Rota and Jemima, twin girls born in a small village in Mananjary, arrived three months ago at the Mamitiana reception center in Ambohimangakely. They were abandoned by their biological parents. "Their father, a traditional healer, refused to keep them because raising twins is considered taboo in their culture. Their mother, still a teenager, lost her mind upon learning she had given birth to twins," explains Mamy Harilahatra Rakotoniaina, founder of the Mamitiana center, the day before yesterday.
Five pairs of twins abandoned by their relatives have found shelter at this center. Among them are Esther and her sister, the first twins welcomed by Mamitiana. Taken in just days after their birth, they are now 13 years old. Raised with affection by their adoptive mother, Mamy Harilahatra Rakotoniaina, they are thriving and attending public school.
In Mananjary, the abandonment of twins continues. The orphanage founder fears she can no longer welcome new children due to lack of resources and space. The center already cares for 50 children, including abandoned children, orphans, and abandoned twins from Mananjary.
The center struggles today to feed its residents, requiring a monthly budget of 8 million ariary. The facility is banking on food self-sufficiency through the exploitation of its 20 hectares of land in Tsiroanomandidy. A project supported by the Axian Foundation, which provided it with a Kubota power tiller to launch rice and peanut cultivation. "The center expressed its wish to no longer depend on others to feed these children. That is why we came to offer this Kubota, so the orphanage can achieve food self-sufficiency," says Jessica Razakamanantsoa, spokesperson for the Axian Foundation. The Foundation plans to work with the center to help other facilities once its land becomes more productive.