The beginners class has ended so we had a graduation and they received certificates. I have added some of the pictures. Before completing the class they were required to write and present a one page report on the topic of their choice. I want to share one of the girls topic. She talked about liking the sport of running. She said as she trained for her last 60k international run, this was her typical day: First she gets up at 4am to go fetch water,(the place she goes to get water is up several stairs). She would make 6 trips to get water for the day for her house. This takes her about an hour. Then she runs for 1 hour from 5 am to 6am. She returns home to make breakfast and lunch for her family, get the kids ready for school, and take them to school. She then returns home to get washed and dressed for work. She leaves for work at 8:15 to arrive at work at 8:30. She then works all day. When she returns home she needs to make dinner and do housework all before bed. 
Are you tired yet? I was when she finished with her report.
For many Malagasy they do not have water in their homes. Some because they can not afford it some because where they live it isn't available. Those who do not have water in their homes must either get up really early wait in line to buy it then haul it home or have someone deliver it each day. One person said her family of 5 uses about 10 containers a day. This does not include water for laundry. You can see in the picture the containers used to get water, 
Sometimes because I am living in a nice home with running water and electricity, I forget how hard life is for some of the people here. You can hire someone to deliver the water to you, but that too costs money. So if they hire someone they pay about 300 ariary for a container. I am told the price for 1 liter is about 1 ariary. I'm not sure how much a container holds. This routine is typical, except for the 1 hour run, for many Malagasy people. I personally don't like to get up early and for me early is 6:30 on days when I teach at the Ministry of Population. 14 students completed the level one English class. They can all communicate in simple English conversations. In the beginning course I teach pronunciation and grammar. I have put together a book with different words that are hard to pronounce and much of the grammar we use in everyday English but don't think about. I am not a teacher, nor good at English grammar, but God gives me the strength to teach English to about 100 students each week.
