
equipment is damaged. We have yet to hear from the conferes in the House ta
Bemaneviky in the extreme North.
With the cyclones gone there remains the problem of disease, cholera
especially. The worst situation is at Tulear - 420 confirmed dead from
cholera, and 5591 homes suspected of infection. The Salesian Community has
undertaken the task of vaccinating the parish population. Elsewhere at
Ankililoaka where the Salesians are, some 30 are dead so far.
The Salesians, drawing on the resources of the Provinces of origin (they are
chiefly missionaries from five Italian Provinces).
MADAGASCAR, for those who are not sure, is a large island off the South East
Coast of the African Continent. There is one quite strange and little-known
fact which interests the editor of 'austraLasia' at the moment - the
existence of elements of the Fijian language there! Some have used it as
argument that Fijians come from Africa, The argument is spurious -
linguists have ascertained that the opposite happened, that Fijians, once
rather clever at boat-building, headed that way instead!