Because of you… Georgine’s excelling

Georgine lives in Madagascar and comes from a family of eight children, two of her younger siblings are also blind. She wasn’t born blind, her blindness slowly developed over time – until she was totally blind at the age of 12 years old. 

Georgine has been attending FOFAJA, the Lutheran School for the Visually Impaired in Antsiribe, since 2020. This school is one of the nine cbm-funded Competence Centres, thanks to the support of generous people like you. 

She is 18 years old, but currently in 5th Grade because she had never been given the opportunity to attend school before FOFAJA. A common case for girls, and even more so for children with disabilities. Sadly, children who are blind and/or deaf are usually given a lower priority within the family unit, and therefore not given the same opportunities.

Before becoming a student at FOFAJA she shares, “It was very difficult to do things back in the community. I had to depend on other people for help all the time…and it was really sad not being able to see like everyone else.”

Georgine admits that it was a little scary at first to leave home and board at the school, but at the same time she was excited to finally be able to do so. 

Now she is very happy learning new things, and she continues working hard because she “wants to help my parents because they are poor and struggling.”

She thanks generous people like you for giving her the opportunity to go to school. Now that she is attending school and sitting national exams, the other children in the community treat her differently when she goes back home for the holidays.

“I get more respect from my friends and peers,” she says.

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