Area Parish of the St. Lawrence in action

When Kathy Lucking, a Canadian elementary school teacher, volunteered in an orphanage in Madagascar in 2007, she was struck by the number of children who seemed destined to repeat a cycle of malnutrition and poverty because their families couldn’t afford to send them to school. 

She came home to Canada and founded the Madagascar School Project. She gathered a community of friends, colleagues, business people, and church members, and started raising money to build a school. 

In October of 2008, 65 children aged four to six years old began their studies in Lova Soa, a two-classroom school in the highlands of central Madagascar, staffed by Malagasy teachers. Lova Soa means “School of Good Inheritance. 

In January 2010, MSP opened the second school, Sekoly Tenaquip, with 126 students and seven staff. This school is named for the Tenaquip Foundation in Canada, which has supported the cost of constructing all buildings associated with MSP. 

The Tenaquip School now has a student population of over 800 students studying from Junior Kindergarten up to high school graduation. The project has grown and now has many other aspects to increase project’s self-sufficiency, including solar power, farming, water conservation, and medical services.

On Nov 5, 2022 Christ Church Seaway, Long Sault had a table at the Trinity Fall Market in Cornwall, Ont. The following day Kathy Lucking, founder of the school, attended Christ Church to provide an update on the progress of the Madagascar School Project, which hopes to be self-sufficient in the next few years. 

Christ Church presented her with a cheque from both their year-long Madagascar Table as well as the money made at Trinity for the ongoing support of this project.

The following Saturday, St. John the Evangelist in Lancaster held their annual Madagascar tea and Karen Davison Wood presented Gail Wells, (standing in for Kathy Lucking) with a cheque from St. John’s for their contribution to the scholarship fund for students taking post-secondary education. The tea was a huge success, raising more than $10,000 for the Madagascar School Project.

This was truly a “mustard seed” project, and we are so pleased to be a small part of their success. 

Submitted by Lynda Delorme, Beth Helmer and Karen Davison, Area Parish of the St. Lawrence