![have a nice life voids ii have a nice life voids ii](https://assets.hansgrohe.com/celum/web/axw_love2-house_moonlight-illuminating_4x3.jpg)
Many agronomic engineers have visited the Center and I want to be like them because I love animals and growing plants.“Īina’s story: family strife then, flying dreams now “Now my dream is to become an agricultural engineer, to build a home in Tamatave and make my parents happy. I wouldn’t have such hope that I could achieve my dreams, and I probably would have stopped my studies. “When I think back, I know my life would never have turned out like this if I had stayed in the countryside. I have been living in the Center for two years now and I have benefitted from training such as English, handicrafts, computer training, and now this photography training – these days I am one of the best students here! I am focused on my studies and I always pass my exams. “Since then my behavior has changed and Aunty Hanta says that now I am wise. The people at the Center took care of me and guided me. “Aunty Hanta told me, ‘Girl, you have to get comfortable because it is good for you here, you can study, you can have a brighter future, we are here to advise you.’ And another of the staff said: ‘if you’re not saying anything good then shut your mouth.’ These words had a real impact on me. For the first month there I acted out (throwing shoes, not sleeping) and people said I was possessed. “I was not comfortable when I first arrived at the Center – I was not used to living with lots of children. Finally, they convinced me to go to the Avoko Center, which I accepted as I was no longer comfortable staying at home.
![have a nice life voids ii have a nice life voids ii](https://images.genius.com/af5d54cc3b757b768173328a58ec859b.300x300x1.jpg)
I stayed this way for three months and people began to say that I was bewitched. “After that I became sick and delirious and couldn’t face staying at home. “Now my dream is to become an agricultural engineer, to build a home in Tamatave and make my parents happy.” They were all very angry and eventually my uncle was sent away. After about a month my younger brother started noticing and then both my mother and father found out. At first I resisted, but then he coaxed me into a relationship.
![have a nice life voids ii have a nice life voids ii](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/1yoHeLY4qUM/maxresdefault.jpg)
We got on well and eventually he started hitting on me. “I don’t really like to talk about this next part of my life as it awakens the past… but when I was 14 my mother’s younger brother came to live with us. “When I was 10, we moved to Tamatave where my father was offered a farming job and our life started to improve we got a TV, I got my first certificate from elementary school and my father bought me a bicycle. After school my brother and I would help carry the wood for charcoal and my little sister was left to sleep under a tree while we all worked. When this wasn’t enough my father would also go to the forest to collect wood to make charcoal and my mother would do laundry for other families. Both of my parents dropped out of school at a young age, so they relied on farming to be able to feed the family. “I was living with my parents and two siblings in extreme poverty in Antananarivo. Thanks to the Center she was able to study, gain qualifications, and go on to inspire future generations of girls. Ivelohanta Razafindrasoa, 40, is the Center’s director, and is known universally to the girls as “Aunty Hanta.” A former resident herself, she was orphaned at age seven and separated from her siblings. Some of the girls who pass through this system end up at Avoko Center in Antananarivo, the capital city. In the country’s social welfare system, there is no distinction between juvenile justice and child welfare – all are processed through the same courts and judges. An estimated 20 percent of Malagasy people – around five million – are directly affected by recurring natural disasters, including cyclones, floods, and droughts. The country experiences recurrent, protracted droughts, and an average of 1.5 cyclones per year – the highest rate in Africa. The world’s second-largest island nation, just off the east coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean, Madagascar is uniquely exposed to the effects of climate change. When difficulties strike, Malagasy girls suffer fewer educational opportunities, gender-based violence, forced marriage, and hunger. In Madagascar, like many other developing countries, the effects of both crises and systemic injustices fall disproportionately upon girls and young women.
#Have a nice life voids ii professional#
In Madagascar, CARE recently worked with a professional photographer who teaches at Akany Avoko Faravohitra, a residential rehabilitation center that provides young girls with second chances, life skills, and a safe space and support to deal with past traumas.