Development of Seventh-day Adventist Work
Interest in the Seventh-day Adventist faith sprang up in Madagascar in 1917. In that year André Rasamoelina, an inspector of Protestant schools, met a young man by the name of Tuyau, who had attended several SDA meetings in Mauritius.
His interest aroused, Rasamoelina wrote to Paul Badaut, pioneer Seventh-day Adventist missionary on Mauritius, whose address Tuyau had given him. Badaut sent Rasamoelina’s name and address on to the General Conference.
On Dec.8, 1918, J. L. Shaw wrote to Rasamoelina and sent him a package of Present Truth. In 1919 there was a further exchange of letters, and the Home Missionary Department sent him publications, including a copy of Ellen White’s book Steps to Christ.
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During 1920 and 1921 Rasamoelina translated this book into Malagasy in his spare time. During July 1922 Marius Raspal, an SDA missionary on Mauritius, spent 10 days with Rasamoelina, giving him Bible studies. In 1924 Raspal visited him twice.
It was decided to publish Rasamoelina’s translation of Steps to Christ, the General Conference furnishing $800 toward the publication. In 1925 a small bookshop was opened in Romains Desfossés Street in Tananarive to handle the edition of 5,000 that was ready on June 22, 1925.
In February 1926 Raspal and his wife went as missionaries from Mauritius to Madagascar. To conduct evangelistic meetings it was necessary to have government authorization, which could be obtained only by submitting a petition signed by 10 members of the church.
Because this was impossible, tracts were translated, printed, and sold in the bookshop. As conversations with customers turned into Bible studies, soon enough people were won to sign a petition for the opening of a mission.
The first authorized Sabbath school was held in the home of Raspal on Oct. 2, 1926. The first number of a missionary paper Témoin (“Witness”) (now Ny Vavolombelona) was printed in March 1927.
During 1927 chapels were opened at Toamasina, the main post of Madagascar situated on the east coast, Manjakaray, and Tsararay, and the first baptismal service was conducted by Raspal. André Rasamoelina was one of four candidates.
At the end of October Raspal left for Europe, and M. J. Bureaud, of France, became the director of the work in Madagascar. He was assisted by Albert Long, of Italy, and by active national lay workers. On Apr. 15, 1928, 18 people were baptized. In the spring of 1928 J. C. Raft, field secretary of the European Division, visited this mission and held a workers’ meeting from May 7—9, which A. Rasamoelina and C. M. Ramiakabola attended as national workers.
By the end of 1929 there were 102 church members in Madagascar.
The Indian Ocean Union Mission, comprised of Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion, and the Seychelles, began to function on Jan. 1, 1936, with its headquarters in Tananarive (now Antananarivo), under M. J. Bureaud, the first president.
At the same time E. Bénézech, who had arrived in 1929, was appointed president of the Madagascar Mission. The Malagasy Publishing House was established in 1930, and a printing plant added in 1950.
The educational work has played an important role in Madagascar. The first primary school had been established in Andina at the beginning of the 1930s under the direction of André Rasamoelina who, after the war, was called to assume the direction of the first primary school in Tananarive with the help of Bertha Ranorohanta.
The Indian Ocean Union Training School was established in 1938 (now Soamanandrariny Adventist Secondary School). Other schools followed: the École Adventiste d’Ankazambo, on the west coast of the island, in 1951; the Ivoamba School, near Fianarantsoa, for the South Malagasy Mission, in 1970; the Ambatoharanana School, which is now a day school near Toamasina, on the east coast of Madagascar (1954); and a primary day school near Fort Dauphin, in 1965.
Unfortunately, because of the diminution of the number of students resulting from the opening of government schools on the secondary level, many SDA schools had to be closed.
The country was divided into three districts in 1949 and into seven local missions in 1960. In 1972 Madagascar was again reorganized into the present three missions.
Seventh-day Adventist radio work began on Madagascar Dec. 7, 1946, with French broadcasts by Jean Zurcher introduced by the words “Voici notre émission adventiste [“Here is our Adventist broadcast”].” In three years Zurcher broadcast 149 talks on various biblical topics.
On Nov. 5, 1949, the Voice of Hope program was introduced, and also an educational program by Maurice Tièche. In 1948 J. Rajoelison began a broadcast in Malagasy, which continued weekly for 10 years and then was continued by his brother, Rabarijoel.
This broadcast still continues every Saturday evening from 6:00 to 6:30. A Bible correspondence course in Malagasy was organized in 1947 by Zurcher and was later directed by Berthe Ranorohanta for many years. The course is offered in Malagasy and French.
Since the beginning of 1993 the Seventh-day Adventist Church has had access to the Malagasy television broadcast on the third Sunday of each month.
The medical work in Madagascar was started in 1969 at the Ambatoharanana Dispensary, under the direction of Mildred Vel, from the Seychelles. This small beginning grew to a 10-bed dispensary and a 10-bed maternity ward.
In 1974 construction began on a hospital at Andapa, in the northeastern part of Madagascar. A dental clinic opened in 1975. Since 1992 a dispensary has functioned in Manjakaray with a large patronage. That same year a modern dentistry was opened on the site of the Indian Ocean Union Mission.
Institutions
Adventist Printing House; Andapa Adventist Hospital; Antarandolo Adventist School; Soamanandrariny Adventist Secondary School.
