Madagascar Drought Appeal: An Update

Money for Madagascar has been running an appeal recently to help those impacted by the drought and subsequent famine in southern Madagascar. The United Nations has highlighted that the famine is a severe threat to the health and lives of nearly a million people in this part of Madagascar. 

The drought, which has affected the region for the past two years, has resulted in crop failures and led to severe food shortages. Families have resorted to consuming vital seed stocks to survive which only further exacerbates the issues in the longer term.

Thanks to the generosity of all those who have donated to our appeal, Money for Madagascar has been able to send out £30,000 already and is continuing to raise money. Our Malagasy partner SAF have been able to begin providing short and long term relief to families in affected regions. In the short term this means providing food aid to families suffering from famine. To ensure longer term sustainability, SAF are helping to replenish seed stocks depleted by the drought, particularly with drought resistant crops, as well as working to improve food stores to develop long-term food security.

It is very important that these stocks are replenished now. Rain has recently been falling in some affected areas making it vital that these seeds are delivered and sown as soon as possible to ensure that this famine isn’t prolonged. SAF have already been able to provide 200 households with maize seeds to take advantage of this rainfall in addition to short-term food supplies.

Without your help this work wouldn’t be possible. If you haven’t donated yet and are able, it isn’t too late. Even a modest contribution can go a long way to alleviate the harsh conditions currently being faced by those in the affected regions of Madagascar.

Shining a Light of Hope – examples of MFM making a difference for children in Madagascar

Money for Madagascar (MfM) supports seven different Children's Centres in and around Madagascar's Captal Antananarivo. One such centre is Akany Avoko Faravohitra; this centre cares for 50 children both day and night, and here MFM gives funds to provide nutritious food, warm meals, clothes and education (to name only a few things!).  

MFM is proud to have recently helped fund the installation of solar power – helping to ensure that there is hot water, and many other things that we may take for granted. This has helped to promote stability and the well-being of the children.

The solar panels automatically start working whenever there is a break in the electricity so that there is always light, ensuring that the children are safe whenever there are power cuts. MFM is happy to support Madagascar’s quest for solar solutions! 

As the centre is high in the mountains, it can be very cold and windy in winter - warm water will certainly be a welcome relief then! And with the solar panels, it has become easier to access – obviously helping the children, yet also the staff in their work. 

The grant has also helped provide a solar cooker for both washing and cooking – quicker than using a firewood stove! This allows staff to cook a warm midday meal quicker, meaning they can spend more time directly with the children. It is said that Vitamin D is good for you, but now sunshine really can make the difference! 

Money has also lead to the conversion of space into a library, and also the creation of an IT room and workshop for handicrafts – hopefully enough to engage the young minds! 

It is wonderful to see the children smiling and laughing, and wonderful to know that you as supporters are making a difference to their lives and prospects.

If you would like to know more about what MfM does, or to make a donation – any money you give will be guaranteed to make a direct difference in Madagascar – please see our website –  https://www.moneyformadagascar.org/

Thank you! 

GIVING SOMETHING UP FOR LENT? WHY NOT PUT THE MONEY YOU SAVE TO GOOD USE AND HELP THOSE MOST IN NEED?

In the United Kingdom, the days are slowly getting longer and supermarket shelves are filled with pancake ingredients in anticipation of Shrove Tuesday this week. But the following day, Ash Wednesday, marks the start of Lent. Traditionally a Christian period of fasting in the lead up to Easter Sunday, it is now widely recognised and practiced by people of all, and no, beliefs.

Typically, Lent offers the challenge for you to give up something you love, such as sugar, alcohol, smoking or caffeine.  Alongside the abstinence from a chosen luxury, it can be regarded as a time for increased mindfulness, and charitable giving.

Unfortunately, not everyone is currently lucky enough to have such luxuries to go without. In Madagascar, late rain is currently causing widespread famine, adding to the stresses of life for many in one of the poorest places on Earth. Vulnerable people are living on the street, with little access to clean water and healthcare, and children are growing up starving and without education.

However, Money for Madagascar is working hard to help these people, and can continue to do so with your help – so why don’t you use this Lenten period to really make a difference to someone’s life?

Every time you resist the luxury that you’re giving up, you could do something amazing with the money you save and change peoples’ lives for the better.

Here are a few examples of what you can achieve:

·         £10 saved on chocolate treats could provide a months’ worth of hot lunches for hungry,

homeless people.

·         Instead of grabbing that coffee from your favourite coffee shop before work every day for a week, you could spend the same £15 to help set up a family in farming, ensuring regular meals and a reliable income for those most in need.

·         By saving £45 on alcohol across the 40 days of Lent, you could get a child into school for a whole year!

It doesn’t take a large sacrifice for you to make a huge difference to people living in poverty in Madagascar.

Find out more about Money for Madagascar’s work here

Make a donation here.

Contributed by Eve

The Madagascar example

One question among many in philosophy of language concerns the nature of reference. Reference in this context is the relation between words (in particular names and nouns) and things, such as that between the name ‘Elvis Presley’ and the singer Elvis Presley. By what means do words refer? What makes it the case that ‘Elvis Presley’ picks out that person? 

 

One view (from Russell) suggests that any name is associated with a description which is true of a unique individual and it is via this description that the name refers to that person. Another view (Kripke) sees reference as involving an initial act of naming to which later uses of a name are connected by a causal chain linking one user or use to another. Each user succeeds in referring to the same thing because their use of the word is appropriately causally connected to the first use. So for example if I use the name ‘JRR Tolkein’ I succeed in referring to the author of LotR not because that name is attached to a description that uniquely fits him, but because I learned the name from someone who learned the name from someone…who was present at the christening of JRRT.

The Madagascar example was proposed by Gareth Edwards as a problem for this causal account, because it is a real-world case of reference shift via error (as opposed to reference shift via deliberate reapplication of a name such as calling a cat ‘Lenin’). The story goes that Marco Polo was the first European to learn and use the name ‘Madagascar’, but he applied it to the large island off the east coast of Africa while in fact the users of the term from whom he acquired it used it to refer to part of the mainland. It is assumed that Marco Polo intended to use the name as they did, but he made a mistake about what they intended. His mistake then led to the modern use of the word to refer to the island, not the mainland. The question for the causal theory of reference is: how can the name ‘Madagascar’ as used today refer to the island (as it clearly does) when its causal history leads back ultimately to the naming of a different place altogether?