American School of Fort Dauphin & then Antsirabe, Madagascar - now closed

The 1st-12th grade American School of Fort Dauphin (the name of the town changed in 1976 to Faradofay, Tolagnaro or a few other options), Madagascar was originally created as a school which taught in English, based on the US system of primary and secondary education for children of Lutheran missionaries from the US who were working in Madagascar, which, together with a boarding home (called the "MCH" for Missionary Children's Home or the "Trano Vato" (stone house, which was also the name of the first Portuguese "fort" in this area of the 1500s). Beginning in the late '60s it also started to have Canadian, Norwegian & US children whose parents were not Lutheran missionaries who came from Canada, Madagascar, Tanzania, Saudia Arabia, the US. The organizations their parents worked for included Bendix (subcontractor which ran the NASA tracking station in Tana), the Canadian Embassy and several Canadian Development projects in Tanzania, oil companies, other missionary organizations (ALC in Tanzania, Anglican, Conservative Baptist, Norwegian Mission Society), the UN, USAID & the US Embassy in Madagascar. While the school peaked at about 80 students in the mid' '70s, after Bendix was kicked off the island (due to a change in government, Visas for students from other countries became almost impossible to obtain & the number of English-speaking children in Madagascar dramatically declined the end of the '70s and the school moved to the campus of the NMS school in Antsirabe for several years, at which point it closed and the remaining students went to the American School of Antananarivo for several years. The American School of Fort Dauphin school buildings as well as the MCH, having been given back to the Malagasy Lutheran Church, are now being rented out by the MLC Synod of Tolagnaro. The main American School buidling is still being used as a school, having grown from a Maternelle to what is now a private College (High School), with several additional classrooms having been built down where the chicken coops and monkey bars used to be. What is still known to some as the "New School" (next to the no longer used basketball court) as well as the garage next to it is now being used by Manambaro Hospital as its Fort Dauphin annexe, complete with dentist, ultrasound, etc. The head doctor for this clinic lives in the downstairs of "The Teacher's" house (was was known as the "Karen Erickson" then "Fluegel" then "Kay Bolstad" then Mr. The MCH is now the "Hotel Mahavoky," but has no"t been very busy due to the crash of the tourism industry since the latest coup by "TGV." Upstairs of what was known as "The Teacher's" then "Toso" then "Gonia's" house, along with the temporary "Paul Larson" then temporary boy's dorm, later the temporary "Berkas" house which is across the street from "The Teachers" house & next to Nakling Hill, along with what was the "Gudim" then "Midthun" then "Grandma & Grandpa Quanbec"k then the "Jan & Famboara Philibert" house are now all rental units of the MLC. The former "Larson" then "Toso" house is now used by the President of the MLC's Tolagnaro Synod and the former "Lellelid" then "Berkas" then ??? house is the parsonage one of the two pastors at Fihaonana Lutheran Church.