The Fihavanana Association, of which I am the president, was created in 1997 in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Since my ultimate installation in Madagascar, which coincides, more or less, with the birth of my first daughter, I have begun to look into the social problems of this country. The idea was to be able to give to homeless and needy children, the best opportunities in the same manner that I would for my own daughter. I always thought the kids nowadays are the pillars for our society of tomorrow and represent a hope for a better world. Then, why don’t we help them to grow in a worthwhile way with more respect for themselves and others? Why not try to do the maximum for setting them free from the chains of illiteracy and poverty? Our children can shape our dreams, our desires, and why not our destiny and bright future?

In Malagasy, the word “Fihavanana” expresses the concept of solidarity and fraternity. It captures our expression “give each other a hand”. In the name of “Fihavanana” I would like “to give a hand” to the future of this country that welcomed me.

For more than ten years, our association has developed a large variety of activities with projects specifically dedicated to children and their education and training, as well as with previously well established projects in the domains of sanitation and social work. My husband and I founded the Akbaraly Foundation in 2008 in order that our projects , activities, energies, and funding would be used diversely with the Fihavanana Association for all things concerning childhood and adolescence, in tandem with the Akbaraly Foundation that would act particularly in the domains concerning health and development.

The Association Fihavanana was a longtime beneficiary of precious aid from Mireille and Robene, who have since taken a different path. Now, I relax in the collaboration of Elisabetta at our head office in Antananarivo, and of Juana at our head office in Milan, Italy. I’m not even able to give you the exact number of children that we have helped over the years. However, the important thing for us is to see, from time to time, those young men and young women who have succeeded, with our help, to become who they are now; respectable men and women who live and work with dignity. I rest confident, that all of you, who read these pages, will take them to heart!

With these few lines I hope to transmit to you a small part of my will to “give a hand”. I say farewell and thank you with all my heart.