Our community is celebrating its 2 year anniversary this October. The Foko Blog Clubs always start with workshops in cybercafés where  volunteers from the precedent round teach very simple new media tools such as blogging and   pictures. Video workshops were very difficult to plan given the quality of connexion. The learning curve from activists who are used to be more involved in the field than virtually was regularly progressing and everyone always took care at supporting each other as much as possible when time and money permitted. There are now bloggers who didn't have mailbox before a FBC workshop who are very active on our Facebook/Google group mailing lists! There are bloggers who were very shy ,who are now updating their blogs regularly ! If there is a topic or an event important to be reported (and most of the time forgotten by mainstream media), you can be sure a Foko blogger will write a post, publish a picture, update his Twitter , tell it on Facebook or simply let the word out (read article on Foko Blog Club from The Courrier International blog). In order to learn more about these amazing personalities we've started since January 2009 a serie of interviews celebrating their first year of blogging. You will learn the real reasons behind their online activism and discover (like we did) the keys to sustainability.It mainly resides in the bloggers’ passion for Citizen Media.

Find out Who is Imahaka? Who is Rasmetal?Who is Moonlight?

Reaching to the provinces was one of the greatest challenges at the Foko Blog Club. We have to thank this time the  generosity of each coordinator who have been the real heroes to Foko's successes. Jaona or Patrick were never afraid to make the long trips from Fianarantsoa or Tamatave to Antananarivo to join the events scheduled by Stephane. They never forget to share with their communities and send news  from their corner of the island. We were very proud when both of them have been selected to join events abroad. Jaona described his Monterrey's trip as a mission to voice out the activism of Malagasy Youth in ICT and Education and this month Patrick was invited at Addis Abebba as a special reporter for the Rising Voices during the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) conference . He also took the time – despite his very busy schedule as tour guide, student in management at the Bsrikadimy's university and BUEC English Club webmaster - to help singer Razia Said find places for her pledge to plant 10000 trees for Zebunation reforestation project.

Looking for the right place where we can plant a trees

Last month, Foko was present at UN summit on Climate Change and it was an opportunity to advocate Madagascar's environmental echues but also its causes. Stephane‘s work from G20 summit where he met tcktcktck activists was echoed by  the entire Foko community on the Blog Action Day on October 15th. Antsirabe bloggers were the first to update theor blogs thanks to the support of their teacher Randy. At least 8 posts calling for local Action on Climate Change were posted by this amazing group of leaders who have been giving a lot to let the world know that Madagascar's youths are standing proudly and are ready to act more ! and don't forget they were the activists providing first hand news to international media thanks to bridges such as Ushahidi, or Twitter networks, so always keep a careful eye on what Foko bloggers are streaming from Madagascar to the world !

Links and Twitts from Dagomc and Tahina following the Afrobasket Women 2009 competition in Antananarivo.

I’ve seen a better Madagascar
The miracle did not occure. We didn’t expect one but we also didn’t think of losing by as much as +50pts (39 to 90). The Malagasy team was not a match for the Senegalese in the 4th day of the tournament. Senegal remains then at the top of Group A. “Self confidence”, we didn’t have it once we steped on to the court yesterday. We knew it was going to be hard and a win was out of reach but that should not have prevented us from playing a better basketball. It is so frustrating to see your team . Note : Madagascar was supposed to host the FIBA Africa Women Championship in 1972 but could not because of the unrest at the time. This year, almost the same thing was about to happen. A problem of unpaid wages was evoked yesterday as the responsables of the stats claimed what was due to them. It is said that they had a talk to the Federation and everything has been settled.having a poor game though you know they can do better.

“Dairy overproduction amongst farmer with minimal prices”
Today farmers who rise dairy cows meet overproducion problems in the city of Antsirabe, and especially in the Betafo region (26 kilometers west of the city). Most of these farmers depend on the collect that TIKo does, as it is the principal producer of dairy products, but consumers have reduced their intake since the crisis. And so milk is sold by the bottle in the streets at the lowest cost, to avoid total loss by the farmers, they also now make home made yogurt, and there is too many of those on the streets and consumption diminishes day by day. Milk is useless if one does not sell it on the same day. Milk can also be used to make cheese (informally), but the price is not correlated to the quantity of milk to be used. So these farmers have to find any means to gain revenue based on their own production.”

And as always, but with a special mention to Patrick, kudos to our members whose enthusiasm and consistency at blogging should be noted. We are proud of you.