I am from Madagascar and currently in the Tai Lam Centre for Women.
I was born and raised in a very underprivileged family in Madagascar. My parents had no stable jobs. We lived in a small village where my father had a small rice field. My mother was only 16 when I was born, and my father was 19. They were not yet ready to manage a family or support us adequately.
As the eldest of four children at the time, I still remember going from village to village alone to sell fruits that my father harvested from his farm. This meant I could only attend school in the mornings; in the afternoons, I had to help my parents.
Later, because of our difficult life, my parents separated. My three younger brothers and I went to live with our paternal grandmother. Neither parent was able to take care of us — we were lucky if we saw them once a year.
