My name is Tamsin Booth and I have the privilege of serving as one of the trustees for the Friends of Mandritsara Trust. As a trust we meet once a month for a couple of hours via Skype, and the meetings are always such an encouragement, but one of the best things is that we get to hear from Hilde Vlaminckx who is the team leader in Mandritsara.

We get to hear first hand of the encouragements from the work there, but also some of the challenges that the team are facing. At the last meeting we also had the chance to catch up with Ted Watts, who’s a consultant surgeon and heads up the surgical team there.

I just was prompted to make this update because I was challenged by what’s going on in the world with Coronavirus. What we’re experiencing here in the UK, but also the wider impact especially on the hospital in Mandritsara. The team there are already feeling the impact. Madagascar has closed its borders for 30 days, and that means that a lot of volunteers who were going to go and work at the hospital are not able to get there. But amazingly the team are resilient and in good spirits.

I just wanted to encourage you to keep praying for their protection, for strength and wisdom for the team, and especially for God to show His mercy and protection on the people of Mandritsara and Madagascar as a whole.

Thank you for all your ongoing support.