(English) Akany Avoko Bevalala appoints new director

Mae’n ddrwg gen i, mae’r cofnod hwn dim ond ar gael mewn English.

Your well-being, your education and your future are at the heart of our mission. It is you who give full meaning to our commitment.

The AAB children’s centre has taken a new step, by appointing as its new director Ratsimanirimanana Tiana Tsanta.

Known as ‘Zoky Henjy’ – big brother – to children at the AAB and its sister AAA and AAF centres, Tsanta has long experience with the Akany Avoko centres, which provide shelter, healthcare, food, education, care and attention to young people unable to live with their families, often victims of violence, abandonment, or both.

He was a volunteer at Akany Avoko Faravohitra, which cares for girls aged 5-18, from 2016-2018, the centre’s pedagogical manager for the next two years, and project manager from 2018-20.

In 2023, he joined the Akany Avoko Ambohidratrimo centre, which cares for girls aged 0-18, and boys aged 0-8, as a project assistant lead for income-generating activities. He has also completed training in leadership and management, and has extensive experience in leading boys’ groups at church.

He was officially announced and introduced as the Akany Avoko Bevalala director – the first person to take the role, as previously AAA and AAB (which cares for boys aged 8-18) were directed by the same person – on Monday (28 June 2025), by the Reverend Doctor Irako Reverend Doctor Irako Andriamahazosoa Ammi, President of the Federation of Protestant Churches of Madagascar (FFPM) which runs the centres.

Tsanta, 34 and a married father of one, has a Master’s degree in Mineral Resources and Environment from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Antananarivo. He will serve as AAB director for 12 years.

He promised the boys at AAB that the centre’s new management structure will in no way affect the care they receive, or the close relationship the boys have with the girls at AAA in particular.

He said: ‘To you, dear children of the AAB centre, I want to speak to you from the bottom of my heart. We have known each other for a few years now, and I want to reassure you: you are not alone. My presence here does not mean the end of the exchanges with the Ambohidratrimo centre. You are one and the same family, brothers and sisters between the two centres. I am and will remain your Zoky Henjy, your big brother. Your well-being, your education and your future are at the heart of our mission. It is you who give full meaning to our commitment.

The ceremony began with a service led by Pastor Rakotoarisoa Heritiana Kaleba, administrator of the FFPM, and Reverend Doctor Irako Andriamahazosoa Ammi. It was also attended by the AAA and AAB centres’ teams, the technical committee, representatives of MfM and other centre partners, as well as the family of the new Director.

In his sermon, the Revd. Dr Ammi said that it is God himself who chooses people to carry out his work: the named are only the instruments of this divine will, and the education of children is a sacred mission that can only be accomplished by those called upon by God.

Speeches were also made by the representative of the children of the AAB centre, the new Director, the representative of the partners, Riana Hary Andrisoa, who came on behalf of Money for Madagascar.