Outlook Expeditions: Kilgraston

First class face painting.

July 11, 2012 Text and Photos by Chad Lebo

School vacation has arrived. That means more kids around Akany. And not just our kids. This is the time of the year we host teenage student groups coming to Madagascar for trekking and volunteering. We will be hosting 7 groups this July and August.

We were proud to welcome the Kilgraston school as our first group of the season. Their Outlook Expeditions adventure brought them to Akany for 5 days. The 15 students and leaders spent a day seeing our village and the market and even learning a little Malagasy. Then they got to work.

They dipped some brushes and rolled some rollers as they painted the doors, windows and walls of the administrative office. In a few short days, the office looking beautiful and they moved on to freshening up the outside walls of the cafe.

Painting windows in the administrative office.

Their visit was not all work though. They played with the kids whenever they could and made a lovely donation of a sock puppet to each of our childcare children. Each puppet was lovingly handmade by students at the school. Our children were also treated to some of the finest and coolest face painting we have ever seen (and we see a lot of face painting at a children's home).

We had a great thank you party with the students too. Our kids showed off their traditional dancing skills and the Kilgraston team introduced our kids to waltzing. It was a wonderful party and a wonderful visit.

From all of Akany Avoko and especially our children, we thank the Kilgraston school and Outlook Expeditions for sharing their work and love with our children.

[For more face painting photos please visit the album on our Facebook Group page.]

Who's happiest?

Traditional dancing kicked off the party.

Adding the fine details to some face painting.

Choosing a design.

More traditional dancing.

Returning the favor and singing a song for our kids.

Teaching a waltz (I think) to our kids.

Snacks after the party.

A final coat on the front door.

Brightening up the outside of the cafe.

During the face painting, hair braiding also broke out.